Chapter 18

Water splashed up from the cold pond.

The sudden invading chill allowed Ye Qingruo to regain her reason. She promptly used her spiritual power to steady herself in the water.

She gathered her mind, closed her eyes, and used the icy coldness of the pond to calm herself down.

Xiao Hu was once again dumbfounded!

“**”

Unable to hold back, Xiao Hu cursed inwardly. She shook her head. Were every single one of them this ruthless?

Ye Qingruo was ruthless to herself, and Jiang Li was ruthless enough to Ye Qingruo too. Xiao Hu really could not understand. Humans were so complicated.

Ah Gu had also been led astray by humans. Wasn’t it just dual cultivation? These two were making it so complicated.

Fifteen minutes later, Ye Qingruo finally opened her eyes and calmly went ashore.

“Why are you here?” She looked at Jiang Li, her expression indifferent.

Jiang Li smiled. “We happened to have something to do back at Fanjie Mountain. I didn’t expect to run into you by such coincidence.”

Xiao Hu, standing nearby, smiled on the surface while inwardly grumbling. It really was quite a coincidence. They had come here specifically to find her. How could it not be a coincidence?

Ye Qingruo lowered her eyes, her voice still carrying a trace of hoarseness. “Thank you.”

Just those two words, and nothing else.

Jiang Li glanced at her expression and kept smiling. “No need to thank me. It was what I should do. Just now… just now, I…”

“Thank you for earlier. This place is overrun with demons, so I should not stay long. Farewell.” Ye Qingruo’s expression did not change as she calmly interrupted Jiang Li.

Jiang Li smiled and waved. “All right. Farewell.”

Only after Ye Qingruo’s figure disappeared into the distance did Jiang Li turn back and sigh. “Ye Qingruo really is [unauthorized copy]worthy of being the young sect master. She stays calm when things happen. She recovered so quickly.”

The white moonlight acted as if nothing had happened at all, unlike Jiang Li, whose face had nearly gone stiff from smiling nervously.

Seeing this, Xiao Hu teased, “You clearly came here for her, yet you insisted it was a coincidence. I really don’t know what you’re thinking. If you’re worried about her, then let her know.”

“It’s concern. Don’t talk nonsense and make people misunderstand.”

“Fine, it’s concern. I’ll chase after Ye Qingruo right now and tell her that our Ah Gu is concerned about her, so she shouldn’t misunderstand.” Xiao Hu pretended to walk forward. Her mouth was on her own face, so she could say whatever she wanted.

Jiang Li’s expression changed in alarm. She hurriedly stopped her. “Don’t tease me. Hurry and come back.”

She had no other intentions toward Ye Qingruo. At the end of the day, Ye Qingruo had been affected by the gu because of her. Helping cure the gu was something Jiang Li ought to do, even though Ye Qingruo did not need it.

But humans were not plants. After spending so much time together, it was inevitable that she would worry a little.

Hearing this, Xiao Hu said slyly, “I can keep from telling her, but you have to give me ten Heavenly Thunder Talismans, plus ten plates of roasted chicken wings. Also, from now on, whenever you encounter anything good, you have to put me first. You are not allowed to be fierce to me, and even if I do something wrong, you can’t blame me…”

Jiang Li rolled her eyes as she listened. “Why don’t you just ascend to the heavens?”

Xiao Hu leapt up and flew into the air. “What’s so difficult about ascending to the heavens?”

Jiang Li pressed the corner of her eye and made the final decision. “Ten Heavenly Thunder Talismans. Nothing else. Otherwise, say whatever you want.”

Could she really be threatened?

Xiao Hu reluctantly agreed. “Fine. For the sake of us being good sisters who have known each other for many years, this fox immortal won’t hold it against you.”

Jiang Li laughed dryly. Thank you so much.

After returning to Yao Sect, Jiang Li began frantically drawing talismans. Every stroke was especially careful, as she strove not to waste a single piece of beast hide.

By the time Elder Ji Lei called her to the training grounds, five days had already passed.

It turned out that Yao Sect’s inner sect elder had returned. The inner sect elder had brought back news: a rift had appeared in the Savage Forest, and large numbers of foreign cultivators had invaded through it. They had repeatedly spoken arrogantly, declaring that they would make all the sects of the cultivation continent submit to them.

After the six orthodox sects discussed the matter, they planned to send elite disciples into the Savage Forest to kill the foreign cultivators. They would treat it as a trial.

The Savage Forest trial?

Jiang Li could not help remembering the plot from the original book that she had read halfway through.

The male lead and female lead met during this trial, and the male lead’s white moonlight, Ye Qingruo, died during it.

The background constructed in the book did not only include the cultivation world. This cultivation world was the Cultivation Continent. The mortal realm was called the Tianyan Continent. Beyond the Savage Forest was the Yuanhai Continent.

There were barriers between the three continents, and they did not affect one another. That was until a rift appeared in the Savage Forest, connecting the passage between the Cultivation Continent and the Yuanhai Continent.

To the Cultivation Continent, the cultivators of Yuanhai Continent were all foreigners. These foreign cultivators were ambitious and bloodthirsty. From then on, they repeatedly sent people to sneak into the cultivation world and stir up trouble.

Fortunately, the Savage Forest had a cultivation restriction. Cultivators above the Golden Core stage could not enter. Therefore, the foreign cultivators who slipped in were not too strong either. They could only wag their tongues and scheme a little.

But people had tempers. After being provoked too many times, the cultivation world wanted to teach the other side a lesson. Thus, this Savage Forest trial came about.

On the stage, the inner sect elder was still explaining the trial, [bailiantales.com]while below the stage, Jiang Li’s brows were almost twisted into knots.

Ye Qingruo would die in this Savage Forest trial.

But the love gu still had not been cured.

Jiang Li hesitated inwardly, not knowing whether she should go.

If she went, could she beat someone even Ye Qingruo, a Golden Core cultivator, could not defeat? Moreover, the foreign cultivators were vicious and cunning. This trip would definitely be extremely dangerous. Jiang Li might not even be able to protect herself, let alone help.

But if she did not go, her heart felt uncomfortable. Was she supposed to just watch Ye Qingruo die?

Just as she was struggling, she heard the inner sect elder arrange, “The Upper Three Sects will each send two hundred disciples. The Lower Three Sects will each send one hundred disciples. Personal disciples must participate in the trial. If the number of volunteers is insufficient, the sect will discuss and fill the remaining spots…”

As soon as Elder Ji Lei heard this, he immediately objected. “This old man has only just accepted a personal disciple. Jiang Li is only at early Qi Refining. She does not need to go, does she?”

The disciples going to the Savage Forest were all at Foundation Establishment and Golden Core. Jiang Li, an early Qi Refining disciple, would purely be going there to throw her life away.

The inner sect elder smiled. read the original at bailiantales.com“If Elder Ji has objections, you may request instructions from the sect master.”

After returning, he had already heard about it. She was merely a waste with a damaged spiritual root. Why was this old fellow so anxious to protect her?

Elder Ji Lei tugged at his beard and turned to find the sect master.

In the end, the sect master was still in seclusion and only said for him to discuss it with the inner sect elder.

And the inner sect elder kept passing the ball back: This side suggests that you go find the sect master.

Who did not have personal disciples? As long as there was one exception, there would be a second, so he could not loosen his stance.

Elder Ji Lei had no choice but to pack Jiang Li more pills for protection. “Good disciple, if you encounter danger, absolutely do not try to act strong. Returning alive is the most important thing.”

“Thank you, Master.”

Jiang Li accepted the pills, feeling as though the dust had finally settled. Now, she no longer had to struggle over the decision.

The next day, as soon as she boarded the flying boat, Jiang Li discovered that, with stolen contentherself as the center, an empty space several meters wide had formed around her. Everyone looked as if they could not avoid her fast enough.

The inner disciples at the front were mostly at Golden Core and automatically grouped together, not planning to pay attention to the outer sect disciples, whose cultivation levels were all at Foundation Establishment.

As for the outer sect disciples at the back, the moment they thought of Jiang Li being Elder Ji Lei’s personal disciple, they wished they could stay far away.

Setting aside the fact that early Qi Refining was a burden, if anything happened to Jiang Li, Elder Ji Lei would most likely blame them for not protecting her well.

In short, since they were not confident they could protect her, they would stay far away from trouble.

Jiang Li understood this from their gazes and did not go over to make herself unwelcome.

With Xiao Hu around, plus more than a hundred Heavenly Thunder Talismans capable of striking at Golden Core strength, she was stronger than many disciples, all right?

For this Savage Forest trial, aside from disciples of the orthodox sects, many rogue cultivators and demons also took the opportunity to enter. The Savage Forest had always been a forbidden land, and for hundreds and thousands of years, no one had ever set foot inside. In a certain sense, it was also a once-in-a-thousand-years treasure land.

But that also meant the danger was doubled. Rogue cultivators and demons did not care about uniting against the enemy. They also dared to kill people and steal treasures. Because of this, the disciples of each sect were almost all forming teams of at least a dozen people, trying not to be left alone.

Jiang Li did not need to worry about forming a team, ​Read on BaiLianTales​because the moment she entered, she was left alone.

Other sects also extended invitations to Yao Sect disciples and formed teams with them.

After all, wherever there was fighting, there would be injuries and deaths. Although Yao Sect disciples had low cultivation, they had many pills.

But when it came to Jiang Li, after seeing that she was at early Qi Refining, people went to find other Yao Sect disciples instead.

Stop joking. Early Qi Refining was a burden. Even if there were pills to eat, she would not have the life to stay alive.

In the end, at the entrance to the Savage Forest, only two people had not formed teams.

They were also the only two early Qi Refining disciples in this Savage Forest trial.

The two looked at each other silently.

Jiang Li’s thoughts drifted. The other person who had been left alone was actually the male lead. But why hadn’t she seen Ye Qingruo?

At this moment, Xia Zhidi took the initiative to walk over. “Have we met somewhere before?”

Jiang Li thought to herself, Of course they had met. It was when she accompanied Ye Qingruo to Jiaoyue Sect to break off the engagement.

After a brief moment of thought, she decided to team up with Xia Zhidi first, because in the original text, Ye Qingruo had been dragged into trouble by the male lead and died before his eyes. From then on, she completely became the white moonlight he regretted for the rest of his life.

But in that case, they should soon encounter the female lead, right? Jiang Li remembered that the female lead was called Xiao Xi. Her identity was the young master of the demon race, and she was a beautiful young girl.

As for the plot after the Savage Forest trial, Jiang Li did not know. She had only read halfway through the book, and before she had time to read the rest, she had transmigrated.

“You’re a Qingxi Sect disciple?” Xia Zhidi looked at Jiang Li, who seemed to be spacing out, and suddenly remembered where he had seen her.

Not long ago, Ye Qingruo had sought him out to discuss breaking off the engagement. Jiang Li had been the disciple following beside Ye Qingruo. He had once caught a glimpse of her from afar.

But why had this person been with Yao Sect disciples just now?

“Jiang Li, Yao Sect disciple. Want to team up?”

Jiang Li directly stated her intention and did not explain further. In her heart, she had already made up her mind that even if the male lead did not agree, she would secretly follow behind him.

If they encountered Ye Qingruo, she would quickly pull her away from the male lead. Maybe then, Ye Qingruo could avoid this death tribulation.