Chapter Forty-Nine: A Modest Windfall

After swallowing several mouthfuls of the old man Xie’s blood, his abdomen swollen and unable to take in any more, Xiao Wenzi finally flew back contentedly to the side of the girl with the doll-like face. Yet he had absorbed so much blood, not yet refined it with the Blood Spirit Technique, that his head appeared small while his body was large. His flight was utterly uncoordinated, wobbling comically through the air, making Chu Xiner cover her mouth to stifle a laugh.

“Little Wen, don’t be so greedy next time. If you want to feed on a minor cultivator like this, I can easily catch one for you at any time…” Chu Xiner teased, thinking Xiao Wenzi’s swollen belly was due to the excessive blood he had drawn from Wu Kun and the man in green, so that a little more from the old man Xie had ballooned him up like a leather ball.

“Alright, I understand,” Xiao Wenzi replied sheepishly. He was eager to return to the spirit beast pouch to cultivate, so he exchanged only a few words with Chu Xiner.

The delay from feeding, combined with the hundreds of miles they had traveled, meant that dusk was already settling. Chu Xiner glanced at the sky, then waved her hand to untie Wu Kun and the others, emptied their storage pouches, and transformed into a streak of light, heading toward Sky Cloud Valley.

The reason she did not immediately return to the sect was not due to any suspicion, but simply because night was falling and the Sky Cloud Valley market prohibited fighting; it was most suitable to stay overnight and continue on in the morning.

Chu Xiner was no stranger to Sky Cloud Valley. She expertly stopped her flying light outside a thicket of ordinary-looking brambles, produced a wooden token, infused it with spiritual power, and tossed it in.

Almost instantly, the scene before her rippled like water. The illusion array dissolved, the formation parted, and a stone path, about a yard wide and bordered by blooming flowers, appeared.

“Welcome, friend, to our Sky Cloud Valley market once again. Please, enter!” Passing through the winding stone path, Chu Xiner came upon a vast cluster of pavilions and towers. At the entrance to the market, two young men responsible for collecting fees glanced at her, then smiled and spoke.

As they did, the youth on the left returned the wooden token she had thrown. Since Chu Xiner wore a magical mask, the two cultivators, only at the fifth or sixth layer of Qi Refinement, could not perceive her true beauty and treated her as any other guest.

Chu Xiner nodded, accepted the token, placed it back in her storage pouch, and stepped into the market.

Sky Cloud Valley Market was built along the mountains, with a vast plaza of white marble at its center. Though it was dusk, the brilliance of luminous stones and large pearls dispelled all darkness.

“Superior talismans, only twenty spirit stones, don’t miss out…”

“Magical artifacts for sale, each for only…”

“How much for this spirit herb…”

The market was open; besides the permanent shops, anyone could set up a stall in the plaza for a fee. The cries of buyers and sellers echoed ceaselessly as Chu Xiner passed through.

She was merely looking for a quiet place to rest, paying no heed to those hawkers. She went directly to the cluster of pavilions, found the steward, paid for a night’s stay, received the jade talisman to activate the formation, and entered.

Each pavilion in the market was guarded by its own warding restrictions; without the owner's permission, trespassing was considered a challenge to the rules of Sky Cloud Valley. Residents inside need not fear disturbance.

Of course, the fee was much higher than that of common inns.

Usually, several low-level cultivators traveling together would share a pavilion, saving considerable spirit stones, as each had more than a few rooms.

Chu Xiner had just searched the storage pouches of the old man Xie and his companions. Though spirit stones and pills were few, she had acquired a valuable Feather Spirit Flower, a small windfall.

The Feather Spirit Flower was one of the ingredients for crafting Foundation Establishment Pills. Delivering it to the sect would earn her at least several hundred contribution points—over two hundred spirit stones. Not only could she afford one night here, she could stay for ten days or half a month without worry.

Thus, though her fortune was not abundant, staying in a secluded pavilion was no hardship.

“Honored seniors, everything we say is true. That witch stole our spirit stones and treasures, and tortured us cruelly. Please, stand up for us…”

Meanwhile, the old man Xie, Wu Kun, and the man in green knelt before Huang Yipeng, sobbing bitterly.

Yet, as several sword lights flashed, each had their brows pierced. Then three fireballs landed upon their corpses, burning them to ashes.

In their final moments, Wu Kun and the others could hardly believe their fate. That vicious witch had spared their lives, yet these impeccably dressed, seemingly upright young cultivators had slain them without warning.

“Zhou Kai, Wang Tao, what do you make of this?”

Without so much as blinking, Huang Yipeng’s hand dispatched the three cultivators who had no enmity with him, as if crushing ants. He turned to walk out of the woods, asking calmly.

There were no fatal wounds on Wu Kun and his companions, only hands and faces covered in large, unsightly welts, pitiful to behold.

What was Chu Xiner's purpose in this? Was she truly a ruthless and venomous woman, not the innocent façade she presented? And how had she produced those mosquito-bite-like welts? The Greenleaf Sect was not known for controlling beasts or insects—was there more behind this?

“Senior Brother Huang, in my opinion, Chu Xiner must have obtained some blood-sucking poisonous insect. However, it seems those insects are still low-level and shouldn’t affect our plan…” Zhou Kai, the wiry youth, blinked and analyzed, while the short, stout Wang Tao nodded repeatedly.

Both were convinced Chu Xiner had secretly acquired a manual for controlling poisonous insects and was raising a number of unknown creatures. After all, it would take more than a couple of insects to inflict such misery on three cultivators.

But since Wu Kun, old man Xie, and the others suffered only superficial wounds, it was clear the insects were still weak and posed little threat.

“Hmm, Junior Brother Zhou makes sense. That wretched girl has gone to Sky Cloud Valley. It’s best we don’t reveal ourselves tonight. We’ll endure and find a cave to shelter in, and proceed with our plan tomorrow.”

Huang Yipeng was proud by nature, not particularly shrewd, but he readily agreed with Zhou Kai’s assessment.

The stout youth raised no objection; to avoid alerting Chu Xiner prematurely, the three did not enter Sky Cloud Valley, but instead found a cave in the surrounding mountains to spend the night.

Inside the pavilion, after activating the defensive and soundproofing arrays, Chu Xiner sent her spiritual sense into the spirit beast pouch.

She saw that Xiao Wenzi’s belly was no longer swollen. He hung motionless within, and she assumed he was undergoing some transformation after consuming too much fresh blood, so she did not disturb him.

Retracting her sense, she ascended to the clean bed on the second floor, sat cross-legged, and began her cultivation.