Chapter 20: The Opening of the Guiyuan Formation

The room was locked.

Could someone have entered through the window?

Without further thought, Jiang Niannian kicked the door open and saw Zhao Anming lying on the bed, wailing in pain.

His arm had been cut by a dagger, and blood had soaked through the bedding.

“Niannian, what’s wrong?” Yin Buqi, who had followed her out with bare feet, looked grim when he saw the scene.

“Who is it? Who hurt you?”

Jiang Niannian helped Zhao Anming up and took out a hemostatic pill from her Qiankun bag to give him. It was a medicine Shen Yu had given her before leaving, and she hadn’t expected to use it so soon.

“No… No one hurt me; it was my own fault…” Zhao Anming said sheepishly, stammering, “I was afraid of bad people at night, so I asked the inn for a dagger and hid it under my pillow. I didn’t expect it to slip out while I was sleeping…”

Jiang Niannian was dumbfounded.

Yin Buqi, standing beside her, twitched his mouth.

What kind of performance was this!

She had read about characters hiding knives for protection in novels and had always worried about accidentally hurting themselves.

She never thought someone would actually do it.

The wound wasn’t too deep.

Jiang Niannian used her spiritual energy to heal Zhao Anming’s injury, wrapped it up, and then went back to her room with Yin Buqi to sleep.

In the bed, her cub held her hand seriously and said in a small, earnest voice, “When I grow up, I want to marry Niannian. I don’t want Niannian to do that kind of thing with other men.”

Jiang Niannian was so sleepy that she didn’t immediately understand, “What kind of thing?”

“That kind, that kind of thing… I won’t tell you, it’s embarrassing!” Yin Buqi’s red eyes widened, and his face flushed crimson.

He glared fiercely at Jiang Niannian, turned around, and fell asleep with his back facing her.

Jiang Niannian didn’t take Yin Buqi’s words to heart, considering them just childish talk and not serious.

The next day.

Buzhou City wasn’t too far from Huaijiang City.

Jiang Niannian planned to first send Zhao Anming home and then return to enter the Guiyuan Formation with Yin Buqi.

“Niannian, I want to go with you,” Yin Buqi said, pulling at Jiang Niannian’s clothes with a pitiful look.

Yin Buqi, pampered and fair-skinned, with delicate features and a bit of baby fat, appeared cold but somehow cute.

Jiang Niannian’s heart melted at his cuteness, almost bursting from affection.

She wanted to hug him and squeeze him.

It was difficult for her to see this little cub looking at her with such longing!

She patted Yin Buqi’s head and smiled, “My sword can’t carry too many people. Overloading… it won’t fly.”

“… Alright. Then come back quickly,” Yin Buqi said, holding Coal Ball and looking at Jiang Niannian with a serious expression.

“Okay.”

Before leaving, Jiang Niannian handed her Qiankun bag to Yin Buqi and patted his head, smiling, “Your cultivation isn’t enough yet. Stay obediently at the inn and don’t wander around. There are many defensive talismans and artifact tools in here. Use them if necessary.”

Yin Buqi nodded obediently.

Jiang Niannian looked at her cub’s obedient appearance and couldn’t help but smile.

Then she heard Zhao Anming’s voice, “Fairy, I’m powerless too.”

Jiang Niannian twitched her mouth, “… Enough already.”

Zhao Anming crouched in the corner.

Waa, the fairy is scolding him again.

Yin Li looked at him coldly and said, “Niannian is personally sending you home. What else are you complaining about?”

“But the fairy gave you all the treasures.”

“I am an eight-year-old child whose spiritual roots have just recovered. I am still sick and alone in this deserted inn. Sigh…”

Coal Ball: “Ow?” Am I not a human? I’m really not a human (’°Δ°`)!

Zhao Anming, not to be outdone, continued, “Don’t look at me being lively now. Actually, I’ve been frail and sickly since birth. If my father hadn’t given me medicine every day when I was young, I might have met Yama long ago. I’m the most delicate and in need of protection.”

Yin Buqi: “You look stronger than I do.”

Zhao Anming: “You look better than I do.”

Yin Buqi added, “You don’t seem capable.”

Zhao Anming retorted, “Exactly, I’m not capable… Bah,bah,bah.. my father said men shouldn’t say they’re not capable. You’re the one who isn’t capable. Your whole family isn’t capable!”

Jiang Niannian: ….

In no time, Jiang Niannian had delivered Zhao Anming to the Zhao family’s doorstep in Buzhou City.

“In two years, your father…” will die of a sudden illness.

Strangely, she wanted to remind him to take his father to find Shen Yu in the Rimuli sect for treatment, but the words suddenly wouldn’t come out.

【Dear, except for the target character Yin Buqi, you currently have no right to interfere with the unknown fates of others.】

Jiang Niannian felt some reluctance. She looked at the young man in front of her, dressed in golden and jade garments with innocent features.

His spiritual roots were excellent, but he was somewhat frivolous, focused solely on pleasure.

Yet, in two years, Zhao Shang would die.

He would start to force himself to practice and take on the family business.

Once a youth with boundless vigor, he would be forced to grow up when his father died.

A child who seemed like he would never grow up would, at that moment, have to become mature.

Even if he fell into the realm of pleasures, the world would still respectfully refer to him as “The Dandy Young Master .”

“Fairy, I have something… to tell you.” Zhao Anming looked down at his boots, then raised his gaze to her with a focused and serious look.

“I truly want to marry the fairy. I’m not joking. If you ever have the intention, this promise will always stand. Fairy, I’m willing…”

“Wait!” Jiang Nian Nian’s heart trembled.

Isn’t this Zhao Anming’s classic confession line to the female lead?!

Don’t give me the female lead’s script!

She said, “Think carefully about marriage. You’ll meet someone more suitable than me in the future. I need to leave now; Buqi is still waiting for me.”

Zhao Anming, seeing Jiang Niannian about to leave, asked reluctantly, “Fairy, will we meet again?”

Jiang Niannian smiled, “We will.”

……

Jiang Niannian returned to Huaijiang City by evening, and thankfully it was still not too late.

“Guiyuan means ‘transcending the world and returning to the original source.’ The nine sons of the dragon—all nine are contained within, and all beasts are also imprisoned here. At midnight, the Guiyuan Formation opens.”

Following the map, they arrived at the designated location.

As Shen Yu had said, after midnight, the Guiyuan Formation opened.

On the previously empty ground in the forest, a formation pattern suddenly appeared. The air twisted gradually, and intermittent cries rang out. Bright white light flickered like electric currents.

In the blink of an eye, the three—two people and one beast—disappeared together.

……

Sixteen years later.

At the edge of a cliff, the endless wilderness stretched out, with overgrown weeds.

The wind blowing from nowhere made the clothing rustle.

A man emerged from a bamboo courtyard.

With black hair and red eyes, he was tall and slender, wearing a red and black robe.

His face was refined, and his demeanor was aloof, exuding a cold and noble aura.

This man was Yin Buqi, now grown up.

“Niannian… Niannian…”

He looked anxious and searched everywhere she usually went.

He heard the sound of water by the creek.

He followed the sound.

His steps faltered, then suddenly stopped.

Yin Buqi’s anxious expression became dangerous, his face showing alternating shades of red and green.

His red eyes fixed intently on the woman in the creek.

The woman, seeing him, smiled gently and leaped from the water, revealing her beautiful figure in full.

“Niannian…” Yin Buqi’s Adam’s apple bobbed, his fists clenched, as if enduring something.

His whole body felt like it was burning, with intense heat in his lower abdomen, almost consuming him.