Galaxy Fleet

Inside the Sect Leader Temple, Gu Bai held the short stick of Golden Rouge in his hands. Looking somewhat ill at ease, he glanced at his eldest disciple standing nearby, then couldn't help coughing before asking, "This... is it really okay?"

Zhu Ying said irritably, "Honestly, I told you it was a gift specifically for you! As long as it does no harm to body or mind, I'm not so unreasonable that I can't even tolerate a little hobby of Master's. Besides, that woman from the Yuan Family kept pestering me to bring it to you to try. She said there'd definitely be a surprise..."

Gu Bai hesitated for a long while, but in the end steeled himself. Trembling, he brought the short stick to his lips and took a gentle puff.

His spiritual breath circulated, and the short stick suddenly grew a little shorter. A flush of extreme delight appeared on the old man's face at once. His eyes squeezed shut, and his eyeballs rolled faintly upward.

A moment later, the old man lowered his head slightly, and a stream of reddish-golden smoke shot from his nose and mouth. It spun once in midair, then transformed into the figure of a young girl.

The smoke was hazy, and the figure vanished in an instant, but one could still just make out the girl traced by the smoke: pretty, spirited, and none other than Gujian Sect's senior disciple, Zhu Ying!

Zhu Ying was both exasperated and amused. "So this is her surprise! Instead of properly studying the art of alchemy, she spends all her time fiddling with these useless, flashy things!"

Even as she complained, the delight in her eyes did not diminish in the least. Wu Ming watched her with astonishment.

Since he had crossed into this world and awakened in Senior Sister Ling Xi's Tree House, then met his senior sister for the first time, he had never seen her so openly happy.

On this trip down the mountain, she had not only gained progress in cultivation, magical treasures, and wealth, but also an exceptionally rare good mood.

Just then, rapid footsteps sounded outside the temple, followed by a girl's boisterous, joyful cry.

"Master~ Master! I finally got the Spirit Field ready!"

Wrapped in laughter, the girl in a pink jacket and white skirt charged headlong into the Sect Leader Temple—and then, as if she had charged straight into the gates of hell.

"S-s-s-senior S-sister..."

Horrified beyond measure, Zheng Lingxi stumbled over both her words and her steps, nearly bowling straight into the sheer cliff named Zhu Ying.

Fortunately, Zhu Ying caught her just in time. Then, rather crossly, she scolded her, "How many times have I told you not to behave so rudely in front of Master?"

"S-s-sorry..."

As she spoke, Zheng Lingxi cautiously shuffled backward, trying to put some distance between them.

Zhu Ying snorted and wrinkled her nose. Then she noticed several dog hairs on Zheng Lingxi's skirt hem.

"...I wondered why I'd smelled wisps of demonic aura inside the mountain-guarding formation when I came back to the mountain. You've been playing with those wild demons again, haven't you!?"

Zheng Lingxi shrank back. "But, but they're so pitiful..."

After this familiar exchange, Zheng Lingxi shut her eyes and waited for death. But, to everyone's surprise, Zhu Ying only sighed, patted her head, and said,

"Compassion and sympathy have to stay within the bounds of what you can manage. Keeping them in the Yan Mountain Realm may have let your kindness bear fruit for a while. But if someone discovers them later, and you can't truly protect them, you'll end up needing other people to protect you."

After a pause, Zhu Ying added, "If you really pity them, then you should work hard at cultivation and grow into someone powerful enough to truly protect them, just as Master protects you and me."

This gentle admonition left Zheng Lingxi with no choice but to nod silently.

So Zhu Ying rose onto her toes to pat her head again and smiled. "All right, don't look so miserable. I brought you a gift from my trip down the mountain."

"Huh? A gift?"

Zhu Ying smiled and flipped her right hand. A strangely shaped, crystalline herb suddenly appeared in her palm.

"[Mind-Clearing Herb]. I happened to see it when I passed through Dongjun. Haven't you been saying you wanted one? It might be a little troublesome to cultivate, though. You'll need to get a Spirit Field established first..."

Before she could finish, Zheng Lingxi flung her arms around Zhu Ying in a burst of delight!

"Thank you, Senior Sister~~!" The little Witch was practically moved to tears with gratitude. Like an affectionate little dog, she hugged Zhu Ying tightly and rubbed against her.

"You..." Zhu Ying felt as if she were caught in suffocating, raging waves. Her whole face was buried, and for a moment she couldn't get out a complete sentence.

A moment later, seeing that Zheng Lingxi was getting more and more carried away, nearly rubbing their clothes into disarray, Zhu Ying gently exerted some force and pushed her away.

"Back up. Sit down!"

After two sharp reprimands, Zheng Lingxi obediently sat on a cushion and stopped making a fuss.

Zhu Ying sighed. "You've been cultivating for so long, yet you're still a child who won't grow up."

On the other side, Wu Ming and Gu Bai, who had witnessed the whole thing, exchanged a glance in unison. Deep suspicion filled both their eyes.

"Master, Senior Sister's being a little too gentle. She wouldn't have accidentally fallen into a lake while hunting demons, only for a lake fairy to ask the people on the shore whether she should return the Zhu Ying who's six feet tall or..."

"I did not fall into a lake!" Zhu Ying interrupted Wu Ming's muttering in irritation. Then she turned serious. "Next, I was going to report what I saw and experienced along the way to Master. Corresponding by letter wasn't convenient, so there's a lot I never went into detail about."

Gu Bai nodded. "All right. You were gone for over a month; you must have experienced things far more exciting than most people could imagine."

Zhu Ying gave him a bitter smile. "I did have plenty of unimaginable experiences, but they can hardly be called exciting."

The young woman gathered her thoughts, then recounted her experiences over the past month or so. She was no dazzling storyteller, but she was concise and clear, and her account was well organized. Before long, she had sketched out the broad outline of the entire demon-hunting operation.

Simply put, the prefectural government's Demon Hunting Decree had gone off course from the very beginning.

On the first day, when everyone had gathered in response to the summons, Zhu Ying saw someone who had no business being there.

Liu Cheng, the eldest son of the Liu Family.

The Demon Hunting Decree in Wu Prefecture was notorious as a thankless job. It meant scouring the mountains to hunt down a pack of Mountain Spirits and other monsters that had committed murders and villainy, trekking through the remote borderlands of Qiongzhou, and facing the deadly danger of fierce battles with demons. The rewards were generous, but what respectable family would trouble itself over a few paltry rewards?

So ordinarily, the hunting squads were mostly made up of struggling Rogue Cultivators, whose cultivation rarely exceeded Foundation Establishment. Only a handful of Aristocratic Clan scions took part, usually to gain experience or show off.

These scions, of course, never truly broke their backs hunting demons. They mostly barked orders at the Rogue Cultivators, then seized all the glory afterward. The prefectural government's public report after the hunt always saved the biggest commendations for them.

Still, for the Rogue Cultivators, having Aristocratic Clan scions along wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Though they were obnoxious, most had formidable cultivation and were decked out in magical gear from head to toe. Protector Elders accompanied them when they ventured outside, too. So if an unexpected, powerful enemy appeared, the Rogue Cultivators really had to rely on those scions to hold the line.

Besides, which Rogue Cultivator living in remote Qiongzhou didn't know that clinging to an Aristocratic Clan's coattails was the quickest road to the heavens?

It was just that the Demon Hunting Squads of the past had rarely seen someone of Liu Cheng's stature. After all, stealing the spotlight from a pack of Rogue Cultivators wasn't exactly dignified.

Those true heavenly beings who stood high above everyone else had plenty of ways to get things done with both glory and dignity when they wanted the spotlight.

Accidents like the one with the Taiyi Dharma Sword—where whoever came first got to carry it—were few and far between.

So even Zhu Ying couldn't help being surprised when she saw Liu Cheng.

And that surprise was only the beginning. Before long, she saw even more people who had no business being there standing beside Liu Cheng.

Kang Pingxiang, Hu Xi, Luo Xiao, Fang Yichen... The top five Aristocratic Clans in Wu Prefecture had all sent scions! The Kang and Hu Families had even sent their eldest sons. On top of that, there were people from Aristocratic Clans in other prefectures!

Such a lineup was entirely unlike those of previous years. Yet no one could explain why, because those who knew had no intention of saying.

For the Rogue Cultivators who had gathered, this was deeply unsettling. What if the Demon Hunting Decree concealed some extreme danger? The young masters of the Aristocratic Clans had Protector Elders and could run whenever they pleased, but what were the rest of the Rogue Cultivators supposed to do?

Besides, even if there was no unspeakable danger, if Liu Cheng and the others had simply acted on a whim and wanted to make an unannounced inspection and show off before the public... that would mean a hunt that might have lasted ten days to half a month would be over in just two or three days.

With so many elite scions of the Aristocratic Clans gathered together, failing to quickly wipe out a mere band of Mountain Spirits would be a joke!

For many people in circumstances like Zhu Ying's, who had specifically come to claim the daily benefits, that was naturally disastrous news.

But Liu Cheng immediately offered a reassuring anchor to quell everyone's unease.

"He said that once the matter was settled, every cultivator who took part in the hunt would receive a guaranteed reward of one hundred Spirit Stones on top of the Demon Hunting Decree's bounty. That was far more worthwhile than more than ten days of breathing in the earth's spiritual energy, so nobody said another word. We were all willing to follow orders."

"Liu Cheng and the others had clearly come prepared. They had thoroughly investigated the murderous Mountain Spirits that were roaming around. They knew everything about them: their habits, their habitat, even their strange abilities. They also went out of their way to share the information with us Rogue Cultivators and drew up several hunting plans."

"Before we set off, everything was ready. There was no room for failure."

"Every Aristocratic Clan scion who took part in the hunt had reached Foundation Establishment or higher. Liu Cheng, in particular, was at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, standing head and shoulders above his peers. And among Rogue Cultivators like me, half had also reached Foundation Establishment."

"Of course, most importantly, there were more than ten Protector Elders accompanying the Aristocratic Clan scions. Every one of them had reached Golden Core. With them around, it would have been easy to hunt down a mere group of Mountain Spirits. Even century-old great demons like bears, bears, and vicious flood dragons would have been easy to kill."

At this point, even Gu Bai couldn't help frowning. From the sound of it, the story should have ended right there, barring any surprises.

With such a lavish hunting team and such thorough preparations, it shouldn't have taken even three days to deal with a group of Mountain Spirits whose strength barely reached Foundation Establishment. So how had they dragged it out for more than a month!?

Clearly, the story had taken an unexpected turn right where it should have ended without incident.