After the person and the sword exchanged pleasantries for a while, Jinglan suddenly said in a heavy tone, "During this period of meditation, I remembered some things about the old man, but they aren't good things."
"His real name was Wengu Qiu. He was a descendant of the Wengu family, a reclusive clan in Beizhou. The entire Wengu clan consisted of no more than a hundred people, but nearly half of them were born with Sword Bones—prodigies in the way of the sword. The old man was one of them. An innocent man who harbors a treasure becomes a target of crime, so—"
"So he became the last of his line, right?"
Jinglan fell silent in the sea of consciousness.
Yes, Jiang Qingyu’s guess was absolutely correct.
"The Wengu family gave everything they had to help him escape the clan. My memories of this part are a bit blurred; I only remember that the Evil Cultivator gouged out his Sword Bones. I don’t recall much else, but I am certain of one thing: before he broke through the boundary to the modern world, he did something massive in the Cultivation World!"
What an "innocent man who harbors a treasure becomes a target of crime."
Is there any difference between having one's Sword Bones gouged out and having one's heart, liver, spleen, and lungs cut out?
It seemed there was.
With one's Sword Bones removed, one could at least live out a pathetic existence like a cripple, couldn't they?
"Oh! Right, I remember one more thing: that Evil Cultivator had a strange tattoo on their palm!"
Jiang Qingyu thought to herself, *A tattoo?*
That was certainly a coincidence.
"A blood-red orchid?"
"Yes, that’s it! It was an orchid, but it had several more petals than a normal one!"
"Crack!" A fissure appeared on the table.
Jinglan’s sword body shook in fear on the tabletop. "Xiaoyu, you..."
The corners of Jiang Qingyu’s mouth curved into a smile, but it did not reach her eyes; it was filled with chilling frost. "Lansha Hall, huh? This really is, quite, the, coincidence."
Regrettably, she was as weak as a chick right now; she would have to lie low and develop her strength.
Revenge would have to be taken one step at a time; one cannot become a fatty in a single mouthful.
Jiang Qingyu reflected. She was currently at a bottleneck, stuck at the sixth stage of New Moon for over a full year. She feared that this trip to Yunjing might offer a chance to ascend to Crescent Moon—that is, the Golden Core stage.
In her past life, it had taken her over two hundred years to barely reach the peak of Foundation Establishment, yet in this life, it hadn't even been six years!
Such a speed of advancement was shocking even in this Cultivation World.
She waved her hand to set up a barrier, focused her mind to circulate the *Guiyue* technique, and entered deep meditation.
Her sea of consciousness was like a silent night, filled with stars and a moon. The moon was brilliant and clear, but some of the stars were dim and lusterless.
What Jiang Qingyu needed to do was light up those stars, to make the night sky resplendent and let the stars and moon shine upon each other.
Spiritual Qi moved through her meridians and gathered at her Dantian. Jiang Qingyu compressed them into a single cord, refined them, and then channeled that energy throughout her entire body, constantly battering against the barrier of the Crescent Moon stage.
She repeated this process over and over.
The entire night passed, and in the end, she failed.
Beautiful morning rays shone through the window into the room. A hazy, white Spiritual Qi swirled around the girl’s eyebrows and hair as she rested on the daybed, making her look like a goddess from the nine heavens—cold, aloof, and sacred.
Jiang Qingyu steadied her breath and gazed at the mass of Spiritual Qi on her hands. It emitted a faint chill, and if one looked closely, silver flowing light could be seen weaving through it.
"As expected, I’m still missing a catalyst..." she muttered to herself. Jiang Qingyu rose, dispelled the barrier, and left her room for the one next door.
Seeing the door tightly shut, Jiang Qingyu knocked three times.
The door opened, and her senior brother, Baixin, was teasing Jinzi with a bamboo stick tied with the tail feathers of a brocade sparrow.
The feathers were brilliantly colored, and Jinzi, with its tiger heart set on them, looked as if it wouldn't eat until it caught the fluff.
"Did you rank up?" Baixin asked casually, not really paying attention.
Jiang Qingyu’s face darkened. She sat down next to him, pulled Jinzi's favorite toy—a multicolored wool ball—from her spirit pet storage, and tossed it toward the doorway right in front of Baixin.
In the next second, a golden shadow leaped through the air in a perfect arc, caught the ball with a soft "Aowu" just 0.01 centimeters from the ground, trotted over to Jiang Qingyu with its enchanting little gait, spat the ball into her palm, and batted at her wrist with its tiny paw to signify, *One more time.*
Jiang Qingyu obliged and threw the ball out.
Jinzi leaped excitedly to catch the ball once more.
The two went back and forth, never tiring of it.
"For a descendant of a White Tiger, why is it so much like a golden tabby cat?"
Jiang Qingyu paused, taking a moment to realize what he meant.
*Oh, he’s saying Jinzi looks like an orange cat.*
She held the ball Jinzi had brought back in her palm, tossing it up and down. Jinzi’s golden, round pupils followed its movement.
"Ah... this..."
Seeing that she hadn't thrown the ball for a long while, Jinzi straightened its front legs, curled its hind legs into an arc, sat down obediently, and tilted its tiger head to stare at the yarn ball. Not a single "clever hair" could be found on its ears.
"Aow?"
Its eyes held a sense of pure, innocent stupidity.
"The Spiritual Qi in my Dantian is already full; I cannot increase it by even half an inch. Like you, Senior Brother, I’m missing a catalyst." Jiang Qingyu sighed, placed the yarn ball on Jinzi’s paw, and took the opportunity to squeeze its soft, pink paw pad.
"Mm, your speed of advancement is enough to drive countless prodigies to their deaths; don't be in such a rush. The auction doesn't start until evening; would you like to go out for a stroll and relax?"
"That would be good. Let's go out for a walk and clear my head."
Those who cultivate the Tao must also cultivate their minds.
Jiang Qingyu was still dressed in a goose-yellow skirt with a double-bun hairstyle, adorned with two osmanthus silver hairpins. The ends of the pins were decorated with water-green jade beads that swayed as she walked. Following behind her senior brother, Baixin—who was as graceful and handsome as a jade tree in a fairyland—she looked like a fluttering butterfly, lingering before every street vendor and small shop.
Because they were both so attractive, the two siblings were annoyed by the constant stares they drew on the main street, which made them feel like monkeys performing on a stage.
In perfect synchronization, they both cast a disguise to make their faces look more common.
And so, on the bustling West Street of Yunjing, a man and a woman, looking ordinary yet confident, strode down the road with an arrogant gait, swaggering about and sweeping up goods from the stalls like a couple of country bumpkins who had just arrived in the big city.
"Senior Brother! Look! This sword-washing stone is heart-shaped! Buy it! We must buy it for Jinglan!"
"And this, this! Chang's Fire-Baked Cakes, they smell so good! Boss! Give me two!"
"Wow! This osmanthus paste is so moisturizing! Not only is the osmanthus scent rich, but it works so well too!"
...
Jiang Qingyu was in high spirits; her little mouth hadn't stopped since they left Qihuang Residence.
Yunjing was simply too big; all kinds of strange and wonderful things were broadening her horizons.
Food she had never eaten, treasures she had never seen, and stories and odd tales she had never heard—every single thing was more attractive than the last.
Baixin had transformed from his initial smiling expression into a deadpan look. Following Jiang Qingyu, besides paying, he was also the designated "audience," delivering his only three lines: "Delicious!" "Beautiful!" "Very good!"
The triple-play of "goods" greatly relieved the anxiety deep within Jiang Qingyu’s heart.
As it turned out, the best way for a woman to relax was to go shopping and buy, buy, buy.
Her senior brother was a very dedicated shopping companion; not only did he cover the bill, but he also handled the flattery. Calling him the leader of the "best friend" circle would not be an exaggeration!
"Picking up from where we left off, the Merfolk Maiden, deeply in love, transformed her tail into legs and went out to sea to seek her true love. Today, we continue the story!"
Jiang Qingyu pulled Baixin to a stop at the edge of the crowd, looking up at the sun—which was slightly blinding—to read the plaque on the tea house: Yulu Tea House.
"What a lovely Yulu Tea House." She dragged the unenthusiastic Baixin around the crowd and into the tea house. The open-air stage was surrounded by a circle of listeners. Jiang Qingyu and Baixin picked a spot not too far away and sat down.
"What would you two like to eat or drink?" A young waiter with delicate features walked over to ask.
"A pot of tea—your signature blend!"
"Coming right up! A pot of Golden Chalice Jade Dew! Please wait a moment, Immortal Maiden!"
Baixin had no interest in the story, so he simply asked for the little tiger she had been sleeping with earlier and sat there feeding Jinzi.
Jiang Qingyu watched this harmonious scene and inexplicably wondered if, a hundred years from now, when her senior brother had his own little fox cubs, he would be just like this: holding them gently, feeding them with a kind and benevolent look, and playing with them.
She rested her chin on her hand, her mind wandering, before pulling her thoughts back to the storyteller.
"They say this Merfolk Maiden was truly deeply in love with that fisherman; she even defied her clan's teachings to be with a completely useless mortal!" The storyteller slapped his wooden clapper at the most exciting part, sighing with empathy as he stroked his chest.
The rest of the plot was similar to what her senior brother had told her: the mortal fisherman was burned to death, the Merfolk Maiden slaughtered the village, and she died for love, leaving behind a precious tear of the Merfolk—the "Shark Pearl."
Perhaps it was because she had drunk Fengming tea at Qihuang Residence, but the Golden Chalice Jade Dew seemed to have nothing but a fancy name; it was pleasant enough to hear, but the tea itself was quite bland.
Most of the guests in the viewing area had already left. The great drum tower in the city struck—the Hour of the Rooster had arrived.