Chapter 37

Chapter 37: An Inexplicable Disaster

Li Yan Er nodded. “That Old Teacher is an expert. He has no reason to lie to you. If he said it, it must be true.”

Gu Shi Yi threw back her head and laughed. “This is great! If I can eat anything, doesn’t that mean all the world’s delicacies can march straight into my belly?”

Li Yan Er laughed with her. “I don’t know about all the world’s delicacies, but I do know you can drink the water of the Five-Colored River.”

“Hey! That’s right!” Gu Shi Yi’s eyes lit up. The Five-Colored River was extremely yin underground water. Other people couldn’t drink it, but she could. That was wonderful—at least if the boat ever capsized and she fell in, she wouldn’t die of thirst or poison.

The two of them were giddy with joy. Li Yan Er’s mind immediately ran off the rails.

“If you can eat anything… can you eat poop?”

“Pfft!”

Gu Shi Yi sprayed a mouthful of spit, then jabbed a finger at Li Yan Er like she’d been personally betrayed.

“Li Yan Er! Li Yan Er… you truly have the most poisonous heart! I’ve loved you with all my sincerity, and you— you actually want me to eat poop!”

She clutched her chest and collapsed onto the bed, wailing like a tragic heroine on stage.

“You heartless woman! You… you… you… you’re so cruel!”

Her acting was flawless. Li Yan Er didn’t quite catch the rhythm and muttered, “I was just joking. And… I ate poop too, didn’t I? You fed it to me. You ate it too. We both ate it.”

True besties shared hardship—poop included?

They burst into laughter inside the cabin.

Outside, Granny Gu knocked on the door.

“Shi Yi? Are you back?”

Gu Shi Yi instantly shut her mouth and rolled off the bed. As she went to open the door, she glanced back and saw a small black shadow dart away and vanish near the head of the bed.

The moment Granny Gu stepped inside, she demanded, “Shi Yi, what was all that yelling in here?”

Gu Shi Yi giggled and smoothly changed the subject. “Auntie, were you looking for me?”

“Sixth Master said we set sail the day after tomorrow,” Granny Gu replied. “Everyone needs to be back on the boat. I was worrying about where to find you, and then you returned. What have you been doing outside these past few days?”

“I’ve never been here before,” Gu Shi Yi said with a bright grin. “I just wandered around and took a look.”

Granny Gu didn’t press. She only nodded. “Then don’t go out tomorrow. We’re about to set sail, so don’t run around.”

“Okay!”

Gu Shi Yi nodded obediently.

The next day she stayed on the boat. On the third day, they left and set off toward Chen Prefecture.

After that, the closer they got, the quieter Gu Shi Yi became. She joked less and stared into space more. Li Yan Er knew she was nervous about going home and had no good way to comfort her, so she simply stayed beside her, silent company.

“Yan Er,” Gu Shi Yi whispered, sitting by the small window, watching the scenery slide by along the riverbanks. As they neared Chen Prefecture, roads appeared along the shore. Travelers walked the paths. Villages and fields rose in the distance.

“Do you think… they still remember me?”

Li Yan Er didn’t answer. She knew Shi Yi was asking, but not truly asking.

Gu Shi Yi murmured again, softer, almost to herself. “After all these years… does my father still remember he has a daughter like me? Did my mother ever come back to look for me?”

She wanted the answer—and she was terrified of it.

She’d left home at five. Her birth father had always hated his ex-wife, and he’d never had a kind expression for the daughter that ex-wife bore him. Maybe her leaving had been a relief.

Maybe her birth father had forgotten her long ago.

And her birth mother… she’d run off with a man and stayed away for all these years. Was she doing well? How did that man treat her? Did she ever regret it? Did she ever think about her daughter?

Those tangled feelings—fear, longing, resentment, hope—only Gu Shi Yi knew how they twisted together.

Li Yan Er sat on the windowsill. Seeing her best sister’s reddened eyes, she sighed inwardly.

Shi Yi was like this. She laughed and acted like nothing mattered, but she was the most loyal, soft-hearted person in the world. If she went back and found her parents had truly forgotten her, she’d pretend she didn’t care… and cry herself to pieces inside.

Li Yan Er climbed down, walked over, and nudged Gu Shi Yi’s hand with her shoulder.

“Shi Yi,” she said quietly, “we’re good sisters. Sisters for life. Always.”

No matter how they treat you, I won’t change.

Gu Shi Yi nodded. She shook her head once, and the tears that had slipped out by accident flew away with the motion. Then she put on her usual grin.

“Good sisters are for life, sure… but I still want to find a big strong man to warm my bed!”

“Pah!” Li Yan Er spat at her in disgust. “Woman! Can you have any shame at all?”

After half a day of sailing, the boat finally stopped at a large dock. They would spend the night there, then switch the next day to a regular river boat within Chen Prefecture. From here, they would be leaving the Five-Colored River and entering normal waterways.

And from this dock, Blue Moon City wasn’t far.

Blue Moon City was the capital of the Western Ochre Kingdom in Chen Prefecture. The Gu family lived in a small town near Blue Moon Lake outside Blue Moon City, so Gu Shi Yi would remain with the escort team all the way to the destination.

They’d caught some fish along the way, but it was never enough to feed everyone. Most of the time they’d eaten dry rations. And when they’d stopped for ten days in that mining city, everything had been scarce and expensive—even a few leaves of greens cost a fortune. Escort guards traveled to earn silver to feed their families, so no one dared spend too much.

Now they’d reached Four-Horse City in Chen Prefecture, finally back in a bustling place where everything was available. The moment the boat docked, everyone started calling out, eager to get off and eat something good.

Gu Shi Yi was, of course, among them. She had an arm slung around Liu Two and the others, ready to disembark, when Granny Gu chased after her. Behind Granny Gu was an attendant from Sixth Master’s side.

“Shi Yi,” Granny Gu called, “Sixth Master wants you.”

“Sixth Master?” The moment everyone heard it, they froze. Gu Shi Yi turned around, startled, and pointed at her own nose. “Me?”

The attendant nodded. “Sixth Master has something to discuss with Miss Gu.”

Gu Shi Yi glanced at Liu Two and the others, helpless. She was still eating their food and riding their boat. She couldn’t exactly ignore a summons from the man paying the bills. She could only nod apologetically.

“Then… I’ll go see Sixth Master first and come find you afterward.”

Liu Two and the others nodded.

“Come find us later, Shi Yi,” Liu Two said. “We’ll be at the biggest Carefree Tower in this city. Just ask around after you leave the docks.”

“Got it!”

Gu Shi Yi flashed them a reassuring gesture, watched them leave, then followed the attendant up to the third deck.

Sixth Master Huang Liu was sipping tea in the river breeze. A small table sat before him, white steam curling lazily from the pot. He sat to the side—companion seat, almost deferential—because the seat of honor belonged to a burly, stone-faced middle-aged man.

Gu Shi Yi’s heart jumped.

That build… he looked like the man who’d struck and wounded fish-kui beast that night.

A cultivator.

Gu Shi Yi wiped the grin off her face at once and saluted. “Sixth Master.”

Huang Liu nodded, then smiled and introduced the man. “This is Mister Shang.”

Gu Shi Yi saluted again. “Greetings, Mister Shang.”

Mister Shang only nodded once, expression unchanged. He gave her a single glance—and Gu Shi Yi felt as though she’d been stripped inside and out. Cold unease crawled up her spine. Still, she kept her head lowered and her hands still, not letting anything show.

She asked carefully, “May I ask why Sixth Master summoned me?”

“It isn’t me,” Huang Liu said. “Mister Shang has something… to instruct you in.”

Huang Liu looked toward Mister Shang.

Mister Shang’s voice was flat and cold. “Since Huang Liu has made introductions, please let us speak alone.”

His tone was blunt to the point of rudeness, but Huang Liu didn’t show the slightest irritation. He simply nodded and stood.

“In that case, I’ll go down first.”

As he passed Gu Shi Yi, he flicked her a warning look—be careful—then led the others away. Their footsteps faded down the stairs until the third deck held only Gu Shi Yi and Mister Shang, the tea steam curling between them like a thin veil.

Gu Shi Yi’s back chilled in waves. A bad feeling rose in her throat. She forced herself to clasp her hands.

“May I ask what Mister Shang wants to instruct me in?”

Mister Shang didn’t answer. He only lifted his head and looked at her.

It wasn’t the gaze of someone looking at a person. It was the gaze of someone looking at a small insect—curious, faintly amused, and entirely willing to crush it whenever the mood struck.

Gu Shi Yi’s skin prickled.

She didn’t know what rank of cultivator Mister Shang was, but for a tiny mortal like her, it didn’t matter. Any rank was the rank that could kill her.

The Old Teacher from the Exotic Beast Pavilion had also been a cultivator, but his presence was restrained, almost invisible. Mister Shang was the opposite. Just sitting there, he felt like a wall that had appeared out of nowhere.

And that wall began to move.

It pressed closer, inch by inch, until Gu Shi Yi’s breathing tightened. Her chest rose and fell faster and faster, but the air she could draw in seemed to shrink. She felt like a fish dragged from water, slowly suffocating on dry land.

Gu Shi Yi bit her lower lip hard enough to taste iron and refused to step back. She lowered her head. Sweat beaded on her brow.

Mister Shang gave a cold little laugh.

“Hmph.”

The pressure surged.

Gu Shi Yi felt the wall turn into a mountain, immense and merciless, pressing down from above. Her vision wavered.

I can’t breathe.

Her whole body trembled. A sense of helpless doom swallowed her.

Normally, with her slick, streetwise temperament, she would’ve dropped to her knees and begged before the other side said a word. But today, for some reason, her knees simply wouldn’t bend. She shook like a lone leaf in a storm.

Mister Shang looked surprised. “Eh? You’ve got a stiff backbone.”

He was about to increase the pressure again when a soft voice drifted to his ear, gentle but firm.

“Shang San, don’t make trouble. We don’t have much time.”

At those words, the spiritual pressure vanished.

Gu Shi Yi’s body went light all at once—then her legs gave out anyway, and she dropped to her knees.

Mister Shang didn’t even look at her. “You come from a daoist sect?”

Gu Shi Yi nodded quickly. “My master comes from the Mystic Profundity Sect…”

Mister Shang clearly hadn’t heard of it, and didn’t care.

“Since you come from a daoist sect and you carry a yin soul,” he said, “you must know some ghost-controlling art.”

Gu Shi Yi kept her voice careful. “In front of a sir, how would I dare claim I know it? I only understand a little on the surface.”

Mister Shang seemed satisfied with her tact. He nodded once.

“Good. I have a task for you. If you do it well, you’ll be rewarded.”

Gu Shi Yi cursed inside.

So now you’re going to order me around after nearly crushing me to death just for fun?

Out loud, she forced a strained smile. “Please give your instructions, sir.”

She didn’t have the right to refuse anyway.

“Come closer,” Mister Shang said.

Gu Shi Yi stood. She hesitated, but still stepped forward until she was right in front of him.

Mister Shang turned his palm upward. A jade box appeared in his hand as if it had always been there. Gu Shi Yi didn’t gape—she’d seen cultivators’ tricks before—but the box was plastered with talismans, three layers deep.

Her stomach tightened.

“Sir… this is…?”

“You don’t need to ask what it is,” Mister Shang said. “Just remember this: take it to Blue Moon City, intact. Once you reach Blue Moon City and hand it to the person I designate, you’ll receive a heavy reward.”

Gu Shi Yi had roamed the martial world long enough to recognize a disaster when it put on a polite face.

You can cut down fish-kui beast with a single strike, yet you’re making me deliver something? What is this—did you offend someone even worse, and now you want a mortal to carry the burden?

One misstep and she’d be turned to ash with a flick of a finger.

Her heart was cursing nonstop, but her mouth still had to work.

“May I ask who this humble one should deliver it to, sir?”

“In Blue Moon City there is a hidden market,” Mister Shang said. “Only cultivators can enter. I chose you because you know some daoist arts. Compared to those useless fools, you can at least sense a bit of the world’s spiritual qi…”

He lifted a hand. Gu Shi Yi’s body instantly stiffened. Her arm rose like a puppet’s, forced forward.

Mister Shang used one finger to write a single character on the center of her left palm: “enter.”

“When you reach that place,” he said, “look at the character in your palm. If it shines with spiritual light, you’re there. Press your palm to the wall and you can enter the market. Once inside, find a place called Hundred Herbs Pavilion…”