Chapter 37 Part 2

Li Ruoshui: “…” The abacus cultivator’s gaze had shifted to her; slipping away was impossible now. She cleared her throat. “This one is Li Ruobing.”

What Li Shangshan? She didn’t know her.

Feng Qing chuckled coldly and spat three words: “Prodigy List.”

Li Ruoshui itched to punch Feng Qing. Right—the Tianjiao Pursuit Contest was about to start; she couldn’t let Feng Qing get stuck here. But she had no Spirit Jade Pills. As Li Ruoshui pondered her persuasion tactic, a Universe Bag was slapped into the abacus cultivator’s hand.

“One million.”

Who was so generous? Wind Moon Heartless Sect people? Li Ruoshui sucked in a breath and looked toward the voice: a golden-robed cultivator with serene eyes and a face cold as frost and snow.

Li Ruoshui shot Feng Qing a look, silently asking: “Know her?”

Feng Qing shook her head.

Yue Shenlin’s eyes flickered with alarm bells; she quietly hid behind Li Ruoshui and Feng Qing, minimizing her presence.

The golden-robed figure said again, “My Demon Country cultivators act freely—this is compensation.”

The Three Tastes Tavern cultivator didn’t care who paid. Taking the compensation, he turned into escaping smoke and vanished. The scene was left with Li Ruoshui’s group and a few lingering onlookers craning their necks.

“Come here.” The golden-robed figure’s gaze passed over Li Ruoshui and Feng Qing, landing on Yue Shenlin, her voice icy.

Yue Shenlin ground her toes in circles on the ground, pretending not to hear. The golden-robed figure said nothing more and turned to leave.

Only after she left did Yue Shenlin secretly exhale, wiping phantom sweat from her brow. When she looked up, calmer, she met two pairs of curious eyes.

“Fellow Daoist Yue, with such a wealthy friend, how did you end up washing dishes at the Three Tastes Tavern?”

“Dragon aura—she’s the Ji Wuxin you mentioned?”

Yue Shenlin pursed her lips and whispered, “Yes, her.”

Li Ruoshui thoughtfully glanced in the direction Ji Wuxin had gone. More than Yue Shenlin’s relation to her, she wanted to know something else right now.

“May I ask how you two ended up in this mess?”

Eating a king’s meal and racking up hundreds of thousands?

Feng Qing snorted discontentedly. “I was busy arguing on the Tianyan Mirror when those two ugly freaks kept yapping, breaking my train of thought and making me lose the argument. Li Shangshan, tell me—didn’t they deserve to die?!”

Li Ruoshui stroked her brow and placed her hopes for uncovering the truth on Yue Shenlin.

Yue Shenlin recounted the beginning and end of the matter to Li Ruoshui. At the end, she added aggrievedly, “I don’t even know them. In the Merfolk Kingdom, with their caliber, they wouldn’t even appear before me. I don’t know why they mocked me.”

Feng Qing summed it up: “Jealousy, probably. People like that are petty.”

Li Ruoshui’s eyes flickered. So the ambushers who came at her were two demon cultivators? Were they still lying in that pit? Should she take advantage of the night to finish them off? Otherwise, what if those petty types sought revenge? But the killing intent wasn’t clear, so striking first didn’t seem appropriate.

Feng Qing eyed Li Ruoshui suspiciously. “What bad thing are you thinking?”

“Fellow Daoist Feng Qing, please don’t slander my character,” Li Ruoshui said righteously. She quickly changed the subject. “What about Fellow Daoist Yao?”

“She’s refining pills.” Feng Qing huffed in complaint. “She’s so stingy. She wouldn’t even lend me Spirit Jade Pills to pay the debt. She didn’t say she had no Spirit Jade Pills—why not sell some of her precious herbs?”

Li Ruoshui rolled her eyes at Feng Qing. “Why don’t you pry a gem off your sword?”

Feng Qing paled in shock. She took a few steps away from Li Ruoshui, her eyes filled with wariness.

Li Ruoshui ignored Feng Qing and asked Yue Shenlin again, “Didn’t Fellow Daoist say you weren’t participating in the Tianjiao Pursuit Contest? What are you doing in Shanyue City?”

Yue Shenlin replied, “There are so many people here. It’s interesting.” But now she regretted it.

“Since you’re here, why not register? Anyway, it’s not—” The words “expensive” caught in her throat before she could say them. Other sects didn’t require registration fees in Spirit Jade Pills, but this damned Empire had its own rules. Fortunately, it only cost fifty.

Yue Shenlin looked terrified. She waved her hands frantically. “I can’t. I don’t want to participate.”

Feng Qing gave her a sidelong glance. “Those two cultivators looked down on you. Don’t you want to make them see you in a new light? When you shine in the Tianjiao Pursuit Contest, you can point at them and say, ‘Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. I, Yue Shenlin, will use my strength today to tell you who the real waste is, heh heh heh!'”

Li Ruoshui pulled Yue Shenlin a bit farther away from Feng Qing.

Meeting Feng Qing’s gaze, Yue Shenlin said sincerely, “I don’t want to.”

Feng Qing was baffled. Didn’t Yue Shenlin find such a moment thrilling? She asked, “Why? Fellow Daoist, how can you be so spineless!”

Yue Shenlin bit her lip. After a long pause, she said, “We merfolk mostly cultivate the Heavenly Blessing Dao, and I’m no exception. My cultivation has indeed grown steadily, but my divine abilities—” She thought for a moment and rephrased it. “I prayed for blessings for myself before leaving home.”

Li Ruoshui looked at Yue Shenlin with pity.

The Heavenly Blessing Dao that merfolk cultivated was actually a path related to fortune and heavenly blessings bestowed by the Dao of Heaven.

Fortune like that could save one’s life at critical moments. If one received a merfolk’s blessing, their chances of victory in the Tianjiao Pursuit Contest would increase.

By all accounts, the Origin Sea should have propped Yue Shenlin up, but they hadn’t. That meant she couldn’t shoulder great responsibilities like other merfolk. Her skill tree had likely gone astray.

“In any case, I can’t drag you all down.” Nor do I want to get beaten, Yue Shenlin silently added in her heart.

“We don’t mind,” Feng Qing said with a brilliant smile.

Li Ruoshui and Feng Qing exchanged a glance, thinking the same thing. “When traveling abroad, we cultivators should be kind to others. That precious blessing divine ability should naturally be reserved for fellow Daoists. It’s no big deal if we suffer a little ourselves.”

Yue Shenlin: “…”

With a mix of coaxing and deception from Li Ruoshui and Feng Qing, after night fully engulfed Shanyue City, they brought her back to the courtyard Yao Changliu had rented. They discussed registration matters together.

How could they miss out on something as fun as the Tianjiao Pursuit Contest?

Fearing delays might breed trouble, as soon as Yue Shenlin dazedly pressed her name seal onto the registration form, Feng Qing pocketed the Spirit Jade Pills and rushed off to register.

Li Ruoshui breathed a sigh of relief. She returned to her room, took out the Tianyan Mirror, and messaged Chen Buyan.

“Senior Sister, I’ve found three teammates.”

“Aren’t the fellow Daoists the least of our worries? What if the Empire itself has issues?”

“With the Emperor missing, they can’t fully control the Shanyue True Form Chart. What if something unexpected happens? Are the Empire’s two Cave Heaven experts enough?”

Chen Buyan replied: “For the Tianjiao Pursuit Contest, the Cave Heavens of all sects will be watching. If anything unexpected occurs, they’ll forcibly open the Shanyue True Form Chart.”

Li Ruoshui nodded and said, “But didn’t you say the True Form Chart is completely sealed, impossible to observe?”

Chen Buyan: “There are Guiding Talisman Edicts for entry and exit. If the talismans fail, it means something’s wrong.” She paused, then suddenly added, “Junior Sister, focus your mind. Use your divine soul to sense the Freely Roaming Technique.”

Li Ruoshui frowned in confusion but did as instructed. The so-called carefree roaming meant traveling the mind unbound by objects. In an instant, her divine soul seemed to cross a thousand miles, arriving in an utterly unfamiliar place. She vaguely glimpsed a illusory figure, but before she could look closely, it shattered and transformed into a graceful, fluttering illusory butterfly that landed on her shoulder.

A strand of spiritual qi from her Golden Core was completely drained the moment the butterfly lightly touched her shoulder. Li Ruoshui’s thoughts were abruptly ejected from the Tianyan Mirror with a bang as it fell to the ground.

Pale-faced, Li Ruoshui leaned on the couch and pinched her brow hard.

Once the dizziness subsided a bit, she reached out to pick up the Tianyan Mirror.

Suddenly, she spotted an ice-blue, iridescent dreamlike butterfly perched on her knee, gently flapping its wings.

Li Ruoshui’s eyes sharpened. She raised her hand to touch the butterfly, but instead of empty air, she felt warm, smooth skin. She quickly withdrew her hand.

A clear, crisp voice like jade striking ice rang in Li Ruoshui’s ear: “Junior Sister, this is a manifestation of one of my strands of spirituality. It will follow you into the Shanyue True Form Chart.”

Li Ruoshui sucked in a breath, unsure how Chen Buyan had accomplished this. She picked up the Tianyan Mirror, endured the headache, and logged back in. A thousand words boiled down to one: “Senior Sister, is this cheating?” Could she bring an external aid into the Shanyue True Form Chart?

Chen Buyan: “It’s just a wisp of spirituality with no power. It can’t help you with anything. Only if something anomalous happens in the Shanyue True Form Chart will it dissipate.” And as soon as the spirituality scattered, she would sense the anomaly immediately.

A trace of regret appeared on Li Ruoshui’s face. She said, “I just heard a voice. Can I communicate with you through the butterfly?”

Chen Buyan replied seriously: “The spiritual sound has already dissipated; no dialogue is possible. If you want, Junior Sister, you can switch the Tianyan Mirror to ‘Illusion’ mode.”

Li Ruoshui: “Let’s talk after the Tianjiao Pursuit Contest ends.” She’d used her last Spirit Jade Pills for registration and was now penniless, poorer than when she’d first arrived in this world.

Chen Buyan: “Rest well, Junior Sister. You’re only at the Golden Core Realm, and that probably consumed a lot of your essence, qi, and spirit.”

Li Ruoshui said goodnight and put away the Tianyan Mirror.

She had no desire to sleep and stared fixedly at the illusory butterfly.

The figure she’d glimpsed in that brief glance seemed somewhat familiar.

Had she seen it somewhere before? Or was it just that her thoughts of her close friend conjured an illusory shadow in her mind?

Whatever. She would meet her at the Immortal Dao Conference.

If she could claim the top spot on the Prodigy List by then, she’d have more confidence facing the true disciples of the Three Saints Academy.

Her close friend’s master was clearly the old-fashioned type who didn’t understand emotions and strictly controlled even her friends.

“But we haven’t even video called. Wouldn’t it be a bit abrupt to meet directly?” Li Ruoshui muttered to herself. Unable to resist, she poked the Blue Butterfly again.

“Why does an illusory butterfly manifested from spirituality feel so real? Could it be that I just poked the main body?”

Li Ruoshui startled herself with the sudden thought, and her expression turned peculiar.