Chapter 37

At that moment, inside the Heavenly Origin Hall, the sect leader sat in the center, with the Five Peak Masters to his left and the Eight Elders to his right. Not a single person spoke.

In the center of the hall, Xia Jue reported on the incident.

The Grand Elder sneered. "Are those black rats finally unable to sit still? Sending a little one out first to test the waters?"

Luo Cang, the peak master of Water Shadow Peak, waved his fan. "Not necessarily. When Xia Jue investigated him earlier, didn't he find that the rogue cultivators had put a bounty on him, and that was why he turned his sights on the Azure Tide Sect?"

"The Azure Tide Sect is one of the three great sects, after all. Instead of preying on the smaller sects, he dared to pluck the Azure Tide Sect's whiskers. Who would believe he had no one backing him?"

The elders exchanged opinions, each with a different view.

In the end, the sect leader made the decision. "Organize a mountain patrol for the Qi Refining disciples within the next two days."

Since early-stage Qi Refining disciples could not defeat demon beasts, only disciples in the middle and late stages were included.

This mountain patrol was not compulsory. Participation was voluntary, and the sect would give everyone who signed up a reward.

The rewards were secondary. The main attraction was the exceptionally high number of sect honor points offered for this patrol.

Those points could be exchanged for magical artifacts. That alone undoubtedly stirred many people's enthusiasm.

After killing the Two-Headed Python, Su Jiu knew she could no longer suppress her Cultivation Level. Even if she did not cultivate over the next two days, she would break through on her own. She simply advanced to the sixth Qi Refining layer that very night. Afterward, her Cultivation Level was exceptionally stable, without the slightest sign of a recent breakthrough, as though it had already settled for a long time.

After all, she could have advanced to the sixth layer three months earlier. Her current state was the result of forcibly holding herself back. It was hardly surprising that her cultivation stabilized so quickly after the breakthrough.

As for Han Jia, neither of them had spoken another word to the other since that conversation. Those who walked different paths could not make plans together, after all. Friendship could not be forced.

Yet a faint trace of regret lingered in Han Jia's heart.

Yu Yin's death that day had left her with the sorrow of a fox mourning a dead rabbit. The two of them had come to the Azure Tide Sect together ten years earlier. Their aptitudes and Cultivation Levels were much the same, and they had reached each stage almost on each other's heels. She knew how bitter their lives had been, especially at the first and second Qi Refining layers. They had not had Su Jiu's luck and could only take jobs that paid a single spirit stone for watering fields. Their monthly Spirit-Gathering Pills lasted only ten days of cultivation. For the remaining twenty days, they could barely feel any spiritual energy moving within their bodies. They had lived like that for five full years.

After reaching the third level of Qi Refining, life had become a little easier, because she could join a team to hunt demon beasts. Usually, five or six disciples at the third or fourth Qi Refining layer would work together to kill a low-grade first-tier demon beast. They did not even dare dream of taking on a mid-grade one.

A low-grade first-tier demon beast usually earned them twenty spirit stones. Divided among five people, that meant four each. Those early days had also been her happiest.

Hunting twice a week meant roughly eight hunts a month, earning her more than thirty spirit stones.

She did not know when she had stopped being satisfied with what she had. Her gaze had begun to stray toward magical artifacts, and she discovered that, apart from buying pills, those thirty-odd spirit stones seemed unable to buy anything at all.

But she had no choice. She could only keep going like that.

Then the matter of Yu Yin came to light. She thought that, had she been in Yu Yin's place, she might not have refused such an opportunity either. One cultivator meant a hundred spirit stones; ten meant a thousand. That was already equivalent to three years of savings.

Yet thinking of Yu Yin's fate left her dispirited. For some reason, she had still told Su Jiu what she thought.

Just as she had expected, Su Jiu's expression had filled with disgust after hearing her out. Su Jiu probably did not realize that, when she spoke to her with that expression, she looked exactly like those lofty, heaven-favored prodigies.

Still, she did have the right to be proud.

In Su Jiu's eyes, their thoughts that could not bear the light were like rats in a filthy gutter. Perhaps merely looking at them made her feel dirty.

In the end, only their own kind could understand them, and Su Jiu had never been one of them.

Soon, word of the mountain patrol spread through the Outer Gate.

Shu Bai sought out Su Jiu immediately. They agreed to meet on the second floor of the teahouse where the group had first met.

By the time Su Jiu arrived at the teahouse, the other four were already there. Seeing them all looking out the window, she could not help following their gazes.

A young woman was pointing her sword at a young man as she accused him, "Lu Tianqi! We're engaged! Does your lineage know you're with this woman?"

It was not hard to imagine that this would become another piece of romantic gossip circulating through the cultivation world.

Watching the pair below, Zhou Xing explained, "The Lu Household and the Jin Household have a marriage agreement. Jin Chen from our sect is this woman's younger cousin."

Su Jiu understood. Although she and Jin Chen had been friends in her previous life, she had never met this older cousin of his.

It seemed she had stumbled into another central incident involving the main characters.

Bai Su also stared stubbornly at Lu Tianqi.

"I need an explanation."

Su Jiu found it strange. Why do I remember Bai Su learning very early in that book that Lu Tianqi had a fiancée?

Of the two women at the heart of the incident, Bai Su had the soft, fragile appearance of a little white lotus. The other woman had her back to Su Jiu, hiding her face, but carried herself with considerable dignity and composure.

Although Su Jiu could not see the other woman clearly, she had a perfect view of Bai Su's expression. Looking deeper, she could plainly see intense resentment hidden in her eyes, along with disdain for the woman before her.

Lu Tianqi coaxed Bai Su helplessly. "My engagement to her was broken off ages ago."

Bai Su nodded gently. "I believe you." She gave him a deeply affectionate look.

The spectators around them wore expressions that were difficult to put into words.

Unexpectedly, the woman spared Lu Tianqi no dignity at all. She sneered. "You say the engagement is broken off, and that makes it so? If you've got the nerve, have your father come to the Jin Household and say that!"

At the mention of his father, a flicker of fear crossed Lu Tianqi's eyes.

But anger quickly replaced it. "Jin Xi, stop making unreasonable demands. I told you long ago that I don't like you."

The mockery on her face only deepened. "I'm making unreasonable demands? Your father announced our households' engagement to the whole world, and now you're getting tangled up with another woman. Where does that leave the Jin Household's dignity? You think I'm here because I like you? Stop flattering yourself."

A hint of amusement flashed through Su Jiu's eyes. This supporting female character is rather adorable.

"I'll say it again. If you don't want to marry me, hurry up and have your father come to my household and say so! Otherwise, if I go to ask for the engagement to be dissolved, there's no telling what I might say. If I accidentally let your affair with this woman slip in front of your father, I wonder whether he'll let her live."

Lu Tianqi was already furious, but he also knew Jin Xi was telling the truth. If his father learned about him and Bai Su, her life might indeed be in danger.

Lu Tianqi ground his teeth. "Don't act rashly. I'll speak to my father about dissolving the engagement."

Jin Xi glanced at Lu Tianqi's defeated expression, sheathed her sword, and folded her arms with a satisfied smile.

She smiled disdainfully. Did he truly think that she, the Jin Household's Eldest Miss, would like someone from a minor lineage? She had merely needed an excuse to get free. Had she not stumbled upon this today, there was no telling how much longer she would have had to entangle herself with those disgusting people from the Lu Household. Now everything was settled. Lu Tianqi had gotten together with another woman first. If she asked to break off the engagement now, she would not be the unreasonable one. He had been heartless and faithless first.

Su Jiu gradually recalled this part of the plot as well. In the original book, this supporting female character had met a terrible end. To escape the engagement without splashing dirty water on Bai Su, Lu Tianqi had slaughtered the entire Jin Household. At the time, Jin Chen had been in seclusion, attempting to reach Core Formation. When he emerged and learned the news, he had nearly suffered cultivation deviation. During his travels, he and Lu Tianqi had fought several times. In the end, with Bai Su's help, Lu Tianqi had caused Jin Chen's death in a secret realm.

By then, however, the book's account had been nearing its end. Both she and Su Mianmian were already dead, and when Bai Su left the Azure Tide Sect, Lu Tianqi had gone with her. Not long after Jin Chen's death, they had concealed their names and identities and begun living together in that secret realm.

Because the book had ended there, she did not know what happened afterward, or whether the Azure Tide Sect ever found those scourges.

Jin Chen had also been one of her friends in her previous life. If she could manage it in this life, she hoped they could all have a good ending.

By then, a few ideas had begun taking shape in Su Jiu's mind. A bluish gleam flashed across the inverted, teardrop-shaped beauty mark beneath the outer corner of her left eye, then vanished.

Jin Xi happened to look up toward the teahouse's second floor and saw a little girl watching her with keen interest.

In an excellent mood, she returned the girl a brilliant smile, then turned and left.

Su Jiu raised an eyebrow and could not help sighing inwardly. Lu Tianqi really is blind.

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