Sanctuary

Whether the reputation improved or not, Chang Wan didn’t actually care much.

Over the past few days, she had lived quite comfortably.

She would change Chu Changqing’s dressings when she had nothing better to do. However, whether the poison was too potent or for some other reason, the wounds showed no signs of healing after several changes.

Moreover, Elder Xia clearly held a grudge against her. Every time they crossed paths, he would sneer and taunt her, though Chang Wan would always retort with calm composure.

Outwardly, Chang Wan appeared calm, but inside, she was anxious. After all, she couldn’t keep Chu Changqing hidden here forever; it was fine for a short while, but eventually, something would go wrong.

The person in question, however, remained as steady as a mountain, with a book in hand day after day, showing no concern about his tracks being exposed.

Chang Wan felt stifled but didn’t know how to complain—she couldn’t exactly blame him for his wounds not healing, could she? After all, these poisoned wounds were ultimately inflicted by the original owner.

She could only worry day and night, thinking of ways to get him medicine.

Having grown familiar with the Qingfeng Sect, Chang Wan gathered her courage.

After learning sword flight from the jade slip, she discovered a small mortal town ten miles away called Diebao Town, populated mostly by mortals with an occasional cultivator passing through.

The Qingfeng Sect was vast, spanning miles of verdant mountains blessed with spiritual energy and teeming with spirit beasts.

With nothing to do, Chang Wan would sneak away to catch chickens, gather bamboo shoots, and hunt wild boars.

Once she had gathered enough ingredients, she would run to Diebao Town, borrow a kitchen, and try to make a steamer of Three-Dice Steamed Buns.

Three-Dice Steamed Buns were a famous Yangzhou delicacy, a mix of diced chicken, bamboo shoots, and meat, with the savory juices soaking into the bun—a combination of three delicacies in one.

Those who cultivate the Dao abstain from mortal food, but Chang Wan was using spirit chickens, immortal bamboo shoots, and pork from a wild boar near-cultivation level from the back mountains. Once the cleaver was out and the fire stoked, she was as skillful as any chef.

The young girl, wearing an apron, wielded a bone-chopping cleaver with great flourish.

Her soft hair was tied up simply, sleeves rolled up to reveal fair forearms, and a smile played on her lips like a clear breeze under the moon. She was a sight of breathtaking beauty.

A beauty that invited longing.

Yet, for some reason, Chang Wan always felt someone was watching her.

The gaze was secretive, yet carried a hint of desire.

She put down her cleaver and looked around, but only saw a warbler flying away outside the window.

“What is the young lady making? It smells so fragrant.”

Chang Wan had borrowed the small kitchen of a courtyard, which was occupied only by an elderly woman who looked very kind. Chang Wan replied, “These are Three-Dice Steamed Buns, a Yangzhou…”

She paused; there was a Yangzhou in the Nine Provinces, but whether it was that Yangzhou, she didn’t know.

But having already said it, she smiled, “It’s a specialty dish from Yangzhou.”

“Yangzhou, eh.”

The old woman smiled, “That is a prosperous land in the Nine Provinces.”

After replying, Chang Wan left a steamer of buns as a gift for the old woman.

She tucked the buns into her jade bracelet but didn’t fly back to the Qingfeng Sect. Instead, she headed toward a spiritual mountain.

These past few days, not only had she been scouting for food, but she had also accidentally heard that two hundred miles away from the Qingfeng Sect, there was an ownerless spiritual mountain sheltered by a powerful barrier.

Rumor had it that this was a legacy from the Beast Soul War thirty years ago. Initially, it was said that the ancient beast souls created the barrier to protect a great secret treasure, known as the Beast Soul Barrier—but the Nine Provinces were vast; to conceal things, the beast souls had left behind at least ten to twenty thousand spiritual mountains sealed by these barriers.

After the war ended, people flocked to them one after another.

However, after joining forces to break through the spiritual mountains, they found that a mountain was just a mountain—no great treasure, not even a scrap.

In fact, to break through the indestructible Beast Soul Barrier, they had spent immense energy and even hired several high-stage Nascent Soul masters, but the things inside the Beast Soul Barrier weren’t even enough to fill the gaps in the teeth of a Spirit Solitude disciple.

One might be a coincidence, but what if others had treasures?

However, thirty years had passed, and thousands of spiritual mountains had been broken through one after another… all to no avail.

To find that god-knows-what useless secret treasure, trying to break through twenty thousand Beast Soul Barriers across the Nine Provinces was clearly the work of a madman.

Later, people discovered that the wild beasts growing on the spiritual mountains under the Beast Soul Barrier were extremely spiritual.

For a time, beast tamers became interested in these spiritual mountains, but beast tamers were never mainstream, and the spirit beasts found were neither high nor low—not enough to satisfy the hunger of great masters, and the Beast Soul Barrier was extremely difficult to break.

Over time, except for those masters wanting to establish their own sects to expand their territories, the thousands of Beast Soul Barriers in the Nine Provinces were largely ignored.

And twenty miles outside the Qingfeng Sect, there was just such an ownerless spiritual mountain protected by a Beast Soul Barrier.

Chang Wan was now setting her sights on that spiritual mountain.

This Beast Soul Barrier was famous in the original novel and served as a barrier in the early stages, but who was the male lead? He was the male lead!

What golden finger didn’t he have?

She remembered a plot point in the original novel where the male lead, covered in wounds and blood, was hunted by the Righteous Path of Qingzhou with nowhere to escape.

He coincidentally encountered a spiritual mountain sheltered by a Beast Soul Barrier and, stumbling, fell into the barrier covered in blood, leaving the Righteous Path figures outside dumbfounded.

Later, the author explained that the male lead had a special bloodline, and his blood had a special effect on the Beast Soul Barrier, allowing him to be protected by it.

Well, a golden finger, Chang Wan understood that perfectly.

Hearing about this Beast Soul spiritual mountain solved Chang Wan’s immediate predicament.

When she arrived, there was a village at the foot of the spiritual mountain.

Chang Wan sheathed her sword, found a woman, and gave her some spirit stones to gather information, confirming the location of the spiritual mountain.

Before her, the mountains towered high, but no one dared approach. Upon a light touch, an invisible feeling of resistance arose; trying to go further was impossible.

Seeing the sky darkening, Chang Wan had a clear idea and didn’t dare linger. After circling around twice, she returned.

Chang Wan, having left, did not know that after she left the village, Elder Xia found that woman with a gloomy gaze, “What did that girl come to ask just now?”

Ever since the humiliation of the ten kowtows, Elder Xia had harbored a grudge, thinking of when he could turn the tables.

Naturally, he had been keeping an eye on Chang Wan’s every move, and not even the slightest trace could escape him.

Regarding Chang Wan finding a place to cook, he was puzzled at the time, but after following her to this spiritual mountain, Xia Du assumed that her trip to Diebao Town was just to throw people off the scent.

The woman was stunned, but before she could answer, Elder Xia gave her two pieces of high-grade spirit stones.

The woman couldn’t imagine such easy money and naturally answered everything.

Having gained the information, Xia Du squinted his eyes, looking at the spiritual mountain protected by the heavy Beast Soul Barrier with a gloomy expression.

That wild girl inquiring about this spiritual mountain—could it be she was looking for a sanctuary for that little scoundrel?

But, how could this Beast Soul Barrier be so easily broken?

= =

A crystalline little bird flew lightly over the heavy shackles and landed on the youth’s fingertip.

Chu Changqing had his black hair draped behind him, his pupils pitch black. The loose undergarment draped over him carried a unique charm.

The glass bird on his fingertip chirped lightly at him.

“…”

The youth’s lips curled into a smile of unknown meaning. The moment the young girl entered, the glass bird on his fingertip turned into dust and dissipated.

Chang Wan didn’t see the vanishing glass bird; she placed the small cage on his bedside, “Here, a gift.”