Chapter 17

After Su Jiu left, Chu Mojin emerged from the Library Pavilion.

Elder Sun looked at Chu Mojin and curled his lip. "That little girl will be going to Ice Veil Peak someday, after all, and you only gave her a Magical Artifact? You're far too stingy."

Chu Mojin waved his fan nonchalantly. "Even if I gave her a Spirit Artifact, she couldn't control it with her current Cultivation Level. Even if she could, she wouldn't be able to draw out its true power. Better to let her use a Magical Artifact and hone her combat skills along the way."

There was another point he left unsaid: even if he gave Su Jiu a Spirit Artifact, her Cultivation Level wouldn't be enough to keep it safe. Better to give her a relatively inconspicuous Magical Artifact.

Yet Chu Mojin had still underestimated how highly the Outer Gate valued Magical Artifacts.

"By the way, how's your wound?" Chu Mojin asked Elder Sun.

At the mention of his wound, a shadow flickered through Elder Sun's eyes.

"It's fine now, but that turtle-spawn bastard got away."

Chu Mojin shook his head. "That Demonic Cultivator certainly had some nerve, wiping out the Ran Lineage in Li City outright."

Elder Sun shook his head. "There was still one last seedling of the lineage alive when I arrived. I've already brought him back."

"As for that Demonic Cultivator, his Cultivation Level was on par with mine. I was wounded, but he was hurt badly too. What galls me is that he used a Teleportation Array at the end and escaped with the thing."

"What I'm curious about now is how the Heavenly Demon Sect, tens of thousands of miles away, knew that thing was with the Ran Lineage in Li City. The Azure Realm is so vast."

Elder Sun sneered. "Most likely, there was a spy within the Ran Lineage."

Chu Mojin frowned. "Then those disciples?"

Elder Sun sighed and shook his head. "I found their bodies. There was no saving them."

"If those disciples hadn't mysteriously disappeared this time, prompting you to investigate further, who would have imagined the Ran Lineage actually had that thing in its possession?"

After Su Jiu formed a bond with her Flying Sword, she felt the spiritual energy within her rise another notch while meditating that very evening.

The next day, as she walked to the dining hall, she noticed several gazes following her all the way.

Those gazes were unfriendly. She thought it over; aside from her Flying Sword, she didn't seem to have anything worth coveting. Her eyes darkened. It seemed someone in her courtyard had spread the news that she had obtained a Flying Sword. These people simply didn't dare openly snatch it because of the sect's rules.

After all, someone at the second level of Qi Refining carrying a Magical Artifact on her back would attract attention wherever she went. It was no different from a fat sheep threading its way through a pack of wolves.

Su Jiu decided she wouldn't leave the sect to gain experience until she reached the third level of Qi Refining. Once she did, she could learn Lightfoot Step. With that technique, she would at least have no trouble escaping from Qi Refining cultivators. As for cultivators above Qi Refining, who among them would care about a mid-grade Magical Artifact?

"Susu! Are you really going to be with him?" Lu Tianqi's eyes reddened with anger. "I gave up being a True Disciple for you, and this is how you treat me?"

Su Jiu looked up to find two men fighting over one woman. She also spotted Lu Tianqi, whom Su Mianmian had mentioned being tossed into the Outer Gate. Previously, she had only seen him once from a distance below the platform. Now, upon closer inspection, he really was a gentle, refined young man who wouldn't even raise his voice during an argument.

"Tianqi, I didn't. I'm truly sorry. I love you, but I love him too." Bai Su covered her mouth with her right hand and shook her head desperately, weeping like pear blossoms drenched in rain. "I know you gave up being a True Disciple for me, but he was the one who first guided me onto the path of cultivation."

"Without him, I might never have come to the Azure Tide Sect, and then I never would have met you."

Su Jiu glanced at the man beside Bai Su, who hadn't spoken at all. His expression was stiff and ugly as well. He looked like the cold, tough type.

The man's face was weathered, and he seemed somewhat weary at heart. "Susu, forget it. I wish you both happiness."

He tugged at the corners of his lips, seemingly giving up.

Bai Su grabbed his hand. "Ran Chao! I won't let you say that!"

Su Jiu's eyelid twitched, and she turned and walked into the dining hall. She felt this dining hall was cursed; she always ran into people who seemed to belong to an entirely different world. But Ran Chao? Ran Chao of the slaughtered Ran Lineage? One of the male leads?

How had he ended up in the Azure Tide Sect? Hadn't the book said he went to the Setting Sun Sect? Besides, Bai Su's relationship with Lu Tianqi shouldn't have progressed so quickly. Where exactly had the plot gone wrong?

A few of the spectators around them also found it rather nauseating.

Someone whispered, "What does Bai Su mean by this? She doesn't want to break up with one, but she doesn't want to let the other leave either? Which one does she actually want?"

Another female cultivator laughed softly. "Are you stupid? Obviously, she doesn't want to let go of either."

Listening to the two girls behind her, Su Jiu's hand trembled. Girl, you've hit the nail on the head.

There were many Outer Gate disciples, and many dining halls as well. Su Jiu decided to use a different dining hall from now on, even if it was farther away.

Still, it was a good thing Lu Tianqi had come to the Outer Gate in this life. This way, he wouldn't have so much contact with Su Mianmian.

After finishing her meal, Su Jiu didn't hurry back to cultivate. Instead, she went to the Steward Hall.

The wall inside was still covered in countless missions. Su Jiu didn't use pills for cultivation, but she needed spirit stones to buy Magical Artifacts. After all, aside from sword cultivators, no cultivator could possibly make do with just one Magical Artifact. For Dao cultivators like her, the more Magical Artifacts, the better. Besides, she needed a Storage Bag now too.

Su Jiu scanned the missions and spotted one that stood out: watering spiritual plants, with a reward of twenty spirit stones?

Without a second thought, Su Jiu reached to accept it, only for a hand beside her to stop her. It belonged to a young man who looked seventeen or eighteen. His expression was anxious. "Little girl, you mustn't take this mission."

"Why?" By now, Su Jiu had more or less figured it out. Twenty spirit stones just to water a Spirit Garden did indeed suggest something was wrong, but she still wanted to ask for clarification.

"Th-this is watering the spiritual plants on Ice Veil Peak. Do you know Ice Veil Peak? It's covered in ice and snow all year round. You'll freeze stiff not long after entering. I'm at the third level of Qi Refining, and laugh if you like, but last time, I nearly froze to death on Ice Veil Peak before I could finish watering the Spirit Garden." Zhao Yingzhi had recognized Su Jiu as the little girl who had previously watched over the Library Pavilion. Seeing her about to accept this mission, he couldn't help feeling compassion for her.

He hadn't come to take missions in some time and discovered that the reward for this one had actually doubled. Yet no one dared accept it. He couldn't help sighing inwardly. Most of those accepting missions were probably old hands who knew how dangerous this one was.

Having lived for a hundred years, Su Jiu could naturally tell whether the man was speaking truthfully. It seemed he really was a kindhearted person.

But Ice Veil Peak? Covered in ice and snow all year round? For her, that was an excellent place.

Su Jiu's eyes brightened, and she thanked the young man.

Seeing that Su Jiu insisted on accepting the mission, Zhao Yingzhi could only shake his head and sigh. He supposed that back then, even if someone had tried to stop him from taking it, he wouldn't have listened either.

No wonder the people around them wouldn't even try to stop her. They had probably seen far too many people like this already.

The boy handling registration glanced at the mission plaque and handed Su Jiu a Jade Token straightaway.

He gave the same explanation as before, telling her how to enter Ice Veil Peak.

Su Jiu thanked the boy, then followed the Jade Token's directions straight to Ice Veil Peak.

Ice Veil Peak was where Chu Mojin and Chu Luohen, the two most mysterious people in the Azure Tide Sect, lived.

She had never met either of them, even when she had been in the inner sect in her previous life. Her master had never allowed anyone else to disturb them, either.

She hadn't expected that, in this life, she would actually have the chance to set foot on Ice Veil Peak herself.

Su Jiu shook her head, cast aside the stray thoughts in her mind, and placed the jade pendant into the groove in the Ice Jade Platform.