Chapter 314-315 On How to Conquer System Fairies and Make Them Your Wives 314-315 |
Chen Yin thought he had misheard.
But seeing the serious look in Qing Mei Niang’s eyes, he hesitated, then chose a large, sharp fragment of the Eternal Light Sword and approached her.
Her back was smooth and flawless, a breathtakingly beautiful canvas.
He almost couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“Feeling squeamish, Young Master Chen?” Qing Mei Niang’s voice was laced with a mocking amusement.
Chen Yin took a deep breath and gently pressed the fragment against her skin, piercing the surface of the fox-shaped mark.
“…Mmm!” A soft moan, filled with an almost unbearable sensuality, escaped her lips as a single drop of blood welled up from the wound.
Chen Yin flinched. “Senior, there’s no need for such a dramatic reaction.”
“Quiet!”
Chen Yin nodded, but his confusion remained.
…Qing Mei Niang was a Grand Clarity Realm demon. Her body should be far more resilient than a human’s. Why was she reacting so strongly to a minor cut?
Was it her, or the secret realm?
He pressed the fragment a little deeper, wanting to test his theory.
“Mmm!” A louder moan escaped her lips, her skin flushing a delicate pink.
“Are we done yet, Senior?”
“Not yet…”
Qing Mei Niang’s brow was furrowed, her voice strained. “One fragment isn’t enough. The secret realm can’t sense it. Use… use a few more…”
…I don’t mind, but this is getting a bit awkward, Senior.
He picked up another fragment and pierced her skin again.
Another soft moan.
The fox-shaped mark began to glow faintly, and Chen Yin, realizing he needed more blood, continued piercing her skin with the fragments, each cut eliciting a moan from Qing Mei Niang, her voice a symphony of pleasure and pain.
Her smooth back was now covered in small cuts, the fox-shaped mark glowing brighter and brighter, until it pulsed with a red and green light, projecting a faint image onto the floor.
“…It’s done.”
As Chen Yin withdrew the fragments, Qing Mei Niang casually put on her robe, her eyes shining with excitement. “So the Eternal Light Sword really is the key.”
“Senior, your back…” Chen Yin said, his voice filled with concern, “are you sure you’re alright?”
Qing Mei Niang glanced at him, then looked away, saying nothing.
Chen Yin wisely chose to remain silent.
“Let’s go,” she said, her voice filled with a quiet anticipation. “Let’s see what our ancestor left behind.”
A flash of light, and they were inside.
But it wasn’t what Chen Yin had expected.
Before them was a large screen.
Qing Mei Niang also frowned. “This is…?”
Chen Yin didn’t answer.
An image appeared on the screen.
A beautiful landscape, seen from a first-person perspective, but Chen Yin didn’t recognize the location or the person.
After a moment, the person was trapped in a strange formation and let out a cry of pain.
It wasn’t a human cry.
Then, after a long period of darkness, a cheerful voice, clearly that of a young boy, echoed through the room:
“Huh? I thought I caught a boar demon, but it’s just a fox?”
Chen Yin thought the voice sounded familiar.
A young man, about sixteen or seventeen, dressed in simple animal skins, appeared on the screen, holding a small fox, turning it over in his hands.
“How did you, a little fox, get caught in my formation? It’s only supposed to activate for demons… Did I set it up wrong again?” He scratched his head, confused.
Qing Mei Niang glanced at Chen Yin, who nodded.
“That’s…”
“…the Immortal Venerable.”
He looked much younger than the avatar Chen Yin had met on Ephemeral Mountain, but his features, his playful demeanor, were unmistakable.
“Is this… a memory of their first meeting?” Qing Mei Niang murmured. “Did our ancestor leave behind her memories?”
Chen Yin blinked. “Let’s keep watching.”
A beautiful mountain, its slopes covered in lush greenery.
No grand palaces, no immortal cultivators.
Just a simple wooden gate, with a sign that read:
Mount Changliu.
“Senior Sister! Senior Sister!”
The young Immortal Venerable, holding the small fox, ran through the gate and burst into a small wooden hut.
“Look what I caught!”
A young woman, her face delicate and refined, was reading a book. She looked up, annoyed.
“Gu Changliu! Can’t you see I’m studying?! And why are you so excited about catching a small animal?! When will you grow up?!”
So that was his name. Gu Changliu.
“I… I thought you would like it, Senior Sister,” he mumbled, his lower lip pouting slightly. “And I didn’t catch it. It was trapped in my formation. I wasn’t going to hurt it. I just wanted to show you.”
The girl’s expression softened slightly as she looked at the fox. “It is… quite cute. But it’s injured. Can’t you see that?”
“Injured?” Gu Changliu looked at the fox again, turning it over in his hands. “Where? I don’t see anything.”
Although the image didn’t show it, Chen Yin could sense the fox’s emotions.
…Annoyance.
Well, she’s a girl, even in her fox form. And you’re a man. It’s not appropriate to keep touching her like that.
The girl flicked Gu Changliu’s forehead. “You’re so careless! If you were half as observant as Senior Brother, you wouldn’t be wasting your time like this! You can’t even sense its injuries! Didn’t Master teach you anything? Injuries aren’t always visible! Use your spiritual energy!”
Gu Changliu lowered his head, his expression sullen, especially at the mention of “Senior Brother.”
“Master won’t be back for a week. You’re responsible for taking care of this little fox until she returns. We’ll ask her how to treat its injuries then.”
“What?! Why me?!”
“Because it’s your fault it got hurt! You and your faulty formations!”
Gu Changliu wanted to argue, but he just sighed and turned to leave, the fox still in his arms.
“Senior Brother! You’re back!” the girl suddenly exclaimed.
A man with long black hair, his features handsome and stern, entered the hut.
“Senior Brother,” Gu Changliu mumbled.
The man nodded curtly, his gaze lingering on the fox. “…Where did you find it?”
“I… I found it outside,” Gu Changliu said quickly.
The man just glanced at him, then looked away.
“Pay more attention during Master’s lectures on formations. Don’t harm innocent creatures.”
He then left, leaving Gu Changliu staring after him, his mouth agape.
“How did he know?”
“You can’t hide anything from Senior Brother,” the girl said smugly.
“Whatever,” Gu Changliu mumbled under his breath, “Senior Brother is always right, isn’t he?”
“What did you say?”
“N-nothing…”
The girl sighed. “Why can’t you learn from Senior Brother?”
“I know, I know!”
“I’m going back to my room!”
He carried the fox back to his room and closed the door, then sat down on the bed, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips.
He placed the fox on his lap, and they looked at each other.
“Senior Sister Mingluan is so mean… I was just trying to make her happy…”
He played with the fox’s ears, his voice filled with a childish petulance. “But she only has eyes for her invincible Senior Brother, Mo Wuyou…”
“…She doesn’t even notice me…”
The fox bared its teeth at him, but Gu Changliu, oblivious, continued playing with its ears.
Chen Yin remembered Luo Luo saying that a fox’s ears were very sensitive.
He glanced at Qing Mei Niang, who was glaring at the screen, her expression a mixture of annoyance and amusement.
He coughed, a silent You’re in trouble echoing in his mind.
A week passed quickly.
Gu Changliu took good care of the little fox, despite his clumsiness and occasional blunders.
The fox, initially hostile, gradually warmed up to him, nuzzling against his hand, licking his fingers.
And she received a name.
“Since you’re not a demon, but you still triggered my formation, I’ll call you… Half-Demon.”
“No, that doesn’t sound right.”
“I’ll call you… Little Yao.”
A week later, their Master finally returned.
Gu Changliu woke up early, carefully groomed Little Yao, and carried her to the largest hut on the mountaintop. It was still a simple, unadorned structure, like all the others on Mount Changliu. Life here was simple and austere.
His Senior Brother, Mo Wuyou, and Senior Sister, Mingluan, were already waiting inside.
And with them, a young monk, his face serene and benevolent, his presence radiating a gentle warmth.
“Master,” Gu Changliu said respectfully, his usual boisterous demeanor subdued in the monk’s presence.
“The Immortal Venerable’s… Master?” Qing Mei Niang said, surprised. “I’ve never heard of him.”
But Chen Yin’s expression was one of shock and disbelief, his eyes fixed on the monk’s face.
…I’ve seen him before.
He had seen him in a vision, bowing before heaven and earth, when he first obtained the statue that suppressed the Systems in the Heavenly Path Perilous Domain.
And again, when he found the crystal skull in the Wu Xuan Cave.
This monk…
…was somehow connected to the Systems, to the scroll, to everything.
And what was even more unsettling was that as Gu Changliu entered the hut, the monk, without opening his eyes, turned his head slightly and said softly, “You’re here.”
He wasn’t looking at Gu Changliu.
Or at Little Yao.
…He was looking at Chen Yin.
Across time and space, through a memory fragment, their gazes met, a silent acknowledgment.
A chill ran down Chen Yin’s spine.
“Hey! Hey!”
Qing Mei Niang’s voice snapped him out of his trance. “What’s wrong with you?”
Chen Yin blinked, his gaze flickering. “…Nothing.”
Qing Mei Niang narrowed her eyes suspiciously, then turned away.
“The fox in your arms…” the monk said softly.
“Master, she was injured in my formation,” Gu Changliu said, handing Little Yao to the monk. “I don’t know any healing techniques. Can you help her?”
Little Yao looked at the monk, her eyes wide with curiosity.
The monk glanced at her, then smiled. “Injuries are easy to heal. But fate… is more complicated. Perhaps if she stays with you for a while, her injuries will heal naturally.”
Gu Changliu, confused by his cryptic words, but accustomed to his Master’s eccentricities, simply nodded and sat down, holding Little Yao.
“Wuyou, how is your progress?” the monk asked.
“I have driven away the Blackwater Cold Swamp Jiao from the Zhuoshi tribe’s territory. It had reached the Grand Clarity Realm, but I managed to defeat it. It has retreated to Mount Tiantu. The floods in Chaozhou City were caused by natural disasters, not beasts. I’ve instructed the local tribe leader to divert the river. And my cultivation of the ‘Quenching Nether Mantra’ has reached the twelfth level, nearing completion.”
The monk nodded, then turned to Mingluan. “And you, Luan’er?”
“My cultivation is not as advanced as Senior Brother’s. I’ve just reached the peak of Supreme Clarity. And I recently used the ‘Radiant Moon Blade’ to slay a Grand Clarity Realm monitor lizard.”
Mingluan blushed slightly, but the monk’s gentle smile reassured her.
He finally turned to Gu Changliu, who fidgeted nervously.
“I… I…”
“I finally reached the Cloud Ascending Realm…”
Qing Mei Niang giggled. “So even the renowned Immortal Venerable was once a… underachiever.”
“Who says Cloud Ascending Realm is underachieving?” Chen Yin protested. “I was also at that realm when I started traveling.”
“Are you proud of that, Young Master Chen?” Qing Mei Niang’s eyes twinkled mischievously.
Chen Yin coughed and turned back to the screen.
Gu Changliu, clearly embarrassed by his slow progress compared to his siblings, kept his head lowered.
But the monk didn’t scold him.
Instead, he placed his hand on Gu Changliu’s head and said gently, “Changliu, you’ve done well. Your talent is not as great as your brother and sister’s. Reaching the Cloud Ascending Realm in this time is a testament to your hard work. I’m proud of you. And I have a reward for you.”
Gu Changliu’s eyes widened.
“Really?”
The monk smiled and handed him two small orbs. “These are Dust Feather Pearls. They can create two formation spirits, to aid you in your studies.”
“Thank you, Master!” Gu Changliu exclaimed, taking the pearls. “I’ll go and practice my formations now!”
He rushed out of the hut, forgetting Little Yao in his excitement.
After he was gone, Mingluan said, “Master, are you sure it’s wise to spoil him so much? You said he has the greatest potential among us, but he’s still only at the Cloud Ascending Realm. He must be slacking off.”
The monk shook his head. “No. Changliu has a Boundless Root. His cultivation path is different. He’s not lazy, he just hasn’t seen the results of his efforts yet. He’s lost confidence. For those with a Boundless Root, the Cloud Ascending Realm is a difficult hurdle. Once he overcomes it, his cultivation will progress much faster. Don’t pressure him too much. Just encourage him.”
Mo Wuyou nodded seriously. “Yes, Master.”
Mingluan looked down, deep in thought.
Finally, the monk turned his gaze towards Little Yao, who instinctively tensed up.
But he smiled gently. “A Qing Fox in this world… how interesting. This world… might be the safest place for you, little one. If you wish, you can stay with Changliu.”
His words seemed to have a calming effect, and Little Yao relaxed, lying down on the floor.
Then, the monk’s gaze shifted slightly, as if looking past Little Yao, past Gu Changliu, past the screen, directly at Chen Yin.
That unsettling feeling, that sense of being observed, returned.
Chen Yin’s body tensed up.
The monk didn’t say anything, just smiled faintly.
“It’s getting late,” he said, turning to his disciples. “Get some rest. I have a task for the three of you tomorrow.”
They bowed and left.
Little Yao hesitated for a moment, then quietly returned to Gu Changliu’s room.
He was studying formations, the two Dust Feather Pearls floating beside him, his expression focused and intense, oblivious to her presence.
She didn’t disturb him, just curled up on his lap.
“Once I master these formations, Senior Sister Mingluan will finally notice me! I’ll be even better than that gloomy Senior Brother Mo Wuyou!”
Little Yao looked up at him, then closed her eyes, a mixture of amusement and exasperation in her gaze.
Even through the screen, Chen Yin could sense her emotions.
“What a simp,” he muttered.
He didn’t notice Qing Mei Niang glaring at him.
“What did you say?! What’s wrong with being devoted?! Why do you have to use such a derogatory term?!”
Chen Yin glanced at her sideways. “Are you defending him?”
Qing Mei Niang’s fur bristled, her claws extending slightly, as if she was about to attack him.
“Calm down, we haven’t finished watching yet,” Chen Yin said, still hoping to catch another glimpse of the monk.
But there were no more scenes with him.
“I wanted to ask you something,” Qing Mei Niang said, her eyes narrowed slightly, her voice turning serious. “You were staring at that monk earlier, even more intently than when you were looking at the Immortal Venerable. Do you know him?”
Chen Yin hesitated, then shook his head.
“…No.”
If he did,
Perhaps many of his questions would be answered.
The monk had recognized Little Yao as a Qing Fox, a rare species even in the Upper Realm.
…He’s not from the Lower Realm.
But if he was from the Upper Realm, was he also involved in the Triennial Heavenly Tribulation?
Had he taken Gu Changliu and the others as his disciples for the same reason as those Upper Realm beings?
And what was his connection to the statue and the crystal skull in the scroll?
These questions swirled in Chen Yin’s mind, creating a chaotic jumble of thoughts and theories.
But if the monk was truly malicious, how had the Immortal Venerable and his siblings survived?
Even now, the memory of the monk’s face, his serene smile, sent a chill down Chen Yin’s spine.
He hadn’t even opened his eyes,
Yet Chen Yin had felt his gaze, not on Little Yao,
But on him, across time and space,
A gentle, benevolent smile that hid an unfathomable depth.