Chapter 37: An Embrace on Each Side

Linlang listened carefully to the chatter around her and found out what had happened.

During the Courtyard Selection at the Immortal Talisman Sect, Huo Zhi had been assigned to serve as an attendant for Wenren Sumian.

The Exquisite Pavilion got the news and discovered that quite a few people were interested. After all, Wenren Sumian was the Head Seat of the Immortal Talisman Sect, very famous. Her bad temper and love for various talisman art experiments were well-known; no attendant had ever lasted a full month with her. Now that there was a new attendant, people were betting on it. The Exquisite Pavilion simply opened a betting pool for everyone to place bets.

Most bets were on how many days Huo Zhi could last, within a one-month timeframe, with accompanying conditions like complete loss of cultivation, crippled meridians, loss of the five senses, and so on, also included in the pool.

As Linlang listened, her expression changed.

In her previous life, Linlang had dealt with Wenren Sumian. This woman was powerful and unreasonable, especially towards Mo Zhenfeng and the women around him, showing no mercy. Linlang had suffered at her hands, trapped in a Water Realm and nearly drowning.

In this life, Huo Zhi had no relation to Mo Zhenfeng. Wenren Sumian shouldn’t target her, right?

But from what everyone said, Wenren Sumian was inherently difficult to get along with.

Linlang originally just wanted to accept a mission and leave, but after eavesdropping, her gaze fell on a few special missions on the bounty list.

One was posted by an Immortal Talisman Sect disciple: herding a Red Flame Golden-Eyed Beast. The offered price wasn’t high, two thousand Spirit Stones.

Linlang tapped to accept the mission. Soon, someone contacted her, telling her to wait at the Inner City gate entrance.

Linlang went to the Inner City gate entrance. An Immortal Talisman Sect disciple came to meet her, saw her fire-type spiritual energy, deemed her qualified, and brought her into the Immortal Talisman Sect.

“Once inside, you can only stay in the Grazing Area. That Red Flame Golden-Eyed Beast is a Barbarian Beast with little intelligence. It needs to run around, or it will rampage in its cage and damage its scales. It has a bad temper and breathes fire. You have to be careful to dodge.” The Immortal Talisman Sect disciple leading Linlang instructed her.

People not from the Immortal Talisman Sect couldn’t enter. However, one could enter if led by an Immortal Talisman Sect disciple and wearing an Attendant Badge marked as such.

This was a special accommodation for some aristocratic families.

“I want to go take a look at Head Seat Wenren’s place. If you let me go, I won’t take payment for this mission.” Once inside the Immortal Talisman Sect, Linlang said to the disciple.

“Hey, you want to see her? What’s there to see? She might not even have her life left.” The Immortal Talisman Sect disciple was surprised.

“I’m just looking. Nothing will happen.” Linlang said.

“Fine, agreed, no payment. I’ll only give you the time it takes one stick of incense to burn. Come back immediately when time’s up.” The talisman disciple thought for a moment and said, probably dismissing her as another foolish fangirl.

The current Head Seat wasn’t the same as the previous ones.

That person led Linlang to the entrance of the Embroidery Institute and let her go in herself, waiting outside.

This suited Linlang perfectly. She entered the Embroidery Institute, carefully concealing her aura, and headed near Wenren Sumian’s courtyard.

Wenren Sumian’s courtyard had a Protective Barrier; spiritual sense couldn’t penetrate it. Linlang cautiously used a Nether Soul Thread to tear a small opening at one side and sent her spiritual sense in to see the situation inside.

Before she could clearly see what was inside, she heard a deafening boom of an explosion. The next time she sensed Wenren Sumian’s courtyard, it was a complete wreck. Flowers and plants were withered, stone tables and chairs shattered and collapsed, even one of the house’s support pillars had broken.

Amidst the wreckage, Huo Zhi was pulling Wenren Sumian out, dusting off Wenren Sumian’s clothes and using a handkerchief to wipe her face.

“Was that one still wrong?” Wenren Sumian asked Huo Zhi, coughing lightly, not minding Huo Zhi’s rather intimate behavior.

“Don’t rush. That one was indeed wrong. Your spiritual energy output wasn’t the problem; it’s the brush technique at that part. You should use a Reverse Stroke there. Going forward like that just now caused the spiritual energy to reverse, easily causing problems.” Huo Zhi said gently, rubbing Wenren Sumian’s back to soothe her.

Huo Zhi hadn’t expected so many accidents in just the short time she’d been here. Luckily, she was quite sharp and had activated the Protective Barrier in advance.

“What is a Reverse Stroke?” Wenren Sumian asked humbly.

“Come here, I’ll take your hand to write a few characters, and you’ll understand.” Huo Zhi pulled Wenren Sumian’s hand to an unbroken table, took out a brush, ink, and paper from her Storage Bag, and set them down. She had Wenren Sumian sit, then held Wenren Sumian’s hand and wrote the character “Eternity,” explaining several brush techniques to her.

When Huo Zhi designed talismans, she incorporated brushstroke variations, but this talisman-art-supreme world the author set up had no concept of brush techniques.

Wenren Sumian seemed cold and icy, but after interacting with her for a while, Huo Zhi discovered this person was obsessed with talisman arts, completely a bookworm academic type. She spoke bluntly, making her seem to have a bad temper, but she was actually quite nice, nothing like the rumors suggested.

Who knew how long she had researched that Supreme Clarity Meridian Sculpting Talisman? There were thousands of draft pages alone, not to mention the countless talisman materials wasted in practice. Huo Zhi deeply admired her.

As the designer, Huo Zhi sketched out the original draft, but some details still needed verification.

So they failed many more times.

If Wenren Sumian’s cultivation were weaker, or if she were drawing a lower-grade talisman, Huo Zhi could have guided her hand to draw it. But the materials for the Supreme Clarity Meridian Sculpting Talisman were beyond Huo Zhi’s control; the ink was too heavy to move, and the force control was far more difficult. She could only let Wenren Sumian slowly trial-and-error by herself while Huo Zhi assisted from the side.

This talisman was of an even higher grade than the Three-Pattern Meridian Cleansing Talisman Moyi Guihua needed. If Wenren Sumian could successfully draw it, Huo Zhi would want to buy one at any cost to give to Moyi Guihua.

So Huo Zhi was very serious when assisting Wenren Sumian.

While the two inside were engaged in this Q&A discussion, neither feeling particularly close, Linlang’s expression outside gradually changed.

She retracted her spiritual sense, let go of the array barrier she had painstakingly pried open, and turned to leave.

This woman, she could be so intimate with anyone, so popular no matter where she went…

She didn’t need her at all.

She shouldn’t have meddled unnecessarily.

Linlang went out and met up with that Immortal Talisman Sect disciple. Without a word, she went to the Grazing Area to herd that Red Flame Golden-Eyed Beast.

The demon beast, with dark red fur, crimson gold eyes, a body wreathed in flames, and shaped like a lion, indeed had a bad temper. It bared its teeth at Linlang and breathed fire. Linlang wasn’t in a good mood, so she fought the Red Flame Golden-Eyed Beast in the Grazing Area.

Her clothes were burned in patches.

For one double-hour of herding, Linlang fought the Red Flame Golden-Eyed Beast for one double-hour.

When Linlang finished the mission and went out, she unexpectedly ran into Huo Zhi again.

Huo Zhi had accompanied Wenren Sumian in drawing talismans for a while until the materials were gone. Wenren Sumian sat down to meditate and rest, sending Huo Zhi out to buy more talisman materials.

Once out, Huo Zhi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Because of the Grand Examination earlier, and then the Courtyard Selection and dealing with the difficult Wenren Sumian, Huo Zhi had silenced 006. Now, 006 had been holding back for a long time and was reporting to Huo Zhi.

“What? This is her Happiness Value fluctuation chart? It’s more volatile than the stock market! What has this brat been doing, going up and down? I’m not being narcissistic, but the points when I entered the Immortal Talisman Sect – it rose quite a bit at that time. Could she be happy for me? I just don’t know what happened in between. The last drop was the steepest. Honestly, I’m a bit confused by her!” Huo Zhi looked at the Happiness Value changes over the past few days provided by 006, utterly baffled.

“The current Happiness Value is very dangerous, Host. You have to work harder!” 006 said.

“That brat wouldn’t come to the Immortal Talisman Sect with me. To find her, I’d have to travel so far!” Huo Zhi complained, but also wanted to know why Linlang’s Happiness Value had jumped so drastically these past few days.

Huo Zhi had been given two double-hours by Wenren Sumian to go out. She could still make a trip to the Outer City.

As Huo Zhi walked out, her sound transmission device buzzed. Beimen Duoduo was calling, asking about her situation.

Huo Zhi explained. Beimen Duoduo immediately ran over to find her, bringing Ji Shuling along.

“Master, I’ve been so worried! You’re fine, that’s great! As expected of the Master!” Beimen Duoduo hugged Huo Zhi’s arm as soon as she arrived.

“Of course. So don’t worry.” Huo Zhi said.

“Sister, I just asked a senior sister I know. Being around Head Seat Wenren is dangerous. You should use this Protective Talisman Artifact of mine.” Ji Shuling took off the necklace from her neck and gave it to Huo Zhi.

“Why so sweet, so cute! No need. I have my own. I only wore one for the Grand Examination. When I go out and retrieve mine, it’ll be more than enough. You keep wearing yours.” Seeing how much Ji Shuling cared for her, how cute she was, Huo Zhi couldn’t help pinching her cheek.

“Um, Host, not to be a downer, but Linlang’s Happiness Value dropped by 1000.” 006 said carefully.

“…” Huo Zhi’s mouth twitched. It seemed she needed to pay a visit to the Xiao Residence.

While Huo Zhi was talking with the two, Linlang silently left.

Without her, Huo Zhi was thriving. She didn’t need her, wouldn’t even think of her.

As Linlang walked sullenly forward, a hand grabbed her arm: Beimen Duoduo.

“Hey, running into you here, great! I can just give you the Spirit Stones now. Thank you so much this time. Next time I have another job, I’ll find you.” Beimen Duoduo stopped Linlang, who was about to leave, and said.

The appearance and aura Linlang used for her bounty-hunting identity were fixed, partly for repeat customers. Beimen Duoduo recognized her this way.

“…” Linlang didn’t speak, trying her best to hide her aura. Her face was smudged with soot from fighting the Red Flame Golden-Eyed Beast, her clothes dirty and ragged. A truly sorry sight.

Beimen Duoduo gave Linlang the remaining Spirit Stones.

Linlang didn’t linger and left immediately.

Huo Zhi had been somewhat curious about the person with Beimen Duoduo earlier. Now seeing Linlang, she wanted to get acquainted, to hire her with Spirit Stones for future tasks, but the person hurried away.

“Duoduo, even if she didn’t tell you her name, she must have told you her bounty hunter code number, right?” Huo Zhi remembered something and asked Beimen Duoduo.

“Uh, I think it was, right, 5672. She’s quite good. I’ll definitely hire her for missions again.” Beimen Duoduo said.

“Not bad, quite reliable.” Huo Zhi nodded.

After leaving the Immortal Talisman Sect, Linlang went straight to the Exquisite Pavilion to continue accepting missions.

“One hundred thousand Spirit Stones, bet that Huo Zhi won’t be expelled from the Immortal Talisman Sect within a month, and her cultivation won’t be crippled!” Hearing the ongoing betting around her about Huo Zhi, Linlang placed a bag of Spirit Stones in front of the Exquisite Pavilion staff running the betting pool.

“Are you sure? This is a twelve-to-one odds. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” The staff member looked at Linlang and said.

“Mm.” Linlang coldly gave her token to the staff for registration.

Linlang invested all the Spirit Stones Beimen Duoduo had just given her.

Previously, she had gathered and completed suitable, relatively simple, high-reward bounties, reaping quite a lot of Spirit Stones. Later, those types of missions that suited her and paid well became fewer. So in these two months, not counting Beimen Duoduo’s job, she had earned over two hundred thousand Spirit Stones in total.

Aside from buying necessary Talisman Artifacts to hide her identity and aura, Protective Talismans, and similar items, the Spirit Stones were mainly used to inquire about her sister’s whereabouts – the slave market, the demon beast information from the Xiao Residence, etc.

The remaining Spirit Stones were a reserve, in case, like in her previous life, her sister was auctioned, so she would have the Spirit Stones to buy her.

After her earlier trip into the Immortal Talisman Sect, though her mood was very bad, it also let Linlang know that Huo Zhi would definitely be fine.

She had an exceptionally strong destiny in talisman arts, even stronger than Wenren Sumian.

With that alone, she would be absolutely safe with the talisman-art-obsessed Wenren Sumian.

So for this bet, Linlang naturally bet on Huo Zhi winning.

Twelve-to-one odds. If she won, this one hundred thousand Spirit Stones would become one million two hundred thousand. After the Exquisite Pavilion’s fees, she’d still get about a million.

After placing her bet, Linlang left the city to do her missions.

Once outside the city, Linlang found a secluded spot, intending to transform into a Cinnabar Bird and fly away directly. But she sensed something wrong: a familiar aura. People from the Moyi family!

Their aura made Linlang feel uneasy.

Converging her aura, Linlang moved in the direction she sensed. She saw several Moyi family cultivators. The woman tied up and sealed was none other than Moyi Guihua.

“Huo Zhi, you’ve passed the Immortal Talisman Sect exam. I want to leave now. I’m outside the city. If you can come out of the city now, come see me off.” Someone used a Sound Transmission Talisman to send this message in Moyi Guihua’s voice.

Listening to them, Linlang immediately understood their intention.

These people wanted to kill two birds with one stone.