Chapter 38

Chapter 38: I’m as Insignificant as an Ant

Mister Shang wrote another character on her right palm: “seal.”

“I might as well tell you,” he said flatly. “What’s inside that jade box is an extremely important medicinal herb. Its effects are too strong—strong enough to draw the greedy eyes of countless yin souls and evil spirits. If you run into something you can’t handle, show them the character on your palm…”

He paused, then seemed to think better of leaving it at that. Still not reassured, he turned his hand over and pressed three talismans into Gu Shi Yi’s palm.

“Three low-tier ghost-banishing talismans. No spiritual power needed. Just light them…”

Then he looked at Gu Shi Yi and asked, “You come from the daoist school. You know how to draw a talisman out of thin air. I don’t need to teach you, do I?”

Gu Shi Yi couldn’t move her body. She couldn’t even move her mouth. She could only blink.

The middle-aged man nodded, satisfied, and lifted the restriction on her. The moment she could move, Gu Shi Yi hurriedly retreated two steps. She stared at the jade box in her hands like it was a red-hot potato, forced out a grimace that looked more like a sob, and shoved the box into her clothes.

“Sir,” she said quickly, “this humble one will obey Sir’s orders. Even if I have to throw away my life, I’ll deliver it!”

Mister Shang gave a cold laugh. “I’ve already placed a restriction on you. Counting the days, you will definitely reach Blue Moon City in ten days. Hand it to the person I designate. He will remove the restriction for you.”

His eyes narrowed, voice turning sharp as a blade.

“If you don’t deliver it… then your little life really won’t be of any use anymore.”

Cold air shot up from Gu Shi Yi’s soles, racing up her legs and spine, meeting at her forehead like two knives. Sweat burst out instantly.

“Sir, this—”

He didn’t listen. He only flicked his sleeve.

“Go.”

Gu Shi Yi’s vision blurred. The next moment, she was standing in front of her own cabin door.

She stood there, frozen, for a long while. Only after forcing herself to steady her breathing did she reach out and push the door open.

“Shi Yi?”

Li Yan Er was by the window, watching the night outside. She turned and stared, wide-eyed. “You’re back already? Weren’t you drinking with Liu Two and the others?”

And he’d even said those places had mixed-up qi and wouldn’t let her go!

Gu Shi Yi tugged at the corner of her mouth. Her face was stiff, her smile uglier than crying. “Uh… I suddenly didn’t feel like going. So I came back.”

“Is that so?” Li Yan Er’s gaze sharpened. After all these years as sisters, how could she not see something was wrong?

Gu Shi Yi knew she couldn’t hide it. She glanced around, then shook her head at Li Yan Er, expression heavy.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

Li Yan Er took one look at her face and understood: something big had happened. She didn’t press. She only nodded. “Fine.”

Then her eyes slid down and stopped on Gu Shi Yi’s chest. Her brow knit.

“Shi Yi… what did you bring back?”

Gu Shi Yi remembered Mister Shang’s warning and hurriedly waved her off. “This… I can’t say either.”

Li Yan Er stared a long moment, as if seeing through cloth and skin to the shape pressed beneath. She pursed her lips and said nothing.

That night, the two best friends barely spoke. Gu Shi Yi couldn’t sleep; she sat on the bed and meditated. Li Yan Er kept staring at the jade box placed beside her. Several talismans were stuck to it, and the spiritual might leaking from them made her instinctively shrink back.

And yet, from within the box, there drifted a faint, strange scent—subtle, but unmistakable.

Shi Yi couldn’t smell it at all.

Li Yan Er could.

That scent hooked at her soul like a finger under the chin, stirring her until her thoughts swayed. She didn’t know what it was, but she had a gut-level certainty: whatever was inside was far better than a fish-kui beast’s belly limb. If she could eat it… she would gain enormous benefits.

But Li Yan Er also knew something else.

This box—and whatever it held—was what had thrown Shi Yi into this mess. It screamed not ordinary. It screamed not something a small-time mortal like Shi Yi could ever possess.

It had to have come from whatever happened when Shi Yi went out earlier.

Everyone knew the saying: a common man isn’t guilty, but carrying jade makes him guilty.

With Shi Yi’s temperament, she would never go looking for this kind of disaster.

Which meant only one thing.

She’d been forced.

And once she came back, she didn’t dare let even a breath leak. She kept glancing left and right, as if the walls were listening.

So the one who handed it to her… was on this boat?

This boat… the people on this boat…

The boat glided forward while the moon tilted, the moonlight slowly shifting across the deck. Li Yan Er adjusted her position until her whole body was soaked in pale light. Moon glow poured over her like cool water—comfortable, soothing—and her mind spun in circles.

It shouldn’t be people from the escort bureau, she thought. Escort bureau people are all mortal…

This escort run was expensive, spanning multiple states. Sixth Master Huang Liu and his men were mortal. The goods they carried were, at most, gold and silver, jewels, antiques, calligraphy and paintings. It wouldn’t be something that attracted yin souls like her. Otherwise… how could they have traveled this far without encountering a single ghost?

So if it wasn’t Sixth Master Huang Liu… who else was on the ship?

Li Yan Er remembered the pressure she’d felt that night. There were cultivators aboard—hiding on the third deck, never coming down. And she was a yin soul; her senses were sharper than those of ordinary mortals.

It could be the outer sect disciples from the Emerald Water Sect. But those people weren’t much better than the Dragon-Tiger Escort Bureau’s escort guards. Besides, the Emerald Water Sect had a branch hall in Four-Horse City. If they had something to pass along, why not give it to their own people? Why dump it on Shi Yi?

Li Yan Er turned it over a few more times—and suddenly, she saw the shape of the truth.

Once she understood, one thing became painfully clear: her best friend was in danger.

At a time like this, Li Yan Er did the only sensible thing. She clamped her mouth shut. She didn’t say one extra word. She only absorbed moonlight in silence and stayed beside Gu Shi Yi, waiting for Shi Yi to decide what to do.

Gu Shi Yi didn’t sleep at all.

Past midnight, Liu Two and the others stumbled back, slapped her cabin door, and shouted outside, “Shi Yi! Why didn’t you come?”

Inside, Gu Shi Yi forced her voice into a sleepy, muddled rasp. “Sixth Master treated me to drinks.”

The moment Sixth Master’s name came out, the men sobered up fast. No one dared keep making noise. They muttered a few excuses and went off to sleep like obedient children.

The next morning, the escort team moved the carts, the escort chests, and everything else onto a different boat. After sunset, Gu Shi Yi boarded the new ship with everyone and they set off again.

Only after they left Four-Horse City by ten li did Sixth Master Huang Liu invite Gu Shi Yi up to the third deck to talk. He didn’t ask her what Mister Shang had ordered—he didn’t ask a single word. He only looked a little embarrassed, a little guilty.

“I didn’t expect to drag you into this too,” he said.

Gu Shi Yi smiled bitterly. “Sixth Master, don’t say that. If it weren’t for you, I might already be buried in some wild mountain. If I’ve run into this, then… it’s just a calamity written into my life.”

Sixth Master Huang Liu sighed. “I don’t know their identities or where they come from. But the Emerald Water Sect usually acts upright. The people they deal with shouldn’t be too sinister. As long as you finish what he told you to do, he probably won’t make things hard for you.”

He said it like reassurance, but his voice carried the faint wobble of someone comforting both of them at once.

Gu Shi Yi kept the bitter smile. “Then I’ll take your good words.”

What else could she do?

This was the tragedy of a tiny mortal. In a world where the strong ate the weak, all you could do was struggle—grit your teeth and keep breathing.

After a moment, Gu Shi Yi said quietly, “Sixth Master, it isn’t only me. I’m afraid the people on this boat will get dragged in too. The next few days… won’t be peaceful.”

Sixth Master Huang Liu let out a breath that sounded like a laugh and a groan at the same time. “I had a feeling. Tell me what you need. What can I do to help?”

He didn’t wait for her to be polite. “Do you want me to send men to you?”

Gu Shi Yi thought it over and shook her head. “No. Your people are all mortal. If they’re around, they’ll only get in my way. I only ask Sixth Master to arrange a separate room for me. And please give an order: if anyone near my room hears any movement at night, they must shut their doors and not come out.”

Sixth Master Huang Liu nodded at once. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

Gu Shi Yi and Sixth Master Huang Liu didn’t know that after they left, the Emerald Water Sect’s ship continued forward. It had only traveled fifty li along the river when several streaks of escaping light caught up from behind.

Shang San stood on the deck, face dark, eyes fixed on the approaching lights. He barked at his subordinates, “Prepare for battle!”

The men immediately summoned their magic artifacts. Behind them, a slim figure appeared without a sound. Her voice was soft, almost regretful.

“Sigh… they still caught up.”

Shang San didn’t turn. “Master, they’re only a few early Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators. There’s no need for Master to act. Let us handle it.”

The slender figure gave a light laugh. “Shang San, you misjudged this time. The first three are indeed early Foundation Establishment Stage. But the one behind them… that one isn’t simple.”

Shang San’s expression tightened.

The woman continued, softness turning cold. “Sister really doesn’t care about sisters at all. It’s only a thousand-year blood-eroding herb, and she actually sent out her medicine slave.”

Shang San sneered. “Master, you’re too soft-hearted. This is a fight for the Sect Master position. You found the thousand-year blood-eroding herb before the other two misses. As long as you bring it back, the Sect Master of the Marvelous Medicine Sect will be you. For that seat, they won’t show you mercy.”

His jaw clenched. “If you had told the old Sect Master earlier about Big Miss colluding with an evil sect, we wouldn’t be in this mess today.”

“Sigh… it’s too late for that now,” the woman said.

She looked up toward the sky, voice faintly weary. “Sister’s slave-refining art really is better than mine. That medicine slave is already comparable to a late Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator. Truly rare…”

As she spoke, she lifted one pale hand. A strip of white gauze flashed with spiritual light and drifted up to meet the incoming streaks.

“You deal with the three in front,” she ordered calmly. “The one behind—the medicine slave—I’ll take it alive.”

“Yes!”

The escaping lights arrived. In an instant, spiritual radiance erupted across the deck. Blasts cracked like thunder. The fight was on.

The spell battle raged along the Five-Colored River for an entire day.

But by then, Gu Shi Yi had already taken the jade box and gone far away.

The new boat was smaller than the old one, with fewer cabins. Even so, Gu Shi Yi still ended up with a large cabin to herself on the third deck—right next to Sixth Master Huang Liu. He was worried that if trouble came at night, his subordinates would ignore orders and rush out to investigate, only to get themselves killed. So he decided to guard her personally.

His good intentions, unfortunately, were gasoline poured on gossip.

“Sixth Master’s always been romantic,” the escort guards whispered. “And he’s generous with women too. This… this looks like he’s taken a liking to Shi Yi, doesn’t it?”

“Gu Shi Yi?” someone scoffed. “Brothers! Sixth Master would have to be blind to like her!”

“And Sixth Master isn’t into men!”

“Tch.” Another man lowered his voice, cheeks reddening as he gestured awkwardly at his own chest. “Shi Yi’s rough, sure, but she’s still a woman. And… you lot… haven’t you noticed? That… that part of her is actually pretty… you know…”

The more he gestured, the redder he got. The others stared, then suddenly looked like they’d been struck by lightning.

When you put it that way… they really hadn’t paid attention before.

Nearby, Liu Two was sharpening a blade. He suddenly yelped, “Aiya!” and lifted his right thumb. Blood poured out.

Everyone burst out laughing. “Liu Two, what were you thinking about? You cut your hand!”

Liu Two’s face went red to his ears. “Stop talking nonsense! Shi Yi is one of our brothers. Sixth Master might be romantic, but he’s not the type to eat grass right beside his own nest. If you keep wagging your tongues and Sixth Master hears, you’ll suffer for it!”

The others coughed and waved their hands, embarrassed. “We’re just talking. Why are you taking it so seriously?”

And just like that, the gossip died.

Gu Shi Yi, of course, had no idea the escort guards had finally “noticed” her gender—and had even quietly added her to Sixth Master’s imaginary list of beauties.

After Gu Shi Yi moved up to the third deck, Li Yan Er didn’t dare wander around anymore. The jade box stayed on Gu Shi Yi’s person at all times. She never took it out, never let anyone see it.

On the second night after they entered the inner river, Gu Shi Yi sat meditating on the bed while Li Yan Er sat cross-legged by the window absorbing moonlight. The river was calm. Moonlight lay over the world like water—soft, pale, endless. Outside, silver glow blanketed the shore. Inside the boat, aside from an occasional whisper, there was no sound at all.

Then, without warning, Gu Shi Yi cut off her circulation and snapped her eyes open.

Li Yan Er lifted her head at the same time. “Shi Yi?”

Gu Shi Yi’s expression was grave. She nodded once. Bracing both hands on the bed, she slid down like a cat, soundless. She walked to the cabin door and pulled it open.

Whoomph—

A hard river wind slammed into the room, mixed with waves of icy yin energy. Gu Shi Yi stood at the threshold and stared toward the deck ahead.

There, in the moonlight, stood a shadow.

The moon was bright enough that every plank and rope should have been clear. And yet she couldn’t make out the figure at all. It was just a blurry mass. The only thing she could see clearly was the wide puddle of water beneath its feet.

A water wraith.

Gu Shi Yi blinked once—and the shadow was suddenly five steps away.

“Gu… Shi… Yi…” The voice drifted, far and near at the same time. “Gu… Shi… Yi…”

“Gu… Shi… Yi… come here… come here…”

A hand extended from the black mass—pale, long-nailed, shimmering with a sick blue-purple sheen.

Gu Shi Yi stared like she’d been frightened stupid. Slowly, slowly, she raised her left hand and reached toward it.

The shadow quivered with delight.

“Heh heh heh… Gu Shi Yi, come with me… come with me…”

Gu Shi Yi placed her hand into its palm.

Then, deadpan and cold as ice, she spoke one sentence, dragging each word out like a knife.

“Go… kiss… your… grandma’s… ass!”