Yuanyuanzi, a visitor from overseas

Du Yueyi was doing the accounts.

The room suddenly darkened. Someone had slipped inside without her noticing when.

"T-third sister?" Du Yueyi was on the verge of tears. She hurriedly rose, wanting to take her younger sister's hand.

But Du Xingyi raised a hand to stop her, unwilling to draw close.

"Has anything happened at home? Has Huo Old Freak given you trouble? Has anyone on the island troubled you or Eldest Brother's children? If so, I'll kill them," Du Xingyi asked.

"Everything is fine..." Du Yueyi said.

"Starting this year, move the whole family to Longstone Island. Finish within a year or two. I've already made the arrangements. Does the family have many large ships?" Du Xingyi said.

"Well..." Du Yueyi suddenly recalled two years ago. He said, "We have quite a few ships. Didn't you tell me to build more large ones? I've bought several over the past two years, too!"

"I told you..." Du Xingyi frowned slightly and questioned her closely about the details.

"Pei Hu? Ten-Mile Slope on Old Turtle Island? A sword at his waist? He knew about the wooden sword beneath my pillow? And even the black mole on the inside of your... thigh?"

"Impossible! Xin Li has made progress in her body-refining method and never knows her own strength. Even a mortal with strong muscles and bones would be crippled, if not killed, after Xin Li sat on him a couple of times and gave him a squeeze!"

"You were deceived. Have you ever had... a lover? Someone learned your bodily secrets and joined forces with him to set you up, all for... he didn't ask for money, only honey, dry rations, and a fishing rod... What was he after?"

Du Xingyi harbored secrets and was exceedingly vigilant. She made arrangements, then left for Scattered Rock Island.

When she arrived and looked around, she found nothing-not even a sea swallow.

"I was being oversuspicious." Du Xingyi returned to Chaolong Mountain and saw Huo Old Freak chatting and laughing with a young man in the pear grove.

Although Deer Island was remote, people sometimes passed through and stopped to rest.

While resting, if they saw Spiritual Qi gathering on Chaolong Mountain, most would come over to make acquaintances.

This was all perfectly ordinary.

They would casually chat, exchange news, and trade pills and spirit plants. With a few more people, they could even hold a small Dao gathering.

But there were secrets here, so Du Xingyi remained very careful. She tilted an ear slightly and heard the young man sigh. "Ask the world what love is, that it makes people pledge themselves to one another in life and death. Yes, I met the elder sister first, but it's the younger sister I love."

What was all this nonsense? Du Xingyi was utterly baffled.

Huo Old Freak was in his sixties or seventies and had weathered his share of storms, yet the young man had talked him into speechlessness.

Du Xingyi listened no further and turned to leave.

Only after night fell did Du Xingyi summon Huo Old Freak.

"His name is Meng Yuan. He calls himself Yuanyuanzi," Huo Old Freak said.

"Yuanyuanzi? Yuan means great, or beginning. What does that mean? Very great? Very early? I've never heard of such a person," Du Xingyi said.

"It's just a Daoist name. Young people these days all like fancy tricks." Huo Old Freak found nothing strange about it. "He said he came from the Cape Islands. His wife's younger sister went out seeking opportunities and died out there. He was grief-stricken and came out to clear his head."

"His wife's younger sister? The Cape Islands..." Du Xingyi frowned. "I remember the customs around the Cape being rather perverse?"

"Yes. The people there know nothing of moral relationships and have no shame at all. Someone like him, involved with his wife's younger sister, hardly counts as out of line. I've heard that over there... ah, I can't say it. It would soil your ears, junior sister!" Huo Old Freak clicked his tongue repeatedly; clearly, he too thought the people of the Cape Islands rather strange.

"So that's it. That's merely a matter of private virtue. If he has abilities, bringing him into the Alliance would at least count as a contribution." Du Xingyi nodded slightly.

"He has no real abilities. He's an empty sack!" Huo Old Freak smiled ingratiatingly. "I've talked with him for two days and found that he knows what I know, and doesn't know what I don't. In fact, he knows a little less than I do. Only when it comes to women's charms and poetry and song is he far superior to me."

Du Xingyi glanced at Huo Old Freak, thinking, You call him an empty sack, but if you're only a little better than him, aren't you one too?

"He lost all his belongings and brought five Qiang False Dragons to trade for spirit stones. He said he would stay here a while before leaving." Huo Old Freak spoke with considerable worldly wisdom. "I reckon he's a pauper. He doesn't even have a flying sword. He's just exceptionally good at boasting and forcing himself to keep up appearances."

"Let him do as he pleases." Du Xingyi did not care. She tossed out a jade slip. "This is your reward for standing guard here for ten years."

Huo Old Freak hurriedly caught it. After briefly trying to read it, he said delightedly, "I'm only one step away. Can I truly proceed using this secret method?"

"How could Teacher's words be false?" Du Xingyi said coldly.

"Yes, yes, of course." Huo Old Freak hastily agreed, then lowered his voice. "Junior sister, just what am I guarding here? This place is remote and empty. Even seabirds rarely fly this way."

"When the time comes, you'll naturally know," Du Xingyi said.

Du Xingyi went to the dragon's head of Chaolong Mountain, opened the secret passage, entered the Ruins, and devoted herself to seated cultivation.

More than two months passed. Summer had arrived when Du Xingyi came out to enjoy the breeze.

"Junior sister." Huo Old Freak came looking for her, looking utterly helpless. "Why don't we do away with that Yuanyuanzi?"

"Killing a cultivator is different from killing a mortal. It is certain to bring karma. If we can avoid killing, we should." Du Xingyi then asked, "What did he do to you?"

"I meant to choose a girl from the Li Household to learn the Bright Garment Art. He said girls were delicate and ran off to bring me a young man from the Kong Household!" Huo Old Freak felt deeply wronged. "If I weren't so good-tempered, I would have activated the formation and blasted him dead!"

"As long as he can be used." Du Xingyi did not care about such things. In her few years on the Dao, she had met plenty of people with peculiar temperaments.

"That's not all!" Huo Old Freak continued, "Yesterday, Xin Li and Zhou Xin came to collect the annual tribute, and I had him keep them company. He must have gone mad from poverty. Xin Li invited him to engage in dual cultivation, and he said she would have to pay. Xin Li agreed! If I hadn't forcibly stopped them, our Chaolong Mountain would have become a brothel by now!"

"To lower himself for three or five spirit stones-he's beyond saving. How could someone like that ever walk the Great Dao?" Du Xingyi was thoroughly disdainful.

"Exactly. What good could come out of the Cape Islands?" Huo Old Freak wholeheartedly agreed. "He has four spiritual roots. Reaching the Qi Refining Second Layer already counts as doing well! He said he only got where he is today because he obtained a pill that improved his spiritual roots in some ruins."

"Be careful. He may be trying to lure you into exploring ruins. Some people are masters at playing the fool and only bare their fangs once they see treasure," Du Xingyi said.

"As if I wouldn't know the few tricks those rogue cultivators have?" Huo Old Freak chuckled. "But he isn't very scheming and has little knowledge. He doesn't know what his life-bound object is and kept asking me about it. He said his life-bound object is shaped like a millstone. It hasn't displayed any wondrous uses yet; he only knows it can ward off illusions that beguile the mind."

Seeing Du Xingyi fall silent, Huo Old Freak said, "If you don't want to kill him, junior sister, I'll fall out with him tomorrow and drive him away by force. I'm thoroughly sick of him anyway."

"No." Du Xingyi raised a hand and asked, "His life-bound object can counter illusions?"

She said, "I remember you have a small mountain-protecting formation here?"

Du Xingyi took out an object and said, "Replace it with this formation and lure him into trying it."