After leaving Jade Pearl Town, the journey had been quite peaceful. They had only run into several stretches of rain and snow, which made the roads somewhat worse.
Deng Baiyi spent most of her time cultivating in the carriage. She had decent talent for cultivation and sensed the existence of "Qi" in less than a day. Though she could not compare to the top geniuses of great sects, she would still be considered above average anywhere.
These past few days, she had been learning how to inscribe talismans, preserving the Qi she sensed within talisman paper.
Only by skillfully crafting talismans alone could one be considered a qualified Qi Refiner.
Jiang Huang, meanwhile, spent most of her time sleeping.
As for this cheap little girl Xie Xuanyi had picked up during a trip outside, the Deng family did not dare ask too many questions. Nor did they consider the possibility that she was a demon. After all, the little girl was simply too adorable, carved from pink jade like a porcelain doll. Even when she occasionally woke up, she wore a foolishly innocent, pitiful expression.
Whether Deng Baiyi or the others, they all assumed the child had been born unfortunate and suffered from some rare illness. Whenever they had time, they would look after her a little.
Jiang Huang was no ordinary Demon Cultivator.
She was a pure-blooded Phoenix Blood Descendant. The difficulty of cultivating into human form was dozens or even hundreds of times greater than that of other demon spirits!
Yet once she successfully took human form, she would be no different from an ordinary human.
Unless she encountered a great cultivator with fiery eyes and golden pupils, who carefully examined her with some special treasure or divine ability, she would basically never be exposed.
Over the past few days, Xie Xuanyi had gradually adapted to his body.
He could be certain.
This body was his own.
There was a forbidden art in the cultivation world that allowed one to replace one's physical body. As long as the caster preserved a shred of divine sense, he could continually switch shells and vessels... At first, Xie Xuanyi had been deeply worried that after sinking into the North Sea, he had encountered an evil cultivator and had his body replaced. Waking up in that manner would absolutely not have been a good thing.
But now, it seemed that his resurrection from death had been a pure miracle!
After sinking into the North Sea, this body had not only failed to rot or age, it had instead returned to its youngest and most peak state. His muscles had become fuller.
Every injury Xie Xuanyi had sustained in his younger days, when he had traversed the four realms and crossed blades in countless sword duels, had fully healed and vanished.
Even the several extremely deep scars left from those days had faded into faint white marks.
"Qi Refining, divine sense, Qi control, inner heaven..."
Xie Xuanyi murmured softly.
He had also been cultivating these past few days. This new body was extremely strong, but rebuilding his cultivation was not as swift as Xie Xuanyi had imagined.
Back then, it had taken him only half a day to advance from Qi Refining into the realm of divine sense!
But three days had passed.
The Qi of heaven and earth still drifted outside his body. No matter how resolute Xie Xuanyi's will was, the Qi of heaven and earth refused to enter beneath his skin. The two were separated by a heavenly chasm, as incompatible as water and fire!
Now that he had been granted another life, cultivation had inexplicably become far more difficult.
"Has something gone wrong with my cultivation method?"
The convoy had stopped beneath a patch of shade. Leaning against a banyan tree, Xie Xuanyi pondered in silence.
After leaving Jade Pearl Town.
The Qi of heaven and earth had gradually grown richer.
Even a newly fledged Qi Refiner like Deng Baiyi could draw upon Qi and slowly merge it into her body...
So why was he unable to fuse with this Qi?
Xie Xuanyi extended his palm.
Streams of snowy-white air intertwined and gathered in his palm. Under the control of Xie Xuanyi's powerful divine sense, nearly a hundred strands of Qi condensed together.
This was a force not to be underestimated.
The gathering of this Qi meant that Xie Xuanyi's realm of divine sense had not regressed. He could still command the free Qi of heaven and earth. He was still that young sword immortal of Great Chu who had once swept unhindered across the land!
It was just that his current situation was rather awkward...
His body was like a sword sheath.
Inside the sheath, there was nothing at all.
If he wanted to return to his former realm, he would need to slowly condense Qi within it, forging it into a sword's edge.
"This body's aptitude should be even better than mine was back then."
Xie Xuanyi could not make sense of it. He rubbed the spot between his brows in frustration.
Just then, cries and calls for help rang out from deep within the forest.
"Help—"
"Help!"
The voices drew nearer from afar.
For a moment, everyone in the convoy that had stopped to rest pricked up their ears. From the other end of the forest came the sound of flames burning, along with the heavy crashes of trees falling. Clearly, many people were gathering and approaching.
Deng Baiyi, who had been quietly cultivating in the carriage, was disturbed by the commotion. She got down and lifted the curtain.
Staring in the direction of the voices, she asked coldly, "What is going on?"
The coachman looked grim. "Miss, it seems people are fighting ahead."
"Fighting?"
Deng Baiyi frowned. "After leaving Northern Prefecture, there should not be any demon troubles..."
"Could they be bandits?"
Deng Chicheng let out a long sigh.
These past few days, he had prayed every day, hoping the Bodhisattva would bless their journey to Azure Prefecture with peace and safety.
"They are bandits."
Xie Xuanyi rose to his feet.
He raised his palm.
A strand of Qi brought back the scene a hundred zhang away.
That strand of Qi spread like smoke, unfolding before them like a bronze mirror—
Within the dense forest was a convoy roughly the same size as the Deng family's, being chased and slaughtered by bandits. The cries and sounds of chopping all came from there.
There were quite a few women among the convoy's family members.
At the most important central position of the convoy, they could vaguely see a very young woman in red robes. She held a tabby cat in her arms, her face streaked with tears. She looked especially pitiful.
"Bandits?"
Deng Baiyi's eyes lit up at the sight.
She held a stack of talisman paper in her hand, the ink stains on it not yet dry. These were the Qi Talismans she had inscribed overnight. At present, Xie Xuanyi had taught her only the simplest two kinds of talismans: one was the travel-essential Silence Talisman, while the other was the Detonation Talisman, which could be used for attack.
Xie Xuanyi glanced at Deng Baiyi. "What, do you want to make a move?"
Deng Baiyi coughed twice in embarrassment.
Having just learned Qi Refining and talisman drawing, her hands truly itched to try them out.
Seeing the victims in such misery, she instinctively wanted to help... Besides, these bandits would be perfect practice targets. Xie Xuanyi was behind her to clean up any messes anyway.
"If you want to help, I will not stop you."
"But let me make one thing clear beforehand. You handle the trouble you cause yourself. If you cannot settle things afterward, do not blame me for standing by with folded arms."
Xie Xuanyi waved away the strand of Qi, climbed into the carriage, drew the curtain shut, and closed his eyes to rest.
The cries from the forest grew louder!
Clearly, the convoy being pursued by the bandits was moving in this direction by "coincidence"!
To save them, or not?
Deng Baiyi instantly calmed down.
She made her decision swiftly. Rather than carrying her talismans over to draw her sword in aid, she waved for everyone to quickly get back into the carriages.
"Withdraw!"
The convoy quickly set off and drove onto the official road. The cries beneath the forest shade were immediately left behind.
Growing more and more distant.
Along the way, Deng Baiyi repeatedly lifted the curtain and looked back. Only after confirming that no one was following behind the convoy did she relax slightly.
After a long while.
Once her breathing had steadied, she asked uncertainly, "Was there something wrong with those people just now?"
Xie Xuanyi slowly opened his eyes. "At least you have some brains."
"..."
Deng Baiyi fell silent for a moment, then asked helplessly, "How could you tell?"
Xie Xuanyi's expression did not change as he countered, "The official road from Northern Prefecture to Azure Prefecture is seven hundred li long. How many days have we traveled?"
Deng Baiyi froze for an instant, then answered instinctively, "Three days."
Xie Xuanyi asked again, "In three days, how many people have we encountered?"
Deng Baiyi suddenly understood.
The road had been completely unobstructed. They had encountered almost no travelers at all.
The main reason was that the Great Chu Dynasty had abandoned the lands around Jiayong Pass years ago. Northern Prefecture had now completely become a desolate region.
Winter was approaching. This stretch of land had practically turned into an uninhabited zone.
If there really were bandits, why would they choose to establish a camp here? And if they did, whose goods could they possibly rob?
Deng Baiyi thought for a moment, then said, "But that young woman in the convoy was beautiful. She wore gleaming jeweled ornaments on her head, and her silk clothing also seemed to be of excellent quality... What if she was the daughter of a wealthy Household, merely passing through this place when she happened to encounter villains?"
"Heh."
With his hands behind his head, Xie Xuanyi said irritably, "Why do you not look in a mirror?"
Deng Baiyi failed to hear the mockery in his words.
Obediently, she picked up a bronze mirror and examined herself very carefully. Then she asked in confusion, "And?"
Sometimes this girl was clever. Other times, she was truly rather foolish.
Xie Xuanyi mocked her, "After looking in the mirror, did you discover that you are actually quite pretty too?"
"You..."
Deng Baiyi's face reddened slightly.
Xie Xuanyi had never complimented her before, and she was not quite used to it.
But in the next moment, she lifted her lovely brows and understood what he truly meant.
"A wealthy Household's precious daughter—aren't you one yourself?"
Xie Xuanyi spoke faintly. "If you traveled alone, would you bring so many female attendants? Either you would travel alone, which would be more convenient, and even if the road conditions were poorer, you would not be too conspicuous or attract villains. Or you would hire excellent guards and cross the region in a grand procession. You would not choose some remote, shaded forest path to rest."
That was right!
Deng Baiyi had actually felt that something was off from the very beginning.
But she had never truly left Northern Prefecture, nor did she have experience wandering the martial world. For a moment, she had failed to see where the problem lay.
Now, everything was clear.
Deng Baiyi smoothed the stray hairs by her temple and asked worriedly, "So... they were laying a trap, putting on an act? They wanted kindhearted people to save them? What were they after?"
"I do not know."
Xie Xuanyi had little interest in that question.
It reminded him of certain old matters from the past.
He shook his head.
Xie Xuanyi said softly, "You only need to remember one thing: in Great Chu, demons may be terrifying, but those who deliberately scheme to commit evil are far more terrifying than demons."
Deng Baiyi silently committed those words to memory.
Unable to help herself, she looked at Xie Xuanyi a few more times.
Who exactly this mysterious youth in white was, where he had come from, and where he was headed had always been a mystery.
Along this journey.
Deng Baiyi had asked Xie Xuanyi countless questions.
But regarding his background and past... she had not asked a single word.
She could tell that these were matters Xie Xuanyi did not wish to mention.
Since he did not bring them up, naturally she would not ask.
Today's update times are noon and six in the evening. I heard that serialized reading statistics are better that way... If no one minds, Panda will try it out a little.
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