After Being Struck By The Love Gu, I Reached A Happy Ending With My Frail Best Friend - Chapter 2

Ning Ruyue stood there dumbfounded.

“You mean the Sword Pavilion on Little Golden Mountain in Shu?”

The immortal realm was filled with sects and Daoist schools. The Immortal Alliance was led by the Sword Pavilion, the Saber Sect, and the Talisman Sect, commanding one hundred and twenty sects across the immortal realm and governing the thirteen provinces of the mortal world.

From this alone, one could see just how extraordinary and exalted the Sword Pavilion’s status was.

Shen Fangzhou laughed. “In the immortal realm today, what other Sword Pavilion could there be?”

By now, the battle in the distance was nearing its end. With their morale soaring, Huizhou City’s cultivator defense forces were practically unstoppable.

Shen Fangzhou glanced over the battlefield and relaxed. She turned and leaped back onto the city tower, then began examining the extent of the damage to the city-protecting formation.

Two Realms Mountain was a battlefield between the immortal and demon realms, with four fortified passes built upon it. The protective formation at each pass had been personally drawn by members of the Talisman Sect.

Unless one was a Golden Core talisman cultivator, even with the will to repair it, one would likely be utterly powerless to do anything.

“System, do you have a way?”

As a sword cultivator, Shen Fangzhou could not understand a single thing she was looking at. She had no choice but to sigh and try waking the system.

“Zhouzhou, oh Zhouzhou,” said the useless system, which had spent the entire battle cheering, screaming, and applauding, in an earnest tone. “It’s already been three years. Why do you still harbor unrealistic expectations about certain things?”

“…Speak plainly.”

“I don’t know how.”

“…”

Shen Fangzhou rubbed her temple with a headache.

She stared at the intricate, chaotic patterns covering the protective formation, and the formation seemed to stare right back at her. She was completely at a loss.

The world of The Crane Travels the Heavens was rather unique. The language and writing system in the novel were entirely different from those on Earth.

It was already difficult enough for Shen Fangzhou to pass herself off as a native. Asking her to study Daoist techniques and formations was simply making life difficult for an illiterate person.

While Shen Fangzhou was still wondering where she could call for reinforcements, Ning Ruyue finally came over after recovering from her shock. She could barely contain her excitement at seeing the legendary figure she had only heard rumors about.

“Are you really the Sword Pavilion’s chief disciple? The Sword Venerable rumored to possess Sword Bones and release sword qi while still at Foundation Establishment?”

“No,” Shen Fangzhou denied casually.

She turned back and focused on wiping dust from the formation runes, trying to find something resembling an instruction manual for the city-protecting formation.

Ning Ruyue followed after her like a tail and instead let out a long sigh of relief.

“I knew it. Releasing sword qi is a privilege of Golden Core cultivators, no matter how you look at it. Even if someone was born with Sword Bones, there’s no way they could do it at Foundation Establishment—wait, what is that in your hand?! Shen Fangzhou, didn’t you say the rumor was false?”

Shen Fangzhou, who was using externalized sword qi to dig through the formation, looked completely innocent.

“It is false.”

“Then what is that sword qi?!”

Shen Fangzhou said, “I could already release it at the Qi Refining realm.”

Ning Ruyue fell silent.

“…I swear I’m going to fight every last one of you geniuses to the death.”

The two of them searched for the core of the city-protecting formation. Before the illiterate Shen Fangzhou could figure out even the slightest clue, an unfamiliar voice suddenly began flattering her from beside them, its tone so exaggeratedly emotional that it sounded almost fake.

“Senior? Honored Senior?”

Without raising her head, Shen Fangzhou replied lazily, “I’m not dead.”

The newcomer choked for a moment, but his mental fortitude was evidently strong enough for him to continue speaking without pause.

“This humble one is Chen Zhan of the Hidden Sword Sect. I came specifically to thank you! If you had not intervened so righteously today, Huizhou City might truly have been left covered in corpses. May I ask where you currently serve?”

Shen Fangzhou finally spared him a glance.

When she noticed that his robes were completely unstained by blood, however, she frowned and asked without the slightest mercy,

“Why aren’t you out killing enemies? What are you doing here?”

Chen Zhan had not expected to receive treatment completely different from Ning Ruyue’s. He paused, then answered humbly,

“I have only just broken through the Qi Refining realm. Fighting on the battlefield is truly not my forte.”

“So your forte is hiding on the city walls and slacking off.” Shen Fangzhou nodded in understanding and dusted off her hands. “Chen Zhan, was it? Understood. Once this matter is over, I’ll report you to the Immortal Alliance as a deserter. For now, please move to the right. You’re blocking my way.”

Chen Zhan cried out anxiously, but Ning Ruyue spoke first.

“Why are you still pestering her? Can you repair the formation? If not, get lost.”

Just as Chen Zhan’s face flushed red and he began stammering, the damaged formation at the city gates suddenly lit up with heavy, ancient patterns.

Amid everyone’s cries of surprise, the city-protecting formation slowly restored itself, and the defensive shell of spiritual energy reappeared.

The formation had been repaired?

A familiar, vast spiritual energy began surging rapidly.

The black clouds scattered, replaced by spiritual energy of astonishing purity.

It was like a blessed rain bestowed by the heavens. A gentle breeze passed as golden light circulated, and droplets of spiritual energy silently fell into everyone’s dantians.

“What is this?”

“My heavens, this is spiritual replenishment from the city-protecting formation! My dantian is full again!”

“Mine too! I think I’ve touched upon an opportunity to break through!”

Shen Fangzhou stared blankly at a drop of sweet dew that brushed across the bloody scrape on her palm.

Suddenly, she looked up.

Strange and difficult-to-understand talismanic notes echoed between heaven and earth.

In the far distance, pale mist spread outward as faint light traced the slender outline of a figure.

The hem of her robe, embroidered with immortal cranes, lifted gently. Her black hair fell like a waterfall, while her white robes remained untouched by even a speck of dust.

She sighed softly as she drew incomprehensible talismanic notes through the air.

With only the slightest lift of her eyes, she revealed features of peerless purity and elegance.

She was like the moon at dawn over the forbidden court, or ten thousand years of snow upon Cangshan Mountain.

An elusive crane that could never be found.

A divination countless cultivators sought yet could never obtain.

She was none other than the current sect master of the Tianji Sect—

Xie Guiwan.

Shen Fangzhou’s eyes lit up.

Then she abruptly disappeared from where she stood.

Ning Ruyue: “???”

Shen Fangzhou, where are you going?

That is the sect master of the Tianji Sect! Countless people would beg and kowtow just to receive one divination from her. Why are you trying to squeeze your way in?

Ning Ruyue was about to hurry after her and offer a warning when she suddenly clicked her tongue.

Why was she worrying for nothing?

Not long ago, rumors had already spread that the two were about to become cultivation partners. Others might not be able to get close, but how could Shen Fangzhou possibly be unable to?

What had Shen Fangzhou said when someone asked her about it back then?

“Sect Master Xie is temporarily staying at the Sword Pavilion. As the chief disciple, I naturally have a duty to care for her properly. As for us becoming cultivation partners, that is completely baseless nonsense.”

The person who had asked clicked their tongue in amazement and praised Chief Disciple Shen for her lofty virtue and noble character.

Shen Fangzhou had thought, How is this lofty virtue and noble character?

Her very life was tied to Xie Guiwan’s.

Besides, before transmigrating, she had at least counted as a fan of the pairing. The other female lead was also her senior sister, Bian Yingxue, who treated her extremely well.

Shen Fangzhou could not wait to press the two female leads’ heads together.

But would she still get the chance to do that today?

After securing the sword case on her back, Shen Fangzhou looked at the Tianji Sect Master’s temporary residence, which was surrounded by a dense stream of people.

She estimated that merely squeezing inside would already count as a success.

But that was normal.

For thousands of years, the immortal realm had circulated the saying:

“One divination from Tianji determines life and death.”

Naturally, countless people wished to meet this sect master.

The Sword Pavilion’s status was already transcendent.

But above the Sword Pavilion stood the reclusive Tianji Sect.

The Tianji Sect was situated on the eastern peak of Kunlun’s Cangshan Mountain. The snow there never melted, and the cold pierced straight to the bone. Anyone below the Golden Core realm could not enter.

Rumor had it that only two people lived within the sect.

One was the current sect master.

The other was the next sect master.

Aside from those two, there was no one else atop that isolated peak.

The so-called secrets of heaven involved peering into the Heavenly Dao and reversing cause and effect.

At times, a single auspicious or ominous divination from the Tianji Sect could easily alter the intentions of the Immortal Alliance. From that alone, one could see its unrivaled influence.

What even the novel itself had never mentioned was that the young Sect Master Xie—who had only recently inherited the sect and did not yet have a single disciple—could even communicate with the Heavenly Dao and walk the world on its behalf.

As for how Shen Fangzhou knew all of this…

It was because this book had been written by her beloved mother, Shen Zhiyin. : )

Shen Fangzhou sighed.

In a way, this was truly a case of the daughter repaying the mother’s debt.

The terrible ending Ms. Shen had written could only be painstakingly and fearfully repaired by Shen Fangzhou herself.

As she was thinking, someone suddenly shoved her.

A string of apologies came from beside her.

“Sorry, sorry! Huh? You don’t look familiar. Are you also a cultivator from Huizhou City who came to see the sect master?”

Without the slightest guilt, Shen Fangzhou nodded.

“That’s right. The sect master came back after repairing the city-protecting formation, didn’t she?”

“She only just went inside, but I imagine the sect master will probably refuse all visitors again today.” The black-robed cultivator sighed and patted Shen Fangzhou sympathetically. “Don’t wait, silly child. You’d be better off going outside the city gates to pick up a few demon soldiers’ heads and exchanging them for rewards.”

“She’s refusing visitors?”

“That’s right. Sect Master Xie is already missing one soul and three spirits. She also paid a great price to repair the city-protecting formation earlier, so she may already be exhausted. I only came to try my luck.”

Shen Fangzhou frowned upon hearing this, somewhat worried.

She touched the Soul-Stabilizing Incense she had specially borrowed from the Eastern Sea and hesitated over whether she should disturb the sect master right now.

Just then, under everyone’s expectant gazes, the residence gates opened.

A mechanical immortal crane slowly walked out. It first bowed to everyone, then spoke in a gentle, measured voice.

“My master will not receive visitors for the next several days. Fellow Daoists, please return for now.”

“See? What did I tell you?” Regretful sighs sounded all around them.

The black-robed cultivator smiled at Shen Fangzhou.

“Let’s go. Meeting is a form of fate. How about I treat you to a few cups of wine?”

Shen Fangzhou nodded as well.

Perhaps coming back after noon to disturb the sect master would be more appropriate.

She had just turned to leave when, unexpectedly, she found herself completely unable to move, as though something had tugged her from behind.

She turned around helplessly.

The immortal crane that had shown neither joy nor sorrow toward everyone else was now familiarly holding the back of her robe in its beak.

It tilted its head and scolded her.

“A-Wan is waiting for you. A-Wan is good! Zhouzhou secretly runs away. Zhouzhou is bad!”

“The sect master is waiting for me?”

Shen Fangzhou froze slightly.

A moment later, she naturally broke into a smile.

She patted the immortal crane’s little head, then turned and apologized to the stunned black-robed cultivator before striding forward and pushing open the residence gates.

Her path was completely unobstructed.

No one dared stop her.

“Wait! Didn’t Sect Master Xie say she wasn’t receiving visitors? What is that woman going inside for?”

“Didn’t you see the sword case on her back?”

“What? You have to bring gifts to meet the sect master?”

The cultivator beside him looked at him as though he were hopeless.

“Use your brain. That is the Nine Songs Sword Case passed down by the Sword Pavilion’s first pavilion master! Legend says it contains nine peerless divine swords. Tell me, who in the present immortal realm is worthy of carrying that sword case?”

“Oh, oh, so she’s—”

“So she’s who?”

“So she’s Shen Fangzhou, Sect Master Xie’s cultivation partner!”

Shen Fangzhou: “…”

Shen Fangzhou was heartbroken.

Truly, does this world no longer have room for pure friendship?

She stopped thinking about it and soon made her way to the door with practiced familiarity.

The immortal crane rubbed against Shen Fangzhou affectionately, as though urging her to knock quickly.

For some reason, Shen Fangzhou felt a little nervous.

She coughed twice to ease the hesitation in her heart.

She had spent three years by Xie Guiwan’s side. She was human, after all. By now, she no longer saw Xie Guiwan as merely a mission target.

She and her senior sister had been away from the Sword Pavilion for nearly a month.

After so long without personally seeing Xie Guiwan, Shen Fangzhou was genuinely worried about the sect master’s health.

Before she could stand outside the door and think for too long, a soft voice came from inside.

“Zhouzhou?”

It was phrased as a question, yet the tone was completely certain.

The voice was quiet but clear and cool, like a gentle breeze brushing over a horsetail whisk.

Shen Fangzhou paused, then asked warmly,

“Sect Master, will I disturb you?”

The person inside did not answer directly.

She only laughed softly.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

Shen Fangzhou’s heart suddenly brightened.

With several thoughts on her mind, she pushed open the door and entered.

The side hall was bright, and the soft daylight outlined a somewhat thin, frail figure beside the tea table.

Xie Guiwan looked over with a smile.

“Zhouzhou—cough, cough…”

“Sect Master!”

Shen Fangzhou’s heart tightened at the sound.

She flashed into the room, not forgetting to quickly close the doors and windows behind her.

Xie Guiwan covered her lips.

The unbroken string of coughs made Shen Fangzhou’s heart pound with fear, as though Xie Guiwan might cough out her internal organs.

After only a moment, a glaring shade of scarlet spread across her palm.

Those black eyes, usually as tranquil as a deep pool, seemed thoroughly disturbed, revealing a faint and hazy blur.

Shen Fangzhou immediately reached for Xie Guiwan’s pulse.

Xie Guiwan’s eyelid twitched, and she pulled back. Almost instinctively, she grabbed her friend’s wrist.

“…”

Both of them froze.

Shen Fangzhou recovered first.

She turned her hand over and immediately caught the disobedient sect master, impatiently reaching for her pulse again.

The instant Shen Fangzhou caught hold of her, Xie Guiwan tentatively tried to struggle free.

Shen Fangzhou snorted coldly and, sure enough, did not let her succeed.

Thus, Sect Master Xie, who normally allowed no one to question her decisions, had no choice but to obediently give in.

Only her autumn-like eyes remained fixed quietly on the person before her.

Shen Fangzhou accidentally met Xie Guiwan’s gaze.

Her chest suddenly jumped.

She hurriedly turned her head away and pretended to inspect the tables and chairs, feeling inexplicably nervous enough for her palms to become slightly damp.

A hint of a smile flashed across Xie Guiwan’s lips.

But Sect Master Xie soon stopped smiling.

“You haven’t been taking your medicine on time.”

Shen Fangzhou lowered her brows.

She carefully released Xie Guiwan, but when she spoke again, her tone was extremely grave.

“The two bottles of Soul-Stabilizing Seven-Spirit Pills I left behind—Sect Master, exactly how many did you take?”

Xie Guiwan remained silent.

She merely blinked and reached for the corner of Shen Fangzhou’s robe.

Realizing something was wrong, Shen Fangzhou hardened her heart and shifted to the side, causing the sect master to grab nothing.

The two stared at each other.

Even the air seemed to congeal.

“One and a half bottles,” Xie Guiwan sighed, honestly admitting it.

“You’re still not telling the truth.” Shen Fangzhou laughed coldly. “Oh, right. I nearly forgot something else. Sect Master, shouldn’t you be recuperating in the Sword Pavilion right now? How exactly did you appear at Huizhou Pass?”

Xie Guiwan lowered her head and immediately changed the subject.

“Fine. It was actually half a bottle.”

“Half a bottle is nine pills. In other words, you only took them for half a month?”

“Then it should be as Zhouzhou says. After all, I originally thought you would return within half a month, so I only kept nine Seven-Spirit—”

“Half a bottle is six pills.”

Shen Fangzhou paused and lowered her lashes.

Her eyes, usually so bright and clear, now showed a trace of dimness.

“Sect Master, you lied to me again.”

“Zhouzhou—”

Xie Guiwan fell silent for a while.

Then she slowly extended a hand.

She leaned forward slightly and hesitantly caught hold of the green robe before her.

This time, Shen Fangzhou did not avoid her.

She only listened as Xie Guiwan sighed, word by word.

“I possess an Innate Dao Body and have some talent in formations and divination. At times, I can communicate with the Heavenly Dao. The full moon must wane; for something to be lacking is inevitable. There is absolutely no possibility of recovering my missing soul and three spirits. As for the Seven-Spirit Pills, allowing you to use them to nourish your soul is the only way to make full use of them.”

An Innate Dao Body meant entering the Dao through one’s own body.

The path Xie Guiwan needed to cultivate was one almost no predecessor had ever walked.

With an Innate Dao Body, spiritual energy naturally filled her meridians from birth. She did not need to cultivate, and there was no cultivation realm to speak of.

The Heavenly Dao wanted her to become its most obedient executor, calculating the trajectories of fate and the traces of the stars day after day.

Only when she finally understood the road that belonged to her could she ascend as an immortal and step upon the Great Dao.

Shen Fangzhou knew all of this.

She lowered her eyes.

Through the spaces between her fingers, she could feel the faint chill of Xie Guiwan’s touch.

Because she was missing part of her soul, the sect master’s body temperature was very low, like the snow that never melted on Kunlun’s eastern peak.

It seemed impossible to imagine a day when the ice would thaw and the snow would disappear.

But Sect Master—

If not for that missing soul and those three spirits, you would never have sacrificed half your cultivation to exchange for the lives of an entire city.

And at the end of the story, when you lacked only the slightest bit of spiritual energy to turn the situation around, you would not have been powerless to stop your own death.

So Shen Fangzhou did not argue again.

She only carefully lit the calming incense she had protected throughout her journey and brought back from the Eastern Sea, silently making her position clear.

The entire hall fell silent.

After a long while, Xie Guiwan was the first to soften her tone.

She looked up and asked with a smile,

“Speaking of which, Zhouzhou, why are you here?”

“My senior sister and I happened to travel here.”

Shen Fangzhou’s eyes lit up.

She thought this was a perfect opportunity to promote her senior sister.

Bian Yingxue treated her like family. She absolutely had to make this marriage happen for her senior sister!

Thus, she cleared her throat and said with a beaming smile,

“But Sect Master, there is another piece of good news I haven’t told you. My senior sister has already broken through from the early Golden Core realm and entered the middle stage.”

“Is that so? When we meet, I suppose I should properly congratulate Senior Sister Bian as well. However…”

“However what?”

Xie Guiwan recalled the look Bian Yingxue gave her whenever she stood beside Zhouzhou.

Her movements paused slightly.

In a tone that seemed half like a joke, she asked,

“Zhouzhou, do you really like your senior sister that much? Why can’t you go three sentences without mentioning her?”

Warning bells blared in Shen Fangzhou’s mind.

Could Xie Guiwan already like Bian Yingxue at this point?

Was the female lead jealous?!

Shen Fangzhou, who had vowed to pop champagne—no, open a wine jar—at their wedding ceremony, immediately declared her loyalty.

“Sect Master, don’t worry. My senior sister and I are as close as family. I also intend to devote my entire life to the Sword Pavilion. A cultivation partner or anything like that has never been part of my plans.”

“Ding.”

At that moment, a knock suddenly sounded outside the room, awakening the stillness of the hall.

“Junior Sister—”

The newcomer was the second female lead of the original novel, Bian Yingxue of the Sword Pavilion’s Solitary Peak.

Xie Guiwan’s eyes darkened slightly.