Chapter 47

The desolate wilderness echoed with the howls of ghosts and wolves.

Liuli, Ye Zhenzhen, Lin Mengxian – the three of them sat resting around a small fire stove.

The surrounding area was all wasteland in front and behind them, devoid of human habitation. Fortunately, all three were cultivators, and with Liuli present at the Golden Core stage, they were not afraid.

A small pot of red date, white fungus, and lotus seed soup simmered on the stove, personally cooked by Xue Liuli.

Once the pot boiled, it was left to simmer on a low flame. When the soup had become thick and sticky, Liuli ladled out a bowl, cooled it with a technique, and rose, carrying it as she walked away.

Ye Zhenzhen and Lin Mengxian were already used to it and didn’t bother asking what she was doing.

After all, if they asked, she would only reply:

“Feeding a stray cat.”

Who knew whose stray cat would like eating this sort of thing.

Sneakily, Liuli walked to a spot out of sight from both Lin and Ye. She found a flat rock, cleaned the dust off, pulled out a handkerchief and placed it on the rock. She set the red date, white fungus, and lotus seed soup on it, and added a spoon.

Looking left and right, she called out with deep earnestness: “Shizun, are you there? Come eat quickly.”

After calling, she reluctantly left, repeatedly looking back the whole way.

Once back beside the small fire stove, the three began discussing.

Many days had passed since they left Mulberry City. Having learned their lesson, the group hadn’t been tricked or abducted again and reached the vicinity of their destination fairly smoothly.

Upon arriving here, the three of them discovered how remote and desolate this place was.

Ye Zhenzhen took out the scroll and unfurled it: “In a mountain village near a midstream branch of the Huishui River, someone heard weeping sounds at night from within the river. It seems there are demons causing trouble in the river, leading to a reduction in river fish, the Huishui drying up, and crops suffering. Also, someone went to the riverbank to wash clothes and was dragged into the water by a river demon and drowned.”

“Sounds simple enough. Demons causing trouble, just go catch them.” Liuli leaned over to look at the scroll, speechless. “But this map is drawn way too abstractly.”

They had followed the map on the scroll, but as they walked, they realized they were going further and further off track. Only when they asked a passerby did they find they had gone the wrong way.

When they turned back, they couldn’t find the original path anymore either.

The distant howl of wolves could be faintly heard. Lin Mengxian sat a little closer to the small fire stove, hugging her shoulders and yawning. “Let’s rest here for the night and continue tomorrow.”

As cultivators, it was normal to go days and nights without sleep. But Lin Mengxian’s body was weaker, not comparable to Liuli and Zhenzhen. She was already somewhat tired.

“Alright.” Being very considerate, Liuli pulled out a tent, a small bed, a mattress, a blanket…

Ye Zhenzhen: “…You’re way too well prepared.”

Liuli sighed: “Ever since we made the plan to descend the mountain for training, I started preparing all this.”

The three went into their respective tents to rest.

Late at night, a rustling sound suddenly came from beside her ear.

In a daze, Liuli turned over. Her hand lifted and touched something both soft and light.

“!”

With a carp-like jump, Liuli sat bolt upright. Subconsciously, she opened her mouth to shout: “Hey! What demon dares to cause trouble here!”

Wait until her eyes opened and she saw clearly, only to find a White Hemp Cloth Doll standing right beside her hand.

A familiar aura emanated from it. Liuli reached out and pinched it, lifting it in front of her face. “Shizun?”

“Mm.”

Liuli: “…”

Slowly, slowly, she cradled the Little Cloth Doll in both hands. Since she couldn’t tell front from back anyway, Liuli chuckled. “It’s cut quite well, but still not as good-looking as mine.”

Ye Zhenzhen’s voice came from next door: “What’s going on?”

“Nothing!” Subconsciously, Liuli stuffed the Cloth Doll under her blanket. “A stray cat, don’t worry!”

Once Ye Zhenzhen fell back asleep, Liuli fished out the Little Cloth Doll, only to find it already lying flat.

She quietly muttered, Shizun, Shizun, are you still there? But no one answered anymore.

Liuli had no choice but to place the Little Cloth Doll beside her pillow, pull a corner of the pillow towel over to cover it, and say, “Shizun, goodnight.”

…

Waking up the next day, the three searched for the path again. Finally, just before nightfall, they found the small mountain village recorded on the scroll.

Seeing three Fairies come, the villagers were extremely excited. They chattered noisily about the events in that small river, mostly matching what was on the scroll.

The three decided to handle it swiftly. They immediately followed the villagers to the small river and found this river channel muddy, murky, and covered in moss.

A villager said, “We usually draw water from the river. Now the water’s like this, we can’t drink it at all! A while back, some boys in the village didn’t listen and insisted on swimming in the river. They were dragged down and eaten by that river demon! Sigh! Poor Old Sun’s family, that was their only precious darling boy!”

The demon was right before them, the demonic aura not heavy. Presumably, a demon that only dared to cause trouble in a small village wasn’t anything powerful. There was no need to hesitate further.

Ye Zhenzhen stepped forward readily to catch the demon in the river. Lin Mengxian directed the villagers to move further away.

She was originally worried about the powerless mortals getting caught in the crossfire, but unexpectedly, a chubby older woman wearing gold earrings grabbed her arm and started wailing.

Perhaps because Lin Mengxian naturally had a weak-looking, easily bullied face.

The older woman clung to Lin Mengxian’s arm, crying with a runny nose and tears, complaining: “Fairies, you’re all fairies, why didn’t you come sooner!”

Lin Mengxian pulled her arm free from the woman’s grasp and smiled, “We could also have chosen not to come at all.”

The older woman choked, then continued her wailing about her pitiful grandson regardless.

Liuli squeezed over, stretched out a finger, and poked the gold earring on the woman’s ear. “Oh, I couldn’t tell, your family’s situation seems pretty good around here?”

Immediately, someone beside them chimed in: “Isn’t it because she has a good granddaughter? Married well, a lot of betrothal gifts.”

Granny Sun immediately stopped crying, spat, and said: “If you’ve got the ability, you go birth a good granddaughter too!”

“Hey, don’t you say that, my Niuniu also has the Five Spiritual Roots. When she’s a bit older, she can also marry the City Lord!”

Liuli was full of question marks: “What, all the granddaughters in your village are marrying the City Lord?”

Granny Sun pushed aside the villager who just spoke and continued wailing: “What use is a granddaughter marrying well! My precious grandson! How could you just leave your granny and go like this! Left your sister enjoying life in the city, how come you couldn’t enjoy this fortune, my grandson ah—”

Granny Sun’s wailing was simply too penetrating. Listening gave Liuli a headache. She quickly shrank back, abandoning Lin Mengxian to deal with it herself in a ‘better you than me’ spirit.

Just then, Ye Zhenzhen captured the water demon causing trouble in the river. Turned out it was a Toad Demon who could only transform halfway!

The Toad Demon was hideously ugly. Its body was covered in tangled waterweed and moss. Rolling once on the shore, it immediately knelt properly, clasped its hands together, and began begging for mercy.

“Spare my life, Great Aunts! This little monster had no choice!”

Don’t judge by its ugly appearance, even a toad can be cultured. The Toad Demon wept bitterly about the hardships of its life: “Fairies, see clearly! If those unreasonable villagers hadn’t screamed to beat and kill us on sight, how would I dare to harm human lives? It’s just that if I don’t kill them, they’ll kill me. The world is unjust, the world is unjust!”

Liuli just approached and was nearly knocked over by the stench from the Toad Demon. Covering her mouth and nose, she said with disgust:

“Alright, enough, don’t play weak. If you have no skills, just shrink into the water. What can they do to you? How did this river water turn out like this? Was it your doing!”

The Toad Demon turned its head and kowtowed to Liuli: “Great Aunt, how could I have this ability! This little monster originally lived freely in the Huishui River. Last year, a great monster came and occupied the river. Small fry like us could only find another way out. Then somehow, the river water became like this. It really wasn’t our doing!”

Listening to this, could there be another, greater monster causing trouble?

Ye Zhenzhen was also choked heavily by the stench. Covering her mouth and nose, she turned her head, wanting to ask Liuli how to deal with it. But unexpectedly, in just a moment of negligence, the Toad Demon let out a loud ‘ribbit’, sprayed a blast of foul stench, jumped three feet high, and fled into the distance!

Ye Zhenzhen bore the brunt of the spray. Dizzy and nauseous, she nearly blacked out. Stumbling back two steps, once she recovered, she retched once, her eyes red as she gritted her teeth: “Asking for death!”

Giving no one else a chance to speak, Ye Zhenzhen charged forward again, chasing after the Toad Demon.

And the mortals in the mountain village, after being smoked by this foul stench, passed out one after another. Presumably, no more questions could be asked of them. But Liuli checked—they were only unconscious, with no threat to their lives.

Liuli and Lin Mengxian were also stained by the stench. No matter what they did, they couldn’t get rid of this smell. They could only pinch their noses and endure it as they chased in the direction the Toad Demon fled.

After chasing for a while, they found Ye Zhenzhen and the Toad Demon.

Landing and getting closer for a look, Liuli couldn’t help but gasp: “This is the Toad Demon?”

Ye Zhenzhen, with a stinky face: “Mm.”

“Looks a bit like a pig’s head hahaha…” Liuli laughed dryly.

The Toad Demon, having failed to escape, didn’t dare play any more tricks. Under the interrogation of the three, it finally spat out the truth.

Turned out this Toad Demon originally couldn’t even achieve this half-human form. But it had the good fortune to meet a great monster in the Huishui River. That great monster helped it achieve its half-form and wanted it to work for him.

The Toad Demon said: “The moment I saw that monster, I knew he wasn’t a good thing. Helping him with things, I might get sold and still help count the money. So this little monster seized the chance to escape to this remote place. Luckily, that great monster didn’t pursue the matter.”

Liuli couldn’t help but laugh: “What are you afraid of? It’s not like you’re a good thing either.”

Toad Demon: “…Ah, right.”

“Do you have any accomplices?”

“No more, no more.” The Toad Demon shrank on the ground, nodding and bowing ingratiatingly. “It’s just me, this one little monster, here.”

“That’s good then.”

The Toad Demon started begging for mercy again: “This little monster guarantees I’ll never harm humans again from now on. I’ll cultivate honestly. I only beg you Fairies to spare my life!”

Ye Zhenzhen, pinching her nose, asked in a nasal voice: “How do we get rid of this smell on us?”

The Toad Demon gave an apologetic laugh: “No way to remove it. But, it will dissipate on its own after seven days.”

“…”

The three exchanged glances. Ye Zhenzhen suddenly raised her hand and directly slew the Toad Demon with her flying sword.

Foul, putrid blood sprayed all over the ground. With disgust, Liuli stepped forward and used a branch to poke at the Toad Demon’s corpse.

Ye Zhenzhen was extremely disgusted: “So disgusting, I don’t even want its demon core. Don’t poke around anymore.”

Logically, killing this Toad Demon should conclude this task. But Liuli always felt something wasn’t right: “I keep feeling… he didn’t tell the whole truth.”

After the Toad Demon died, it transformed into a giant ugly toad. Pinching her nose, Liuli flipped it over. A small white bead, about the size of a pinky fingertip, was exposed.

After cleaning the white bead, Liuli held it between her fingers. Slightly surprised, she watched as the small bead began to emit a faint blue glow.

“What is this thing?”

She held it up and asked, but it turned out none of the three had ever seen it.

Just then, Feng Xiwu, who had been mysteriously hiding for a long time, finally spoke in Liuli’s mind: “This is a Water Essence Stone, a common method used by small sects for detecting Water Spiritual Roots.”

Liuli repeated these words.

Ye Zhenzhen looked at her strangely: “How do you know that again?”

Liuli: “I… guessed?”