Chapter 12: What else?

After a few more exchanges, Jiu Baiyun raised an eyebrow and looked at Su Zhiyun, who was first somewhat shocked and then pleasantly surprised.

“Believe me now?”

Su Zhiyun immediately nodded, her tone very excited.

“You really are a transmigrator!”

As she spoke, Su Zhiyun reached into her pocket and began to fumble around.

Seeming to have found what she was looking for, she was about to pull it out when she suddenly paused.

“Wait! If you’re a transmigrator, why did you stop me! You should know exactly what the Immortals in this world are like!”

She sharply lifted her gaze, her clear eyes instantly filling with vigilance, her voice carrying a sharp edge of accusation.

Watching Su Zhiyun take another wary step back, Jiu Baiyun felt like simply punching her out.

Wouldn’t knocking her unconscious and dragging her away be easier than arguing with her here?

She’d just been told, and she’d already forgotten everything!

Massaging his temples in exasperation, Jiu Baiyun genuinely almost lost his composure.

“Didn’t I already say it? The Fox Immortal doesn’t exist!”

“And there are people living inside. Did you plan to burn them alive along with it?”

Hearing Jiu Baiyun’s words, Su Zhiyun was stunned for a moment, then somewhat sheepishly began twisting a strand of her hair around her finger.

Su Zhiyun took a deep breath, intending to explain that she didn’t know people lived in the ancestral hall, or to argue a few more points about the dangers of an “Immortal’s” hall.

But before the words could leave her mouth, Jiu Baiyun interrupted her again.

“Enough, this isn’t the place to talk. We’ll discuss everything once we’re back.”

Before the words had fully faded, Su Zhiyun felt her vision blur.

A powerful force suddenly grabbed the back of her collar, and her entire body was instantly lifted off the ground.

“Hey! What are you doing?! Put me down!”

Su Zhiyun was both shocked and furious, her limbs flailing and kicking wildly in the air.

“Wait! Where are you taking me? Let go!”

The weightless feeling of being suspended and the panic of being forcibly taken away made her voice crack slightly.

However, Jiu Baiyun paid no heed to her struggles and shouts.

The hour of Zi was approaching.

That intangible sense of being watched and the hair-raising, sinister chill in the mountain forest were quietly spreading.

Every second of delay meant exponentially increasing risk.

“Shut up! If you want to live, stop struggling!”

Jiu Baiyun growled.

Immediately after, an invisible force abruptly enveloped the two of them, followed by the violent roar of wind rushing past their ears.

The scenery before her eyes instantly blurred into elongated streaks of dark color.

Trees, rocks, the outline of the ancestral hall—all flew backward at incredible speed, so fast it made her dizzy, her stomach churning violently.

In just a few breaths, the outline of the village at the mountain’s base was already in sight.

Jiu Baiyun’s target was clear: his own secluded courtyard on the edge of the village.

Without hesitation, he dove downward.

When they were still about one person’s height from the ground, Jiu Baiyun dispersed his spiritual power, landing steadily and simultaneously releasing his grip on Su Zhiyun’s collar.

“Urgh…”

The moment her feet touched solid ground, intense discomfort and vertigo washed over her.

Su Zhiyun’s legs went weak, nearly causing her to kneel.

She leaned against the wall, retching violently.

Jiu Baiyun pushed the courtyard gate open, then turned to look at Su Zhiyun, his brow furrowing involuntarily.

Her constitution is too weak, isn’t it?

But remembering she was still an ordinary person, Jiu Baiyun sighed and slowly walked over to Su Zhiyun’s side.

Gathering a bit of spiritual power in his palm, Jiu Baiyun intended to transfer some to Su Zhiyun to alleviate her dizziness and discomfort.

But before he could even raise his hand, Su Zhiyun, fighting back her nausea, quickly scrambled away from him, her face once again wearing an expression of extreme wariness.

!??

What’s your problem now?

Weren’t things fine just a moment ago?

Jiu Baiyun felt genuinely weary at this moment.

Seeing Jiu Baiyun take another step closer, Su Zhiyun jerked back several more steps.

Her back slammed heavily against the cold, rough earthen wall, finally stopping her retreat.

“Don’t come any closer!”

Jiu Baiyun’s movement froze mid-air, his frown deepening.

“What’s wrong with you now…”

“You’ve cultivated immortality! You’re a cultivator!”

Those clear eyes were now filled with fear and vigilance, as if she were looking at a monster that preyed on humans.

Staring at Su Zhiyun’s posture as if facing a great enemy, Jiu Baiyun forcefully rubbed his throbbing temples, his voice carrying a hint of irritation and helplessness.

“Who told you you couldn’t cultivate immortality… Cultivating immortality doesn’t turn you into an Abomination. The reason all the Immortals are Abominations is because those Abominations have monopolized the path of immortality.”

He finally understood what Su Zhiyun was thinking.

She tended to overthink at the slightest thing.

But in a world like this… no amount of caution was excessive.

Not everyone could be as lucky as him, surviving and even cultivating to the Eight Mysteries stage while knowing nothing.

Hearing Jiu Baiyun’s explanation, Su Zhiyun finally looked up, half-convinced, half-doubting.

“Really?”

“What else?”

Looking at Su Zhiyun’s cautious demeanor, Jiu Baiyun rolled his eyes impatiently.

“You don’t actually think those Abominations wearing Immortal skins became like that through cultivation, do you?”

“Relax, cultivation can be practiced normally. I’ll teach you the cultivation techniques later.”

Now Su Zhiyun understood.

But the question was, what exactly were the normal cultivators considered?

With just one glance, Jiu Baiyun roughly grasped the question in Su Zhiyun’s mind and calmly stated.

“Considered livestock raised by those Immortals.”

These words instantly made Su Zhiyun bristle.

“Livestock! And you still want me to cultivate?!”

Jiu Baiyun just shrugged nonchalantly, stating it as a fact.

“But if you don’t cultivate, how will you deal with those Abominations? Are you counting on burning down all the Immortals’ ancestral halls and expecting those Abominations wearing Immortal skins to just die off?”

Su Zhiyun fell silent.

It was exactly as Jiu Baiyun said.

Her burning of the ancestral halls was more for psychological comfort, or simply venting her hatred towards those Immortals.

Sure, it might reduce some of the anchors those Immortals had in the mortal world, but beyond that, it served no other purpose.

“Stop standing around outside. The hour of Zi is almost here. It seems you’ve been in this world for a while; you should know very well how dangerous this time period is, right?”

Su Zhiyun was slightly taken aback.

She first looked at Jiu Baiyun, then followed the direction of his lifted chin, her gaze landing on the darkness that had completely swallowed the last traces of daylight.

An indescribable chill made her shiver involuntarily.

In her days of struggling to survive in this world, she had long engraved the words “hour of Zi” into her heart.

The nameless horrors that lay dormant during the day were often most active at this time.

“I know…”

Su Zhiyun’s voice held a slight tremble.

She pressed her lips together firmly, suppressing the dryness in her throat and the lingering nausea from the vertigo, while warily scanning her surroundings.

The darkness seemed to be writhing.

The silhouettes of dead branches twisted in the wind into shapes that clawed and gnashed.

She hesitated no longer.

Moving her still-weak legs, she swiftly rushed towards the courtyard gate Jiu Baiyun had opened.