Chapter 53
After starting a fight on someone else’s territory, Yu Tai had prepared herself to be surrounded.
But when the young man she had pinned beneath her foot in such a humiliating posture got up, he did not make a huge scene as Yu Tai expected. Instead, his face flushed bright red. He clutched his chest and stammered, unable to form a sentence.
Xiao Xin hurried over and supported his arm, asking worriedly, “Li You, are you all right?”
Then she looked at Yu Tai with tears brimming in her eyes. “Sister Yu Tai, this is all my fault. Please don’t fight anymore.”
Several disciples who had been watching coldly stepped out from behind Xiao Xin. She hurriedly cried, “Don’t do this! It wasn’t Sister Yu Tai’s fault, it was-”
“Your name is Yu Tai? How did you execute that technique just now?”
“You were amazing, Yu Tai! Li You’s sword was a high-grade artifact, yet you broke it with a single strike?! That’s unbelievable!”
“You’re this powerful at peak Foundation Establishment? Is there something special about your sword?”
Xiao Xin stood frozen, her dramatically outstretched hand still suspended in the air. “???”
Looking at the Zuiyin Sect disciples who had inexplicably crowded around her, Yu Tai’s expression turned complicated.
[I admit it. Every cultivator in this world is a masochist.]
The System: [… Absurd.]
Faced with the excited Zuiyin Sect disciples surrounding her, Yu Tai said calmly, “My apologies. As an inferior, I’m not qualified to answer your questions.”
The Zuiyin Sect disciples looked embarrassed. They had not said anything earlier, but was standing by without speaking or acting not the same as tacit agreement?
As they watched Yu Tai leave without mercy, the disciples turned resentful gazes toward the young man behind them, who was staring dazedly in the direction she had gone.
Xiao Xin was dumbfounded.
She had brought Yu Tai here to humiliate her, so why did Xiao Xin feel like the humiliated one?
Gritting her teeth, she pushed aside several disciples who came over to ask where the Qingshan Sword Sect was and chased after Yu Tai.
Yu Tai did not appear to be walking quickly, yet in the blink of an eye, she flew down from the black tortoise’s back.
She did not return directly to the Qingshan Sword Sect.
Instead, she flew to a town at the foot of the mountain.
Because of the Martial Tournament, the town-normally visited only by Qingshan Sword Sect disciples-was now packed with people.
Cultivators from every corner of the Middle Realm had gathered there. The crowd was a mixed lot, but the town was exceptionally lively.
Yu Tai entered the shop where she often bought spirit fruits.
She did not particularly like such cloyingly sweet fruit, while Xia Mo preferred bamboo.
Unexpectedly, the person who liked this sort of food most was Shu Li.
No matter how much she bought, he would eat one after another and finish a whole pile of spirit fruits in the blink of an eye. Yet he seemed oddly slow to recognize his own preferences.
He had not even realized that he liked spirit fruits.
As usual, she asked the owner for a large quantity. Since he knew Yu Tai well by now, he added another pouch for free.
The owner was a cultivator at Foundation Establishment. He had once been a wandering cultivator. His aptitude was poor, but he was broad-minded. When he realized he would never advance any further, he moved to this town without hesitation and began selling spirit fruits.
He was simply a little too fond of gossip and chatting with people.
Even when facing a cultivator like Yu Tai, who did not look particularly approachable, he showed no fear.
While an assistant packed her purchase, the owner leaned closer and waggled his eyebrows. “Fellow Cultivator, you haven’t visited lately, so you probably haven’t heard what happened.”
Yu Tai raised an eyebrow. “Did something happen in town?”
She did not frequent this shop solely because its fruit tasted better. In truth, she enjoyed listening to the owner’s gossip.
Thanks to the owner, she heard something interesting every time she visited.
He even knew such trivial gossip as the calico female cat in the back alley giving birth to a litter of pure-white kittens fathered by a black cat.
“This isn’t merely something happening. It’s a disaster,” the owner said, his face filled with terror.
Yu Tai assumed he was exaggerating and nodded without much concern. “What exactly happened?”
The owner glanced around, cupped his hands around his mouth, and whispered, “A cultivator died at Laifu Inn.”
Cultivators died quietly every year, so that alone was hardly remarkable. Yu Tai narrowed her eyes sharply. “Was the victim famous?”
The owner nodded and spoke the name fearfully. “Zhuang Han of the Xuanwu Sect.”
…
Xiao Xin had chased Yu Tai for a long time without catching sight of her.
How could that woman run so fast?
Landing in the unfamiliar town, Xiao Xin stared anxiously at the jade token in her hand and recalled her conversation with the elder.
“Xiao Xin, I know you’re a good child. I’m not asking you to do anything excessive. You only need to become friends with Yu Tai and then give her this jade token.”
“Isn’t Jiang Li doing the same thing?”
“Jiang Li may appear cold, but he is innocent and kind by nature. I’m afraid he won’t be able to bring himself to do it, so having you as a precaution will do no harm. Go.”
Xiao Xin squeezed the jade token in her hand, which remained cold no matter how long she held it. Without realizing it, she wandered into a secluded area.
“Huh?”
She stared blankly at the unfamiliar road before her.
Where was she?
As the thought crossed her mind, she suddenly sensed something and hurriedly turned around.
A throwing dart shot past her head, severing a lock of hair.
“Oh? You actually dodged.”
An ill-looking cultivator stood not far behind her, malice churning across his face.
Fear appeared in Xiao Xin’s eyes.
The aura pouring off him told her-
This man was a Golden Core cultivator.
“What do you want?! Do you know who I am?!” Xiao Xin forced herself to calm down and roared with feigned composure.
The man casually dug at his ear and replied disdainfully, “I’m robbing you, of course.”
“As for who you are? I’m not blind. You’re a disciple of the Zuiyin Sect. You must have plenty of good things on you.” Naked greed filled his eyes as he licked the corner of his lips.
He had noticed Xiao Xin the moment she appeared. She was a cultivator from the Upper Realm whose cultivation was not particularly high. Either she had become separated from her companions, or she was a sheltered young girl who had gone out alone to explore.
But whichever it was, her life would end here today.
“You know I’m a disciple of the Zuiyin Sect, yet you still dare attack me?! You’re a cultivator of the Middle Realm trying to kill someone from the Upper Realm. Aren’t you afraid of retribution?” Xiao Xin unconsciously reached toward her waist.
But before she could summon an artifact, the man charged forward at a speed invisible to the naked eye!
“Hahahaha! That’s precisely what makes it interesting! Don’t you people call yourselves superior? Excellent! Then savor what it feels like to be tortured to death by an inferior!”
How could a cultivator at Foundation Establishment contend with someone at Golden Core? In only a few exchanges, the cultivator sent Xiao Xin flying into a wall.
Her entire body hurt as though it were falling apart. She had never suffered like this in her life, but the pride of an Upper Realm cultivator would not allow her to show fear.
Gritting her teeth, she forced her battered, bleeding body upright.
The cultivator sneered at the sight.
“You’ve got some backbone.”
“But this is where it ends.”
After those final words, he summoned his lifebound throwing dart and sent it stabbing toward Xiao Xin’s heart!