Dusk fell, the setting sun like blood.
Two figures streaked across the sky on flying swords, leaving long trails on the clouds.
Luo Qingchen clung to Ling Xiyue’s slender waist like an octopus, her cheek pressed against the other’s firm back.
This position had been maintained for almost an entire day, and her lower back was about to break.
With her 160 cm petite frame hugging the 178 cm tall and slender older woman, it looked awkward no matter how you saw it.
“Senior Sister, how much longer?”
Luo Qingchen asked weakly.
Ling Xiyue slowed her flying sword.
Her cool voice came from ahead.
“Ahead is Tianya City. We’ll stop there for the night.”
Upon hearing that, Luo Qingchen immediately poked her little head out from behind her, her face full of reluctance.
“Stop? Why don’t we just fly there in one go?”
She stretched out a finger and drew an exaggerated arc in the air.
“Just go swoosh and fly straight to Daoyi Valley, finish the job, and call it a day. Isn’t that great?”
This was entirely a leftover effect from her previous life as a 996 wage slave—
She wanted everything done in one step.
Cut the middle steps as much as possible.
If you don’t finish things in one go, endless miscellaneous tasks pile up on you.
Ling Xiyue’s originally cool expression instantly darkened.
She stopped her flying sword, turned around, and looked down at Luo Qingchen.
“You want to fly there in one go?”
“Fine.”
“You fly the sword, nonstop, for ten days and ten nights.”
Luo Qingchen shrank her neck and immediately shook her head like a rattle-drum.
‘What a joke, with my Foundation Establishment level spiritual power, I’d be drained after one day of flying.’
She muttered quietly.
“Even a workhorse from a production team isn’t used like this…”
The moment she finished, a cold hand precisely grabbed her ear.
“Then I can be the workhorse?”
Ling Xiyue’s voice carried a dangerous edge.
“Ow! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”
Luo Qingchen immediately covered both ears with her hands, curling up entirely, crying out in pain pitifully.
“I was wrong, I was wrong! Senior Sister, you’re not a workhorse! You’re a fairy! You’re my goddess!”
She looked up, her big eyes watery as she gazed at Ling Xiyue, filled with sincerity.
Seeing her utterly spineless and pitiful expression, the anger in Ling Xiyue’s heart inexplicably dissipated.
Not only that, an extremely unfamiliar strange flutter—
The urge to keep bullying her like this—
Suddenly emerged from the bottom of her heart.
She shook her head violently, tossing aside this absurd thought.
She must have been flying too long; she was out of her mind.
Ling Xiyue quickly released her hand, turned around with a cold face.
“Let’s go down.”
The two landed outside Tianya City.
The city gate towered high, built from massive blue stones, covered with the mottled marks of time.
At the city entrance, people came and went—
Mortal merchant caravans carrying backpacks mixed with low-level rogue cultivators wearing various weapons, creating a lively scene.
Luo Qingchen rubbed her reddened ear, following behind Ling Xiyue, her eyes darting around everywhere.
The shouts of vendors, the clatter of hooves, the laughter of children, mixed with the aroma of food, rushed toward her.
This vibrant street atmosphere felt immensely familiar to her, the former wage slave, making her look like a country bumpkin who had just entered the city.
Suddenly, her gaze was caught by an old man selling candied hawthorns by the roadside.
On the wooden rack in front of the old man were sticks of bright red, glistening candied hawthorns, glowing with an enticing luster under the setting sun.
“Senior Sister! I want that!”
Luo Qingchen’s eyes lit up instantly.
She shouted, and didn’t wait for Ling Xiyue’s response—she rushed straight over.
She was going to flaunt her newly acquired wealth!
Luo Qingchen ran to the stall, grandly pulled a low-grade spirit stone from her Jade Slip Space, and smack slapped it on the old man’s table.
“Old man, give me a stick of candied hawthorns!”
She puffed out her chest, striking a nouveau riche pose as if to say, “I’ve got money to burn.”
However, the expected expression of surprise and delight on the old man’s face did not appear.
When the old man selling candied hawthorns saw the spirit stone in her hand, not only did he not show greed, but he turned pale with fear, backing away and waving his hands.
“Fairy! Fairy! This… this won’t do!”
The old man’s legs went weak, and he even looked like he was about to kneel, his voice choked with tears.
“I, old man, dare not accept! Dare not accept!”
Luo Qingchen was dumbfounded.
She held the spirit stone, her face full of question marks.
‘What’s going on? This is a spirit stone! The hard currency of the cultivation world! Why does this mortal look at money like he’s seen a ghost?’
‘Does my wealth not deserve the respect it’s due?’
Just as she was at a loss, Ling Xiyue walked over, reached out, and pressed down the hand holding the spirit stone.
She fumbled in the corner of her storage pouch for a while before pulling out a small piece of silver and handed it to the old man.
The old man took the silver, his face showing difficulty.
“Fairy, this… this is too much. I, old man, cannot make change.”
“No need for change.”
Ling Xiyue’s tone was flat.
“Keep the extra.”
The old man immediately expressed gratitude, bowing repeatedly.
The next second, he did something that left Luo Qingchen stunned.
The old man directly pulled the entire wooden stick of candied hawthorns from the ground, held it with both hands, and respectfully offered it in front of Luo Qingchen.
“Fairy! These… these are all a tribute to you and this fairy!”
Luo Qingchen carried the candied hawthorn rack that was taller than herself, still in a state of surreal excitement.
As she walked, she couldn’t wait to pick a stick and take a big bite.
“Mmm… delicious!”
She asked Ling Xiyue with a mouthful.
“Senior Sister, what was that all about? They wouldn’t even take the money?”
Ling Xiyue walked beside her, her expression still cool.
“A common man holds no blame, but possessing a rare treasure is a crime.”
“A low-grade spirit stone means nothing to us. But to a mortal, it’s enough to invite death.”
“If those unscrupulous rogue cultivators in the city catch wind of it, not only will he lose the spirit stone, but he’ll also lose his life. Worse, they might suspect he discovered some immortal’s cave dwelling and bring even greater trouble.”
After hearing this, Luo Qingchen stopped chewing.
She put away her joking expression, thoughtful.
‘The cultivation world is indeed full of pitfalls everywhere.’
She looked at the bright red candied hawthorn in her hand, then at the cool-faced Ling Xiyue beside her.
Luo Qingchen picked the biggest and reddest one from the top of the rack and offered it to Ling Xiyue.
“Here, you have a taste too.”
Ling Xiyue glanced at it and refused flatly.
“I have already formed a golden core. I have long stopped eating. I don’t need these worldly snacks.”
“Hmph, how boring.”
Luo Qingchen wasn’t going to take that.
She directly reached out, plucked one of the candied hawthorns from the stick, and while Ling Xiyue was speaking, with lightning speed and domineering force, she stuffed it into her mouth.
Her fingertips unavoidably lightly touched Ling Xiyue’s soft lips.
Ling Xiyue’s entire body trembled violently.
A fine layer of goosebumps rose on her arms, and her heart inexplicably skipped a beat.
She unconsciously started chewing.
A sour-sweet taste she had never experienced before exploded on her taste buds.
She had lived so many years, and all she had eaten were bland spiritual fruits and elixirs—
She had never tasted anything like this.
Ling Xiyue’s cheeks uncontrollably flushed a faint red.
She looked away somewhat evasively, unconsciously savoring the aftertaste, and extended her tongue to lick the lingering sensation at the corner of her mouth.
The whole atmosphere at that moment became extremely delicate.