Mist City sat in the heart of East Pole Province, nestled at the foot of the Sea of Clouds Peaks.
Bathed in a touch of the Shenhua Sect’s immortal aura, it was common to see immortal masters riding spirit beasts through the skies.
The townsfolk were long used to such sights.
The Yun Clan was a family of cultivators.
Their ancestors had produced several mighty figures who brought fame to the dynasty.
With the bloodline passed down in a single branch, they counted as true nobility.
Yun Liu’s parents were both fairly renowned cultivators as well, known for their wide connections and as notable alumni of the Shenhua Sect.
The Xiao Family, on the other hand, was a prestigious clan throughout the province, with vast holdings both inside and outside the county.
Xiao Xinran’s father was none other than the Lord of Mist City, pretty much the local “village chief” of a novice’s starting zone.
The two families had been close for centuries. It was only natural that their children should be joined in marriage, a match made in heaven.
Yet even that paled in comparison to Huangmao’s illustrious background, hailing from a powerful immortal clan atop the sea of stars.
Ji Shiyu’s arrival was like that of a beautiful transfer student from another province, descending from the heavens to crush the dreams of the local protagonist.
Yes, it was that Star Isle, where Nascent Soul cultivators were as common as dogs and Divine Transformation experts roamed the streets, a mid-game map in any cultivation game.
Anyone who’d ever played such games knew that defying Fortune was a dead end.
All the more so with Ji Shiyu, who had a Nine Heavens Phoenix Chick by her side.
That fat bird, if it revealed its true form, could probably smack you to death with a single slap.
Hmph!
Despicable outsiders!
Yun Liu rubbed his nose.
The original script was already tragic enough; he didn’t even count as a supporting male character.
If he tried to compete with Feng Aotian for a woman, he’d be cannon fodder in an instant.
Survival would become a desperate struggle.
Working for someone else?
Impossible.
Helping Huangmao?
Even less likely.
The only way to survive was to rely on strategy and careful choices.
So Yun Liu lay low, perfectly content. All he wanted in this life was to find an ordinary pretty girl, someone so unremarkable even a cow demon wouldn’t bother with her, form a simple cultivation partnership, and live out his days in peace, far away from the heroines burdened with the Fortune of the Nine Provinces.
He wandered for an entire afternoon, leaving the main road behind and gradually entering the mountains.
Ji Shiyu grew more and more puzzled as they walked, her legs growing sore.
“Brother, your wandering is way too abstract. Where exactly are we going?”
“Almost there.”
They were far from civilization now, the wilderness quiet and empty, just a lone man and woman…
Could it be?
Huangmao tossed her golden hair.
She was more than just a little pretty, at least a solid seven or eight out of ten.
She didn’t know about slicing girls, but she’d definitely slice boys.
If this guy tried anything funny, she’d blow his dog head right off!
Dense trees blocked out the light, the depths of the forest dim and quiet, a faint bloody scent lingering in the air.
“Ah, wait, isn’t this…?”
Ji Shiyu covered her mouth in surprise.
Of course she remembered this place, she never expected the victim to bring the culprit back to the scene of the crime.
More than a dozen mutilated corpses lay scattered across the forest floor, gnawed by beasts and mostly rotted, filling the air with a foul stench.
“The ambush that day left too many questions. Just in case, I wanted to come back for a look, to see if any fish slipped through the net.”
Yun Liu crouched to inspect the scene, tossing out a casual excuse.
He had other motives for returning, but Huangmao insisted on following along.
“Ugh, the smell… Be careful. If anything happens, call me.”
Ji Shiyu squatted beside him, pinching her nose, secretly impressed by the youth’s attention to detail.
This was right at the foot of the Sea of Clouds Peaks Forest, an area watched over by the Orthodox Mysterious Gate.
How could Demon Sect fiends be lurking here?
If there was a conspiracy, it could threaten the Shenhua Sect.
As an Inner Disciple, she had to investigate.
Most of the slain Demon Sect disciples had fallen to Ji Shiyu’s hand, except for one, beheaded in a single stroke by Yun Liu.
She hadn’t examined the bodies closely at the time, but from the lingering demonic energy, both Ji Shiyu and Ao Tian had judged that the headless corpse was no weakling.
No wonder Yun Liu had barely survived.
Most of the cannon fodder were penniless, but their leader, a ninth-stage Qi Refining fiend, had a bit of substance, a storage pouch at his waist.
The owner was dead.
Yun Liu easily broke the mental imprint inside and claimed the storage pouch for himself.
Inside were a few dozen Spirit Stones, a Bloodstained Demonic Order Token, several Human Skin Masks, and some other strange, sinister tools.
It wasn’t worth coming all this way for just these items, but the group of fiends hadn’t originally been after Yun Liu and Xiao Xinran.
They’d simply wandered into an ambush.
Scenes like this always hid secrets in games, waiting for a fated person to discover them.
Today, Yun Liu had come to find a hidden side quest.
Feng Aotian might not care, but for his own survival, it was crucial.
The youth spread his divine sense.
Countless points of light appeared in his vision.
Following the traces of demonic energy, he found older, dried bloodstains and followed the tracks deeper into the mountains.
Eventually, the two arrived at the entrance to a cave, where the trail ended.
“What’s this place?”
Ji Shiyu peered inside, curiosity piqued.
The day she’d come to the rescue, she hadn’t noticed anything else.
Yun Liu shook his head, feigning ignorance.
“We stumbled on this place by accident. Those fiends seemed to be searching for something, maybe the answer’s inside…”
“A treasure, maybe?”
Ji Shiyu’s eyes lit up and she dashed inside eagerly.
The cave was pitch-black.
She had barely taken a few steps when a strange scent hit her.
Her legs went weak, and she collapsed, unable to muster a single wisp of spiritual energy.
“Shiyu, could you try using your brain for once?”
Ao Tian covered its face with a wing, embarrassed by its idiot master.
Even if nothing fatal would happen with it around, it was still humiliating.
The so-called bodyguard had toppled like a log.
Ji Shiyu belatedly realized something was wrong and shrieked, “Oh no… it’s a trap!”
Yun Liu rolled his eyes and waited patiently until the miasma cleared.
Then, covering his mouth and nose, he stepped inside and patted Huangmao’s cheek.
“I wasn’t finished talking, what were you rushing for?”
Ji Shiyu blushed and whispered, “You’re still hurt, why’d you come in, too? It’s dangerous in here!”
Just then, a weak voice echoed from deep in the cave, as if someone had awakened.
“Who? Who’s there?!”
A faint light appeared in Yun Liu’s palm, illuminating the cave with a Five Elements spell.
On the stone wall lay a young man in black.
His face was deathly pale, covered in wounds, his breath weak and fading, he was clearly on the verge of death.
The fiends hadn’t been after treasure, but after a person.
Yun Liu spoke in a deep voice, “I am a disciple of the Shenhua Sect, patrolling the mountains. May I ask who you are?”
“A Shenhua disciple? Thank heavens!”
The young man’s eyes brightened.
He struggled to crawl over and clutched Yun Liu’s hand, pleading, not answering but instead begging, “Brother, could you help me with one thing? I’m already dying, I mean no harm.”
A dying man’s words are always honest.
“…Go on.”
“Please… give this letter to Qin Yao of Clear Mist Peak. Tell her I’m sorry. I have nothing valuable to repay you—take whatever you find useful… please…”
With that, the youth’s head lolled to the side.
He’d held on this long just to entrust his final wish.
Yun Liu bowed his head in silence, accepted the letter, dug a pit, and buried him on the spot.
The youth had been an Elixir Cultivator.
The Softbone Incense in the cave was his own trap for protection.
In the game, careless players would easily fall for it on their first visit.
It was a simple errand, but the reward was decent. It also served as the tutorial for starting the Path of Alchemy.
Yun Liu checked the bag: a few bottles of basic spiritual medicine, a primer on the Path of Alchemy, a Pill Furnace, just as he remembered.
He put everything into his Ring.
If this hidden quest wasn’t triggered promptly, once you left the starting area, the next time you returned, there would be nothing left in the cave but a skeleton.
The follow-up quest and rewards would be gone, leaving only the stranger’s relics and no chance to experience the full storyline.
But if you brought the relics to Clear Mist Peak, Qin Yao would recognize them and burst into tears on the spot, a little Easter egg.
“What’s in the letter? Quick, open it! Is it a love confession?”
Ji Shiyu’s eyes sparkled with curiosity, already imagining a tragic love story.
Perhaps that Qin Yao senior was this guy’s beloved, fleeing for his life, dying at the foot of the mountain, never seeing his love one last time.
Truly heartbreaking.
“When someone entrusts you with something, you should see it through, especially for the dead.”
Yun Liu shot Huangmao a glare.
He knew the letter’s contents without even reading it.
Qin Yao and her brother were deeply attached, but their paths differed and could not be reconciled.
That was another story, unrelated to the main plot.
Still, if this quest fell into Ji Shiyu’s hands, the senior sister might not escape a tragic fate, another poor soul saved in a roundabout way.
Amitabha.
Rest in peace, fellow Daoist!
Exactly, so freaking rude to try and read a dead man’s letter.