Chương 86: Interlude 1: Xi Yuan’s Smashing Adventure

Note: The following events take place around the same time as Bao Hua leaving for the expedition and just before Ren explored the caverns below his mountain. For the first time in her life, Xi Yuan was unsupervised. For the first time, she was free to do as she pleased and have no one scold her for impropriety. Ever since she had left the sect, she found it difficult to suppress her elation. Her master wanted her to gain experience, and to that end, she had assigned her a mission.

Some villages had sent pleas for help before falling silent shortly afterward, and it was up to her to investigate and solve the problem. This was supposed to be a serious task her master had set her, but she felt so very buoyant that it was easy to forget. Her flying sword sped over the hills, streams, forests, and other villages on the way to her destination. Below her, she could spot the tiny figures of mortals going about their day.

As she flew over the first major city on the way, Xi Yuan couldn't help but compare it to her ancestral home where she grew up.

"From up here even this enormous city fits within my palm! The world is just so vast, and if I had never become a cultivator, I never would have seen any of it!" Xi Yuan was eager to see what lay beyond the horizon.

"Heh, at this speed, I'll be able to see it soon. This flying artifact elder sister gave me is so fast!" Soon the sun began to set, so she landed to make camp. Unfortunately, that first night was a bit of a disaster. She hadn't timed it right, so it was already dark by the time her alarm arrays were laid out. Her martial brothers and sisters spoiled her with all the convenient artifacts they thrust upon her, but none of them helped her cook, so she had to settle for cold rations.

Still, nothing could bring her spirit down, and Xi Yuan was having a splendid time even as she learned the hard way where she fell short. A few days later, she arrived at the location of the first village only to find abandoned ruins. The houses were mostly smashed apart, and not a single human remained to answer her questions, only a few dogs scrounging for scraps. She examined the scene for any clues as to what might have caused the destruction but found nothing conclusive.

"Perhaps the rains washed away the signs." Xi Yuan said, wisely nodding her head to herself. The few smoldering buildings near her might have cried out in protest if only they had a voice. With nothing further to do here, she flew towards the location of the 2nd village. It wasn't too far away, and she reached it within half a day. This time there were a few thin-looking humans who were trudging in a column away from the ruins of their homes. They stared at her with fearful eyes as she landed.

"Greetings, people of …this village!" Xi Yuan politely said as she waved her hand behind her, pointing at the destroyed village when she failed to recall its name. At that, she observed some bitter expressions. She wondered what about her greetings had offended them but pressed on regardless. She was on a mission after all!

"I am a disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, here to answer the request for aid. What happened here?" She addressed the crowd. An old man in tattered robes made his way forward and bowed with clasped fists. He rose slightly and said, "Greetings, esteemed immortal! This lowly one was the village elder representing the village." He stopped speaking there and just waited. A little impatient, Xi Yuan asked again, "What happened here then?"

The old man swallowed heavily and said in a slightly choked voice, "The very first time it was spotted was toward the south, but it soon made its way here and began a rampage. This one swears it was unprovoked! It was a terrifying beast as tall as a tree with a horn as large as a man! None of our weapons could pierce its hide. So many died… sob… and after it destroyed a few buildings, it left." He trailed off. Xi Yuan wasn't unsympathetic.

"It is indeed a tragedy. I assume that is when you requested aid?" The old man continued describing the series of escalating attacks where the beast only destroyed the village and fields. It didn't even feast on the corpses of the villagers or livestock. Xi Yuan was a little confused until she remembered a few spirit beasts exhibited such behavior when establishing new territory. But that conflicted with the fact that the first village was too far for the beast to defend such vast territory.

In the end, she didn't know what to make of it. But at least she now had a direction it usually left towards after its rampage. After thanking the villagers, she left. She wished she could have left them some supplies, but she didn't have any food suitable for mortals in her spatial pouch. Too much qi could be poisonous to regular humans. She did leave them a talisman to keep beasts away for a while. As she flew south, she started to notice an increase in the levels of qi until she reached a vast forested region.

She also saw trails of trampled vegetation heading in the direction of both villages. There was also a third trail beginning to form. Having finally caught the scent of the beast, she sped up her pace. She saw more signs of a large beast cutting a way through the forest, which was rather impressive, as the trees here were 3 times as tall as regular trees. She had learned long ago that qi had strange effects on the world at times, but growing things in size was one of the more common ones.

She followed the trail until she happened across a small hut. Curious about what a human was doing so deep in the dangerous woods, she landed. No sooner had she set foot on the ground than the door creaked open and a scared voice called out, "Who's there? What do you want?" The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. She greeted them and asked if they had perhaps seen the beast she was tracking.

After a small pause, the door opened, and a young man no older than her emerged. He was dressed neatly for someone living in the forest, but Xi Yuan didn't find that too odd. After all, personal appearance mattered, and this was clearly someone who cared about how they might be perceived by others! She had a good impression of them already.

"I may know the beast you are hunting, Lady Immortal. Its lair is near the other side of this forest, near the waterfall. If you keep going this way, you'll see the river that will lead you there. I beg you, please slay it and end its tyranny!" Xi Yuan, with her nose in the air, naturally agreed, for this was her duty! As she flew, she idly thought, 'Tracking is easy when someone points the way. I wonder why others complain about failing to track something.'

Eventually she found the waterfall at the end of the river and, near the base, a well-hidden cave. The spray of water was cool on her skin as she approached slowly. The pool at the base of the waterfall was rather beautiful. As lairs went, the area was quite charming. The thunderous roar of the waterfall smothered all other sounds, so she approached carefully. She was still taken by surprise by the demonic beast that emerged from the pool instead of the cave as she was expecting.

It looked like an incredibly beautiful woman until her waist, but below it was a serpentine, fish-like body. The creature's hair was long and plastered all across her body, keeping her modest. The beast, as long as four men, flew through the air as it lunged. Despite being taken by surprise, Xi Yuan still had plenty of time to observe its features because she had commanded the flying sword to retreat. Xi Yuan was proud of her idea to remain afloat as she approached, and the beast remained ignorant of her speed.

On the beast's humanoid half, the woman's beautiful face split to emit a horrific screech of rage from a fanged mouth as her ambush failed. It landed a ways away from the pool, and Xi Yuan seized the opportunity to block its return. She finally landed and drew a spear. Her master had her train with all kinds of weapons, and Xi Yuan continued to show an affinity for all the weapons she got her hands on. For the beast's speed, the spear felt suitable.

Xi Yuan was confident about the battle because she detected the demonic beast was only at the 3rd layer of the foundation realm while she was at the 6th. It was a significant difference even without her skills. The battle began in earnest as the creature tried desperately to return to the pool, and she kept it at bay with swift positioning and lightning-fast strikes.

Xi Yuan didn't even need to use her strongest techniques and relied only on a movement technique and her main reinforcing technique that was one of her master's specialties. She wore it down and kept adding wounds until finally, she removed its head with a sweep. She barely had an instant to feel proud of her achievement before the fountain of blood covered her in hot, smelly blood!

"Ugh. And I don't even have a spare set of robes!" She started to whine, but then some of the foul demonic blood made its way into her mouth. She harvested the core and the head as proof before running to wash herself below the waterfall. To her horror, the blood had a sticky quality that even the crashing water couldn't entirely wipe away. She flew back, feeling miserable and icky. She wanted to let the young man know the beast had been slain and maybe purchase a spare set of clothes.

Once again, just as she landed, the door opened and the young man emerged, laughing coldly.

'Huh? Something is wrong…' She started to think just as the young man's features started to twist and morph. The laugh changed too, sounding predatory, and she felt a prickling sense of danger.

"Hahaha! You fool! You've done me a favor by removing that hag! And you willingly throw yourself back into the net while this heavily injured? The heavens favor me today by bringing such a fool to my door!" It was starting to make sense to Xi Yuan. This demonic cultivator had misled her! That fish-snake creature in the pool was competition that he had used her to eliminate. How could the fish have rampaged across the villages so far from the water? That meant this youth was the culprit.

She realized just in time that the large, horned beast the villagers described must be nearby! She jumped back just as a gigantic jade green rhino charged toward where she had been standing. She sensed the cultivation of the beast was at the 3rd layer, while the demonic youth now emanated the qi of a 4th layer cultivator. Furious at being misled and used, Xi Yuan decided to stop holding back. She pulled out the massive hammer that she preferred.

The pole itself was taller than her, but the beautifully carved hammer at the end was as big as a man's torso. Her qi started circulating according to her manual, and she felt the surge of strength flow through her. She felt light as a feather as she advanced without a word. She noticed the demonic cultivator's mouth drop open in shock as she attacked instead of fleeing. The colossal rhino became an easy target for her wrath as she began to smash her hammer into its sides and legs.

Its thick hide provided less defense than a sheet of paper as the fluctuations of qi released from her hammer penetrated deep into its flesh. She smashed its forelimb hard enough that it began to collapse with a keening wail. She didn't stop and advanced relentlessly, changing her target to the head that was now within reach. With the force of a landslide, her strike pounded its brain to mush. She had kept an eye on the demonic cultivator who remained frozen where he stood.

Only when she moved toward him did he collapse to his knees and start begging for his life.

"Please, kind lady! Spare me! I didn't know! That beast was the true culprit! It forced me…" Xi Yuan put an end to the drivel that was spewing from him with a single blow that vaporized his head. Nodding with satisfaction at a job well done, she began to search the corpse. She found a demonic manual that nurtured power from the fear and misery inflicted by controlling spirit beasts. It would earn her a decent bonus if she turned this in to the sect.

She harvested the horn and core from the rhino and set the hut ablaze after throwing the corpse in, unwilling to look inside. Tired and still coated in sticky blood, she flew back while pondering on her many mistakes. The worst one was that she had been too trusting. She had accepted everyone's words as fact instead of thinking for herself. It was naïve to think the mission would be easy. She was determined to learn from these events.

She still stopped to let the villagers know that the cause of all their misery had been slain. As thanks, they lent her some tattered clothes while crying tears of relief and sorrow. In all that, she detected that one child had the potential to be a cultivator. Knowing her duty, Xi Yuan offered the girl's parents to take her to the Heavenly Sword Sect. They gladly agreed to send their child to hopefully live a better life than they had.

As she started to fly back with the young girl clinging to her waist, Xi Yuan started to revive her mood. Despite all her errors, she had still smashed apart two demonic beasts and a demonic cultivator. On top of the demonic manual she recovered, she had also found a potential seed to bring back to the sect. Even her bloody appearance slipped from her mind as the scenery blurred past, and she smiled widely at an extremely successful first mission!