Xie Ziyin pulled Wen Shuangbai up. Hidden beneath his robes, unseen by anyone, the veins in his arms bulged, faint black lines flickering within them like shadows.
Once settled, Wen Shuangbai cast an unexpected glance at him.
She had assumed healers were frail, but his grip was surprisingly strong.
Then again, as a villainous male character who would later descend into madness and demonic cultivation, it made sense he had some hidden strength.
Xie Ziyin’s eyes gleamed. "What did you just say?"
Wen Shuangbai scoffed. "I called you an idiot."
Xie Ziyin: "..."
Right.
He hadn’t misheard.
Xie Ziyin fell into deep thought.
He hadn’t read the original novel, so he wasn’t sure about the author’s style—whether it leaned toward classical or modern.
If it was modern, then characters spouting vulgar slang wouldn’t be out of place.
On the narrow sword, Yin Xuan led at the front while Wen Shuangbai fiddled with her Fire Plume Whip at the rear, the whip’s ends securing two other people.
After a moment, Xie Ziyin asked, "Brother Yin, what does 'idiot' mean?"
Yin Xuan, barely keeping the sword steady, turned to give his junior brother a puzzled look before answering lazily, "It means calling you a fool."
Xie Ziyin: "..."
Xie Ziyin closed his eyes, suppressing his irritation, then pressed on. "What about 'grass'?"
Yin Xuan studied him again, unhurried. "A type of plant."
Xie Ziyin: "..."
Now he wanted to curse too.
Yin Xuan sighed, delivering the final verdict. "Either way, they’re insults. You shouldn’t have provoked my junior sister."
Well, that confirmed it—the original author’s style was modern.
Xie Ziyin let out a dry laugh and shut his mouth, refusing to say another word.
Yin Xuan shook his head and scanned their surroundings.
From this height, the lake stretched endlessly, the tiny island they’d rested on the only land for miles.
Which meant they had a long way to fly.
Yin Xuan, adrift on his sword, asked gloomily, "Junior Sister, which way should we go?"
Wen Shuangbai didn’t know either.
She had just finished adjusting her Fire Plume Whip, securing it to the sword with two strands wrapped around each person’s waist, keeping them steady.
Hearing the question, she tugged on one of the strands. "Didn’t you say you knew the way?"
Shen Hefeng, dangling below, resigned himself to pulling out a tortoise shell for divination.
Lu Jiayao, voice hoarse, praised him, "Senior Brother Shen, even in this situation, you can still perform divination. Truly worthy of being the second-best in the Divination Pavilion!"
Shen Hefeng snapped, "Shut up!"
After some fumbling, he finally announced, "West! We landed at the eastern edge of the secret realm. The good treasures are all in the central zone—just keep heading west."
And so, they flew westward.
While the five of them drifted over the lake, near the southwestern edge of the central zone in the Taihua Mountain Secret Realm, Yu Xiaoxiao’s protagonist team had already located their target—a fifth-grade Dragonflame Eyeburst Serpent.
Yu Xiaoxiao, Lu Ying, Bai Lijue, and three others had surrounded the serpent from six directions.
In the black swamp, the Eyeburst Serpent was devouring a Mystic Goat alive, the goat’s desperate cries and struggles painting a gruesome scene.
The six lay in wait, biding their time for the perfect strike.
But at the critical moment, a fiery-red sword shot through the air, its blade aimed straight for the serpent’s weak spot!
The Eyeburst Serpent, true to its fifth-grade might, reacted instantly—spitting out the goat to block the sword, then coiling back with a hiss, venom gathering in its maw.
"Who dares interfere?!" one of the sword cultivators in the team roared, furious at their ruined ambush.
Lu Ying stood, his gaze sharp as he glared at the red-robed woman stepping out of the darkness. "Li. Zhuohua."
Yu Xiaoxiao blinked. "Senior Sister Zhuohua?"
The woman retrieved her sword and met her eyes. "Yes, it’s me."
Seeing seven opponents now, the Eyeburst Serpent wisely slithered into the forest, vanishing.
Li Zhuohua moved to pursue.
Lu Ying flicked his Divine Wood Talisman, instantly sealing all paths ahead of her with an array. "Stay where you are, Senior Sister."
Li Zhuohua frowned. "Why?"
Bai Lijue stepped forward, every inch the noble young master. "Forgive us, Senior Sister, but we found this Eyeburst Serpent first."
"Brother Lu, Brother Bai, don’t be like this." Yu Xiaoxiao gently cut in, turning to Li Zhuohua with a pleading look. "Senior Sister, it’s true—we discovered it first. You already ranked first in the first round. Even without the serpent’s core, you’ll still place in the Sword Arts Pavilion’s top three. It won’t affect your chance to represent Qingling Mountain in the tournament… Please, just this once? The core is really important to us..."
Li Zhuohua nodded. "I see." Then, unmoved, she added, "But I still need that core. Let’s settle this by skill."
Yu Xiaoxiao’s voice wavered. "Senior Sister..."
Lu Ying pulled her back, sneering. "Fine. Don’t blame us for what comes next."
In an instant, battle erupted—Lu Ying trapped Li Zhuohua in a lethal array with his Divine Wood Talisman.
Outside the secret realm, the elders watching through the Vision Crystal were in an uproar.
"Why are they fighting?!"
"This is Li Zhuohua’s fault. If she hadn’t interfered, Lu Ying’s team would’ve already secured the core!"
"Nonsense! Since when does 'first come, first served' apply in the Taihua Mountain Secret Realm? It’s always been survival of the fittest!"
The Li, Bai, and Lu families were the three great clans of Qingzhou, and the elders’ allegiances quickly turned the debate into chaos.
Until one elder suddenly interjected, "Fools. While they fight, the serpent hasn’t left..."
Sure enough, in the Vision Crystal, the Eyeburst Serpent lunged from the shadows, targeting the team’s weakest member—the healer.
The other four rushed to defend, but without Lu Ying’s Divine Wood Talisman, they were quickly overwhelmed. When the serpent’s tail sent Yu Xiaoxiao flying, Lu Ying’s eyes burned with rage. "Xiaoxiao!"
His distraction weakened the array. Li Zhuohua seized the chance to break free, leaving Lu Ying coughing blood.
As the serpent continued its assault, Li Zhuohua ignored the fallen Lu Ying, leaping into the air to meet the beast head-on.
Their clash was a blur—until, despite her injuries, Li Zhuohua’s sword finally struck true, severing the serpent’s head and claiming its core.
Dodging Bai Lijue’s hidden projectiles, she crushed her escape talisman and vanished from the secret realm, leaving the protagonist team battered and seething.
Thus began the feud between the protagonists and Li Zhuohua.
Denied the fifth-grade core and left wounded, the team could only regroup.
In the novel, Xie Ziyin—one of the protagonists—tended to their injuries before turning his attention to brewing a batch of fasting pills.
When his fasting pill was completed, it attracted a greedy spirit rabbit.
Thanks to the opportunity brought by that rabbit, the protagonist team obtained something even better than a fifth-grade demon core, turning the tables and securing first place in the Taihua Mountain secret realm.
In the deep, silent mountains, Wen Shuangbai and the others finally landed to rest.
After taking Xie Ziyin’s miniature fasting pills, the exhausted Yin Xuan collapsed and fell asleep. Lu Jiayao crouched beside him, staring at the messy silver hair of their senior brother, and eventually couldn’t resist using a cleansing spell to wash it for him.
Shen Hefeng had a sore back and also lay down to sleep.
Wen Shuangbai, who had always been energetic even in modern times—able to stay lively on just three hours of sleep—remained wide awake and took on the role of night watch.
As Wen Shuangbai reviewed the events of the Taihua Mountain secret realm, she recalled the crucial rabbit and couldn’t help but shoot a few glances at a certain idiot.
Xie Ziyin sat lazily under a large tree, leaning back with his eyes closed, resting.
After the female antagonist shot him her fifth malicious look, he couldn’t take it anymore and opened his eyes. "What?"
When he was with Yu Xiaoxiao, he attracted rabbits.
So why, when he was with this group, did he attract monkeys?
Wen Shuangbai’s eyes were full of resentment. "What’s wrong with you? Why did you attract monkeys?"
Xie Ziyin: "?"
This was his fault now?
Wen Shuangbai shook her head and sighed. "You should’ve attracted rabbits."
Before Xie Ziyin could respond, Yin Xuan’s ears twitched, and he murmured half-asleep, "...I want roasted rabbit meat."
Shen Hefeng rubbed his sore back, stroked his chin, and pondered for a moment. "Rabbit stew sounds good too."
Lu Jiayao, having finished tidying his senior brother’s hair, admired the smooth silver strands glowing faintly under the moonlight with great satisfaction. Then he scurried over to Xie Ziyin and asked eagerly, "Brother Xie, can you make rabbit-flavored fasting pills for us next time?"
Xie Ziyin lifted his gaze, slowly scanning the group before letting out a cold laugh. "How about I make you fasting pills that taste like shit instead?"
What, were they making wishes now?
He wasn’t some wish-granting turtle in a fountain.