Love & Redemption
Chapter 106: Volume 3 Heartless Xuanji - 13 To Ask the Heavens About This Love (1)

Chapter 106: Volume 3 Heartless Xuanji Chapter 13 To Ask the Heavens About This Love (1)

When the disciples from Fuyu Island, who had been knocked out by the soft cakes, awoke in a daze the next morning and found the room empty, they rushed to report to the various Sect Leaders. By then, Xuanji and her companions had already crossed the sea and were on their way to rescue Ting Nu with Sword Flight.

At that moment, Xuanji’s nose was bright red as she rubbed her eyes, having not slept at all the night before. She had spent more than an hour swimming through the sea late at night, and then continued on with Sword Flight without rest. Even an iron-clad person would find it exhausting.

"Where... are we going to find Ting Nu?" she asked, when suddenly her nose itched and she sneezed several times in quick succession, almost falling off the sword.

"Wow... it must be Daddy scolding us..." she sniffled, her red nose and eyes making her look even more like a little rabbit.

Zi Hu lay on her shoulder, her sleek fur fluttering in the wind, looking beautiful and spirited. Hearing her say this, she remarked, "I doubt it’s your father scolding you. Be careful not to get sick."

After a moment’s thought, feeling that her words were too intimate, she harrumphed and added, "If you get sick and delay the rescue of Ting Nu, it’ll be your fault!"

Xuanji didn’t care and patted her fluffy head as if patting a temperamental little puppy, saying lightly, "Don’t worry, I’ll definitely find him."

Zi Hu turned her head away in disgust, extremely annoyed, "You little girl, showing no respect for hierarchy! How dare you pat Fox Fairy’s head?"

Xuanji ignored her chirping complaints and rubbed her soft ears again, laughing, "Why not? You’re a fox after all, and foxes are meant to be petted."

The logic inside her always seemed inexplicably confusing—dogs and cats are meant to be petted, but why are foxes too?

Zi Hu’s pointed mouth opened as if to argue, but she suddenly sniffed twice and urgently said, "Quick! Down, down! I think I smell something!"

The others quickly descended from their flight, and below them, there was a large town with terraces and pavilions, very splendid, even more grandiose than Zhongli City they had seen earlier.

Yu Sifeng’s eyes lit up with a smile, "This is Qingyang. I’ve been here before. I even have acquaintances here."

Zi Hu kept slapping her ears, chirping, "If you’ve been here before, that’s even better! Ting Nu’s scent is here! Great, Qing Geng and Dangkang are here too! Ting Nu must be fine! Let’s go down and find him!"

Following her guidance, they landed on a remote hillside about half a mile away and walked toward Qingyang City. After all, descending with Sword Flight into a densely populated area could cause a stir, so cultivators usually chose secluded places for Sword Flight.

Xuanji leaned over and asked Zi Hu, "What are Qing Geng and Dangkang?"

Zi Hu gave her a disdainful look, flicked her tail and jumped down from her shoulder, walking ahead seductively as she explained, "And you thought you were so impressive... not even knowing this... Hmph! Ting Nu is a very old and powerful merman, so of course he has demon pets who protect him and do his bidding. Qing Geng and Dangkang are his pets!"

Xuanji wondered, "Is he that old and powerful? Then how come you were able to catch him and lock him up?"

Zi Hu fell silent, muttering something under her breath, then suddenly, annoyed and embarrassed, she blurted out, "I asked him for a favor! Who said I caught him! Besides... living with me is better for him! It keeps those unrelated immortals and demons from bothering him all the time!"

"Why would immortals and demons bother him?" Xuanji, who was not good at reading the mood, continued to ask.

Zi Hu glared at her, frustrated and vexed. Why all these questions, she thought, won’t she ever quit?!

"He... He was once framed and hunted for a while. Although the bounty was later removed, there are still many unresolved issues that trouble him. Stop asking so much, why pry into someone else’s affairs?"

Xuanji looked innocent, "But... it was you who started telling me about it..."

As they say, foxes are fickle, and it’s absolutely true. She had been the one eagerly spilling the beans, and now it somehow turned into Xuanji’s fault?

"You’re so annoying!" Zi Hu was both angry and ashamed. Even an iron door would break if you poked at it incessantly like she did. She knew that good-looking young girls were never up to any good, always cunning and sly.

With a flick of her tail, she turned around and hopped onto Yu Sifeng’s shoulder, wrapping her paws around his neck to keep from falling. Maliciously, she cooed, "Such an annoying girl. Whoever likes her is blind!"

Yu Sifeng simply smiled without a word.

"What are you smiling about?" Zi Hu immediately softened her tone with the young man, squinting her charming eyes and giving his face a light lick with her tongue. Although she didn’t dare to attempt draining his yang energy to replenish her yin, with such a top-quality youth before her eyes, it felt against her nature not to take a little advantage. She had still been regretting the interruption of their last opportunity.

Yu Sifeng shook his head and grabbed her bushy tail, lifting it gently.

Zi Hu squeaked and protested, "What are you doing?! You thieving brat! How dare you grab my tail?! Let go, let go!"

Before she could finish complaining, Yu Sifeng stuffed her into his wide sleeve.

"It’s pitch-black in here, I can’t breathe!" She clawed at the sleeve, digging her way out to poke her pointed mouth through. Suddenly, her tail was ensnared by something cold and icy, and she was pulled back with a strong force.

Zi Hu hurriedly looked back and saw darkness in the sleeve, except for two gleaming, ghostly eyes staring at her. She clamped her mouth shut just as a ring of silvery light from a snake’s tail coiled around her, moving from her tail up to her thigh and then a cold tongue flicked her nose—

"She’s finally stopped making a racket," Zhong Minyan wiped the sweat off his forehead. All the way here, he had to endure Zi Hu chattering nonstop. Even though her voice was pleasant, a continuously noisy fox was still very annoying.

"Ahhh! Snake—! It’s a snake!!!"

The shrill shouting came from Yu Sifeng’s sleeve, where Zi Hu was desperately scratching and scrambling, crying for her father and mother.

"Snake, snake, snake—!"

Yu Sifeng cracked a slight smile, patted his sleeve, and gently said, "Little Silver Flower, you must be gentle. Live in harmony."

Zhong Minyan covered his ears and watched Yu Sifeng’s faint smile with a cold sweat drenching his body, suddenly feeling that it’s best not to provoke this man.

Very scary!

And thus, amid the noise and clamor, Qingyang City was now in sight.

Qingyang could be said to be the largest city in the west, far surpassing Zhongli City in prosperity and grandeur by countless times.

On this journey down the mountain for training, they passed through cities each more splendid than the last, and the events they encountered were more baffling one after another. Although Xuanji didn’t know if this qualified as "broadening one’s horizons," they seemed to have unwittingly learned quite a lot.

So, even though the Qingyang City they arrived at this time was large, the few of them were no longer as country bumpkin-ish as before in Zhongli City, gawping at various buildings.

Yu Sifeng was very familiar with this place, quickly found an inn, and everyone settled in. First, they called for hot water to bathe and changed out of their salt-strewn clothes. They had fled Fuyu Island overnight and swam in the sea for half a day. After landing, afraid of being pursued, they dared not even catch their breath, hurrying away with Sword Flight until now when they finally took a rest.

Xuanji was already so sleepy that he could hardly keep his eyes open. Having bathed, he didn’t even have the chance to dry his hair before falling asleep. Yu Sifeng and the others were still straining to stay awake, sitting downstairs drinking and chatting.

Zhong Minyan saw the quiet in his sleeve and couldn’t help worrying, "Your Little Silver Flower is poisonous, isn’t it? Don’t let it kill the fox; we’ll have trouble getting to Buzhou Mountain!"

Yu Sifeng didn’t speak, and Ruo Yu, sitting beside him, laughed and said, "Min Yan, that’s a fox demon with thousands of years of cultivation. Little Silver Flower is still a spiritual beast that hasn’t become a demon; it won’t kill her. It’s just a scare, that’s all."

Zhong Minyan yawned; he too had barely slept in almost two days and nights, his face showing fatigue. Yet with matters weighing on his mind and always in his thoughts, even his sleep wasn’t peaceful.

"Didn’t that fox say she smelled Ting Nu here? Call her out and ask where exactly so we can find him," he urged.

He tiredly tapped on the bowl with a pair of chopsticks, plainly impatient.

Yu Sifeng flicked his sleeve, and a curled-up Zi Hu thumped down onto the chair from within. Her eyes tightly closed, and she was wrapped in a wrist-thick Silver Snake, both animals motionless, neither dead nor alive.

"Dead?!" The chopsticks in Zhong Minyan’s hand fell to the floor in shock.

Yu Sifeng still said nothing, grabbed the limp Little Silver Flower, which lazily looked up at its master, coiled affectionately around his wrist, and returned to his sleeve to resume its deep sleep.

"If you keep playing dead, we won’t bother saving Ting Nu."

Yu Sifeng said indifferently, and as soon as his words were uttered, the fox sprang up energetically, slipping into his embrace, scratching at his chest and crying loudly, "You heartless little thief! Little thief! Stinky little thief! How could you torture me like this!"

Yu Sifeng grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, lifted her up, and the fluffy animal still defiantly struggled, exuding an "I’m going to claw you to death" energy.

"Didn’t you say you smelled Ting Nu? Is he in this city?"

Zi Hu threw a tantrum and threatened to hang herself, but upon realizing the other party was utterly ignoring her, she eventually stopped her fuss, languidly wiping away tears and said aggrievedly, "How would I know... I could smell him and Qing Geng from above just now, but once we got to the city, the scent was gone."

"Hey, hey, hey! Don’t be such a sore loser! At least come up with a decent excuse if you’re going to lie!" Min Yan angrily tapped on the porcelain bowl again.

Zi Hu wasn’t so courteous with him, coiling her tail and haughtily huffed, "Do I need to deceive you lads? If I didn’t smell it, I didn’t smell it, and it’s not just Ting Nu’s scent I can’t detect—there are a lot of scents I can’t pick up. There’s probably a demon with a strong scent here, covering up all the other scents."

"Demons again! Why are there demons everywhere!" At the mention of demons, Zhong Minyan’s head started to throb.

"What do you think? What kind of demon is it? Is it dangerous?" Yu Sifeng quietly asked.

Zi Hu twitched her ears and shook her head, "I don’t know. Actually, many demon cultivators, once they’ve transformed into human forms, like to live with humans and become true people. Does being a demon necessarily mean harming humans?"

Zhong Minyan couldn’t be bothered to argue any further, saying hastily, "Enough of that! It seems we’ll have to take a loss on this one. Si Feng, let’s drive out this strong-smelling demon first, then look for Ting Nu."

Yu Sifeng pondered for a long moment and then suddenly said, "I have someone I want to visit here in Qingyang City. As for the demon expulsion, I hope we can discuss that after I have seen him." (To be continued, for further information, please visit www.qidian.com, with more Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)