Chapter 23: Racing to Three Ways River

Traveling day and night without rest, they could barely reach in three days.

Any encounter on the road would inevitably cause delays and a sorry sight.

Miao Tianyin dropped those words, her figure fading from solid to ethereal before dissolving into a scatter of shattered light.

Peak Lord Yan Jizhi rubbed her forehead, meeting Yan Zhichuan’s pleading gaze with a helpless, nothing-I-can-do expression.

Running into Junior Sister Miao Tianyin was just their bad luck.

“Let’s go!” Youying spoke first. Clad in green robes, her face was ghostly pale. As her figure darted forward, it left trails of afterimages, like a cluster of fireflies gathering.

By the time Yan Zhichuan caught up, Youying had indeed mounted a massive firefly dharma treasure and vanished swiftly from sight.

“Doesn’t Senior Sister Youying have a dharma treasure? Why not give us a ride?” Yan Zhichuan blinked in a daze.

Fuyu Sha glanced back at Yan Zhichuan and sighed. “Fu Shi’s implication was a speed contest.”

Yan Zhichuan: “…” Was it? She hadn’t picked up on that at all.

But one thing she understood: whether it was there or not, just follow suit.

Once Fuyu Sha left, Bie Lige from Great Power Peak—ever elegant and composed—also turned into a beam of escaping light and disappeared.

Yan Zhichuan’s gaze fell on Zhan Yujie, who stood rooted in place.

Perfect. It hadn’t been a waste of her efforts to comfort her senior sister earlier. Was this her ride?

But Zhan Yujie merely smiled and said, “Junior Sister, don’t be late.” She wasn’t worried about Yan Zhichuan’s safety—after all, they’d be under Fu Shi’s watch the whole way. Yan Zhichuan tagging along might invite trouble.

Yan Zhichuan: “…”

She stomped her foot in fury at the “exhaust” trails left by the sword light. Did she really care about hitching a ride? She just didn’t know the way!

Yan Zhichuan huffed, “Xiao Tian, navigate! Take the shortest path and make us the first to arrive!”

Half a day later.

Yan Zhichuan sat cross-legged on Cloudy, her face expressionless.

Her robes were speckled with feathers of every color.

The Heavenly Dao System chirped angrily at the birds circling overhead.

Yan Zhichuan’s shortcut led through a forest teeming with spirit beasts. Ground-dwellers couldn’t touch her, but the flyers always found ways to peck at her.

She lifted her hand to inspect the red mark from a Golden Eagle’s peck on her hand’s back, immensely grateful for the pile of Dragon Blood Pills she’d consumed.

If she were still her old self, that Golden Eagle’s sharp beak and talons would’ve torn her apart long ago.

“Can’t I have both speed and safety?” Yan Zhichuan furrowed her brows slightly.

The Heavenly Dao System stayed silent.

Yan Zhichuan sighed. “Are you just not trying hard enough? In the end, do I have to rely on myself?”

Heavenly Dao System: “What’s your plan?” It wasn’t that it doubted her—Yan Zhichuan simply wasn’t trustworthy.

Yan Zhichuan drooped her brows.

She took out the Medicine God Cauldron and refined pills right there on Cloudy.

After a while, a rich pill fragrance wafted from the cauldron. Forget the circling spirit beasts—even Little Fat Chirp, the Heavenly Dao System’s manifested form, inexplicably started salivating.

Dizzy with hunger, it would’ve lunged to snag one if Yan Zhichuan hadn’t grabbed it. “What is this?”

Yan Zhichuan: “Super Invincible Spiral Explosion Pill.”

The instant the cauldron’s qi burst it open, Yan Zhichuan didn’t store the pills as usual. Instead, she flicked out a strand of mana, shoving them toward the demon birds in the sky.

The pill scent spread, visibly multiplying the flock.

A dense black mass gathered, filling the air with harsh, raucous squawks.

Nine top-grade Explosive Pills dropped into the mouths of the fiercest nine birds. Then, like a brilliant fireworks display, they erupted with a thunderous boom. Blood, flesh, and shattered feathers rained down like a sudden storm. The remaining flock was engulfed in the bloody blaze; those too slow to flee were swept into the churning yuan qi, turning into fresh rain.

The Heavenly Dao System shuddered in lingering fear.

But—

“The Shennong Hundred Medicines Scripture has no such pill recipe.”

Yan Zhichuan stared fixedly at the falling blood rain, even catching a bloodied feather in her hand.

She licked the corner of her lips, feeling an inexplicable hunger.

But too dirty.

She let it drop.

Casually stowing the Medicine God Cauldron, she said, “It’s a partial formula Alchemy Peak developed themselves, and we only had scraps of ingredients left. Wonder if the demon creatures at Three Ways River can be lured like this.”

When the time came, she’d use pills to aggro the mobs, and her senior sisters could handle the kills. Wouldn’t first place belong to Nine Abyss Sect then?

Three days later.

Yan Zhichuan arrived unscathed outside Three Ways River. Even taking the shortest path, she was still the last to show.

Her Qiankun Pouch was a bit lighter, but she didn’t mind.

She was here for training; all expenses were covered by the sect. Besides the herbs she’d “borrowed” from Medicine Peak, she’d gotten more on Zhan Yujie’s tab from the medicine shop. No shortage for now.

“You could always buy more at Myriad Treasures Pavilion,” the Heavenly Dao System chimed in, its own schemes louder.

It had only pried two or three pills from her hands.

But Yan Zhichuan had said if that lump didn’t count as “nine,” she’d rather eat it herself than give any to the Heavenly Dao System.

Yan Zhichuan: “Pah!”

She shuffled toward Zhan Yujie and the others, noticing they all looked disheveled and dirt-covered, like they’d been chased and beaten.

Miao Tianyin lounged on a golden chair, casually tossing dice.

The clattering roll drained the color from Zhan Yujie and the others’ faces. Even the cultivators from unknown sects nearby wore stifled, furious expressions, too cowed to speak.

Zhan Yujie had a flash of insight.

That golden chair, so at odds with Miao Tianyin’s aura… stolen?

“Little Zhichuan’s here—sit.” Miao Tianyin stood, gesturing to the golden chair.

Yan Zhichuan blinked. When an elder offers, one doesn’t refuse. Fine, she was exhausted.

Amid her sect sisters’ complicated gazes, she gracefully took the seat, nearly tilting her head back for a nap.

Miao Tianyin addressed the row of Nine Abyss Sect cultivators. “I thought you’d arrive unscathed. If you can’t handle a little setback, how will you survive the Three Ways River Sword Duel intact?”

Zhan Yujie: “…” Every outing with this True Person started with a “trial.” Her own cultivation advanced, but the road’s “obstacles” for others multiplied.

“But at least you’re alive.” Miao Tianyin shifted tone. “May it be so today, and always.”

She chuckled, the golden bell at her waist jingling.

Without another word, she spun away to collect their scoring jade slips.

“Is there something weird about this chair?” Yan Zhichuan whispered.

Youying stared blankly at this unimpressive junior sister, frowning in thought.

Their master had invited them to sit too.

But aside from Fuyu Sha, no one had accepted.

Fuyu Sha hadn’t done it out of confidence—just an unholy love for gold. She’d advanced, only to get pricked by spikes.

How did Junior Sister Yan sit fine?

“Where’d this chair come from?” Yan Zhichuan raised her voice slightly.

Zhan Yujie spat three words: “Chongxu Sect.”

Nearby, fuming but immobile, was Chongxu Sect’s leading True Person—Jin Posha.

All at Cave Heaven realm, but dao arts varied wildly in prowess. Cave Heaven duels drained yuan qi massively, demanding extended recovery. Most chose secluded cultivation, but not Miao Tianyin—she’d fight without hesitation.

In other Cave Heavens’ eyes, Nine Abyss Sect’s Miao Tianyin was capricious and downright sinister.

Yet she was Nine Summers Continent’s sole master of artifact forging and formations at the pinnacle. Untouchable.

Yan Zhichuan: “…”

A prickling unease stabbed her back. She shot to her feet.

Twisting around, she saw the chair bristling with protruding spikes.

On the road, she’d taken a Forget-Sorrow Pill, numbing any pain.

But now that she’d noticed the spikes, her whole body felt riddled with needles.

She snapped, “Chongxu Sect are such petty villains! Like leader, like followers!”

Pricking people?

The Chongxu Sect Cave Heaven: “?”

Those were Miao Tianyin’s casual “traps.” What did it have to do with Chongxu Sect?

Yan Zhichuan glared until her eyes tired, her gaze drifting to a green-robed cultivator behind Jin Posha, eyes downcast.

The Heavenly Dao System scanned him and chirped wildly: “Evil, evil, evil!”

Yan Zhichuan rubbed her belly: “Yeah, kinda hungry.”

Heavenly Dao System: “!”

It meant the man was evil-aligned.

Utterly malevolent—a Demon Cultivator had slipped into the crowd!