Chapter 33: Time to Kill Part 1

Bo Xuenong licked her lips, a faint sweetness clinging to the tip of her tongue as her heart brimmed with killing intent.

Perhaps because she had gotten blood on her hands the last time she killed Guan Caimei, her craving for slaughter ran deeper than before. She would unconsciously twitch her nose, as if catching whiffs of fragrance, and taste sweetness on her lips.

‘Taste… can’t taste.’

Bo Xuenong snapped awake in an instant. Without a doubt, Shen Yanting would never allow her to eat people. But for beasts like these, Shen Yanting would surely let her kill them. Bo Xuenong had already envisioned how she would slice open their throats with her sword.

She could kill them and then have the wooden puppets disguise themselves as the brothers to lead them into the Heavenly Feast Sect. It might not be foolproof, but…

“Beauty!”

He Yongshi’s admiring voice, mingled with the sound of him swallowing, reached her ears and shattered Bo Xuenong’s imaginings. They had indeed lifted the veils, but it was Liu Huairou’s veil they uncovered. He Yongshi wanted to continue, but He Yongda stopped him. “Enough. These wedding garb veils carry spiritual qi. If those old fossils find out we peeked early, they might make a fuss and demand something excessive.”

He Yongshi stopped. Soon, the three women were stuffed into a large flower sedan. Four golden core cultivators lifted the sedan and flew up on their treasures, while He Yongda dragged He Yongshi along beside it.

He Yongda was still talking. “That girl isn’t inferior to the Shen Yanting you’ve seen, right?”

At the mention of Shen Yanting’s name, Bo Xuenong’s ears twitched.

He Yongshi’s voice suddenly grew several times more excited. “No, Elder Brother. Shen Yanting is even more beautiful. If you’d seen her once, you’d understand. She’s dozens of times more stunning than her portrait in the Tianxiu Catalogue. Unforgettable after one glance!”

It seemed his initial desire to take her as a master had never been sincere.

He wasn’t seeking a master at all. He clearly coveted Shen Yanting.

Courting death.

Bo Xuenong itched to slaughter the He brothers right then. Suddenly, the voices from outside the sedan seemed muffled, as if filtered through a barrier. They still came through, but distant, like echoes from afar.

Bo Xuenong lifted a corner of her veil to check. As soon as she peeked at the red cloth, she saw Shen Yanting, whose own red veil was already lifted. She held a moon-shaped high-rank spirit tool in her hand—that must have been the cause of the sound change.

Bo Xuenong pointed at her mouth, and Shen Yanting understood. She touched the spirit tool. “We can speak.”

“Master, can I kill them?”

The words slipped from Bo Xuenong’s mouth, stunning both her and Shen Yanting. She had asked too quickly, too eagerly—almost too desirously.

Liu Huairou broke the silence. “They truly deserve death.”

Gui Nianqin had stopped using the Contention Petal Talisman after uncovering its scam, but Liu Huairou had been quite beautiful to begin with, and the talisman had been used up to its final stage, elevating her looks even further. She was indeed very beautiful.

Tormented by the Spring Seal Eternal Light Array, Liu Huairou’s beauty carried a pallid fragility. A clear pinch mark marred her wrist—undoubtedly from He Yongshi taking advantage moments ago.

Their wedding garb and veils were identical, except Shen Yanting’s garb was slightly different. Hers and Liu Huairou’s were the same, so He Yongshi must have taken a fancy to Liu Huairou and left a mark to claim her later. That meant they wouldn’t lift the veils prematurely—a good thing.

Bo Xuenong’s eyes darted. She reached out to compare the mark on Liu Huairou’s wrist, then stirred spiritual mist at her fingertip, instantly smoothing the trace away.

Liu Huairou looked surprised. Shen Yanting understood that Bo Xuenong had targeted the He brothers—she wanted them to pick her.

He Yongda had received spirit supplements before. He was no innocent.

Shen Yanting pursed her lips, her gaze falling on the red mark at Bo Xuenong’s wrist. “Kill if you want.”

Bo Xuenong’s blood boiled. Fragrance wafted into her nose. She pictured two heads at her feet, blood spilling in a gorgeous scene. Her lips curved as she fought her enthusiasm for slaughter, but her voice betrayed a hint of delight. “Thank you, Master!”

Liu Huairou watched Bo Xuenong and Shen Yanting, finding the scene oddly strange.

Who thanks someone for permission to kill—and sounds so… thrilled? Yet Shen Yanting didn’t seem fazed by Bo Xuenong’s reaction.

She knew little of them, only that they were Fu Aoqing’s fellow disciples, willing to help them escape the Heavenly Feast Sect. She knew nothing else, not even their appearances until now. They seemed like two delicate, powerless women. Her probing gaze turned guilty. Unable to hold back, she spoke. “Ladies, the Heavenly Feast Sect is dangerous. You can still flee now.”

Bo Xuenong was mildly surprised. Liu Huairou should know that if the two chosen ones vanished from the sedan, the Heavenly Feast Sect would realize cultivators had uncovered Mistlongevity Village’s secret. To prevent the Divine Pavilion from investigating, aside from Gui Nianqin as the human talisman, all the spirit supplements would be destroyed swiftly.

Shen Yanting gave Liu Huairou a few extra glances. “Aren’t you afraid of death?”

“I am.” Liu Huairou forced a smile. “But… you’re not from the village. We can’t let you die because of us. I…”

Her voice paused. She stared at the red veil in her palm, her smile more bitter. “For us, death is a release. We’re just worried about the village children… Miss Shen, I have a question.”

Shen Yanting: “Ask.”

Liu Huairou’s fingers tightened on the red veil. “Can children without spirit roots who can’t gather qi cultivate immortality?”

Bo Xuenong and Shen Yanting knew she meant Mistlongevity Village’s children. The Heavenly Feast Sect had taken them away early. Without centuries of quenching by spirit gathering talismans to become walking spirit drugs, those without spirit roots or cultivation aptitude had survived this long. Liu Huairou had sensed something odd before, but only today found someone to answer.

She had her suspicions but needed confirmation.

Shen Yanting fell silent. Bo Xuenong answered. “They can. Just not the orthodox path. Demonic cultivators grow spirit roots by devouring others. Harmonious union cultivators seize yin and yang essences to form spirit roots and absorb others’ spiritual qi to cultivate.”

Bo Xuenong watched Liu Huairou’s face grow paler. Glancing at the solemn Shen Yanting, she softened her voice. “Don’t worry about it. No matter the path, as long as they’re alive, there’s hope.”

Liu Huairou’s fingers curled, nails digging bloody marks into her palm.

Her face whitened further, her voice trembling. “Miss Bo, what parent doesn’t want their child on the orthodox path?”

“No.” Bo Xuenong sneaked a glance at Shen Yanting, who didn’t stop her, so she continued. “Not all sword cultivators or pill cultivators are good people. If they were… the Heavenly Feast Sect has no demonic cultivators or harmonious union cultivators, yet they’ve ruined Mistlongevity like this.”

Bo Xuenong believed the orthodox path wasn’t defined by the road, but by the person walking it.

Good people were rare among demonic and harmonious union cultivators, but the so-called orthodox path harbored vicious hearts too.

No need to look far— she herself wasn’t good. Her bloodline constantly urged her to kill everyone before her except Shen Yanting.

Yet she was a sword cultivator, not demonic.

Of course, Bo Xuenong wouldn’t voice this. She soothed Liu Huairou to seem like the gentle, comforting girl Shen Yanting would like—not to reveal she knew about her bloodline.

What she said was true, though.

The same road felt different under different feet.

Shen Yanting was a sword cultivator too. She wouldn’t kill on whims, covet human talismans, or aid tyrants.

Shen Yanting was a benevolent immortal with the people’s welfare at heart.

Anyone else might not see it as a virtue, but Bo Xuenong adored everything about Shen Yanting. Even a hairpin would be the world’s finest spirit treasure in her eyes.

Liu Huairou paused. “Miss Bo is right.”

Shen Yanting spoke. “There are many ways to survive, not just cultivation and dao seeking. There’s also…”

Shen Yanting trailed off, as if struck by a thought, and said no more.

Liu Huairou didn’t press. She sighed faintly, longing filling her eyes. “The village children were all brought back to Mistlongevity Village. Only… only Nian’an wasn’t. Sometimes I fear she’s dead. Other times, I feel she’s alive. When Mother and Third Aunt mentioned little Aoqing returning, I thought of how Nian’an loved playing with Aoqing. She always pestered Aoqing to call her sister, to take her fishing, calling…”

“Overhear?”

If Bo Xuenong remembered right, the spirit arrays were isolated rooms. Apart from those in the same room, they could only see Gui Nianqin, the sole one shuttling between array and outside. The Gui Residence room held only Liu Huairou and Gui Nianqin. How could she overhear Gui Nianqin talking to others?

Liu Huairou nodded. “Maybe from absorbing too much spiritual power, my hearing sharpened year by year. Third Aunt lives next door. Hearing her through the wall isn’t odd.”

It was odd.

Very odd.

Bo Xuenong needed spell arts to pierce the arrays and hear the sobs inside. How could Liu Huairou hear directly?

Shen Yanting took Liu Huairou’s arm. A faint golden light orb floated into her body. She looked surprised. “You have spirit bones… nurtured spirit bones.”

Those without spirit roots couldn’t cultivate because their bodies rejected spiritual qi, even from spirit gathering talismans. But Liu Huairou and the others differed. Gui Nianqin, as a conscious human talisman, prompted the Heavenly Feast Sect to tamper with the arrays, flooding them with spiritual qi. To keep them alive, Gui Nianqin controlled it within them. Their bodies adapted—from rejecting qi, to containing it, to accumulating spiritual power from constant nourishment. In becoming spirit supplements, they gained spirit roots.

Everyone in Mistlongevity Village could now cultivate, with decent spirit root grades.

Shen Yanting released Liu Huairou. “You’ll all make fine spirit cultivators. Once this is resolved, you could seek an immortal sect to practice.”

“Cultivate immortality.” Bitterness nearly overflowed Liu Huairou’s eyes. “Miss Shen, I overheard you and Mother last night. Human talismans and spirit supplements are frenzied prizes in the Cultivation World. Seeking sects might not bring life, and besides…”

Her voice softened. “Living is hard enough. Cultivation holds no appeal. Better a peaceful century. Thinking back, things were better before. Mother wasn’t a human talisman yet, nor we spirit supplements. Aoqing hadn’t gone to the Imperial Serenity Sect. Village children splashed in the water together, getting filthy every time… Actually, when the Heavenly Feast Sect took the children, Nian’an was no longer a child. But as a Gui family girl, she was taken too. She…”

Sobs escaped her lips. Liu Huairou could say no more.

Bo Xuenong finally understood the weeping from every household. Liu Huairou shared the village’s majority view—they had endured seven centuries of hardship.

Liu Huairou held no hope for immortality, only despair.

“You can’t think that way.” Bo Xuenong rubbed her chin with her fingertip and pondered seriously for a moment before she said, “Since you have talent, you should strive to cultivate. As long as you’re strong enough, no matter who comes to seize the human talismans or spirit supplements, you can easily kill them and protect yourself and the people important to you. On the contrary, if you don’t cultivate, with such abundant spiritual qi in your bodies, even as corpses, you’d be fought over to be devoured. Besides, human talismans can only die by self-destruction—you probably don’t know how painful self-destruction is. They say it…”

Liu Huairou’s gaze sharpened, and she hurriedly grabbed Bo Xuenong’s hand. “Miss Bo, if I’m lucky enough to survive, may I join the Imperial Serenity Sect?”