The Girl with the Guqin

Ten days later.

The midday sun pierced the thin mist between the trees, scattering flecks of gold across the murmuring stream.

Feng Zhuo stood barefoot on a moss-covered stone by the stream, his crimson robes fluttering gently in the breeze.

He bent to roll up the legs of his plain white trousers, revealing a length of smooth, lustrous calf like jade. "Senior Brother, watch me catch you the fattest-"

Before he could finish, a sword rang out clear and bright.

Cang Wuya, who had been watching his junior brother all along, swept two fingers lightly through the air. A cold gleam burst from the sword at his waist without it ever leaving its sheath.

In an instant, the entire stream froze into a crystalline ribbon of ice. Silver fish that had leaped from the water landed on it with crisp taps.

Holding the brocade boots he had just taken off, Feng Zhuo froze where he stood.

Not far away, Yanba, who had been pawing through dead branches, puffed a wisp of blue smoke from his leonine mouth. "Haha, Master's senior brother, Master was going into the water to experience the pleasure of catching fish like a mortal..."

The black-robed youth's fingertips trembled at those words, and a fine web of cracks immediately spread across the ice.

But Feng Zhuo had already tossed his boots aside and leaped onto the ice, the Soul-Devouring Vine slipping nimbly out from around his wrist. "Pay no attention to this stupid lion!"

The vine precisely wound around several silver fish in the ice. "You were a great help, Senior Brother! That Ice Condensation Technique was truly marvelous. Look, their gills are still moving!"

Indeed, when the Soul-Devouring Vine broke through the ice and pulled the fish out, the silver fish immediately began flopping about on the grass.

Cang Wuya had actually controlled the cold Qi with such precision that even the droplets on the fishes' fins had not frozen.

Such meticulous control over spiritual power...

Yanba gnawed aggrievedly on a dead branch, sparks crackling in his mane.

They had traveled day and night ever since accepting the task.

They first took a teleportation array to the town nearest Clear Creek Village, then rode Yanba for ten days without stopping, only just arriving today.

And the idea of catching fish to roast had naturally been Yanba's.

Feng Zhuo had thought that, since the Nightmare Child Eater was skilled in illusions and they had spent ten days flying without rest, it would be better to recover their strength before facing the enemy.

So he had agreed to Yanba's request for roast fish.

Only...

Feng Zhuo crouched by the stream, staring at the silver fish flopping about.

His slender fingers absently prodded a fish's tail, his brows slightly furrowed.

What was he supposed to do with the fish once he had caught them? Roast them directly with spiritual fire?

Before Foundation Establishment, he had eaten Grain Avoidance Pills, and after Foundation Establishment, he no longer needed to eat.

The beggar's chicken he had eaten as a child had been his mother's dark cuisine. How was Feng Zhuo supposed to know how to cook?

"Senior Brother..."

He turned to look at Cang Wuya beside him, only to find him looking just as bewildered.

Of course. His senior brother spent his days either practicing swordsmanship or studying Sword Intent; he was probably even worse at this than Feng Zhuo.

"Forget it, forget it!"

Feng Zhuo suddenly snatched up the fish and tossed them back into the stream. "Eat, eat, eat, that's all you ever think about! You swallow a whole bottle of twelve second-tier Spirit-Feeding Pills every day, so why are you still craving roast fish?"

Yanba lay obediently to one side, raising his tail to catch the jade bottle Feng Zhuo tossed him.

When the stopper came out, a rich pill fragrance mingled with the aroma of meat wafted into the air.

The Calamity Beast, who had been born with intelligence, immediately said ingratiatingly, "Master is right. What's so tasty about roast fish? The Spirit-Feeding Pills Master refines are what truly deserve to be called a delicacy of the mortal world!"

Indeed, Feng Zhuo's specially made Spirit-Feeding Pills were not only supreme-grade pills; he had also altered the formula to suit Yanba's tastes.

Each one contained pure spiritual power and was countless times more precious than ordinary roast fish.

Yanba swallowed one, and the sparks in his mane immediately grew a little brighter. No amount of roast fish could compare to that.

"What?! What delicacy of the mortal world?"

A clear female voice suddenly came from the woods.

A girl in a plain white gauze dress came hurrying around the bend, a guqin in her arms.

The silver bells in her hair jingled with each step. When she saw Feng Zhuo and Cang Wuya, she showed no hesitation and greeted them with a graceful bow.

The girl's bright eyes were full of anticipation. "Fellow Daoists, were you just talking about delicious food? I wonder if I might...?"

The tips of Feng Zhuo's ears reddened slightly, and he shot Yanba another glare.

Seeing this, Cang Wuya took it upon himself to explain. "There is no delicacy. My junior brother's spirit pet merely said that Spirit-Feeding Pills were a delicacy of the mortal world."

At that, seven or eight parts of the light in the girl's face faded at once.

Unexpectedly, however, the remaining two or three parts still prompted her to speak again. "Spirit-Feeding Pills?"

"I've never tried them before. I wonder if you have any to spare, Fellow Daoist? Could you let me have a few?"

As she spoke, she took several stalks of spirit grass with a faint blue sheen from her storage ring. "I'll trade these stalks of Aversion Grass for them."

Feng Zhuo's gaze shifted slightly.

This second-tier Aversion Grass was the main ingredient for refining second-tier Spirit-Feeding Pills. With a few supplementary ingredients of his own, the amount the girl had brought out would be enough for him to refine three batches.

Though it was truly rare for a cultivator to ask for Spirit-Feeding Pills, they were not inedible.

They simply lacked the effect of raising a Demon Beast's cultivation.

Seeing the girl's sincerity, Feng Zhuo took several high-grade Spirit-Feeding Pills from his storage ring.

To guard against her disliking them, he even made a point of taking out one each of several flavors Yanba liked.

"Many thanks, Fellow Daoist!"

Ji Tinglan accepted the pills, then chose one and put it in her mouth without the slightest hesitation.

Her frank action eased some of Feng Zhuo and Cang Wuya's wariness.

Although she appeared to be nothing more than a delicate girl carrying a guqin, anyone who traveled alone was certainly no ordinary person.

The girl savored the pill, and her eyes suddenly lit up. "This taste... is it beef?! What your spirit pet said was true, Fellow Daoist. It really does deserve to be called a delicacy of the mortal world!"

In the blink of an eye, all five Spirit-Feeding Pills had disappeared into Ji Tinglan's mouth.

After eating them, she stared longingly at Feng Zhuo's storage ring, but when she remembered she had nothing else of equal value to offer, she could only smack her lips regretfully.

"I am Ji Tinglan, a disciple of nearby Clear Spring Valley."

The girl held the guqin, which was half as tall as she was. "Fellow Daoists, I suppose you've also come because of the evil demon in Clear Creek Village?"

Clear Spring Valley?

Feng Zhuo and Cang Wuya briefly exchanged glances, each reading a trace of doubt in the other's eyes.

The sect's task Jade Slip had never mentioned another sect nearby.

By rights, if Clear Spring Valley was here, why would the villagers go to the trouble of seeking help from the distant Supreme One Divine Sect?

Feng Zhuo betrayed nothing on his face. Smiling, he cupped his hands and said, "I am Feng Zhuo, and this is my senior brother. Our master is a wandering Rogue Cultivator, and we have indeed come today to eliminate the demon."

As he spoke, Feng Zhuo had already discreetly assessed her cultivation.

The twelfth layer of Qi Refining, at complete perfection.

Judging by her words and actions, there was still a touch of girlish innocence and childishness in her every gesture.

She should not be very old.

To have such cultivation at her age, she was certainly no disciple of an ordinary sect.

In the Central Continent's cultivation world, there were six top sects and ten first-class sects, with countless second- and third-class sects beneath them.

This Clear Spring Valley was neither among the first-class sects Feng Zhuo knew of nor a top sect.

More noteworthy still, none of the six top sects-the Nine Heavens Sword Sect, the Mountain-Forging Sect, the Purple Yang Pill Sect, the Great Void Five Elements Sect, the Heavenly Gang Battle Sect, and the comprehensive Supreme One Divine Sect-specialized in music.

Judging by the guqin in her arms, which radiated powerful Spiritual Qi, she was likely a music cultivator.

And among the first-class sects, only the Hundred Melodies Sect specialized in the Dao of music.

As for this "Clear Spring Valley"...

It was probably not made up.

A little questioning of the nearby villagers would expose the truth, so there was really no need for the girl to invent a lie that could be so easily uncovered.