Chapter 26
Although she sounded cold, Xiao Xiao immediately looked at Wei Jie’s back.
During the fight just now, Wei Jie had indeed protected her a few times. At that time, she seemed to hear him groaning. Thinking about it now, he must have been scratched on the back…
But Wei Jie turned away with a cold face and didn’t let her see. He kicked the howling corpse-eating beast to sit on a large rock nearby.
Unfortunately, they were chained together. Xiao Xiao was dragged by him and had to raise her head with effort to look at his back.
Oh my, it was indeed quite injured!
After Wei Jie sat down, Xiao Xiao quickly took out the medicine she carried with her, preparing to help Wei Jie take off his clothes so she could apply it for him.
But Wei Jie pulled his clothes and said, “It’s alright. The wound will heal on its own in a while. Your medicine is so precious. It’s better to save it for your Mr. Tang.”
Xiao Xiao took a closer look and indeed, the inch-long wound that looked ferocious just now had mostly healed in this short time.
He was a mixed-blood of human and demon. His self-healing ability was unmatched. As long as it was a minor flesh wound, it could heal on its own.
Tang Youshu didn’t know about the undercurrent between his master and grand-master. He just heard Wei Jie agree and kowtowed to Cui Xiao Xiao and Wei Jie repeatedly. Then he happily became the fourth-generation grand disciple of the Talisman Sect.
Seeing the lineage of the Talisman Sect becoming more and more skewed, Xiao Xiao thought about how to write names on the sect’s genealogy and felt a headache.
This former demonic ancestor had now become her disciple, and her former benefactor had become her grand-disciple!
This distorted lineage of inheritance in Lingshan Talisman Sect could only be kept secret. When she found a way to set things right and return to two hundred years later, she would definitely go to her master’s grave to burn incense and kowtow, admitting her mistake properly.
But now she had at least remedied some things. At the very least, she let Master Tang Youshu acknowledge Wei Jie as his master, following the original trajectory.
While secretly breathing a sigh of relief, Xiao Xiao pointed at the dog rubbing against Wei Jie’s pant leg and asked, “How should we deal with this corpse-eating beast?”
This time, Wei Jie didn’t act up with Xiao Xiao. He kicked the dog’s butt again and said lazily, “It’s not a creature of the yang realm. It must be sent back to the underworld quickly. Otherwise, if it absorbs too much yang energy, it can only return when the ghost gate opens wide during the ghost month.”
After saying that, he picked up the deliberately fawning big-mouthed dog and shook it hard. Many black sesame-sized dots actually fell off its body.
According to Wei Jie, these were all corpse fleas on the corpse-eating beast. If they were raised and crushed, they would be a rare sacred medicine for healing wounds.
So Xiao Xiao watched him catch the sesame-sized dots one by one and put them in a small porcelain bottle.
Xiao Xiao couldn’t help but shudder and reminded Wei Jie to put away the bottle properly. Otherwise, since they were together every day now, if they got on her body, it would be disgusting.
Since they had to send the corpse-eating beast back, they naturally needed the permission of the Wei Family. Otherwise, outsiders were absolutely not allowed to approach the intersection of yin and yang.
Wei Jie had no interest in seeing the Wei Family people again. He just tied the rope restraining the corpse-eating beast to the demon-suppressing stone statue in front of the Wei Family’s door, then walked far away and threw a pebble to knock on the door.
When the Wei Family guards opened the door, there seemed to be nothing in front of the door except a moving rope.
When Wei Jingfeng came to the front of the door, he naturally smelled the rotten stench of the corpse-eating beast and knew that the invisible corpse-eating beast was tied to the rope.
In his pleasant surprise, he looked around but couldn’t see the person who sent this exotic beast back…
But the whip tied around the beast’s neck was clearly Jie’er’s… Wei Jingfeng held the whip in his hand. Thinking of the harsh words he had said to his nephew earlier, his heart was filled with mixed feelings at this moment…
That child actually listened to his mother’s words and went to catch the corpse-eating beast alone…
As for the three impromptu ancestor, master, and disciple of the Talisman Sect, after leaving Qilao Mountain, they were a bit aimless.
Although it was only a little more than two hundred years apart, the world had changed beyond recognition. Everywhere was unfamiliar.
Cui Xiao Xiao tried hard to recall the stone cave where she originally found the statue, but she couldn’t locate the place name on the sheepskin map from two hundred years ago. Because many places had very different names after two hundred years.
In this case, they could only slowly explore and advance, hoping that the changes around that stone cave would not be too great, making it easier to find. But she didn’t know if the statue was in the stone cave at this time.
Xiao Xiao felt that the hope was slim, but she could only give it a try.
In addition to finding the statue, another urgent matter was to find Qin Lingxiao and let him hand over the key to unlock the Soul Locking Shackle on her hand!
Xiao Xiao hadn’t bathed for a full five days now, and she didn’t even dare to eat or drink too much.
It wasn’t that she had transcended the mortal world and no longer felt hunger or thirst. She couldn’t resist it at first and had done it once or twice. It was really embarrassing enough to wish for the world to end!
Even if Wei Jie obediently turned his head and stuffed his ears with cotton cloth, it was no use.
By the same token, when it was Wei Jie’s turn to relieve himself, Xiao Xiao also had to close her eyes and listen to the sound of the spring water with him. Such an experience was something she wished to immediately forget.
So when it came to eating and drinking, Xiao Xiao not only ate less herself but also had to keep an eye on Wei Jie, asking him to restrain himself and not eat or drink too much.
However, Wei Jie obviously wasn’t troubled by this kind of mental knot. Under Xiao Xiao’s sharp gaze, he calmly drank another large bowl of soup.
As soon as he finished drinking, his grand-disciple Tang Youshu diligently filled another bowl for his master Wei Jie.
Xiao Xiao didn’t dare to scold Tang Youshu and could only whisper to Wei Jie, “Drink less, otherwise later…”
Wei Jie’s mouth curved into a smile. He also filled a bowl of lotus root and peanut soup for Xiao Xiao.
“Master, you should drink more. I see that you have been irritable these past two days. Every time, it’s just a trickle and not very smooth. This is because you’re too dry. You need to nourish yourself well!”
Xiao Xiao looked at him silently, slowly wrapping her gaze around his neck and then forcefully tightening it!
At the same time, she cursed Qin Lingxiao, the culprit, in her heart again!
In the past few days, forced by the situation, Xiao Xiao had already started to practice abstinence from grains early on. For cultivators, every critical moment of enhancing the qi in the dantian, fasting and abstaining from grains are very beneficial.
However, not every newly initiated cultivator can persist.
You should know that the delicacies of the human world are the most difficult to give up. Even those who have ascended to immortality sometimes come to the human world to sneak a bite.
But at this time, Xiao Xiao had nothing she couldn’t give up. She wished she could abstain from grains and ascend to immortality in one go, staying far away from this annoying mortal world.
With no desires or pursuits, she actually managed to abstain from grains for a few days on and off.
Wei Jie was not as ambitious as Xiao Xiao. He smiled and looked at his master’s “affectionate” gaze, leisurely picking up a chicken leg and biting into it.
Among the three of them, Tang Youshu was the one with money, so along the way, they would choose a decent restaurant in the village to eat and rest. Almost every meal had wine and meat.
As for why Tang Youshu was so generous, there was a reason.
He was born into a family of famous doctors. At a young age, he was already able to take pulses and diagnose illnesses. That time he went to Qilao Mountain, it was to collect unique herbs on the mountain. He accidentally fell into the valley.
He wanted to break free from the shackles of the mortal body and cultivate the way of immortality. Along the way, he earned money by practicing medicine and seeking famous masters.
According to Tang Youshu, his best-selling product was the ancestral aphrodisiac ointment. Just one patch on the upper abdomen could invigorate a man’s vitality and make him vigorous like a newlywed. It’s just that the formula was complex and needed to be hot compressed before use, which was quite troublesome. If it could be simplified, it would sell even better.
Hearing this, Xiao Xiao sighed in her heart. It turned out that her old master had been making a fortune with this kind of aphrodisiac plaster since he was young.
Thinking about it, the treasure that made the most money for the Talisman Sect later – the Infatuation Talisman, her master had indeed been consistent over these two hundred years, striding forward on the path of benefiting men all over the world.
Xiao Xiao had been looking forward to such generous and casual ordering of meals for a long time, but she didn’t expect that a chain was even more hateful than the Gold Consuming Curse, making her not dare to eat or drink.
Wei Jie’s style was quite established. Every meal must have meat and wine, very carefree and leisurely.
Xiao Xiao ate very little. Every time, she would enter a meditative state early. Unfortunately, she was shackled to Wei Jie. When she meditated, Wei Jie would lie beside her and sleep, listening to the snoring rising and falling, which greatly affected her meditation.
If she didn’t meditate, her stomach would also gurgle. Xiao Xiao decided that she still had to take up the responsibility of a master and urge her “unruly disciple” to make some progress.
But when she pulled Wei Jie up and asked him to meditate with her, Wei Jie stretched and yawned, “Master doesn’t teach me any skills. I don’t know what to practice either.”
In the past few days, he saw Xiao Xiao teaching Tang Youshu how to draw talismans in her spare time and also teaching him breathing techniques. It was a scene of deep affection between father and daughter.
This grand-master happily taught her grand-disciple, overstepping her authority. But the Sect Master of the Talisman Sect had no intention of teaching her legitimate eldest disciple.
Although Wei Jie originally had ulterior motives when taking her as his master and didn’t really want to learn skills from Xiao Xiao, now being contrasted by Tang Youshu, losing the fight for the master’s favor, he inevitably felt psychologically unbalanced and a bit unpleasant.
Hearing Wei Jie’s words, Xiao Xiao nodded.
That’s right. Since she had taken on the title of his master, if she didn’t teach anything, it would seem ungracious.
However, if she taught him the skills of the Talisman Sect and he returned to his own life trajectory in the future, gradually walking the demonic path, wouldn’t it tarnish the reputation of Lingshan Talisman Sect?
Xiao Xiao thought and thought, and decided to teach him the skills of the Four Great Sects. He had a deep grudge with the Four Great Cultivation Sects. In the future, when they inevitably meet on a narrow path, he could fight fire with fire if he knew both himself and the enemy.
As for how to teach, Xiao Xiao was not worried. After all, Ancestor Wei Jie himself had summarized it systematically. She just needed to follow the example and pass on the cultivation methods of other sects summarized by Wei Jie himself to Wei Jie.
And among the Four Great Sects, the qi shield of Wonderful Immortal Mountain was actually the most practical. Xiao Xiao didn’t want to teach the future Demon King skills to harm others. The qi shield could be used for self-defense and protection, which was most suitable.
Wei Jie sat cross-legged opposite Xiao Xiao, listening to her proficiently explaining the method of condensing the qi shield of Wonderful Immortal Mountain. Suddenly, he asked, “Why are you so familiar with the shortcomings of the techniques of the Four Great Sects and even know their cultivation methods? What connection do you have with the Four Great Sects?”
When asking this, Wei Jie’s purple eyes gleaming with light slightly narrowed, staring intently at Cui Xiao Xiao.
Although the future Demon Venerable’s demonic arts were not yet perfected, his aura was gradually emerging. When he stared at someone, it was a bit hard to withstand his gaze.
However, Cui Xiao Xiao had followed her adoptive father to deceive people since she was a child. The title of “Thousand-Faced Beauty” on the streets was not in vain. She firmly met the gaze of the future Demon Venerable and said sincerely, “The cultivation of the Four Great Sects is shallow and easily seen through. How can it compare to the vastness and profundity of our Talisman Sect? But to practice the profound teachings of the Talisman Sect, one must first learn the ways of the Four Great Sects. Here, I’ve passed on the techniques to you. You can slowly comprehend them yourself.”
Actually, Xiao Xiao knew that the Four Great Sects could become major cultivation sects. How could their skills be learned just by saying they could be learned?
The Wei Jie from two hundred years ago, because of resisting the snake poison, had a fortuitous encounter and his cultivation greatly advanced, giving him a solid foundation. No matter what he practiced, he could handle it with ease.
But the current Wei Jie, due to her interference, was still an ordinary fellow.
Although he had comprehended some unorthodox methods relying on his intelligence and talent, it was a bit of a pipe dream to think he could cultivate the profound teachings of the Four Great Sects just from her brief instruction.
Xiao Xiao just wanted to deal with her obedient disciple, so he wouldn’t keep disturbing her meditation.
However, Wei Jie actually put on the appearance of a teachable child and really sat beside Xiao Xiao, closing his eyes and entering meditation.
Xiao Xiao secretly opened her eyes and observed the man beside her. His meditation posture was not standard, with his arms casually placed on his crossed long legs, and his waist was not very straight. Rather than meditating, it was more like taking a nap.
But his appearance and figure were outstanding. No matter how he sat, he exuded an otherworldly and carefree elegance.
Xiao Xiao really found it hard to imagine what terrifying appearance he would have when he transformed into a half-snake person covered in scales all over his body.
After looking for a while, Xiao Xiao also closed her eyes. At least this time, Wei Jie was not poisoned. Hopefully, he could change from evil to good and commit less slaughter in the future…
However, she didn’t know that when she closed her eyes, the man sitting opposite her slowly opened his eyes. His light purple eyes shimmered with a faint glow under the moonlight, lingering on the girl’s long curled eyelashes and perky little nose…
Under the moonlight, with the occasional chirping of night insects, he looked enough and then closed his eyes with satisfaction. At the same time, he straightened his body, and the breath of qi circulation and breathing revolved above his head as he gradually entered meditation.
In the past few days, they had been like this, walking during the day and cultivating at night. The pills given by the Wei Family matriarch seemed to be really effective. In the past few days, Xiao Xiao never had an attack, which also allowed her to gradually put her mind at ease.
But it was really inconvenient to be handcuffed to Wei Jie all
the time. Xiao Xiao still decided to go find Qin Lingxiao first and unlock the Soul Locking Shackle.
How to get to Soaring Cloud Pavilion was another big problem.
Xiao Xiao looked at the map for a long time and found that Soaring Cloud Pavilion seemed to be not too far from here. Fortunately, Tang Youshu often collected herbs and was quite familiar with the surrounding paths. With his help, the journey became smoother.
Wei Jie didn’t seem to be as anxious as Xiao Xiao to find Qin Lingxiao and unlock the Soul Locking Shackle. Along the way, he walked and stopped leisurely, seeming to be quite carefree.
This day, after finishing lunch, Wei Jie actually pulled Xiao Xiao to the Qingshui Pond far away from the village to fish.
Xiao Xiao watched Tang Youshu being ordered by Wei Jie to buy fishing rods and bait. She couldn’t help but say, “Since you’ve become a master, you should teach your disciple some breathing techniques. You always let him buy this and buy that. What kind of master are you?”
Wei Jie leaned against the rock by the pond, comfortably stretching his waist, his head resting on his arms, a blade of grass in his mouth, and said lazily, “If you put it that way, I’m still your disciple, right? Have you ever taught me attentively? Every day, apart from glaring at me, it’s glaring at me. What? Regretting accepting me as your disciple?”
His appearance was too good. Even when he was casually stretching his long legs with his eyes half-closed, he looked like a picture of a beautiful person drunk.
The bloodline of the female demon was too captivating. Xiao Xiao would inadvertently stare in a daze.
As a result, when Wei Jie half-opened his eyes, he happened to make eye contact with Xiao Xiao.
Xiao Xiao hurriedly turned her head away, pretending to admire the scenery by the pond. Because they were locked together, the two could never be too far apart. So when Wei Jie sat up, he was shoulder to shoulder with Xiao Xiao.
He turned his head to look at the girl beside him. Her skin was delicate and white, her cheeks slightly flushed, and the long lashes of her big eyes were trembling slightly, like fluttering black butterflies…
Xiao Xiao noticed that he wasn’t speaking, so she turned to look. As a result, she made close eye contact with him again.
Cui Xiao Xiao couldn’t help but retreat slightly, asking him vigilantly, “Why are you staring at me like that?”
Wei Jie deliberately leaned closer and lowered his head, “Master also secretly looks at me all the time. I’m your disciple. What’s there that can’t be looked at? Next time, there’s no need to be secretive…”
Xiao Xiao would occasionally fail to resist sneaking a peek at him, but she didn’t expect him to say it so openly without giving his master any face.
Xiao Xiao was at a loss for words for a moment, but the dignity of a master could not be lost. She just pretended to be calm, took out a handkerchief, and wiped Wei Jie’s cheek with a look of concern, “Look at you, your face is dirty again, and you still blame Master for looking at you! Jie’er, be good. Next time, don’t always be naughty and crawl into corners…”
With that said, she still felt it wasn’t clean enough, so she spat hard on the handkerchief and wanted to continue wiping her obedient disciple’s face.
Wei Jie’s face changed. How could he let her handkerchief touch his face? He hurriedly retreated.
But his hand was connected to Xiao Xiao’s. With such a big movement, he pulled Xiao Xiao to fall into his arms.
Xiao Xiao was also angered by Wei Jie and intended to teach him a lesson. Regardless of anything, she grabbed his collar and continued to press the handkerchief on Wei Jie’s face, while calling him Jie’er and disciple.
The two made a fuss. In the eyes of outsiders, it was truly a scene of a handsome man and a beautiful woman, childhood sweethearts by the green shade of the lake.
Unfortunately, this scene happened to fall into the eyes of the young man in the pavilion on the other side of the pond.
Since the incident at Qilao Mountain, Qin Lingxiao didn’t hurry back to Soaring Cloud Pavilion to see his father, but came to this ravine of Mount Tuyun.
This Mount Tuyun was said to be the birthplace of the ancestor of the Tu Tribe.
Legend has it that Yu the Great’s wife, Tu Shan, was the incarnation of a nine-tailed white fox, a symbol of the prosperity of offspring.
However, later on, the fox tribe gradually gave birth to demons like Daji who brought disaster to the world, and the reputation of the fox tribe gradually deteriorated.
Therefore, the Tu Tribe gradually declined. Most of the tribesmen went into seclusion, isolating themselves from the mortal world. Even most of the descendants of the Tu Tribe removed the three waters of spirituality from their names and changed their surname to “Yu,” only seeking to no longer step into the struggle for power in the mortal world and not damage the blessings of the fox tribe any further.
And this Mount Tuyun was the location of the spiritual spring that resonated with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Every hundred years, the spiritual spring would gush out from the ground of Mount Tuyun, allowing the younger generation of the fox tribe to drink it and seek to transform themselves.
Even if one was not from the fox tribe, if one could drink the spiritual spring water, it would be of great benefit to one’s cultivation and skills.
Two hundred years ago, after Wei Jie was poisoned by the snake, he unintentionally saved a fox tribe girl. That girl was grateful and led Wei Jie to Mount Tuyun. After drinking the spiritual spring, he suppressed the toxicity better and absorbed the fox tribe for his own use. From then on, he recruited soldiers and horses on the demonic path, and his strength grew day by day.
Now, Wei Jie’s fate had been disrupted by Cui Xiao Xiao and was no longer fearsome. However, Qin Lingxiao didn’t want Wei Jie’s previous opportunities to be wasted.
So Qin Lingxiao specially grasped the timing and appeared in the right place. He drove away the hunters and saved the fox girl Yu Ling’er, who should have been saved by Wei Jie, and was led by her to Mount Tuyun.
This time, he wanted to seize the upper hand and not leave any chance for Wei Jie.
