Love Turning to Hate Often Happens in an Instant

Cicadas chirped, cicadas chirped...

Amid the woven chorus of cicadas in the forest, the ancient Gujian Sect on Yan Mountain welcomed the height of summer in the 2510th year of the Immortal Mansion Calendar.

Qiongzhou lay in a remote corner of the Nine Provinces, bordering Minghai Guixu. Its environment was often extreme, and the scorching summer heat was almost unbearable. Yan Mountain was remote even by remote standards, yet it could not escape the blazing summer.

And yet, even beneath the blazing sun, with the air hot and restless as an oven, a group of craftsmen were still hard at work at the foot of Yan Mountain.

They wielded all sorts of finely crafted tools: hammers, hand saws, shovels, screws. Every one of them contained spiritual light and was no ordinary tool.

The craftsmen themselves were no ordinary people, either. Each possessed a measure of immortal cultivation, with even the least skilled reaching the fifth or sixth level of Qi Refining. As they worked, mana flowed naturally through them, driving the various magical tools in their hands.

One swing of a hammer sent rocks tumbling; wherever a hand saw passed, spiritual wood as hard as iron was cut as easily as tofu.

Any one of these craftsmen could effortlessly outdo a hundred ordinary people, and there were a full thirty of them at the construction site.

In all of Wu Prefecture, few could muster a crew like this. Combined with the uniform clothes the craftsmen wore, their identities were obvious: the Jiangshi Squad of Wuting at Luohuang Mountain.

They were also the foremost team of craftsmen in all of Qiongzhou.

In just over two months since work had begun, these Wuting craftsmen had extended the long Lingguang Path all the way from Prefecture City, a thousand li away, to the foot of Yan Mountain.

Then, using such fine materials as spiritual wood and jade foundations, they had harnessed the spiritual energy in the local earth veins to shape a golden-red parasol tree—neither wood nor stone—over fifty meters tall, its every branch and leaf crystalline as jade.

Only a wondrous treasure like this could attract the favor of the first-grade spiritual birds, the azure luan of Luohuang Mountain, and persuade them to fly back and forth, carrying people wherever they wished.

With a ring of jade steps and two rows of buildings constructed around the Golden-Red Parasol Tree, the famous Qingluan Post Station had taken shape.

That day, beneath the blazing sun and the ceaseless cries of cicadas, the Wuting craftsmen were expertly going about their work. Every one of them had cultivation and feared neither heat nor cold, yet they could not help growing irritable.

Clang!

The sharp ring of a hammer, quite out of place, sounded as a young craftsman who had only recently joined the squad accidentally smashed a jade tile.

The Foundation Establishment foreman immediately furrowed his brows. He was about to draw a breath down to his dantian and unleash his fury from the Spirit Court... when a sweet, coquettish call drifted down from the mountain.

"Masters, I brought you water~"

Then a girl in a pink top and white skirt came drifting down from the mountain, light on her feet and surrounded by a crowd of birds and beasts.

At the sight of her, even the most humorless, stern-faced craftsmen could not help smiling. The foreman immediately let go of his anger, gave the young craftsman a quick swat on the back of the head, then turned to the girl with a beaming smile.

"When our Jiangshi Squad takes outside jobs, we receive extra pay. However grueling the work gets, it's only to be expected. But Miss Zheng comes every day to bring spring water and pastries to a bunch of rough old men like us. We're truly... deeply grateful."

Zheng Lingxi carried the bucket of clear spiritual spring water to the middle of the worksite, then gave a cheeky grin.

"Master says that even though the Gujian Sect is small, it mustn't neglect the courtesies owed to its guests. You've come from so far away to build the Qingluan Post Station for the Gujian Sect. You're our honored guests, so we mustn't neglect you."

The foreman smiled. "Then please thank the True Person, your sect leader, for us."

"My junior brother says that if I come by and make a round every day, the masters' work efficiency will go up a notch. He says I'm more useful than any foreman."

The foreman's smile immediately froze. But from the corner of his eye, he saw several hot-blooded young craftsmen nearby. At the sight of a beautiful young girl visiting the worksite, their blood boiled and their insides roared; their hammers rang out without pause, and hot breath steamed from their nostrils. They had far more energy than when he roared right in their faces...

What a pack of shameless fools!

"Master Man, I've delivered the things. I'm going to help out!"

Then Zheng Lingxi somehow produced a carving knife and a small hammer. Waving them in both hands, she bounced up to the Golden-Red Parasol Tree.

Without another word, she began carving its branches and leaves, the tools ringing out as she worked.

She had naturally blended right into the craftsmen's ranks!

The craftsmen were used to seeing this. At most, they shrugged and smiled wryly, but no one tried to stop her.

The young craftsman who had joined only recently looked astonished. He glanced around and asked, "Hey, aren't you going to stop her?"

Was it proper to let some inexplicable outsider interfere with the Jiangshi Squad's work at will? And the carving knife and small hammer in her hands were clearly squad equipment, weren't they? How could they just hand them to an outsider?

An older craftsman heard him and immediately slapped him.

"Stop her from what? Look closely. Stop her from what?"

The young craftsman flinched in pain. Only then did he look up and see Zheng Lingxi carving the jade tree.

The girl seemed carefree and innocent, like a child who knew nothing of the world. Yet her hands moved with astonishing agility and precision, and each stroke made the jade tree more exquisite and lifelike. Her skill was no worse than that of the squad's most experienced craftsmen—and her eye for beauty was even better!

"Ah...?"

As the young craftsman stared, dumbfounded, Zheng Lingxi finished carving several branches. She looked them over, nodded in satisfaction, then ran off to help carry bricks.

Each Wind Gold Ingot weighed over ten thousand jin and was specially used to support the jade steps and buildings. Ordinarily, several Qi Refining craftsmen had to work together, using the Lightness Technique and Object Manipulation Technique, just to move one. Even the Foundation Establishment foreman had to use the Lightness Technique to its absolute limit.

But in Zheng Lingxi's hands, the Wind Gold Ingots seemed as weightless as clouds. She casually picked one up and ran and skipped all the way to where it was needed. Even her footprints seemed to fade in and out beneath her feet.

Her mastery of the Lightness Technique was simply unheard-of.

The young craftsman swallowed with difficulty and fell silent. The Wuting Jiangshi Squad certainly had strict rules, but no rule mattered more than craftsmanship. When someone's skill reached this level, even if the other craftsmen harbored reservations, all they could do was kneel in admiration.

Besides, who could hold a grudge against an innocent, carefree young girl?

Especially when that innocent, carefree young girl was helping out for free!

After that, Zheng Lingxi worked wherever she went, moving from one job to another without pause. She switched between five or six different trades, and looked like a seasoned hand at every one of them, leaving the craftsmen thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

By now, the young craftsman was growing ever more astonished and perplexed.

Where had she learned all these skills? The Lightness Technique, the Jade Carving Manual, the Leveling Record... None was an especially profound or high-grade art, but they were the Jiangshi Squads of Wuting's signature crafts, the very skills that had made them leaders in Qiongzhou's trade.

They weren't hard to learn. What was hard was studying them day after day, until one's skills became utterly refined.

"Practice makes perfect." It sounded like such a simple phrase, yet it was a great Dao that countless ambitious people chased all their lives without ever attaining.

So where had this young girl from the Gujian Sect found the time to hone all these skills day after day? Or was there really such a thing as an Innate Earthwood Sacred Body, and had it fallen to this adorable, beautiful young girl?

Just then, he saw Zheng Lingxi, who was plastering a wall nearby, twitch her pointed ears. She excitedly lifted her head and looked toward the mountain path.

"Little junior brother, you're here~~"

Following the girl's gaze, the young craftsman saw a boy in white.

He looked about fourteen or fifteen, with fine features and a confident but unassuming smile that made him seem naturally approachable.

Seeing the boy, the young craftsman found the corners of his mouth lifting slightly, as if his mood had improved too.

But in the next instant, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the senior craftsmen around him all darken their expressions. Some even gritted their teeth, their hammers pounding as if they were smashing someone's skull...

"??"

The young craftsman couldn't help rubbing his eyes, wondering if he'd seen wrong.

What was so detestable about that boy in white?! Was he the only one who thought the boy was rather good-looking?

Yet, in his field of vision, the boy in white carried a long sword shimmering with spiritual light on his back. Head held high and steps swift, he bounded several times along the mountain path, his graceful bearing utterly carefree... a feast for the eyes.

But the moment the boy landed lightly, Zheng Lingxi hurried over. Without another word, she grabbed his hand and said in a cloying voice,

"Junior brother~ I've run into something I don't understand again. Teach me~!"

As she begged him, she naturally clasped his hand tightly and pressed it to her chest, swaying gently with her body...

Holy crap!

The young craftsman understood everything in an instant. It was as if a blood-red filter had dropped over his eyes. The boy in white looked entirely different now.

This scoundrel was truly detestable!

Meanwhile, Wu Ming had long since grown immune to the Grand Line that countless people envied. He could not even be bothered to struggle, and merely said, "Senior sister is right behind you."

"Waaah! Senior sister, I was wrong!" Zheng Lingxi immediately let go, clasped her hands over her head, and crouched down, all in one smooth motion. A moment later, she wrinkled her nose, stood back up, and grinned foolishly. "You tricked me again!"

"You fell for it again... Tell me, what can't you do?"

Zheng Lingxi said, "When I'm carving jade, a few pieces of spiritual jade just won't behave."

As she spoke, she flipped her hand and produced several stones meant to decorate the parasol tree. They were all "stubborn stones" among jade, extremely difficult to work with and usually discarded as scrap.

Generally speaking, only master craftsmen at Wuting's headquarters could spare the time to work on stubborn stones. But craftsmen with skill enough to do so were hardly likely to bother with them.

Wu Ming studied the stubborn stones for a moment, tracing a few lines over them with his fingers before finding an idea.

"Senior sister, try the Cloud Carving Chapter. Like this: skimming over waves like a swallow, dripping onto stone like a spring..."

Just a few simple words, and Zheng Lingxi looked enlightened. Her fingers followed the motions, spiritual light flowing from her fingertips like a blade. In an instant, she carved the impurities right out of one stubborn stone, awakening its spiritual light!

It was none other than the Stone Pointing Art, an extremely profound technique from the Jade Carving Manual!

The young craftsman, who had watched everything from the sidelines, nearly bugged his eyes right out of his head.

That worked too!?

So the innocent, carefree Earthwood Sacred Maiden had actually been taught by this boy, who was being called junior brother!?

No wonder... he looked even more detestable now!

But where had this junior brother from the Gujian Sect learned the Jiangshi Squad's signature crafts from Wuting?!