A Return to Yougu City

With those words, Yu Qingxuan rose to her feet, offering a cupped-hand salute to the cultivator before them, and made ready to depart from the area with Qin Yan.

After all, the cultivator’s words had made their intent abundantly clear, bordering on an outright dismissal. To genuinely proceed into the Zhao Kingdom, as she had ironically suggested, would be an act of utter folly.

Observing their departure, the cultivator offered a slight nod, appearing disinclined to further inconvenience Yu Qingxuan and her companions.

“Hmph!” Yu Qingxuan let out a cold snort, clearly displeased by the cultivator’s dismissive demeanor. Yet, acknowledging that the cultivator was a local resident while her group were outsiders, she understood the necessity of exercising a degree of restraint.

She rose, guiding Qin Yan away from the teahouse, and seeing their movement, Xiao Miao swiftly fell into step behind them.

“This place is not fit for a prolonged stay,” Yu Qingxuan declared.

Qin Yan nodded, a nagging sense of unease pervading him; the entire affair felt peculiar in countless ways. Suddenly, his brow furrowed, and his eyes drifted towards a nearby alley.

“What troubles you?” Yu Qingxuan asked, having caught sight of Qin Yan’s troubled expression.

“Nothing…” Qin Yan responded, shaking his head.

****

Having departed the city, the trio arrived at a small town nestled within the Qin Kingdom as dusk began to settle.

It was then that the three finally allowed themselves a collective sigh of relief. They secured lodging at an inn within the town, intending to seek temporary respite there.

“This entire affair is steeped in peculiarity,” Yu Qingxuan remarked, settling into a seat at the tea table. “And why would such a small place as Yougu City be home to a Golden Core cultivator, and one who has reached at least the mid-stage of cultivation at that?”

“After we dispatched the demon, we journeyed to this borderland in pursuit of the true instigator,” Qin Yan began, his brow furrowed as he sat opposite her at the tea table. “It was through the words of your junior sister that we gleaned tidbits about some unsettling events unfolding within the Zhao Kingdom…”

“We then ventured into the Zhao Kingdom to investigate, only to encounter that peculiar cultivator, who promptly bade us depart. This entire sensation is akin to a colossal hand deliberately concealing something, terrified of its exposure.” Qin Yan, also seated at the tea table, began to speak, his brow deeply furrowed.

“Could it be that cultivators within the Zhao Kingdom are secretly cultivating demons, or perhaps, even worse, have formed an alliance with them…?” Xiao Miao ventured, her voice barely above a whisper. The chilling possibility made her entire body tremble with a profound sense of dread. Such an act would be an egregious affront to humanity itself; any cultivator who learned of it would undoubtedly feel compelled to eliminate them without hesitation.

“The pivotal point of this entire enigma, I suspect, lies squarely within Yougu City,” Yu Qingxuan responded. Uncharacteristically, she offered no rebuttal to Xiao Miao’s analysis, a departure from her usual argumentative disposition. Nevertheless, given the gravity of the situation, she set aside her personal inclinations. Xiao Miao’s assessment, after all, held considerable weight, and if proven true, the common people of the Zhao Kingdom would endure unspeakable suffering. Such malevolent cultivators, treating human lives as mere chattel, would, if allowed to flourish, be responsible for countless deaths.

“I will report this to Shizun,” Yu Qingxuan declared after a brief period of thoughtful silence.

“Senior Sister,” Qin Yan interjected suddenly, “your cultivation is formidable, and I fear you would be instantly detected by that Golden Core cultivator the moment you stepped inside Yougu City. It would be far more prudent to allow me to re-enter.”

As they had departed Yougu City, he had unexpectedly caught the faint echo of a familiar voice—that of Fangyuan, the young woman he had encountered within the secret realm. The very mention of her name now stirred a restless disquiet within Qin Yan.

Driven by both a sense of righteousness and personal concern, he was prepared to venture into Yougu City once more.

“Impossible!” Yu Qingxuan immediately countered, her voice sharp with refusal upon hearing Qin Yan’s proposition.

How could she possibly countenance her junior brother embarking on such a perilous undertaking?

“Senior Sister!” Qin Yan exclaimed, fully aware of Yu Qingxuan’s concern for his well-being. Nevertheless, he persisted, “Can you truly protect me for the rest of my life?”

“What could possibly prevent me from protecting you for an entire lifetime?!” Yu Qingxuan retorted instantly.

No sooner had the words left her lips than a wave of regret swept over her. It wasn’t a question of her inability to honor her promise, but rather a sudden fear that her junior brother might perceive her as excessively controlling.

A palpable silence descended upon them both.

Witnessing this tender moment of profound affection between the senior and junior siblings, Xiao Miao parted her lips, poised to speak.

“If Immortal Qin intends to go, I, Xiao, am prepared to accompany you,” she declared.

“There’s no need to address me as Immortal Qin; simply call me Qin Yan,” Qin Yan clarified, shaking his head gently.

Such disagreements with his senior sister, Yu Qingxuan, were rare for him. However, Fangyuan’s predicament was far too intricate, and he harbored no desire to entangle his senior sister in its complexities.

Much like the intricate dance of affairs between himself and Xiao Miao.

“You are willing to go as well?” Yu Qingxuan asked, turning her gaze to Xiao Miao with a hint of surprise after hearing her declaration.

After all, at its core, this affair held no direct bearing on Xiao Miao. She carried no specific mission from Shizun, nor did she seem to possess any lofty ideals concerning the welfare of the common folk—at least, none that Yu Qingxuan could readily perceive.

Her junior brother, however, with his unyielding determination to uncover the truth, certainly exhibited a commendable spirit of chivalry, a quality Yu Qingxuan found herself respecting.

“Of course!” Xiao Miao asserted.

Her motivation for returning to Yougu City was not, in truth, for the sake of the common folk. Instead, Shizun’s words had resonated in her mind earlier, revealing the astonishing presence of unusual water within Yougu City!

As she cultivated the Azure Abyss Art, unusual water was an indispensable resource for her.

Nevertheless, she held immense admiration for Qin Yan’s resolve. In this current era, acts undertaken for the benefit of the common people were alarmingly scarce.

At least, that was certainly the case in Xiao Miao’s estimation.

Indeed, even if no unusual water existed, she would have readily made the same decision, for as Qin Yan had previously stated, they were friends.

Yu Qingxuan’s brow furrowed deeply, evidently lost in contemplation. While having Xiao Miao accompany Qin Yan would undoubtedly alleviate much of her apprehension, the thought immediately surfaced: would she not, in essence, be delivering her junior brother directly into the hands of this particular young woman?

‘Confound it, such a predicament…!’

A moment later.

“Junior brother, be careful,” Yu Qingxuan finally conceded. After all, what could possibly outweigh her junior brother’s peace of mind and his safety?

If her junior brother was determined to act, then so be it.

As for Xiao Miao…

“Xiao Miao, you will, of course, ensure Qin Yan’s safety, won’t you?” she questioned, her gaze fixed upon the young woman before her.

“There’s no need for you to state the obvious!” Xiao Miao shot back. Was it truly necessary for Yu Qingxuan to even ask? She would, naturally, protect Qin Yan to the utmost of her capabilities.

Listening to their exchange, Qin Yan felt an inexplicable pang of frustration. Did his senior sister truly view him as some fragile, helpless male?

No matter how one looked at it, his cultivation was considerably higher than Xiao Miao’s. This was clearly an unconscious bias, suggesting his senior sister was purely a proponent of strong female roles.

However, this feeling of being cared for and protected was not at all disagreeable.

****

Seven days later, Qin Yan and Xiao Miao reappeared in Yougu City.

The two had waited a few days before returning to Yougu City, for their opponents were surely on guard. Moreover, this time, they had entered the city after some disguise.

At a glance, their attire was now indistinguishable from that of the local border residents.