Chapter 29: Then the road is long

Luo Qingchen leaned against the cold stone wall and scanned her body with her spiritual sense.

The injuries in her meridians were mostly healed, but her attention was entirely focused on the inside of her right arm.

A scarlet mark was there.

It lay dormant beneath her skin like a worm.

It was the curse left for the Thief Heaven Sect by that Unknown Big Shot.

The three-year countdown had already seen four months pass.

She didn’t have a single clue on how to resolve it.

She couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

She had squeezed nearly all the profit she could out of this Secret Realm.

If she kept following a walking trouble-magnet like Ling Xiyue, she would eventually lose her life here.

This woman was too flashy.

She had to find a way to go solo.

Luo Qingchen opened her eyes and looked at Ling Xiyue, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation nearby.

Her eyes rolled twice.

“Senior Sister.”

Luo Qingchen cleared her throat.

Ling Xiyue didn’t move.

“I’ve always had a question I wanted to ask you,” Luo Qingchen said as she leaned closer.

Ling Xiyue finally opened her eyes slightly and looked at her.

“Your sword skills are indeed incredible, but when you fight, do you only use your sword?” Luo Qingchen looked curious.

“A sword cultivator naturally only uses a sword,” Ling Xiyue replied coldly.

Luo Qingchen slapped her thigh.

“That’s such a narrow perspective! Think about it. You’re holding your sword in your right hand, slaughtering everyone in sight, while your left hand is busy setting up a few Array Flags. If you run into someone you can’t beat, you just throw down an Immortal Execution Array to trap them inside. Then we sit outside, drinking tea and eating sunflower seeds, watching the enemy rage helplessly inside. Wouldn’t that be great?”

Luo Qingchen gestured wildly, mimicking the movements of setting an array with her left hand and swinging a sword with her right.

Ling Xiyue didn’t even lift an eyelid.

“The path of the sword is vast and boundless. Mastering just one aspect requires a lifetime of effort. I have no time for other things.”

Luo Qingchen’s heart blossomed with joy.

‘Got her. This woman is a total amateur when it comes to arrays. She doesn’t know anything except how to hack people to pieces.’

She had plenty of ways to deal with a headstrong physical attacker like this.

“I see. You really are focused, Senior Sister.”

Luo Qingchen nodded as if impressed.

In reality, she was thinking, ‘You’re just an idiot who knows nothing but the sword.’

Ling Xiyue frowned slightly.

She felt like this little thief was hinting at something, but she couldn’t pinpoint any flaws.

Luo Qingchen rubbed her stomach.

*Gurgle.* The sound was exceptionally loud in the quiet cave dwelling.

“I’m hungry.”

Luo Qingchen stood up and brushed the dust off her rear.

“I’m going to find some food. Do you want any, Senior Sister?”

Ling Xiyue closed her eyes and entered meditation again.

She had no intention of responding.

Xiao Bai, however, suddenly sprang from the corner.

*Woof!*

The dog’s tail wagged rapidly as its front paws scratched at Luo Qingchen’s pant leg.

“The Great Dog wants meat! Meat with bones!”

Luo Qingchen looked down at Xiao Bai, then at the unresponsive Ling Xiyue.

She curled her lip and spoke in a loud, exaggerated tone.

“Oh my, bottoms really are incredible. If your bottom is powerful enough, you don’t even need to eat. We mere mortals really can’t compare.”

A vein throbbed on Ling Xiyue’s forehead.

Inedia — fasting.

How did this little thief make it sound so disgusting by twisting the words to “bottom”?

The Green Scale Sword let out a soft cry in its scabbard.

Luo Qingchen knew when to quit while she was ahead and quickly led Xiao Bai out of the cave.

—

Outside, the light was dim.

Luo Qingchen reached into her storage bag and pulled out several Array Flags.

These were dismantled from the Secret Realm earlier.

She wandered around the perimeter of the cave dwelling with Xiao Bai.

On the surface, she was looking for traces of demon beasts.

In reality, her hands were constantly and discreetly driving Array Flags into the soil.

Her movements were extremely stealthy.

This set of arrays was called “Drawing a Prison on the Ground.”

It was a classic reverse-trapping array from the *Guide to Picking Doors and Prying Locks*.

It didn’t have any killing power.

Its only characteristic was that it absorbed the spiritual power of the person inside to strengthen the barrier.

The harder you hit it, the tougher it became.

It grew stronger against strong opponents.

It was specifically designed to annoy unreasonable, violent sword cultivators.

“Luo-dog, look, a rabbit!” Xiao Bai suddenly lowered its voice, its paw pointing toward a cluster of shrubs.

A gray long-eared rabbit was crouched there, gnawing on grass roots.

Luo Qingchen kicked Xiao Bai’s rear.

“Go! Take your knife and shield and catch it!”

Xiao Bai pounced.

“A mere bunny doesn’t deserve the Great Dog’s knife and shield.”

While the dog was distracted, Luo Qingchen quickened her pace and moved to the back of the cave.

She was about to set the final array core when she paused.

Why did she smell blood nearby?

Luo Qingchen crouched down and parted the weeds ahead.

Her pupils suddenly constricted.

Looking down, she saw the corpse of a demon beast.

It was as large as a small hill — the same kind of berserk beast that had chased them before.

But now, it had been split into two halves from head to tail.

The cut was so smooth it could be used as a mirror.

How could there be a master of this level in the Secret Realm? It was impossible for a Non-Player Character (NPC) with weapons to spawn in this instance.

There was only one explanation.

The entrance to the Secret Realm had been discovered.

High-level cultivators from the outside had entered.

A cold sweat broke out on Luo Qingchen’s back.

This was serious trouble.

If those old monsters who had lived for hundreds of years came in, it would be like max-level big shots entering a beginner village.

This berserk beast at the Golden Core stage had been killed with a single, clean strike.

The killer was at least at the Nascent Soul stage.

She couldn’t dawdle.

She had to run immediately.

Luo Qingchen quickly buried the last array disc in the dirt.

Her hands formed seals, cutting off any spiritual power fluctuations.

The loop of the trapping array was complete.

*Woof!*

Xiao Bai ran back with the dead rabbit in its mouth.

It dropped the rabbit at Luo Qingchen’s feet as if asking for a reward, its tail wagging like a propeller.

“Luo-dog, hurry and start the fire! My stomach is touching my back from hunger!”

Luo Qingchen grabbed Xiao Bai by the scruff of its neck and lifted it up.

“Shh. Quiet.”

Luo Qingchen lowered her voice and pointed toward the cave.

“Senior Sister just sent me a secret transmission. She says she wants to eat alone but is too embarrassed to say it. She wants me to roast it and sneak it in to her. If we take this inside, neither of us will get even a drop of soup.”

Xiao Bai’s eyes widened.

“Isn’t she using her powerful bottom to fast?”

“That’s why she’s a hypocrite!” Luo Qingchen lied through her teeth.

“Go guard the cave entrance now. Don’t let her come out to peek. I’ll go gather some dry wood, and we’ll roast it secretly out here.”

Hearing this, Xiao Bai felt it made perfect sense.

Its instinct to protect its food outweighed its fear of Ling Xiyue.

It walked with a swagger straight to the cave entrance and lay down, staring intently inside.

Luo Qingchen backed away several steps until she was sure she was outside the array’s safety range.

She pulled a crumpled talisman from her robe.

Biting her finger, she quickly wrote a few lines on it.

With a flick of her wrist, spiritual power wrapped around the talisman, turning it into a streak of light that shot precisely into the depths of the cave.

Then, Luo Qingchen’s hands rapidly shifted through hand seals.

She barked out a low command.

“Activate!”

*Boom!*

A circle of earthy-yellow array patterns suddenly lit up the ground around the cave dwelling.

A layer of semi-transparent yellow light rose instantly, completely sealing off the cave and Xiao Bai, who was lying at the entrance.

Inside the cave, Ling Xiyue snapped her eyes open.

The talisman drifted down onto the stone bed in front of her.

Several crooked words written in blood were on it.

‘Senior Sister, the world is vast.

We shall meet again if fate allows.

I’m leaving my marriage fund to you. Don’t miss me too much.

Signed: Your most thoughtful little thief.’

Ling Xiyue’s face instantly turned cold as frost.

She grabbed the Green Scale Sword.

Her body turned into a streak of purple lightning as she charged toward the entrance.

“Break!”

A violent wave of Golden Core stage sword qi struck the yellow light barrier.

*Vroom — *

The light barrier trembled violently.

The massive spiritual power contained in the sword qi was actually absorbed by the light barrier through the array patterns.

The originally semi-transparent barrier became dense and heavy, its color deepening.

It didn’t budge.

Outside, Luo Qingchen listened to the sounds of the impacts coming from within.

She brushed the dirt off her hands and turned to run.

“Take your time hacking at it, Senior Sister. This array is designed specifically to handle simple-minded sword idiots like you. We’ll meet again — or never!”

Luo Qingchen greased her feet, pushing her movement technique to the limit.

She became a gray shadow and quickly vanished into the dark depths of the dense forest.

Only the constant roar of sword qi and Xiao Bai’s desperate howls remained at the cave.

“You bastard! You even tricked your own dog!”