Female Lead, Something's Not Right (GL) - Chapter 6

“Don’t!”

Gu Shiyan screamed, sitting up abruptly in bed, startling the other disciples in her room. As her senses returned, she found herself lying in bed, her clothes neatly in place.

“A dream?”

Everyone immediately crowded around her, asking questions out of curiosity.

“Xiao Wan, you’re awake! Hurry, tell us how you ended up in the Western Marshes!”

“I heard True Monarch Hehua went too. Did you see her?”

“Yeah, yeah! And what kind of opportunity did you come across? Your cultivation actually broke through two stages! Yesterday you were still at the third stage of Qi Condensation, and now you’re at the fifth!”

My cultivation broke through? Amidst all the questions, Gu Shiyan finally caught the important one. She quickly checked her cultivation. Her dantian was full of spiritual energy, and her spiritual meridians were no longer sluggish or blocked like before. She had indeed broken through!

She recalled her last memories: entering the White Tiger Pagoda, then the Demon of Lust Flower, and after that…!!

The absurdity of that room flashed through her mind, and Gu Shiyan’s face instantly flushed! This was impossible. How could she have performed the rites of Duke Zhou with True Monarch Hehua?! Were those lewd, twisting movements and seductive moans truly coming from her own mouth?!

“Why is your face so red? Xiao Wan, are you okay?”

Gu Shiyan shook her head. “I’m fine. Do you remember when I came back? Who brought me back?”

Zhou Yun, a girl in yellow, looked worried. “You were unconscious all night. We found you on the bed when we got back last night. We don’t know who brought you back, but a disciple from the Seven Stars Peak delivered a storage bag to you this morning. They said it was your reward from the Western Marshes trip. Senior Sister Zhao said you had contributed and suffered from the illusion, so you were given a little extra.”

Hearing this, Gu Shiyan’s defenses completely dropped.

An illusion, she thought. She felt her body, and there were no abnormalities or the red marks from her dream. She knew it. How could someone like True Monarch Hehua do something like that with her? She took the storage bag and probed it with her divine sense. The rewards were indeed very generous! Five hundred low-grade spiritual stones, a piece of the marsh alligator’s back armor, which would be perfect for a protective vest and was worth at least two thousand low-grade spiritual stones. She even got at least ten catties of marsh alligator meat!

In addition, there was a bottle of ten low-grade Revitalization Pills and a few bottles of external wound medicine. One of the blue and white porcelain bottles of wound medicine looked very familiar and contained a medium-grade hemostatic powder, just like the one True Monarch Hehua gave her in her dream.

But Gu Shiyan didn’t think too much about it. This trip, bought with her life, was worth nearly five thousand low-grade spiritual stones, or five medium-grade ones. It was an incredible value! This was money she would have had to work to earn for decades in her previous life. With this in mind, Gu Shiyan didn’t dwell on anything else. She only wanted to hurry and buy a Marrow Cleansing Pill. She would definitely break through to the sixth stage within two years, and she would have a chance to participate in the sect competition!

The future was bright!

A deep bell rang out in the sky, signaling that it was time.

“Hurry, hurry, the teleportation array is open! This is the annual grand immortal market. People from all over will gather down the mountain to trade goods. Today is the first day, so there must be a lot of good stuff. Don’t miss it!”

“Right, right! I’ve been saving spiritual stones for a long time just for today. Xiao Wan, you can tell us about it on the way. Let’s hurry to the teleportation array.”

Suddenly, everyone was in a chaotic rush, packing their things and grabbing their identity tokens to head to the teleportation array.

The Teleportation Cliff was, as the name suggested, located on the edge of a sheer cliff. The Tianxuan Sect was the leader of the four major sects on the Qianmeng Continent, with nearly 300,000 disciples. It had abundant resources and spiritual energy, with five medium-grade spiritual veins and one top-grade one. The Teleportation Cliff had fifty low-grade teleportation arrays that could transport a hundred people at a time, ten medium-grade arrays for a thousand people, and one top-grade array for ten thousand! Not to mention the hundreds of immortal vessels and other strange treasures.

The low-grade teleportation arrays were mainly used for the immortal market, sect training, and outside studies. The medium-grade and top-grade ones were mostly for wartime. The top-grade array had not been activated for a thousand years.

When the six of them arrived, the Teleportation Cliff was already crowded. There were long lines in front of every teleportation array. A dozen or so passenger immortal vessels also hovered in the air. The armored and black-robed guards of the Judicial Hall maintained order.

“When will we be able to ride an immortal vessel? Hey, look! An elder or some senior sister must be in that top-grade immortal vessel over there. Maybe even True Monarch Hehua!” Zhou Yun said enviously.

“Your envy is useless. Even if they’re from the sect, you have no business with them. Not to mention those private immortal vessels, even the regular low-grade ones cost ten low-grade spiritual stones for a one-way trip, and only inner sect disciples can afford that. The teleportation array, which costs three low-grade spiritual stones, is more suited for us,” Chu Ning said, patting Zhou Yun’s shoulder comfortingly.

“I say, sword cultivators have it best. They can fly with their swords. Talisman cultivators aren’t bad either; they just stick on a talisman and can fly by themselves. Unlike us alchemists, sigh, I wish I hadn’t chosen the Alchemy Division.”

But Gu Shiyan shook her head. “Don’t think like that. It’s easy for your Dao heart to stray. I actually really like being an alchemist. We can refine powerful attack pills and poison pills, or heal ourselves and others. As long as we have enough elixirs, we don’t have to fear our spiritual energy dissipating. A single top-grade elixir can be worth a city, and a capable alchemist can be worth a hundred other cultivators!”

Zhou Yun nodded in agreement. “Xiao Wan is right! You know, on the Qianmeng Continent, there are plenty of powerful sword and artifact cultivators. But a powerful alchemist is hard to find. On the top hundred list, there are only three alchemists. One day, I want to become the most powerful alchemist!”

Everyone was infected by Zhou Yun’s playful mood. They laughed and walked into the teleportation array, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at the entrance of the immortal market.

The immortal market was a massive gathering, like a grand temple fair. Besides the merchants who were always there, many rogue cultivators from all over brought treasures they acquired during their travels to sell. The market was open for half a month, and this period was the busiest, but also the most chaotic.

All the major sects would come, including rarely seen body cultivators, ghost cultivators, and demon cultivators. There was even a chance to encounter people from the distant elf and sea tribes. As such, the probability of finding a rare treasure was high.

Of course, ordinary humans would also come. Most of the sect disciples came from major cultivation clans in the mortal world, and the things they sold were cheap. This was what the outer sect disciples liked to buy because the prices were good, and the items were practical.

In the market, all sorts of customers came and went, a bustling crowd. Stalls were set up on both sides of the road and in the small alleys. Soon, the six of them had their hands full with various snacks and trinkets. Of course, they were all cheap, common items.

“Beautiful hairpins, take a look, everyone!”

At a human vendor’s stall next to a tavern, various hair accessories and beaded bracelets were being sold. The styles were complex and numerous, dazzling and in all kinds of colors—all things that young girls would love.

“This is so pretty!” Zhou Yun excitedly picked up a hairpin. The others also gathered around.

“Dear disciples, you can try them on if you like. I made all of these myself. Although they are not as valuable as your immortal treasures, they are very unique. The price is very cheap: one low-grade spiritual stone for three items of your choice,” the woman said happily. These items would only sell for two or three taels of silver in the mortal realm, but here, they could be sold for ten times more, which made paying the expensive stall fee worthwhile.

Hearing how cheap they were, Chu Ning and the others all began to choose things. Gu Shiyan picked up a silver hairpin. She felt a strong gaze on her. She looked around uncomfortably. This feeling of being watched had not stopped since the Teleportation Cliff, a faint presence that she couldn’t be sure of. The immortal market, besides being prosperous, also had many dark corners where murders and treasure thefts were common.

Had someone targeted her storage bag? But then she thought, there were many people richer than her at the market. Her meager money was nothing among the outer sect disciples. Who would covet it? Gu Shiyan felt a faint sense of unease, wondering if she was just being paranoid.

In a private room on the second floor of the tavern above the stall, Lu Ran asked curiously, “Xiao Hehua, what are you looking at? You’ve been staring for a long time.”