A female immortal came to Deer Island

"The smaller the temple, the fiercer the demonic winds; the shallower the water, the more turtles crowd it!"

"The preliminary selection isn't a dinner party!"

"If my ruthless Sister Chen were here, she might well gobble you all up and leave nothing behind! Compared with her, I'm still far too kindhearted!"

Meng Yuan had spent the night burning some houses and killing some people. It felt like a dream of home, wonderfully familiar.

All that was missing was a beauty at his side, constantly praising and encouraging him.

Had that lecher Xin Li not so easily subdued him two years ago, Meng Yuan would have wanted to gather his old followers, storm Chaolong Mountain, capture Island Master Huo, and seize that damned seat!

But that was as far as it went. Meng Yuan had already achieved his objective.

Since his heart-to-heart with Du Yueyi last year, Meng Yuan had known that to receive Island Master Huo's teachings, he would have to go through the Deer Island Thirteen Families.

But they had left ordinary fishermen no way in at all. Even Du Yueyi had plainly stated that she was unqualified, and would have to wait another seven or eight years before there was any hope.

The Gray-Robed Skeleton Guest had placed a Soul-Tracking Thread on Meng Yuan with a ten-year deadline. He simply could not wait.

That made things easy. Meng Yuan did indeed lack the qualifications, but he had experience.

He was thoroughly accustomed to rebellion. Little Deer Island was only slightly larger than Qingping County back home, with roughly the same population. He could easily rally a great many impoverished people.

The thirteen families all kept mortal martial artists, but this was, after all, the cultivation world. Mortal martial arts were no prominent discipline here, unlike back home, where learning martial arts could get you ahead.

Thus, the martial artists here fell far short of those back home.

These men had little fighting ability, capable only of swaggering about with blades and spears. Against Meng Yuan's deployment and command, they could not withstand a single blow.

The four families he had dealt with this time were the weakest of the thirteen. He had picked only the softest persimmons to squeeze; there was really nothing much to it.

Meng Yuan gathered the fishermen and fishing households, distributed money and grain, then announced that they were disbanding. He himself prepared to have a talk with the Remaining Nine Families.

They were all Deer Islanders, after all. Meng Yuan had never intended to overturn the table; he merely wanted to become part of the "us" Du Yueyi spoke of.

"Second Brother, the Du Household's Second Lady is waiting for you at Old Turtle Pit. She says she wants to see you!" Someone came to deliver the message.

"Du Yueyi? She wants to see me? Alone? I never would have guessed someone raised on honeyed water had that sort of courage!" Meng Yuan immediately hurried back to Old Turtle Pit.

A faint light now touched the horizon. Someone stood in the Peach Blossom Grove-it was Du Yueyi.

In his two years on the island, Meng Yuan had indeed kept the vow he made upon arriving: he would not rely on women to accomplish things.

Thus, when this woman had hinted at something last year, Meng Yuan had flatly refused.

A man had to have backbone!

Of course, Meng Yuan was still very grateful to Du Yueyi.

"Sister? What brings you here? Have you eaten?" Meng Yuan asked.

"I came to ask you why you did this," Du Yueyi said.

"Sister, I'm doing this for your good too. The island master only provided ten bowls of rice, yet thirteen people had to share them. Now there are only nine left. Add me, and that makes exactly ten." Meng Yuan was quite fond of her. Though they followed different paths, he still explained patiently, "Wouldn't it be more convenient if no one had to keep fighting over them?"

"If you wanted the preliminary selection, you could have just said so. Those four families could have let you have it. Did you have to..." Du Yueyi sighed.

"Sister, would they have let me have it?" Meng Yuan asked.

"May the one who first set this evil precedent have no descendants." Du Yueyi shook her head. "Everyone will be on their guard against you from now on."

"If they won't let me sit at the table and eat, I'll overturn the table!"

Meng Yuan was utterly contemptuous. "What Deer Island Thirteen Families? They're nothing but merchants contracting jobs from Island Master Huo! I can serve Island Master Huo too! I can be loyal too!"

At this, Meng Yuan grew serious. "Of everything brought back from sea in the future, I'll take only what the island master requires, none of the other catch. Give the fishermen and seafaring households enough grain, and how could they not do their utmost? The harvest will surely be several tenths greater than it is now!"

Du Yueyi merely shook her head.

Remembering her kindness, Meng Yuan grew gentler still. "Today, I'll hold a meeting with your nine families. I won't do anything like this again. Let's restore trade as soon as possible. Then I'll go to the docks and explain things to the visiting merchant ships that were frightened."

"I'll also offer each family an apology. In truth, they aren't afraid because I destroyed those four families. They're afraid I won't stop. Once I make my intentions clear, with four fewer families competing against them, they'll probably be delighted!"

"All that talk of breathing as one and sharing the same branches-they simply haven't been beaten hard enough! They'll have to hold their noses and accept it. Even if they still distrust me, I'll have plenty of time to rebuild that trust."

"Let's work together. If I enter cultivation one day, you can handle the security payments and manage the people. The knife will be in your hands, and you'll be second only to the island master. I can also go to the Starsea Alliance Main Altar and ask after your younger sister's whereabouts."

"You know my word carries the weight of nine cauldrons. I never break a promise."

Du Yueyi merely shook her head. She took out a crescent-shaped stone.

"Yesterday, I saw Patriarch Zhao. His daughter received a sea stone like this too. Then I asked around. Patriarch Li's daughter-in-law and the mistress of the Flower Deer Trading Company's owner both received your wretched stones!"

"You really played your game of alliances brilliantly!"

Du Yueyi threw the crescent-shaped sea stone onto the ground. "I thought you were gentle and courteous, hardworking and dependable. I never imagined you'd been using me all along-using all of us! You called me Sister every day, and I happily answered! You played me for a fool!"

"If you insist on thinking that, there's nothing I can do." Meng Yuan no longer wanted to argue with her. This woman belonged to the Deer Island Thirteen Families, and was one of their leaders, while he had risen on the strength of the fishermen and fishing households at the bottom.

The two were destined to become enemies.

Of course, Meng Yuan was not exactly clean. But methods were methods...

"My methods weren't exactly honorable, but I did win some justice for the many fishermen who go out to sea." Meng Yuan's expression cooled. "Du Erniang, the peach blossoms bloom in spring. In two months, we'll go pay our respects to Island Master Huo together. Then we can be friends again."

"No, we won't." Du Yueyi's face grew grimmer. "You frighten me. The people you've stirred up, the things you've set in motion-they all frighten me. I'm afraid that one day my Du Household will end up like the Kong Clan..."

"You know I wouldn't do that." Meng Yuan still cherished their old affection, after all. "Sister, is there truly not a shred of affection left between us? My younger brother was taken away by an old immortal master, and your younger sister was once led away by an immortal master too. We're both lonely and helpless, fellow sufferers."

"No, you and I are not fellow sufferers." Du Yueyi's eyes turned cold. "My younger sister has returned."

The horizon gradually reddened. The sun was about to rise.

A faint sound of wind came from afar.

Meng Yuan looked up and saw someone flying over on a sword, landing in the Peach Blossom Grove.

The newcomer wore black-not a loose Daoist robe, but clothing fitted closely about the waist.

She bore some resemblance to Du Yueyi, though she was slightly taller, slightly thinner, and slightly smaller above the waist. Her face was exceptionally pale and utterly expressionless.

Her hair was black, her hairpin was black, and her eyes were black.

Those black eyes spared Meng Yuan not so much as a glance, as though she disdained even to look at an ant.

"You're too weak. To think you'd waste so many words on a lowly, ignorant mortal." The black-clad woman spoke with a hint of impatience.

"Little Sister, I... I'm a mortal too..." Du Yueyi said sadly.

The black-clad woman finally raised her eyes and looked at Du Yueyi. "A blade of grass briefly rises on a borrowed wind, and you panic like this? I've already informed Old Monster Huo. If anything like this happens again, he'll intervene."

"You're Du Xing..." Before Meng Yuan could finish, his chest suddenly churned. He could no longer utter a word or move a muscle.

Meng Yuan knew the thirteen families were weak within. By forging alliances and gathering the many to attack the few, he had been certain he could win.

But he had never expected Du Yueyi's younger sister to return. And in her eyes, his grand, tumultuous rebellion was even more laughable than children playing house.

Spring peach blossoms cast their glow upon human faces.

The black-clad woman raised her hand.

Petals broke free of the peach branches, one, two, three, four, gathering in the black-clad woman's hand.

Then the peach blossoms flew like swords, leaving only fleeting flower shadows.

Pain struck Meng Yuan's chest, and he fell to his knees.

The red sun was halfway risen, yet it was less vivid than the petals and blood on Meng Yuan's chest.

Such, perhaps, was Flower Slaying.

In three lifetimes of striving, this was the first time Meng Yuan had been utterly powerless to fight back.

"Don't bother me again." Du Xingyi left those words behind and flew away on her sword.

From beginning to end, Du Xingyi had never once looked at Meng Yuan.