Chapter 24: Clash - She Wants This World to Be Hers
Shen Cangyu opened her eyes. The room was dark, with no lights on. She got out of bed, put on her clothes, and went to the window. She opened the window a crack. There was no light outside, but she could smell the salty smell of the sea breeze.
Lu Yuan was still sleeping next to Shen Cangyu's pillow. She glanced at her sideways, then pushed open the door and left.
The ship traveled day and night, with the crew divided into two groups: one group sailed during the day and the other at night, all in order to reach their destination as quickly as possible and leave this boundless sea.
Visibility at sea is low at night, especially on snowy nights when the moon is obscured by clouds, and ships travel much slower than during the day.
After dinner, the passengers returned to their rooms to rest. As midnight approached, the air grew thick and dark, and almost everyone fell into a deep sleep.
Shen Cangyu walked onto the deck and saw someone sitting on the side of the bow, holding a fishing rod. Snow had settled on his shoulders, but he didn't seem to notice.
Shen Cangyu stood at a distance, watching his back with a cold gaze.
There was no one around him now; he was the only one on the deck.
If she pushes him in now, even if he falls into the water, will no one notice he's gone? He'll die peacefully, and everything will be over...
"Your heartbeat is too loud," Shen Qingyan said without turning around.
Shen Cangyu stood behind him, looking down at him.
She wasn't sure who the person in front of her was. Was he Shen Qingyan from Penglai, or Shen Qingyan, the time traveler?
Hearing his words, Shen Cangyu knew that her presence had been discovered. Even though she had tried her best to control the sound of her footsteps, this person had still noticed her.
He does have some skill, she thought.
Now that she's been discovered, she can't continue her actions and can only wait for another opportunity to kill him.
Shen Cangyu feigned curiosity and asked, "Why aren't you resting at night? Why are you fishing here instead?"
Shen Qingyan shook the fishing rod in his hand, calmly sat on the small chair, and replied, "Now is the perfect time to fish." As soon as he finished speaking, the fishing rod suddenly tumbled.
He pulled his arm, and the fishing line, carrying the big fish, soared into the air and landed on the deck.
The hooked fish thrashed about on the wooden plank, its tail slapping, and splashes of seawater landed on her trouser legs, casting a small shadow.
"What a big fish," Shen Qingyan said, raising an eyebrow. He caught the fish and unhooked it. The big fish struggled in his hand, but he let go and threw it back into the sea.
“Unfortunately, it’s not the fish I wanted,” he patted the seawater off his hands and turned to look at Shen Cangyu. “Two copper coin eyes, coming right up to me.”
What?
A blur appeared before Shen Cangyu's eyes.
The moment he drew his longsword, Shen Cangyu suddenly increased the distance between them, gripped his axe, and held it in front of him to meet the blade of his sword.
"Tell me, should I kill him or not?" he said coldly.
Snowflakes flew past her eyes, and the wind from the sword blew her hair.
"I don't understand what you're saying. Why did you attack me for no reason?" Shen Cangyu increased the pressure on his hand, deflecting his sword. She wasn't sure if he was bluffing her or if he had really discovered her identity.
Shen Qingyan raised his hand, revealing a black rope with five beads tied to it, one of which was gleaming brightly: "I was ordered to leave the island to eliminate the five evils. You can't hide anything from my eyes."
Shen Cangyu stared at the black rope on his wrist.
Shen Qingyan was indeed quite capable; he immediately recognized her as someone with "copper coins" in one sentence, a fact that even Pei Wenjing and Xu Qiubai had not noticed.
But... the Five Evils?
Shen Cangyu had never heard of this term before, but his attitude told her that the copper coin eye was also one of the five evils.
So, even Taoist magic has a distinction between good and evil? She didn't willingly acquire these copper coin eyes, so just because of the Taoist magic she possesses, is she destined to be an evil person? Just because she has copper coin eyes, does she deserve to die?
“But my main objective this time isn’t you. If you behave yourselves, I won’t touch you,” Shen Qingyan said.
The Five Evils have been suppressed for many years, to the point that many cultivators have forgotten their existence. Although Penglai has been isolated from the world for years, it has still kept an eye on the Five Evils' movements. Now that the Five Evils are showing signs of resurgence, he has been ordered to leave the island, eliminate the Five Evils, and restore peace to the world.
Among the five evils, "anger, ignorance, doubt, pride, and greed," greed, which corresponds to the coin-eyed type, poses the least threat. This is because believers of the coin-eyed type only care about their own interests. They are best at calculating gains and losses, and will not act rashly or interfere with his actions.
Shen Qingyan boarded the ship this time for a disciple of Wuliangsheng. Wuliangsheng was relatively weak in the early stages, but once given the opportunity to grow, the consequences would be uncontrollable.
He wanted to nip that Wuliang Sheng in the bud before he grew up.
The Five Evils rarely communicated, and he didn't think that the two copper-eyed people and that Wuliangsheng were of the same ilk.
He deliberately waited here at night, hoping that the coin-eyed creature would appear so he could warn them. He figured that, given the coin-eyed creature's personality, it would back down and wouldn't hinder him from dealing with Wuliangsheng.
"That's scary," Shen Cangyu muttered, stepping back before yawning and sauntering toward the cabin. "Forget it, I'm not going to waste my time with you."
Seeing her walk away, Shen Qingyan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He rubbed his numb hand and thought, "Thank goodness she's gone."
Dealing with one Wuliang Sheng was already difficult enough; if he were to add two more of unknown skill levels, he wasn't sure if he could handle them. Fortunately, he scared off the one with the copper coin eyes.
Shen Qingyan's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down. However, he didn't know that he had only won half the bet.
With her there, he would never have been able to leave the ship alive.
However, she first needs to find the "target" that Shen Qingyan mentioned.
Shen Cangyu walked down the stairs, but instead of returning to her room, she went to the empty cafeteria.
After entering the cafeteria, she locked the door and took out the jade pot from her waist.
Shen Qingyan had just mentioned that there were two copper coin holes here. At first, she didn't realize it, but now she remembered. The owner of the jade pot at her waist was Pei Wenjing, and Jiang Qian was currently inside Pei Wenjing's jade pot.
They found Jiang Qian in a dilapidated temple. At that time, Jiang Qian had caught a cold. Xu Qiubai fed him a pill, while Pei Wenjing put him into a jade pot.
At first, they said they would send Jiang Qian to a nearby town to be treated by a doctor at a clinic, but later, Pei Wenjing suddenly changed his mind and said he would take Jiang Qian back to Kunlun.
After Jiang Qian was put into the jade pot, no one mentioned him again, to the point that Shen Cangyu almost forgot he existed.
Shen Cangyu rummaged through the jade pot and finally pulled the guy out from the corner.
She hadn't realized Jiang Qian was also inside the jade pot, having piled all the food inside. Now, upon closer inspection, she discovered that the brat had been hiding inside, eating and drinking to his heart's content, and had tasted every single piece of food she had placed there.
After she pulled Jiang Qian out of the pot with a dark expression, he knelt down without saying a word and said, "Thank you for saving my life, my benefactor. I will repay you by serving you like a slave."
Seeing his spineless, sycophantic behavior, she couldn't help but cover her eyes and yank him up: "Get up right now!"
She had never seen Jiang Qian like this before. In her previous life, she and he were acquaintances, so she couldn't stand him looking like this. She didn't want to be put up with his two-faced behavior.
“I don’t want you to be my slave, but you’ve eaten so much of my food. You’re obligated to do something for me.”
Hearing her words, Jiang Qian quietly raised his head, which had been hanging low: "What does my benefactor want me to do?"
"I want you to secretly observe everyone on this ship and see who among them is suspicious." She needs to find out who Shen Qingyan is watching. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. She needs to find a way to make that person target Shen Qingyan, and ideally, use him to get rid of Shen Qingyan.
After saying that, Shen Cangyu added, "You can keep an eye on the boy with the red mole between his eyebrows and see who he pays attention to on a daily basis... but don't let him discover your existence."
"Don't worry, my benefactor, I'll take care of this." Jiang Qian grinned at her. He was a beggar by birth and was most skilled at disguise, concealment, and intelligence gathering. It was precisely because of this that Shen Cangyu felt comfortable entrusting this task to him.
She wasn't afraid that Jiang Qian would betray her, after all, of all the people she had met in this life, he was the one she knew best and trusted the most.
“You possess the magical eye of a coin,” Shen Cangyu said, looking at him. “You are no longer an ordinary person.”
Jiang Qian looked at her with a confused expression.
Shen Cangyu said softly, "You are a cultivator now." She looked at him, as if looking through his eyes at her past self.
In her previous life, she asked Jiang Qian how to obtain Taoist magic. Jiang Qian said he didn't know; the coin eye had come to him on its own, so he didn't know how to obtain Taoist magic either. He tried to pass on the coin eye he possessed to her, but there was no reaction whatsoever. The coin eye was not meant for her in her previous life.
Shen Cangyu knew that as long as she inherited the Daoist teachings, she could enter the inner sect. She couldn't believe that she was someone without any affinity for immortality. At that time, she thought that any deity would be fine as long as they looked at her and gave her a Daoist teaching, she would wholeheartedly worship it.
In this second life, the copper coin eye that she had longed for but could not obtain in her previous life fell upon her, and she became a cultivator, fulfilling her wish from her previous life.
In her previous life, she didn't know what the "copper coin eye" meant; she only knew it was a Taoist technique with supreme power. But in this life, as she stepped into the world of cultivators, she gradually realized that the "copper coin eye" was not a good thing; it would bring disaster and even death upon her.
Even so, she still acquired Taoist magic.
Pei Wenjing and Xu Qiubai were inner disciples of Kunlun. They had witnessed different kinds of Taoist magic since childhood, so they naturally did not know what Taoist magic meant to her.
But Jiang Qian, who also came from humble origins, would surely understand the meaning behind her words.
If everyone had the secret manual, they could learn the art of manipulation. People are just people, no matter how powerful they are.
Even if they mastered all the tricks of the trade, they still couldn't become immortals through those tricks.
But the Daoist arts are different. Once you inherit the Daoist arts, it's like having the aura of immortals clinging to your blood.
She wanted so much. She wanted to take back what was rightfully hers, she wanted revenge on everyone who had hurt her, she wanted the best of everything in the world, she wanted the world to be hers...
Shen Cangyu finally understood why the Copper Coin Eye had targeted her.
She can't learn to be gentle, kind, humble, and modest; she's destined to be a villain.
*
The wind made the windows rattle.
The sky turned overcast, thunder rumbled, and rain began to fall at sea. The rain intensified suddenly, accompanied by hail. At the boatman's command, everyone took shelter inside the boat and closed the doors and windows tightly.
Xu Qiubai opened the window a crack and looked at the gloomy scene outside. He couldn't help but ask, "Do you think the ship might get hit by hail, fill up with seawater, and sink?"
Shen Cangyu slurped her noodles, not daring to speak. She had now cemented her reputation as a jinx, and if she opened her mouth, it might just come true.
According to the plot, the ship is indeed going to have an accident, but she doesn't know whether it's the entire ship or just Shen Qingyan alone.
In the dead of winter, if the ship really sank into the sea, there were no islands around, and they might not survive.
Just as he was thinking this, a drop of water suddenly fell from the sky and landed on the back of Shen Cangyu's hand.
She looked up and saw a wet patch on the roof deck, with water dripping from the gaps in the deck.
"This boat's waterproofing isn't working well either!" Xu Qiubai complained, taking a wooden basin from the corner of the room and placing it where the water was leaking. However, more and more places in the room were leaking, and it looked like the room was turning into a waterfall.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
Xu Qiubai ran over and opened the door, just in time to see Pei Wenjing standing outside.
Upon seeing the two people inside the room, Pei Wenjing paused for a moment and said, "I have a water-repelling talisman." The water-repelling talisman can disperse all the stagnant water within its range and is often used for cleaning after rain.
Xu Qiubai looked at the paper talisman in Pei Wenjing's hand and stretched out his hand with a big smile: "Thank you, Senior Brother. You came just in time!"
Pei Wenjing raised his hand, avoiding his finger: "This is for Shen Cangyu, you figure out how to deal with it yourself."
Xu Qiubai let out a wail. Pei Wenjing watched him howl for a long time before slowly taking out a few paper talismans from his sleeve and handing them to him: "These are yours. However, the rain is heavy. If you don't go back soon, your room may be flooded."
Reminded by him, Xu Qiubai's eyes widened: "We're doomed!" He grabbed the paper talisman and ran outside.
Pei Wenjing stepped aside to make way for him, and watching his disappearing figure, he waved the paper talisman in his hand at Shen Cangyu: "You know how to use paper talismans, right?"
Shen Cangyu took the paper talisman from his hand, blinked, and didn't say anything.
Seeing her expression, Pei Wenjing took a deep breath.
Okay, I won't.
“I really don’t know what Penglai has taught you. You don’t understand the methods of internal alchemy cultivation, and you don’t even know how to use paper talismans… You might as well not stay in Penglai and just join Kunlun.” He said from the bottom of his heart.
After spending some time with her, he could tell that Shen Cangyu was an intelligent person, even more so than some of the Kunlun inner disciples he knew. She only needed to read their mental techniques a few times to be able to imitate them to a great extent.
However, while she learns and imitates very quickly, she lacks many basic common sense.
For example, before using mental techniques, one needs to cultivate an inner elixir, practicing daily to store the internal energy. This is basic common sense for cultivators; before learning academic knowledge and mental techniques, they need to cultivate an inner elixir first.
Using mental techniques consumes the body's Qi. Since the amount of Qi a person produces each day is limited, cultivators store their Qi in their inner core. As long as there is enough Qi in the inner core, they can use a large number of mental techniques at once.
If one's internal energy is insufficient, forcibly using mental techniques will cause varying degrees of damage to the body, and in severe cases, it can even shorten one's lifespan. Cultivators have always cherished their bodies, and they will not forcibly use mental techniques unless absolutely necessary.
But Shen Cangyu was unaware of this knowledge. The way Shen Cangyu had used that technique before was actually harming his body, depleting his blood, and costing him his life. Pei Wenjing's eyelids twitched involuntarily after just one glance.
It was for this reason that Pei Wenjing became suspicious of her identity as an envoy from Penglai from the very beginning.
Although Penglai is not as famous as Kunlun, it is still a reputable sect, and it can't possibly not teach the methods of cultivating inner alchemy.
Pei Wenjing felt that compared to the Kunlun disciples, Shen Cangyu was more like a self-taught rogue cultivator. She was very smart, but she lacked a stepping stone. Given the opportunity, she would definitely seize every chance to climb up the ranks.
He didn't know why she was impersonating someone from Penglai, but he didn't expose her. He only felt that she was sometimes very cautious, and sometimes very bold.
She dared to impersonate a Penglai person in front of them and even wanted to follow them back to Kunlun. She seemed not to have considered what would happen if her identity was exposed, or how she would cover up the lie she had told.
She would occasionally refine her persona through details, constantly making people believe that she was from Penglai. Several times, Pei Wenjing was also deceived by her and began to wonder if his initial guess was wrong.
But whenever he had this thought, Shen Cangyu would do things that went against the orthodox practices of cultivators. Just like now, she placed the water-repelling talisman in his hand, waiting for him to demonstrate it.
Pei Wenjing sighed.
She had many ways to cover herself up. She could have said she knew how to use paper talismans, she could have figured it out herself, or she could have secretly observed how others used paper talismans and learned from them... but she didn't do that.
She simply placed the paper talisman in his hand.
Sometimes, Pei Wenjing also found it strange that Shen Cangyu seemed to have no guard against him. She could have acted better, but in front of him, she no longer pretended. He didn't know where her trust in him came from, as if... they had known each other for a long time.
“Concentrate your Qi at your fingertips and trace the incantation on the paper talisman with your Qi, and the mental technique on the paper talisman will be triggered,” Pei Wenjing added. “The paper talisman already contains some Qi, so it can be activated as long as there is a trigger. It won’t consume too much of your Qi.”
Pei Wenjing affixed the water-repelling talisman to the wall, and the water above his head disappeared. The water stains that had originally dampened the wooden planks receded, and even the water in the floor and basin gradually disappeared.
With a thought, Shen Cangyu opened the lid of the teapot on the table, and sure enough, the tea in the teapot had disappeared.
Seeing her actions, Pei Wenjing explained, "The water-repelling talisman will disperse all the water in a certain area, so the water tank and kettle in the room must be sealed first, otherwise the water inside will also disappear."
Shen Cangyu nodded, his eyes bright.
Pei Wenjing looked at her, hesitated for a moment, and then took out a scroll from his sleeve and placed it on the table: "This is our Kunlun's method of cultivating inner alchemy. If you are interested, you can take a look."
Looking into Shen Cangyu's eyes, Pei Wenjing vaguely thought of his fellow disciples in Kunlun. He was never stingy with his help to those who worked hard.
Shen Cangyu stared at the scroll on the table, only to hear Pei Wenjing say, "Whether you study mental arts or Taoist magic in the future, you will need to start with internal alchemy. It's always good to learn it first." After Pei Wenjing finished speaking, he left with the words "I'm leaving now" and ran outside.
Looking at the closed door, Shen Cangyu realized that Pei Wenjing probably knew that her identity was not right, but he did not expose her. Instead, he was trying to find a way to help her cover up her lie.
Shen Cangyu looked at the scroll on the table. She knew that this was Kunlun's unique method of internal alchemy cultivation, which was strictly forbidden to be passed on to outsiders, but Pei Wenjing still handed it to her, seemingly unafraid that she would spread the knowledge in the scroll.
He didn't know what this method of internal alchemy cultivation meant to ordinary people.
In his past life, Jiang Qian racked his brains trying to extract the cultivation method of the inner core from the inner disciples, hoping to pass on the secret manual along with the mental techniques. With these, even mortals could possess extraordinary magical power.
The art of the mind is no longer exclusive to cultivators.
This shows how important mental discipline is to cultivators.
The promise that wasn't fulfilled in the past life has been renewed in this life, albeit in a different way.
Shen Cangyu opened the scroll and stared eagerly at the words on it. Each word was imprinted in her mind, forming a rope that connected her past experiences and insights.
She put the scroll away, closed her eyes, and in her turbid dantian, energy surged, constantly differentiating and condensing...
Lu Yuan pried open the window and squeezed in through the crack. With an air of "I'm back from my escapades," he swaggered onto the table and started to walk forward, but his raised paws were stuck in the air and couldn't come down.
She smelled the sour stench in the air, watched Shen Cangyu with her eyes closed as she circulated her energy, and saw the black, mud-like grime seeping from her skin's pores. She understood the situation. She was all too familiar with Shen Cangyu's appearance; when she first entered Kunlun and began cultivating, she expelled the impurities from her body in this way every day.
After the stains are removed, their meridians will be more open and the flow of qi will be smoother, but the stench will still be very strong.
Lu Yuan's paws touched the wall.
Or... should she go out for a walk again?
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