Chapter 28: Cherished Beloved
Xie Bailu walked forward in the bright daylight. The thought of having a month to herself made her happier than a prisoner on parole.
After humming a song for a while, Xie Bailu reined in her soaring emotions and asked Xiao Xing, “Xiao Xing, what is Black Water?”
She remembered that the evil cultivator had said that the blood demon condensed core was formed by the washing of Black Water. She hadn’t had the time or the mood to ask before, but now…
She didn’t believe that Ling Song had taken the condensed core for no reason.
Last time, he had taken the water elemental essence stone, a part of the Five-Star Cauldron, which was equivalent to dismantling it. She believed that even if he was enjoying the thrill of the hunt, he wouldn’t take something that was useless to him.
Xiao Xing said, “Black Water is a place where all life is extinct. It is said to be the closest place to the end of the world.”
Xie Bailu said, “Then you don’t know what the blood demon condensed core is used for either?”
Xiao Xing said, “The evil cultivator used it as an array eye, so it can at least carry energy. I really don’t know anything else.”
Xiao Xing was an artifact spirit, but it had lived long enough to know a lot, but it was not omnipotent.
Xie Bailu had a sudden thought. “Let me ask you, is there reproductive isolation between demons and humans?”
Xiao Xing was confused. “What isolation?”
Xie Bailu said, “I mean, can demons and humans have children?”
Xiao Xing hesitated for a moment before saying uncertainly, “Probably not… I’ve never heard of it! Besides, demons eat humans like pigs. You humans wouldn’t have children with pigs, would you!”
Xie Bailu thought to herself, If they really could, there would probably be some curious people who would try.
She asked casually, “Then what about demons and humans?”
Xiao Xing said, “Even if it’s possible, it would be very difficult! Anyway, in all my time of being conscious, I’ve never seen it.”
In fact, it was also difficult for high-level cultivators to have children. They were already long-lived beings who went against the heavens. If they could have unlimited children who inherited the potential for long life, wouldn’t this world be filled with people?
These matters were not related to Xie Bailu’s current situation, so she didn’t delve into them and continued on her way.
During a break, Xie Bailu was about to take out dry rations from her storage bag when she noticed something was wrong. Upon closer inspection, her pile of spirit stones seemed to have increased by a lot, more than double.
She pondered for a moment and said, “Ling Song seems to be someone who doesn’t dine and dash, surprisingly.”
Xiao Xing was speechless. “…?” Why is she suddenly talking about Ling Song?
Xie Bailu looked at the large amount of spirit stones with affection and was no longer angry about Ling Song taking her jar of honey for free.
Meanwhile, Ling Song finished meditating and suddenly thought of the far-away Xie Bailu, wondering if she had already discovered the extra spirit stones in her storage bag.
He didn’t like to go through the storage bags of evil cultivators. They were all boring things. But this time, after cutting off the evil cultivator’s head, he suddenly remembered that Xie Bailu had mentioned she had taken the evil cultivator’s junior brother’s spirit stones, so he had casually taken only the spirit stones and later put them in her storage bag when she wasn’t paying attention.
He took out the jar of honey he had snatched from Xie Bailu, dipped his finger in it, and tasted it. It was a light, sweet taste.
Thinking of the way Xie Bailu had looked at him as if she wanted to eat him when he had taken the jar of honey, he couldn’t help but laugh. She probably wouldn’t be angry anymore after seeing the spirit stones.
It took Xie Bailu two days to reach a relatively prosperous town, which turned out to be Guangyuan City. She hesitated for a moment before entering. After entering, she went straight to an inn, happily took a hot bath, and then found a waiter, using money to pave the way for questions.
Guangyuan City was ruled by the Jing family. From the content and attitude of the waiter’s words, he didn’t have much of an opinion on the Jing family’s rule.
Compared to a major family like the Ling family, the Jing family was a very small family. The highest combat power in the family was only at the Nascent Soul realm, and they managed a town and the surrounding villages.
The various forces in the cultivation world were now stable, and no one would start a dispute between families for no reason. And the personal grievances between cultivators generally did not involve their families.
But although that was the case, there were always exceptions. For example, a genius cultivator like Teng Anlan, if anyone dared to touch her, the Teng family would come for revenge with their entire family.
And as for Ling Song, in the eyes of those who didn’t know the truth, it was because the Ling family protected him that he could be so arrogant. But Xie Bailu believed that his reputation was something he had built himself. With that kind of madness, ordinary people wouldn’t dare to provoke him.
For the next ten days, Xie Bailu stayed in the inn and didn’t go out. Every day, she had the waiter run errands for her, bringing her delicious food and fun things. The rest of the time, she was either healing the wound in her Dantian or listening to the waiter’s various gossip.
After these ten days of rest and recuperation, the wound in her Dantian finally healed. The price was that she had used up a whole bottle of low-grade spirit pills, for which she had to go to the Treasure Pavilion to replenish.
The Ling family’s Treasure Pavilion was indeed quite powerful. There was a branch here as well. And next to the Treasure Pavilion here, Xie Bailu also saw some cultivators selling things, which were naturally cheaper than what was sold in the Treasure Pavilion. However, she didn’t know how to distinguish between good and bad, and she was afraid of being targeted, so she could only grit her teeth and spend in the Treasure Pavilion.
This time, she finally had the spirit stones to buy magical treasures. She bought a few more swords and daggers as spares, and also a set of defensive magical treasures, a set of twelve indigo-blue small flags, with a fancy name, the Heaven-Shaking and Earth-Moving Black Flag Array, which cost her a total of one thousand five hundred and eighty spirit stones. It was said that it could at most block a full-power attack from a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator.
From Xie Bailu’s past experience, she felt that this level was far from enough for her. However, she was poor. A more powerful magical treasure would cost tens of thousands of spirit stones. She didn’t have the spirit stones. Counting the ones Ling Song had given her, she only had a total of three thousand spirit stones. And even if she could buy it, she couldn’t use it with her cultivation.
After buying the magical treasures, Xie Bailu hid in the inn to familiarize herself with them, but Xiao Xing became jealous.
When Xie Bailu was fiddling with the small flags, Xiao Xing said sourly, “You’re using this piece of junk instead of the Five-Star Cauldron?”
Xie Bailu skillfully comforted it. “I’m still too weak now. Every time I use the Five-Star Cauldron, I’m consuming you. How can I bear it! Don’t worry, Xiao Xing. I will work hard to improve my cultivation. When my cultivation improves, we will fight side by side again!”
Xiao Xing was coaxed and even helped Xie Bailu to study how to make the best use of the new magical treasure.
One day, Xie Bailu called the waiter again to ask for gossip, and heard him say mysteriously, “Guest, have you heard about that madman?”
Xie Bailu’s hand, which was shelling melon seeds, paused, and she looked up at him. “Who in the cultivation world hasn’t heard of him?”
The waiter said, “There’s new news now! Tsk tsk, I didn’t expect that the madman, who only ever fights with people, would also have a moment of rage for a beauty.”
Xie Bailu knew that this was most likely related to her. After all, she had started the rumor herself… She was curious about how it had spread outside.
She pretended to be surprised. “Is there such a thing? Tell me in detail.”
No matter who it was, they would be interested in such romantic matters. The waiter’s eyes lit up. “I heard that the person he’s taken a fancy to is a Foundation Establishment female rogue cultivator. Because that female cultivator said that a Nascent Soul evil cultivator was too dirty for her eyes, he killed that evil cultivator!”
Xie Bailu was speechless. “…” There was such a thing, but the cause and effect are not quite right!
The waiter continued, “And before, the demonic beast siege of White Rock City, you know about that? It’s also related to them! I heard that a demon had taken a fancy to that female cultivator and, relying on the large number of demonic beasts under his command, wanted to besiege the city and snatch her. But who is she? She’s the person on his heart’s tip. How could he allow others to covet her? He killed all the demonic beasts in one go, and also skinned and dismembered that demon, torturing him for three days and three nights before letting him die!”
The waiter’s face was full of longing. “I don’t know what that female cultivator looks like, to make him so crazy for her.”
Xie Bailu: Thank you for asking. I look just like this. And the demonic beast siege has nothing to do with me. Don’t blame me, thank you.
The waiter said with relish, “Do you know what the most doting thing he did was?”
Xie Bailu had a bad feeling. She just nodded mechanically, wanting to die a quick death.
The waiter’s spittle flew. “He wiped out a sect just to snatch the Five-Star Cauldron to please his beloved!”
Xie Bailu thought to herself, As expected.
She found that these rumors were a mix of truth and falsehood. If she wasn’t the one involved, she really wouldn’t know which were true and which were false.
The waiter also said that these things were now slowly spreading, and everyone found it very strange and really wanted to see the female cultivator who had made even Ling Song fall head over heels.
Xie Bailu rested her chin on her hand. “That Young Master Ling is probably not a superficial person. I think that female cultivator must have other outstanding qualities.”
For example, being too good at running, which was why he remembered her. Otherwise, she would have died long ago.
The waiter blinked and gave a meaningful smile. “Who’s to say!”
Xie Bailu was speechless. “…” Get the dirty thoughts out of your head!
A few days later, the gossip about her and Ling Song that the waiter mentioned became even more outrageous. It was said that she was originally the cauldron of a great expert, and Ling Song had fallen in love with her at first sight, so he had killed the great expert and snatched her, and could improve his cultivation by having sex with her every night. Otherwise, how could he have advanced to the late-stage Golden Core so quickly? It was all her credit!
Xie Bailu’s cold expression was about to break. It was so outrageous that it was outrageous. Ling Song could advance so quickly because he loved to stab himself, not because he stabbed others!… No! Her mind was also full of dirty thoughts!
In short, from these false rumors, Xie Bailu also heard some useful news.
The Min family, one of the five major families, had always been at odds with the Ling family. A few years ago, Ling Song had even killed a rather talented disciple of the Min family. Therefore, if one were to say which of the five major families wanted to get rid of Ling Song the most, it would be the Min family.
Xie Bailu decided to go to the Min family’s territory first, use the remaining half a month to find more information, and then set a big trap for Ling Song.
After recuperating in Guangyuan City for half a month, Xie Bailu seemed to have been completely refreshed and left Guangyuan City in a low-key manner.
There was a small interlude when she left. Xie Bailu met Jing Ruoyue, who had just come in from outside the city. She was stunned when she saw Xie Bailu, her steps faltering slightly, then she smiled at her, and then seemed to not recognize her as she went inside.
Xie Bailu understood that the other party didn’t want to cause her trouble. The rumors about her were now rampant. If her identity were to be exposed, she might not even be able to leave the city.
Xie Bailu had always thought she was low-key enough. Besides going to the Treasure Pavilion once, she had stayed in the inn the rest of the time. But after being stopped by three people more than twenty li outside Guangyuan City, she realized that she might have been targeted long ago.
The three people were dressed in different clothes, probably rogue cultivators. They came up and said, “Hand over the Five-Star Cauldron, and we’ll spare your life!”
Xie Bailu was speechless. “…”
She said with an innocent expression, “What are you talking about? I don’t have any Five-Star Cauldron. You must have mistaken me for someone else.”
She said this while silently performing hand seals.
But these three were the type who were ruthless and didn’t talk much. They attacked with their swords. Xie Bailu had no choice but to give up her escape plan and draw her sword to deal with them.
These ten-odd days of staying in the inn were not without gains. Her swordsmanship was much better than before, and the cultivation of these three was on par with hers. She wouldn’t be defeated in a single encounter.
But the other party had more people, and her actual combat experience was very little. It was inevitable that she would be at a disadvantage. After a while, she was injured by a few sword strikes. She took the opportunity to retreat and sacrificed her indigo-blue black flag array, which she had never used in actual combat. Twelve small flags surrounded her, blocking the sword qi, while she broke them one by one. She first targeted the one with the lowest cultivation and unleashed a flurry of sword moves, beating the other party until he was powerless to resist, and finally, after his Dantian was injured, he lost his combat ability and fell.
Xie Bailu didn’t have time to deliver the finishing blow and went on to the next one.
These three seemed to be poor ghosts like her before and didn’t have any decent magical treasures. And the magical treasures from the Treasure Pavilion were very powerful. Therefore, with Xie Bailu using the black flag array to hold them back and breaking them one by one, all three of them were disabled by her.
When the three of them saw that the situation was not good and begged for mercy, Xie Bailu did hesitate for a moment. But thinking that if she let them go, she would face an endless pursuit, she could only grit her teeth and choose to silence them.
This was the cultivation world. The weak were prey to the strong. If your strength was not enough, you shouldn’t provoke others. Otherwise, it was your own fault if you were killed in return.
Just as Xie Bailu was about to take the three’s storage bags and run, a terrifying spiritual sense locked onto her. She stood frozen, and a male cultivator appeared in front of her.
This person seemed to be a Golden Core cultivator.
Xie Bailu didn’t wait for the other party to speak and said, “Aren’t you afraid of Ling Song?”
This male cultivator’s appearance was a rare kind of ordinary. He smiled. “He’s not with you, is he?”
Xie Bailu immediately understood. The three on the ground were just a test thrown out by this Golden Core cultivator. After confirming that she was alone, he dared to show himself.
So, he was still afraid of Ling Song.
Xie Bailu knew that since this person had come for the Five-Star Cauldron, he was sure that it was on her. Then it was most likely not from the rumors that he had heard the news.
She had used the Five-Star Cauldron to get involved with Ling Song many times, but among them, the evil cultivator’s junior brother was already dead, and the Teng siblings and those few rogue cultivators knew that she and Ling Song were not in that kind of relationship. Only in White Rock City, with so many people and so much gossip, it was very easy for the news that she had the Five-Star Cauldron but had a close relationship with Ling Song to spread.
Either the Ling family was not good at managing its subordinates, or the Ling family really didn’t care much about Ling Song. Otherwise, how could such news spread, and maybe even her appearance had been spread along with it.
Xie Bailu looked unusually calm, even a little arrogant. “Your Excellency has great courage, to even dare to touch his woman. Are you so sure that he won’t hunt you to the ends of the earth?”
The Golden Core cultivator asked back, “How would he know it was me?”
Xie Bailu saw that although he had restrained her, he was just talking and not killing her. She knew that he was not without fear of Ling Song in his heart, but because he wanted to get the Five-Star Cauldron, his greed had overcome his reason.
Xie Bailu said, “If you don’t want anyone to know, don’t do it. Don’t think you can erase all traces. Besides, the Five-Star Cauldron was given to me by him personally. Whoever gets the Five-Star Cauldron next, he will kill. It’s that simple.”
Xie Bailu’s tone was calm, and the Golden Core cultivator clearly did not doubt her words. Ling Song’s previous reputation as a madman was already deeply ingrained in people’s hearts. Everyone felt that he was capable of such a thing.
After all, he had once wiped out an entire sect for the Five-Star Cauldron!
So for this Golden Core cultivator, he had to get the Five-Star Cauldron, but he was hesitating about how to deal with Ling Song’s woman.
Who didn’t know how much Ling Song cared about her? He had even given her the Five-Star Cauldron. If he killed her, that madman would probably hunt him to the ends of the earth. He was confident that he could erase all traces, but what if? If there was a “what if,” he would pay for it with his life.
Just as he was hesitating, another figure appeared, grabbed Xie Bailu’s shoulder with lightning speed, and pulled her to his side, stopping the Golden Core cultivator’s movements with a pitch-black long knife.
For a moment, Xie Bailu thought it was Ling Song, but after seeing the pitch-black knife clearly, she knew it wasn’t.
She tilted her head slightly and looked at the other person.
The newcomer was also a Golden Core male cultivator, with an extremely young and handsome appearance, and seemed a little familiar. His hand was lightly resting on her shoulder, and he tilted his head to look at her, his smile pure and innocent. “Call me ‘husband,’ and I’ll save you. How about it?”
Xie Bailu was speechless. “…?” What a handsome young man. Why does he talk so greasy?!
Xie Bailu didn’t answer immediately. She couldn’t figure out this person’s game. The next moment, the long knife in his hand was reversed and placed on her neck, the sharp blade pricking her delicate neck.
He was still smiling. “If you don’t call me, I’ll kill you immediately.”
Xie Bailu said, “Husband!”
The male cultivator smiled broadly and turned his head to the side. “Brother, look, she called me ‘husband.’ Aren’t you angry?”
Xie Bailu followed his movements and looked back. Ling Song, in red, was standing there. She didn’t know when he had arrived.
—Oh. If she were really Ling Song’s woman, this would be a real Shura field. A fight between brothers, is it!