Smashing the Shop (Part 2)

After launching their attacks, Zhan Zhengzhen and Cai Wenle immediately propelled their swords and arrived at the entrance of Xu Ya’s shop.

Inside, Xu Ya was huddled on the floor with A Xi, the two of them crouched down, clutching their heads and trembling in each other’s arms.

Though Xu Ya believed her pricing was fair, she couldn’t control how others felt about it. Faced with an angry cultivator, she had no way to resist and could only resign herself to death.

She and A Xi stayed curled up, shaking, too afraid to open their eyes.

“Don’t be scared, Junior Sister! I’ll take care of this scoundrel!”

That familiar voice made Xu Ya’s eyes fly open, brimming with tears. Even though her memories had returned and she wasn’t as timid as before, in a life-or-death situation, she still couldn’t hold back her instinctive tears.

Overjoyed, she stood up and took a few quick steps toward the door, still hiding behind the counter as she called out, “It’s you! Senior Brother Zhan, Senior Brother Cai!”

The cultivator who had been thrown out struggled to his feet, coughing violently. The rage in his eyes cleared in an instant.

He had no choice but to sober up. The two people before him were high-level sword cultivators.

In the inner marshes, they were the kind of figures who could walk across his face if they pleased.

Clutching his aching chest, he was just about to slip away quietly when Cai Wenle suddenly flashed in front of him, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him back to the shop entrance.

“What exactly is your problem?” Cai Wenle asked coldly. “Why were you channeling a mid-grade Destruction Technique to smash a shop?”

“I… I…” The low-level cultivator wished he could sink into the ground. But Cai Wenle’s grip was like iron, and he couldn’t break free no matter how he struggled.

“Senior Brother…” He stiffened his neck and tried to sound indignant, hoping to gain some sympathy. “That… Xu Ya’s fried chicken, is it really worth three mid-grade spirit stones?!”

“You think the price isn’t fair, so that gives you the right to smash her shop?” Zhan Zhengzhen laughed in disbelief.

He said, “If you don’t want to buy something, then don’t. That’s how business works. But thinking it’s overpriced and deciding to destroy it? Which sect taught you that logic? I’d love to ask your master if that’s the kind of disciple he raised!”

The low-level cultivator’s face turned pale with fear. He trembled like a leaf and immediately wilted like a frostbitten eggplant, bowing and apologizing frantically. “Ahhh I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I was wrong! I was confused, truly confused!”

“You don’t need to apologize to us.” Cai Wenle, with his immense strength, hoisted the cultivator into the air and dragged him to the shop entrance. “You should apologize to the innocent Junior Sister you tried to bully!”

“Ahhh! Junior Sister, I’m sorry! I was wrong! My brain wasn’t working! Please forgive me!!!”

From behind the counter, Xu Ya watched the scene unfold. The cultivator who had just tried to destroy her shop was now dangling in Cai Wenle’s hand like a helpless chick, nodding furiously and rubbing his hands together like a fly as he apologized over and over again.

For some reason, she felt a bit better.

But the rules of the immortal marshes were clear: if a higher-ranked cultivator apologized to you, no matter what had happened, you had to accept it. That was exactly why Xu Ya held such disdain for this place. In this kind of environment, who knew how many bullying incidents had been allowed to fester?

Xu Ya, with her grudge-bearing nature, didn’t want to forgive this reckless brute. But in the end, she reluctantly agreed.

As soon as she did, Cai Wenle let go. The low-level cultivator crashed to the ground with a heavy thud. From the sound of it, a few of his bones were probably out of place and would need rest to heal.

Xu Ya pulled herself together and sincerely thanked Zhan Zhengzhen and Cai Wenle.

“No need to be so polite, Junior Sister,” Zhan Zhengzhen said with a smile. He pulled a money pouch from his sleeve. “One whole fried chicken, three mid-grade spirit stones. We’ll take two.”

“Ah, no, no, no, I can’t accept that,” Xu Ya said quickly. How could she take their money? She immediately packed up two of the larger fried chickens and handed them over.

Zhan Zhengzhen, like performing a magic trick, tucked the fried chicken into his sleeve. Then, he placed ten mid-grade spirit stones into Xu Ya’s palm and smiled. “How could we not pay? We heard Junior Sister has a weak constitution and needs spirit stones to buy medicinal pills to nourish her body. Both I and your Senior Brother Cai think Master Xu’s idea is excellent. Besides, that day… if it weren’t for you…”

Xu Ya stopped refusing and accepted the ten spirit stones, tucking them into her sleeve.

At some point, the low-level cultivator had crawled off and fled. The street vendors, seeing the conflict had ended, pushed their carts back into place and resumed their hawking without missing a beat.

With the troublemaker gone, Xu Ya’s business gradually returned to normal. Quite a few familiar cultivators had come down from the mountain just to try her fried chicken and see if the rumors were true.

Of course, there were also cultivators like the one earlier who thought her prices were outrageous—mostly low-level ones. But with Zhan Zhengzhen and Cai Wenle, two high-level sword cultivators, standing inexplicably at her shop entrance, even if they were unhappy, no one dared to cause a scene.

Xu Ya hadn’t expected business to be this good. The ten or so portions of fried chicken she had prepared were all sold out.

And it wasn’t even closing time yet—she had nothing left to sell.

Fortunately, Xu Ya had planned ahead. She had always kept the male lead’s portion of fried chicken safely stored in her treasure pouch.

Seeing that Senior Brothers Zhan and Cai hadn’t left yet, Xu Ya timidly asked, “Um… Senior Brothers, I have a small request, if you don’t mind…”

“Speak freely, Junior Sister.”

“This fried chicken was specially prepared for Senior Brother Shi,” Xu Ya said, taking out the food box. “Would you mind delivering it to him for me?”

She really didn’t want to make another trip. With puppy-dog eyes full of hope, she looked up at them.

The golden light of dusk reflected in her bright eyes, making it nearly impossible to say no.

Zhan Zhengzhen and Cai Wenle exchanged a glance: The problem is… we’re not even that close with Senior Brother Shi…

By the time they came back to their senses, they were already soaring through the air on their swords, holding Xu Ya’s food box, flying toward Shi Yuzhen’s residence.

Xu Ya had full faith in her senior brothers’ abilities, and the weight in her heart finally lifted.

She closed the shop, pulled out paper and pen, and began calculating the day’s earnings.

Only now did she truly feel that this system, this Main God, wasn’t so bad after all.

Xu Ya’s ultimate goal was to return home, but she knew the system’s condition: she could only go back once the male lead, Shi Yuzhen, became the number one cultivator in the Immortal Realm.

Who knew how long that would take? With her body even weaker than a mortal’s, she might die of illness or old age before that ever happened.

So her top priority was to strengthen her constitution. That meant she needed to save up a lot of spirit stones to nourish her body.

Xu Ya had already made up her mind. Health was the foundation of everything. First, she would build up her body to the point where she could begin basic cultivation. Then, she’d start eating the fried chicken she made herself. Wouldn’t that quickly take her to the Qi Refining Stage? Immortality wouldn’t be far off!

Besides, since there was a way to earn spirit stones, she needed to manage her expenses wisely and make sure every single spirit stone was put to good use.

Xu Ya took her time going over the numbers carefully.

As the market reopened, she headed out to the spirit stone exchange to convert her mid-grade spirit stones into high-grade ones. Then, she planned to visit a Danxiao Manor alchemist to buy medicine that would nourish her dantian.

She had already decided what kinds of pills she wanted to buy. But when she arrived at the shop, she was inevitably mocked by the cultivator manning the counter.

Of course. A long-time shopkeeper like him wouldn’t be up to date with the latest news in the immortal marshes.

He still thought Xu Ya was just some bottom-tier nobody and took the opportunity to sneer at her.

Xu Ya endured the humiliation and hardship, and couldn’t help but tell a small lie to cover for herself: “…I was running errands for Senior Brother Zhan.”

She really didn’t dare admit it was her own doing. Those alchemists were ruthless with their words, and Xu Ya felt like a punching bag.

That night, back at the shop, Xu Ya fried up the next day’s batch of fried chicken one by one. With A Xi’s help, she packed them into bags.

After coaxing A Xi to sleep on the inner side of the bed, Xu Ya lit a small lamp.

She rubbed her hands together eagerly and pulled out a pitch-black pill from an exquisite medicine box.

The pill glowed with a faint golden aura, its quality clearly extraordinary at first glance.

This single pill had nearly cost her the entire day’s earnings.

Recalling the details from the medicine’s description, Xu Ya could already imagine what would happen after she took it.

She first settled into the standard meditation posture of a cultivator, then made a gesture to retrieve the pill from the box using a spell.

As the pill slid down her throat, Xu Ya immediately felt a surge of intense spiritual energy rushing into her seven orifices.

Her whole body flushed with heat. She tried her best to control the flow of qi, guiding it toward her dantian as the instructions had said.

She could feel the once-shriveled dantian slowly filling up amidst the rising warmth.

Endlessly absorbing the essence of heaven and earth.

Did it work?

Xu Ya couldn’t contain her excitement.

She focused even harder, gathering and refining the qi with all her might.

Just as she felt her dantian expanding and purifying with the influx of spiritual energy, a sudden, dull pain erupted in her lower abdomen.

She assumed it was just part of the process every cultivator had to go through—no one had told her otherwise.

She gritted her teeth and endured the strange, growing pain, but her body began to tremble uncontrollably. The pain intensified, as if someone were slicing her apart with a thousand blades. In the end, she could barely remain seated in meditation.

Her distress woke A Xi, who was a light sleeper.

Seeing his sister groaning in agony, A Xi immediately scrambled out of bed. He grabbed the nearly burnt-out candle from the table and held it up to Xu Ya’s pale face.

A Xi had no idea what was happening to her.

He panicked, hopping from foot to foot.

He didn’t know what to do. He tried to help Xu Ya lie down to rest, but the moment he touched her, he felt as if she were engulfed in flames. The heat scorched his small hands.

A Xi burst into tears. He ran out the door.

It was already the third watch of the night, and the streets were deserted. A Xi wandered aimlessly, just like he used to, stumbling through the muddy roads of the immortal village, not knowing who to turn to for help.

A figure suddenly collided with A Xi, sending him flying. But before he hit the ground, he felt a force catch him, gently holding him up.

A Xi recognized this sensation—it was the spiritual energy the cultivators always talked about. He scrambled forward on hands and knees, clutching the hem of the man’s robe. His face was covered in tears and snot as he kowtowed repeatedly. It was a trick he had used many times when begging for food. He didn’t know if it would work now. It never had before.

But he had no other choice.

“Please… please save my sister!”

The man had been about to walk away, but stopped in his tracks when he saw this.

— Translator’s Notes —

– third watch of the night: Refers to the period from 11 PM to 1 AM in traditional Chinese timekeeping, indicating very late at night.