Chapter 2

Jun Yu.

Xu Yizhuo silently repeated the name in her heart.

Even though the real person’s face was somewhat different from the game model, Xu Yizhuo recognized the woman at the head of the group at first glance. The model had already attracted countless fans, but it was far from comparable to the grace and bearing of the real person.

Almost the instant she thought of this name, Xu Yizhuo could connect it with another form of address.

…Wife.

Xu Yizhuo coughed lightly, propped up half of her cheek, turned her head away, and shifted her gaze elsewhere.

Thinking of that word right under the actual person’s nose really did make her feel a little embarrassed.

However popular Yellow Springs Mirror was, Jun Yu was just as popular. Even the person in charge of the game had never expected that a character they had originally estimated to be ordinarily popular would end up becoming famous outside the game’s circle.

On social media, countless players chased after Jun Yu, calling her “wife.” There were so many of them that it created an almost brainwashing effect. As Jun Yu became more and more famous outside the game, more and more people followed the trend. Even Xu Yizhuo, who paid very little attention to the game, knew about it.

For a while, Xu Yizhuo felt that her entire Moments feed was about to be taken over by screenshots of Jun Yu.

The game Yellow Springs Mirror itself was produced by a top-tier domestic gaming company. After seven or eight years without any high-quality PC games appearing on the market, Yellow Springs Mirror, which applied many new technologies, attracted the attention of countless players as soon as it was released. Its two closed beta tests earned plenty of traffic, and in the month of its open beta, its revenue left the competition far behind.

As for the character Jun Yu, her model was impeccable, she occupied an extremely important position in the main storyline, and her character setting was [Read on BaiLianTales]the currently popular “beautiful, powerful, and tragic” type. Although her popularity reaching this extent was unexpected, it also made sense.

Xu Yizhuo had also stared at screenshots of Jun Yu on her phone screen for a long time before. She had even followed the trend and repeated “wife” a few times like a parrot.

…It felt even more shameful now.

Xu Yizhuo silently moved her chair. As long as she sat a little farther inside, Jun Yu would not be able to see her.

After calming down a little, Xu Yizhuo tried hard to recall whether Jun Yu had appeared at this point in the story.

She knew that Jun Yu appeared very early in the main storyline, but because she had never played Yellow Springs Mirror before, she did not know the exact time of Jun Yu’s entrance.

Xu Yizhuo rested her chin on her hand and thought for a long time, but she still could not remember whether Jun Yu appeared in the beginner village.

However, whether she did or not had nothing to do with Xu Yizhuo. In the current situation, it actually saved her trouble. Qingping Town was a mortal town with no cultivators. How could ordinary flesh-and-blood mortals resist the blood-robed person?

Xu Yizhuo had prepared herself to deal with this matter personally, but now that Jun Yu had come, there was naturally no need for her to take action.

Jun Yu was the master of Shiwai Tower, and the young cultivators she brought with her should all be disciples of Shiwai Tower. Shiwai Tower held a transcendent position in the cultivation world. Just like its name suggested, its disciples rarely entered the world, following the sect rule of “emerge in chaotic times, withdraw in peaceful times.”

However, this reclusive sect had turned the tide three times when the cultivation world faced great danger. Shiwai Tower was not the actual governing authority of the cultivation world, but in name, both the immortal path and the demonic path respected Shiwai Tower as supreme.

In the past hundred years, more and more disciples of Shiwai Tower had gradually appeared in the cultivation world. The perceptive had already sensed that a storm was coming and that the great mansion was about to collapse.

The current version of the game had not explicitly stated that Jun Yu was the master of Shiwai Tower, but the plot ​read the original at bailiantales.com​had already given several clues. Jun Yu’s identity was not really a secret.

Xu Yizhuo straightened her slightly messy clothes and decided to leave. There was no need to gather information anymore. The number one person in the cultivation world was here, so what did Xu Yizhuo have to worry about?

But speaking of which, right now, wasn’t she the real number one person in the cultivation world?

Xu Yizhuo pulled up her panel and could not help thinking this as she looked at her combat power of one hundred million.

Not long after Xu Yizhuo left, the waiter went to collect the bits of silver she had left on the table and took away the empty porcelain plate and cup.

He was just about to bring the plate and cup to the back kitchen when someone passing by called out to him.

The waiter looked over and discovered that it was actually one of the guests who had just taken a seat. He felt somewhat uneasy. People who spent their days moving around in the marketplace were the best at seeing through a person’s nature. Although this guest looked gentle, there was a faint sense of distance hidden between her brows and eyes.

At a glance, one could tell that her status was extraordinary. The waiter was merely a waiter in an ordinary town, and facing such a guest, even his tongue seemed to tie itself into knots. He felt a little afraid and did not dare to speak.

The guest asked warmly, “Do you know the young lady who just left?”

The waiter quickly nodded.

“Do you know her name?”

The waiter shook his head. “She moved to town not long ago. We all call her Miss Xu.”

A guest’s affairs were not something that should be casually spread around, but the woman did not look like a petty person [stolen content]who would harm someone behind their back.

“Her surname is Xu…” the woman lowered her eyes and murmured. Then she looked up and asked, “Does she often come here?”

“After the weather got hot, Miss Xu often came here. This is the only place that sells sushan.” Qingping Town was hot in the summer, and storing ice relied on immortal-family magic tools. The teahouse owner had a distant relative who had joined an immortal sect, and only because of that had he spent a high price to buy a low-grade magic tool.

Although the people of Qingping Town, who had only ever seen ordinary mortals in the surrounding area, still doubted whether magic tools truly existed in this world, the fact that the large vat the owner had bought could store ice was indisputable.

Sushan was expensive, but what Xu Yizhuo lacked least was money. Every time, she would order a plate of sushan, and in the eyes of others, she was very generous.

The woman signaled for the waiter to leave. After pondering for a moment, she turned her gaze to the disciples who were quietly talking among themselves. These people were all young cultivators under one hundred years old. Most of them had left Shiwai Tower for the first time, and now, everything they saw felt novel. If not for embarrassment, they would have already begun chatting loudly.

“Su Ling,” the woman called softly.

The girl who had been called immediately fell silent. Obediently placing both hands on her knees, she turned toward the woman.

The woman instructed, “Go ask the three people sitting by the window what major events have happened in town recently.”

She paused, then continued, “Especially ask them what the blood-robed person is.”

On the way back, Xu Yizhuo bought a fish. The shopkeeper insisted that killing it on the spot would make it the freshest. Xu Yizhuo, who had never cooked for herself since childhood, was half-convinced and half-doubtful. Carrying a black carp that was still flopping around energetically, she headed back.

When she reached the entrance of her own house, Xu Yizhuo did not stop. Instead, she walked a few more steps and knocked on the door of her neighbor’s house. The door was not locked. Without waiting for the person inside to respond, Xu Yizhuo entered on her own with practiced familiarity.

“Old Li, we’re eating fish tonight,” Xu Yizhuo said to the old man walking out of the house.

The old man looked to be around seventy years old. Hearing Xu Yizhuo’s words, his already wrinkled face became even more wrinkled.

“My eyes aren’t good. I can’t pick out fish bones!”

Xu Yizhuo did not care. “It’s fine. I can finish it.”

“Then I’m still the one who has to cook it!” Old Li shouted in dissatisfaction.

Xu Yizhuo soothed him. “I’ll go buy you wine in a bit.”

Old Li immediately had no objections.

Old Li was the first character Xu Yizhuo had met in the game. That was true before she transmigrated, and it was also true after she transmigrated. He and the player had arrived in Qingping Town to settle down with the same caravan. As for the player’s storyline in Qingping Town, the beginner village, most of it could not be separated from Old Li.

It was just that after the beginner quest, there was no more plot related to Old Li. By then, the player had already left Qingping Town, and no one knew where Old Li had gone.

Although Old Li’s eyesight was not very good, his cooking skills were first-rate. Even with his eyes closed, he could cook a dish perfectly. In the game, the player often went to Old Li’s place to freeload meals. After transmigrating here, Xu Yizhuo, who knew absolutely nothing about cooking, shamelessly went over to eat and drink for free.

Of course, every time, she brought fresh ingredients and wine.

By the time Old Li finished preparing the black carp, Xu Yizhuo had also bought the wine as promised.

The room was a little stuffy, but under the osmanthus [read the original at bailiantales.com]tree in the small courtyard, it was very cool. Xu Yizhuo and Old Li ate at the stone table beneath the tree.

Old Li did not touch the fish. He tapped the edge of the plate and said to Xu Yizhuo, “Black carp has many bones. Girl, be careful.”

Xu Yizhuo nodded repeatedly. Because she was eating, her words were a little muffled.

She said, “Old Li, I saw someone at the teahouse earlier.”

Old Li took a large gulp of wine and asked after swallowing, “An old acquaintance from before?”

“I know her, but she doesn’t know me. She isn’t an acquaintance either,” Xu Yizhuo said. “I feel a little uneasy. I keep feeling like I won’t be able to keep living such peaceful days.”

She did not know the later plot. She only knew that the young boy or girl controlled by the player would inevitably leave Qingping Town and set foot on a path of immortal cultivation filled with danger and thorns. As the main storyline progressed, the peaceful and beautiful life in the small town would look more and more like an unreachable dream.

The beginner village always held an extraordinary place in a player’s heart. In the beginner village, they knew nothing and did the simplest quests, slowly becoming familiar with this world through the careful guidance of NPCs. It was like a young child learning to walk with the help of their parents.

But children would one day leave their parents’ embrace, and players would one day leave the beginner village. Some places could no longer be returned to after leaving. They would miss the simplicity and innocence of the beginner village, but they themselves had long since adapted to the complexity and treachery of the future world.

Players could not stay in the beginner village forever, but Xu Yizhuo could.

In order to level up, players had to follow the main storyline and leave Qingping Town. But Xu Yizhuo had no such need. She could perfectly well stay in Qingping Town until she died—and Xu Yizhuo highly doubted whether it was even still possible for her to die in this world.

Ignoring the main quest that would forever remain at the top of her quest list, pretending to be an ordinary person, and spending her whole life in Qingping Town…

While Xu Yizhuo was tempted, the laziness in her thoughts stolen contentalso made her wonder whether following the main storyline would actually be better.

Old Li drained an entire pot of wine in one go.

“If you want to live peaceful days, then you can. If your heart can’t settle down, then you won’t be able to live them for the rest of your life.”

The wine was strong liquor. Old Li only liked strong liquor. The drunkenness came quickly. After one pot of wine went down, Old Li was already tipsy. Countless overlapping images of Xu Yizhuo appeared before his eyes, and before long, he slumped over the table.

Xu Yizhuo went into the house, took out a piece of clothing, and draped it over Old Li. Then she slowly finished eating the braised fish Old Li had made.

Xu Yizhuo had never choked on a fish bone before. She always chewed slowly and carefully when eating rice and dishes. It was not easy to make her choke.

By the time the plate of fish was finished, the sky had completely darkened. Old Li still had not woken up, and a bright moon had climbed into the sky.

“It’s still better to stay in Qingping Town,” Xu Yizhuo murmured to herself. “I still want to be a salted fish.”

Why bother going outside to join in the excitement?

Although this meant that the grand waves of the cultivation world would have nothing to do with her, countless outstanding figures would have nothing to do with her, and Jun Yu would also have nothing to do with her… after thinking it over carefully, Xu Yizhuo still felt that the life of going to Old Li’s house every day to eat, drink, and wait for death suited her better.

Xu Yizhuo was not a greedy person. Once she held enough things in her hands, she would not think of striving for more. She only wanted to hold onto the little bit she already had, and she would be perfectly content living like that for the rest of her life.

Xu Yizhuo shook her round fan, stood up, and left. Thoughtfully, she locked the door for Old Li, then went next door.

It was not exactly early anymore. The salted fish was already preparing to sleep.

Xu Yizhuo: I’m a salted fish, and Old Li is also a salted fish. I freeload and wait for death, and Old Li also freeloads and waits for death. So I don’t want to leave Qingping Town, and Old Li definitely doesn’t want to leave Qingping Town either.

Old Li: Doesn’t dare make a sound.