Yan Yushu

Southern Wilderness was a land of continuous mountains and marshes.

A coldly elegant woman suddenly crawled out of a deep river valley. She was either a Qi Refiner—or a demon, ghost, or monster!

"..."

Chen Xuan said nothing, coldly staring at the drenched Maiden.

The Maiden wore no makeup. Her skin was fair, droplets sliding down her smooth, jade-like face. She possessed a natural, unadorned beauty that stirred an involuntary sense of pity in the heart.

She carried a blue-cloth bundle tied with a bow, looking like someone who had encountered a villain and, with no other choice, fallen into the water to flee for her life.

"Ah, someone..."

The Maiden realized Chen Xuan was glaring at her with narrowed eyes. Like a startled Little Fox, she hurriedly covered the snowy whiteness spilling from her collar with one hand.

Her flawless cheeks flushed faintly. She glanced back toward the river, seemingly wanting to jump in again and come ashore somewhere else to escape this awkward situation... but in the end, she did not dare.

"This thing... pretending to be delicate and weak. Is she a Qi Refiner or a monster?"

Chen Xuan's brow furrowed ever more deeply, and he grew even more wary. Although he had not sensed the slightest hostility from her.

The Maiden lowered her head and walked toward the mountain road. Her thin blue-black dress was soaked through, revealing glimpses of snowy skin. She was clearly avoiding Chen Xuan's gaze, yet faintly, she gave off a seductive, coquettish air—as though inviting rejection while beckoning him closer—that made one want to... profane her.

"..."

Chen Xuan's gaze instantly turned fierce. He stared fixedly at the Maiden as if facing a great enemy.

The Maiden lowered her head and passed beside Chen Xuan. Her intoxicating feminine scent, enough to set a man's blood surging, drifted faintly over, involuntarily conjuring lurid images of snowy limbs entwined in his mind.

"Clang!"

Something fell beside Chen Xuan's feet.

"..."

Chen Xuan clenched both fists and immediately turned around, still staring intently at her thin, narrow shoulders from behind.

The Maiden's body tensed. She seemed to sense the man's gaze growing more feverish against her body. At last, she could not bear it any longer. Turning her head, she frowned and scolded:

"Have you never seen a woman before? Why do you keep staring..."

Her voice was quite pleasant, clear and crisp like a stream trickling past stones beneath the pines in the mountains, leisurely flowing through the heart.

Chen Xuan froze, his expression turning strange. Then he pointed at his feet and said:

"You dropped something."

The Maiden glanced over. Her face immediately flushed with embarrassment. It was a small bronze mirror used by women to do their hair and makeup, which had slipped from her bundle and happened to land at the man's feet. She hurried back to pick it up, her voice as faint as a mosquito's.

"Many thanks, fellow Daoist..."

She seemed somewhat guilty and immediately turned around, quickening her pace as she went farther away.

She was a Qi Refiner.

Chen Xuan watched the woman's back disappear. After a while, he withdrew his gaze and looked around.

He still did not understand. The riverbank was broad, and she could have reached the mountain road from either the left or the right.

Yet she had panicked and chosen the wrong path, passing right beside him?

And the object in her bundle had just happened to fall at his feet.

"Was it deliberate, or an accident?"

Chen Xuan muttered. He had long since become highly vigilant. If that Maiden had shown even the slightest hostility just now, his iron-hard fist would have smashed out in an instant.

"Wearing a flimsy dress, soaked from head to toe—what could it possibly conceal... I don't believe you're anything good."

Chen Xuan shook his head and muttered to himself. He vaguely felt that this woman was no simple character, but that was of little concern. He continued walking toward the outside of the mountains.

At the quiet mountain foot, the river flowed slowly. New green showed through the bare willow branches, presenting a scene brimming with life as all things began to sprout.

The winter snow was melting, and spring was approaching.

A quarter of an hour later, Chen Xuan passed several crossroads and ran into several tall figures coming toward him.

"Amitabha..."

Two monks appeared, clad in kasayas, their arms and legs straight and thick as pillars. Their heads were square on all sides, like neatly cut blocks of stone piled upon their shoulders. Their expressions were solemn, bearing a look of deep grievance.

Ascetic Monks of the Hanging Temple!

They looked exactly like the square-headed figures described in the rumors!

"Fellow Daoist, have you encountered a young woman of sixteen or seventeen, named Yan Yushu and as beautiful as an immortal?"

The older Ascetic Monk, his expression solemn, asked Chen Xuan.

"I saw a woman climb ashore from the river."

Chen Xuan replied, quietly growing wary. He had secretly learned the Hanging Temple's Little White Ape Trick.

But the trick was unlike a breathing method. It would gradually alter the body's structure through the rhythms of breathing accumulated over years. As long as he did not deliberately reveal it, the other party should not be able to detect it.

The Ascetic Monk's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "Please tell us where she went."

Chen Xuan shook his head upon hearing this. "Master, I have no grudge against that woman, and I do not know what she did to offend you. Please forgive me, but I cannot casually reveal another person's whereabouts."

Though this answer was a refusal, it was also frank and open.

"..."

The two Ascetic Monks exchanged a glance. Then their two square heads drew together, and they whispered to each other right in front of Chen Xuan.

"Senior Brother Kong Wen, this man wants to conceal her whereabouts. He must have forgotten righteousness for beauty, with his nature and life completely ensnared by Six Desires Heaven."

The younger monk spoke with certainty. "This man's life is ruined."

The older monk, whose Buddhist name was Kong Wen, said compassionately, "Yan Yushu has claimed too many lives along the way..."

The young monk's eyes nearly spat fire as he said angrily, "Yan Yushu is cunning. She knows that the great human cultivators cannot casually set foot in the Southern Wilderness. Hmph, but she does not know what an immense resolve our Hanging Temple has made. She will not escape."

Even a young monk like him, who had only recently begun refining qi and whose Buddhist cultivation was shallow, had been sent out. An invisible net vast enough to blot out the sky and sun was descending. Even if she fled into the Southern Wilderness, she would certainly be captured.

Nearby, Chen Xuan listened to their words and pondered. "Six Desires Heaven..."

That Maiden from earlier was named Yan Yushu. Was she the Six Desires Heaven registered in the Small Underworld?

He had known there was something wrong with this woman at a glance. Although she was impossibly beautiful, there was a demonic aura about her that inexplicably tempted people to commit crimes.

But still.

He had upheld morality and refused to casually sell out another person's whereabouts. So why, in the mouth of this young monk, had he become someone who had forgotten righteousness for beauty and been thoroughly ensnared?

If this Yan Yushu is truly beyond redemption and has committed every evil under the sun, I would have directly told them which way she went. I'd be doing a good deed, with no burden on my conscience.

Chen Xuan thought this, but Mystic Cat Goddess had once said that the monks of the Hanging Temple were deranged, and most of them were not normal people.

Although they kept out of worldly affairs, they had once made the mad attempt to awaken the Yong He giant ape. Now they were pursuing this Heavenly Fate Immortal Seed, Six Desires Heaven. Who knew what world-shaking, outrageous undertaking they were secretly planning this time?

Chen Xuan did not want to get involved in such matters, so he turned to leave.

When the young monk saw Chen Xuan was about to go, he immediately panicked and shouted, "Senior Brother Kong Wen, this man is leaving!"

He quickly advanced and reached for Chen Xuan's shoulder. But as if he had grown an eye on his back, Chen Xuan instantly sidestepped. Then his gaze sank.

"What are you trying to do?"

The young monk was stunned. He had not expected the other party to react so quickly and effortlessly evade his attack. He immediately turned toward the older monk behind him and said anxiously, "Senior Brother Kong Wen, this man's life is already rotten, and his death would not be regretted. Let's restrain him and force him to reveal Yan Yushu's whereabouts!"

It was a highly constructive suggestion.

But before Chen Xuan could react, a furious roar like a lion's rang out.

"Shut your mouth!!"

Kong Wen's expression changed drastically. He suddenly kicked the young monk, sending him flying more than thirty feet away. The young monk's chest caved in, countless ribs snapped, and he could not stop himself from vomiting great mouthfuls of blood in midair.

"Junior Brother, evil thoughts sprout freely in your heart, and the moment you open your mouth, you seek to harm others. How are you any different from the common people of the secular world?"

Kong Ming's face was severe as he shouted at the young monk on the ground, "Junior Brother, you are beyond saving. You should end your own life here!"

"..."

Chen Xuan was stunned by this sudden turn of events.