The Miaojiang Maiden’s Gambit and Retreat

A soft, slick object surged into Qin Yan’s mouth.

A cloyingly sweet taste exploded on Qin Yan’s tongue, and almost instinctively, he bit down.

The maiden cried out in pain, forcefully pushing Qin Yan away, a flicker of anger in her eyes. However, it subsided in the next breath as a corpse plummeted to the ground not far from them.

Witnessing this, Yu Qingxuan immediately unleashed her full power, striking the Golden Core Corpse Zombie until it was utterly incapacitated and lifeless.

Yet, Yu Qingxuan herself appeared quite disheveled, her robes tattered, her face etched with bitterness as she glared fiercely at the maiden standing beside Qin Yan.

Qin Yan, at this moment, was also somewhat bewildered, failing to grasp the maiden’s actions. It took him a moment to realize that, given this was a world where women held supremacy, he had seemingly been ‘eaten tofu’.

“You damned scoundrel, get away from my junior brother!”

Yu Qingxuan raised the longsword in her hand, pointing it directly at the maiden.

The maiden’s mind raced, knowing that if Yu Qingxuan were to strike, a single sword-stroke could easily end her life. However, she also perceived the hesitation in Yu Qingxuan’s eyes, a hesitation born of concern for Qin Yan.

With her objective achieved, the maiden found no reason to linger.

Her gaze shifted to the Golden Core Corpse Zombie.

Yu Qingxuan, naturally, noticed this look. With a wave of her hand, the Golden Core Corpse Zombie flew to her feet, and she then stepped onto its back.

“You intend to use this to feed your corpse worms? Truly befitting a person from Miaojiang, what a method.”

Her words dripped with undisguised sarcasm.

In this world, the deceased are held in highest regard; even the bodies of common folk are not to be desecrated, let alone those of cultivators.

“Then perhaps we should ask this cultivator: is your junior brother more important, or this nameless corpse?” the maiden retorted, her words laden with an unmistakable threat.

“You…!”

Yu Qingxuan was momentarily choked with anger, but the answer to the question was painfully obvious.

The Miaojiang maiden before her acted with ruthless cunning, having slain the two clan members upon their first encounter. Moreover, her mastery of Gu worm techniques was unpredictable, a fact that even Yu Qingxuan dared not underestimate.

With a swift kick, she sent the Golden Core Corpse Zombie at her feet flying towards the maiden.

The maiden swiftly collected the airborne corpse zombie into her storage pouch, then abruptly exploded into a cloud of black mist.

Yu Qingxuan knew she intended to flee, and Qin Yan was secretly preparing a sneak attack, ready to seize the maiden and demand answers. But just then, a voice echoed in Qin Yan’s ears:

“Qin Xianzi, remember my name: I am Gu Yue Fangyuan! Hehehehe~”

Gu, Yue, Fang, Yuan?

Upon hearing that name, Qin Yan’s pupils abruptly contracted. Was one Xiao Miao not enough? What in the world was Gu Yue Fangyuan? They weren’t even trying to hide it anymore?!

The maiden took in Qin Yan’s expression. It was the same look he’d worn when she first encountered him in her previous life, as if her name held some peculiar magic.

However, she had never managed to get to the bottom of it in her past life, and now was clearly not the time for conversation.

With the Golden Core Corpse Zombie dead, the corpse qi within the secret realm was rapidly dissipating. Moreover, Yu Qingxuan would undoubtedly bear a grudge against her, making this her last chance to escape.

Amidst a peal of silver-bell-like laughter, a longsword plunged into the very spot where Gu Yue Fangyuan had stood moments before.

“Damn it, she got away!”

****

Yu Qingxuan swiftly moved to Qin Yan’s side. The entire secret realm was now spinning wildly; the spiritual energy unleashed during her battle with the Golden Core Corpse Zombie, combined with the realm’s long-standing disrepair, had rendered it as fragile as a dilapidated hut that could be toppled with a single kick.

Furthermore, all members of the three clans had perished here, and those clans would undoubtedly react.

“Let’s go, junior brother!”

At this point, Yu Qingxuan cast aside all other concerns. She wrapped an arm around Qin Yan’s waist, then activated a 遁术 to leave the secret realm. Once outside, she immediately extended her divine sense to scan the surroundings.

However, she could only detect a spatial fluctuation, indicating that the maiden named Gu Yue Fangyuan had come prepared.

Yu Qingxuan spoke:

“Back to the sect.”

****

As the sun dipped below the western mountains.

Qin Yan and Yu Qingxuan stood at the foot of their sect’s mountain.

All the way there, Yu Qingxuan had not paused, pushing forward relentlessly with her escape technique, her spiritual energy now almost entirely depleted.

She gazed at the three characters ‘Yanqing Sect’ carved into the stone archway before them. This marked the outer reaches of their sect, and having reached its vicinity, Yu Qingxuan’s heart finally eased.

The dim, orange sunset cast long shadows across the ancient pines and cypresses near the mountain gate.

The two slowly ascended the mountain path. Yu Qingxuan covertly observed Qin Yan’s profile beside her, his slightly thin lips, and her mind drifted back to the scene of her junior brother being forcibly kissed by that maiden.

At the thought, her eyelids twitched several times, and a pang of anguish twisted in her heart.

The sensation was akin to a cultivated cabbage being rooted up by a pig.

“What’s wrong, senior sister?”

Qin Yan noticed Yu Qingxuan’s gaze and inquired.

He had been pondering the recent events; this cultivation world was indeed incredibly cruel. So many had perished in a mere secret realm, and if not for his senior sister’s presence, the outcome for him would have been uncertain.

Xiao Miao, Gu Yue Fangyuan—people with names like theirs sounded like Chosen Ones, like ‘Phoenix Overlords,’ and were certainly not to be trifled with.

“It’s nothing…” Yu Qingxuan feigned ease. She was a magnanimous woman, and bringing up the earlier incident before her junior brother would surely be awkward. “I was just thinking, it’s been a long time since I walked this mountain path with junior brother.”

She had been only ten years old when she entered the Yanqing Sect.

And in that very year of her initiation, her master had brought back a nursling, declaring, “From now on, this is your junior brother,” before handing the infant over to her.

It was practically one small child raising another, but fortunately, her junior brother was gifted and intelligent, neither crying nor fussing, his large eyes sparkling as he looked at her.

“Indeed, senior sister…”

Hearing her words, Qin Yan couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

In this world, if anyone could be considered his kin, it would undoubtedly be his senior sister and his master first and foremost.

“Mm…”

As if sensing the inexplicable melancholy in the air, Yu Qingxuan let out a sound of discontent. She then extended her hand forward, revealing a storage ring resting on her palm.

“This is… the Golden Core Corpse Zombie’s?”

Qin Yan looked at the storage ring, asking with a hint of surprise.

“Junior brother speaks truly.”

A mischievous smile played on Yu Qingxuan’s lips. After all, the maiden had wanted the Golden Core corpse to feed her corpse worms, so Yu Qingxuan had simply taken the storage ring along the way, completely unnoticed and undetected.

With that, Yu Qingxuan broke the seal on the storage ring in her hand. Inside, she found not only a massive quantity of spirit stones, but also numerous cultivation insights and magical artifacts.

After a few glances, she saw that everything was related to mechanisms and puppets.

Yu Qingxuan had no interest in such things, being a sword cultivator herself. However, they would certainly add to the sect’s foundation, so it was clear the sect would need them. But first, she would have to report to her master!