The Villainess Always Tries to Seduce Me - Chapter 22

“What?” Ling Shui stood up abruptly. “Is the Sect Leader all alone?”

“Who else could it be?” Cheng Jinshu walked over and sat on the other side of Yun Chuanzhi. “Aunt has no disciples under her; naturally, she is by herself.”

Ling Shui fell silent, but the worry in her lake-like eyes deepened. She strode to the window, her gaze fixed on the distant roof of Mingcun Hall, shrouded in swirling clouds and mist.

“What, are you worried about her?” Yun Chuanzhi joked.

She had intended it as a lighthearted tease, but when Ling Shui remained silent for a long moment, the smile faded from Yun Chuanzhi’s face. She had assumed Ling Shui was just like her, merely nestling by Bai Fenghe’s side to idle away the days. She hadn’t expected Ling Shui to actually care for the woman.

“Stay here at the gate. I want to go to the main peak of Mount Buxi to take a look,” Ling Shui suddenly announced. She turned and strode past Yun Chuanzhi, the hem of her white dress billowing like a cresting wave.

By the time Yun Chuanzhi could speak, Ling Shui’s shadow had already vanished. Yun Chuanzhi shared a look with Cheng Jinshu, then offered her a spoonful of the red bean ice.

Cheng Jinshu didn’t take it. She pushed Yun Chuanzhi’s hand away and leaned closer. “Aren’t you even a little curious about how the battle is going?”

“Not at all,” Yun Chuanzhi shook her head. “The Sect Leader’s immortal arts are transcendent. I am just a little immortal slave with mediocre talent; what use is curiosity?”

“Well, I’m curious,” Cheng Jinshu grinned. “Mount Buxi hasn’t seen a grand scene like this in over a decade. Five Sect Leaders gathering for a spar; it must be quite a sight.”

“Come with me to take a peek, won’t you?” She grabbed Yun Chuanzhi’s collar with both hands, her face full of anticipation.

Cheng Jinshu was a woman of action. Before Yun Chuanzhi could finish saying “Go by yourself,” she was already being hauled out the window, turning into a speck of light as they merged into the howling wind.

A deluge of water vapor drenched them as Yun Chuanzhi followed Cheng Jinshu through the Hundred-Zhang Cataract. The scenery blurred past them. She had to struggle just to keep her eyes open, and through the misty tears whipped up by the wind, she saw countless rays of blinding light illuminating the horizon.

The main peak of Mount Buxi was swarming with cultivators. As far as the eye could see, there were Daoist robes of every color, crowding together like colonies of dyed ants. Their chattering voices echoed across half the mountain.

Yun Chuanzhi had never seen so many practitioners of the Way in either of her lives. For a moment, she forgot the rolling nausea in her stomach and could only look down in awe.

Cheng Jinshu tapped her. “Look, Ling Shui!”

Her eyesight was much sharper than Yun Chuanzhi’s. Yun Chuanzhi squinted for a long time before she spotted a few flowing ribbons in Ling Shui’s hair. Then, Cheng Jinshu deactivated the wind-riding spell, and the two of them dropped straight into the crowd.

“Where is the Sect Leader?” Yun Chuanzhi asked curiously. Cheng Jinshu pointed toward the sky.

Although it was a clear day, lightning-like flashes flickered amidst several thick, white clouds. Earth-shaking booms echoed through the air, vibrating in their chests like a massive drum.

On the ground, fierce winds howled. Several elder cultivators calmly began chanting incantations, causing beams of light to rise from the crowd and converge into a transparent barrier mid-air.

So the fight has begun, Yun Chuanzhi thought, looking up at the clouds. She marveled at how gods fighting really was a spectacle where ordinary people could only stand back and watch the show.

Just as she was thinking this, the glowing clouds were suddenly pierced by several blasts of astral wind. Once the clouds broke, familiar flashes of purple were visible. The astral winds transformed into pillars of wind that lunged toward the ground. As the pillars shattered, the crowd was sent flying in every direction like scattering dumplings.

However, these wind pillars were only meant to disperse the crowd, not harm them. Furthermore, those on the ground were all cultivators; they used the momentum to take flight like a flock of birds, finding suitable spots to land.

The center area was cleared out. Following three massive thuds, three figures appeared in the clearing.

The one in purple with wind-swept hair was Bai Fenghe. She seemed to have dressed up specially today; her dark brows were like distant mountain ranges disappearing into her hairline, and her lips were a vivid, striking red, like a drop of fresh blood on a white jade plate.

The wind tossed her wild hair. As she smiled a broad, reckless grin, Yun Chuanzhi heard waves of gasps from the onlookers.

“My Aunt is truly a peerless beauty of the mortal world,” Cheng Jinshu whispered in her ear. “Though everyone fears her, whenever they speak of the most beautiful person in the sect, she is always the one they choose.”

“Then who are those two?” Yun Chuanzhi was short, so she had to stand on her tiptoes to see over the shoulder of the cultivator in front of her. She pointed with effort at the two men facing Bai Fenghe.

“The one with the long black and white beard is Liao Zongfang, the Leader of the Yunan Gate on the Second Peak. He is the Master of that Li Tang from before. He’s obsessed with face and incredibly petty; it was he who locked me in the Demon Melting Cave for punishment last month.”

“The pale-faced man who looks sickly is Qiu Hanshan, the Leader of the Hanshan Gate on the Third Peak. He has suffered from cold poison for a hundred years; every year he says he hasn’t long to live, yet every year he survives.”

“Both are in the Tribulation Transcendence stage. They are among the top elites on Mount Buxi.”

One wore black and the other white in Sichuan brocade Daoist robes, their hair bound by jade hairpins. In Yun Chuanzhi’s eyes, they looked like the Black and White Guards of the Underworld.

After a heavy cough, the Black Guard Liao Zongfang spoke sternly: “Sect Leader Bai, you have barged into the main peak on the Core Sect Day to provoke your fellow disciples. What is your intent!”

“Sect Leader Liao is mistaken. This Seat has merely come to the place where This Seat belongs. It is you who insisted on rushing up to seek trouble; you cannot blame me,” Bai Fenghe smiled sweetly.

“The Sect Master personally issued the order forbidding you, this enchantress, from coming to the main peak. Yet you have broken the rules multiple times. If you continue to force your way in, do not blame this old man for stepping in on behalf of the Sect Master to rectify the sect’s conduct!”

“Give it a rest, old man. You are hundreds of years older than me, yet you need to join forces with that invalid just to fight me. Don’t speak such grand words about rectifying conduct,” Bai Fenghe stretched her waist lazily, her tongue as sharp as poison.

The White Guard Qiu Hanshan then spoke slowly: “Sect Leader Bai, the disciples of the various gates are watching. As elders, let us not make such a laughingstock of ourselves.”

“Oh, if it isn’t Sect Leader Qiu. I haven’t seen you in years; you’re still alive?” Bai Fenghe’s eyes crinkled in a smile, but her gaze was as biting as a winter chill.

“Bai Fenghe, do not refuse the easy way only to take the hard one! If the Sect Master hadn’t spared your life because of the former Sect Master’s dying wish, you would have been stabbed forty-nine times long ago and hung at the gate of Mount Buxi to rot! How can you continue to be so arrogant?”

Liao Zongfang seemed to loathe Bai Fenghe intensely, shouting until his face was flushed red: “Never forget, you are the enchantress who killed the former Sect Master! Death would be too good for you!”

At the mention of the former Sect Master, Bai Fenghe’s constant smile faltered, and her face turned deathly pale for a split second. However, she quickly laughed. The purple light in her hand transformed into a long sword, and she appeared instantly in front of Liao Zongfang, swinging her blade at his vitals.

Yun Chuanzhi, along with everyone around her, gasped. Then, another long sword flew across the void. As it blocked Bai Fenghe, an extreme chill spread out, instantly sweeping away the summer heat and making everyone feel as if they had fallen into an ice cellar.

In the next instant, a woman wearing a silver cloud-patterned shawl appeared on the field. She whispered a quick incantation, and several ice blades shot toward Bai Fenghe. Bai Fenghe hurriedly spun to dodge.

But the long sword was faster than her evasion. It grazed Bai Fenghe’s waist like the wind. A mist of blood sprayed into the air, and that purple figure passed through the blood mist, suddenly crashing to the ground.

“Sect Leader!” Ling Shui cried out in alarm. She flew forward and knelt half-beside Bai Fenghe.

Yun Chuanzhi hadn’t expected Bai Fenghe to get hurt. Seeing the pool of fresh blood slowly blooming along the lines of the floor tiles, she knitted her brows.

“Cui Ergou! Where are the Phoenix Tears, I gave you the other day? Quick!” Ling Shui, uncharacteristically losing her composure, had beads of sweat on her forehead. Without waiting for Yun Chuanzhi to speak, she reached out with a long whip and snatched her to her side.

Yun Chuanzhi, who had intended to stay hidden in the crowd, was suddenly yanked into the air under the gaze of everyone present. She crashed uncontrollably right onto Bai Fenghe’s waist, her hand accidentally pressing down on the wound.

A pained moan came from the woman’s lips, but Yun Chuanzhi sensed something was wrong. She slowly lowered her head, and under the cover of her own body, she used her palm to rub the wound once more.

Then she looked up and met Bai Fenghe’s gaze, one that carried a hint of murderous intent.

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