Wei Yunxi read through the reports brought by the mountain-guard disciples. Not a single one was useful. She waved for the attendant to withdraw.
Dian Dian hopped onto the table. "Master, Dian Dian already contacted friends in the sect to watch for the Shadowscale Serpent. They said if they spot anything, they will notify Dian Dian."
"Good. If they truly find that Shadowscale Serpent, I will send a thank-you gift."
"Thank you, Master. Dian Dian will tell them. They will work even harder."
Dian Dian happily rubbed its forepaws.
Wei Yunxi then released the newly recovered Flying Mist Butterfly from her inner space. Seeing the wings whole again, she nodded with satisfaction and sent a voice transmission. "Fei Xia, are you back to peak condition?"
Fei Xia fanned her iridescent wings. "Thank you for your concern, Master. With your support, my recovery was swift. Otherwise I would have needed at least a hundred years of slumber to gather strength to break the cocoon."
Wei Yunxi smiled at the butterfly perched on her fingertip. "You were gravely injured saving me. Of course I will restore you. I only wonder whether this helped your advancement. Do you need more rare treasures to aid you?"
Fei Xia fluttered twice before replying. "If it does not trouble Master, may I have a leaf from the Shengji Tree. I wish to borrow its vigorous Shengji to lay eggs."
"No problem. Tell me when you need it. But can you handle egg-laying alone?"
Fei Xia's wings moved twice more. "Master only needs to release me from Lingxue Peak. I will find a suitable mate."
"Oh. Mm. All right. Understood."
Grinning, Wei Yunxi swept her sleeve and sent Fei Xia off the peak. She was not worried about anyone stealing the butterfly. She and Fei Xia shared a contract. Unless someone's divine sense surpassed hers, no one could erase her imprint, and the attempt would alert her instantly. If she could not even protect her own spirit pet inside the sect, all her Nascent Soul cultivation would be for nothing. She had at least that much confidence.
Otherwise, how would a mere second-tier Dian Dian keep such a wide circle of friends. Dian Dian was timid and disliked roaming the sect by day. True to a mouse's nature, he preferred moonbathing at night, a little shut-in of a rodent.
Wei Yunxi was lenient with her spirit pets. Neither Dian Dian nor Fei Xia was the troublemaking sort, so she rarely restricted them. She had never considered trading a pet's life for her own. That was why Fei Xia had risked death to dive into the thunder tribulation to save her. Wei Yunxi had already been ready to expose her inner space. She had never once intended to force Fei Xia through the contract to carry her out of the tribulation's range. Precisely because of that, Fei Xia could not stand by and watch her master fall. Thankfully, the outcome had been good.
After sending Fei Xia off, Dian Dian reminded her, "Master, you have not read the message jade from Yu Jiang of the Tianlin firm."
"If you had not said so, I would have forgotten."
Before, her focus had been on Tianlin Flying Boat Firm, not on Ye Yirui's message jade at all. She had assumed it was merely Tianlin's excuse to enter Lingxue Peak.
Prompted by Dian Dian, she took out the separately stored jade slip and sank her divine sense into it. When she finished, she let out a quiet sigh.
Ye Yirui still pinned her hopes of repairing her younger brother's dantian on Wei Yunxi and asked to bring Ye Yuchen to Haoran Sect for a visit.
"What does she want to do?" Dian Dian asked curiously.
"She wants to bring her brother here to see me, hoping Yixian Gate's legacy includes a way to repair his dantian."
"Hiss. That is difficult."
Dian Dian had seen a few things under Wei Yunxi's wing. He knew well how hard it was to repair a human cultivator's dantian. Of course, his master was special, heir to Yixian Gate.
Wei Yunxi thought for a moment and decided that when she went to the Central Region for the tournament she would find time to meet Ye Yirui and her brother. Whether she could help or not, she should at least honor the request.
Besides, Medicine King Valley and Yixian Gate had ties. If not for the monk, then for the Buddha. She could not ignore it. She drew out the token Ye Yirui had given her for Medicine King Valley and sent Ye Yirui a private message.
With that done, Wei Yunxi headed to the Gongfa Pavilion. Lin Keyang's reminder had convinced her to redeem a few secret arts suited to her.
Secret arts were different from cultivation methods. A method was the steady accumulation that led to a qualitative leap, making oneself stronger step by step.
Secret arts were the adrenaline for emergencies, igniting every ounce of potential to preserve one's life. Activating them exacted a price, whether blood essence, divine soul, or even the Yuányīng itself. You might never need them, but you could not go without. They were a life-preserving trump card.
Since the day she embarked on cultivation, Wei Yunxi had mostly used her clan's bloodline secret method, which was meant for seals and secure messaging rather than offense or survival. And because she had her inner space, she had never been driven to the brink where a secret art was necessary. She had neglected them until now.
But she was heading to the Central Region, a place full of old foxes. She had to be more careful than ever not to expose her secrets. She would learn a few secret arts to cover herself when needed.
The pavilion's guardian Zhēnjūn appeared quietly when she arrived. "Ran Xi Zhēnjūn."
"Hao Fa Zhēnjūn."
Their realms were comparable. After a courteous exchange, Wei Yunxi went straight to the point."Junior Sister wishes to exchange for several secret arts."
"Everything above the fourth floor will suit you. Choose as you please, but do not take more than three. Secret arts are for last resorts. Do not rely on them."
"Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother."
Wei Yunxi smiled and headed up to the fourth floor.
Watching her go, Hao Fa murmured to himself, "At last the sect has worthy successors."
While Wei Yunxi buried herself in choosing secret arts at the Gongfa Pavilion, Wei Yunqing, over on Spirit Beast Peak, exchanged for several pills suitable for spirit beasts and returned to her own peak to give them to the Shadowscale Serpent.
The serpent accepted everything. After swallowing the pills, it coiled like a mosquito coil and began refining the medicinal power.
Seeing how docile Yingxi was, Wei Yunqing's smile widened. She felt very good. If she could steal a spirit pet Wei Yunxi had her eye on today, then tomorrow she could seize even more of her opportunities. One day she would step on Wei Yunxi.
As Wei Yunqing talked herself up, a flash of red shot through her eyes, quick enough that even she did not notice. The Shadowscale Serpent did. Its eerie green pupils fixed on her, tongue tasting the air more and more briskly.
Central Region, Medicine King Valley
Ye Yirui stood before the ice coffin in a daze. She gazed at her younger brother's still youthful and handsome face, and grief welled up until she could barely bear it. His features had not changed, but she knew his fleshly body had already begun to decay.
===
Didn't I just say yesterday that I found a bunch of new novels that caught my interest? Well… after a quick search, I already have 59 new novels on my list. Most of them are in the 15–200 chapter range, so not too crazy length-wise.
And yeah, like I mentioned before, for casual reading I usually rely on the Google Translate extension. I'm honestly too lazy to "think" when I'm reading—if I read raw Chinese, my brain has to actually work, but with English my brain just automatically processes the meaning without effort (￣▽￣).
But here's the thing… I've kinda gotten used to how bad MTL translations can be. If you've read enough MTL, you know exactly what I mean (lol). And since my eyes are now spoiled by my own translations, whenever I read raw MTL I'm like, "Hah? What's going on??" (－‸ლ). Basically, my comprehension for raw MTL has gotten worse.
Of course, I can still manage stuff that's not too messy—like modern settings, or maybe some xianxia. But when I tried reading 杀道侣后,修仙界恶女成魔门老祖 (After killing her Taoist partner, the evil woman in the world of immortal cultivation became the ancestor of the demon sect), I could follow along and understand the gist… but wow, it was painful to read (ಥ_ಥ).
So in the end, I decided to just pick it up for translation instead (After Killing Dao Partner, the Villainess Becomes the Demon Ancestor). Each chapter's word count is short, kinda like The Invincible Money-Grubbing Fairy or The Cube Queen's Apocalypse Feast. Right now it's at 184 chapters and still serializing. Honestly, at my pace, I'll probably finish catching up with it in just 2 days.
And maybe after that, I'll add a couple more serialized novels from the batch I found yesterday during my novel hunt. Decisions, decisions…
Oh, and one more thing! From now on, I'll also try to make my novel covers as close as possible to the original ones. Of course, sometimes I might still make my own version too, but I'll do my best to stay faithful to the original designs (*≧▽≦).