Chapter 006

Chapter 6: Only Strength, Flattened an Inn

Three months later, a girl in a plain robe mixed into the crowd and entered Anding City.

After reaching the city, she first went to an apothecary and sold part of her Mystic Spirit Grass; she used the Spirit Stones she got to buy talisman paper and kept a handful of broken Spirit Stones as travel money. Then she sat at a noodle stall, ordered a bowl of noodles, and began to eat.

The steam from the noodles warmed her face and made her feel human again. She let out a small breath and even had time to feed the river turtle she had brought with her.

This girl was no stranger: she was Ye Wan Wan, the one who had leaped into the bottom of Black Ice Cliff and been “dead” for three months.

Black Ice Cliff was a death trap, but there was still a sliver of life at the very bottom. In her last life, she had escaped from there; so this time, Ye Wan Wan gambled again. Before going to admit her mistake to Ji Chang Huai, she had packed the things in her bamboo house and all the Mystic Spirit Grass from her medicine garden into a Spatial Pouch. Then she took that leap.

She was gambling on her life. She was lucky. She caught that one sliver of life. Because she brushed past death and then lived, the moment she jumped into Black Ice Cliff, Ye Wan Wan broke through her bottleneck at the Foundation Establishment Stage and succeeded in Core Formation.

But she was different from others: she had five Golden Cores.

She had returned to having Golden Cores. Still, Ye Wan Wan was puzzled, because outside those Golden Cores floated five small streams of air. She had fallen back into the Qi Refining Stage. She was not at early Golden Core stage but had dropped back to Qi Refining. Yet when she tested it, she could still call on the power of those five Golden Cores. In other words, her strength was at Golden Core Stage, but her realm was at Qi Refining Stage.

She frowned and thought: [I don’t get it.]

If she condensed those five new streams into cores, would she have ten Golden Cores?

Ye Wan Wan thought: […] [That would be unheard of.]

A cheeky note from the author seemed to pop up: “It’s fine, there will be more later.”

She could not figure it out, so she stopped trying. After finishing the noodles, Ye Wan Wan put on a bamboo hat and left.

Anding City was still within the Supreme Sect’s territory. She could not stay long.

Not long after she left, the apothecary’s shopkeeper returned. Seeing a stack of Mystic Spirit Grass beside the counter, he asked the waiter in surprise: “Where did you get this?”

The waiter said: “A young Daoist master brought it.”

The shopkeeper asked: “Where is that person?”

The waiter said: “Gone.”

The shopkeeper rushed to the door, but Ye Wan Wan was nowhere in sight. He asked the waiter anxiously: “Why didn’t you call me?”

The waiter said: “Shopkeeper, isn’t this just ordinary Mystic Spirit Grass? You always say we can decide on this kind of thing ourselves…”

The shopkeeper snapped: “Ordinary? Have you seen ordinary Mystic Spirit Grass look this fresh right after picking? This is Supreme Grade Mystic Spirit Grass. Only a Heaven Grade Spirit Botanist can grow it. It’s priceless!”

The waiter scratched his head and said: “But… but that Daoist master seemed to be just a Qi Refining Stage junior disciple.”

The shopkeeper froze and muttered: “Qi Refining Stage?” That could not be. A Heaven Grade Spirit Botanist had to be at least Nascent Soul Stage.

After leaving the city, Ye Wan Wan headed toward Mount Cheng, putting more and more distance between herself and the Supreme Sect. Thinking about the odd change in her dantian, her energy center, she decided to find someone who could explain it.

After dying in the modern world, she had been reborn into this body. From age five, when she went up Azure Cloud Peak, Ye Wan Wan had never gone down the mountain. She did not have much worldly experience. But in her last life she had wandered everywhere and had some memory of the great mountains of the Nine Provinces. Following those memories now, she walked part of the way and flew part of the way, drawing many eyes.

People whispered as she passed: “Amazing, a Qi Refining Stage junior disciple can fly now.” Another muttered: “I thought only Foundation Establishment Stage could use a tool to fly.” A third asked: “Since when can Qi Refining do that?”

Ye Wan Wan ignored the murmurs. Reaching Mount Cheng, she entered Jinshi Town. She asked an old man: “Hello, elder, is there anyone in town named Li Wan Zhi?”

She asked seven or eight households and no one knew. She did not hurry. She had patience. In her last life, she met Li Wan Zhi a hundred years later. She had heard him say he spent a rough period at Mount Cheng before founding the Hundred Knowledge Sect, which became the most mysterious sect in the world. Hidden in the dark, they kept the secrets of all Cultivators in the Nine Provinces. Even the royal Noble Clans and the great sects could not escape their eyes. Their intelligence covered the land.

Right now, though, he should still be down on his luck.

Ye Wan Wan asked all afternoon. As night fell, she went into an inn and, after taking a seat, ordered one bowl of rice and one dish. Because she had fallen back to Qi Refining, her body now needed to eat.

Someone muttered: “It’s dark, that ghost thing will come out again.” Another shouted: “Everyone, close up!”

With a snap, just as Ye Wan Wan picked up her chopsticks, the inn and all the nearby shops shut their doors and windows. Everything went quiet.

Ye Wan Wan paused.

The shopkeeper waved a shaky hand and said: “You can eat, you can eat, it won’t affect you.”

So Ye Wan Wan ate quietly. But a harsh creaking sound made several people in the inn feel their scalps tingle.

The shopkeeper held back for a long time, then asked carefully: “Daoist master, maybe… you shouldn’t eat?”

Ye Wan Wan said calmly: “It’s not me.”

Three people turned their heads. The sound came from a different table near the windows. That table was covered with empty bowls, stacked two or three rows high. The tallest stack had more than ten bowls and blocked the girl’s face. The young man with her covered his own face, as if he did not want to be seen either.

The young man whispered: “Senior Sister, they’re looking at you.” The girl in a green robe turned her head, glanced at them, then slurped her noodles again. Her voice was pleasant and also a little provoking.

She was not the source of the creaking. Ye Wan Wan looked closer and saw the strange creak came from the next table. By the table leg, something was tied with a rope. The little creature had a human face and a sheep body and was struggling hard to get free. The green robed girl gave it a light kick and sent it back under the table.

Ye Wan Wan’s eyes focused. It was a Little Taotie, one of the four Ferocious Beasts, a descendant of the Taotie. Though its mixed blood made it weaker than a true Taotie, it was still not to be taken lightly. It loved eating Jin Yu and was fed with Jin Yu. It was very expensive. If it was not fed enough, its temper grew violent.

The young man and woman did not seem to be over twenty, yet they had caught a Little Taotie. Ye Wan Wan studied their clothes. They looked like they belonged to some sect, but she could not place it. She had never seen them. Still, people who could capture a Little Taotie at that age would never be nobodies among the great sects.

While Ye Wan Wan sized them up, Bai Jian and Fang He An were also sizing up the quiet girl. Bai Jian murmured: “She eats so little. Looks like she can’t fight.” Fang He An said: “The Mystic Spirit Grass in her sleeve seems high grade. Is she a spirit botanist?”

They traded glances and then looked away. The noise inside faded. The noise outside grew.

A bitter wind howled straight at the inn. With a bang, it smashed into the doors and windows, and into the two people in the corner. A roar shook the air: “Give me back my Jin Yu!”

As the doors and windows shattered, a white shadow rolled inside and rushed the long table. Fang He An did not hesitate to jump up and run, leaving the girl to face the enemy head on.

The shopkeeper, the waiter, and Ye Wan Wan all looked confused. Fang He An put on a knowing face and said: “This is our sect tradition.” He added with a cough: “The man hides, the woman fights.”

The two behind had already traded blows. The fight ended quickly with the white shadow losing after his sneak attack failed, because the green robed girl threw one punch and sent him flying back out.

The white shadow stood at the window, stomping and cursing: “Heavenly One Sect, I never messed with you! Why did you catch my baby!”

Ye Wan Wan paused. Heavenly One Sect? That was once one of the top three sects. They were known for only taking geniuses, and they would rather not accept anyone than accept someone average. Many sects criticized them for that. But in the last decades, their ranking in the grand competitions fell from first to third to seventh to tenth, and then out of the top twenty. Later, they could not even be found on the lists. People whispered that their line had broken. In later generations, no one heard a single thing about them.

Ye Wan Wan thought: [Did that sect just vanish?]

The young man in white could not win and kept stomping and cursing outside. Bai Jian wiped the corner of her mouth and stood. Fang He An felt a bad premonition and shouted: “Second Senior Sister! Don’t!” He added in a rush: “We can’t aff-”

Before he finished, Bai Jian slammed her palm down and smashed the long table, then charged the window. She was not tall, but when she moved, the force blew like a storm, making the whole inn shake. The entire row of windows crashed down. The young man at the window stood on the ruins, face blank, as the fist wind rushed him.

Fang He An shouted the last syllable of a word, “Rise,” and Bai Jian suddenly paused. She looked back at the flattened half of the inn and said: “I forgot.”

Ye Wan Wan had seen it clearly. She had not used spiritual energy. She had used only strength and flattened an inn.