This was the first time that Jimo Shu had experienced such a feeling in her eighteen years of demon life.

It was as if her heart was suddenly squeezed, her breathing became rapid, and her cheeks felt hot. This strange feeling was so elusive and hard to control, and she didn't understand why.

Because I saw this person...

Jimo Shu's beautiful eyes glanced at the modest gentleman standing beside Dacong below, her heart stirring slightly. Then she saw the sword at his side—hmm? Why another sword cultivator? There were so many sword cultivators these days?

She couldn't help but frown in disgust.

Heh, sword cultivators. They rarely show up, but once one appears, a whole bunch will follow!

Zhong Changyao also raised his eyes slightly and looked at the peerless girl in the air.

This is Jimo Shu, his future Taoist partner, the person who helps him walk on the supreme path, and also his only wife.

When he first read the storybook, he wasn't entirely satisfied with this future Taoist companion. Despite her fiery passion, she still had a stubborn, devilish nature. She could be overly tyrannical and overbearing at times, prone to jealousy and unrealistic thoughts. But now that he'd met her in person, he could understand her a little better.

It is natural for such a beautiful woman to have a little temper.

The sudden appearance of the demon sect made this small world even more chaotic. The bull demon crawled out from under Jimo Shu, changed back into human form, and stood beside the saint like a mountain of fine iron.

It seems that although Jimo Shu dislikes him in words, she is actually quite nice to him on weekdays. After all, the Saint Lady looks aggressive and murderous, but he is still secretly greeting Yun Xian with his nose.

Yun Xian looked over and found that Mei Yanliu, who was supposed to be following behind, was mysteriously missing. He didn't know why.

Feng Ye stood there, sandwiched between several parties, and was dumbfounded.

The situation was this: the two sects from the Northern Realm had come together. The Sword Sect was clearly targeting Yun Xian, seeking to reclaim their possessions; the Body-Forging Sect, however, showed no interest in cooperating, and even had a subtle undertone of opposition. Xue Lingxiu and Zhong Changyao from the Southern Realm seemed somewhat aligned with Yun Xian, but their intentions weren't exactly friendly; they were likely trying to annoy the Sword Sect. The Demon Cult... the Demon Cult didn't seem particularly interested in the Hemostatic Grass. Judging from their stance, they were simply seeking revenge, or perhaps they happened to pass by and saw Yun Xian, feeling irritated, and wanted to strike him down.

The two sides faced each other, with almost the same strength and different goals. They checked and balanced each other and were suspicious of each other. For a moment, no one had any intention of acting rashly.

But what was known was that the three sources of all evil in the Eastern Realm were probably the weakest in the entire arena. Although he had never seen Yun Xian fight, his cultivation level was at the sixth level of the Golden Core, which was slightly higher than that of the Bull Demon.

Qiao Lingshan felt that she had seen a lot of ups and downs in the few days since she came here, and her emotions remained stable. She whispered, "Yun Xian, are you just going to stand there and watch now?"

Yun Xian: "You can still sit down and watch."

Qiao Lingshan: “?”

As expected, before the stage was even set, some people were already getting excited about the show. Liu Shixian spoke first, his face filled with anger: "Xue Lingxiu! I only stole a Linghuang grass from you four years ago. Is it necessary for you to still be fussing about it?"

"Oh? My mother is dying. Without that Linghuang grass, she would have almost died. Now you want me to let it go?" Xue Lingxiu chuckled and said, "Then spare your father for me first."

He did have a southern accent and a soft voice, not particularly tough, but he was quite sarcastic and gentle, piercing the heart.

Liu Hui chimed in: "Just talk if you want to. Why bring up the elders?"

"Elder?" Xue Lingxiu waved her folding fan. "Your father is your father. You can show your filial piety to him if you want. What does it have to do with me? I'm well-mannered if I don't call him an old fool."

"Xue Lingxiu, you!" Liu Shi didn't want to argue with him. He couldn't win anyway. He turned around and looked at the Body Forging Sect again. "Ji Rongxue, you and I are both from the Northern Realm. Right now, the priority is not to fight for victory, but to focus on the overall situation."

The disciples of the Body Tempering Sect present said nothing and all looked at Ji Rongxue who was in the front.

The Body-Tempering Sect's cultivation methods are different, and because they develop a beast-like form after reaching a certain stage of cultivation, they are easily confused with the demon race. The demon race possesses two forms, human and beast, which they can switch between. They are extremely powerful, but they cannot practice human cultivation methods. The Body-Tempering Sect, on the other hand, seems to have absorbed the strengths of the demon race and specialized in them.

Everyone has his or her strengths and weaknesses.

Yun Xian just watched her and couldn't tell what race's martial arts she was practicing.

Ji Rongxue's expression remained cold as he said, "If the overall situation is of paramount importance, give me everything you retrieved."

Liu Shi: "Why should I..."

"With your Sword Sect currently making no contribution," Ji Rongxue said, "the overall situation? That's your overall situation, not mine."

When she was speaking in front, the disciples behind her had no objection at all, and did not even have the intention to discuss. It seemed that they were following her sincerely and had no other intentions.

After hitting a wall twice in a row, Liu Shi couldn't help but feel a little angry. He looked at the charming girl in mid-air whose background he didn't know - the enemy of my enemy is my ally, this simple truth is always irrefutable. So he said, "This..."

I got stuck for a moment.

What should I call her, "Fairy"? Looking at the demonic aura emanating from her, how could she possibly be a fairy? Then why not call her "Daoyou"? Daoyou means Daoyou only belong to those with the same Dao. Of course, he and this witch have different Daos. Could it be "Miss"? This title is too innocent and doesn't seem to fit at all.

Before he could think it through, Jimo Shu suddenly woke up, frowned, turned her gaze away from Zhong Changyao, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Liu Shidao: "You also have a grudge against this person? Could it be..."

Before he could finish his next words, Jimo Shu interrupted him rudely, "Who? Do I know you?"

Liu Shi: “………………”

Qiao Lingshan had just managed to suppress her inappropriate smile when she felt Yun Xian beside her gently pull at the corner of her clothes and said, "Look at Tianhong."

"Rainbow?" Qiao Lingshan looked up at the sky, but didn't see any rainbow lights. She asked in confusion, "Where is it?"

Yun Xian: "On Liu Shi's face."

Liu Shizheng's face was dull, and he heard a "puff" from the other end, which made him unable to hold back his laughter. He immediately became angry, and his imperfect mask broke: "You——"

He was so angry that his veins throbbed. He could no longer endure it. Especially seeing Yun Xian dare to sit there and eat an apple?! At this moment, Liu Hui hurriedly whispered in his ear, "Young Master, the supervisor is still watching."

This sentence was like a torrent of cold water, instantly chilling him to the bone.

If he really makes a move, Xue Lingxiu will never let go of this opportunity. Judging from the attitude of the Body Strengthening Sect, they will not help. It’s good enough that they don’t hope for his death behind his back. And the Demon Sect with their confusing attitude is even more unpredictable.

He also had his own selfish motives. Coming here, first, to suppress the Eastern Realm, and second, to prevent the Body Forging Sect from overshadowing him, so...

No, now wasn't the time for him to be competitive. No matter what he faced, he had to prioritize the overall situation and learn to be patient.

Liu Shi hadn't considered that if Yun Xian knew his inner thoughts, he would be laughed out loud. Patience? What patience? To him, just a few insults, not being the star-studded crowd as usual, seemed like a tremendous ordeal that required him to endure. It seemed he hadn't experienced the harsh treatment of the cultivation world.

Everyone gathered together spontaneously. Humans are fire-born, and the rising heat naturally attracted some monsters closer. If the stalemate continued, the situation might get even more out of control. No one wanted to back down, but they all knew from the beginning that a fight was impossible.

Yun Xian sat in front of the small, shabby stall. Seeing that everyone had finished their harsh words and given each other looks, he finally finished his apple in two bites, put the apple core into his left palm, patted the juice out, and said, "So now, what's the decision?"

Whoever gets these thirty hemostatic herbs will definitely feel uneasy, but there will still be people who rush to take on this hot potato.

At this moment, a clear voice suddenly came from the stagnant wind.

"Everyone," Zhong Changyao said, stepping out of the group amidst the various gazes. His smile was three parts elegant, three parts firm, and mixed with a hint of youthfulness. "Would you mind listening to what I have to say?"

This opening scene of Yun Xian is so familiar, with the words "Get out of the way, I'm going to start showing off" written all over his body.

Seeing no one said anything, Zhong Changyao smiled broadly and said thoughtfully, "My fellow Daoists understand that if we continue to maintain this stalemate, not only will it be useless, but it may also attract a wave of monsters. Brother Xue and I investigated when we arrived just now. There's a colony of migrating iron-loving ants to the east, and they're heading in that direction."

Everyone's expression changed slightly.

The iron-loving ant sounds like it may be related to ants, and in fact it is, but the size... the difference between it and the monitor lizard is that it does not have the word "giant" in its name, making it seem a little less imposing.

Although getting entangled won't cause any injuries, it can be quite troublesome.

"Meeting is fate." Zhong Changyao said this, looking at Jimo Shu meaningfully, and then said, "How about this, a total of thirty hemostatic herbs, divided equally among the sects?"

There are ten trees on the Sword Sect's side, ten trees on the Body Tempering Sect's side, and ten trees on Xue Lingxiu's side.

Zhong Changyao didn't include Jimo Shu in the list because he was confident that Jimo Shu wouldn't want her. Even if she did, hers were his, so what difference would it make?

The expressions on the audience's faces showed that they were not satisfied with this solution, but they had no choice but to be satisfied. This was already the most compromise and best method.

Feng Ye and Qiao Lingshan were originally very nervous, but nervousness is like a bowstring, which will easily become loose if you are too nervous. Especially now, when they saw the three sects sending people to negotiate with Yun Xian one after another, handing over money and goods, they felt that the scene before them was subtly absurd.

I thought there would be flashes of swords and blood, a bloody storm, the sun and moon darkened, the ground stained red with blood, everyone was blood-thirsty, the sky was dark and the earth was gloomy, and it was impossible to tell friend from foe. But now...

What a friendly scene full of life. It doesn't seem like you are in a dangerous desert secret place, but rather like you go out to the market at dawn to buy some vegetables. The enthusiastic proprietress even insists on giving you half a tree, and she will get angry with you if you don't accept it.

It seems that Qiao Lingshan is not the only one who thinks this way, because after everyone handed in their scores, they all stood there awkwardly in tacit understanding.

Um.

so.

So how should it end now?

It seemed that Ji Rongxue's choice was the most abrupt one. She said nothing, took the herbs, turned around and left, taking the huge group of people from the Body Tempering Sect with her.

"Saintess, are you still going to fight?" Seeing that Jimo Shu still didn't seem to want to leave, the Bull Demon rasped, "We rushed over in such a hurry, and Mei Yanliu has been holding the Blood Wave Monkey back the whole time. If she doesn't go back, she might die."

"...Tsk. Let her die." Jimo Shu frowned and said, "If she dies so easily, why would she still be my subordinate?"

Although she said this, her body was very honest. After all, Yun Xian had only offended her, and there was still plenty of time to clean up. Once Mei Yanliu died, she was gone. So she glared at Yun Xian, then glanced at Zhong Changyao, and reluctantly turned into a stream of purple light and left.

In the end, only the three groups from the beginning were left: Yun Xian, Xue Lingxiu, and Liu Shi.

Xue Lingxiu waved her folding fan lightly, and stood not far from Yun Xian with a serious smile. It seemed that she was determined to continue to annoy Liu Shi.

Liu Shi clenched the hilt of his knife and said fiercely, "Yun Xian, you wait—"

"I know." Yun Xian interrupted him affectionately, "I will wait for you. After all, I have been waiting for you for so long."

Liu Shi: “?”

Liu Hui couldn't stand it any longer: "Can you please speak properly? You're destroying someone's reputation for no reason!"

"That's right." Yun Xian said, "I shouldn't be so cruel to myself."

Liu Shi: “…………”

As he gritted his teeth, an inexplicable idea slowly emerged in his mind.

It seemed that whenever he met Yun Xian, he was either embarrassed or on the way to embarrassment. He suffered one defeat after another, but Yun Xian remained unscathed, without losing a single hair.

Liu Shi didn't say anything in the end. He looked at Yun Xian solemnly and left with the pale-faced disciples.

In the end, only Xue Lingxiu, Zhong Changyao, and several masters he brought with him were left on the field.

Xue Lingxiu drew the jade talisman across Yun Xian's jade talisman and passed the score to her. Seeing her calmly handing over the wilted hemostatic grass - Qiao Lingshan had been too nervous when she sorted it out just now and couldn't help but use a little force, she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

It wasn't for anything else. Although this wasn't his original intention, he had protected her after all. Normal people wouldn't just give it away directly, but at least they'd show some appreciation, right?

Xue Lingxiu found it increasingly amusing, and asked her with interest, "Why did you offend Liu Shi?"

The two of them had been arguing for so long, but he had never seen Liu Shifang grit his teeth like that.

"Nothing, he's just petty."

"Tell me about it?"

Yun Xian was too lazy to speak, so he asked Feng Ye to do the talking. Sure enough, everyone's sense of humor couldn't escape the vulgarity. Upon hearing "no one above or below could lift their heads," Xue Lingxiu laughed so hard she was breathless: "Great, great!"

When he smiled, he even used his folding fan to cover his face. He was really particular.

Yun Xian was taking out the projection stone to check the score.

With one move, the East Realm surged ahead, now holding a significant point lead. With 3,000 points, it now ranked second among the four realms. The West Realm, previously elusive, had quietly reached 4,000 points. The North Realm, having lost 2,000 points, now had just over 1,000, and the South Realm was now almost as close.

They were already behind, but judging from Xue Lingxiu's expression, they didn't care at all.

Yes, for him, with these two columns of masters accompanying him, the initial 1,000 points were just a drop in the bucket for him, not a big deal.

Qiao Lingshan didn't know what Yun Xian was going to do next. Seeing that she always looked calm and composed, she just sat there with her legs not properly placed and not even sitting properly, and she couldn't help but frown.

...But it's true, she tried it last time and found it quite comfortable to lie paralyzed like that.

It was almost time to leave. Xue Lingxiu looked at Zhong Changyao, but found that his eyes were still on the place where Jimo Shu had just left. She couldn't help but wonder, "Do you know that witch?"

"We've never met before." Zhong Changyao came back to his senses, curled his lips slightly, and said, "It's just a pity that we didn't exchange names."

"You mean Jimo Shu?" Xue Lingxiu couldn't help but feel a pang of anger when she thought of Jimo Shu's angry face just now. "Forget it. Demons are different from humans after all. They are extremely happy and angry. They have extreme emotions. If they love her, they want her to live; if they hate her, they want her to die. If you don't want to cause trouble for yourself, it's better to stay away from her."

Be careful, or one day you get unhappy and get skinned and hung on the horns of a cow for public display.

Zhong Changyao shook his head: "No. I'm different."

Xue Lingxiu: “…”

He glanced at Zhong Changyao subtly, probably thinking, how could such a good young man be so gullible?

Never mind. It has nothing to do with me. Xue Lingxiu clapped his folding fan in his hand and decided to go home. At this moment, Yun Xian, whose hands were cramping from counting numbers, said from behind him, "Fellow Daoist Xue, where are you going?"

Xue Lingxiu paused: "Hmm?"

Yun Xian said happily, "Why don't we go together?"

As soon as she finished speaking, even Qiao Lingshan and Feng Ye looked at her in surprise.

Is this... active cooperation? But the tone doesn't sound like begging.

"What do you mean by that?" Xue Lingxiu wasn't offended. Instead, she turned around with interest and asked gently, "Are you worried that the Sword Sect will come seeking revenge again, so you want to seek refuge in the Southern Realm? Miss Yun, how do you know I'll agree?"

"It's not about seeking asylum." Yun Xian blinked and said, "Everyone takes what they need, isn't it?"

When she was acting like a rogue, she finally showed some of the innocence of a teenager. Xue Lingxiu paused for a moment and looked at her carriage.

The two rows of masters beside the carriage were still standing silently, but Xue Lingxiu knew that accepting money and doing things for others did not mean that these people were willing to risk their lives for him at the critical moment. After all, money is only useful if you have a life to spend it.

He specialized in medicine and possessed a mastery of the love-severing acupuncture technique, but this inevitably put him at a disadvantage when fighting others. Currently, the only person he could truly trust was Zhong Changyao, which was still too few.

Given the current decline in talent in the Eastern Realm, Yun Xian likely has given up hope of winning the championship. His olive branch to him might not simply be a request for protection. The Eastern Realm and the Southern Realm are neighbors. If they can cooperate effectively in the Four-Way War and build a good relationship, perhaps the Northern Realm will even become wary. Meanwhile, Xue Lingxiu can only choose the Eastern Realm's people. He has a long-standing feud with the Northern Realm, and those Western Realm bald assholes have their eyes on the world, so they'll always give both sides a fair shake and won't take sides. So...

The more he thought about it, the broader his thinking became, and the more he felt that it was indeed a win-win situation for both parties, as Yun Xian said, that was right.

While Xue Lingxiu was lost in thought, Yun Xian stood there calmly, waiting until his expression cleared up a bit and a faint smile appeared on his face before he asked, "How is it?"

"It's really easy to talk to smart people." Xue Lingxiu placed her slender fingers on the handle of her fan and said, "Let's go, Miss Yun. And what about the two behind?"

The two behind: “…” Thank you for thinking of us.

Yun Xian slapped his hand on his shoulder and said, "Brother, why are you being so polite?"

Xue Lingxiu's expression suddenly changed, but he still gave enough face and didn't hit the man on the spot. The two smiled at each other, showing a like-minded and extremely polite attitude. He thought to himself:

Oh, it's not that easy to achieve a win-win situation. It has always been Xue Lingxiu who takes advantage of others. She may make a small profit, but he will never lose.

On the other side, the kind-hearted Yun Xian's thoughts were obviously much simpler -

Stupid people with lots of money.

Quick scam!