The Woman Above the Marsh

Withered Wood Grotto-Heaven.

Zhou Ning cast the Divine Movement Technique on himself, then used his qinggong to hurry onward.

The scenery rushed past him. Patches of ground rotted, plants withered and died, and fresh green shoots sprouted.

"Brother Zhuoran, what does it feel like to master the Vast Righteous Qi Instruction?" Zhou Ning asked, quite curious.

In truth, he was more curious about where the He Household had gotten the Profound-Piercing Wind Qi. Chai Dingchun himself had claimed that he had gotten lucky one day and picked it up outside.

Thinking of the woman in the black dress who had appeared later, Zhou Ning had a vague feeling that someone must have laid a scheme. Otherwise, how could it have been so easy?

Black smoke rushed ahead with a whoosh, and a clear voice rang out. "Haha, that's refreshing! Really refreshing!"

Zhou Ning couldn't understand. Just how refreshing was it to make He Zhuoran so delighted?

He recalled the Secret Method Chai Dingchun had used when he first set foot in the Land of Wei. Its power had been truly terrifying.

Among those who had besieged him were disciples of the Firmament Treasure Sect and the daughter of a Purple Mansion True Person.

Yet none of them had been a match for Chai Dingchun.

If Zhou Ning hadn't had a purple insect given to him by Mr. Wen, he would probably have been scraped down to bone dust long ago.

Later, at Cuiwei Lake, Zhou Ning had consulted the Su Household's library about that purple insect.

He had learned that it was called a Purple Nightmare Insect. An adult was roughly the size of a peanut, and its main form of attack was its cry, which could break through the true essence of cultivators below Core Formation. It was an expert at bullying the weak.

Thus, Zhou Ning concluded that Chai Dingchun, who had been at Qi Refinement Perfection, was below Core Formation in strength after mastering the Vast Righteous Qi Instruction.

As for exactly what realm at Cuiwei Lake his strength was comparable to, Zhou Ning couldn't tell.

But the black smoke He Zhuoran had become seemed rather weaker. That was probably because he had switched to a different method and his cultivation was insufficient.

Besides, Zhou Ning kept feeling that the black smoke wasn't quite pure.

"It's a Devil Cultivator from the south! Retreat, quickly!"

"How did this damned bastard get into the Grotto-Heaven?"

On the way, several Qi Refining cultivators saw He Zhuoran's sinister, wind-swept appearance and all showed their disdain, unwilling to have anything to do with him.

Before leaving, they even hurled a threat at him. "Just wait till the Treasure Sect's disciples get here. They'll deal with you!"

He Zhuoran was so angry he was practically breathing fire. "I'm not a Devil Cultivator!" he protested.

"You look like a ghost, hahaha!" The cultivators laughed as they ran off.

He Zhuoran spewed smoke, his form gradually rising into the air.

Watching him, Zhou Ning thought it was fucking ridiculous.

"Brother Zhou, do you think I'm a Devil Cultivator?" He Zhuoran was questioning his life.

Zhou Ning comforted him. "Although you look like a Devil Cultivator, and your moves are much the same as one's, I still think you're a righteous cultivator, Brother Zhuoran."

He Zhuoran's floating body suddenly sagged dejectedly to the ground.

Would the He Household's good name, built up over hundreds of years, be ruined by his hand?

Zhou Ning was curious as well. "Brother Zhuoran, can you still turn back into human form?"

"I'll have to wait until I reach the Purple Mansion realm."

"Purple Mansion cultivators aren't bound by their physical bodies. They cultivate Divine Abilities and travel through the void, covering a thousand li in an instant. Once I reach that point, I'll be free."

He Zhuoran envisioned the future. In several hundred years, the He Household had produced only one Purple Mansion cultivator: its old ancestor.

Having finally met a longtime veteran of the Land of Wei, Zhou Ning learned from him, asking question after question.

Just then, although there was clearly nothing but a stretch of woods ahead, He Zhuoran suddenly turned and chose to take a detour.

Puzzled, Zhou Ning asked, "Brother Zhuoran, what are you doing?"

He used the Spirit Eye Technique to look into the woods and saw trees shaped strangely like snakes, their trunks tangled and knotted, with roots wrapped around them.

"Snake-winding trees." Zhou Ning was slightly surprised. Such trees grew in Chen State as well.

They were only ordinary first-tier spirit trees, however, and weren't worth much.

"Use your Divine Sense to look behind those trees," He Zhuoran warned him.

Zhou Ning extended his Divine Sense.

Behind the trees was a vast expanse of pitch-black water, or rather, a marsh. Bubbles rose to the surface, gurgling as though the water were boiling.

His Divine Sense was actually scalded by the water's surface, startling him into withdrawing it at once.

He looked over and saw a black-clad figure sitting cross-legged in midair, two zhang above the marsh, by some unknown means.

She held a hand seal, and the mouth of a powder-blue, long-necked bottle pointed toward the water.

Apparently seeing the two of them stop, she called out, "I am from the Purple Mansion Li Household of Limei Mountain. I am gathering Rotten Soil Earth Breath Qi here, and I hope you won't compete with me for it."

He Zhuoran's voice carried a hint of delight. "Little Sister Li?"

As his words fell, the black-clad figure withdrew the light around her, revealing the pretty face of a young woman. Her skin was very pale, but she had a look of yin deficiency.

Her gaze was calm. "He Zhuoran, you really did obtain the Profound-Piercing Wind."

"I was lucky, that's all."

"Your household really is bold, daring to let you enter the Grotto-Heaven. Aren't they afraid the Treasure Sect will capture you?"

He Zhuoran said, "As a direct descendant of my household, I should be all the more willing to seek out spirit materials for the clan."

"In that case, leave. I need to gather Qi." Little Sister Li showed no interest in catching up.

Zhou Ning had been using the Spirit Eye Technique to examine the marsh. When he heard that, he nearly burst out laughing.

Even women who had once admired He Zhuoran would probably keep their distance when they saw his strange appearance now.

He Zhuoran was puzzled. "Little Sister Li, ever since you advanced to Qi Refining, you've grown distant from me. Why?"

"When you broke through to Qi Refining, I even had someone send you a flying boat. As far as I know, I've never wronged you."

After all these years, he had finally asked about the question that troubled him.

Little Sister Li listened, her voice tinged with anger. "Hmph, it's all your fault! Mother had already found an artifact refiner from Divine Craft Peak to make me a jade lotus platform. But because you gave me that lousy flying boat, she said I already had a flying Law Artifact and gave up on the jade lotus platform!"

He Zhuoran's black smoke froze on the spot.

Zhou Ning gaped. What kind of logic was that?

As Brother Zhuoran's good friend, Zhou Ning looked at the young woman's cultivation at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining, then thought of the Immovable Mountain Divine Ability True Person Lu had placed on him.

Zhou Ning thought, My strength is enough that I don't need to fear her, and He Zhuoran has plenty of good things on him.

He immediately decided to draw closer to him.

So he scolded her. "Your whole family is crooked from the upper beam to the lower ones! Brother Zhuoran originally intended to give that flying boat to me, but in the end he thought you'd had a hard time of it and gave it to you instead."

"Give me back my flying boat!" Zhou Ning spoke with such righteous conviction that he believed his own fabrication.

A flicker of anger crossed Little Sister Li's face. She resentfully pulled a dark red sandalwood boat from her Storage Bag and threw it over.

"Here, take it back!"

Zhou Ning was surprised. She wasn't all that bad!

He caught it and examined it closely. The flying boat had a stout, plain shape, and its hull was covered in intricate carvings. Its style resembled old-fashioned furniture, and it looked quite durable, but its appearance would probably appeal only to the older generation...

No wonder Little Sister Li disliked it. A pretty young woman riding in that flying boat would probably be laughed at by her peers...

Zhou Ning felt a little more understanding, but he still thought the greater problem lay with Little Sister Li's family.

Happily, he stuffed the flying boat into his Storage Bag. He'd begged himself another meal today. Not bad at all.

"Hurry up and leave. Stop being an eyesore!" Little Sister Li looked disgusted.

She still needed to continue gathering Qi and had no time for idle chatter. This strand of Rotten Soil Earth Breath Qi was suited to her household's third-grade Chou Earth path Cultivation Method, the Yin Turbid Obscure Earth Instruction.

The method was easy to cultivate and had considerable profundity when it came to concealing one's presence. If it could be used to nurture a top-tier Foundation Establishment fighter for the Lineage, that fighter might prove very useful when the Grotto-Heaven appeared in the world in the future.

He Zhuoran had sorted out the whole story, and the black smoke around him churned gloomily.

Zhou Ning continued looking at the marsh. Suddenly, he gave a soft exclamation. "Brother Zhuoran, is there something hidden in the water?"

As he spoke, he took a marinated spirit fish from his Storage Bag and pushed it forward. The dead fish shot toward the marsh.

The next instant, murky black water exploded from the bubbling marsh. A blurry, muddy shape flashed past, swallowed the spirit fish, and vanished.

He Zhuoran forgot his dejection and exclaimed, "Ni Marsh Python!"

Little Sister Li, who had been concentrating on gathering Qi, was startled as well. She hastily recalled her powder-blue, long-necked bottle and darted back to shore.

Shocked and annoyed, she asked in disbelief, "How did you know there was a Ni Marsh Python in the water?"

He Zhuoran was just as astonished. The Ni Marsh Python was especially good at hiding, blending its presence with the marsh; it was extremely treacherous.

He had avoided the marsh earlier because there was something abnormal about its water: it could obstruct Divine Sense.

The old fisherman Zhou Ning wore an indifferent expression. "Was it hard to tell?"