A world without glitz
Meimei single-handedly scooped Jingbai up from the ground. She positioned herself between the two of them, her cold face fixed squarely on her old acquaintance. Her left hand gripped his shoulder, and with a slight pressure, she could feel it shatter. Coming to her senses, she looked at the two men, who were already on edge. One was brimming with excitement, while the other had already mapped out a clear escape route.
He huddled stiffly against the wooden chair, like a cat being grabbed by the scruff of the neck. Pearl-like tears welled in his eyes, but they stubbornly refused to fall. His almond-shaped eyes were wide open, their pupils narrowed to thin lines, reflecting Meimei's threatening expression close at hand.
Jingbai had just lost a life, and now faced a formidable enemy. He could only roar inwardly, "When the fisherwoman read my fortune, she didn't predict my fate would be bleak. Why am I facing this disaster today?" His legs were already weak, and even with Meimei forcing him to stand, he still swayed like a paper kite, swaying and limp. But his bright almond-shaped eyes stared at Meimei without blinking.
Jingbai's thoughts drifted away, recalling his first encounter with Meimei. By then, he had become a renowned spirit beast in the Nagasawa region. Every spirit beast in Nagasawa had heard his beautiful singing voice. Not only did he possess the Izumi clan's natural musical talent, but he also possessed stunning dancing skills. He alone had become a household name in Nagasawa.
However, fame often brings trouble. After gaining immense fame, Jingbai encountered some difficult problems. His voice had somehow reached the demonic cult's Saint Maiden, Meimei. Not only did Meimei learn of his fame, she also publicly announced that she would capture him in Changze within three days and bring him to the Weird Forest, where he would live a life of singing and dancing, a life of ease and happiness.
Jingbai knew nothing about Meimei, only that she was a saint of the demonic cult and a rather unruly person. He had never seen such a wild and uninhibited woman before, and he couldn't help but feel a little frightened. But what could he do? He was focused on cultivating his singing and dancing skills, and his spiritual power was low, making him no match for Meimei.
The elders in his family all advised him to be open-minded, hoping he could please her and live a carefree life. But he couldn't bring himself to be with a madwoman. What if she drained all his spiritual energy? So, three days after Meimei's warning, Jingbai decided to escape. He ran desperately, trying to escape Changze and that terrifying demon cult saint. However, his luck wasn't great; Meimei caught him red-handed.
When Meimei appeared in front of him, Jingbai felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest. He looked at Meimei in horror, and Meimei's face was extremely ugly, as if he had done something unforgivable. Jingbai felt very wronged. He was obviously running away just to save his life, but Meimei's reaction made him feel like a man caught cheating.
Jingbai really has no place to seek justice and no place to seek redress!
He was carried back alive by the crazy woman on the broad road. His ancestors had warned him that men should not shed tears easily, let alone he was a spring guest. His tears turned into pearls for people to pick up and the profit would be shared by others. But he left tears all over the ground on the way back. The lackeys beside the crazy woman followed him and picked up the tears one by one in front of him, and all of them were taken by the bitch.
He danced for three days and three nights. With the last raise of his hands, Jingbai finally fainted in the main hall of the Fog City Palace, in front of all the demon cult members. Forcing people to perform not only did not earn them a penny, but also made them exhausted and their voices hoarse. What was the meaning of throwing them at the entrance of the strange forest after they fainted? His reputation could not be fully described in ten thousand words. Jingbai really had nowhere to seek justice and nowhere to seek redress! My parents told me to go to Shanhailing to tell my grievances, but when I actually arrived at the mountains, I couldn't even find the entrance. The legendary Shanhailing was a listed spirit beast association, but in fact it was just a shell company. The spirit beasts could only bear the grievances they suffered.
He would never forget the faces of that mean woman and that madwoman. Their expressions were filled with contempt and disdain, as if he were just a piece of discarded trash, worthless. These two were simply the most insidious, cunning, and colluding beings in the Weird Forest—robbers!
Jingbai's body trembled involuntarily. He tried to calm himself, his legs shaking slightly, as if trying to generate some momentum. He had already heard that the Immortal Cultivation Conference was taking place recently, and his recent encounter with Qi Yiwen, the leader of the Taixu Sect, gave him a rough idea about the people who had appeared in Luo'an Town without any reason - they simply wanted to join the Taixu Sect.
However, when his eyes fell on the Saintess of the Demon Cult before him, a trace of doubt surged in his heart. Could it be that this Saintess of the Demon Cult was going to turn over a new leaf? As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, Jingbai immediately shook his head, as if to get rid of this absurd idea from his mind.
"No, no," he muttered to himself, his eyes rolling rapidly as he spoke, as if he was thinking about something. Meimei, who was standing by, saw this and immediately knew that he was imagining things again. Her hand, which had been placed on Jingbai's shoulder, suddenly pressed down hard. Jingbai was caught off guard and his body suddenly sank, and Meimei easily subdued him.
"It hurts!" Jingbai had barely uttered the words when Meimei quickly covered his lips and carried him upstairs like a chicken. Perhaps fearing the downstairs crowd's attention, Meimei cast a silencing spell on Jingbai without hesitation, rendering him speechless.
Shen Qingzhu was completely bewildered. She had no idea what was going on. Her benefactor had first stopped her from seeking revenge, and now he was openly fleeing with the murderer. Didn't she even need to be consulted on these matters? She was terrified and hurriedly followed Meimei upstairs, afraid she would lose her.
Downstairs, a body lay alone at the shop entrance, staring at the masters and mistresses in bewilderment. However, no one wanted to stay with a corpse, so after reporting the matter to the authorities, everyone hurriedly left. Shen Qingmei's body lay exposed to the scorching sun, amidst the crowd. Her clothes were bright and beautiful, but the skin beneath them had long since turned blue, purple, and black. In this remote town of Luo'an, thousands of miles away from the Jiangnan Shen Mansion, in the dense forests of the southwest, with no one to turn to, a young girl who had just turned 15 died on the first day of her cultivation.
Jingbai was pinned down hard against a wooden chair by Meimei. He smacked his lips, trying to say something, but found himself unable to utter a single sound. Meimei didn't draw any weapons. Instead, she leaned close to Jingbai's ear and whispered, "If you dare reveal my identity, I'll strip you naked and throw you onto the street. Let's see if you cry out tears or pearls." As she leaned over, a red veil fell, casting a bloody shadow on Jingbai's face. An abnormal bluish-white hue appeared on her fingertips, and with every word she spoke, a new crack appeared on the armrest of the wooden chair. The cinnabar mole at the end of her eye grew increasingly red as she expressed her murderous intent, like a drop of blood that had not yet dried.
Jingbai could only nod his head in agreement. He would never meddle in other people's business again. Jingbai could sense that the demonic power of Meimei in front of him was masked by something. Dressed in red, with a high ponytail and a look of disdain, she still had some of the demeanor of a noble family. However, a dog can't change its nature... As soon as she spoke, it was clear that she was not a good person. Jingbai looked up and down at this crazy woman, his eyes suddenly lit up. That bitch didn't follow him. It seemed that the embarrassment was finally a conflict. No, their relationship, hehe, was more important.
Shen Qingzhu followed closely upstairs, but Meimei was even quicker. The guest room door had long since been shut, as if to warn her, "Keep Out." Shen Qingzhu's face flushed and her heart raced at the memory of their first encounter. The girl's knuckles, clutching her mandarin duck handkerchief, turned white as she paced back and forth outside the door. The jade hairpin swayed with her anxious steps, casting tiny shadows on the door. She bit her lower lip from time to time, leaving a row of faint teeth marks.
This trip to Taixu Sect was her eldest sister's first long journey, and her parents were inevitably worried. They hired a Bailing Sect escort team to escort her and her elder sister north. However, because her elder sister stopped and walked along the way, her journey was delayed. In order to continue their journey, they had to pass through the Weird Forest, the demonic cult's territory.
This treacherous forest has always been a place that the righteous Immortal Alliance fears. Legend has it that the treacherous forest is boundless and uninhabited. Although it is the territory of the Demon Cult, it is unguarded. Some even say that demonic beasts are imprisoned here. The demonic beasts roar every night, and the strange sounds in the treacherous forest are endless.
When the celestial companions of the escort team learned that they had to cross this forest, they were all a little apprehensive. Some even fled in a hurry after leaving their wages for fear of losing their lives.
Despite this, she and her elder sister decided to continue on. After all, there was no better choice. When they entered the strange forest, she truly felt the strangeness of this forest.
This strange forest did not have any obvious signs prohibiting entry, but the words on the wooden sign at the entrance were creepy: "Those who enter this forest will be subject to fate." These simple words seemed to foreshadow the unknown fate they were about to face.
Upon entering the treacherous forest, she immediately noticed a stark contrast to the outside world. The blazing sun vanished the moment she entered, replaced by dense shade. These shadows, layered one upon another, barely leaving a single gap, made the entire forest appear incredibly dark. The deeper she went, the more tense her breathing became. She could sense an inexplicable oppression enveloping her, as if countless eyes were watching them from the shadows.
Shen Qingmei was anxious but timid. All she could do was stay in the carriage, but her urging never ceased. The Shen family was the richest in Jiangnan, and their horses were the finest horses picked from thousands of miles away. At first, they could move forward, but within a quarter of an hour, the horses were reduced to pacing back and forth on the ground, unable to move forward even a little bit, no matter how they whipped them.
Seeing the carriage hadn't moved for a long time, Shen Qingmei thought that staying any longer would only increase the danger. She sat upright in the carriage and sternly scolded, "Didn't your wife teach you what it means to have good eyesight? Get off the carriage and drive the horse. If this horse doesn't move, I'll ride you off like one." Shen Qingmei was eating fresh lychees brought from Jiangnan. She had no time to pay attention to the conversation outside the carriage. Lychees with thin skin and large fillings, which released juice with a slight twist, were Shen Qingmei's favorite.
Lychee juice dripped down her nail-stained fingertips, spreading red spots across her brocade dress. As she raised her chin, the tassels of her golden hairpin slammed fiercely into Shen Qingzhu's face. As she pushed, the three pairs of gold bracelets on her wrists collided, making a sharp sound.
She didn't know why her parents had insisted she come to the Immortal Cultivation Conference. What was the point of cultivating immortality? Marrying a good man wasn't easier than working hard. Why struggle when you could just lie back and relax? Shen Qingmei glanced at the grapes her half-sister had peeled for her and realized it was because of this little bitch's spiritual enlightenment. "A foot-washing maid girl still dreams of cultivating immortality? The talisman my father gave me will completely subdue you." Shen Qingmei counted the talismans in the brocade bag—ten in total, worth a thousand taels.
Shen Qingzhu had just been driven out of the carriage by Shen Qingmei. Her feet had barely touched the ground when she heard a voice telling her not to move. She froze in the carriage. She couldn't see clearly what lay ahead, but the wind it whipped up had already reached her ears. A fleeting moment passed, and a person seemed to be sitting on the white horse. Behind it was another carriage, but it wasn't pacing like theirs. The white horse charged forward, yet nimbly spun through the treacherous forest.
This was Chen Ye's first time riding a horse. She really didn't understand how the crazy woman Meimei could stay in a carriage that was almost boring to death, especially outside where the air was fresh. Few people came to the Weird Forest, so Chen Ye drove almost at full speed. Suddenly, a head seemed to appear in the distance. Chen Ye looked closely and found that it was a good-shaped head, which made him curious. "The monsters in the Weird Forest avoided us, but we can unexpectedly meet people here?" Chen Ye thought to herself. She didn't slow down, because who would have thought that a carriage would stop there to enjoy the scenery? However, just when she was about to collide with the carriage, the reins in Chen Ye's hand were suddenly snatched away by Meimei. Meimei pulled hard, and the white horse seemed to understand and took off into the air, narrowly brushing past Shen Qingzhu's face.
She had thought everything was over, but when Shen Qingmei was tormented by the sour grapes in her mouth, she decided to go out for some fresh air. At that moment, she caught a glimpse of Shen Qingzhu and froze in place as if struck by lightning.
Facing Shen Qingzhu, Shen Qingmei was completely confident; she knew exactly how to handle this opponent. Shen Qingzhu had no other strengths except for her endurance, which she truly could endure for her young wife. With a simple, effortless push, Shen Qingzhu was swept away like a gust of wind.
Meimei watched Shen Qingzhu circling in the air. Although she felt a little reluctant, she could only retract the agarwood sedan chair and stop the strong wind first.
As the strong wind gradually died down, Shen Qingzhu's dress fluttered in the wind. However, her mind was already dizzy, as if it had been turned into a mess.
When the wind completely stopped, Shen Qingzhu felt a pair of hands gently embrace her waist, and then steadily placed her on the ground. She struggled to open her eyes, trying to see the face of the person in front of her, but her vision was blurry. She could only vaguely feel those eyes, the corners of which were slightly raised, revealing a gentle aura.
Shen Qingmei, aboard the carriage, took in all of this. She peered closely and spotted the two figures, figuring they must be fellow immortals heading to the Immortal Cultivation Conference. Then, observing the swift speed of the wind and the speed of her own fine horse, she suddenly realized that there are always people better than you. She had met a distinguished person, and the shove she had just given her must have gone unnoticed. Shen Qingmei, who had previously kept her feet aloof, now took the lead, swaying in what she considered a swaying manner as she approached Meimei.
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