Volume One: Days in the Shantytown - War Profits (Part Two)

Du Zhongping smiled and waved Luo Qian on. "All right, off you go." With the Sect Leader's permission, Li Xuexiao raised a pale hand and said coldly, "Move out!" Including Luo Qian, sixty-one Immortals rose into the air, their robes billowing like clouds as they drove their Immortal Arts toward Tianxia Source at full speed.

Several members of Distant Hall's support team knew Luo Qian well. Most were fellow disciples who worked "part-time" at his Luo Family Medicine Shop.

Luo Qian had learned that trick in the Mortal Realm. Having Distant Hall disciples work part-time as shop assistants strengthened his ties with Distant Hall and saved him money. Those disciples could buy medicine from the shop at half price. Distant Hall was a major sect with dedicated pill cultivators, but the pills allotted to each disciple were still nowhere near enough. Thanks to that perk, the part-timers advanced faster than their Fellow Disciples and were grateful to Luo Qian. When they saw him joining the expedition, they gathered around him, laughing and chatting in high spirits.

Li Xuexiao lived up to her name. Her beautiful face seemed hidden behind a sheet of ice, and she did not smile once throughout the journey. Even when speaking to her two martial uncles, she bent respectfully at the waist but never smiled.

This was Luo Qian's first glimpse of Distant Hall's legendary top young expert, and he could not help taking a second look. Du Lengning had good taste.

Luo Qian had no improper designs on the women of the Immortal Realm. Ever since he learned he was a Tribulation Immortal and understood what that meant, he had stopped imagining that any virtuous fairy would fall for him. In the Immortal Realm, strength decided everything. Fairy Li Feng was the woman of countless young immortals' dreams, but had their storybook romance come true? No. She had married into a powerful household. That was the reality of the Immortal Realm.

Luo Qian was a realist. With his abilities as a Tribulation Immortal, even staying alive was a problem; love was no more than flowers in a mirror and the moon on water. Even if smuggling made him rich, how could a woman who approached him for his Immortal Jade stay with him for life?

Luo Qian had left love behind in the Mortal Realm.

"Old Luo, what do you think?" Du Lengning finally found a chance to ask him quietly. Luo Qian played dumb. "About what?" Du Lengning blushed. "What else? Her." Luo Qian laughed and patted his back. "Not bad. You've always had good taste."

"But... she seems a little cold toward you," Luo Qian said tactfully. Du Lengning deflated. "I know. She's like that with every male disciple." Luo Qian frowned. Du Lengning suddenly said, "Old Luo, could you do me a favor?" "What?"

Du Lengning whispered, "Remember that girl from the lower realm last time? I want you to help me bring her up here..." "What did you say?" Luo Qian exclaimed. Du Lengning hurriedly elbowed him. "Keep your voice down! I'm not asking you to smuggle her into the Immortal Realm. Just give her a cultivation technique."

Luo Qian pondered for a long while, then said uneasily, "Don't you already have Li Xuexiao?" Du Lengning sounded far from confident. "She won't give me the time of day. How am I supposed to know what she thinks? I might as well wait a few years for that girl to ascend. Old Luo, if you give her some Red Pupil Pills, she could ascend within thirty years, couldn't she?"

Why did this feel to Luo Qian like an Immortal Realm version of a "raise-your-own-virgin plan"? The whole thing sat strangely with him.

Before he could answer, Du Lengning smiled and waved it off. "Forget it. It was just a passing thought. Pretend I never said anything." Luo Qian breathed a sigh of relief. Thirty years was far too long for an investment to pay off.

Luo Qian's Immortal Art cultivation was too weak, so Du Lengning and several Fellow Disciples took turns helping him along. After half a day's flight, Li Xuexiao called from the front, "Fellow Disciples, Tianxia Source lies just ahead. The Demon Beast could appear at any moment. Stay alert!"...

The group answered as one, their voices booming like thunder.

Once they entered Tianxia Source, everyone slowed down, and Luo Qian could just barely keep up without help.

Up ahead, Li Xuexiao and the two martial uncles tried to contact Zuo Lingchuan. They sent three Communication Jade Talismans in succession, but received no reply. Their faces grew grave. The havoc this Demon Beast had caused was clearly worse than they had imagined. There was only one reason Zuo Lingchuan would fail to answer all three messages: the fighting was so urgent that he could not spare a moment.

If even the third uncle of the Zuo Household had joined the fight, the family was on the brink of ruin.

Li Xuexiao made an immediate decision with a wave of her hand. "To Zuo Family Manor!"

Zuo Family Manor stood beside Tianxia Lake, amid emerald hills and clear waters, with the evening glow draped over it like a shawl and ancient trees casting deep shade. Water drawn from the lake circled the estate. Inside, immortal energy abounded; pavilions and winding corridors were laid out with exquisite care, while its raised terraces and soaring towers were magnificent. It was hailed as the pinnacle of Immortal Realm garden design.

But when Distant Hall's reinforcements reached the estate famed throughout the Immortal Realm, its former beauty was gone. All they saw were broken walls and ruins that could not conceal the scorched earth beneath.

"How could this happen?" Everyone was stunned. A single Demon Beast had destroyed even the Zuo Household's ancestral estate! "Spread out and search for survivors, but don't stray too far!" Li Xuexiao floated down, and her Fellow Disciples scattered through the ruins.

After searching and finding nothing, Li Xuexiao instead breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. At least it proves the Zuo Household wasn't wiped out. The enemy may be powerful and hard to resist, but they managed to withdraw with their wounded. They can still protect themselves."

Just then, a streak of golden light shot in from the horizon. Li Xuexiao caught it. "It's a jade message talisman from Zuo Lingchuan." She opened it with the two martial uncles, then pointed northwest. "Quick, move out."

The sixty-odd immortals swept onward in a great procession. After several hours, the clash of metal rang out ahead. Their hearts tightened. They had found them!

One martial uncle gave a casual wave. A wisp of azure energy so faint it was almost invisible danced through the air, parting the clouds and mist. Tens of thousands of li away, high in the clouds, streaks of light flashed, leaping like rabbits and twisting like snakes. More than a dozen of them circled a mass of azure light, striking down from time to time.

Without another word, Li Xuexiao poured in a breath of Immortal Aura and sped toward the battlefield. "Distant Hall of Ningyao Mountain has come to help! Senior of the Zuo Household, what would you have us do?"

Though the azure light was surrounded, it showed no sign of being driven into a corner. The experts besieging it looked far more strained. Their attacks could penetrate the light and injure the Demon Beast itself, but maintaining such costly attacks took everything they had. If they stopped using those powerful magical treasures and spells, the Demon Beast would break free at once, and trapping it again would be harder still.

A middle-aged man drifted out from the Zuo Household's formation and exclaimed with delight, "Old Du's people are here! Where's Old Du?" Li Xuexiao bowed. "You must be the third uncle of the Zuo Household. My master did not come. He sent me and my two martial uncles to help."

Zuo Lingchuan nodded. "Good. You've come at just the right time. We've laid out the Eight Directions Heaven Formation, but one corner is still empty. Take the southwest position at once." He pointed, and Li Xuexiao saw that a space had indeed been left open there.

Sects from across the Immortal Realm had sent aid to the Zuo Household. Ningyao Mountain was far away, so Distant Hall arrived late. Six major sects had already come in succession, and the experts surrounding the azure light included fighters from those sects as well as the Zuo Household. Together, they held it in place while their disciples laid out the Eight Directions Heaven Formation, renowned throughout the Immortal Realm as unbreakable. But there had been only seven groups. Distant Hall's arrival filled the gap.

The two martial uncles swept their sleeves, released their prized Magical Artifacts, and rode them straight toward the battle. "Xuexiao, lead the disciples in setting up the formation. We'll give them a hand." They knew quite a few of the experts and volunteered to join the fight...

Li Xuexiao checked the formation diagram Zuo Lingchuan had given her, quickly worked out the positions, and directed her Fellow Disciples into place one by one. Then she faced a troublesome question: what was she to do with Luo Qian?

Li Xuexiao did not know Luo Qian was a Tribulation Immortal. Since he had come with them, he was naturally part of the team, but she knew nothing of his abilities and dared not assign him a position rashly. Yet leaving him out would wound his pride as an Immortal. While she hesitated, Luo Qian stepped forward with a grin. "Heh, Fairy Li, fighting is your specialty. Why not leave me out of something this demanding? I'll stay behind the formation, wave a flag, and cheer everyone on."

Li Xuexiao breathed a sigh of relief. Her taut expression softened slightly, and she gave a small nod. At least he knows when to step aside.

Luo Qian's opinion of her improved greatly when she did not force him into the formation. He patted Du Lengning on the shoulder, pleased. "Young Master Du, that future wife of yours is a real catch!" Du Lengning looked dejected. "There's nothing between us yet..." Luo Qian said, "Then what are you waiting for? Go on. See that empty position beside Li Xuexiao? It's your perfect chance to fight shoulder to shoulder with her!"

Li Xuexiao stood at the Formation Core of the southwest position, with three Auxiliary Positions beside her still empty. Two were reserved for her martial uncles, but choosing someone for the last one was giving her a headache. They were all Fellow Disciples who trained together regularly and knew one another's strength. Among those she had brought, it was hard to decide who could fill that spot.

Du Lengning cried softly, "Do you think I'm stupid? That's one of the three main Auxiliary Positions! Any attacks the other disciples in the southwest can't bear will all fall on the Formation Core and those three positions. Going up there would be asking to die! A wife may be wonderful, but staying alive matters more!"

Luo Qian shook his head. "You haven't reached the highest realm of the lustful fool who'd give his life for beauty. Let me teach you. Come over here and listen carefully. As the saying goes, die beneath a peony blossom and you'll be a romantic ghost; better a romantic than a lecher..." He rambled on, leading Du Lengning to Li Xuexiao's side without him noticing. Then he suddenly shoved Du Lengning forward. "Fairy Li, are you having trouble filling the last Auxiliary Position? Young Master Du has volunteered to take that burden off your shoulders."