The cheap, worthless charm of the white jade buckle.
The wind and rain rustled through the trees and leaves in the mountains, making the place seem exceptionally desolate.
After Pei Xuanzhi applied the medicine to her face, Yan Huanyue crawled to the side.
She lifted her skirt and pinched her numb calves through her white shorts, revealing pale feet with dark blue veins standing out against the thin skin.
She touched her feet; they were chillingly cold, clearly indicating that the putrefactive virus had reached her calves.
So she immediately took out a pill from her treasure pouch to remove the poison and swallowed it.
Pei Xuanzhi naturally reached out and pulled her feet into his lap, calmly taking out a bottle of ointment and pouring it onto the back of her feet, volunteering to do the work:
"Let me apply some more ointment to help you loosen your muscles and bones."
He knelt at her feet, her feet resting on his chest, being kneaded by him, but she felt nothing.
The scene looked rather odd. Yan Huanyue waved her hand, took a slightly awkward step back, and lowered her skirt to cover her feet.
"No need, it's just some putrefactive toxins, some pills will do the trick."
Pei Xuanzhi's hands were covered by the hem of his gauze dress. He looked down at the thin veil covering his wrists and couldn't help but be stunned.
Coming to his senses, he said, "I fed you some pills last night, don't eat too many."
Yan Huanyue nodded. Her face stung a little after the ointment was applied, so she changed the subject, raising her hand to touch the wound.
"It was really unlucky. I was in the secret room behind the wall, doing nothing, when I was inexplicably slashed on the face."
Pei Xuanzhi pursed his lips, forced a smile, and said, "The wound is long, but not deep, so it shouldn't leave a scar."
Yan Huanyue took out a small mirror from her treasure pouch and looked at herself. The wound was on her left cheek, a long line that didn't look very deep.
She didn't care, glanced at it casually, and then put the mirror away.
Pei Xuanzhi got up, put on an indigo cloak, and walked to the door.
Looking through the crack in the door at the verdant greenery shrouded in a light drizzle, a refreshing breeze gradually seeped through the crack and onto his face.
Yan Huanyue asked, "What are you looking at?"
Pei Xuanzhi listened carefully to the sounds in the forest and said, "Last night, we were unable to control the golden mist, which disturbed the anglers in the mountains. They thought there was a group of snakes or a snake demon. I wonder if they will send someone to catch the demon."
Yan Huanyue thought for a moment and said, "Xiling is under the jurisdiction of the Zhou family. Even if someone comes, we can explain it clearly. If it is not someone from the Zhou family, there is no need to worry too much."
Pei Xuanzhi turned around and said, "I'm not worried about whether anyone will come, I just feel this isn't a safe place..."
After saying that, he walked back to her side and sat down beside her. He took out some food and water from his treasure pouch and placed them beside her.
The rain pattered softly. Yan Huanyue sipped her water and ate some snacks, then tentatively asked, "Besides you, who else knows this is the exit of the Ghost Market?"
Pei Xuanzhi leaned over and gently wiped the crumbs of pastry from her lips with his index finger, saying softly, "I don't know."
Yan Huanyue asked, "How did you know that?"
Pei Xuanzhi said calmly, "I heard it from others, so I went to take a look. I didn't expect it to be true."
Yan Huanyue sat up straight and turned her head to look at him.
Pei Xuanzhi said seriously, "Really, it's just an exit. What benefit would I get from lying to you about something like this?"
Yan Huanyue glanced at him and continued eating in silence.
Pei Xuanzhi quietly approached her little by little, placing his hands on the thin mattress on the ground.
He leaned back against the wooden pillar behind him, staring at her intently, his heart softening, and a slight smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.
He said with a smile, "Sister, don't doubt me. I'm not a bad person. Otherwise, I would have run away long ago to avoid being refined by the gold-melting array. Why would I have jumped into the ley lines?"
Yan Huanyue said calmly, "Let's wait until we return to the sect and let the sect leader decide on this matter."
Pei Xuanzhi sighed, picked up the cup she had placed on the ground, took a sip of the remaining water, leaned against the wooden pillar, and said casually, "Do whatever you want, I have a clear conscience."
Yan Huanyue felt a little sleepy. She shook her head, blinked to clear her mind, and said, "That's even better. You must have your own secrets or things you don't want to talk about over the past ten years, as long as you haven't harmed innocent people..."
Pei Xuanzhi chuckled silently at her sleepy look, brought the water glass to her lips, lightly brushed her lower lip, and asked gently with concern, "Sleepy?"
Yan Huanyue nodded, took the water glass from his hand, and drank it.
The room was silent, with only the soft breathing of the two people.
Perhaps because she hadn't slept well the night before, Yan Huanyue had clearly taken a nap, but after eating something and sitting for a while, she felt increasingly sleepy, and her eyelids started to droop again.
She meditated and circulated her spiritual energy for an hour, and when she opened her eyes, she felt extremely tired from excessive exertion.
I did expend a lot of energy in the ghost market, and I survived alone for a long time after falling into the crevice.
I didn't dare to fall asleep completely last night. Now I'm a little more relaxed. I ate something and suddenly my eyes are blurry and I feel drowsy.
Yan Huanyue dispersed the magic seals at her fingertips, moved her legs apart, and leaned against the wooden pillar behind her, only wanting to close her eyes slightly to relieve herself for a while, but she instantly fell into a deep sleep.
Pei Xuanzhi saw that she had suddenly fallen asleep and guessed that she was probably unaware of Qian Suizi's existence and had not been able to refine it immediately like he had.
Now that the spiritual energy has circulated, the earth vein power within the thousand-year-old child has been drawn into her body, causing her to fall into such a deep sleep.
He pinched her wrist and checked her pulse, but there was nothing wrong with it.
He reached out and pulled her into his arms, using her as a pillow so that Yan Huanyue could lean against him to rest. He then pulled his cloak over them both.
Jin Wu, uncontrollably breaking through his restraints, crawled out from behind him, hidden under his cloak, climbed onto her, and slipped into her sleeves and collar, embracing her as they slept together.
Pei Xuanzhi turned his head and kissed her warm, snowy cheek. Since it wasn't the height of his passion yet, he could still barely restrain Jin Wu from doing anything more outrageous.
The mere sight of her soft, smooth body emanating from the golden mist was enough to make his heart pound and his vision go white.
Jin Wu, a fool who only knows how to satisfy himself, has no idea that by only scratching the surface, he is most likely to accumulate overwhelming desires. This is undoubtedly like drinking poison to quench thirst, and in the end, he himself will suffer and go mad because of it.
Pei Xuanzhi held her tightly, trying his best to suppress the pleasure brought by the golden mist, but he was unwilling to let her go.
He leaned against the wooden pillar, tilting his head back with a slight frown between his brows. His Adam's apple bobbed slowly beneath his fair skin. In an instant, the corners of his eyes turned red, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He eagerly reached for her right hand, their fingers intertwining, secretly adjusting to the intense pleasure emanating from the countless golden mists rubbing against her skin, a pleasure that steadily accumulated within him...
He suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist, tilted his head back and sobbed a few times, two tear tracks silently sliding down his cheeks. His whole body felt light, and his tense body and turbulent soul relaxed a little.
He didn't touch anything on his body that belonged to her; he simply wanted to hold her. It was just that the greedy golden mist was out of control and insisted on crawling out to entangle her...
A cleansing talisman flew out of his sleeve, circled around him once, and then spontaneously combusted by the window.
Pei Xuanzhi was completely dry. He hugged Yan Huanyue and rubbed his forehead against hers, unable to resist kissing her warm cheeks several times.
He hugged her tightly again, closed his eyes, and rubbed his face against her hair, unable to hold back his whisper, "I really like you so much..."
The rain outside was getting heavier, and a series of heavy, dragging footsteps came from the woods in the distance, sounding like ordinary passersby.
Pei Xuanzhi composed himself and listened intently for a while before picking up Yan Huanyue, lowering her slightly so that her head rested on his chest, and covering her with his cloak.
The man in the mountains had been walking for a long time when he suddenly saw the hut. His heavy and tired steps became cheerful, and he quickened his pace to run towards it.
The dilapidated door creaked open, and Pei Xuanzhi looked up expressionlessly. A woman with messy, damp hair peeked in.
The woman, who looked to be about thirty-five or thirty-six, glanced around the room before her gaze suddenly fell on him. She was startled at first, but then became stunned by his appearance.
She snapped out of her daze, trying to ease the awkwardness, and muttered to herself, somewhat incoherently, "There's usually not many people here, but it's raining today, um, I came here to take shelter from the rain."
He then turned to the person outside the door and said, "There's someone inside."
After a few words of discussion outside the door, a middle-aged man pushed the door open and walked in. He was taken aback when he saw a very young and handsome man sitting alone there.
Seeing that his clothes were made of expensive materials, and that the cloak he wore looked like something for winter, and that he could even move a thin mattress to lay on the ground by himself, and that his face was lightly powdered, the middle-aged man asked:
"Is this young man ill?"
Pei Xuanzhi nodded, his expression calm but his tone very polite, "Thank you for your concern, but I am suffering from a serious illness."
The man said, “We came from Dongqi Town. After crossing the mountain to the other side, the road we usually take got stuck in a deep pit, so we changed our route. But it’s not easy to walk, and the rain is getting heavier. We remembered that there is an abandoned thatched hut here. Young man, would you mind if we came in to take shelter from the rain?”
Pei Xuanzhi's fingertips gently caressed the thin, soft skin on the inside of Yan Huanyue's wrist beneath the cloak, feeling her pulse with each beat.
Hearing this, he nodded and said, "I am just a passerby stopping by. Please make yourselves at home."
The middle-aged man turned around and beckoned for a while. Several burly men carrying large knives walked in with grim faces, put away their old umbrellas against the wall, and one of them muttered discontentedly:
"It's just a dilapidated house. It doesn't belong to anyone, so why does it require anyone's permission to come in? It's just making people stand outside in the wind for nothing."
Upon entering and seeing Pei Xuanzhi's sickly appearance, he couldn't help but scoff and mutter, "A frail pretty boy, making such a big fuss to avoid the rain."
Pei Xuanzhi glanced at him indifferently.
The woman who had peeked in earlier came in from outside, pinched the burly man's arm, and said, "You're so talkative, you should shut up."
Unexpectedly, the burly man said indignantly, "How many times have I told you not to feel sorry for those who pretend to be pitiful, and not to speak up for them? They are all ingrates! I told you back then that if any of the brothers in our clan could adopt one of your children, you wouldn't have adopted such a worthless thing and ended up like this today."
The woman, somewhat embarrassed and angry, retorted, "She was an abandoned baby back then, and I took her in out of pity. How could I have known she would seduce her adoptive father when she grew up! How can you blame me for this!"
The burly man walked to the corner, sat down, threw his broadsword on the ground, and said with a sneer:
"Alright, I'm not arguing with you anymore. I still remember how she framed me a few years ago, you little bastard... I heard that Liu Laowu is marrying that little brat this time, and he's hired a chef from Fengweilou Restaurant. Back when you were with him, he fooled you with just two feet of cloth."
Hearing this, the woman angrily fought back tears and cursed, "You childless bastard! I can't have children, does he think he can just find someone else? You damned bastard, all you do is like young girls!"
The middle-aged man leading the group eased the tension. "Alright, stop talking. We're going there to demand an explanation. Our own sister was kicked out of her husband's house, so let's not cause any more trouble. This time, I think we should just go and chase that little slut away. Ah Xia, you and Liu Laowu can have another baby boy, and things will be smooth sailing from now on. Everyone has their ups and downs in life."
Someone chimed in, "That's right, half of Liu Laowu's fortune belongs to you. You should adopt a boy from our family to raise, so he can support you. I think we should just sell that ungrateful brat to arrange a ghost marriage!"
"Shh!"
The middle-aged man turned around and glanced at Pei Xuanzhi.
Pei Xuanzhi coughed, tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and leaned against the wooden pillar, as if he were detached from the matter.
The middle-aged man warned, "Keep your mouth shut outside, and don't let everyone say whatever they want, whether it's good or bad."
The woman called Xia seemed to have someone vent her anger for her, and said fiercely, "I'm fine with living with Liu Laowu, but Liu Laowu hit me for that bitch, so this time I have to teach that bitch a lesson!"
Pei Xuanzhi opened his eyes and glanced in their direction, somewhat puzzled. It was clearly Liu Laowu who had beaten him, so how did the blame for the beating be shifted onto the adopted daughter they were talking about?
However, it sounded like a complicated family matter, and he had no interest in inquiring about it. He would just wait until they left before taking Yan Huanyue to find another place to stay in the mountains.
With the tide of passion approaching, a secluded spot in the mountains is the most suitable place.
The group ranted and raved, venting their anger at the ungrateful adopted daughter. The burly man, caught up in the moment, suddenly said:
"Five years ago, when Uncle Shengzi's son got married, you brought her back with you, and she slandered me, saying she had seen me hugging my new wife. Do you remember? How could someone so young come up with such a malicious trick?"
Xia said indignantly, "I remember, I gave her a beating to teach her a lesson! She was only eight or nine years old then, who knew she was such a seductive little girl!"
Pei Xuanzhi suddenly sensed something was amiss. It wasn't impossible for an eight or nine-year-old child to use such a reason to frame someone else, but... it certainly wasn't the majority.
Although his guess might not be correct, it would be best to make the trip anyway...
The middle-aged man glanced at the heavy rain outside the window and said, "The rain has lessened a bit."
Just as they were about to suggest setting off, a young man who had been sitting quietly not far away asked, "Gentlemen, could anyone lend me a few copper coins?"
"whispering sound......"
The burly man who had muttered something as soon as he entered said, "He looks like a rich man, but he's just a stinking beggar."
Pei Xuanzhi was a master of disguise. Hearing this, he smiled sheepishly and said, "I've been here for a few days. A few days ago, a vegetable cart passed by. The old man driving it said he would only take me down the mountain if I asked for three copper coins. I didn't have a single coin on me. I couldn't bear to give him anything else, but he just wouldn't let me ride in the cart..."
As he spoke, he took out a white jade button and said humbly, "If you don't mind, I'm willing to exchange this white jade button for three copper coins."
"That's great."
The middle-aged man at the head of the group readily took out three copper coins, walked over to him, placed them in his hand, and smoothly accepted a flawless white jade buckle. He said cheerfully, "Young man, it would be best if you went down the mountain to get treatment soon."
Pei Xuanzhi nodded slightly and said, "Thank you."
Everyone was envious of him, seeing how casually he walked around, all alone in the desolate mountains, yet laden with wealth...
If one were not a resident of Anshun, it would be very difficult to suppress that momentary urge to plunder.
The group walked into the drizzling rain, becoming much quieter than when they had arrived.
Once they left, Pei Xuanzhi tidied up the things in the room, conjured a water-repelling talisman, and immediately picked up Yan Huanyue and left the small house, heading deeper into the mountains and forests.
The road was slippery, and he couldn't walk fast, so he released golden mist and used it to quickly travel into the deep mountains.
There were several naturally formed caves in the mountains. He chose one to go into. After going in about ten steps, the cave suddenly extended downwards, as if a huge deep well had been opened in the ground.
He commanded the golden mist to descend to the deepest part of the cave and used talismans to sweep away the dust.
They then took out two thin blankets and laid them on the ground, placing Yan Huanyue on them. They also put a stack of clothes and hairpins that they had bought for her before, along with food and water.
He reached into his waist and conjured a bundle of red rope from his treasure pouch. He tied the rope into a protective array, affixed talismans, and activated each one one by one with hand seals.
He prepared very carefully. After the earth vein power of the thousand-year-old child spontaneously merged into her body, she would probably wake up tomorrow. If she was willing, she could help him overcome the tide of love here.
The place is spacious and secluded, allowing the golden mist to linger freely, and there's no need to worry about someone suddenly showing up.
After tidying everything up, he kissed her smooth forehead, commanded the golden mist to climb out of the cave, set up another magic array near the cave entrance, and then left the cave.
After walking a few steps, I felt a chilling emptiness in my arms, and my heart ached with reluctance to part.
He couldn't resist turning back suddenly, jumping into the cave to collect all his belongings, and then carrying her in his cloak to protect her.
He tossed out three copper coins that floated in the air to guide the way, and then carried her out of the forest.
Golden mist, like vines, climbed the branches in the forest, carrying them forward step by step.
.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, have you found it?"
Lu Shenchu stood by the lake, scratched his head, and casually raised his hand, sending a copper coin flying back into his hand from the bottom of the lake.
He turned around and said, "Are you sure the angler who came to report the disaster saw a group of snakes? How come there isn't even a trace of a snake crawling by?"
As he arrived at Zhou Qian's place, Zhou Qian said, "Didn't it rain?"
Lu Shenchu had no choice but to follow the Zhou family as they continued their search into the mountains.
He was used to being alone and thought that following Zhou Pingyi to Xiling to earn some money would make him much more secure. Little did he know that this kind of work, which required him to be on duty every day and to cooperate with others on missions, was really torturous and left him with no freedom at all.
Just like today, even though we haven't detected a trace of the snake demon, we still have to follow the snake demon trail. We have to keep going until we've hit a brick wall before we can change our approach. Once we've agreed on a plan, it's not easy to change the established direction. This is the most tedious part of teamwork.
Back then, he could come and go freely on his own. If there was anything he couldn't handle, he would ask the little immortal Xuanjiang for help. The two of them would discuss things and could change direction at any time.
Most of the time, the little immortals would rush ahead, and he could just follow along and pick up the scraps, which would be enough for him to eat and drink his fill.
Unlike now, although it's more stable, being imprisoned in Xiling and facing the same people every day is incredibly boring, really...
Someone ran out of the deep forest and shouted from afar, "There's an abandoned hut over there!"
Lu Shenchu followed and found that there was no one in the thatched hut, but there was always a faint fragrance hidden in a corner of the hut.
Lu Shenchu felt the taste was somewhat familiar, when suddenly someone said:
"It's somewhat like the scent of a succubus. We once seized a box of incense tablets made from succubus blood."
"Oh, no wonder. If they are male demons, they do look somewhat like a swarm of snakes. Their souls can be outwardly manifested, which is used to capture their mates."
Lu Shenchu suddenly remembered that when he met Yan Huanyue during the reign of Emperor Mingde, she seemed to be wearing this kind of fragrance.
Now that I think about it, the person she shared a bed with was just a male charlatan with half-charlatan blood, hahaha...
I wonder if that shameful old bachelor who embarrassed himself in front of her has gone back to harass her.
How can a bachelor who doesn't even dare to reveal his true demonic form compare to a succubus? Sigh...
Perhaps the little immortal's true form is an extremely ugly creature. It's truly remarkable that he has such high standards, taking a liking to such a female cultivator who has everything she could want.
Don't let the little immortal's usual aloof and powerful demeanor fool you. His cheap and shameless behavior when he met Fellow Daoist Yan, and his desperate attempts to get his hands on his worthless belongings, are still vivid in our memories and leave a deep impression.
I feel embarrassed to even mention it to him.
This also shows that even a minor immortal like Lu Shenchu, an ordinary rogue cultivator, is someone who experiences setbacks and frustrations in certain aspects of life...
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 00:41:08 and 23:46:30 on May 22, 2024!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the landmine: 1 Cute Cheese;
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: I don't know what name to give, Xiyu Xiyan, and Zizi (10 bottles); Lanze Duofangcao (5 bottles); Yikou Baba (3 bottles); Suibianla~ (2 bottles); Xutuzhi, Ququ Wuwueryi, Xixi, Aiyonglongtu de Xiaonvsheng, and Bingzhen Fudjia (1 bottle);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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