Chapter 10

The Flying Swallow Treasure Pavilion was an organization famous across the entire continent, dealing in buying and selling.

The book described how, after Long Jingxing fell on hard times, he was left with only a few Spirit Stones. While passing by a Flying Swallow Treasure Pavilion, he was suddenly drawn by a faint aura and found a dusty black box in a corner.

Inside the box was an ordinary-looking compass. Long Jingxing bought it with his remaining Spirit Stones.

As it turned out, this compass was originally a treasure used for location tracking, and it could only be activated by Long Jingxing’s bloodline. Later, he used it to find the Small Secret Realm that hid the Poison-Avoiding Pearl.

It sounded simple enough.

But when Liuli entered the Flying Swallow Treasure Pavilion, she was dumbfounded—because the dusty black boxes filled an entire cabinet.

These dusty black boxes were low-grade goods that couldn’t be sold, items with no spiritual energy reaction. Usually, only rogue cultivators hoping to find a hidden gem came to buy them.

Liang Tiantian, biting on a candied hawthorn skewer, didn’t understand why she was looking at these boxes. “Senior Sister, what do you want to buy?”

The shop assistants initially saw their fine clothes and eagerly crowded around, but now, seeing Liuli only pondering before a cabinet of unsellable junk, they dispersed in disappointment.

They look like they have money, but their taste is awful.

Liuli looked at the only remaining assistant standing nearby and asked, “How much are these?”

“Three low-grade Spirit Stones for one; five low-grade Spirit Stones for two; ten low-grade Spirit Stones for five!” the assistant quoted listlessly.

“Alright, I’ll take the whole lot.”

Assistant: “What?!”

Liuli politely pointed at the pile of boxes and said, “I said, I’ll take all of these.”

Aren’t they just Spirit Stones? This stuff, the daughter of the Sect Leader has no shortage of it!

“Right away!” The previously cold assistant immediately broke into a smile. The unit price was low, but added up, this entire cabinet was quite a business deal.

Life as a cultivator was sometimes very convenient. For instance, when Liuli decided she wanted this cabinet full of things, she didn’t need anyone to help her move them. She simply put them all into her Storage Ring. Because there was so much stuff, the shopkeeper even gave her the cabinet for free.

And all of this cost less than two Middle-grade Spirit Stones.

Liang Tiantian was completely baffled, following her Senior Sister back.

Liuli said, “No need to tell anyone about this, got it?”

Liang Tiantian nodded. “Got it.”

After warning her, Liuli looked around in all directions, making Liang Tiantian curious. “Senior Sister, what are you looking at?”

“I’m looking for highway robbers.” Based on years of TV drama and melodramatic novel experience, Liuli was already prepared to be robbed mid-journey. Nothing ever went smoothly when one went out to handle business.

Liang Tiantian couldn’t help but laugh. “Senior Sister, the surrounding area is all territory of the Heavenly Martial Sect. How dare petty thieves cause trouble? Even if they dared to attack, they wouldn’t dare attack a disciple of the Heavenly Martial Sect.”

Liuli was faintly disappointed. “Is that so…”

She’d even been hoping to test the results of her recent cultivation by encountering someone.

Just as Liang Tiantian said, the two returned to the Heavenly Martial Sect smoothly without incident.

Liuli had promised to give Liang Tiantian everything they opened from the black boxes. She coaxed the little girl into opening over a hundred boxes until they finally found the object that looked like a compass. Then Liuli faced another dilemma.

After giving this thing to the male lead, how could she get him to go to the Water Sect?

The Water Sect was a neutral sect in the southwest that only accepted female disciples. Neither righteous nor evil, they were skilled in using Gu poison. Liuli remembered that after Long Jingxing’s downfall, he went to the southwest and got involved with the Water Sect’s Sect Master. The Sect Master, Yi Shui, cast a Love Gu on the two of them. This Love Gu was the key to opening the Small Secret Realm.

Unable to come up with an idea for a moment, Liuli asked Liang Tiantian, “Tiantian, if you had to go somewhere you’d never thought of going, what would make you go?”

Liang Tiantian rubbed her chubby chin and thought seriously. “Hmm… an acquaintance asking me to go?”

“What if no acquaintance asked?”

“Then… a divination showing there’s treasure there?”

“What else?”

“Umm… I can’t think of anything.” Liang Tiantian drooped her little head in defeat.

But Liuli had already thought of a solution. She rubbed her head. “It’s fine. By the way, Tiantian, where does Long Jingxing live?”

…

Liuli didn’t plan to give the compass directly to Long Jingxing. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to explain why she was doing this.

Giving it to someone else to pass along also risked exposure.

So, she had to deliver it secretly.

Liuli wrote a small note. She had seen that her handwriting was quite different from the original’s. Fortunately, she didn’t usually need to write anything herself, so she hadn’t been exposed yet.

But now, the unfamiliar handwriting could actually help Liuli disguise her identity.

She placed the note and the compass into a new box, sealed it, and waited a few days. When Liang Tiantian was too busy to follow her and Long Jingxing wasn’t home, she quietly went to Long Jingxing’s mountain peak.

She deliberately avoided other disciples but unexpectedly was stopped by the protective restriction on Long Jingxing’s courtyard.

When the master was away, formations were usually activated to protect the home.

Liuli’s mistake was coming here before fully understanding the common sense of the Cultivation World.

A faint purple, egg-shell-like barrier of light covered the entire courtyard. Liuli hesitated at the entrance, not daring to act rashly for a moment.

If she touched it, would this thing send a message to the owner like a remote control? If it didn’t send a message, would it attack her? If it didn’t attack her, could she attack it?

Before Liuli could decide, there was no time left to hesitate.

Laughter echoed from afar. Liuli gritted her teeth and decided to forcibly break through. But just as she had gathered her True Qi into her fist and intended to smash a hole in it, the moment she touched the light barrier, it was as if nothing was there at all, and she passed right through.

Due to inertia, Liuli stumbled forward a few steps.

What was going on?

It wasn’t until she placed the box under Long Jingxing’s pillow that Liuli figured it out—she had almost forgotten again that she was the female lead!

As Long Jingxing’s dear Junior Sister, it was simply too normal for Xue Liuli to have some special privileges.

Liuli clicked her tongue at this touching tale of puppy love.

After placing the item, she waited for the laughter outside to fade into the distance, then planned to leave.

Unfortunately, smooth sailing before didn’t mean it would last. Liuli had only taken two steps out when a somber voice stopped her.

“Xue Liuli, what are you doing?”

“…”

This voice, it was so familiar. Liuli put on a blank and innocent expression, slowly turned around, and gave Ye Zhenzhen a charming smile. “Senior Sister Ye, what a coincidence.”

“Coincidence my foot.” Ye Zhenzhen crossed her arms, looking at her with displeasure. “What are you doing sneaking around?”

“I’m not doing anything.” Liuli scratched her chin and twisted her toes, acting completely shameless.

“Don’t tell me, then. I’ll go tell Senior Brother Long!”

“Hey!”

Liuli made an exaggerated cry. “Oh my, Senior Sister, you absolutely, absolutely, absolutely… must not, must not, must not tell Senior Brother Long.”

Ye Zhenzhen got goosebumps from her exaggerated tone, and her departing steps stopped instead.

She turned back, looking at Liuli suspiciously. “What exactly did you do?”

Liuli glanced left and right, refusing to answer directly. But the more she acted this way, the more Ye Zhenzhen felt something was up.

Could it be… Xue Liuli was deliberately provoking her to go find Long Jingxing?!

The more Ye Zhenzhen thought about it, the more she felt she’d guessed the truth. Her disgust for Xue Liuli in her heart reached a new peak: Cunning! Sneaky!

Ye Zhenzhen thought that to deal with this sly woman, she needed to show patience herself. So she tried hard to soften her tone, acting as if she didn’t care at all. “Actually, I was just casually asking. Don’t tell if you don’t want to.”

Liuli: “…Pfft.”

“What are you laughing at!” The feigned calm shattered in a second. Ye Zhenzhen bit her lower lip and scolded angrily.

Liuli: “Nothing.” She was just laughing at how a hot-tempered person like her was pretending to be calm and uncaring. It was rather cute.

Liuli said, “Senior Sister, actually… I was here to help Senior Brother Long clean up.”

Ye Zhenzhen: “?!!”

Liuli stamped her foot, her palm covering her mouth. This time, she really wasn’t trying to act coy; she was afraid she’d accidentally break character and laugh out loud. “If Senior Sister wants to go tell Senior Brother Long, I won’t be able to stop you.”

“…” Ye Zhenzhen silently gritted her teeth. “Ha! Ha! I’m not one to snitch. Let’s drop this matter. I’ll pretend I saw nothing. No next time!”

Trying to provoke her into snitching to Long Jingxing, then flipping the script, acting like a virtuous, gentle good Junior Sister in front of Long Jingxing, making him misunderstand that I was framing her… What a cunning Xue Liuli!

I won’t fall for your trick! Ye Zhenzhen pursed her delicate red lips, gave a cold snort, and strode away.

Leaving Liuli alone, watching her back and sighing: Good talent, good looks, a bit of a temper but not a major flaw… how could she be so infatuated with Long Jingxing?

What a pity.

Hands behind her back, Liuli sighed at Ye Zhenzhen’s love-brain while swiftly slipping away.

The next day, Liuli heard the news that Long Jingxing had gone on a long journey, heading west.

Go for it, Long Jingxing! Now’s the time to test how powerful your male lead halo is!

Hiding in Liang Tiantian’s small house, Liuli avoided Long Jingxing’s farewell. Watching his dejected figure, she quietly clenched her fist.

Liuli swore: If you can avoid the calamity at the Grand Sect Tournament, I’ll never badmouth you again!

…

The matter at hand was temporarily settled, and the big stone on Liuli’s heart was temporarily lifted.

But who knew, the heavens seemed to hate seeing Liuli get along so smoothly.

As soon as she felt good and relaxed… trouble just had to happen.

This day, with only about a month left before the Grand Sect Tournament.

Liuli rushed out of her courtyard in utter despair: “No!!!”

Liang Tiantian had just returned from collecting the sect’s monthly allowance for her when she was caught in a full embrace by Liuli, who was crying in the wind. The startled little Tiantian almost thought her Senior Sister had suffered another serious injury.

“Senior Sister, Senior Sister, what’s wrong? Don’t cry yet!”

Liang Tiantian, fourteen years old this year, had lived on Peach Blossom Mountain since she was young and had always served Xue Liuli. Over the past month or so, after Senior Sister Liuli recovered from her serious illness, her personality changed. She treated her better, giving her all kinds of pocket money, snacks, and any pills or magical treasures she didn’t need. Their relationship had progressed by leaps and bounds.

Liang Tiantian had secretly come to view her as her own sister. Now, seeing her sister crying like this, how could her heart not be panicked!

Liuli cried even louder.

Liang Tiantian, the younger one, ended up comforting the older one instead. “Senior Sister, whatever difficult hurdle it is, tell me, and your Junior Sister will help share the burden… Senior Sister, don’t cry, you’re making me panic too… wuwuwu…”

“Uh.”

Liuli choked on her sob, raised the back of her hand to wipe her tears, and said:

“I leveled up.”

Liang Tiantian: “???”