The terrifying presence in the old dormitory building had far exceeded Lian Yi's expectations, and the fact that Zhou You and his companion had emerged completely unscathed left her utterly baffled.
"Could that entity also be connected to Carefree Sect?"
Lian Yi felt the waters of Carefree Sect ran far too deep—and her own cultivation attainment felt increasingly inadequate.
"No, if I don't avenge this, my Dao heart will never be steady!"
She was never one to take a loss lying down. Upon returning home, she popped precious medicinal pills to treat her injuries while logging onto the Immortal Cultivation Forum.
"I'm running out of pills..." Lian Yi's heart ached with every pill she swallowed. These were life-saving treasures she had hoarded over the years, worth far more than gold. Even the pill that had fallen onto the school ground earlier had been picked up, wiped of dirt, and swallowed.
Lian Yi was sharp-witted and adept in transformation arts, navigating the cultivation world like a fish in water. She was always the one making others suffer while she chuckled from the shadows.
Yet ever since crossing paths with Carefree Sect, she had suffered two grievous blows in a row—first from the Red King, then from the Zhenyue Ghost King. Each injury was worse than the last, and her pill stash was nearly depleted. No matter how deep one's pockets were, they could not withstand such relentless burning.
In all her years of cultivation, she had never suffered such a massive setback.
"There is definitely something wrong with this Carefree Sect!" Having lived in Chang'an for ten years, she could count the number of people on the Red King's level on one hand, and she had never once encountered a being like the Zhenyue Ghost King. Now she had run into both.
"Carefree Sect is by no means simple. Chu Xiaoyao choosing to attend No. 2 High—or rather, choosing to stay in Chang'an—must stem from a much deeper calculation."
Lian Yi had investigated the backgrounds of Zhou You and Chu Xiaoyao. Zhou You's records were ordinary enough, with nothing worth noting. The problematic one was Chu Xiaoyao. Lian Yi had exhausted every avenue yet failed to find any record of her prior to middle school; it was as though she had materialized out of thin air in Chang'an.
Lian Yi created a new post in the Chang'an sub-forum:
[Bounty Post: Looking for major historical events in the Chang'an region over the past millennium involving cultivators at or above the Golden Core stage. 50 spirit jade per event (*￣︶￣)]
She refused to believe that the entity dwelling in the old dormitory building had left no traces whatsoever in history.
***
When Zhou You logged onto the Immortal Cultivation Forum, he was still turning over Nuomi's situation in his head, wondering how he could help her.
The old dormitory building had yielded no clues, and Nuomi could not recall anything more.
"Someone sent me a DM?"
Zhou You casually glanced at the top-right corner of the page and noticed a little red dot beside the inbox. Aside from chatting with Su Tingxue, he had never received a direct message before.
"Did Su Tingxue send me something?"
He clicked on the inbox.
A long string of unread temporary messages filled the entire page.
"Never even heard of Duan Yuxian? What backwater cave did you crawl out of, savage?"
"Talking tough like that? Drop your address, let's take this offline 1v1!!"
"Hilarious. Is this the caliber of Su Tingxue's simps?"
"I'm from Mount Kunlun, just wait till I doxx you!"
"Ignorant. [Sweating emoji]"
"Trolling your whole life won't ever beat the pure dedication of a genuine hater."
"You piece of trash, you won't be worthy of our Duan Yuxian in ten lifetimes."
"Are you even going to reach late Qi Refinement in this lifetime?"
"Bro, you've really got guts. Remember to turn off your DMs. [Thumbs-up]"
Zhou You leaned back slightly, practically feeling the blistering hostility radiating through the screen.
Even as he browsed the messages, two more popped up.
He had a feeling that if he met these people face-to-face, they wouldn't bother with martial honor and would simply swarm him all at once to beat him to death.
Zhou You scratched his head, finding the situation rather troublesome. Arguing back with every single person in DMs was out of the question, and simply disabling private messages was the easiest way out—but wouldn't that make him look like a coward?
"Should I ask Su Tingxue for advice?" Zhou You shook his head. Better not burden her with this.
"Forget it, let it be." Zhou You figured that once these folks wore themselves out in a couple of days, the messages would stop.
"Just wait until I become a moderator—not a single one of you will get away!"
After offering this silent, distant threat, Zhou You quickly tossed the matter to the back of his mind and continued browsing the forum.
After checking the main boards, he moved on to the Chang'an forum.
"Inquiry post: Looking for major historical events that took place in Chang'an, 50 spirit jade per event?!"
Zhou You was stunned by the poster's sheer generosity. In his entire time cultivating, all the spirit jade he had acquired did not even add up to fifty.
He took note of the poster's handle: "Username: Super Transformer?"
A bizarre handle, though bizarre and surreal names were hardly a rarity on the forum.
"What major historical events happened in Chang'an? I don't know a single one." Zhou You looked at the bounty with longing, but there was nothing he could do.
He sighed, feeling the drawbacks of having cultivated for such a short time; he was unfamiliar with both the cultivation world and Chang'an.
"Does the Carefree Empress transmigrating back count as a major event?"
Zhou You considered it, but decided against replying with that. Instead, he forwarded the link to Su Tingxue with a message: "Giving you a money-making opportunity. Do you know any major historical events that happened in Chang'an?"
Nearly half an hour passed without a peep from Su Tingxue. He wondered whether she was working on math problems or had already gone to sleep.
Just as Zhou You was preparing to sleep as well, Su Tingxue replied.
[Your friend Su Tingxue (Eats Glutinous Rice Three Times a Day) has gifted you 10 spirit jade.]
Zhou You: "?"
Su Tingxue: "Answered two questions, and the poster paid out 100 spirit jade. Sharing some with you."
Zhou You gave a thumbs-up: "Loyal."
That was equivalent to eating an entire Poverty Ghost. Next time Su Tingxue and Nuomi got into a scrap, he would definitely take her side.
"So what major events were there in Chang'an?"
Su Tingxue: "I know of two. One was an earth-shattering demonic calamity a thousand years ago that finally came to an end in Chang'an."
"Though that sort of thing is mostly legend. As far as I know, over a dozen different places claim the demonic calamity vanished on their grounds. Truth and fiction are all mixed together, and nobody knows for sure."
"The legend of the demonic calamity ending in Chang'an isn't very well known, and even local cultivators rarely hear of it. I only found out by accident during a commission."
"The other is that a tiger demon at the Golden Core stage plans to build a safari park in Chang'an and settle down here."
Zhou You suddenly recalled a thread he had seen on the forum where someone asked how to go through the procedures to open a zoo, and following the forum's advice, had already managed to get an official thrown into prison for taking bribes.
*When can we get one of our school administrators sent to prison too? The Daoist they hired didn't do any work, just burned joss paper for Nuomi. Doesn't feel like a good guy at all.*
Zhou You located that thread and forwarded it to Su Tingxue: "This one?"
Su Tingxue: "Yeah, that tiger demon is a friend of my master."
Zhou You: "Coming from a major sect really does pay off; you know so much."
[Your friend Zhou You (Swimming This Week?) has gifted you 10 spirit jade.]
Zhou You: "Bring me a spirit stone tomorrow."
Su Tingxue: "OK."
"Mmh~"
After replying to Zhou You, Su Tingxue spun around in her chair and stretched languidly, showing off her well-developed curves.
In truth, she had already seen the bounty post before Zhou You messaged her, but since he had reached out with good intentions, there was no need to let them go to waste.
"I'll browse a little longer before sleeping." Su Tingxue yawned. She had just spent the evening practicing talisman crafting, which required intense concentration, leaving her thoroughly drained and sleepy once finished.
Only her interest in the forum kept her awake.
"Objective discussion: Who is stronger, me or Duan Yuxian?"
Su Tingxue curled her lip. Another rage-bait post. Every few days, a thread like this popped up comparing her to Duan Yuxian. Couldn't the moderators do their jobs?
"Once I become a moderator, I won't leave a single one of these posts standing."
As one of the founding sects of the forum, Mount Longhu held several moderator spots. With her current cultivation attainment, Su Tingxue certainly couldn't take one yet, but with her talent, she would reach the necessary level before long.
Out of habit, Su Tingxue clicked into the thread. As usual, it was devoid of substance—either people claiming she was superior or people insisting Duan Yuxian was stronger. In the end, no consensus was ever reached; it all came down to whose fanbase was larger.
Suddenly, one reply caught her eye.
*Swimming This Week?: "Supporting Su Tingxue. Never even heard of Duan Yuxian."*
Su Tingxue pressed a hand to her forehead. Why on earth had Zhou You jumped into the fray? Hadn't she warned him to keep quiet and avoid posting too much while he was new to the forum?
Knowing Duan Yuxian's fans, she could already imagine Zhou You's inbox turning into an absolute bloodbath—and not just for a day or two, but for an extended siege.
If immortal cultivators had an abundance of anything, it was perseverance.
"He didn't even mention a word of this during our chat." Su Tingxue felt he was being too polite.
After a moment of silence, she opened QQ, scrolled through her friend list, located Duan Yuxian, and sent a message:
"Up for a fight?"
Chapter 54