The Fisherwoman of the Eastern Sea: The End

So in this jianghu, strength still did the talking. Faced with Wen Qiushui, whose martial arts were formidable and who was impervious to reason, the Hundred Rivers Courtyard dared not speak of rules, and Fang Duobing dared not speak of justice. Even the people of Jade City who had seen their city lord killed could only watch Wen Qiushui come and go as she pleased after seeing that their lord could not withstand a single move from her. They did not even dare raise the prices of the things they sold her.

Yu Mulan was secretly delighted that Jade City had so luckily fallen into his hands, so naturally he would not stir up trouble. Zongzheng Mingzhu, who arrived later, truly loved Jiao Liqiao, so he naturally had no wish to bring a great deal of trouble upon the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance by provoking the Ethereal Immortal.

Thus, while Fang Duobing and Li Lianhua were busy investigating Yu Hongzhu and the murder of Second Miss Yu, Wen Qiushui leisurely strolled the streets, buying jade.

Though Li Lianhua had less than a tenth of his martial arts left, his experience in the jianghu was beyond what Li Xiangyi's had been. In just two or three days, he uncovered the cause of Second Miss Yu's death.

It was a tragedy. Everyone she loved hated her, and the family, lover, and friend she thought she knew all had another face. Wen Qiushui lay in a tree, listening to Li Lianhua recount Miss Yu's life, which had been a joke.

She heard Miss Yu's close friend Yun Jiao kneel on the ground, sobbing and repenting, while her brother-in-law Yu Mulan continued to shift blame for his own wrongdoing. Her fiancé, Zongzheng Mingzhu, meanwhile, subtly threatened everyone with his status as the chancellor's son.

Wen Qiushui clicked her tongue and leaped down from the tree. Ignoring those scoundrels, she said, "Did you find any evidence that Yu Hongzhu belonged to the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance? If not, I'll have to prepare for a fight with the Hundred Rivers Courtyard."

Fang Duobing was at a loss for words, but still could not help saying, "You're the one who killed her, yet you're threatening the Hundred Rivers Courtyard to make us find evidence for you. What gives you the right?"

Wen Qiushui smiled. "Because you can't beat me, and neither can the Hundred Rivers Courtyard. Li Xiangyi might have been able to exchange a few moves with me, but he's already dead."

Fang Duobing opened and closed his mouth several times, but had no idea what to say.

Though those words were hardly chivalrous, and did not sound at all like something someone from the righteous path would say, she was damned well right!

Li Lianhua broke the awkward silence. "The reason Young Master Zongzheng wanted to kill Miss Yu was that she had discovered the secret on the mountain behind Jade City. That mountain is covered in poisonous miasma, a unique creation of the Poison Demon. This is already proof that City Lord Yu must have been connected to the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance.

"The Ethereal Immortal truly lives up to her reputation as a heroine renowned throughout the jianghu. Her chivalrous heart is worthy of our admiration."

Wen Qiushui gave Li Lianhua an inscrutable look. "You certainly know when to yield and when to stand firm, and you have quite a way with words."

Li Lianhua smiled without speaking. Wen Qiushui said no more and prepared to leave with her sword in hand. Just as her figure was about to disappear, she used her internal force to send her sword flashing across the throats of Yu Mulan and the other two, taking the murderers' lives.

"No need to thank me. Since you called me a heroine, naturally I must act with chivalry and uphold justice."

With those words, Wen Qiushui vanished from the Jade City lord's residence.

Those left behind stared at the corpses of Yu Mulan, Yun Jiao, and Zongzheng Mingzhu. For a long while, no one spoke.

When Yang Yunchun, Shi Shui, and the others arrived at the city lord's residence with their men, they found Fang Duobing and the others silently staring at the three thoroughly dead bodies.

When Shi Shui asked Fang Duobing what had happened, he asked her just one question: "Could Li Xiangyi control a sword in flight back then?"

Wen Qiushui, who felt she had done another good deed and that her temper had indeed improved considerably, walked unhurriedly out of Jade City. Coming toward her was a pair who looked made for each other, riding on horseback.

The man wore purple and looked proud and aloof, showing a trace of tenderness only when he looked at the woman beside him. The woman had a gentle demeanor and was exceedingly beautiful; of all the women Wen Qiushui had seen, only Yi Wenjun was more beautiful than her. She was indeed worthy of being called the greatest beauty in the martial world.

That was right. The woman was Wen Qiushui's old acquaintance, Li Xiangyi's former girlfriend Qiao Wanmian. And the arrogant-looking man was naturally Qiao Wanmian's simp, Xiao Zijin.

Wen Qiushui's expression did not change as she passed the two of them. Only after she had gone some distance did she mutter to herself, "So a different soul can affect one's appearance too?"

In her previous life as Qiao Wanmian, she had been proud and conceited, even more so than Li Xiangyi. That temperament had been reflected in her body, making her quite different from the present Qiao Wanmian. No wonder Li Xiangyi had noticed the difference at once.

Putting the affairs of Jade City out of her mind and paying no further attention to those troubles, Wen Qiushui resumed her journey of buying, buying, and buying. After three transmigrations, the space inside the Chaos Pearl had expanded considerably. But she had only been to small worlds, and transmigration had consumed energy, so only the space had expanded somewhat; its other, more advanced functions had not been restored.

To prepare for the possibilities ahead, Wen Qiushui had stockpiled plenty of supplies in the space in each of her lives. Talismans, medicinal ingredients, and pills in particular were all good things that could save her life in a desperate situation.

While Wen Qiushui was buying, buying, and buying, a new wave of trouble suddenly swept through the jianghu. Not only did several groups of unknown identity begin ambushing her, but the Heavenly Secret Manor, the Hundred Rivers Courtyard, and the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance were all searching for the Ethereal Immortal, hoping to pay a fortune for an ice shard in her possession.

After interrogating several of the assassins who had come after her, Wen Qiushui learned that what they sought was an ice shard from Yu Lou Chun's collection, which she had obtained after killing him.

The reason Wen Qiushui still remembered it was that the young woman leading the group at the time had told her the shard was something Yu Lou Chun treasured dearly.

Wen Qiushui did not want these flies constantly spoiling her enjoyment of her travels, so she went to the Heavenly Secret Manor and sold the shard for an astronomical price. After all, she found the manor more pleasing to the eye than the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance or the Hundred Rivers Courtyard.

After selling the shard, Wen Qiushui considered whether she should go and make trouble for Wansheng Dao and the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance. Most of the groups that had ambushed her belonged to those two organizations, and they had resorted to every trick, including gu and poison.

One poison, called Wuxin Locust, which could strip a person of their martial arts, did pique Wen Qiushui's interest, and she confiscated some of it from them.

But when she thought of how Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing were also involved, and how those people would not come to a good end anyway, she could not be bothered to go after them. After all, both organizations had hidden their headquarters quite well, and Wen Qiushui really could not be bothered to go to the trouble of finding them.

Once she had seen enough of the jianghu, Wen Qiushui doubled back several times to make sure no one was following her. Then she resumed her identity as a fisherwoman and returned to a life of family affairs and firewood, rice, oil, and salt.

Lately, however, something had been troubling her: the villagers had stopped urging her to marry and had instead begun worrying about her old age. People were always advising her to adopt a child.

Fed up with their nagging, Wen Qiushui went wandering through the jianghu again. By then, the hottest topic in the jianghu was that Li Lianhua was Li Xiangyi, and that Li Xiangyi had returned to the jianghu to destroy the plot by Shan Gudao's Wansheng Dao and the surviving descendants of Nanyin to seize the throne.

Wen Qiushui smiled. Sure enough, Wansheng Dao had come to no good end.

Whether some ill-fated bond connected Wen Qiushui and Li Lianhua was hard to say. While wandering through the jianghu, Wen Qiushui encountered Li Lianhua once more—a Li Lianhua with only one breath left, on the verge of death.

Wen Qiushui's figure stirred, and in the blink of an eye she was sitting in Li Lianhua's lone boat. Li Lianhua seemed to sense someone's arrival. Feeling how formidable the newcomer's martial arts were, he smiled. "So it's you."

So it was her: Wen Daya of Wang Family Village by the Eastern Sea, the Ethereal Immortal who stood above the jianghu.

Wen Qiushui silently watched the dying Li Lianhua, thinking of the vivid expression Li Xiangyi had worn in her previous life as he chased after her to clean up her messes, and of the Li Lianhua who had kept her identity secret in this life. She sighed, then put a pill into his mouth, seized him by the collar, and flew away.

On the shore of the Eastern Sea, Fang Duobing and Di Feisheng found only a farewell letter and the broken Shaoshi sword brought by Xiao Zijin. They began searching the world over for Li Lianhua again, until a letter from Mount Yun Yin finally interrupted their frantic search.

When they reached Mount Yun Yin, they found Li Lianhua half-dead, along with a letter and a pill that had appeared with him. The letter said the medicine could cure Bicha poison and could be taken after one month.

It was signed by the Ethereal Immortal.

Fang Duobing murmured, "Sure enough, only she had the ability to save him."

Di Feisheng, however, felt somewhat regretful. He had met this new number one in the martial world once, but had not had the chance to test himself against her.

A year later, Wen Qiushui's life as a fisherwoman was still warm and happy, and what bothered her was still the constant nagging to marry and have children. Recently, however, a new event had occurred that could give her a few days of peace: the home across from hers, which had stood empty for many years, had a new resident.

His name was Li Lianpeng. He was said to be a down-and-out scholar who had repeatedly failed the imperial examinations, so he had decided to settle somewhere new and open a school for beginners.

Chuncai also went to join the excitement and have a look at the handsome scholar. When she returned, she winked at Wen Qiushui and whispered, "He looks a little like that Divine Doctor Li, only more handsome."

Wen Qiushui rested her cheek in one hand and replied absently, "Is that so?"

Life in Wang Family Village by the Eastern Sea remained warm and peaceful. Occasionally, someone coveted the village's wealth, but they would invariably lose their lives without anyone noticing how. In time, everyone came to know that the village was not to be trifled with, and no one dared harbor crooked thoughts about it anymore.

And so Wen Qiushui spent the rest of her peaceful yet fulfilling life gossiping and being the subject of gossip.