Chapter 3

After night fell, the weather was no longer as hot as it had been during the day. A cool breeze blew gently; if one did not properly cover themselves with a blanket at night, they might even catch a chill.

When Xu Yizhuo slept, she was not used to shutting the window. The window was propped open with a wooden stick, and several stalks of green bamboo were planted outside. Their thin, slender bodies swayed in the wind, and the bamboo leaves made a rustling sound as they rubbed against one another.

It was not complete silence, but some faint, scattered sounds made it easier to fall asleep.

Xu Yizhuo fell asleep the moment her head touched the pillow, and once she slept, she slept very deeply. Ordinary noises could not wake her. But when the moon reached the middle of the sky, Xu Yizhuo suddenly felt her heart throb with unease and abruptly opened her eyes.

Xu Yizhuo stared blankly at the ceiling for a long while before slowly coming back to her senses.

She propped herself up and sat on the bed, her delicate brows furrowing. Her heart was filled with inexplicable unease, as if something major was about to happen.

Xu Yizhuo felt restless.

She put on a thin outer garment, got out of bed, and walked to the window in her wooden clogs. Leaning against the window and letting the cool wind blow over her, her violently pounding heart gradually calmed down.

But Xu Yizhuo still felt uneasy.

Although she had not fully adapted to her current identity, she was indeed a powerful cultivator now. That meant if she felt uneasy, it was very likely not an illusion. Something might truly have happened.

The night wind carried over a faint trace of blood.

Xu Yizhuo’s expression changed.

The direction the wind was blowing from… was Old Li’s house!

In an instant, Xu Yizhuo remembered the blood-robed person she had heard about at the teahouse during the day. In a panic, she pushed open the door and ran toward Old Li’s house.

The two houses were separated by only one wall. After reaching the courtyard, the smell of blood was still faint, but it was much stronger than what she had smelled from inside the room!

Xu Yizhuo did not even have time to open the door. She directly climbed over the courtyard wall.

Standing on top of the wall, after seeing everything in the courtyard clearly, Xu Yizhuo’s pupils suddenly contracted.

A gaunt figure dressed in blood-red robes and wearing a hood stood in the courtyard. One hand stretched out from his sleeve at a twisted angle, gripping Old Li’s neck tightly!

His fingernails were as long as sharp knives, piercing into Old Li’s neck and leaving several bloody holes. As Old Li struggled, fresh blood seeped out from the wounds.

The noise Xu Yizhuo made was not small. The blood-robed person immediately looked toward the top of the wall. Under the moonlight, his face appeared clearly before Xu Yizhuo’s eyes.

It was a man. If not for his bluish-white skin, which made him look like a corpse, and the bloodshot veins covering the whites of his eyes like a spiderweb, he could have been considered a decent-looking man.

But the gloomy, sinister, and cold aura he was giving off right now would only make anyone who saw him feel a chill in their heart.

He was a demonic cultivator.

The mini-map could display people within a hundred meters. A blood-red dot clearly informed Xu Yizhuo of the blood-robed person’s identity.

Old Li also saw Xu Yizhuo. He used all his strength to make a hoarse, raspy sound, as if telling Xu Yizhuo to run.

The blood-robed person stared at her with a fierce gaze, not hiding his killing intent in the slightest.

Those who had clearly seen the blood-robed person’s face were all already dead.

The blood-robed person raised his other empty hand. Black veins bulged on the back of his hand, and his five fingers bent into a claw, as if he wanted to grab Xu Yizhuo from the wall through the air.

But another shadow was faster.

Half of the round fan embedded itself into the ground. The blood-robed person’s gaze tightened, and he stared in disbelief at his five fingers, which had been severed cleanly at the base.

Meanwhile, the red carp embroidered on the fan was still lifelike as it circled the lotus flowers. Only by taking it under the lamp and examining it carefully could one discover that one scale on the carp’s body was a little darker, as if it had been stained.

The round fan had only brushed against that tiny bit of blood. The blood-robed person could not imagine how fast it had been when it was thrown just now.

He could not sense any cultivation from the person on the wall at all. What she gave off was completely the aura of an ordinary person.

Demonic cultivators were the best at concealing themselves, and they were also the best at seeing through other cultivators’ disguises.

The blood-robed person had no time to think about how Xu Yizhuo had disguised herself. He flung Old Li aside and fled toward the half-open courtyard gate. His speed was so fast that only a streak of blood-red shadow could be seen flashing past.

He did not even think of using Old Li to threaten Xu Yizhuo. That one attack just now had already made him understand that before he could [stolen content]kill Old Li, Xu Yizhuo would be able to cut off his arm first.

As soon as Old Li was thrown aside, Xu Yizhuo jumped down from the courtyard wall and flew over to support Old Li’s limp body. After the blood-robed person pulled his hand away, Old Li’s wounds were no longer blocked, and fresh blood rushed out one after another. The several bleeding holes on his neck were a shocking sight.

Xu Yizhuo did not know the quality of the wound medicines in her inventory. She randomly grabbed a bottle and poured the powder onto Old Li’s neck.

The bleeding stopped at once. Before long, the wounds even showed signs of healing.

Xu Yizhuo let out a breath of relief.

Old Li’s face was bloodless. He seemed to have been frightened. He opened his mouth several times but failed to make a sound.

“Don’t rush, don’t rush.” Xu Yizhuo patted his back, helped Old Li back into the house, and settled him down. Under Old Li’s worried gaze, she said, “Stay inside and don’t go out. I’m going after that person!”

Old Li made two hoarse “ah” sounds.

Xu Yizhuo took a deep breath. “He’s no match for me. Don’t worry.”

Once she left Old Li’s room, Xu Yizhuo’s expression also darkened. unauthorized copy She crooked her finger, and the round fan on the ground flew back into her hand.

So much for what she had thought during the day. Xu Yizhuo had originally not wanted to bother with the blood-robed person and planned to let Shiwai Tower handle the matter. But now, the blood-robed person had actually tried to kill Old Li!

In this world, Old Li was the person Xu Yizhuo was closest to.

Xu Yizhuo still remembered that after she had just transmigrated into the game, she had been dazed for a long time. She was someone who adapted to whatever came her way, but in the face of such an earth-shattering sudden change, she had still been at a loss for a long time.

Xu Yizhuo took out a copper coin and bought a stick of candied hawthorn, eating it as she walked along the small river. Pedestrians moved along the riverbank, occasionally bumping shoulders with her, but the distracted Xu Yizhuo did not notice.

She did not know what to do or where to go.

Before she knew it, Xu Yizhuo was about to walk out of Qingping Town. The small river suddenly became wider, and there were only a few households scattered along its banks.

Xu Yizhuo sat blankly on the bluestone slabs by the river. Not far away, several women were pounding clothes by the river, chatting about everyday things she could not understand. Farther away, cooking smoke slowly rose into the air, and she seemed able to smell the smoke and warmth of kitchen fires.

Even farther away, a red sun sank behind the vast mountains, which looked as if they had been brushed with pale ink. The mountains, water, sun, and moon were all different from what they had once been.

In her confusion and helplessness, Xu Yizhuo heard heavy footsteps, accompanied by the thudding sound of a cane striking the ground.

Xu Yizhuo thought it was just a passing pedestrian.

He was irrelevant to her, and she was the same to him.

But those footsteps stopped beside her. The old man’s voice was hoarse, as if his throat had been injured when he was young. It sounded a little like the grandfather in her memories who had passed away early. Rubbing his sore lower back after walking too much, Old Li sighed and said, “Girl, ah, you really got lost far this time.”

At that moment, Xu Yizhuo and this world seemed to be connected by an invisible thread.

At this very moment, Xu Yizhuo’s face was similarly pale and bloodless. She did not dare imagine what would have happened to Old Li if she had not woken up in the middle of the night.

At first, there were still a few bloodstains on the ground, but the blood-robed person quickly discovered the traces he had left behind and stopped the bleeding in time.

After chasing him for a few more meters, even the smell of blood could no longer be detected.

Xu Yizhuo could only track him according to the demonic energy remaining in the air. She kept the mini-map open the entire time, but when the other party was deliberately hiding himself, it seemed that the mini-map would not show any indication at all.

Xu Yizhuo had cultivation but no experience using it. The faint demonic energy she had finally managed to sense seemed like it would break off in the next second.

Her fingertips dug into her palm.

Xu Yizhuo rushed out of an alley and suddenly turned her head to look beside her. A sharp cry of surprise rang beside her ears—

A sedan chair happened to be passing outside the alley!

The bearers were startled by Xu Yizhuo, who had suddenly rushed out. The sedan chair shook violently, and a woman’s soft exclamation came from inside.

“Sorry!” Xu Yizhuo hurriedly stepped back.

The bearers had originally been full of anger, but after seeing that the person who rushed out was a rather young girl, much of their anger faded. They only furrowed their brows and said in a deep voice, “You have to watch where you’re going in the future!”

“It was my fault for being rude,” Xu Yizhuo quickly said.

The woman inside the sedan chair said gently, “The sky is already dark. Miss, be careful on the road.”

Then she lowered her voice slightly. “Uncle Chen, let’s go back.”

The lead bearer responded, and the tall, sturdy bearers walked steadily. Soon, the sedan chair disappeared from Xu Yizhuo’s sight.

Xu Yizhuo stood in the middle of the road in frustration. After being interrupted just now, that tiny bit of demonic energy had been completely lost.

All around was silent. No figures could be seen anymore. A few lanterns hung beneath the eaves, giving off faint light.

Xu Yizhuo tapped her forehead with the round fan and walked back dejectedly.

The blood-robed person was extremely cautious. Xu Yizhuo knew that others could not detect whether she had cultivation, though she herself did not know why that was. She looked like an ordinary person. Even if she did things ordinary people could not do, the blood-robed person fleeing so decisively had still exceeded Xu Yizhuo’s expectations.

Now that he had escaped this time, who knew if she would be able to find him next time? If she thought about it even more pessimistically, it was also possible that the blood-robed person might simply leave Qingping Town.

Xu Yizhuo would not feel at ease just because the blood-robed person had left Qingping Town. Knowing that an enemy was still alive somewhere in the world would only make her feel as if a fishbone were stuck in her throat.

Xu Yizhuo walked silently along the empty street, her thoughts tangled like a knotted mess of thread.

Two quarters of an hour later.

Xu Yizhuo suddenly realized a serious problem.

She seemed, perhaps, should be, maybe, probably… lost.

Xu Yizhuo had no sense of direction.

She stood in place and looked around, feeling that everything looked familiar no matter how she looked at it, but she just could not remember which road led home.

When Xu Yizhuo got lost, she could keep circling around inside the town. Even when dawn came, she might not necessarily be able to make it back.

Thinking that she might have to wander the streets for an entire night, Xu Yizhuo felt her head ache.

“Can someone save me…” Xu Yizhuo murmured, but she could not even see a night watchman.

Xu Yizhuo could only choose the road that felt the most familiar and walk back. When she reached an alley, she stood there woodenly for a long time, looking inside, then looking back again. She could not decide whether this was the road home or not.

If only she could find the river… The small courtyard where she lived was located by the river. If she found the ​stolen content​small river, she would be able to find the way home.

After hesitating for a moment, Xu Yizhuo still stepped into that alley.

The alleys crisscrossed one another, and the roads were even more complicated. Xu Yizhuo felt that her brain had already turned into a muddled paste. Even with the mini-map open, she still did not know where to go.

Suddenly, a ball of light appeared before her eyes.

A person!

Xu Yizhuo quickly walked forward. The person holding the lantern heard the hurried footsteps and also looked over.

When Xu Yizhuo saw Jun Yu’s slightly stunned face illuminated by the lamplight, she also froze.

Jun Yu’s brows and eyes held a smile, and her voice was gentle.

“It’s you.”