Speaking Off the Cuff

Yan Nu heard it in complete bafflement, not knowing what Shen Leling was bragging about.

She was crying her eyes out just this morning, saying twenty years of Daoist practice were gone. Now she claimed she had cultivated for ninety years, and even her name had changed.

Huang Banyun let out an ah sound instead, and said excitedly, "So you are an immortal of the Leling Shen Family. My late father once had the honor of meeting the True Person Shen Wuxing of your family, yet I wonder what relation you bear to him?"

Leling was right in Pingyuan Commandery, and the Shen Family was a local prominent clan of middle-upper grade status, so of course he knew them. It was just that among the Shen Family's cultivators, he had only ever heard of one Shen Wuxing.

He never expected the fairy before him to also be of the Shen Family, with father and son both encountering a mighty figure of the Shen Family across two generations. What an incredible affinity!

Seeing him ask, Shen Leling spoke without missing a beat, "Wuxing, that child, I suppose you could call him my nephew."

"Truth be told, Yan Nu'er, I took you in as my younger brother, putting you a full generation above Shen Wuxing even."

Huang Banyun looked at Yan Nu with disbelief, his face utterly bewildered.

As a humble commoner of the lower tier, that Shen Wuxing was already the most formidable cultivator his family had ever come into contact with. He never expected that the youth who had just been wielding... er, should rather say wielding clumsiness with innate skill, actually possessed a seniority one rank higher?

One could only say... this mighty figure of the Shen Family truly did not let petty conventions bind her, and played things out in a truly wild—ah, should rather say refined—manner.

Yan Nu was just as bewildered, but only asked, "Are Elder Sister's injuries better? I hear this Flag Mountain dog demon is very fierce, and I'm afraid he might hurt you."

"Hee hee hee hee..." Shen Leling's laughter sounded like clear springs sliding over a pool. "A mere petty demon, it is fortunate he is not on the mountain; if he were, this seat could wipe him out with the flip of a hand!"

"Oh..." Yan Nu scratched his head.

Huang Banyun didn't know how Yan Nu had come to acknowledge a mighty figure as an elder sister, but presumably this Shen Family expert was amiable, casual, and at ease.

Therefore, he tried his utmost to integrate himself. "What True Person Shen says is entirely correct!"

"My father died sixteen years ago to eliminate this demon, and ever since, wandering knights have come to campaign against it almost every year, yet all have failed."

"Wild demons of this sort have eaten countless people and suffered the backlash of the mortal world fire many times over, so they probably don't practice Daoist arts at all!"

"It's only been about the last few years that it began to cherish its feathers, disguising itself as 'Old Daoist Wulong' in order to properly elevate its realm."

"However, lofty though the dog demon's magical power may be, it is decidedly no match for True Person Shen."

"True Person Shen, this demon has committed countless evils and wreaks havoc upon the region. Please slay the demon and bring peace to the common folk!"

Shen Leling smiled lazily. "I have no grudges nor enmities with this demon, so why needlessly start a murderous slaughter?"

"But..." Huang Banyun hadn't finished speaking.

Shen Leling glanced at him lightly. "Your father died at the hands of this demon; aren't you eager to take revenge yourself?"

"I am!" Hearing those words, the corners of Huang Banyun's eyes turned red, and even his hands shook. "Banyun dreams of revenge!"

He lowered his head, suppressing his emotions, and spoke in a trembling voice. "Please... please, True Person, grant me this grace!"

"You shouldn't beg me; you should beg him."

Huang Banyun raised his head in bewilderment.

Pointing at Yan Nu, Shen Leling said indifferently, "You must first kowtow to him three loud times."

"Bang, bang, bang!" Without a shred of hesitation, Huang Banyun began slamming his head onto the ground before Yan Nu three times straight, continuing to kowtow over and over until he stained the earth and stones with his own blood.

Yet in a split second, a wave of chill surged into his heart, and icy water currents coiled around his body.

A crisp, clear voice reached him. "Once I take your essence soul, I shall naturally avenge you..."

"Ah?" Tangled in a current of water, Huang Banyun felt a biting, bone-chilling cold throughout his entire body.

Yan Nu hastily thrust his spear forward to sweep apart the water current. "Elder Sister, why are you killing him?!"

Seeing that waving the spear only made the flowing water stream even faster, he simply dashed over and used his own body to block the current.

Shen Leling knew he would try to stop her and immediately reeled the water back in. "The Zhang Family members will soon charge up, and the dog demon could also return at any moment. If I don't absorb his essence soul, how am I to heal my primordial spirit?"

"Healing the primordial spirit requires abundant essence soul power. This Huang Banyun comes from a scholarly background, is young in age, possesses Second Stage Body Tempering plus twenty years of skill, which makes him just right."

"Elder Sister, didn't you already absorb thirty-five of them?" Yan Nu remembered Shen Leling going on a murderous rampage and sucking the Zhang Family's garrison troops completely dry.

Shen Leling shook her head. "Their bellies were full of Yellow Springs Water! Refining that kind of essence soul to supplement other things is fine enough, but as for wounds on the primordial spirit, I'd be lucky if it doesn't make them worse!"

"Their preparations are linked step by step, so they surely have other tricks to deal with me."

"Fortunately, I have already used the spring eye to heal my true form. As long as I heal my primordial spirit as well, coupled with the fact that I have no Daoist practice—and a debtor isn't crushed by having too many debts—I can begin a direct slaughter and finally have certainty of success!"

Yan Nu understood nothing of metaphysics. Hearing her explain so much, he had no way to refute her and grew extremely anxious. "Elder Sister, why don't we run away instead!"

Shen Leling gazed intently at him. "If I don't restore my primordial spirit, I will definitely die."

You said 'definitely', didn't you... Desperately, Yan Nu began racking his brain to think of a way for Elder Sister to repair her primordial spirit without requiring Huang Banyun to die.

At the same time, clutching the little monkey in his arms, Huang Banyun trembled all over as he looked at Shen Leling—as much from the cold as from fury!

"You... are a monster?" He bit down on his jaw, ashamed and angered at having been so easily deceived by a demon.

The truth was, he never expected that someone would acknowledge a demon as an elder sister; he was certain Yan Nu was a human, and a benefactor at that.

When Yan Nu called out elder sister, and he saw Shen Leling stepping gracefully across the ripples with the carriage and poise of an immortal, his very first reaction had been that she was an immortal.

One could only say that the stereotypical impression of demons in his mind was far too heavy; he simply couldn't fathom that a demon could possess such a clear, spiritually elegant bearing and demeanor.

Let alone him, many young noble family scions had been deceived just like that.

Shen Leling cast a sidelong glance at him. "I noticed you long ago. You would have originally died in the jaws of a wild dog; surviving another moment already counts as extreme fortune."

Knowing there was nothing to discuss with a demon, Huang Banyun glanced at the deep-in-thought Yan Nu.

Suddenly, he snatched the small monkey from around his neck and threw it out with all his might.

"Benefactor, I return my life to you; let my Wanzi go!"

Screeching, the little monkey tried to run right back, but Huang Banyun glared at it fiercely.

Afterward, Huang Banyun crossed his legs and sat upon the ground, closing his eyes to offer his neck to the slaughter. "If you can slay the dog demon, I can die in peace."

Shen Leling looked at him deeply, her eyes narrowing without a word as she once more turned her gaze toward the pondering Yan Nu.

Abruptly, Yan Nu spoke. "Elder Sister, there's still a fierce, large yellow dog down below. What kind of spirit dog is it—is its essence soul usable?"

"That works too..." Shen Leling answered offhandedly.

Yan Nu said in pleasant surprise, "Then let's absorb that one!"

Shen Leling stated, "Yet when I came up the mountain, I did not touch that dog. Do you know why?"

Yan Nu shook his head.

"That dog was not enlightened by the heavenly dao, but was born from the mating of the Flag Mountain dog demon and a wild dog... Animal demons of this sort reproduce extremely easily, and there is even a probability of their offspring opening their spiritual apertures. If it were consumed, the dog demon would inevitably fight me to the death. Since I am borrowing this place to heal my wounds, we should mind our own business and have no need to provoke a strong enemy," Shen Leling said in a solemn voice.

Yet Yan Nu raised a brow. "Isn't it just a petty demon you can wipe out with a flip of your hand?"

"..." Shen Leling gave him a blank look. "Did you not know I was lying earlier?"

Yan Nu nodded. "I guessed as much... Either way, you were either lying to him or lying to me before..."

Pouting her lips, Shen Leling said, "That dog demon has entrenched itself in this mountain for many years without being destroyed; how could it be simple? It has eaten far too many martial artists and possesses powerful magical power. Although I don't know exactly how much magic power it holds, I am currently only in the Mystical Stage myself and am definitely not its match."

"Where on earth is this demon?" Yan Nu had fought his way all the way up without seeing the legendary great dog demon; the strongest thing he'd encountered was simply that large yellow dog with awakened spiritual intelligence.

To this question, Shen Leling remained silent for a long time, instead suddenly turning her gaze to Huang Banyun.

"It must be in Fei County city; the dog demon hasn't returned for days, and that's..." Feeling no movement, Huang Banyun opened his eyes to answer, running right into Shen Leling's unblinking stare.

In an instant, sweat broke out on the tip of his nose. He lowered his head and finished his sentence. "...that's entirely possible."

The corners of Shen Leling's mouth curved upward in a cold laugh. "Alright, call your monkey back; it's practically dying of anxiety over there."

"Just kill me, but please spare Wanzi!" Huang Banyun's expression was frantic.

"What is the point of you saying such things? For it to be this attached to you, it was surely born because of you... The obsession of a demonic creature remains unchanged for ten thousand generations. If you die, this monkey won't live on alone either," Shen Leling said in a deep tone.

Huang Banyun froze. He had lost his mother from a young age, and when he was twelve his father died as well, leaving him with only a stray little monkey he had picked up for company, driving him almost to utter despair.

For the sake of revenge, he bitterly practiced spear arts every day, enduring cold winters and hot summers while shedding who knows how much sweat. Every time he missed his father, he would hold the monkey and cry bitterly, shedding who knows how many tears.

He and the little monkey depended on each other for survival through countless days and nights.

Then suddenly one day, he discovered the monkey could understand his speech, and later it could even practice martial arts alongside him.

Huang Banyun had originally thought this was innate spiritual intelligence, but he never expected it was actually because of him that it had halfway opened its spiritual aperture?

"Why?"

Shen Leling calmly replied, "To have an extreme emotional attachment to an object, or an extreme desire for an object, can induce a response from the heavenly dao and bring about enlightenment into a demon."

"Beasts are the simplest; they inherently possess a certain degree of intelligence and desire. Plants come second. The most difficult of all are human artifacts, which must weather the vicissitudes of time and steep in the mundane dust of the mortal world before there is even a minuscule possibility."

"And the absolute hardest of all are the natural objects of heaven and earth, which only barely manage a sliver of possibility when fortuitous circumstances align."

Yan Nu asked with curiosity, "Elder Sister, what were you born from?"

Shaking her head, Shen Leling said, "I am naturally... the spiritual elegance of heaven and earth, the profound wonder of creation!"

With that, she flicked her finger, sending a bead of water that instantly vanished into Huang Banyun's body.

"For Yan Nu's sake, I'll spare your life for now. But my spell can kill you at any moment. Go! Guard the mountain base and adjust your breathing to recover as quickly as possible... If any martial artists arrive, use your true qi to impact the water droplet, and I will know."

Anxiously touching his own chest, Huang Banyun then stood up. "Understood. As long as the dog demon can be killed, I will do anything."

"Banyun, it's too dangerous for you without a weapon. I'll return the Mysterious Iron Spear to you." Yan Nu felt he could use any weapon whatsoever.

Shen Leling let out a chuckle. "There is no need!"

Forming a hand incantation, her fingertips glowing with fluorescent light and dense moisture, she asked, "How long a spear do you use?"

"Zhang-and-a-half!" Huang Banyun said in startled doubt.

Without a word, Shen Leling pointed her finger at a fallen tree by the roadside. "Hē!"

Instantly, that fallen tree emitted a crackling sound like tearing silk.

Huang Banyun walked over and struck it; with a rustling sound, the entire surface of the wood peeled away like dry powder, revealing the core within—which shockingly turned out to be a long spear!

The shaft was a zhang and a half long, its texture tough, the spearhead sharp and fitted with barbs.

Huang Banyun picked it up, swung it around slightly, and nodded marginally. His family's Six Marvelous Golden Spear combined hardness with softness and wasn't rigidly bound to iron spears.

Though a wooden spear of this sort fell far short of his Mysterious Iron Spear, it had still been meticulously crafted by a craftsman through complex procedures to become a finished product. At the very least, he wouldn't need to worry about it breaking during two or three skirmishes.

Huang Banyun never expected that Shen Leling was actually capable of Hē Mù Chéng Máo!

"This weapon is enough, but if the spirit dog attacks me on my way down the mountain, I'm afraid..."

Shen Leling said coldly, "I am going to take its essence soul right now!"

Understanding her intent, Huang Banyun immediately bowed to the two of them, cast a grateful look toward Yan Nu, and headed down the mountain with his monkey.

Waiting until Huang Banyun had taken the lead, Shen Leling brought Yan Nu down to the mid-level of the mountain to find the spirit dog in its cave.

The fierce wolves and wild dogs of Flag Mountain had basically been cleared out by Yan Nu—something Shen Leling had anticipated long ago.

Those wild beasts were merely there to exhaust him, and Yan Nu was someone least afraid of exhaustion...

Therefore, after entering the mountain and discovering hundreds of wild beasts, Shen Leling hadn't worried about Yan Nu at all. As for that spirit dog, it was sly as a ghost; she figured Yan Nu had more than enough self-preservation, even if he fell short in hunting it down.

The only thing that astonished Shen Leling was the enhancement of Yan Nu's skill, which far, far exceeded her estimations.

"Hiss! This much?"

"It actually worked... Is there any heavenly justice left in this?"

Shocked, Shen Leling checked Yan Nu's cultivation power. Solely from the perspective of sheer energy, Yan Nu had already surpassed her!

p.s: Sorry.