Chapter 103

Chapter 103: Spending the Night in a Broken Temple

Mu Ning Zhu said angrily, “Those filthy things! Are they forcing me to shave my head?”

Yun Xi touched her own hair and felt grateful. Luckily, the evil cultivators had left her mark on her boot sole instead of her hair. But she immediately suggested, “Senior Sister Mu, this isn’t the time to worry about hair.

“I remember the pill shops sell hair-growth pills. How about buying the pills and then shaving your hair? We can’t let the evil cultivators follow us. My bluffing treasure might work once, but if I use it too many times, it’ll definitely give me away.”

Yun Xi wasn’t exaggerating. Before, the formation had hidden them, so the evil cultivators hadn’t seen any “big shot,” and then the pressure had frightened them and they were killed.

But one still escaped.

If they didn’t give up and followed in secret, they’d definitely discover that Yun Xi’s group were just four small shrimp. They would never let them go then. After all, Yun Xi’s group had ruined their plans.

Mu Ning Zhu took a breath and listened to Yun Xi’s words. She stood up at once. “I’m going to the city’s pill hall right now. You don’t need to come with me.”

“Yes, Senior Sister Mu.”

Yun Xi didn’t plan to follow her anyway. Mu Ning Zhu had far more experience, and she would definitely know how to handle it.

That night, when the four gathered again, Mu Ning Zhu had tied her hair into a high ponytail. It still looked decent enough.

Yun Xi dragged Dian Dian out and took another lap around everyone. After confirming there was no more abnormal smell on any of them, they finally felt at ease.

Mu Ning Zhu didn’t dare get careless. She reminded them, “Even though we found the evil cultivators’ hidden move early, Yun Xi and I have both seen that escapee’s face.

“To be safe, we leave early tomorrow morning. We’ll speed up our return to the sect and try not to let the evil cultivators lock onto us again.”

“Yes, Senior Sister Mu!”

The three answered in unison.

These were evil cultivators who specialized in kidnapping cultivators to be furnaces. With their cultivation, they couldn’t deal with them, so of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, running was the best plan.

That night, Yun Xi spent the first half drawing talismans and the second half tempering her body. Near dawn, she slept for an hour, then she was bright-eyed and energetic as she set out again with her companions.

Thanks to Dian Dian’s sharp nose, they removed the mark the evil cultivators had left behind, which made the evil cultivators who came later to verify their identities lose their trail and helped them avoid a disaster.

Later, when Yun Xi openly returned to Kun Yu City as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, she crossed paths with that group of kidnappers again. That was a story for later.

Back to the present, the group traveled all day and finally found a broken temple to spend the night.

Looking at the temple, half collapsed, Yun Xi didn’t really want to go in. In her mind, places like this were always where accidents happened, and they usually weren’t anything good.

“Junior Sister Wei, why aren’t you coming in?” Mu Ning Zhu asked as she watched Yun Xi dragging her feet.

Yun Xi rubbed her nose and said, sounding like a jinx, “Senior Sister Mu, I feel like this broken temple is unlucky. How about we find another place?”

The other three froze.

Qin Tong Shuang pressed her lips into a smile and said, “Yun Xi, don’t be afraid. It’s just a broken temple. Although Buddhist cultivators are in decline in the Vast Cosmos Realm, it’s not like there are none, and Buddhist cultivators are usually pretty peaceful. It’s not as scary as you imagine.”

Yun Xi sighed to herself. That wasn’t what she meant, but it was obvious their resting place for the night wasn’t going to change. She could only accept her fate and walk over.

This time, she sat down cross-legged next to Zhang Yan.

Qin Tong Shuang blinked and whispered, “Yun Xi, why aren’t you sitting next to me?”

“Senior Brother Zhang has strong yang energy. It’s good for me to sit beside him,” Yun Xi said.

Her words made Mu Ning Zhu laugh and cry at the same time.

But she couldn’t scold her junior sister, who was on her first trip outside the sect. She could only explain, “The the Vast Cosmos Realm does have ghost cultivators, but as long as their techniques haven’t reached completion, they don’t dare provoke human cultivators.

“Any artifact we carry can injure their hard-earned soul bodies, so your worry is unnecessary.”

Yun Xi had actually read about ghost cultivators in the library and knew they specialized in training the soul. But knowing was one thing, and seeing it in person was another. She wasn’t a local cultivator, after all.

Still, she smiled and nodded to show she understood.

Not long after the four entered the broken temple and activated an isolation formation, heavy rain started pouring outside. A moment later, someone wearing a bamboo hat walked into the temple.

The newcomer was clearly a cultivator. He had passed through the downpour to enter, but not a single raindrop clung to his dark blue robe. He must have used a rain-avoidance technique.

After he entered, the male cultivator glanced around. He didn’t notice the formation Yun Xi’s group had set up and thought he was alone.

Still, he cautiously chose to meditate near the temple door, probably the same as them – waiting for dawn before setting off again.

Yun Xi’s group of four had no intention of leaving their formation to greet him. When traveling outside, it was better to stay cautious.

Yun Xi did glance at him a couple times. She thought he looked refined, with the feel of a scholar-cultivator. He reminded her of a bookish man in ancient times heading to the imperial exams.

Then Yun Xi touched her chin and, deep down, thought that in situations like this, a beautiful female ghost always showed up, and then there would be a romantic ghost-and-human story.

Just then, lightning split the sky. A red figure rushed into the temple through the rain.

The commotion was too loud. The male cultivator meditating with closed eyes, as well as Mu Ning Zhu’s group, all noticed.

Yun Xi looked closely and saw that the newcomer was a young girl in a red robe, soaked from head to toe.

The woman in red seemed to notice the male cultivator. Looking a bit disheveled, she cupped her hands in greeting. Then she used a Cleansing Spell on herself so she didn’t look quite so miserable.

Even though the woman in red moved fast, her soaked robe clung to her body and revealed her curves, making the male cultivator glance at her twice.

Only then did the woman in red speak. “Fellow Daoist, this little woman got separated from her companions. I want to shelter from the rain here. Sorry to disturb you.”

The male cultivator drew back his gaze. “No problem. I just arrived a bit earlier. I’m also here to avoid the rain.”

Then he went back to meditating.

The woman in red chose the other side of the doorway. She took a cushion out of her storage pouch and also began to meditate.

Yun Xi looked left and right, feeling like something was about to happen.

Qin Tong Shuang also noticed Yun Xi’s weirdness and whispered, “Yun Xi, what are you looking at? Is something wrong with those two?”

With the air of someone who had been through it, Yun Xi said, “When a man and a woman share a room, something usually happens.”

“What happens?” Qin Tong Shuang asked, eyes wide.

“I don’t know…” Yun Xi said, and before she could finish, a moan reached everyone’s ears.

“It’s here!” Yun Xi reminded them excitedly.

Including Mu Ning Zhu, all four looked at the woman in red. Her face was flushed, and a wisp of pink fog was seeping from her body.

“Hold your breath!” Mu Ning Zhu warned at once, and she activated full isolation so that the pink fog couldn’t enter the formation.

But the male cultivator was out of luck. He was close to the woman in red and had already inhaled some of the pink smoke. He snapped his eyes open, and his eyeballs were already bloodshot.