Chapter 29

“Wake up. Someone has their eye on you.”

Xi Zhou was sleeping soundly when the spot on her forehead where the talisman was suddenly grew hot. The tree demon senior’s voice sounded beside her ear.

She opened her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “Senior? What do you mean, someone has their eye on me?”

“You were targeted by a Spirit Division cultivator. But it’s fine now. My talisman has already canceled it out for you. Now you only have one chance left to transmit your voice. Hurry and go find the little fox.”

The tree demon’s voice was full of disappointment, as if scolding iron for not becoming steel.

Xi Zhou’s expression changed slightly.

A Spirit Division cultivator?

“Senior, there’s no need to worry. It was Eldest Senior Sister.”

So that woman, Zhai Wangyou, really had been tricking her last night. What nonsense about needing help from a Spirit Division cultivator. She really was… really was making Xi Zhou see her in a new light.

The clear and upright Fairy Wangyou could actually use such little tricks too.

The tree demon fell silent for a moment. “You saw Zhai Wangyou? The child in her womb should already have been born, right? When I saw her that time, she had only just begun showing. In the blink of an eye, more than two years have passed.”

Xi Zhou rolled her eyes. More than two years had passed, so of course the child had been born. It was not as if she had been pregnant with a demon.

“Mm. Senior, why didn’t you tell me before…”

“If I told you, would you have given up? Humans might personally crash into the southern wall and still refuse to stop.”

Xi Zhou fell silent.

That was right. Even after crashing into the southern wall, she still refused to stop. She could not help lingering by the wall, unwilling to turn back.

A knock sounded outside. The tree demon went quiet, and the voice transmission cut off.

Xi Zhou did not open the door immediately, but then she felt that in the cultivation world, she probably could not rely on a wooden door anyway.

She asked through the door, “Who is it?”

“Xi Zhou, hurry and pack up. Go [unauthorized copy]to the cultivation grounds and gather.” It was Senior Sister Lü’s voice.

She felt a little more at ease. Hearing the footsteps move away, she tidied herself up and went to the cultivation grounds. Senior Sister Lü had never come to urge her before. Had something happened?

The moment she entered the cultivation grounds, Zhou Zhouzi spotted her and trotted over. “Xi Zhou, come quickly. Test your cultivation.”

Test cultivation?

Xi Zhou’s heart became alert. She lowered her voice. “Why are we testing cultivation?”

She had only just established foundation, and now they were testing cultivation. Wasn’t that too much of a coincidence?

Zhou Zhouzi said impatiently, “I heard they want all Foundation Establishment disciples to go to the martial arts field for a match. It’s personally hosted by Second Senior Sister Guanlan, who’s at Golden Core. But in the outer sect, only Senior Brother Feng and Senior Sister Lü are at Foundation Establishment. Could there be some fool who doesn’t even know they’ve established foundation?”

Xi Zhou’s heart choked.

You’re the fool.

She looked toward Senior Brother Feng. He treated her as if she did not exist, as though nothing had happened yesterday.

Before she could speak, Zhou Zhouzi leaned even closer. “Let me tell you an exclusive piece of news. Last night, [stolen content]someone saw Fairy Wangyou.”

According to those senior brothers, Fairy Wangyou had come to the outer sect in the middle of the night just to give this notice. He kept feeling that it was unbelievable. Did this kind of matter require an elder to personally come over? Unusual…

He glanced at the silent Xi Zhou and sighed, then began pondering alone. What exactly was unusual about it?

Xi Zhou glanced at him and ignored him. Zhai Wangyou could go wherever she liked. Xi Zhou did not care.

Her expression remained calm. When it was her turn, pale purple light lit up and stopped on the second-rank spirit stone.

The second rank meant Foundation Establishment.

“Hiss! That’s impossible, right?”

“Could there be a mistake? Wasn’t she unable to even refine energy?”

The surroundings filled with the sound of people sucking in cold breaths. The outer sect disciples whispered among themselves, even suspecting for a while that there might be something wrong with the spirit stone.

Xi Zhou pretended not to know. With a confused expression, she asked, “Does this mean I successfully refined energy?”

The person in charge of testing cultivation was an inner disciple. Looking at this beautiful and innocent stolen contentjunior sister, he could not help smiling. “Junior Sister, you have established foundation. Please wait over there.”

The moment the inner disciple’s voice fell, the surroundings abruptly fell silent.

Just then, a cry of surprise rang out.

“Xi Zhou, are you stupid? You didn’t even know you had established foundation?”

Zhou Zhouzi covered his face, his eyes wide, his expression exaggerated. This was too unbelievable. Yesterday, she still could not refine energy, and today, she had established foundation?

Almost all the outer disciples on the cultivation grounds felt the same disbelief as him. Most of them were suspicious and amazed, while only a very small number of people suddenly had heated gazes.

They looked at Xi Zhou as though looking at some rare treasure.

A five-spiritual-root waste had gone from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment in fifteen days. Perhaps she had some secret method…

Once everyone had finished testing their cultivation, sure enough, only Senior Brother Feng, Senior Sister Lü, and Xi Zhou were at Foundation Establishment.

Under the envious gazes of the outer sect disciples, the three entered the inner sect to compete for the spots to go treasure hunting in the small secret realm.

At the martial arts field, there were many disciples present. There ​Read on BaiLianTales​seemed to be at least fifty or sixty people.

The outer sect disciples were almost all at Qi Refining. As expected, most of the inner sect disciples were at Foundation Establishment.

The person hosting this match was indeed Guanlan. She looked much more mature than Xi Zhou remembered, and she had already entered Golden Core.

Xi Zhou and Senior Sister Lü consciously stood at the back of the women’s line. She silently counted. There were relatively fewer women, only a dozen or so, while there were more than thirty male disciples opposite them. It seemed the competition was fierce.

But she was just here to make up the numbers. Safety first. If the situation looked bad, she would surrender in time.

After counting the people and issuing the match number plates, Guanlan did not announce the start. Instead, she looked outside.

No one dared move. Everyone remained quiet.

After about fifteen minutes, Guanlan looked at the person walking over and smiled brightly. “Senior Sister Wangyou.”

Senior Sister Wangyou?

Everyone was puzzled for a moment, then quickly reacted. It should be Fairy Wangyou, also known as Elder Wangyou.

Under everyone’s gaze, Zhai Wangyou walked into the martial arts field. All the Read on BaiLianTales disciples wore Tianjian Sect’s specially made pure white Daoist robes. Only she was dressed in red.

Among that plain sea of white, she was like a fiery red cloud drifting past, occupying everyone’s attention.

Zhai Wangyou stood beside Guanlan and said calmly, “Junior Sister Guanlan, begin.”

She simply stood there without any expression, yet she somehow drew the gazes of all the disciples.

Xi Zhou silently looked over. Eldest Senior Sister did not seem to have changed. She was still as lonely, cold, and proud as before.

Like the bright moon hanging high in the night sky—extremely beautiful, and beautiful without vulgarity, yet also extremely cold, like ice and snow that would never melt.

But Xi Zhou had once seen that cold and clear moonlight become hotter than the blazing summer sun.

In those charming dreams, Eldest Senior Sister’s eyes had been faintly red at the corners, her lashes trembling lightly, like a blooming crabapple, more gorgeous than a hundred flowers…

Xi Zhou stood at the very end of the line and looked at Zhai Wangyou from afar, her heart unavoidably nervous.

When it was her turn to compete later, would she be recognized?

She probably would not…

After the matches began, everyone scattered and looked toward the arena at the center of the martial arts field.

All the disciples began one-on-one matches according to the time they had entered the sect.

Guanlan watched seriously, and Zhai Wangyou also watched seriously.

Only, no one knew that she had quietly opened her spiritual sense and was observing every disciple in the field. Every female disciple.

When she woke in the morning, she could no longer sense the existence of that divine soul mark.

So did that person have something to rely on?

Even a divine soul mark could be erased. She could not be underestimated…

There were fifteen female disciples participating in the matches. Zhai Wangyou quickly scanned them all, but did not see a familiar face.

Her gaze paused and landed on the last woman’s face.

A pair of beautiful peach blossom eyes. Her gaze read the original at bailiantales.com seemed to hold water—affectionate and captivating.

Her nose was high and delicate, her red lips charming, and her slender brows were slightly furrowed as she looked toward the arena. Even her figure was alluring.

For no reason, Zhai Wangyou froze. She stared at those moving eyes and could not look away, as though through the depths of those clear eyes, she could see another person.

A woman with elegant features and a clear, bright gaze.

She stared at Xi Zhou and suddenly felt that she was somewhat familiar, especially her eyes.

That was right. Her eyes.

Xinghui’s eyes were almost carved from the same mold as this woman’s.

Little Xinghui’s nose, mouth, and face shape all resembled Zhai Wangyou. Only those beautiful, shimmering peach blossom eyes did not resemble her.

Nor did they resemble the person who had disappeared for three years.

Zhai Wangyou’s heart trembled faintly, and she silently withdrew her spiritual sense.

She had once felt lost and uneasy. She had even fallen into self-doubt for a time.

Only now did she know.

So they did resemble each other.

So they did…

Xi Zhou lifted her head blankly, but saw nothing. Why did she keep feeling that someone was looking at her? Even her mood felt inexplicably heavy, as though an unsettling sorrow was surging around her.

She furrowed her brows and unconsciously looked toward that red figure. Their gazes collided in midair.

Xi Zhou froze, then forced herself to calmly withdraw her gaze. Eldest Senior Sister probably was not specially looking at her…

After that one glance, she no longer dared look around and obediently stared at the arena.

Because this was a match between disciples of the same sect, everyone fought openly and directly. Swords clashed, spiritual power collided, and there were no flashy tricks. No one dared launch sneak attacks either.

After watching for a while, Xi Zhou suddenly realized a very serious problem.

She had no weapon.

She had no sword!

Even if she had a sword, she did not know any sword techniques!

Now she was done for!

Dear heavens. How was she supposed to compete?

Was she supposed to perform catching a blade barehanded?

After catching one move, she would probably truly be barehanded, because her hand would be gone!

Seeing that everyone was watching intently, with occasional quiet cheers and discussions, she lightly poked Senior Sister Lü in front of her.

Senior Sister Lü turned around, her eyes full of confusion. “Junior Sister Xi Zhou?”

“Senior Sister Lü, after you finish your match, can you lend me your sword?”

The number plates had been issued according to how long each person had been unauthorized copyin the sect. Xi Zhou was the last one. Senior Sister Lü seemed to be somewhere in the middle, so there should be enough time.

Unexpectedly, Senior Sister Lü shook her head. “To cultivators, a personal sword is like another life. Junior Sister Xi Zhou, you can go report the situation to that senior brother. The sect has backup bronze swords for everyone to practice with privately.”

She pointed toward an inner disciple.

Xi Zhou thanked her. “Thank you for your guidance, Senior Sister.”

So there were backup bronze swords. She hurried over. After explaining the situation, she received a bronze sword.

Its blade was heavy and clumsy, glowing with an ordinary brass color. Compared with the silver-white or black longswords in everyone else’s hands, the difference was not small at all. Most importantly, this bronze sword was clearly shorter than everyone else’s longsword!

Xi Zhou sighed and could not help complaining inwardly. She was already losing in software, and now even the hardware was holding her back.

Dear heavens, would it kill you to give her a good sword so she could slaughter everyone…

Zhai Wangyou took in her every movement.

So she did not have a personal sword yet.

She looked at the bronze sword in Xi Zhou’s hand. Her finger lifted lightly. In her storage ring, an ordinary bronze sword appeared, while her own sword vanished without a trace.

At this moment, everyone was watching the arena. Only Xi Zhou was looking at the sword in her hand, her eyes blinking again and again, as if she could stare a flower out of it.

She closed her eyes, shook her head, then opened them and looked again.

The longsword in her hand was pure snow-white from end to end, giving off a cold silver gleam…