Chapter 10: Little Monster

The little black snake, now severed into two pieces, was thrown back into the jar to continue being pickled.

Xiang Haikui washed her hands, found some ingredients, and prepared to cook a bowl of porridge for a late-night snack.

“Sister, do you want to try my cooking?”

“No, thank you,” Xiang Tianqing stood for a while, then shook her head.

“I’ll head back first.”

After leaving the kitchen, she glanced once more at the jar on the windowsill before forcing herself to walk away.

Wumian happened to walk past her.

“Huh, Junior Sister, why do you look so pale?”

Xiang Tianqing, already anxious, ignored him and walked around him.

Wumian knew Xiang Haikui was also in the kitchen.

He had come specifically to find her.

Seeing Xiang Tianqing like this, he thought she had been bullied by Xiang Haikui, so he quickened his pace and rushed into the kitchen.

The water in the pot had just heated up, and Xiang Haikui was about to add the rice when she suddenly sensed a force coming at her.

She recognized it—it was Wumian’s fist.

He practiced dual-element techniques: his left fist was wind, and his right fist was fire.

When he used both fists together, the fierce wind would fuel the flames, capable of scorching thousands of miles.

The destructive power was immense, and he wouldn’t use it lightly unless it was a life-or-death situation.

Earlier, when he fought Lu Xiqiao, he had used the wind fist, which was why Lu Xiqiao had been surrounded by two tornadoes, slowing him down.

Xiang Haikui had analyzed this from the changes in the airflow around her—things she had learned in Qi Yin’s classes.

Therefore, she could make an early judgment.

She narrowed her eyes, picked up the pot of hot water in front of her, turned around, and splashed it at him.

Water was scarce in the desert, and this water was spiritual spring water bought from the merchant guild, imbued with water spiritual energy.

Wumian was drenched from head to toe, stopping in his tracks, looking utterly bewildered.

Xiang Haikui exclaimed, “Oh! I was just rinsing the pot. Third Brother, why didn’t you make any noise when you walked in?”

Rinsing the pot, my foot!

She did that on purpose!

Wumian was furious, but then he thought, how could she have done it on purpose?

He was a fifth-rank cultivator, while she had just reached the Foundation Establishment stage and didn’t even have a rank yet.

There was no way she could have sensed him.

Could it really have been an accident?

Wumian touched the back of his wet head, unable to figure it out.

He decided not to dwell on it and strode over, suddenly grabbing her wrist.

Xiang Haikui instinctively wanted to counterattack and shove his head into the pot.

But when she looked down at Wumian’s hand gripping her wrist, she relented.

Wumian glared at her and warned fiercely, “Listen up, you little bitch! I’m not the kind of man who pampers women! If you know what’s good for you, get out of Silver Sand City and stop clinging to my master!

Otherwise, the desert sands are treacherous. Who knows? You might get swept away by a sandstorm one day, or a rock might fall from the sky and crush you to death!”

His hand was calloused, rough but warm.

Probably not him.

“Hey! Did you hear me?” Wumian tightened his grip, turning her fair skin red and then blue.

“Oh,” Xiang Haikui nodded.

“Thanks for the warning.”

What kind of attitude was that?

Wumian grew even angrier, but she had been staring at his hand earlier.

Now she looked up at him, and the wariness in her eyes slowly faded, replaced by a hint of gentleness.

Wumian was taken aback and instinctively let go of her wrist, taking two steps back.

He thought to himself, she really is a seductress, with such a dramatic gaze!

“I’ll give you ten days! Get out on your own!”

Wumian pointed at her nose with his index finger, then made a slashing motion across his neck.

“Hmph.”

He turned and left the kitchen.

Wumian went to Ye Qianzhi’s room.

“Second Brother, you were right. That little bitch is definitely not a simple character.”

Wumian opened his mouth but didn’t mention the embarrassing incident of being splashed with water.

He paced around the room.

“But she seems so straightforward, not like the usual seductresses. Could she really have been sent by one of the noble families from the royal capital?”

In the past, many noble families from the royal capital controlled merchant guilds that traded with foreign tribes beyond the border.

This allowed the foreign tribes to use treasures from Zhongzhou to invade the border.

After Xiang Heng became the Grand City Lord of Silver Sand, he tightened control over the border, cutting off this lucrative trade route.

Many noble families wanted to remove Xiang Heng, this stumbling block.

Ye Qianzhi put down his ledger.

“Junior Brother, our master has seen all kinds of women. Do you think he’d be fooled?  The more she acts like this, the more dangerous she is.”

Wumian frowned.

That made sense.

“Why bother testing her? Just let me kill her! If Master blames anyone, I’ll take full responsibility. She’s just a woman, after all!”

Xiang Haikui, full and satisfied, left the kitchen and returned to her room.

She placed the sword case by the head of her bed, kicked off her shoes, and lay down on her soft, comfortable bed.

Most beds in the cultivation world were hard planks, but her father had made her a mattress, similar to latex, which was incredibly comfortable to sleep on.

Just as she was about to close her eyes and sleep, she suddenly remembered something odd.

Tiankuang Sword had been silent in its case for a long time.

When Wumian attacked earlier, it hadn’t made a sound.

Normally, it would have been making a racket inside the case.

Xiang Haikui sat up, picked up the sword case, and placed it on the bed.

She opened it to find Tiankuang Sword lying quietly inside.

She tapped the blade with her finger.

“Hey?”

Since Tiankuang had gained sentience, this had never happened before.

Xiang Haikui, suspicious, stood up, holding the sword with both hands.

She closed her eyes, trying to enter the Tiankuang Sword’s realm to see what was going on.

But before she could, Tiankuang suddenly flew out of her hands and hovered in mid-air.

Xiang Haikui’s eyes widened.

Tiankuang began to emit wisps of mist—a manifestation of its mad intent.

The mist then condensed into several glowing swords.

At first, the glowing swords were connected end to end, circling the room.

But soon, they started flying around chaotically.

Thud thud thud thud.

The screen was pierced full of holes, and the furniture was shredded to pieces.

“Stop it!”

Xiang Haikui had no idea what was happening. It was hard to dodge, so she could only solidify a protective barrier around herself.

“Xiao Bai! Xiao Bai! Come quick! Tiankuang’s gone mad!”

Unfortunately, the door was locked, and with the array reinforcement, Bai Xingxian next door couldn’t hear her.

Xiang Haikui couldn’t even unlock the door.

She could only cover her head and crouch on the ground, terrified.

After half an hour of chaos, the manifested mad intent gradually dissipated.

Tiankuang Sword fell to the ground, then with a clang, it jumped up like a carp, as if it had eaten its fill and let out a burp.

Xiang Haikui quickly got up, not daring to touch the sword, and hurried out of the room.

Her clothes were tattered, and her hair had been cut shorter.

She ran to Bai Xingxian’s room next door and knocked on the door.

Bai Xingxian was startled.

“What happened to you? Did they make their move early?”

“No, come quickly and take a look at my Tiankuang Sword!”

Xiang Haikui dragged him back to her room.

Bai Xingxian followed her into the room, which was now filled with wood shavings and ceramic fragments, with no place to step.

Bai Xingxian plucked out his golden front tooth, and Tianbao Sword flew over to circle around Tiankuang Sword.

Bai Xingxian was astonished.

“Little Kui, what did you do today? The first level of Tiankuang’s mad intent is already full, and it’s overflowing??”

Tiankuang Sword had nine levels, each with a progress bar for mad intent.

Once a level was filled, she could advance to the next, and both her cultivation and the sword’s power would increase.

But advancing wasn’t automatic; Xiang Haikui needed to go into seclusion to guide the process.

She had had Tiankuang for so long, and despite all her wild adventures, the first level of mad intent had only reached one-tenth.

Now, it was suddenly full and overflowing, wasting the excess?

Bai Xingxian was amazed and asked again, curious, “What exactly did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Xiang Haikui racked her brains.

Aside from snapping at Meng Xilou and splashing water on Wumian, she hadn’t done anything else.

Could it be the little black snake?

Xiang Haikui remembered that Tiankuang had gone silent after she sprinkled salt on the snake’s wounds.

Earlier, when she wanted to eat the snake, Tiankuang had twitched, as if it also wanted to eat snake meat.

Suddenly, she felt nervous.

She pursed her lips, stepped forward, picked up Tiankuang, and placed it back in the sword case, which she then slung over her back.

“Xiao Bai, come with me to the kitchen!”

It was late at night, and the desert was quiet.

The moon hung brightly in the sky, casting a milky white glow over the yellow sand, making it look like fine salt.

Outside Silver Sand City,red spider lily suddenly appeared.

Slowly, two figures—a man and a woman—materialized beneath the flowers.

The woman was Luo Yunxiu, who had been kicked by Yin Changli before.

The man was Liu Yixing, another palace master from the Twelve Palaces of the Underworld City.

“Go!” Liu Yixing waved his sleeve, and three small monsters flew out, sneaking into the city.

These three hopping little monsters were truly bizarre, resembling a mix of an owl, a badger, and a hedgehog—utterly hideous.

Luo Yunxiu was speechless.

“This is the secret weapon His Majesty spent a thousand years creating?”

A hybrid of all the snake’s natural enemies.

“Are you planning to scare Yin Changli to death?”

Liu Yixing smiled.

“This is just a supplementary tool to track him.”

Luo Yunxiu leaned against the city wall, arms crossed, clearly skeptical.

Having been beaten by Yin Changli before, she knew how formidable the man was.

Liu Yixing said, “If nothing goes wrong, he should already be severely injured. All we need to do is find him, and we can capture him and bring him back to the Underworld City.”

Liu Yixing continued, “It’s fate.”

“Huh?”

“Yin Changli possesses the Brush of Destiny, which allows him to manipulate fate.”

Recalling the painful experiences of the past, Liu Yixing sighed.

“You’re still young. You don’t understand how terrifying Yin Changli is. His cultivation has already reached its peak, but his mind far surpasses even that. He plays with the threads of fate like a game of chess. While we’re still thinking about our next move, he’s already finished the entire game in his mind.”

Luo Yunxiu grew somewhat interested.

She touched her face, which had been kicked by Yin Changli, and suddenly smiled.

“Oh?”

Liu Yixing pointed to the sky.

“Unfortunately, an expert from the upper realm has intervened. That person is also a master at manipulating fate.”

Luo Yunxiu had a question she had never understood.

“Yin Changli stole treasures from our Underworld. Why does the upper realm seem even more anxious than us? They send people to urge us every so often.”

“That, I don’t know. Maybe we’ll find out after we capture him.”

Liu Yixing was full of confidence.

“This time, he won’t escape.”

The three little monsters followed the scent of the snake, sniffing their way to the city lord’s residence.

They seemed to be invisible as they hopped into the kitchen.

One of them jumped near the windowsill, spotted the jar, and approached it.

It took a deep breath.

They were suction-feeding creatures, and in an instant, the strong smell of pickled meat rushed into their souls.

One of them gagged, almost vomiting.

Another one hopped over and also gagged.

The last one did the same.

The three little monsters gave up on the kitchen, wandered around a bit more, then left the city and shook their heads at Liu Yixing, making gurgling sounds.

Liu Yixing waved his hand, still full of confidence.

“He’s probably not here. Let’s go search elsewhere first.”