“Mother, you have to believe me. If we don’t do this, something very, very bad will happen!”
Hua Xiangrong looked up at Hua Yan, her small face filled with solemn seriousness.
“I have a Heaven-Blessed Dao Body. I couldn’t possibly be wrong.”
“Rongrong, what you’re saying… is it true?”
Yun Xuechang was slightly surprised and lightly covered her mouth.
“Of course it’s true!”
Hua Xiangrong nodded vigorously.
“If I don’t eat another plate of peach crisps today, a terrifying ‘Peach Crisp Evil Cultivator’ will appear and steal all the peach crisps in the world! When that happens, no one will be able to eat them! Ow!”
“You’ve already eaten two plates, and you’re still thinking about more! Are you even going to eat lunch?!”
Hua Yan irritably withdrew the finger she had just used to flick the girl’s forehead, then glared at Yun Xuechang.
“And you! You believe everything she says? What kind of mother are you?!”
Really, how could a mother be fooled by her daughter with such a lame excuse? Had Yun Xuechang been tricked by this girl into buying snacks all day before this?
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”
Yun Xuechang, the novice mother who had easily believed her daughter, lowered her head and apologized honestly.
“Ugh… It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have lied to Mother.” Hua Xiangrong let go of her forehead and pulled on Yun Xuechang’s sleeve, then looked at Hua Yan expectantly. “Mother, don’t blame Mommy anymore…”
“Tch.”
Seeing that pitiful gaze, Hua Yan clicked her tongue impatiently.
‘How did I become the villain here?’
“Fine, seeing as you’ve admitted your mistake…”
Hua Yan curled her lip and deliberately turned her head away.
The girl’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Hooray! Then the peach crisps — “
“Ow!”
“You’re still thinking about peach crisps! You won’t be having any snacks for the rest of this week!”
Without looking back at the little girl who was clutching her head with teary eyes again, Hua Yan turned and walked out.
“Let’s go. Qu Linglong and the others are coming. Let’s go meet them.”
……
“Yo, Daoist Friend Yun, Daoist Friend Hua. You two look well. Reunited after so long, I’m sure you’ve been… ‘getting close,’ haven’t you?”
As soon as she saw the two of them step out of the cabin, Qu Linglong, standing on the deck, winked at them mischievously, her tone full of teasing.
‘Getting close?’
Yun Xuechang blinked her clear eyes.
Recalling how she had lived, eaten, and shared a bed with Hua Yan over the past few days, as well as their conversation on the deck under the moonlight… they should be considered close now, right?
Thinking this, she nodded calmly and replied, “Yes, we have been intimate.”
“Wow — “
Lin Qianqian covered her mouth with both hands in shock, her eyes full of disbelief.
She never expected her Senior Sister to be so proactive and unashamed in love!
“You, you, you! What are you blathering about?!”
At those words, a flush of crimson instantly rushed to Hua Yan’s cheeks.
She glared at Yun Xuechang in both shame and annoyance, then turned to the two women with ambiguous expressions and shouted a defense.
“We have not!”
“Mm-hmm, we understand.” Qu Linglong nodded solemnly, the smile in her eyes impossible to hide. “After all, the child is still here. It’s not convenient to go into detail.”
“Right, we understand,” Lin Qianqian chimed in from the side with a knowing look.
‘What do you understand?!’
Hua Yan’s embarrassment and anger grew. She stomped her foot in rage, her full chest rising and falling slightly.
“What are you two even here for?! Did you come all this way just to make fun of me?!”
“Cough, cough.”
Qu Linglong cleared her throat and finally tucked away her teasing expression, saying seriously, “Daoist Friend Hua, don’t be in such a hurry. We won’t talk about your private business as a couple in front of Rongrong.”
She shifted the conversation to the main point.
“Actually, we’re here to discuss the specifics of entering Yunjing — the Great Chu Imperial City. After all, the enemy is hiding in the shadows and might even hold a high position. If we march in openly, we’ll surely ruin everything.”
“Then based on what you’re saying, what should we do?”
Hua Yan stood with her arms crossed. Her tone was still grumpy, clearly not having recovered from her earlier embarrassment.
“In my opinion, it’s better to split into two groups and disguise ourselves. We can slip into Yunjing via the Immortal and Mortal Routes to investigate. What do you think?”
Qu Linglong smiled slightly.
‘That sounds decent enough…’
Hua Yan thought to herself.
But with the group splitting in two, she wondered who she would be paired with. Could it be…
She subconsciously glanced at Yun Xuechang beside her. The cold, bright, white-haired girl was also quietly looking at her.
Seeing her gaze, Yun Xuechang tilted her head slightly, a faint look of confusion in her eyes.
……
Yunjing, the Great Chu Imperial City. This place was far from the Highland, and the terrain consisted mostly of mountains and hills.
The climate was hot and humid, with four distinct seasons. The entire city was situated in a shallow, saucer-shaped basin.
The surrounding terrain was slightly higher, while the center was slightly recessed.
One side was adjacent to the Jade Dragon River, which flowed from turbulent to calm.
Whenever it was clear and breezy, or when the days were hot and the nights were cool, the water vapor in Yunjing became exceptionally heavy, with the thickest mist appearing in the morning.
Additionally, a Water Element Spirit Vein was hidden beneath the city, nurtured by a formation laid down by the Great Chu imperial family using secret methods.
Every dawn, the mist in the city would become more concentrated without dispersing, glowing with a moist luster like a layer of thin clouds.
This was how “Yunjing” got its name.
At this moment, in a bustling cultivator market square in Yunjing, three people were standing.
All three had black hair and were female.
The one on the left wore a light green, narrow-sleeved cross-collared shirt, covered by a moon-white sleeveless vest, with a dark gray pleated long skirt below.
Her black hair was gathered into a simple round bun at the back of her head, secured with a white jade hairpin.
Small gold-wire pearl earrings hung from her ears, and her entire being exuded an irrepressible air of nobility and radiance.
The person on the right wore a light grayish-blue cross-collared robe.
Her black hair was combed back and tied low at the nape of her neck with a dark blue ribbon, revealing a smooth, full forehead.
She stood tall like bamboo, carrying a long, thin oilcloth bundle on her back. Her gaze was calm and clear, and her temperament was elegant and quiet.
Standing between the two was a young girl around the age of 8.
Her black hair was tied into two bud-like buns on either side of her head, wrapped with red hair ties.
She wore a pink-and-white cross-collared top embroidered with small plum blossoms and dark blue cotton pants.
She wore black shoes with white soles and floral embroidery, and a small floral cloth bag was slung across her back.
Her large eyes darted around, looking well-behaved and adorable as she held a hand of each woman.
Without a doubt, these were Hua Yan, Yun Xuechang, and Hua Xiangrong.
All three had changed their appearances.
Yun Xuechang went without saying; as the Chief Disciple of the Xiaoyao Sword Sect, her appearance was already widely known in the territories of the Righteous Path.
Although Hua Yan and Hua Xiangrong were fresh faces to the Evil Cultivators of Great Chu, their appearances were too outstanding and would easily attract attention, so they had also masked themselves to some extent.
As for their current identities —
‘Damn it! We’re clearly traveling in disguise, so why do I still have to pretend to be a family of three with this girl!’
Hua Yan secretly glared at Yun Xuechang beside her, feeling indignant.
‘We… we aren’t even married yet!’
This matter went back several hours to Qu Linglong’s explanation:
“When traveling, Rongrong is young, and there’s no guarantee she won’t let something slip. To be safe, it’s best for you to pretend to be a family of three. Besides, the Evil Cultivators in Yunjing certainly wouldn’t expect cultivators on an Evil Purging mission to bring a child along. This could actually become a hidden advantage.”
Beside her, Hua Xiangrong had nodded frantically.
“Mm-hmm! Master is right! If I accidentally say the wrong thing and expose us, it’ll be all over!”
And so, the act of this family of three had to continue.