Chapter 57 – Poison Creature: Green Bean Returns

At night, Elegant Seasons Peak was completely quiet.

The four great sects had all arrived, and they would be gathering at Cold Arrival Peak the next day. That peak was now fully sealed off for the night, with artifact refiners from each sect sent to inspect the Huntian Instrument that opened the illusion realm.

Lian Mu had only managed to kill half the magical beasts inside before being chased out, so she could only return to Elegant Seasons Peak to rest.

Clear Bamboo Courtyard sat in the most remote part of the peak, and very few disciples were ever assigned there. After Guan Shize moved out, it became even more deserted.

But Lian Mu liked the quiet. No one bothered her. Since the house was small, she’d simply chopped down the surrounding bamboo and hand-crafted a second bamboo hut right next to the first.

One hut was for sleeping, the other for serious business.

Back in her hut, Lian Mu decided to take advantage of the free night to refine some pills. The magical beasts in the Pangu Illusion Realm were tough, and she couldn’t extract their inner cores easily. Only the occasional beast with a shallowly hidden core yielded anything, and even then only one or two.

After all this time, the stockpile of beast cores she’d amassed at Star-Plucking Tower was nearly depleted. Every time Ji Mingyue improved the Spirit-Replenishing Pill formula, she would memorize it and test it later with beast cores.

But the beast cores she had were low-grade, and with her spiritual energy leaking from the dantian more rapidly than ever, even a modified Spirit-Replenishing Pill mixed with those cores barely lasted her half a month now—if she took several at once.

Since re-forging her spiritual root, everything had been a hassle. Spirit stones slipped through her fingers like water—before she could even warm them in her palm, they were gone.

Lian Mu now thought that the claim about Master Feng, with his heavenly root, spending 100,000 spirit stones a day just on maintenance, was understated. With how much she burned through with a mere three-element root, she couldn’t even imagine the expense of a heavenly root.

Worse still, she was a sword cultivator. She had to nourish both herself and her sword. Life was hard.

After tossing in the last fire ingredient, Lian Mu checked her spatial pouch. Only 300 spirit stones left.

She finished refining the pills, extinguished her makeshift furnace, and put the medicine away.

The bitter stench of alchemy filled the room. Lian Mu went to open the window to air the place out, and just as she did—pain flashed through her head. The exact same feeling as last time.

She frowned, seizing that fleeting moment to release her spiritual power. Following its pull, she walked to the door and opened it.

Looking down—they locked eyes.

A pair of Green Bean eyes stared right at her.

“…How did you get back?” Lian Mu even wondered if she was hallucinating. She picked it up by one leg and held it in the air for inspection.

Unless she was mistaken, the Molten Fire Cavern had been sealed. Unless it had broken through the barrier… it could do that?

Lian Mu had to reevaluate the little thing. It seemed bigger than before—now large enough to sprawl across her whole palm. Its shell had darkened, but its eyes were still the same blank stare.

Green Bean wiggled mid-air, broke free, and crawled up her arm to perch on her shoulder.

It clacked its little pincers and stared dumbly at her.

Lian Mu interpreted the look: “You want to eat already? Why didn’t you just eat the discarded spiritual tools in the Molten Fire Cavern…”

Then she paused. Something was off. Just now when she reconnected her spiritual power, the energy radiating from Green Bean felt stronger than before.

It had eaten all those discarded tools.

Lian Mu was impressed. As expected of her bonded spirit pet—it had a looting instinct that rivaled hers. Truly learned from the best.

She was just about to head inside with it when footsteps approached from not far away, along with a voice muttering complaints.

“Gui Xian Sect’s quarters are so shabby it’s laughable. So much space and the bamboo huts are tiny. Who are they trying to squish to death?”

“Don’t be mad. The team leader’s still waiting on you.”

Two young men walked down the path. The one in front had a high ponytail and wore brocade robes, his face full of disdain. The other, dressed like a body cultivator, trailed behind.

“I am not sharing a hut with that Tang guy. Gui Xian Sect already said the chief disciples each get their own place. Why should I have to squeeze in with him?”

“But the elder’s orders—”

“Spare me!” the brocade youth snapped. “Don’t you dare speak up for him in front of me. Instead of bothering me, go get him to beg me. Maybe I’ll consider it.”

The body cultivator boy was dismissed.

Lian Mu, watching from her window, saw the brocade-robed youth march toward the bamboo hut across from hers.

This must be one of those disciples from other sects who’d been assigned nearby, just like Elder Xin had mentioned. Sounded like a chief disciple, too.

“……”

He stopped at the hut, kicked the door in with one strike.

“This stingy, penny-pinching dump—how is anyone supposed to live in a hut this small?!”

Clearly, he was in a mood to vent on everything in sight.

Instead of going in, he turned toward the nearby bamboo grove and started kicking at it with all his might.

Lian Mu glanced at the scene. If she let this go on, her precious bamboo forest might not survive.

So she set Green Bean on the window ledge, curled her finger, and said, “Go sting him a few times. I’ll feed you after. Just be careful with the poison, don’t actually kill him.”

With that, she flicked her finger hard—and launched Green Bean directly at the boy’s back.

Direct hit.

Lian Mu ducked aside, hiding herself out of view.

Through their spiritual connection, she could see what Green Bean saw.

“Hiss—!”

The boy cried out in pain, feeling like something had just smacked his back. He whipped around—but saw no one.

“Yuan Wuxu! Are you messing with me again?!” he shouted in fury.

No one answered him.

Out of his sight, Green Bean quickly climbed up his robe. The itch made the boy realize something was wrong, but just as he sensed it, a sharp, piercing pain shot through him.

The next moment, his neck went cold—and immediately began to swell and redden.

When he reached up and touched the strange object clinging to his neck, he found a scorpion. He grabbed it, only to be stung several more times.

He flung the black scorpion away and stomped down hard, but it didn’t die. Instead, it twisted its body and slipped into the underbrush.

“You…!”

Eyes wide with fury, the boy instantly realized someone was messing with him. His gaze swept across the area and finally landed on Lian Mu’s bamboo hut.

“Come out!”

He stormed to her door and pounded on it furiously, as if ready to burst through at any moment.

Lian Mu opened the door with an innocent expression. The boy paused when he saw her, then asked, “You’re a sword cultivator from Gui Xian Sect?”

Lian Mu blinked. “Yeah.”

“Gui Xian Sect is dirt-poor, sure—but what’s the deal with keeping venomous creatures where people live?!”

Lian Mu smiled. “Oh, that has quite the backstory. Come closer, I’ll tell you.”

Frowning, the boy stepped forward. Just as he was about to cross the threshold, Lian Mu’s hand—which was resting on the door—suddenly slammed it forward, hitting him square in the forehead.

“OW!”

The boy was shut out. Lian Mu immediately activated a spiritual tool, forming a barrier to protect her home.

The boy tried to force the door open, but the barrier flung him back outright. He yelled a few curses outside, but as time passed, his voice gradually faded.

Green Bean squeezed back in through the window and climbed to her feet, its faint green eyes staring up at her.

Lian Mu pulled a piece of spirit armor from her spatial pouch and tossed it to it. “Nice job.”

Green Bean immediately began munching. Lian Mu turned away to get back to her pill-making.

Out of her sight, Green Bean, having finished the spirit armor, slowly opened a pair of red eyes on either side of its body. The four eyes flicked toward the glowing fluorite on the table. It lumbered over, tucked its stinger in, and curled up next to the stone, closing its eyes once more.

…

…

Clear Bamboo Courtyard, Hut Eleven.

A candle flickered atop a desk, casting warm yellow light across the bamboo room. The window was open, and the wind blew in, making the flame tremble, though the spiritual energy kept it from going out.

A loose-haired young man leaned against the window, gazing at the hut across from his. After a while, he raised his hand and rolled his wrist. “That one… is Shen Wuxie from the White Tiger Shen Clan? A chief talisman cultivator who can’t even break a barrier?”

Someone else was in the room, sitting beside the lamp and carefully polishing a sword. The firelight warmed his face. He spoke slowly, “This is Gui Xian Sect’s territory. No matter how arrogant he is, he can’t make a move on someone else’s turf.”

Feng Yunyi stood up straight and brushed the snow off his clothes. “At least he has some sense. Still, he’s not wrong—this hut is small. I heard only sword cultivators live here. I didn’t expect Gui Xian Sect’s sword cultivators to live so humbly.”

“…”

Feng Yunyi closed the window. “That scorpion she sent out was interesting. Most sword cultivators don’t raise spiritual pets like that. Hers looked like it was high grade. And venomous creatures are hard to tame. Some are so fierce even people from Misty Ridge can’t control them. She’s got skills.”

“Ting Zhou?” With no reply, Feng Yunyi tried calling again.

The cold wind blew through the window gap, rustling a silver strand of hair at the man’s temple. Ying You came back to himself, sheathed his sword, and looked up slightly. “What?”

Feng Yunyi said, “…Nothing. I’ll leave you be—rest well.”

He turned and stepped out. Ying You also stood to see him off.

He stopped beneath the eaves and, after Feng Yunyi had walked off into the distance, looked up at the falling snow. He reached out a hand to catch a flake, holding it in his palm.

The ice melted in his hand, water trailing down his slender fingers.

He turned slightly to glance at the lit hut across the way. After a moment of silence, he turned and went back inside.