The jungle 2.5 kilometers south from the base of Cricket Hill was where spiritual veins crisscrossed and miasma accumulated. All types of odd fungi grew rampant there.
Birds and insects were as noisy along the way as the girl’s rambling voice.
“The red-spotted tiger is an innate tigress of extreme Yin physique. It loves mushrooms the best and has always come to the jungle to forage for mushrooms with a big head.”
The girl was Jiang Chuyan. With a Golden Core cultivation base, she was the big Senior Sister of Cricket Hill, and everyone called her Chuyan. She was also the youngest female cultivator on the mountain and she had exceptional talent. After all, she had reached the Golden Core in 100 years. She was pretty, adorable, petite, thoughtful, and intricate. Her only weakness was her mind, which did not function as normally.
“Yes, yes, yes. You’ve repeated it 10,000 times.”
The middle-aged woman was Jing Yin, the second Senior Sister of Cricket Hill, who had a Foundation Establishment cultivation base and was also a pretty lady.
Nevertheless, be it based on looks or cultivation base, Jing Yin was surpassed by young Chuyan and could only become the Junior Sister.
Suddenly, she smelled the acrid stench of blood.
Flying on their swords faster, both of them sped toward the place the pungent whiff was coming from.
Shortly, they arrived at two pools of blood in the forest and saw the mark of a heavy fall in a certain bramble bush.
When they looked at the large pool of blood on the ground, all color drained from Jiang Chuyan’s soft and innocent face as she slumped onto the ground.
“Blood… Xiao Hong’s blood…”
Her thin legs that fit snugly in white tall socks were spread at her knees in the front, and her ankles were on either side of her hips in a W shape. The tears her eyes brimmed with grew larger and, with a final wail, she sobbed softly.
“Xiao Hong was forced by some beast into doing that…”
A cloud of exasperation drifted over Jing Yin’s fair forehead. This was why she was in a hurry to send her Senior Sister away!
An imaginative, romantic girl was too much work.
Jing Yun palmed her forehead in silence as she recalled what had happened 100 years ago…
Chuyan had only been 12 years old then. As the third princess of the Blazing Nation, she had become the only heir after her siblings had passed away consecutively. Later, she had run away from the palace after catching a glance of the Sword-Wielding Elder in a crowd, carrying her baggage and walking dozens of kilometers to get to Zongzhi Mountain’s outer sect.
Upon recognizing Chuyan, Lin Yunzi had been about to send her back to the imperial capital, only for Jing Yi, who had been passing by, to discover her. She’d assessed her talent with a fleeting thought and brought her to Cricket Hill as the mountain’s little Junior Sister when she’d discovered that she was prodigiously gifted.
She had thought that Cricket Hill had caught itself a gem, but no, they’d found themselves a weirdo!
The young girl did not like cultivating after joining the sect. What she thought about all day were ways to get to the Sword-Wielding Mountain.
The Sword-Wielding Elder had visited Cricket Hill personally to see her and seen that she was adorable. After further interaction, the elder had realized that she did not have the purest intentions. She was always thinking about staying on the Sword-Wielding Mountain and becoming her cultivation partner.
The Sword-Wielding Elder was unrestrained and free-spirited. There was no way she could tolerate Chuyan’s pestering. She had thus pulled back instantly and drawn a clear line in their relationship.
Helpless, the young girl could only continue staying on Cricket Hill and devising her plans slowly.
It was unknown if she had picked up this bad trait in that earthly palace, as the girl was a veteran in matters of romance despite her age. The cultivation on the mountain aside, she loved dressing up, gossiping, and fantasizing all day long, citing that cultivation was too much work, so she might as well fall in love. She just wanted sweet, romantic love.
What kind of young girl did not fantasize about romantic love?
Other than that, Chuyan loved matchmaking in the sect and set up men and women, men and men, and women and women… There were even men-and-beast couples. To quote her, “Love is love. It’s pure and free without any motive. Naturally, it’s not restricted by race either!”
What pushed everyone to the edge was that the girl would not make an effort to cultivate but was leveling up faster than everyone else, forming a core not even after 100 years on Cricket Hill and going from little Junior Sister to big Senior Sister. This embarrassed the other girls on Cricket Hill.
In addition, Chuyan was pestering them for gossip every day, wanting to discuss 108 certain positions with them mysteriously and annoying them to no end.
Hence, the female cultivators on Cricket Hill all hoped that she would transfer to the Sword-Wielding Mountain, as she wished, and become the Sword-Wielding Elder’s Direct Disciple.
She was not old and she was adorable and talented. As long as she held back a bit from gossiping and being annoying, she would fit in as a Direct Disciple.
A few years ago, when the Cultivation Alliance had been testing out the new rule in other sects, the female cultivators of Cricket Hill had used this opportunity and goaded Chuyan into taking on the Sword-Wielding Mountain and wooing the Sword-Wielding Elder once again.
The red-spotted tiger was a spiritual beast she had gotten from Dongfu City at the time. The creature was rumored to possess an ancient extreme Yin bloodline and was incredible nourishment for women with menstrual pain. She could nurture the tigress to the Qi Refining stage and gift it to the Elder in hopes that she would take her in as a Direct Disciple.
A month ago, when the Cultivation Alliance had pushed the rule on Zongzhi Mountain in a stricter sense and the Sword-Wielding Elder had been forced to look for a Direct Disciple, everyone had thought that it was certain Jiang Chuyan would make it on the Sword-Wielding Mountain.
Two days ago, the last day before the Sword-Wielding Elder would have to take in a disciple, Xiao Ran had appeared out of the blue!
Everything had changed then.
Jiang Chuyan, who did not have much regard for cultivation, had begun to work hard on it. She had found medicinal pills for the red-spotted tigress too in anticipation of making it ascend to the Qi Refining stage as soon as possible.
She’d also scouted for information on Xiao Ran, such as his actual ability and whether he had any hidden strength… She had even thought that Xiao Ran had lured the Elder with his beauty, and the girl had thus wallowed in inexplicable self-pity.
She’d complained about being too young and wanting to become more mature. Then, she’d complained about being too short and wishing to grow taller. Finally, she’d lain sprawled on the bed and lamented, “This is all because I didn’t grow a mushroom.”
The little girl, who looked pure and innocent, had single-handedly increased the useless knowledge on the entire Cricket Hill. This soft-looking cutie spewed risqué words boldly!
When Chuyan saw the pool of blood and the flattened mess in the bramble bush, her indecorous and out-of-place inference was actually her honest self. There was no need for shock.
Jing Yin snapped out of it and quickly helped Chuyan up.
“Senior Sister, don’t cry for now. I think it might not be what you think.”
Chuyan wiped her tears and asked pitifully, “Then what is it?”
Jing Yin stroked the bridge of her nose with narrowed eyes.
“Xiao Hong might have already had an unfortunate encounter.”
Chuyan nodded.
“Yes, I said that something bad happened to it. Xiao Hong has an extreme Yin body. Male wild beasts would never be able to hold back when they saw it.”
Jing Yin rolled her eyes but looked serious.
“I did not mean the kind of encounter that you’re thinking of. Xiao Hong might no longer… be around.”
Chuyan looked lost.
“What do you mean it’s no longer around?”
Jing Yin walked around and easily found dozens of new holes.
“Look, a lot of black yeast mushrooms have been dug away. These are obviously marks left by a shovel. It means that someone is collecting mushrooms here.”
Chuyan blinked her wide doe-like eyes and suddenly felt realization strike her.
“You mean that a human did indecent things to Xiao Hong!”
“…”
Jing Yun calmed down and continued.
“Someone was collecting mushrooms here and got attacked by Xiao Hong. A fight took place and that person slit Xiao Hong’s stomach when it pounced. Look over here, there’s liver blood. It’s probably from an internal organ falling off.”
Chuyan paled as her petite frame shuddered.
“Don’t say something so scary all of a sudden, can you?”
“Who’s the scary one between us now?” Jing Yin asked.
“A cultivator killing a tiger with a slash of a sword is a common thing when the tiger threatens a cultivator’s life. You grew up in the palace, so you shouldn’t have been threatened like this.”
“So who killed Xiao Hong?”
“The black yeast mushroom is the most useful when it comes to making natural yeast. This means that this person wants to make wine, and that requires grains. Let’s go ask around Gargan-Grain Mountain. We’ll definitely find clues there.”
“Okay.”
The two of them rushed to Gargan-Grain Mountain but did not find any clues—Baili Qingfeng dished the truth to them directly. The person who collected mushrooms and had killed the tiger was none other than the Sword-Wielding Elder’s new Direct Disciple, Xiao Ran!
No one had expected Xiao Ran to be able to kill a peak Body-Tempering red-spotted tiger with the strength of a mere mortal. The Sword-Wielding Elder must have given him a lot of useful treasures.
Chuyan had been troubled over having no excuse to go to the Sword-Wielding Mountain. This was her chance!
“Enemies are bound to meet. I’m going to the Sword-Wielding Mountain to give him a slash of my sword!”
Jing Yin panicked upon hearing that.
“That’s too much. I better go with you.”
Chuyan pouted.
“Why shouldn’t I? I’ll slash him with my sword and make him less of a man. Without his masculinity, the Elder will abandon him for sure.”
“…”
Oh. She wanted to slash that part of him with her sword. She should have thought of it. Jing Yin palmed her forehead.
“I have a stomachache. You can go ahead.”
Chuyan looked surprised.
“You have menstrual pain too?”