“Tch.”
After squeezing through the gourd-mouth entrance, Xia Liu’s face was full of irritation.
She kicked away a pebble at her feet, throwing a small tantrum.
She felt like today had been ridiculously unlucky. Not only the misunderstanding with Su Zhan, but that whole encounter just now.
Yet she couldn’t even vent her frustration, because she was the one who wanted to buy the herbs, and she was the one who had found the place.
She didn’t understand why even buying herbs couldn’t go smoothly.
She had actually run into the rarest type of cultivator—a poison cultivator.
She honestly didn’t know whether to call it good luck or bad luck.
Now, not only had they failed to buy any herbs, they had to run errands for someone for no reason.
The reward was generous, sure… but who knew if it would actually be honored?
Herbs weren’t necessities anyway… Worst case, they could just do without them.
“Junior Sister, are you angry with me?” Su Zhan asked softly.
Su Zhan held a small wooden box in her hand—the Heart-Devouring Pills the old woman had given them.
When Xia Liu had been hesitating over how to refuse, Su Zhan had directly accepted the errand, catching Xia Liu completely off guard.
“I am angry, but not at Senior Sister.”
Xia Liu sighed lightly and walked beside Su Zhan. If anything, she was mostly angry at herself.
“Senior Sister did the right thing by accepting. It was the safest choice. Besides, that old witch has no way of knowing whether we actually delivered the pills. Later I’ll just find a corner somewhere and destroy them.”
“This item… might be useful.”
Su Zhan paused and shook her head gently at Xia Liu. “Destroying it directly might not be appropriate.”
“What use could this thing possibly have? It’s only for harming people…”
Xia Liu pouted, her expression turning a little strange.
“Senior Sister, we’re righteous cultivators. We can’t get involved in shady business like that. If you have any enemies, just tell the Sect Master and Head Disciple once we return to the sect.”
“Today at Fangcun Sect, I only saw Senior Sister Li,” Su Zhan said.
“Besides her… there were only wooden tablets everywhere, each one recording how many monsters that person had killed in their lifetime.”
“They’re all dead, Junior Sister.” She murmured softly.
“……”
Xia Liu fell silent.
She turned her head to look at Su Zhan.
The anger in her eyes faltered, gradually replaced by shock and bewilderment.
Fangyou Mountain covered a vast area, but to the Immortal Alliance it was far too remote.
The cultivators who lived there disliked restrictions and were mostly rogue cultivators.
Fangcun Sect was the only sect in the area with any real reputation.
A sect with a proper name had quietly been reduced to a single survivor, and that sect was still responsible for suppressing the demons and monsters in the area.
Put nicely, they were admirable lone heroes.
Put bluntly, it was a pill furnace that could explode at any moment!
“The Immortal Alliance doesn’t know about this?”
Xia Liu wanted to curse.
She felt like today was truly cursed—nothing good, only one disaster after another.
“Maybe they don’t. Or maybe they do, but so far I haven’t seen the Immortal Alliance take any action,” Su Zhan said.
“…What about the man-eating demon commission?”
Xia Liu’s thoughts raced, her voice growing urgent.
“That commission was made up by the Immortal Alliance to trick people, right? They just wanted people to come here and throw their lives away!”
“It shouldn’t be. Otherwise Senior Sister Li would have told me,” Su Zhan said.
“Idiot Senior Sister! We’ve been set up! That so-called Senior Sister Li is probably in cahoots with those old fossils from the Immortal Alliance!”
Xia Liu stopped abruptly and grabbed Su Zhan’s wrist.
“Have you forgotten? Everyone who accepted that commission either died or was crippled, and there was zero useful information. It was obviously a trap!”
“Junior Sister… the Immortal Alliance is part of the righteous path. They wouldn’t do anything so despicable,” Su Zhan said helplessly, gently prying her wrist free.
This girl’s grip was really strong. It actually hurt.
“Righteous path my ass! Those old fossils have done plenty of despicable things. They talk about benevolence and morality, but their hearts are full of thievery and debauchery!”
Xia Liu couldn’t help cursing.
“Junior Sister, calm down first.”
Su Zhan sighed. Who was it that just said righteous cultivators can’t do shady things?
She knew Xia Liu had a tendency to overthink, but right now the girl was panicking and painting the situation far too darkly.
“I am calm… Senior Sister, let’s return to the sect tonight. We can skip the rest of this tempering. Hot springs exist in other places too…”
Xia Liu muttered with a stiff face.
Su Zhan watched her panic and couldn’t help the faint smile that appeared on her own face.
The girl who usually acted like a little adult looked genuinely adorable when she showed her true colors like this.
“Idiot Senior Sister, how can you still smile! We’re about to die!”
Xia Liu shouted, eyes wide.
“Junior Sister, that’s really unlucky to say.” Su Zhan smiled. “You’ll bring bad luck on us.”
“No wonder Ning Yao always calls you a blockhead. You idiot Senior Sister! This isn’t the time to tease people!”
“Junior Sister, have you forgotten about the pills that senior gave us?”
Su Zhan said with a soft laugh.
“You’re a dan cultivator. You should understand their effects better than I do.”
“Of course I understand… A single touch from a Heart-Devouring Pill causes heart-wrenching pain and total loss of strength. But who knows what that old witch is really planning? What if it’s a shoddy version and it makes those monsters go berserk ahead of schedule?”
Xia Liu grumbled.
“In that case, why don’t I just test the effects myself?”
Su Zhan moved to open the small wooden box, but Xia Liu grabbed her hand tightly.
The girl stared at Su Zhan in disbelief.
“Idiot Senior Sister, if you die, how am I supposed to keep living!? I’ll definitely die with you!”
The words came out rather ambiguously, her voice louder from urgency.
It drew the attention of passersby in the distance.
They looked at Su Zhan and Xia Liu tugging at each other, nodded approvingly at the two girls’ obvious affection, and quickened their steps so as not to disturb them.
“Since Junior Sister feels that way, then for Junior Sister’s sake I won’t do anything foolish. Can you relax now?”
Once she had teased her enough, Su Zhan put on another gentle smile and looked quietly at Xia Liu.
Xia Liu froze.
She stared straight at Su Zhan as the chaotic thoughts in her mind slowly sorted themselves out.
She quickly realized what Su Zhan had been doing.
This blockhead who cultivated the Ruthless Dao had just been teasing her—right when she was panicking and didn’t know what to do!
“No matter what, tomorrow I will go back to Fangcun Sect to see Senior Sister Li and ask for the full story,” Su Zhan said, judging that Xia Liu had calmed down enough to stop overthinking.
“The pills are in my hands, so I hold the initiative. If anything feels off, I can still maneuver around it.”
But Xia Liu no longer cared about the pills.
She pressed her lips together, the corners of her eyes glistening with tears, and stared at Su Zhan without saying a word—both wronged and furious.
“You idiot Senior Sister!”
Seeing that Su Zhan showed no sign of remorse, Xia Liu stomped her foot in anger, tossed out the words, and stormed off, leaving the blockhead Senior Sister behind.