Chapter 29: The Mirage Serpent Inner Core

Mirage Serpents were ancient spirit beasts. Unfortunately, they had suffered a calamity nearly a thousand years ago that almost wiped out their entire race. To keep from being truly annihilated, the remaining Mirage Serpents had gone into hiding.

After a thousand years of rest and recovery, the Mirage Serpent Race had long grown used to their life of seclusion. They wouldn’t leave unless absolutely necessary. Logically, besides her and Bai Zhizhi, there shouldn’t be any other clan members out in the world.

Bai Xiaoxiao sifted through the original body’s memories, but no matter how she searched, she couldn’t recall anything more, let alone whether any other clan member had come out.

Could the original Bai Xiaoxiao have been too simple-minded to remember anything at all?

Staring fixedly at the words “Mirage Serpent Inner Core” on the list, Bai Xiaoxiao felt dizzy, and a chill crept over her whole body. It was as if someone was coveting her own inner core, giving her a firsthand sense of crisis.

Perhaps her expression was too alarming. When she felt a pat on her shoulder, Bai Xiaoxiao snapped back to reality and turned to look.

Ming Jingqiu patted her shoulder with some concern. “Xiaoxiao? Are you okay? What happened? Is it an old injury acting up?”

Bai Xiaoxiao was back in the present, but still a little out of it. She shook her head slowly. “I’m… I’m fine.”

She paused, then couldn’t help pointing at the newly added Mirage Serpent Inner Core and asking, “Senior Sister, do you know anything about this?”

Ming Jingqiu glanced at it, a hint of surprise in her expression. She nodded. “I do. Though I never expected to see a Mirage Serpent Inner Core here.”

Bai Xiaoxiao’s expression tightened slightly. She unconsciously bit her lip before saying, “I… I heard that the Mirage Serpent Race was hunted on a massive scale in ancient times and went extinct. Is this inner core really from a Mirage Serpent?”

Ming Jingqiu looked at her, thoughtful. “Xiaoxiao, it seems you’re very interested in this inner core. Are you…”

“Wanting it?”

Ming Jingqiu mulled it over and found it made sense. After all, Bai Xiaoxiao was a spirit snake. A Mirage Serpent’s inner core would naturally be a great tonic for her.

Bai Xiaoxiao’s emotions seesawed wildly. She’d nearly thought Ming Jingqiu had guessed her identity, but after hearing the second half of the sentence, her expression relaxed.

“I wasn’t—”

Halfway through, Bai Xiaoxiao hesitated.

If it really was a clansman’s inner core, there was no way she could let it fall into someone else’s hands. But she had no idea whether the item was real or fake.

Ming Jingqiu read her expression and said knowingly, “If you really want it, you should prepare yourself mentally. A Mirage Serpent’s inner core is extremely precious. They say that when refined into a pill, it can suppress inner demons.

I don’t know how it ended up in Fengdu City. But it’s actually fortunate it’s here—otherwise, the competition would be even fiercer.”

Bai Xiaoxiao hesitated, then asked carefully, “Senior Sister, haven’t Mirage Serpents been extinct for ages? How can an inner core still appear in the world?”

Before Ming Jingqiu could answer, Ye Xingtong cut in. “That’s just the most widely circulated rumor. The Mirage Serpent Race actually wasn’t wiped out. They just hid away. Though, come to think of it, it really has been almost a thousand years since anyone’s seen a Mirage Serpent.”

Ming Jingqiu nodded. “That’s right. Publicly they’re said to be extinct, but that’s actually a form of protection.”

She paused, then continued, “Back then, the cultivators who joined forces to nearly wipe out the Mirage Serpent Race bore heavy sins, so they all incurred Heavenly Punishment.”

Bai Xiaoxiao was stunned. “Heavenly Punishment? What kind?”

“Inner Demon Tribulation,” Ming Jingqiu said softly.

“The cultivators who took part in the slaughter—and their descendants—suffer an Inner Demon Tribulation every hundred years, and even death doesn’t free them from further reckoning. The Mirage Serpents were favored by the Heavenly Dao, and yet they were nearly annihilated. It’s only natural that punishment descended.”

Bai Xiaoxiao knew none of this, so when Ming Jingqiu said it, she was completely stunned.

After a moment of silence, she said quietly, “And yet, even so, a Mirage Serpent Inner Core has been put up for auction today. And so many cultivators want it.”

Bai Xiaoxiao felt a dull ache in her chest. She had been human before. Even after transmigrating into a Mirage Serpent, she’d thought her mind was still human, since she’d spent so long as one.

Only now, learning all this and seeing it with her own eyes, did she realize her mindset had unknowingly shifted.

The room fell into silence.

There were five of them here, and Bai Xiaoxiao was the only one who wasn’t human—she was a shapeshifted spirit beast.

So when she said that, not only was Ming Jingqiu stunned, even the carefree Ye Xingtong was momentarily at a loss for words.

Humans seized every resource they could use. Even the people in this room were no exception. Standing from that perspective, they were indeed on opposite sides from Bai Xiaoxiao.

Sensing the dead silence, Bai Xiaoxiao’s heart sank. She forced the corners of her mouth up and said, “Sorry, I…”

Ming Jingqiu waved a hand, cutting off her apology. “Xiaoxiao, you don’t need to apologize. What you said is true. There really are people in this world who kill indiscriminately for profit. But… not everyone is like that.”

Bai Xiaoxiao’s eyes flickered, and she slowly pulled herself out of that state.

Ye Xingtong and Jing Ying hurriedly nodded in agreement—they too despised people who stopped at nothing for gain.

Only Rong Yuzhuo looked back and forth, utterly confused.

She was the most out of the loop. She’d been unconscious when Bai Xiaoxiao saved her, and when she woke, her rescuer had been in human form, so she had no idea the girl was actually a spirit beast.

Still, sensing the heavy atmosphere, Rong Yuzhuo wisely kept silent.

Bai Xiaoxiao let out a long breath. “I know. It just felt a little heavy in my chest for a moment. I’m fine now. Thank you.”

No one knew she was a Mirage Serpent. They probably thought she sympathized because, like her, the inner core came from a spirit beast.

Bai Xiaoxiao quickly composed herself.

Those in the know expressed understanding; Rong Yuzhuo, who didn’t know, chose to stay quiet.

Bai Xiaoxiao looked at the list again and forced herself to calm down and think.

If it really was a Mirage Serpent Inner Core, something so precious wouldn’t be cheap.

The spirit stones she had on her probably weren’t enough to win the bid.

Anxiety crept into Bai Xiaoxiao’s eyes, and she didn’t even notice that the auction had started.

Then, all of a sudden, a thought struck her, and her eyes lit up.

Why had she forgotten? She wasn’t the only Mirage Serpent out here. There was also Bai Zhizhi, the clansman who had come out with her! Why not ask her?

The original Bai Xiaoxiao had been simple-minded, but she wasn’t!

However, the two hadn’t been in contact since Bai Zhizhi last sought her out. Remembering this now, Bai Xiaoxiao suddenly felt a pang of guilt.

At the time, the situation had been unclear. Fearing discovery, she’d told Zhizhi not to contact her unless necessary and that she would reach out instead. Then she’d completely forgotten.

Bai Xiaoxiao recalled, a little guiltily, how to use the bloodline secret technique. She fumbled for a good while before finally getting the hang of it.

Soon, she sensed an attraction—that was the blood of her kin on the other end.

To her surprise, that pull seemed stronger than when they’d first made contact.

A guess formed in Bai Xiaoxiao’s mind, and she tentatively called out.

【Bai Zhizhi?】

【Oh my god?! Ahhhhh you finally contacted me! Bai Xiaoxiao, look at the time! Why are you only reaching out NOW?! I thought something happened to you! Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?! The Clan Leader told me to find a chance to go to the Sword Sect to support you, but I never found a chance, and you told me not to contact you—ahhhh, why am I so miserable?!】

Bai Xiaoxiao blinked slowly. The sudden impact left her expression blank. She spent a good long while trying to parse that torrent of words before her brain successfully crashed.

She never expected Bai Zhizhi to be this talkative—so talkative that Bai Xiaoxiao couldn’t even get a word in edgewise.

The girl had rattled on without even stopping to breathe.

Perhaps her silence lasted too long, because Bai Zhizhi’s voice came again.

【Xiaoxiao? Are you there? Why aren’t you saying anything? Reply to me! Don’t ignore me again—ahhhhh! If you do that again, I’m telling the Clan Leader!】

Bai Xiaoxiao closed her eyes in pain. After a moment, she opened them, forced a smile at Ming Jingqiu, who had looked over, then lowered her gaze and replied to Bai Zhizhi gloomily.

【Did you even give me a chance to speak? Bai Zhizhi, you’re really loud.】

【…Huh? Oh! Sorry, sorry, I got excited and didn’t notice. Haha. Okay, I’m calm now.】

Seeing that she seemed to have calmed down, Bai Xiaoxiao finally relaxed. At least they could communicate now.

She briefly recounted what had happened recently, then got to the point.

【Do you know if anyone else from the clan has come out recently?】

【No. Isn’t it just the two of us?】

Now Bai Xiaoxiao had a sense of it. She said, 【I found a Mirage Serpent Inner Core in Fengdu City…】

【What?! How can there still be a Mirage Serpent Inner Core… Oh! I know! The clan’s rules are strict, and no clan member has gone missing in a thousand years, so it has to be something the descendants of those people from a thousand years ago brought out!】

Bai Zhizhi chattered on endlessly. Loud as she was, Bai Xiaoxiao managed to sort things out.

If that inner core was real, it belonged to the elders who had been hunted down a thousand years ago.

Many Mirage Serpents had died in that hunt, and their corpses had been divided up and taken back by the leading families, who had kept using them ever since.

At first, those families knew nothing about the Heavenly Punishment. Overjoyed, they carefully cut up and preserved the Mirage Serpents they’d obtained, even grinding the skin into medicine—a handsome profit.

It wasn’t until a hundred years later, when the first Heavenly Punishment fell, that all the cultivators involved suddenly realized they had been cursed.

Some families, terrified, hastily disposed of the remaining serpent remains, trying to ease their inner demons. But once an inner demon took root, it was almost impossible to remove.

Other families, disregarding everything, used Mirage Serpent hearts as medicine to refine pills capable of breaking inner demons.

But supply couldn’t keep up with demand, and in the end, countless died.

To this day, most of the cultivators who took part in the slaughter died either fighting over the pills or falling to the Heavenly Punishment. Very few survived, and Mirage Serpent-related items gradually vanished from the world.

Until today, when a Mirage Serpent Inner Core appeared.

【Xiaoxiao, where are you? Can you see the inner core? If it’s truly one of our people, it absolutely cannot fall into someone else’s hands.】

Bai Xiaoxiao had never met Bai Zhizhi face to face; they’d only spoken once. So her first impression of the girl was that she was flighty and unreliable.

But when it came to the inner core, Bai Zhizhi was completely, unexpectedly serious.

Bai Xiaoxiao thought for a moment, then asked, 【Are you not far from Fengdu City? If you can make it, that would be best. If it really is an elder’s inner core, the money I have on me probably won’t be enough to buy it.】

There was a pause on Bai Zhizhi’s end before her voice sounded again.

【Don’t worry about money! I have a lot of it here. Also, I just asked around, and I really am quite close to Fengdu City. Wait for me—I’ll be there in a flash!】

After saying that, Bai Zhizhi’s side went quiet.

Bai Xiaoxiao paused, gaining an even deeper understanding of her clansman’s personality.

But…

What did “asked around” mean? Who was Bai Zhizhi with?

Bai Xiaoxiao frowned, and wariness rose in her heart.

Still, knowing Bai Zhizhi was on her way, she set her guard down for now.

After contacting the girl, Bai Xiaoxiao finally noticed that the auction had already begun—three items had already gone by.

She murmured blankly, “It’s already started.”

“Yeah, three lots have passed already. Xiaoxiao, what were you thinking about? You kept spacing out.”

Ye Xingtong tossed a small pastry into her mouth and chewed, then looked at Bai Xiaoxiao curiously.

Bai Xiaoxiao shook her head. “Nothing. Just thinking about something.”

Ye Xingtong didn’t press. She said a little bored, “This Fengdu City auction is still a bit lacking. If we get the chance, I should take you all to Shattered Star City—now that’s a real auction.”

Shattered Star City sat at the center of the Central Continent and could be called the most prosperous city on the Nine Provinces Continent.

Ye Xingtong wasn’t wrong. In a city where every inch of land was worth a fortune, an auction naturally couldn’t be compared to Fengdu City’s.

But if they actually went to Shattered Star City, they probably wouldn’t even qualify to enter the auction venue.

Bai Xiaoxiao didn’t know how prosperous Shattered Star City was, but from the others’ expressions, she could tell it was exceptional.

Jing Ying, as usual, tried to smooth things over. “Oh, look—isn’t that the spirit plant Fellow Daoist Ming needs coming up?”

Everyone’s attention shifted. They looked over and heard the auctioneer begin introducing it in a pleasant voice.

Ming Jingqiu sat up a little straighter, listening carefully.

Bai Xiaoxiao didn’t understand alchemy, so she had no idea what the spirit plant’s main purpose was. But Ming Jingqiu clearly valued it. She didn’t immediately call out a price, instead estimating, and only spoke up when the moment was right.

“Two thousand mid-grade spirit stones.”

Someone countered with twenty-five hundred. Ming Jingqiu hesitated, then raised by two hundred. The other party raised by two hundred as well.

If she kept going, it would exceed what she could afford. After two seconds of consideration, Ming Jingqiu decided to give up.

“Give up? Give up what? Let me handle it!”

Ye Xingtong waved a grand hand. “Three thousand five hundred! If they raise once, I’ll follow with a thousand more.”

The auctioneer’s smile turned even more genuine as she looked expectantly at the other bidder. To her disappointment, the other party didn’t raise again.

The spirit plant was successfully won.

Ming Jingqiu breathed a sigh of relief. The price was barely within her means.

But when an attendant came to deliver the item, Ming Jingqiu hadn’t even taken out her spirit stones before Ye Xingtong handed over a jade slip.

They watched the attendant’s expression change in an instant—the polite smile turned almost fawning.

Bai Xiaoxiao marveled once again.

Now this was a true young miss.