Chapter 25 Part 2

It was nearing noon, prime time for lunch prep—the village’s liveliest hour. Chimneys puffed smoke, filling the air with rustic stew scents, rich and thick. Amid them, one aroma stood out, uniform and prominent.

Shang Shan sniffed: “Corn?”

Tan Que, dragging her along, nodded: “Yeah! That’s why we’re Corn Village. Everyone loves corn! Every meal!”

Shang Shan said: “I like it too. Corn and corn stalks are all good.”

Tan Que said: “Corn stalks feed the pigs.”

The dirt roads inside and out connected end to end through the village. Houses along them were wooden, polished to a glossy rice yellow. Handmade ornaments hung on doors and windows, each household unique, with one or two small fruit trees out front.

The man and Tan Que made a racket in their excitement, and word of immortals in the village spread like wildfire! More shocking than bandits arriving, villagers dropped their ladles and poured out, whispering—would the immortals transform?

Tan Que led the way like a cheerful little black bird, chattering nonstop until she reached a courtyard at the end of the path. The courtyard gate stood open, with a gravel path in the middle and two patches of reclaimed land on the side, planted with chives, green onions, chili peppers, and cabbage. The girl hopped over the threshold and shouted in a loud voice, “Mom! Mom!”

A broad-shouldered and thick-waisted woman with dark skin emerged from the house. A string of carpentry tools hung from her waist, her eyebrows were thick and black, and her palms were as large as fans. She smacked Tan Que on the butt. Her throat rumbled like a big drum, and her voice boomed, “Noisy, what are you making a fuss about this time?”

Shang Shan called out to the woman. The woman’s thick eyebrows softened at the sweet voice. “Oh, whose girl is this? I can’t recognize her with that mask on.”

“You definitely wouldn’t recognize her. She’s from the immortal sect!” Tan Que explained the whole story. The woman gripped Shang Shan’s arm and turned her this way and that, clicking her tongue. “From the immortal sect, but dressed like a beggar? Can’t tell at all. This…”

At that moment, a gust of wind blew in, and the doorway brightened as a woman in an ice-blue dress entered. Her black hair and skirt fluttered in the wind, her face was thin and aloof, and her figure was tall and slender. The woman’s eyes lit up. “This really is a fairy descending to earth.”

“…” Mu Qian Tan walked into the courtyard. “Are you Tan Rong?”

Tan Rong felt greatly surprised. “How do you know my name?”

Several more people emerged from the two-story building behind her and stood on the steps. They were men and women of middle age, exchanging glances and whispering, “Who is this?”

Tan Que explained again. Amid their doubtful gazes, Mu Qian Tan said, “I’ve come to help you wipe out the bandits. How much is the commission?”

She wouldn’t handle the bandit extermination herself, but she couldn’t pass up a chance to make money. It was best to settle it upfront.

Tan Rong turned and beckoned to the people behind her. One of them handed her a money pouch, which she held up to the woman. “It’s all here. We pooled it from several villages together—quite a substantial amount. As long as you can uproot that bandit nest entirely, it’s all yours.”

The group behind her consisted of the village heads from the other villages suffering under the bandit threat. One of them said, “We’ve just had one arrive and it’s not over yet, now two more come. What’s going on today?”

Shang Shan’s ears twitched. “Someone else is coming?”

Tan Rong said, “A boy. He came just before you arrived and left not long ago.”

Mu Qian Tan thought to herself: The male protagonist really arrived right on schedule.

She began recalling this part of the plot in her mind.

According to the book, with Corn Village at the center, there were about four or five villages scattered in the surrounding area. The villagers came from different places but got along harmoniously with almost no disputes under the leadership of the head village chief, Tan Rong. They cooperated closely.

The villages enjoyed beautiful scenery, with diligent villagers working the fields. There were mountains and rivers, farmland and cattle, and their days were prosperous and peaceful. But this tranquility was shattered by a band of mountain bandits.

Deep in the mountains stood a perilous cliff called Flying Dragon Cliff, where a bandit gang known as Flying Dragon Stronghold hid. Their leader was a former hunter, ruthless and merciless. He had killed his own father as a child and fled home, eventually turning to banditry. Now a nine-foot-tall giant, he wielded a massive blade that could cleave a man from head to toe, spilling guts everywhere. Thus, his nickname in the martial world was Dao Liangduan.

Dao Liangduan was brutal by nature, bloodthirsty and skilled in battle. He often led his stronghold bandits to raid villages, plundering gold, silver, and beautiful women. The local villagers suffered immensely.

In desperation, the hardest-hit villages pooled their funds to hire martial artists to train village militias, hoping to confront Flying Dragon Stronghold head-on and defend their homes. But the stronghold had hundreds of well-trained men, and the militias lacked the strength to hold them off.

With no other choice, they appealed to the authorities, which finally brought a momentary peace to the bandit stronghold today.

However, while the officers could protect the villages for a day, they were helpless against Flying Dragon Stronghold. The cliff was too steep and sheer, almost vertical, with only a narrow path hugging the mountainside. One misstep meant plummeting to your death, reduced to a pulp.

To traverse it, one had to stay alert, back pressed to the rock face, proceeding with utmost caution. At such times, a single stronghold bandit with a long blade could block the front and hold the pass indefinitely. There was no other way up.

If the bandits stayed put, even elite officers were powerless.

The villages gathered and decided to issue calls for heroes, hoping some capable martial artist would devise a plan to breach Flying Dragon Stronghold’s natural defenses.

Unexpectedly, the bandits sent men to slash blood blades across every posted call, brazenly threatening others not to interfere.

As panic spread, the male protagonist, Jiang Yuanqi, appeared.

The youth arrived in the village holding a blood-slashed call for heroes, smiling as he declared he could break through it.

The villagers saw his youth and overly refined, handsome features and worried he couldn’t succeed, wanting to politely decline. But the youth declared arrogantly that there was no need for more words—just have the martial artists and villagers prepare shoulder poles and boxes that night to carry back the stronghold’s wealth from Flying Dragon Stronghold.

Jiang Yuanqi’s method was to deliberately get captured as a hostage, enter the stronghold openly, and then dismantle it from within.

Since the male protagonist had appeared right on schedule as in the original plot, Mu Qian Tan’s plan needed to move forward.

Obtaining the male protagonist’s protagonist luck was tricky in one way: unlike the female protagonist’s growth, which had clear items laid out by the author—like demon cores or magic treasures—his was more about mental growth and climbing status through blood ties. It was vague, not something she could snatch by covering high moments, so she’d have to play it by ear.

Another point was that the male protagonist wasn’t easy to fool.

Born into a clan surrounded by daily blades and swords and curses, without a mother’s love from childhood and bound by harsh family rules that terrified others, he was fated to become a lover to Shang Shan—completely different in personality yet perfectly complementary.

Mu Qian Tan snorted softly. “Official pairing, how impressive. Everything prearranged, as if they deserve the absolute best in every way.”

Shang Shan, that dim-witted dragon, had been completely fooled by her four words of “fated encounter,” yet she didn’t know that the truly fated one was only just about to meet. Nor did she know what her mood would be once she learned everything later.

Li Biyuan said, “I’m a bit excited. Are we about to see the male protagonist? The book says he’s super handsome—two whole pages of descriptions! I’m already looking forward to it!”

Mu Qian Tan said, ” …Flower-obsessed fool.”

“Is that boy capable? If he’s taking action, do we still need to go?” Shang Shan glanced at the money pouch, figuring the man was after the reward. If they went after he’d already set off, wouldn’t that be stealing his job?

An old man from behind said, “Looking at him, I don’t think he’ll succeed. He even brought a cat—thinks he’s here to play? Probably just a pretty boy, some clan young master who doesn’t know how harsh the world is, talking big and risking his life for nothing.”

Mu Qian Tan thought: The things he’s been through at home would scare all these people to death if they knew.

Shang Shan scratched her head. “We should still go take a look. What if he runs into danger? We can save him.” She turned to the woman. “Right, Master?”

A crowd gathered outside the gate, the clanging of iron weapons on the ground audible. The nearby militia, finishing training for mealtime, returned for dinner and crowded over upon seeing strangers.

Mu Qian Tan ignored the murmurs behind her. Tan Que went inside and brought out two bowls of steaming corn soup for them. Tan Rong stepped forward seriously. “Are you truly an immortal? Do you know those bandits love beautiful women most? They won’t let any decent-looking one go, let alone someone like you…”

“Ah!” Tan Que exclaimed in surprise. “How did it freeze?”

Her cry drew everyone’s attention. The corn soup that had been piping hot moments ago was now two solid blocks of ice. Even if the bowls were turned upside down, not a drop fell.

The skeptical whispers from all around vanished in an instant.

Mu Qian Tan nodded. “Please prepare breakfast for tomorrow as well. Thank you.”

With that, ignoring the varied gazes, she turned and walked out of the courtyard. Shang Shan patted Tan Que’s shoulder and quickly followed.

Leaving the village, Mu Qian Tan headed straight to the area described in the book where bandits ambushed travelers. She found Loyalty and Righteousness Road, and not long after, she should encounter the male protagonist surrounded by bandits.

Recalling the original content, she turned to Shang Shan and removed the mask from her head.

“What’s up?” With the mask off, Shang Shan rubbed her hair.

Mu Qian Tan said, “Keep walking.”

Shang Shan said, “If you want one, I can make you one.”

Mu Qian Tan replied irrelevantly, “What do you see ahead?”

Shouts echoed from the end of the main road ahead, mixed with the dull thuds of fists striking flesh, as if a group of people were dodging and weaving.

Only when they drew closer did they see clearly: a gang of burly men wearing red headscarves embroidered with flying dragons, clad in tiger skins and wielding large blades. They surrounded a handsome youth in silver-white robes, having just beaten him down and preparing to bind him as a hostage to take back to the stronghold.

“It’s those bandits!” Shang Shan cried out. “The village chief said their leader loves beautiful girls the most. It’s over! We can’t let her be taken! She’ll suffer terribly!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she charged forward to save the person from peril.

Mu Qian Tan pulled out the mask’s ties, speechless. “Mistaking the male protagonist for a girl… really…”