Chapter 46 Northern Wilderness (Part 1) Tassels, do you like them? ...
When the light returned, the group found themselves on a small island in the middle of a lake, surrounded by several cultivators dressed in "strange clothes".
The lake breeze was refreshing, and the sun was scorching. They had only been there a short while, but the group from Taihua Mountain already felt like shrimp that had just come ashore, about to be cooked by the sun.
Qingxing narrowed her eyes slightly and raised her hand to shield herself.
Guda had already hidden inside the cloth bag, only its eyes showing, and it kept complaining, "I'm dying of sun! I'm dying of sun!"
Qingxing lowered her free hand and covered its head, shielding it from most of the sunlight.
She sighed softly, "I should have known better than to come."
The experience of riding the teleportation array was not pleasant. The group felt as if they had been flattened and kneaded, their bones broken and stuffed into a box. To make matters worse, their throats were also blocked by some mysterious force, preventing them from making a sound.
Even Qingxing, the wild improved human of the teleportation array, secretly vowed after this trip that she would never take a large teleportation array a second time unless there were special circumstances.
Not only does it burn through money, but it also makes me feel like ants are crawling all over my body, making me feel uncomfortable all over.
Gudako glared at her upon hearing this: "If you don't come, what will happen to my world-destroying villain?!"
Qingxing stared at it for a long time: "Go find your own world-destroying villain."
"You were just trying to fool me. I told you my dad wouldn't do something like that." After a while, Duanmu Tingzhu rubbed his shoulders and complained that Qingxing and Shen Wan had lied to him earlier.
Shen Wan rolled her eyes: "Didn't you see it yourself?"
"Alright, alright, alright, stop arguing." Jiu Quchen rubbed his back and twisted around in all directions. "This teleportation array is giving me a headache."
"Ninth Uncle, you need to exercise more. Look at me, I'm just recovering from a serious illness, and I'm perfectly fine," Duanmu Tingzhu whispered in his ear.
Jiu Qu Chen laughed and scolded, "Children don't have waists, of course you don't feel pain!"
Duanmu Tingzhu made a face at him, then turned to look at Qingxing, who was too calm, and clicked her tongue, saying, "Senior sister at the same table, how come you look like nothing happened?"
Qingxing glanced at him and said lightly, "I'm in good health. You should exercise more, classmate, deskmate, and junior brother."
Duanmu Tingzhu: ...
Why are you two, master and disciple, so mean to him!
Seeing his discomfiture, Qingxing chuckled inwardly, ignored him, and followed Jiuquchen, who was chatting with the person in charge of the Qiushan Sect.
Due to its unique geographical location, the Northern Wilderness Continent is a vital transportation hub, with extremely prosperous commerce. All sorts of strange and wonderful cultivation techniques and schools of thought converge and blend here, giving rise to the most abundant cultivation system in the history of immortal cultivation, a veritable contest of a hundred schools of thought.
However, with so many schools of thought, no one was willing to concede to the others. In order to prove their own strength, the founders of each school established their own sects. The Qiushan School is the strongest, richest, and largest school in the Northern Wilderness Continent today.
Its techniques combine the strengths of many schools while discarding their dross, and it is known for its unpredictable moves and surprise attacks, earning it the nickname "the school closest to a demon."
Despite the complaints, the strength of the Qiushan Sect is undeniable. Every year during the enrollment season, young people from other towns and cities in the Northern Wilderness Continent, in addition to those under the Qiushan Sect's jurisdiction, will rush to the sect overnight, creating a spectacular scene of thousands flocking to the area.
This year's trial held in the Northern Wilderness Continent naturally fell to the Qiushan Sect as the host.
The person who was talking to Xuan Ying was Ji Kun, the deputy deacon of the Qiushan Sect and the representative of Miao Poison Sword Technique.
They had barely exchanged a few words when Ji Kun smiled and made a "please" gesture. Xuan Ying waved to the people behind him, signaling them to follow.
The two people in front of her were chatting and laughing. From Qingxing's angle, she could only see their mouths opening and closing, but couldn't hear what they were saying. Seeing that they were really having a good time, she glanced at Jiuquchen, who was expressionless on the other side, and tugged at his sleeve, asking with concern, "Master, are you still feeling unwell?"
"Huh? Me?" Jiu Qu Chen was slightly taken aback, then realized that Qing Xing was talking about the teleportation array, and joked, "I'm not that weak, am I?"
Qingxing touched the tip of her nose and whispered, "Oh."
"Hey, I just think that the deacon's way of speaking is so annoying." Perhaps seeing that Qingxing was a little embarrassed, Jiuquchen suddenly moved closer to her and lowered his voice, "Just now when I was talking to him, he said things like 'I have long admired your presence' and 'I have been looking forward to seeing you,' and he kept finding ways to blame us for being late."
Perhaps adhering to the principle of "when in Rome, do as the Romans do," Jiu Qu Chen had researched the scenery and customs of the Northern Wilderness Continent in advance. Today, he specially wore a bright purple dress with an exotic flair, and tied his long hair up with a blue lotus hairpin, which inexplicably gave him a more youthful look.
The fragrance of lotus leaves lingered around Qingxing's nose. Jiuquchen was only slightly closer to her than normal, but Qingxing still subtly slowed her pace and moved a little further away from him.
She didn't look at Jiu Quchen, but gazed straight ahead and said softly, "Have all the disciples from the other sects arrived?"
Jiu Qu Chen didn't notice her little movements, only thinking that he was walking too fast. In order to talk to Qing Xing, he deliberately slowed down his pace and continued, "Judging from the meaning of his words, they've all come. It seems that they're preparing to hold a banquet tonight!"
Finally, he added, "Perfect timing, I've been wanting to try the cuisine of the Northern Wilderness for a long time!"
Qingxing nodded: "I shouldn't disappoint Master."
The two remained silent. After a while, Guda, who had been hiding in the cloth bag, suddenly popped its head out. It looked at Qingxing, hissed, and said strangely, "Why do you seem so guilty?"
Qingxing remained expressionless and slapped it back into the Heavenly Book.
Although the buildings in the Northern Wilderness are mostly white walls and blue tiles, the Qiushan Sect, as the largest sect in the area, inevitably has to interact with other sects on the continent. In order to show the sect’s grandeur, its architectural style is diverse. Qingxing suspects that it was modeled after Mount Taihua when it was built, because she saw something similar to the “lotus lantern” of Mount Taihua on her way to her residence.
They floated on both sides of the corridor, two lamps every five steps. Qingxing examined them carefully and found that the flames burning inside were not from the Flame Mountain. Judging from their appearance, they seemed to be fake fire made by puppetry, and fake lotus lamps made by some cultivators with fire spirit roots.
Unlike Mount Taihua, which is convenient and natural, it requires adding new fire every day, but it is enough for cultivators from other sects.
"The banquet will likely begin around 7 PM in Chang Le Hall. The two elders may take their disciples for a stroll and exchange ideas with other sects." Ji Kun led them to a stilted building and gave each of them a piece of paper stained red with blood. "You will need this to enter the banquet. Please do not forget it."
After they finished speaking, they clasped their hands in a fist salute to each other, and he left with the disciples who had come to greet the guests.
Qingxing found the stilted house style novel and had been observing it since the beginning. Now that Ji Kun had left, she was about to step inside to take a look when she was disturbed by the noise from the people behind her and had to cover her ears.
As soon as the outsiders left, Shen Wan and Duanmu Tingzhu became lively. They pushed and shoved each other as they went upstairs, vying to choose their rooms first.
"How can you have the nerve to compete with a patient like that?!"
"You've been fully recovered for so long, yet you still act like a patient. How come I never realized you were so shameless?!"
The two voices gradually faded into the distance, leaving the group in silence.
After a moment, Xie Yuzhou nodded slightly to them and followed them.
"Haha, my junior brothers and sisters are so lively." Wenren Xi waved her fan and laughed as she walked.
Xuan Ying and Chen Mo exchanged a glance, greeted Jiu Qu Chen and his apprentice, and walked together towards the house on the first floor.
Jiu Qu Chen sighed helplessly. Based on the principle that "as a master, I should take responsibility," he turned to Qing Xing and asked, "Do you want to go out and have a look?"
Qingxing shook her head.
She was exhausted, and the sun was too strong outside, so she didn't want to wander around aimlessly. She thought she would just rest in her room for a while. After Shen Wan and Duanmu Tingzhu finished arguing and fighting over which room she wanted, she chose the room on the top floor, closed the door, and stretched.
The bed was large and located in the center. Qingxing threw the cloth bag onto the wooden table and got directly onto the bed.
Several layers of cotton were laid on the tatami mat. Qingxing originally only wanted to close her eyes and meditate, but she didn't expect that being wrapped in the quilt was so comfortable that she went from pretending to sleep to actually sleeping.
She slept for the entire afternoon.
The sun had long since set, and the room was pitch black.
Qingxing forced open her heavy eyelids, turned over, and blinked at the roof.
She didn't sleep well. First, she dreamed that she returned to the day she subdued the demon at Jade Tiger Peak. Su Lin, with red eyes, questioned Qing Xing about why she didn't save his junior brother. Before Qing Xing could explain, the purple-clad demon descended from the sky and pierced through Su Lin's body with one hand.
Qingxing hurriedly summoned a magic circle, but a giant hand descended from the sky. Shen Wan and the others suddenly appeared from nowhere. They struggled against the giant hand, shouting to Qingxing, "Run!"
She tried to run, but her feet seemed glued to the ground, unable to move. Qingxing struggled, and when she looked up again, her fellow disciples had transformed into the people of Wuning Village, but the leader was not Duanmu Rui, but Duanmu Tingzhu.
She lowered her gaze and discovered that Duanmu Tingzhu had her own inexhaustible wood inserted into his abdomen.
The dream was like a bottomless pit, randomly reflecting everything that had happened since my rebirth.
When Qingxing woke up, she felt that she had not only not rested, but was even more tired.
The room was silent. She glanced at the sleeping spirit of the Heavenly Book, tiptoed out of the door, and slipped onto the roof of the stilted house.
The crescent moon hung high in the deep blue night sky. The stars shone brightly, with a few streaks of light occasionally falling from it, leaving a fleeting trace in the firmament.
A cool breeze gently kissed Qingxing's cheek. She opened her eyes, her gaze following a thin cloud.
The cloud was pale and gray, hanging over the green apricots, making the moonlight hazy.
In her previous lives, Qingxing had seen such a night sky countless times. But this was the first time she had ever seen it from another continent.
She slowly reached out and used her index finger to count the stars in the air:
One, two, three, four...
As she counted, perhaps because of the cloud, she seemed to return to New Year's Eve at Mount Taihua, the night she released sky lanterns with her friends.
Qingxing spread her five fingers, palms facing the sky, then suddenly clenched them.
She wanted to protect this starry sky, and protect everyone's wishes.
But... Qingxing remembered Duanmu Tingzhu's appearance last night.
She lowered her hand and placed it back at her side.
Can she really change the course of her destiny in this life?
The surrounding trees rustled in the wind, as if trying to clear away all her worries. Qingxing put her hand behind her head and simply closed her eyes.
After a long while, she was almost asleep again when a familiar fragrance of lotus leaves wafted into her nostrils. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a purple hem.
Jiu Qu Chen laughed and said, "The banquet is about to begin, why are you still counting stars here?"
Qingxing was surprised. She sat up and asked, "Why is Master here?"
"I was taking a walk downstairs when I saw a blue shadow on the roof. I thought it was a petty thief." Jiu Qu Chen sat down next to her, looking at her with a pair of smiling eyes. "It turned out to be my apprentice."
He propped himself up with his hands and continued, "I should have realized it sooner. Oh dear, I embroidered this outfit myself, and I didn't even recognize it."
Qingxing avoided his gaze, curled up her legs, hugged her knees with both hands, and said nothing.
Seeing that she looked upset, Jiu Quchen asked, "What's wrong? Are you unhappy?"
"No," Qingxing replied.
Jiu Qu Chen didn't press further, but waited patiently. Sure enough, after a short while, Qing Xing's voice came from the side, revealing a hint of confusion.
She spoke hesitantly, "Master, when will I be able to attain enlightenment and become the strongest person?"
"So eager to ascend?" Jiu Qu Chen didn't expect her to ask this, so he joked, "I didn't expect my indifferent disciple to have such worries."
Qingxing said in a muffled voice, "I want to be of some use, to protect you."
Jiu Qu Chen was slightly surprised upon hearing this: "Disciple, your master is not dead yet! I can still fight!"
Seeing that Qingxing remained silent, he sighed again, "Qingxing, the Dao of Freedom I cultivate cannot offer you any guidance on the path of worldly affairs. I can only offer you some unpleasant words based on my own experience."
"People have different understandings of the mortal world, and the circumstances of enlightenment have varied throughout history. Some have experienced suffering and developed compassion; others have witnessed joy and longed to protect peace. This is their path, woven from the intertwined destinies of countless people. Qingxing, you can step into the mortal world for the sake of countless homes, or you can fight against the world for a few laughs, or you can even achieve perfection for just one person. The world is vast, and you will always find your own path; there is no need to rush."
"Before that, do not take on the burden of everyone's fate. Unresolved worldly affairs and too many grudges will only bring you more trouble."
Qingxing looked up at Jiuquchen, who had lost his usual carefree demeanor and become more serious. Seeing Qingxing looking over, he magically produced a tassel from somewhere, hanging it on his index finger and showing it to her.
In a daze, Qingxing heard him say, "Liusu, I have stored my protective magic here. Take a look, do you like it?"
He extended his hand forward: "It'll hang on your staff, perfect."
The tassels are green, a color that Qingxing likes, and also the first impression her name gives.
The tassel was made with ordinary silk thread, but to Qingxing, it swayed brightly in the darkness, almost burning her eyes.
-----------------------
Author's Note: The King of Picking Up Girls on Mount Taihua (the "girl" specifically refers to Qingxing)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
