Chapter 12: Your Fiancée Is Experiencing a Life-and-Death Crisis～ (1)

Luo Qingci had been troubled lately.

The root of her troubles sounded ridiculous—she was getting “prettier and prettier.”

That should have been a good thing.

At first, she hadn’t paid it much attention.

For cultivators, as their cultivation base increased, their meridians cleared, their qi and blood flourished, and improvements in appearance were common.

But her changes had clearly exceeded the normal range.

But… what use did she have for being this pretty?

She was a sword cultivator.

Before this, she’d been a man.

Being too good-looking didn’t bring any benefits…

She didn’t want to fall in love with anyone either.

The other issue was that while her cultivation had been rising steadily—she was now at Foundation Establishment, Third Layer—she was running out of spirit stones.

Luo Qingci sat cross-legged on her meditation cushion, a ledger spread out before her, calculating each expense item by item.

Before leaving, her Master had left her a stash of spirit stones, saying they’d last her several months.

She’d been touched at the time, thinking that although her Master was usually unreliable, he could still be counted on when it mattered.

She had underestimated her own appetite.

Her cultivation speed was indeed fast, but the consumption of spirit stones was even faster.

Added to that, she occasionally spent a bit on osmanthus cake, so naturally, she was getting poorer and poorer.

Today, she only had three spirit stones left.

Three.

If she stretched them, they’d cover half a month of meals.

But cultivation?

Forget it.

Luo Qingci closed the ledger and took a deep breath.

Her Master had said he would arrange to dissolve the engagement and told her to focus on cultivation.

But now she had no spirit stones—how was she supposed to cultivate?

She couldn’t exactly expect spirit stones to rain down from the sky.

She bit her lip and made a decision.

Go to the Mission Hall and take a task.

When Luo Qingci arrived, there were already quite a few people in the square.

They gathered in small groups—some studying the tasks on the notice board, others murmuring in low voices.

A few who had clearly just returned from a mission, dusty and disheveled, were squatting on the steps eating dry rations.

The moment Luo Qingci appeared, the noise in the square noticeably dropped.

Not because she was famous, but because of her face.

Today she was dressed simply—an old, moon-white Daoist robe, her hair casually bundled with a wooden hairpin, her face bare of any makeup, not a single ornament on her.

Yet this plain outfit only made her face stand out more, like a little immortal who had accidentally fallen into the mortal world.

“Which peak is she from? I’ve never seen her before?”

Pretending not to hear, Luo Qingci quickly walked to the notice board and looked up at the tasks.

The tasks were divided into four grades: A, B, C, and D.

Grade A was the hardest, Grade D the easiest.

Grade C was slightly better—paying a dozen to several dozen low-grade spirit stones—but required a certain level of combat ability.

Grades A and B, she wouldn’t consider for now.

Standing before the board for a moment, Luo Qingci’s gaze swept past the Grade A tasks and stopped at the Grade C area.

There weren’t many Grade C tasks; most had already been claimed.

Only a few bounty notices with slightly curled edges remained on the board, as if they had been picked over.

She read each one—collect Ice Grass, reward five low-grade spirit stones; clear out a demon beast lair, location at the north foot of Cangwu Mountain, reward one hundred low-grade spirit stones; find a missing outer disciple, reward eight low-grade spirit stones.

None were suitable.

Gathering tasks paid too little.

Finding people took too much time.

Clearing the demon beast lair had a good reward, but required at least three people to form a team.

Luo Qingci swept her gaze across the board one more time, finally settling on a corner of the Grade C task list.

“Muyun City Sewer Cleanup—Recently, a large number of first-tier demon beasts, ‘Bone-devouring Rats,’ have appeared in the Muyun City sewers. They move in swarms and have already injured several mortals. A reward is offered for cultivators to go and clear them out. Payment: two hundred low-grade spirit stones, settled upon submission of demon beast cores. Requirements: Foundation Establishment early stage or above. It is recommended to go in a team.”

Muyun City.

She knew the place—not too far from the Azure Cloud Sect.

By taking the sect’s spirit boat, it was about half a day’s journey.

It wasn’t a very large mortal city, but since it sat at the foot of a branch of the Cangwu Mountain Range, the spiritual energy was still fairly abundant.

Loose cultivators often stopped there, and over time, a small gathering of cultivators had formed.

Two hundred low-grade spirit stones was no small sum for her right now.

It would buy half a month’s worth of pills, or several months’ worth of osmanthus cake.

Besides, Bone-devouring Rats were only first-tier demon beasts.

No matter how dangerous, they couldn’t be that bad.

After mentally calculating, she reached out and tore down the bounty notice.

The moment she pulled it off, a male cultivator nearby noticed her and leaned in, lowering his voice.

“Junior Sister, Muyun City hasn’t been peaceful lately. I’ve heard there’s more than just Bone-devouring Rats—there are other things too. Are you going alone? Want to form a team?”

Luo Qingci glanced at him.

Foundation Establishment early stage, average looks, his eyes lingering on her face too long.

“No need. Thank you.”

She smiled, folded the notice, and put it into her storage pouch, then turned and walked away.

Behind her came the low murmurs of the man and his companion.

“That’s someone from Lingyun Peak, right? She’s really…”

“Don’t get any ideas. She’s a direct disciple. Why would she look at someone like you?”

Luo Qingci didn’t slow her pace.

The smile on her lips gradually faded.

Back at Lingyun Peak, she packed her things and informed Gu Changqing.

The senior brother was in the courtyard, studying a new method for cooking a spiritual herb.

When he heard she was going out on a mission, he looked up, his gaze pausing on her face for a moment before looking away.

“How many days?” he asked.

“Three or four,” Luo Qingci said.

“Muyun City. It’s not far. I’ll come back as soon as I’m done.”

“Be careful.”

Gu Changqing lowered his head and continued fiddling with the herb.

“If anything happens, send a sound transmission talisman.”

“Mm.”

She also told Chen Mo.

The second senior brother was chopping wood.

With each swing of his axe, a log as thick as a bowl split cleanly in half.

Hearing her words, Chen Mo didn’t stop his movements, only giving an almost imperceptible nod.

Luo Qingci left a note for her Master and Yun Jinzhou on the stone table, then put the jade pendant the senior brother had given her into her storage chest.

After all, it was just a group of Qi Refining stage rats—using a pendant that could cut down an enemy below the Nascent Soul stage with one sword strike would be overkill.

Standing on her flying sword, weaving through the clouds, she pulled her gaze away from the sea of clouds and looked down at her own hands.

Long fingers, distinct knuckles, nails with a faint pink sheen.

This body was indeed becoming more and more beautiful—she admitted it herself.

Sometimes when she looked in the mirror, she would pause for a moment.

What had her old face looked like?

She tried to recall what she had looked like before the age of seven.

The memories were already blurry, leaving only scattered fragments.

All she remembered was that she thought she had been quite handsome back then… even if not handsome, she should have been fairly delicate.

The flying sword landed at the docking point outside Muyun City.

Luo Qingci jumped off, her feet landing on solid ground.

She took a deep breath.

Muyun City wasn’t large.

The city walls were built from bluish-gray stone bricks, showing their age, with vines crawling all over the surface.

At the city gate, a few mortal soldiers were inspecting passersby.

When they saw Luo Qingci descend from her flying sword, their gazes lingered for a couple of extra seconds, but they didn’t ask questions.

She had the Azure Cloud Sect’s insignia on her.

She was obviously here for a mission.

Luo Qingci paid the entry fee and walked into Muyun City.

The scene inside the city was pretty much what she had imagined.

The streets weren’t wide, lined with shops of all kinds—cloth sellers, grain merchants, apothecaries, weapon smiths—everything you could need.

There were plenty of people on the streets, both mortals and cultivators.

Most cultivators wore various Daoist robes, with storage pouches or tokens hanging from their belts, walking with an air of importance.

Mortals would automatically step aside when they saw them.

She didn’t rush to the sewer.

First, she went to see the city lord.

“Be careful, young miss. The city hasn’t been peaceful lately,” the city lord’s voice said.

“The demon beasts in the sewer have already injured over a dozen people. A couple of days ago, a cultivator went down. When he came back up, he was covered in blood.”

Luo Qingci nodded.

“Thank you for the warning. But I’m at Foundation Establishment. I’ll win.”

After dropping off her things upstairs, she set out.

The sewer entrance was in an alley north of the city.

The alley was narrow, flanked by high walls that blocked out the sun completely, making it dim even during the day.