“Qiao’er, let’s go back. This isn’t something we can handle.”
Jiang Che was perfectly clear-headed. Instead of lingering here, it was better to report to the sect and let those old guys fret over how to find this demonic cultivator.
Maybe he could even drag Xu Yan, that two-faced bastard, into trouble.
“Is that so?”
Hu Qiao’er’s mood was a bit downcast. Hu Jingzhong had taught her that life was fragile, and as a doctor, she was supposed to seek to save lives.
Jiang Che tightened his grip on Hu Qiao’er’s hand.
“Qiao’er, in order to help others, you must first protect yourself. We’re not saints, we’re not even gentlemen. I’m just a child, and you’re a girl. This isn’t something we can do.”
Jiang Che spoke the principle of a gentleman not saving beyond his means.
Hu Qiao’er lowered her gaze. As the elder sister, she found herself unable to refute Jiang Che for a moment.
“But I’m a cultivator now. Isn’t this exactly the kind of thing we’re supposed to do?”
Hu Qiao’er whispered a soft retort.
Jiang Che was at a loss for words. Clearly, Hu Qiao’er still didn’t understand the cruelty of the cultivation world.
Many high-level cultivators climbed their way up over mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Open any secret realm left behind by a great expert, and all sorts of forces would scramble over it.
Cultivation was an extremely brutal thing. It was by no means divorced from human nature, and even less so from the law of the jungle.
But facing Hu Qiao’er like this, Jiang Che simply couldn’t say any of that.
In his previous life, he was peerlessly gifted and used to protecting those around him behind his back.
So even now, he subconsciously wanted to protect Hu Qiao’er’s innocence.
“Qiao’er…”
Jiang Che let out a light sigh. “Qiao’er, you should have already received your Divine Firmament Token, right? And it’s an Inner Disciple’s token at that.”
What Jiang Che referred to was the identification token every Shenxiao Sect disciple received upon entry.
Hu Qiao’er was a special case. Hers was prepared for her as early as the next day.
Hearing this, Hu Qiao’er took out a token with golden edges from her chest.
The characters “Shenxiao” were engraved on it.
All disciples had the same characters, but only Inner Disciples bore gold edges.
“Ah Che, do you mean this?”
“Yes.”
Jiang Che answered without hesitation.
“I’ll take you to find someone. He can help us.”
After speaking, Jiang Che roughly judged the direction and pulled Hu Qiao’er forward.
“Wow! What a huge firework! I didn’t expect we could see fireworks even here!”
Yuan Qingqing shouted excitedly, sitting on the lawn.
Fortunately, there was no one else around. Otherwise, Wang Hao would surely want to crawl into a crack and hide.
Just a moment ago, he had planned to go back and find Yun Fan. As he turned around, he was called by the very girl he wanted to seek.
As luck would have it, that girl was the same beggar girl he and Hu Qiao’er met before arriving at Shenxiao Sect—Yuan Qingqing, the Outer Sect Disciple of Lingjian Peak.
The fact that Lingjian Peak had almost no disciples at all had caught Wang Hao’s attention, so he asked Yun Fan about it.
He learned that the Outer Sect Disciple Yuan Qingqing was originally in charge of Lingjian Peak’s Spirit Beast Ranch.
In his impression, Yuan Qingqing was still that scruffy beggar girl.
It was impossible to reconcile that image with her current look, dressed in the Outer Sect Disciple attire of Shenxiao Sect.
And after washing her hair, Yuan Qingqing’s entire temperament was completely different—except that her hair still covered part of her face.
Of course, her thick skin hadn’t changed one bit.
The reason she called Wang Hao over was to “borrow” money from him to buy wine.
At first, Wang Hao wanted to say he didn’t know her, but she started yelling about their “eternal vows” and “promises” from before, right in the street.
In the end, Wang Hao had no choice but to give in.
He had never met anyone so shameless.
“Don’t yell so loud. It’s like you’ve never seen the world before.”
Wang Hao grew up in a county town in his previous life. Whenever festivals rolled around, fireworks were everywhere.
Yuan Qingqing grinned and poured herself some wine from a nearby jar.
“Hey, hey, hey, are you really going to pay me back when you get back?”
Wang Hao’s mouth twitched as he looked at Yuan Qingqing with a face full of resentment.
Yuan Qingqing downed her bowl of wine in one go, not caring about her image at all, and wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
“Relax! When I get back to the sect, I’ll get a few mother Chiyu Chickens to hatch eggs! Chickens lay eggs, eggs hatch chickens! I’ll save up contribution points and pay you back soon!”
Yuan Qingqing was in charge of raising chickens. As an Outer Sect Disciple, she was most likely of mediocre talent, with little cultivation resources or background.
Speaking of this, back then, Zhao Zi’ang was also a single water spirit root, but his root quality was low and his physique poor, so he shouldn’t have been able to become an Inner Disciple.
But since he was picked up by Lin Yin, no one said much.
“Right! Judging by your clothes, you must be a menial disciple, right? So you have to call me Senior Sister! You’re afraid Senior Sister will owe you money?”
“Yeah, yeah, Senior Sister…”
Wang Hao dragged out the words.
“But Senior Sister, did you get any roosters? Are you planning on having the hens lay eggs and hatch chicks all on their own?”
“(⊙o⊙)…”
Yuan Qingqing froze, then gave Wang Hao a big thumbs up.
“As expected of my Shidi! You even thought of that!”
What the heck, Senior Sister!
You want the hens to lay eggs—just to fry them up for breakfast, is that it?
Wang Hao felt more and more that Yuan Qingqing was unreliable, and his expression grew gloomier.
Yuan Qingqing snorted with laughter when she saw his face.
“Hey, little guy! Do you look down on your Senior Sister that much? I was going to share this roast chicken with you!”
Yuan Qingqing set down the blackened chicken she’d intended to trade for wine between the two of them, but Wang Hao didn’t dare eat it.
He was afraid that if he did, Senior Sister would use it as leverage to make him do something for her—she really did seem like the type with no shame at all.
Yuan Qingqing continued gazing up at the sky.
Wang Hao glanced at his Senior Sister, but couldn’t find any sign of that forlorn feeling he’d seen on her not long ago.
He really wanted to ask Yuan Qingqing why she’d worn that look as she walked down the street back then.
But maybe it was just his imagination.
……
“This should be the place.”
Jiang Che stopped walking and surveyed his surroundings.
Hu Qiao’er looked up. In front of them was a relatively quiet courtyard, a bit out of place at the edge of the bustling Shenxiao Town.
The yard was encircled by a low wall, inside which stood a few plain houses.
It looked like a poorer part of town, but a family with their own walled compound couldn’t be too badly off.
Jiang Che turned his head and quietly instructed Hu Qiao’er, “Qiao’er, when we go in, just take out your Divine Firmament Token and say…”
Hu Qiao’er nodded, then led Jiang Che inside.
The door was open, as if it was always left that way, expecting visitors.
Hu Qiao’er knocked on the door.
“Is anyone there?”
Normally, in this situation, you’d wait a few seconds for a response.
“Hey! Yes, I’m here.”
A white-haired old man hunched over and walked out. He looked even older than the last time they’d met.
It was Qin Zifeng, the mayor of Shenxiao Town. He examined the girl in front of him and recognized her Shenxiao Sect disciple uniform. He then bowed.
“Shenxiao Sect registered disciple, Qin Zifeng, greets Senior Sister. May I ask what brings you here?”