Chapter 101: Five-Eyed Xiao Xian (Part 3): What Exactly is the Truth?

Her ethereal voice brushed past her ears and dissipated into the air. Her body’s scattering ashes vanished into the spiritual light as well, leaving only the shattered eggshell behind.

Shang Shan reached out to grab something, but the clear breeze slipped through her fingers. She opened her palm—empty.

Though she had vanished, there was still a feeling that she would reappear.

With her palm empty, Shang Shan was still lost in a daze when a slightly translucent hand rested on it. She blinked and looked up. It was Little Baldy. The girl gave a shy smile and said softly, “I’m counting on you.”

As her words faded, she too scattered into specks of starlight, drawn into the eye at the center of Shang Shan’s brow. That eye narrowed slightly, rolled around once, and a vortex of pale golden spiritual power swirled in its pupil.

With all her qi apertures open except for her heart, spiritual power flowed freely through her body. The exhilarating sensation of wielding this power was intoxicating. Since that was the case, it was time to fulfill her promise and get to work!

Shang Shan looked up at the ceiling of the cave. Dark red weighed down heavily overhead, but it was merely stone and clay—nothing unbreakable.

The so-called Hell didn’t exist at all. This place was probably just a hollowed-out mountain or underground space, created separately by Qi Xiaoxiao. Rather than searching for the formation leading back above, it would be easier to just smash right through!

As Qi Xiaoxiao dissipated, the clay little demons she had molded crumbled into piles of dirt. Shang Shan looked around. With nowhere to place her master, she tried to set the monster bird in her arms onto Lingdang.

Seeing this, Mu Qian Tan kicked at her hand with her claws, forcing her to let go. She twisted around, stood on the ground, and lifted her chin, gesturing for her to hurry up.

Shang Shan nodded. She pressed her hands together in front of her chest, extended them forward, then swung them to her sides. Her waist and spine let out cracking sounds, while her neck drew close to her shoulders, the skin there dazzlingly white in a flash.

She brought her hands back, interlaced her slender fingers, locked her ten fingers together, pushed forward, then swung them up over her head. She spun on tiptoe, the faint clicking of bones grinding at her joints ringing continuously.

Mu Qian Tan had a faint impression of this little scene. It was roughly where the male protagonist saw the female protagonist relaxing and adapting to her new body after opening all her qi apertures, found her very alluring, and added a bunch of inner monologue.

Something about her slender girl exterior, jade-like fair skin, waterfall of long curly hair. He even said she was like a beautiful wild beast poised to strike, brimming with energy, who would glare with a pair of innocent, clear large eyes as she tore enemies apart and devoured them—a sense of naive cruelty.

Recalling the original novel’s wording still felt indescribably weird. As the only person in the book who was truly eaten, Mu Qian Tan had watched the whole thing from the sidelines. She slanted her eyes, hugged her wings, and no matter what, couldn’t appreciate it. A sour bubble rose in her heart at the words “given for free.”

After stretching every muscle and bone, Shang Shan adapted to this state. She drew a deep breath and held it in her chest, gathering spiritual power in her palms and at her toes.

She crouched down, then shot her head up fiercely. She smashed upward from the ground. In a short burst, the curtain of spiritual power and her powerful body slammed into the cave ceiling together. A boom rang out. Dirt chunks flew. The ground quaked, and dust spread everywhere.

It had been midnight when they entered the formation, but now the sky had brightened. A beam of morning light pierced through the dust and leaked down, followed by a second, a third—more and more, gradually illuminating the cave.

Once connected to the outside, a fresh airflow slid into the cave, hitting them with invigorating clarity. Shang Shan jumped down, carrying the heat overflowing from her spiritual power. She patted the gravel off her body, then carefully hoisted Tan Que onto her back and scooped up the stiff Qiu Ling horizontally. Something poked her from her sleeve. She pulled it out—it was the emerald green jade pendant she had just stored away.

Remembering there would be a fight soon and afraid of losing this little thing, Shang Shan handed it to the monster bird. “Master, could you hold this for me first?”

Mu Qian Tan stared at her fixedly. The tips of her two wings hooked slightly, as if to say: Do I look like I have hands?

Shang Shan tore a strip from her sleeve, threaded the jade pendant through it, and hung it around the monster bird’s neck. She picked up Qiu Ling again. Once Lingdang and the monster bird had climbed on too, she slowly stood and leaped out of the cave. She landed on a high spot on the mountain with a good view and set them down.

“Wait here while I go subdue Xiao Xian.” Leaving those words, Shang Shan dashed toward the heights and soon vanished from sight.

With her master in this state, going back to the city would be bad if she ran into someone with ill intentions. Better to hide first. Once Shang Shan dealt with the most dangerous one in the sky, she could bring them back.

Mu Qian Tan watched her leave, then turned to gaze at the lush green forest.

After spending so long in that dark red world, returning to this bright, fresh place felt like escaping Hell and returning to the human realm.

In the distance, tree trunks layered thickly. Through the gaps, Pot City blurred into a crayon painting. From this angle, she could see a section of the city’s main road, badly damaged by the black dog—like it had been clawed from top to bottom. Who knew how many casualties there were.

But judging from the disaster she had witnessed with her own eyes last night, that number was probably quite tragic.

Mu Qian Tan withdrew her gaze and rubbed her belly. She was still hungry. Since she had nothing to do now, should she catch a fish to eat?

On second thought, no. Running into a predator higher up the food chain would be trouble. Penguin Tan dismissed the idea and wanted to sit and rest, but the ground was cold and dirty. After a moment’s thought, she waddled onto the still-unconscious Tan Que and sat on her chest.

She was just pondering how to change back when her peripheral vision caught a meteor-like black shadow streaking by—before she could react.

A deafening crash of the mountain collapsing rang out. She whipped her head toward the sound. The thing that had smashed down had such immense impact that it nearly collapsed half the mountainside. The thunderous roar probably echoed through all of Pot City.

The sound wave kicked up countless falling leaves that pelted her face. Penguin Tan was forced to close her eyes. It took a while before she opened them again, her face showing rare blankness.

Was that thing just flung down the female protagonist?

Another woman plummeted from the sky—Xiao Xian. Her long hair floated entirely upward like swaying waterweed. Even from afar, the three eerie eyes on her face were visible. Clearly, she came with ill intent.

Smoke billowed from the impact site on the mountain. Xiao Xian crashed into the dust, grabbed Shang Shan by the collar, and hurled her flying. The girl smashed through a large swath of forest and bushes with crackling sounds before finally coming to a stop.

Mu Qian Tan witnessed the scene and immediately recalled the original novel. It was supposed to be the male and female protagonists ascending together to fight as a team, but the original barely mentioned the male protagonist acting, so the female protagonist going up alone shouldn’t have mattered much. Who knew this stupid dragon would get thrown down like that?

Was the female protagonist going to die here? Li Biyuan was terrified too and yelled hoarsely for Sister Tan. Penguin Tan told her to shut up, jumped off Tan Que, and waddled as fast as she could toward where Shang Shan had been tossed.

Even at top speed, she was just a gray fluffball now—too slow. Before she could get close or act, Shang Shan had already climbed up over there, and the two were fighting again.

No one held the upper hand now. They fought in a wild, street-brawl style with no regard for technique—you a punch, me a palm. They traded blows inseparably. Spiritual light exploded everywhere. Trees toppled in swaths. Wood chips whirled up in the wind like scattered snowflakes.

Any closer, and she’d get caught in the crossfire.

Mu Qian Tan stopped in time. After observing for a bit and confirming Shang Shan had found her rhythm and wasn’t at a disadvantage, she stopped heading that way. Instead, she turned toward Pot City.

At that moment, Lingdang suddenly cut her off mid-path, jumping in front of her. Her cheeks flushed bright red. She patted her chest with her front paws and turned to show her back—probably seeing Mu Qian Tan’s inconvenience and offering to carry her.

“….”

Mu Qian Tan faced a dilemma.

Compared to the psychological aversion to intimate frog contact and the exhaustion of running into the city on her tiny paws, she ultimately chose the mentally harder option.

Gritting her teeth against the disgust, she climbed onto Lingdang’s back. Up close and unexpectedly, the pink on this frog’s back wasn’t that cheap, nauseating pink but a faint, moist sakura shade. The texture was smooth and cool, not sticky—like a summer bamboo mat, with a faint floral petal scent. Utterly comfortable overall.

Lingdang opened her mouth and croaked. She rubbed her front paws on the ground and jumped three feet high. Mu Qian Tan steadied herself. Her view bobbed up and down, covering a dozen of her own steps in one leap. Way faster than walking herself. Talent gap, huh…

Once past the mental hurdle, she quickly adapted to the rhythm. She grabbed the red satin to use as a seatbelt, tying herself and the frog together to avoid falling. Only then did she have time to look back at the battle.

Two speedy light shadows tangled fiercely, fighting with earth-shattering intensity, locked in deadlock.

Shorter time than expected, and they were back in the city. Mu Qian Tan patted Lingdang’s head, signaling her to slow down to avoid drawing attention.

Amid the ruins, many people bustled to rescue others. Some performed shows, some stood still in clusters, watching the fight on the mountain and whispering. “Who are they?” they wondered aloud.

One penguin and one frog slipped quietly through the crowd, drawing no blocks or curious stares.

On any normal day, this magical pairing of a pink big green frog and a monster bird would cause panic. But after the black dog’s town-destroying rampage, and with two unidentified figures battling on the mountain, no one had attention for this minor oddity.

Realizing this, Mu Qian Tan patted her head again. Lingdang resumed full speed, crossing half the street back to Playdream Pavilion. Since the black dog had targeted them, the street damage ended there—beyond was untouched.

At the door, the old man at the counter leaned against the doorframe, one foot over the threshold. His robes were covered in dust, his face bloodied, but he was spirited. One hand pressed his forehead wound, the other directed people inside to move things. The ground outside had been cleared, with several injured lying there—not seriously, still moaning in pain while clutching wounds. A woman in yellow clothes moved among them, handing out water and medicine.

She was the one Mu Qian Tan had come back for—Qiu Shui.

Shang Shan getting grabbed and tossed around earlier had given Mu Qian Tan a sense of crisis, a chance the mission could fail. Though she’d caught up after, it still didn’t feel secure. She didn’t want to just wait for potential doom.

With her current penguin body, who knew if she’d be hitting or getting hit? Joining the duel with Xiao Xian would just mean getting toyed with. So she shifted strategy. Besides fighting, she had other things to do.

Namely, undermine faith in the Pot God from the grassroots, leaving that guy no retreat!

Penguin Tan jumped off Lingdang, padded over to Qiu Shui on her claws, puffed out her chest, and displayed the jade pendant hanging around her neck.

Qiu Shui had been feeding water to the wounded. Penguin Tan’s sudden appearance startled her—the water pot nearly fell but she caught it. She stood, looking down. Even as a never-before-seen creature, its cute appearance sparked no fear. She was about to ask what was wrong when she spotted the faintly gleaming jade pendant amid the gray fluff.

Qiu Shui’s eyes widened in shock. Her hands trembled as she snatched it. The string snapped, and the jade pendant fell into her palm. The water pot still dropped and shattered with a crack. She flipped the jade pendant over and over, pulled out her own, compared them simply, and fit them together—perfect match.

This was her sister Qiu Ling’s. There wouldn’t be a second one in the world!

“You…” Tears instantly welled in Qiu Shui’s eyes and spilled down. “Are you Xiao Ling?”

Even if it was a million-to-one impossibility, she still asked. Without hesitation, Mu Qian Tan shook her head cruelly and gestured for her to follow. She jumped back onto Lingdang and headed back the way they came.

Qiu Shui wiped her tears with the back of her hand, sobbing as she clutched the jade pendant. Without a word to the old man at the door, she chased after them.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Shang Shan landed a punch on Xiao Xian’s right cheek. After the meat-and-bone collision, the woman whipped her head aside. Her long hair floated upward like seaweed, blood spilling from her lips—but it was indistinguishable in a blink, as her lower face was entirely smeared with blood.

Shang Shan wasn’t much better. Her face was black-and-blue, her lower lip split in five or six places, yet she grinned fiercely. Her bloodstained eyes burned abnormally bright with scorching excitement, as if her blood boiled in the violent, flesh-smashing punches.

Xiao Xian spat out half a broken tooth and laughed. “Crazy bitch.”

A crazy bitch with freakish physical strength. She took hit after hit and climbed back up like nothing happened, ready to fight more. The harder she was hit, the more excited she got. The sound of cracking bones was like an aphrodisiac to her. Her skin was scalding red. Truly an incomprehensible freak.

Xiao Xian shook her right hand slightly, drawing a weapon from her sleeve that resembled both a knife and a sword. It was the very one she had personally sharpened years ago before charging toward the Heavenly Palace. With a flash of silver light, the tip thrust toward the girl’s abdomen as she said, “Going berserk on someone else’s turf isn’t quite appropriate, is it?”

Shang Shan didn’t have a handy weapon in hand, but she wasn’t anxious. She clapped her hands and swiftly drew back, condensing an iron staff with the Palm-held Weapon technique to block the woman’s attack. “I promised someone I would kill… defeat you.”

“You don’t even know my strength, yet you dare challenge me? Aren’t you afraid of dying here?” She reversed her grip on the blade and twisted it to stab from below as Xiao Xian said, “How about I give you a chance to escape? Leave Pot City, and I’ll let bygones be bygones.”

Shang Shan slid backward, twisting her waist to swing the staff sideways. “You’re no match for us. Besides, when I promise someone something, I have to see it through!”

Xiao Xian raised her blade to block, spiritual power clashing against the edge and exploding into a shower of sparks. She glanced at the third eye on Shang Shan’s forehead and sneered, “What’s that supposed to be? Just a promise. It doesn’t matter.”

Back in the day, she had sworn to protect Pot City, but now those words were long forgotten, tossed aside without a second thought. The righteous fervor she felt when making the vow was as light and fleeting as the casual numbness when tearing it apart. Being bound by such insubstantial things was the height of stupidity.

“It’s very important. After all…” Blood surged through her veins, her heart pounding. Shang Shan leaped forward with a swing of her staff and shouted, “A promise is worth a thousand gold!”

It was because of a single small promise that she had come to Pot City. She didn’t want to feel that mix of eager joy turning to heartbreaking disappointment again—and she didn’t want anyone else to feel it either. So she had to see it through!

This strike carried wind and rain, the staff’s shadow sharp as a blade, slashing straight at her face. Xiao Xian raised her blade to block, but it was too late. The spiritual power protective formation she had just conjured shattered under the blow. The staff seemed poised to smash down. She braced to take the hit head-on, but suddenly her body tilted as someone shoved her aside. A muffled grunt reached her ears.

She strained to look—it was Dingxiang who had blocked the strike for her!

The staff struck her shoulder, instantly shattering her collarbone and right shoulder blade. Chunks of fabric tore away. Dingxiang spat out a mouthful of blood and dropped to her knees with a thud, her knees smashing two deep pits into the dirt. Shang Shan raised her hand and withdrew the long staff. Her eyes, flushed red from the scorching Blood Frenzy, dimmed slightly as she recognized who it was.

Dingxiang lost her balance and pitched forward, propping herself up with both hands as strings of blood dripped from her mouth. Her right shoulder bloomed into a patch of vivid red. Xiao Xian’s three eyes shifted slightly, glancing into the distance. Several Little Immortals who had been about to rush in to help turned tail and fled the moment they sensed she might be at a disadvantage.

Xiao Xian curled her lip, a baleful aura filling her eyes. Only those with true loyalty should have the right to serve at her side, but these fools who usually threw their weight around using her name scattered without a second thought at the first sign of danger?

These beasts…

She suddenly threw her head back and laughed, her laughter piercing through the treetops. The fleeing Little Immortals halted abruptly one after another, exploding into clouds of blood mist that flew back to Xiao Xian’s palm and were absorbed by her. Her laughter ceased as she said in a sinister tone, “If you don’t know how to use the power I gave you, then give it all back to me!”

Dingxiang clutched her chest in extreme discomfort, letting out a pained grunt as if she too might burst apart. Shang Shan rushed forward in a few steps and supported her uninjured shoulder, steadying the restless spiritual power within her that belonged to Xiao Xian. She said in a low voice, “You can’t die. I have questions for you.”

Dingxiang struggled to lift her head, her face covered in cold sweat, her voice soft yet firm. “I have nothing to say to you.”

Shang Shan said sharply, “You do! About the truth of Yao’e Immortal burning down Infant Spirit Manor—what exactly is it?”