Chapter 32: Demon Hunting (I) Part 1

“Vast is the azure sky — how can one ascend it? The path of immortality is elusive indeed…”

Upon the cliff, the wind swept fallen leaves scraping across the ground. Branches swayed as clouds rolled past overhead, and standing amidst it all felt like dwelling within the immortal realm itself.

The old man stood beneath a tree, his gray robes buffeted by the wind, gazing up at the heavens. His silhouette was desolate and gaunt, his frame like a piece of withered, rotting wood.

Yun Jinxue stood a short distance behind him. She raised a hand, trying to brush aside the surrounding mist, when she suddenly heard him speak.

“After today, I will likely enter closed-door cultivation again for a very long time.”

Yun Jinxue felt a trace of helplessness. Her father rarely appeared. Having finally come out, it was only to tell her that he would continue his seclusion.

He might as well have not said anything; it made no difference anyway.

“This daughter understands.”

Yun Ding did not move, still gazing into the distance.

If he didn’t leave immediately, it meant he still had more to say. Yun Jinxue waited patiently.

As expected, after a moment, he spoke again. “Treat your junior martial sister well. She… possesses great talent. Perhaps in the future, the extermination of devils may depend on her…”

His voice was not as firm as the previous sentence, especially the final part — toward the end, it even carried a faint hint of questioning.

Yun Jinxue could understand why he was like this in her heart.

After all, devil beings were a knot in his heart that could never be untied. Even if he encountered a genius perfectly suited to his wishes, it was ultimately still hard to have hope against that kind of power.

And his fear of devil beings had, in truth, extended to her, his eldest disciple.

At age twelve, she had stood by the door and witnessed with her own eyes her towering, mighty father return in crushing defeat. Disciples of the sect lay dead or wounded, wailing and weeping, war banners dragging on the ground.

From that day on, an abstract fear of devil beings rose within her heart.

But if Yun Ding believed that devils were fundamentally invincible, why — both in the original story and now — had he chosen Jiang Yanyu as his disciple?

What exactly had he seen in her?

Just as she was about to ask, the figure beneath the tree had already vanished.

Yun Jinxue sighed. Coming without a sound, leaving in utter stillness — it suited Yun Ding’s style perfectly.

She returned to the front courtyard. Jiang Yanyu was sitting at the stone table, polishing her long saber.

Yun Jinxue walked to the door of the house and smiled. “You hardly ever get a chance to use it. Why polish it every single day?”

Jiang Yanyu held the long saber upright and examined the blade from bottom to top. “I’m nurturing the weapon.”

Yun Jinxue laughed lightly, pulled open the door, and stepped inside. “Alright, enough nurturing. There’s about to be a chance to test your blade.”

Jiang Yanyu gently wiped the small Heartfire Glow characters inscribed near the saber’s tip. “What kind of chance?”

Sounds of packing came from inside the room. “We’re going to carry out a mission. I’ll explain the details on the road. Come organize your things now — we’re going down the mountain.”

They collected two horse demons from the sect and prepared to set out on the journey.

Just before departure, Yun Jinxue intended to meet with the little female lead and say goodbye. After all, on this trip, they might not be back for a little while.

But just as she was about to send for her, she was blocked by Jiang Yanyu, who cited time constraints. She could only leave behind a Red Flash message for the girl, informing her that she had left the sect and would no longer need to report her daily schedule.

The two fine steeds ambled slowly out of the Divine Zenith Sect. When they turned onto the mountain path, Yun Jinxue said, “You don’t even know what the mission is, yet you already said time was tight. How long could a meeting with her possibly take?”

Jiang Yanyu led her horse with one hand and pulled out her rattle-drum to shake with the other. “Heroine Yan is pretty busy too, you know. And she might not even be willing to let you go. What if she insisted on keeping you for another meal?”

Yun Jinxue said, “Early in the morning, what meal would she keep me for? Even if there was one, I’d refuse. The journey comes first.”

Jiang Yanyu pulled her reins taut and wound them twice around her hand. “Who knows. You always go soft-hearted with her.”

Whenever it involved the little female lead, Jiang Yanyu was bound to kick up a fuss. Yun Jinxue was used to it by now. She smiled and said nothing more.

The mountain path was not spacious, hemmed in on both sides by thick weeds. It seemed a light rain had just fallen; the road surface was slightly damp. Whenever the horses’ hooves stepped down, faint popping sounds of bursting bubbles mixed in with the clip-clop.

From time to time, birds called out. Their cries echoed from far away and back again, making it impossible to tell if it was a flock of them or just a single bird singing alone.

Both figures wore veiled hats strapped to their backs — one white silhouette, one red, riding their horses through the verdant, deep-green mountain forest, possessing an air of unworldly immortal grace.

Extending a hand to brush aside a green branch blocking her view, Yun Jinxue said, “Let me first tell you what the mission is.”

Jiang Yanyu tapped her drum twice. “Ears are extended.”

Yun Jinxue said, “In simple terms, within the Great Yan Forest next to the capital of the Central Prefecture, Bright Terrace, someone discovered the legendary Qi Qiao Tree Demon clan. They spread the news far and wide, inviting all capable people under heaven to come and seize them. When the time comes, sects and noble houses great and small will all be heading there. So we have to go as well.”

Jiang Yanyu let out a long “oh.” “Snatching stuff, huh. Fine.”

Yun Jinxue shook her head. “No. We’re not going to snatch. We are going to protect the Qi Qiao Tree Demon clan, to prevent others from seizing them.”

Among the world’s demonic creatures, there were countless varieties, and always some exceedingly strange ones — some with unique traits, others with special uses.

This Qi Qiao Tree Demon was one with a special use. Though a demon, it was remarkably skilled in the human art of the Mechanism Art. Without any tools at all, using only wood, it could craft many highly useful mechanisms and tools — even weapons. It was a species of demonic creature with a considerably powerful innate talent.

This clan of demons was exceptionally rare in number and hid year-round within the boundless Great Yan Forest. There were only occasional records of sightings. To capture them could be said to be harder than ascending to heaven.

That said, people had captured them before and sold them for high prices. The captured tree demons had been used to construct some simple mechanical structures. Unfortunately, they died not long after.

It sounded like a losing business, but it had already proven the fearsome ability of this demon. Even if one didn’t seek wealth, capturing one of these world-renowned demonic creatures would bring instant explosion of fame and renown. Naturally, no one would miss out.

The Qi Qiao Tree Demon was a relatively ancient race. Living in harmony with nature, there had never been a single record of them harming humans. Due to their inherently kind nature, they would even protect other animals.

For a demonic creature like this, there was no need to exterminate it. Rather, it should be protected, its reproduction encouraged, its species’ life continued.

It was a pity that in the face of such enormous profit, no one could hear words like these.

The Divine Zenith Sect, as the immortal sect with the longest history, had upheld a certain persistence since the generation of Yun Shouhong. Thus, the purpose of their intervention this time was to ensure that such a rare living creature would not go extinct due to conflict and trade, preserving to some degree the diversity of life.

Yun Jinxue thought to herself: To think I’d see the concept of protecting endangered creatures here. That’s really something.

The horses bumped along. Jiang Yanyu swayed slightly and said in a careless tone, “Alright, then just find them before everyone else. Simple.”

No sooner had she spoken than the horse demon beneath her came to a screeching halt and plunged into the underbrush to begin eating.

Jiang Yanyu bent over, spotting it gorging itself happily down below. She nudged the horse. “No way, we’ve barely been traveling. Are you really that hungry?”

The horse completely ignored her, madly munching dry grass, the gulping sounds clear and distinct.

Jiang Yanyu said in disgust, “What kind of horse is this?”

Yun Jinxue said, “They’re both tamed horse demons. The one beneath me is called Snow Treader, and yours is called Ride the Wind.”

Horse demons possessed a certain degree of intelligence but were almost entirely unable to cultivate. Because they could remember paths on their own and recognized their masters, they were very suitable for domestication.

Though the path-memorizing aspect was extremely convenient, the steeds often had their own ideas and tempers. For instance, they wanted their meals on time and required a full belly before they’d travel.

Jiang Yanyu watched its rather unrefined eating posture. “Ride the Wind, huh? If it keeps eating like this, soon it won’t be able to ride anything at all.”

Upon hearing this, Ride the Wind snorted white mist from its nostrils. In a towering rage, it began spinning rapidly in place, trying to throw its rider off.

“…” Jiang Yanyu released the reins, pushed off lightly with the tip of her foot against the horse’s back, and flew up with effortless grace, landing on Snow Treader’s hindquarters.

After that, she placed her hands on Yun Jinxue’s shoulders and seated herself on the horse, wrapping both arms around the woman’s waist and pressing her face against her back.

“No helping it. It won’t let me ride anymore. Looks like I’ll have to share a mount with Senior Sister.”

Yun Jinxue looked down at the hands clasped around her waist, patted them, and laughed. “Isn’t this a bit too much like cheating?”

Jiang Yanyu said, “Ride the Wind started cheating first.”

Ride the Wind was a horse demon with a temper and could not stand these words. Its hooves scraped against the ground, and it immediately walked to the front.

Yun Jinxue urged Snow Treader on and followed. “This horse demon was borrowed from the sect, you know. If we can’t return it, we’ll have to pay for it.”

Jiang Yanyu said, “Senior Sister is the heir of the sect. In the future, the entire Divine Zenith Sect will be yours. Do you still need to worry about paying for one horse demon?”

Yun Jinxue cast a glance back and teased her. “The entire Divine Zenith Sect will be mine — does that include you?”

The sunlight was mostly caught and held by the enormous branches of the giant trees overhead, with only scattered flecks leaking through like beams of light, blocking the road ahead.

When a person passed through, the patch of skin touched would glow golden and bright. If the light accidentally trespassed into someone’s eyes, it would illuminate all the thoughts at the bottom of their gaze with perfect clarity.

Jiang Yanyu gazed into those two points of gentleness, like springwater, and held on even tighter. “Yes — of course I also belong to Senior Sister.”

After running a stretch of road, Ride the Wind stopped ahead and waited. Seeing them approach, it let out a whinnying cry, as if mocking their slow speed.

“We absolutely can’t tolerate that, Senior Sister.”

Jiang Yanyu’s spirits soared. One hand wrapped around the woman’s waist, the other seized the reins. “Let’s pick up speed.”

Seeing its friend Ride the Wind wanting a speed race, Snow Treader also summoned all its strength and bolted out at a gallop.

The wind howled past their ears. Yun Jinxue leaned back into the girl’s embrace, holding onto her forearm. “…Hey! Slow down!”