Chapter 9: Treasure Hunt (5) Part 1

◎I’ve tailor-made so many sufferings for you, and you have to try every single one◎

“Windy! Can you hear me!”

Even with spiritual power amplifying her voice, it was like throwing something into a bowl of thick porridge—it vanished in an instant, unable to raise even a splash.

Her throat was hoarse and aching. Yun Jinxue covered her chest and coughed dryly twice.

The fog burrowed into her lungs like giant hands kneading her throat and organs, draining the last of her strength.

Her fingertips trembled. She wanted to look up to find the moon and discern direction, but it felt as if she were sinking into a hallucinatory dream, as if her flesh would dissolve and her bones would melt.

This environment was not naturally formed at all; it was created by that monster whose full appearance she didn’t even know!

Yun Jinxue gritted her teeth and continued forward, trying to find traces of the monster or Jiang Yanyu. But she was exhausted and stumbled, leaning against a vendor’s stall.

Her forehead was drenched in cold sweat. Leaning on the table, she regulated her breathing.

Looking up, she saw the stone gate that led out of the town.

When she had tried to ride her sword earlier, there was clearly no exit.

Now, after it had snatched the Little Villain, this exit suddenly appeared.

Was this telling her that if she left Jiang Yanyu behind, it would spare her life?

Yun Jinxue pushed herself up from the table. Without any hesitation, she turned around and walked back deeper into the town.

There must have been places she missed noticing before. Missing one would be disastrous.

Plague crouched on the eaves and shuffled forward two steps, taking in the entire scene below.

Seeing the Immortal Lord turn around and walk back, Plague clapped his hands and laughed. “She’s staying! She didn’t run away on her own! Hahahaha!”

Jiang Yanyu stood with her hands behind her back, her expression cold and dark.

Plague clutched his stomach, doubling over with laughter. “Too amazing! This fool! She knows she can’t win, yet she still won’t run away quickly! People are all so stupid. You can use the small ones to bog down the old ones, use women to bog down men—works every time, hahahaha!!!”

Jiang Yanyu looked down, nudging a roof tile with the tip of her foot and kicking it at Plague’s rear end.

The sound of shattering tile was crisp. Plague let out an “Ah!” and tumbled down.

Moments later, Plague crawled back up, weeds all over his forehead, cradling his chin as he sat on the edge of the eaves, swinging his legs. “Aiyo, bored of watching this. Bring on something new.”

She had scoured the town back and forth countless times, but couldn’t even find the monster’s shadow anymore. Yun Jinxue was frantic with worry.

What to do… what to do…

She thought desperately: Mi Ba, is there any special ability you can give me to use? Like a locator device that can instantly find a character?

Mi Ba replied: 【Nope, nothing at all. However, that body of yours is actually very useful. It’s just a pity you can’t bring out even a tenth of its strength.】

As if she didn’t know that. Knowing it was powerful was one thing, being able to use it was what mattered most. Without memories or practice, she could only use some simple spells, which were of little use.

Regretting her impulsiveness once more, Yun Jinxue’s eyes grew moist, her anxiety intensifying.

Her fingertips brushed the cold sweat from her forehead when she suddenly heard a “thud,” pulling her chaotic thoughts back.

She looked into the mist ahead. Another identical “thud” sounded.

It seemed like the sound of a large cleaver hacking at bones, smashing against a chopping board.

Yun Jinxue froze for a moment, then slowly walked toward the source of the sound.

Within the hazy, unclear scene before her, she first saw blood flowing down dark table legs, and then a girl’s feet—deathly pale, utterly bloodless.

Yun Jinxue pressed a hand to her forehead, her eyes trembling. As she moved forward, her steps grew faster and more frantic, her silver robes billowing.

And then she saw: large, vein-popping hands pressing down on the girl, the blood-soaked chopping board beneath her, and the back of a man standing before the table.

“What…” Yun Jinxue murmured.

The muscular silhouette facing away from her wore a black leather apron. It had a human body, but a massive boar’s head. Its floppy ears quivered with each bone-chopping motion.

It grabbed the girl by the neck, lifted her up, flipped her over, and patted her smooth back before plunging the tip of its knife in and sliding it all the way down.

Blood spurted out with a sickening sound, gushing eagerly from the wound.

Within the girl’s messy, dark tangle of hair, Yun Jinxue saw her face.

Skin a ghastly bluish-white, eyes bulging wide, upper lip split, connected to the nose. A harelip girl.

Not the Little Villain…

Yun Jinxue let out a deep breath. Only now did she realize she hadn’t been breathing at all for a long moment.

Then, a pang of guilt struck her for her feeling of relief. Who was this dead girl?

An exceptionally loud “thud” snapped Yun Jinxue back to her senses.

The Pig Demon set down its cleaver and slowly turned around, revealing its fully swinish, fat face.

At the same time, a row of pens appeared behind its table. Piles of fat pigs surged forward, as if starving. Their hooves clambered onto the railing, their mouths gaping wide for food.

Yun Jinxue took a small step back. She sensed a chill behind her ears. Whipping her head around, she surveyed her surroundings.

On her rear-left and rear-right, two black shadows had appeared.

As they drew closer, their forms emerged from the mist.

A goat with a long beard hanging to its chest, and an ox with sharp, skyward-thrusting black horns. Both wore black aprons like those butchers wear, each holding a long knife.

The pigpens had vanished. The harelip girl and the chopping table rapidly retreated. The Pig Demon also drew a gleaming long knife from under its apron.

Three pairs of blood-orange glowing eyes stared at her intently.

Even now, Yun Jinxue’s trembling mind could still think wildly: To think she’d one day be surrounded by a pig, a goat, and an ox. Surely they weren’t going to slice her up and cook her in hot pot?

Bright Star had been attacked once before and suffered some kind of contamination; even now, it couldn’t be infused with spiritual power.

If one said she was weak because she had no combat experience, then a sword imbued with spiritual energy shouldn’t be so fragile.

This could only mean that the entity they faced was truly beyond her ability to handle.

The three Beast Demons dragged their long knives along the ground, leaving trails of blade marks as they advanced.

Their muscles rippled, their nostrils flared with white breath, their lips quivering wildly to reveal sharp teeth.

Then, in a single moment, as if receiving a command, all three beasts lowered their bodies and charged. She only saw the dark masses suddenly enlarge before they were right upon her.

Amid a thick stench of blood, they swung their long knives, hacking at her from three directions.

Bitterness flooded Yun Jinxue’s heart. She arched backward to dodge a slash at her neck, then gathered spiritual energy to repel a blade aimed at her knee. But against the one targeting her waist, she couldn’t evade.

That blade was incredibly sharp and swift, its tail leaving a trail of white light. In an instant, it tore through Yun Jinxue’s protective magical artifact.

Her clothes ripped, and her flesh didn’t escape unscathed.

When the blade swept past, she didn’t seem to feel anything. But a moment later, a horizontal line of blood appeared on her flat, pale stomach.

The pain from her waist was unlike anything she’d ever felt. In an instant, Yun Jinxue’s eyes rimmed red, her fingertips spasming, her body nearly completely numb.

She couldn’t just collapse right now. The three Beast Demons had attacked only once and then maintained their ending poses, motionless. This was a heaven-sent chance to escape.

Gasping raggedly, clutching her abdomen, she used Bright Star to brace against the ground and push herself up, then turned and fled.

Her palm was slick and sticky, making the soaked hem of her robes feel heavier. She almost didn’t need to look down to know how much blood she was losing.

Her face was instantly drained of all color, a ghastly pallor. As she ran, her breathing grew faster and more labored, until she could barely get enough air. Her movements were chaotic and clumsy, utterly wretched.

Eventually, as rapid blood loss dulled her senses, she missed a step on the ground and stumbled, falling hard. Bright Star clattered and rolled forward.

“Ugh…”

Yun Jinxue fought to stay conscious. She pushed off the ground, flipping herself over to lie on her back.

Dimly, she remembered something from a wilderness survival show she’d once watched. The host said that if you’re injured, the first priority is to stop the bleeding.

Stop the bleeding… have to stop the bleeding…

She tried to use spiritual power but failed. The intense pain prevented her from focusing.

She bit her lip. After slightly calming her breathing, she stood up shakily, walked two steps forward, and picked up Bright Star.

The blade was razor-sharp. She gripped the hilt, cut off a piece of her own outer robe, and then tore it into long strips. Wrapping them from her lower back around to her front, until finally, she grit her teeth and pulled it tight with all her might.

The entire process left her completely drenched in cold sweat.

Yun Jinxue leaned weakly to one side. Behind her seemed to be stone, radiating intense cold.

But she had no strength to move. She could only rest for a moment and recover her strength.

A cultivator’s body recovered quickly. Though the wound hadn’t changed much, she could at least move now.

When her hand stopped trembling so badly, Yun Jinxue used what she’d been leaning against to stand up.

Those three Beast Demons didn’t seem to have pursued her.

Thank goodness…

Yun Jinxue straightened her body. Unwittingly, she glanced down. In that single glance, she was so startled she nearly flipped backward.

The place she had just been leaning against was a deep well.

Had it just been a well, that would have been nothing. But behind the moss-covered stone wall of the well, a black-haired girl was crouching.

It was the same harelip girl who had been on the Pig Demon’s chopping board just moments ago.

Everything she had just done—it had likely all been watched by this girl, standing silently inside the well.

Bright Star pointed straight at her face. Yun Jinxue’s voice trembled. “What exactly are you?”

The girl’s eyes were vacant, yet when she looked over, she gave off a nauseating sense of being watched. It was as if something else inhabited this body, utterly chilling.

Yun Jinxue saw she wasn’t moving, and was about to turn and leave.

But the girl suddenly opened her mouth and called out, “Windy?”

Yun Jinxue stopped in her tracks, her gaze dark. “Where have you taken my Junior Sister?”

The girl crooked her finger. “Come closer, and I’ll tell you.”

This was clearly a trap. Yun Jinxue said coldly, “Do you take me for a fool?”

The girl covered her mouth with a giggle. “You’re not a fool. But do you have any other way? In my territory, do you think it’s that easy to find the person I’ve hidden?”