Eastern Sea Fisherman's Daughter 4
Yu Lou Chun and Dongfang Hao were among the few villains Wen Qiushui still remembered after reincarnating into another life.
The reason was that their use of women as playthings had, unusually, aroused Wen Qiushui's disgust.
To escape the troubles in the village and get away for a change of scenery, Wen Qiushui casually put on a mask and set out to wander the martial world under the pretext of searching for Li Lianhua.
She had happened upon Fragrant Mountain in her previous life, so finding it now was easy enough.
As before, she forced Dongfang Hao's whereabouts out of Yu Lou Chun, then killed everyone who had ever bullied or abused women, one person per stroke of her sword, leaving none alive.
Whether they had been controlled by poison or forced to act against their will was not something Wen Qiushui considered.
With guidance from several women who had taken the lead, Wen Qiushui left some of Yu Lou Chun's wealth to the women who had suffered such miserable fates and swept up the rest. Thinking that such a large fortune would inevitably attract covetous eyes, she showed a rare moment of kindness and left a few words in a conspicuous place:
The killer was the Ethereal Immortal.
Ethereal Immortal Maiden had been her title in the cultivation world. She had originally been called that because of her masterful use of Ethereal Swordsmanship, a sword art inherited from Kunlun.
In her previous few lives, had Wen Qiushui been asked to use that title again, she would have been utterly unwilling. She hated everything connected to the Kunlun Sect.
But now that she had practiced the Ice Heart Instruction, her state of mind had grown more peaceful, and she no longer minded bringing up the past with the Kunlun Sect quite so much.
With Li Xiangyi gone, the character of those remaining in the Hundred Rivers Courtyard who traded on his name was worrying. Wen Qiushui had also heard that Yun Biqiu, who had poisoned Li Xiangyi, was one of its directors, which left her with even less trust in the Hundred Rivers Courtyard.
With no one to handle the aftermath, Wen Qiushui had to escort the women out of the Women's Residence herself.
She first took home the women who still wished to return to their families. As for those who had lost trust in their families, she escorted them to a remote town and helped them set up an embroidery shop.
By the time Wen Qiushui had finished, she had spent considerable time and effort, and felt some gratitude toward Li Xiangyi, who had frequently handled the aftermath for her in her previous life.
What Wen Qiushui did not expect was that her actions would save these women's lives seven years later.
Seven years later, the surviving descendants of Nanyin were frequently active. Both Wansheng Dao and the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance were searching for the four pieces of Luomo Heavenly Ice. The other pieces could all be traced, but the one Yu Lou Chun had possessed had vanished without a trace along with the treasures of the Women's Residence.
As for the women who had survived the Women's Residence, Wen Qiushui had slaughtered everyone who knew anything about them. Neither the Hundred Rivers Courtyard nor the government offices had received any pleas for help from the women.
The Ethereal Immortal who had left that message and acted as a champion of justice had been relatively active in the martial world over the years, but no one had seen her true face. After all, everyone who crossed her path had died.
But that lay in the future. The piece of ice Wen Qiushui had unwittingly stowed in her space attracted none of her attention.
After wandering the martial world for a while longer and buying plenty of supplies, Wen Qiushui reckoned that those who had been harboring ill intentions toward her would soon die of illness, so she prepared to return.
After spending enough time in the martial world, she found it was always the same: fame, profit, power, all cast from the same mold. It was less interesting than ordinary people's firewood, rice, oil, and salt.
On the way back, Wen Qiushui also mixed some medicine to disguise her appearance. Although the body's original owner had been merely pretty, Wen Qiushui had practiced the Heavenly Devil Instruction and cleansed her tendons and marrow, restoring her body to its best condition. Her smooth, delicate, flawless skin, paired with her comely features, made her quite conspicuous.
For ordinary people, an overly conspicuous appearance could bring only disaster. Even though Wen Qiushui had something to rely on, it was still a constant nuisance.
After so many upheavals, Wen Qiushui had long ceased to care whether she was beautiful or ugly. Strength was the only thing one could rely on. Once you became the best under heaven, even if you were as ugly as Wuyan, there would still be plenty of people ready to flatter you.
And even if you were as lovely as a flower, as beautiful as a heavenly immortal, the person who shared your pillow would never hesitate when the time came to betray you. All that might happen was that you would end up in an even more miserable state.
Unfortunately, the medicine meant to disguise her appearance was judged harmful to the body. As long as Wen Qiushui continued practicing the Heavenly Devil Instruction, it would be expelled as an impurity.
Fortunately, as a cultivation method that led straight to the great Dao, the Heavenly Devil Instruction was precious not merely for its power and its ability to be practiced using any kind of energy. It was also all-encompassing, containing every sort of miscellaneous art.
Wen Qiushui found an illusion technique that consumed very little and could be used even in this small world. She cast it at once, so that outsiders who saw her would think her looks utterly ordinary.
By the time Wen Qiushui returned to Wang Family Village, few people still wanted to arrange a marriage for her. More of them pitied her instead.
Apart from a few households, people in Wang Family Village could still put food on the table and keep themselves clothed, making it a prosperous village. They lived on the shore of the Eastern Sea, after all, and never lacked seafood. Moreover, people from the martial world were often active in the area, and the officials, fearing that such people might carry out heaven's justice on them, did not dare squeeze the villagers too hard.
When granaries are full, people know propriety. Because life was not so hard, most of the villagers still had some conscience and would not cross certain lines. Thus, even as Wen Qiushui grew better off, her devotion to Li Lianhua meant that hardly anyone coveted her property anymore.
Of course, those with ill intentions had also died of illness one after another. Others who still had designs on her gradually abandoned them when they thought of the strange things about Wen Qiushui.
Wen Qiushui's life returned to normal. Aside from occasionally going out to sea to gather pearls, she spent most of her time listening to village gossip and studying cooking, learning to cook well from the older women in the village.
Another seven years passed, and Wen Qiushui had become a capable village woman. Not only had she learned to cook well, but the seafood snacks she made were also a major source of income for her, in addition to the pearl jewelry she sold.
She had also become skilled with a needle and thread and cut and made her clothes entirely by herself. Her wide experience gave her clothes a beauty that earned her a considerable reputation along the Eastern Sea coast, and people often came to her with cloth and gifts of thanks, asking her to cut clothes for them.
Li Lianhua's name as a divine physician also grew ever more famous in the martial world, until it even reached Wang Family Village. Thanks to Li Lianhua, whenever news of his deeds arrived, Wen Qiushui used the pretext of looking for him to roam the martial world at her leisure.
The Ethereal Immortal's reputation for ruthless methods carried great weight in the martial world, even surpassing that of the Hundred Rivers Courtyard. She became the person villains in the martial world feared most after Li Xiangyi.