NOVEL NEXT Ch. 6
Chapter 6: Demoness or Immortal Fairy
There was no lack of food in the mountains, only the need to distinguish whether it was edible or not.
Fortunately, Lu Changyuan still knew what could go into his mouth, so he casually picked some wild fruits along the roadside and stuffed them into his mouth.
The fragrance belonging to the mountains, accompanied by a taste that was not sweet at all, filled his mouth.
Awful.
“Who exactly is Young Master?”
Xia Lianxue’s figure slowly appeared from behind Lu Changyuan.
She held a gourd in her hand, filled with clear water.
Finally, she came.
Lu Changyuan stood up: “Just a mountain physician.”
If the information in his eyes was true—
Then the gentle and lovely fairy before him, because of being tainted by the Desire Demon, had turned into a Rakshasa who would take lives.
Compared to those two cultivators of the Blood Demon Palace, the fairy in front of him was obviously far more terrifying.
The most outstanding True Disciple of one of the Nine Gates and Twelve Palaces, the Jade Palace—still at the peak of her prime.
Now, as long as Xia Lianxue wished it, Lu Changyuan and Qiu Yuehan might as well pick their own burial sites.
This mountain was not a bad choice.
There were mountains and rivers, birds singing and flowers blooming.
But he did not know what Xia Lianxue was waiting for.
Lu Changyuan thought that if he were Xia Lianxue, he would have already struck—kill Lu Changyuan first, then Qiu Yuehan, and afterward, just as those Blood Demon Palace cultivators had said, sit steadily in the position of Young Palace Mistress.
Xia Lianxue said softly: “I want to know how Young Master saved Senior Sister.”
“You can ask Qiu Yuehan.”
“Senior Sister will not tell.”
Lu Changyuan answered naturally: “Then you can also choose not to ask.”
“If Young Master does not wish to say, then forget it.”
As her words landed, inexplicably, Lu Changyuan felt a little guilty toward Xia Lianxue.
Wasn’t it just some unimportant encounter?
What harm was there in telling her?
Lu Changyuan slowly turned his head to look at Xia Lianxue: “Fairy truly wishes to know?”
“Yes.”
Even though Xia Lianxue wore a veil and Lu Changyuan could not see her face, he very clearly sensed that she was smiling.
In an instant, the red of mountain cherry blossoms and the white of camellias brushed across his face with the breeze.
Beautifully hazy and breathtaking.
Amidst his chaotic thoughts, a gleam flashed in Lu Changyuan’s eyes.
The Supreme Pure-Spirit Forget-Immortal Technique circulated, severing the fondness that should not have existed.
Making people unknowingly develop goodwill toward the spellcaster? Since when did Feather Moon Immortal Palace have such a technique?
Was this the Jade Palace, or was it the Pleasure Sect?
Be it Qiu Yuehan or Xia Lianxue—
How had the immortal fairies of the cultivation world become like this?
“Then you should go and ask Fairy Qiu Yuehan. I believe, given your relationship with her, if you ask a few more times, Fairy Yuehan will tell you.”
Xia Lianxue let out a sigh and ultimately did not further drive her spell.
If Lu Changyuan truly was a mortal, further casting would directly shatter his mind.
There was no need to strike so harshly at a mortal.
Lu Changyuan turned his back to Xia Lianxue and suddenly spoke: “It was nothing much. Fairy Yuehan slew a demonic cultivator but was gravely injured herself. I happened to be on the mountain gathering herbs when I found her. With many tigers roaming the mountain at night, I brought Fairy Yuehan back.”
Xia Lianxue thought her spell had taken delayed effect. She frowned and asked, “Why would Senior Sister suddenly pursue and kill a demonic cultivator? Does Young Master know which sect the one she killed belonged to?”
“Fairy Yuehan said it was a demonic monk from the Food-Buddha Sect.”
“Senior Sister is still the same as ever… intolerant of evil.”
Lu Changyuan asked naturally: “Why do you say that?”
This time, the Jade Palace had sent out two True Disciples at once.
Their true purpose, the same as the Heart-Eating Monk’s, was to investigate the Heaven-Mending Pill of the Glazed Dynasty.
Since this pill was linked with Daoist Chang’an, it was worth both of them coming.
But they had not acted together, because Qiu Yuehan had already been near the Glazed Dynasty.
Receiving the sect’s message, she had come directly.
Xia Lianxue, however, set out from the sect itself and would arrive later.
During those ten-some days, a major event occurred.
In a place over a hundred li from Lu Changyuan’s village, three whole villages had their people’s hearts and livers dug out, all massacred.
The one who committed such atrocities was naturally that Heart-Eating Monk.
Arriving early, Qiu Yuehan learned of this and went alone to slay him.
But the Heart-Eating Monk fought as he fled.
The two battled for several days, and finally, at that ruined Cihang Temple, Lu Changyuan reaped the spoils.
A day earlier, Xia Lianxue also arrived near the dynasty and happened to receive Qiu Yuehan’s message.
Thus, she had rushed over in the nick of time to save them.
Lu Changyuan handed one of the fruits in his hand to Xia Lianxue.
This gesture left Xia Lianxue a little at a loss.
She politely waved her hand, only to see Lu Changyuan stuff the fruit into his own mouth.
Since the day she entered the immortal path, every mortal who saw her treated her with utmost reverence.
This was the first time Xia Lianxue saw a mortal who felt so unrestrained before her.
It was as though she, a cultivator of the Fourth Realm, stood shorter than him and needed his care.
Thus, Xia Lianxue recalled the fear she had felt years ago when she was first brought into the sect and faced those immortals.
Forget it.
Not walking the immortal path, the boy before her did not know her status.
He simply thought immortals were all the same.
Lu Changyuan did not know that his casual demeanor had stirred the thoughts of the fairy untouched by mortal smoke and fire. He only asked: “What exactly is the Food-Buddha Sect?”
Xia Lianxue bit her lip: “All beasts.”
The Food-Buddha Sect was likewise one of the great sects among the Nine Gates and Twelve Palaces.
This sect had no predecessor but was newly founded during the times of turmoil.
Legend had it that five hundred years ago, the first monks of the Food-Buddha Sect found the corpse of an Immortal Buddha, dead for who knew how many thousands of years.
These monks divided and ate the corpse.
Their Buddhist cultivation advanced greatly, and thus the Food-Buddha Sect was established and named.
Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes: “So that Heart-Eating Monk is also one of the outstanding younger generation of the Food-Buddha Sect?”
Being able to fight Qiu Yuehan to such a degree, it seemed he was akin to a Buddha Child among demonic sects.
Xia Lianxue nodded: “The Heart-Eating Monk inherited a Buddhist title from his master. He was an extremely formidable figure of the demonic path, but unfortunately, still not as good as Senior Sister.”
Why was Xia Lianxue full of praise whenever she spoke of Qiu Yuehan?
“Fairy seems to think very highly of Fairy Yuehan?”
Xia Lianxue lowered her eyes: “It is simply the truth. Senior Sister has always been remarkable in the sect.”
Lu Changyuan recalled Qiu Yuehan’s intimate gesture on the carriage earlier.
That woman… could she have been deliberately diverting Xia Lianxue’s attention onto him?
“Fairy is not lacking either.”
“Senior Sister has a pure heart, simple in thought, devoted only to the immortal path. Naturally, I cannot compare.” Xia Lianxue looked toward the sky: “Young Master, you had best return to the carriage quickly. It is about to rain.”
With that, she turned first and walked toward the carriage.
From the sky came several dark clouds.
Around them, some unpleasant, sticky moisture seemed to rise.
Just like Xia Lianxue’s mood.
She had cultivated in the sect since childhood, and never once had she bested Qiu Yuehan in the slightest.
Lu Changyuan looked at the fairy’s graceful figure and straight back, and found the matter all the more amusing.
Intolerant of evil, pure-hearted Qiu Yuehan?
That was perhaps the funniest joke Lu Changyuan had heard these past few days.