“Ha.”
Huaxin let out an unabashed laugh.
Granny Hua saw the girl’s frustrated expression and couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t be upset. This time, we really are close. Just a few more steps and we’ll be there.”
Guan Dahai was overjoyed. “We’re really almost there? That’s wonderful!”
Gao Zhu, panting, cupped his hands to Granny Hua in thanks.
“Thank you for leading the way, Granny. We only managed to find out that Black Jiao Ridge is to the east of the Xuantian Mountain Range, but as for the exact location, we were totally clueless.”
“The Xuantian Mountain Range stretches for thousands of miles—if it weren’t for you, we’d be looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Granny Hua waved her hand. “It was nothing at all.”
Yun Miao was stunned for a moment, then looked at Guan Dahai in shock.
“Wait, from what you all are saying… you don’t actually know the way? Then why did you keep saying we’re almost there?!”
Had she been tricked by an NPC?
Guan Dahai wiped the sweat from his brow, smiling sheepishly. “Haha, I just wanted to boost everyone’s morale.”
Yun Miao narrowed her eyes and scrutinized him, making the big, dark-skinned man hug his bundle even tighter before she finally snorted and turned to ask Huaxin.
“By the way, after all this walking, you still haven’t told me where we’re going.”
As she spoke, the group just happened to emerge from the dense forest—only to find themselves at the edge of a cliff where the wind howled!
With the trees gone, their view opened up. Looking up, they saw streams of light flying across the sky, and a suspension bridge stretched from this cliff to a distant precipice.
Below, snow-white waves crashed through a mountain gorge.
In the whistling wind, Huaxin looked at Yun Miao in surprise. “You followed us all this way without knowing where we’re going?”
Yun Miao replied confidently, “Weren’t you the one dragging me along?”
Huaxin shook their interlocked hands, her tone suddenly turning sinister. “So just because I drag you along, you follow? Aren’t you afraid I’ll sell you off somewhere?”
“Not at all.”
Yun Miao grabbed Huaxin’s wrist in return, grinning. “Who’s to say who would sell whom in the end?”
After all, she was the main player in this game. If any NPC dared disobey, she’d sell them off immediately!
But Huaxin misunderstood Yun Miao’s meaning. She knew she wasn’t a match for Yun Miao right now, but her pride wouldn’t let her back down.
She raised her hand and pointed at a streak of light flashing past overhead.
“Right now, the Xuantian Sect is opening its doors wide to hold the Disciple Recruitment Grand Ceremony. Once we cross this suspension bridge, we’ll reach Black Jiao Ridge.”
“It’s currently the hour of the dragon; by the hour of the snake, the Xuantian Sect will send people to Black Jiao Ridge to pick up all those who come to Knock on the Immortal Gate.”
“It’s said that as long as you ascend Dengtianti and pass through the Wenxin Formation, you can enter the Xuantian Sect and learn supreme techniques.”
“See those streaks of light above? Those are Cultivators flying with Jianyu Feixing—true practitioners who can harness the power of heaven and earth.”
The black-clad girl gazed at the streaks of light ahead, and was the first to step onto the wind-buffeted, creaking suspension bridge.
In her eyes burned a vibrant fire—there was hatred, pain, and an ambition that would never be extinguished.
“Knock, and the Immortal Gate opens; enter, and join the Xuantian Realm. The immortals brush my brow and grant me longevity”
” But I don’t seek immortality. All I want is for my blade to one day cut through all injustice and slay all who deserve it!”
“Yun Miao, you’re strong, but I may not always be weaker than you in the future.”
Granny Hua let out another silent sigh. Lately, it seemed she was sighing all the time.
Guan Dahai and Gao Zhu exchanged complicated glances. The words were too filled with killing intent, too full of hatred—words that shouldn’t come from someone barely in their teens.
But the world was never short of such people. Even they themselves had once been the same. In this harsh world, children as lively and innocent as Yun Miao were the rare ones.
With that thought, their gazes fell on Yun Miao. She was being led across the bridge by Huaxin, staring dazedly at the black-clad girl walking ahead on the left, not saying a word for a long time.
Yet just as everyone—including Huaxin—thought Yun Miao had been frightened by those words, they suddenly heard her exclaim, “Wow, Huaxin, you looked so cool saying that!”
Huaxin stumbled, the hint of disappointment in her heart vanishing in an instant. Her ears turned a little red as she coughed awkwardly, just about to say something when Yun Miao shouted,
“Can we go back to the start of the bridge and do it again? I didn’t see enough!”
“Do it again! Do it again! I want to remember this moment forever with my own eyes!”
She wanted to take a screenshot for her computer wallpaper!
Huaxin quickly shut her mouth, pretending not to hear, and walked even faster.
But Yun Miao wouldn’t let her off, chasing after her with a spring in her step. “Oh right, when we get back to the bridgehead, make sure to say those lines again! Especially that part…”
She pinched her throat, imitating a deep voice. “I don’t seek immortality, all I want is for my blade to… Yun Miao, you’re strong, but I may not always…”
“Ahhhh, shut up!”
Huaxin was so embarrassed and angry she wanted to die.
Gone was all her cool, mature composure—she dashed back to Yun Miao’s side near the end of the bridge and clamped a hand over her mouth, terrified she would blurt out something even more mortifying.
She didn’t dare look at Granny Hua or the other two, only glared at Yun Miao with burning ears.
“You are not allowed to say another word, or I’ll throw you off this bridge!”
Yun Miao blinked: “Mmmph! Not afraid! Go ahead!”
Huaxin:
She heard the snickers not far away, gritted her teeth, and forced herself to keep a straight face. “I’m begging you, please stop. If you keep going, I might just jump off myself!”
Yun Miao thought for a second, then patted Huaxin’s hand.
Huaxin cautiously let go, and heard Yun Miao ask curiously, “If I behave, will you be happy?”
Huaxin forced a fake smile. “If you behave, of course I’ll be happy.”
Yun Miao agreed readily. “Alright, then I won’t say anything more.”
Huaxin immediately felt relieved. To care so much about whether others are happy… she really was just a child.
But she had no idea that her idea of happiness and Yun Miao’s idea of happiness were not the same at all.
Earlier, Yun Miao had read newbie guides on the Wen Dao Three Thousand game forum.
Although different character attributes meant players’ starting locations and content varied greatly, some settings were universal—like the hidden favorability system for NPCs.
It was said that when an NPC’s hidden favorability reached a certain level, they’d take the initiative to suggest sworn siblinghood, becoming a couple, or even, “If you do not abandon me, I wish to call you father.”
After that, players could trigger all sorts of fun events: cohabiting with NPCs, receiving gifts from them, fighting alongside them, and more.
Yun Miao was very interested in this hidden favorability system. So this morning, she’d picked several wildflowers along the road to give to Granny Hua and the others.
But her favorite, the one she was most interested in, was Huaxin.
Actually, she had wanted to ask… if she behaved, would Huaxin be willing to call her her godmother?
But she thought if she said it out loud, Huaxin might really kick her off the bridge, or even jump off herself in anger. So she chose a more roundabout approach.
No matter. Once her favorability was high enough, Huaxin would surely be willing to embrace her with a mother’s warmth.
***
Just as Huaxin said, once they crossed the suspension bridge, they reached Black Jiao Ridge.
At the highest point of the ridge was a wide, flat plateau, as if it had been sliced smooth by some giant blade in an instant.
On the east and south sides of the plateau, tents stood everywhere; in quieter spots, a few new bamboo huts had been built.
To the west, all kinds of robust birds and beasts were tethered, some clearly not ordinary animals.
But judging by their saddles and the carts they pulled, no matter how majestic, they were merely mounts raised by noble families.
The north side was lined with makeshift stalls, where hawkers shouted their wares from time to time.
“Hot, steaming, fragrant flatbread for sale!”
“The latest Knocking on the Immortal Gate secret manual—teaching you how to go from beginner to buried!”
“For sale, for sale! If you want to join Xuantian Sect, you can’t go without miracle pills! Dali Wan, Shenxing Dan, Qingti Dan, Kidney-Tonic Pills, Jinqiang Budao Wan… cough, sorry, picked up the wrong one, anyway, supplies are limited, buy while you can!”
If you hadn’t seen it with your own eyes, it would be hard to imagine such a remote mountain wilderness could be so packed with people, even forming a lively little market.
It was clear that all these people had gathered at Black Jiao Ridge for the Xuantian Sect’s Disciple Recruitment Grand Ceremony.
Among them were not only the likes of Guan Dahai and Gao Zhu, who had come from far away hoping to Knock on the Immortal Gate as the legends said,
But also scions of major cultivation clans who had learned their Jia Chuan Gongfa early and already broken through to the Lianqi Realm, as well as young Sanxiu with no sect or family backing, just joining in the excitement.
So in this market, you could see both rich young masters in fine clothes and poor folks in rough garb. There were spry old men in their seventies and eighties, and little kids with topknots tumbling about.
Look to the left—a burly man with a tiger’s back and bear’s waist carried two axes weighing over a hundred pounds, slung a wild boar of more than two hundred pounds over one shoulder, and walked calmly through the crowd.
Look to the right—a graceful young girl picked up a dagger at a stall, examined it, and with a flick of her wrist, the dagger shot out a clear water blade, leaving a half-inch groove in the ground.
“One low-grade Ling Shi.”
“No sale. Even if you put a knife to my neck, I won’t sell. This isn’t some ordinary iron—it’s a genuine Magical Item passed down from my great-great-great-grandfather. It has to be five low-grade Ling Shi!”
“Two low-grade Ling Shi.”
“Heh, little girl, let me say this right now. If you want this dagger today, you’ll have to either kill me or give me five low-grade Ling Shi!”
“I, Wang Ermao, would rather die of poverty, starve to death, or drop dead right here before I’d sell my great-great-great-grandfather’s heirloom cheap!”
“Three low-grade Ling Shi.”
“Deal!”
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