Seven days later.
The door of the materials room was kicked open. Situ Jiaojiao stood at the door angrily with her hands on her waist.
The princess’s face didn’t look very good, and it was obvious that she had not been leading a very happy life recently.
”You two are living quite peacefully. You haven’t thought about how to leave?” Situ Jiaojiao asked, staring at Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi.
”I can’t finish all the things I have to do every day, so I don’t have the energy to think of running away,” Ye Fan said calmly.
”Why are you working so hard?” Situ Jiaojiao looked disgusted.
”What if I can’t finish it and get killed by that senior?” Ye Fan said without thinking. Although Ye Fan was proud, he didn’t think he could beat a cultivator at the peak of Golden Core.
”You are greedy for life and fearful of death! Are you so afraid of him? Have you never thought of resisting?” Situ Jiaojiao asked.
Ye Fan blinked, touched his chin, thought for a while, and said, “I once heard a saying that life is like rape. If you can’t resist, just enjoy it*.”
Bai Yunxi: “…” Ye Fan was such a bastard!
”You…this…shameless!” Probably no one had ever spoken to Situ Jiaojiao like this before, and Situ Jiaojiao’s face was livid.
Bai Yunxi looked at Situ Jiaojiao, took a deep breath, and said, “Your Highness, he’s just speaking nonsense. Don’t stoop to his level.”
”Humph, as a man, you actually act like this. You coward!” Situ Jiaojiao scolded Ye Fan angrily.
Situ Jiaojiao swung the whip toward Ye Fan, and Ye Fan directly grabbed the whip in his hand.
”Princess, I still need to use these materials. If you knock them over, I will be beaten to death by Senior,” Ye Fan said with displeasure.
”Your courage is so big. Aren’t you afraid that this princess will beat you to death?” Situ Jiaojiao’s whip had never failed. Now that the whip was caught by Ye Fan, Situ Jiaojiao felt extremely humiliated.
”Ah! That’s right! A phoenix that has lost its feathers is not as good as a chicken, and a tiger that has fallen can be bullied by a dog!” Ye Fan said proudly.
Situ Jiaojiao was so angry that she was shaking all over. Ye Fan looked at Bai Yunxi, leaned over and whispered, “She is shaking so hard, do you think she has epilepsy?”
Bai Yunxi: “…”
Wang Chenxiao walked in, grabbed Situ Jiaojiao, and said, “Princess, act magnanimous. Don’t be the same as them. We are all on the same boat now, and we must work together.”
Situ Jiaojiao snorted coldly and said with annoyance, “Who wants to work together with these two guys?”
Ye Fan curled his lips and said, “You actually despise me! I still think you are a little girl holding me back.”
Situ Jiaojiao retorted, “You are so brave. If we get out, see how I deal with you…”
Ye Fan: “…”
”Fellow Daoist Fan, Fellow Daoist Xi, do you two know how Senior Sheng’s former assistants died?” Wang Chenxiao asked.
Ye Fan shook his head and said, “I don’t know. How did they die? Did they die of stupidity?”
”You’re going to die of stupidity.” Situ Jiaojiao said, dissatisfied.
Ye Fan looked at Situ Jiaojiao, dissatisfied, and said, “What you said is not right!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Bai Yunxi: “…”
”They were killed by an explosion.” Wang Chenxiao said.
Ye Fan said in confusion, “Exploded to death?”
”The Divine Talisman Sect left half of the Talisman Classic. The talismans in the Talisman Classic are very powerful. After studying the powerful talismans in the Talisman Classic, a Golden Core cultivator can use them to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator.” Wang Chenxiao said.
Bai Yunxi frowned, glanced at Wang Chenxiao, and said, “How is it possible for a Golden Core cultivator to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator? The gap between Nascent Soul cultivators and Golden Core cultivators is huge.”
Situ Jiaojiao agreed very much and said, “That’s really true. Golden Core cultivators are not the enemies of my ancestor at all.”
Wang Chenxiao nodded and said, “Everyone says this. However, the goal of Senior Sheng should be to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator.”
”Why?! Which Nascent Soul cultivator does he have a grudge against?” Ye Fan asked in confusion.
”Senior Sheng Zhihao was originally an elite disciple of the Divine Talisman Sect. Later, he became obsessed with a demon girl of the demonic path. The demon girl was murderous and killed the son of the Sect Master of Tianyi Sect, which led to Tianyi Sect pursuing her relentlessly. Senior Sheng liked that woman, and helped that woman escape.”
”After the two escaped, Tianyi Sect couldn’t find them, so they destroyed the Divine Talisman Sect on the grounds that the Divine Talisman Sect had colluded with the demon girl.”
”Back then, the Divine Talisman Sect had only one Golden Core cultivator, so it was naturally no match for Tianyi Sect. When Senior Sheng came back, the Divine Talisman Sect had already been wiped out.”
”Afterward, Senior Sheng and the woman’s whereabouts were revealed and they were chased by Tianyi Sect. The woman may have felt sorry for Senior Sheng, so she blew herself up in order to cover Senior Sheng’s escape.”
”After encountering the annihilation of his sect and the tragic death of his beloved, Senior Sheng’s character became distorted. He hunted and killed lone cultivators of Tianyi Sect everywhere. In the past few decades, countless talented cultivators of Tianyi Sect have died at the hands of Senior Sheng. After that, Tianyi Sect finally couldn’t bear it anymore and set a trap to capture him.”
”In that trap, a Nascent Soul ancestor and twelve Golden Core elders were dispatched. However, Senior Sheng was still able to escape. At that time, Senior Sheng triggered dozens of heaven-level talismans one after another, blocking all the cultivators who were chasing behind him. Not only that, even with a Nascent Soul cultivator being dispatched, Senior Sheng still killed three Golden Core cultivators.”
”However, Senior Sheng also paid a heavy price. It seems he was seriously injured. After that siege, Senior Sheng has been living in seclusion for decades. He was probably hiding here. We have to find a way to leave.”
Bai Yunxi frowned, vaguely feeling that there might be some hidden secret behind this matter.
There were many people outside looking for the whereabouts of him and Ye Fan, and the most active among them was Tianyi Sect.
The method of checking the spiritual roots of cultivators was proposed by Tianyi Sect. The spiritual roots of cultivators were personal secrets. The only sect that could come up with such a method was Tianyi Sect.
There were also rumors about him and Ye Fan flying all over the place, such as being cruel and massacring cultivators of various sects, eating human flesh and drinking human blood, using people to refine spiritual weapons after killing people, etc. It was said that the source of the rumors was Tianyi Sect.
Ye Fan said in confusion, “Why do we have to leave?”
”If you don’t leave, you don’t know when you will die in an explosion. You saw the scars on Senior Sheng’s face. They should be the traces left by an explosion,” Wang Chenxiao said.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “So that’s the case. I thought it was a scar left from a battle with a Nascent Soul cultivator, yet the scar didn’t look like it was from a battle.”
”Do you two have any ideas?” Situ Jiaojiao looked at Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi critically.
Ye Fan shook his head and said, “No! Does Your Highness have any good ideas?” Ye Fan had been in the work room in the past few days, but his soul power had been monitoring the situation outside.
This princess was very restless and had been trying to rush out for the past few days. This girl managed to get out, but came back again.
This was the center of the forest, the place with the strongest spiritual energy and the best location.
Ye Fan could sense the Golden Core level monster beasts* surrounding them. No matter which direction one went, they would inevitably break into a Golden Core monster beast’s territory. Since Senior Sheng could occupy this place, he should have fought against all the monster beasts in the surrounding area.
That senior had probably long known that they couldn’t escape, so he could rest assured leaving them here without supervision.
…
When Situ Jiaojiao came out of Ye Fan’s place, she couldn’t help but be filled with anger. “I’m afraid there’s no hope for these two losers.”
Wang Chenxiao frowned and said, “Maybe these two people are a little bit special, otherwise they wouldn’t have been chosen by Senior Sheng.”
”It’s just that they have practiced body refining and their skin is thicker. What’s so great about it? Only untalented cultivators would resort to body refining,” Situ Jiaojiao said disdainfully.
Wang Chenxiao nodded and said, “Your Highness is right, but there are only the four of us here. Keep an eye on those two people. They may be useful in the future.”
Situ Jiaojiao said, a little depressed, “I can’t contact the ancestor, and my messenger talisman cannot be sent out.”
The places Situ Jiaojiao visited since she was a child were all extremely luxurious. Now in the jungle, there was nothing. Situ Jiaojiao couldn’t help but feel it was a little unbearable.
Wang Chenxiao looked at Situ Jiaojiao and said, “Your Highness, please bear with it. Once your ancestor receives the news of your disappearance, he will definitely find a way to find you.”
Situ Jiaojiao bit her lip and said, “Okay.”
…
Ye Fan adapted to jungle life very quickly. For Ye Fan, the current situation was not too bad.
There were bounties for him all over the place. He originally wanted to find a secret place to hide for a while.
The current situation was exactly what he wanted. If he and Bai Yunxi wanted to find a place in the jungle on their own, they would inevitably be harassed by monster beasts. With the old senior residing here, there was no need to worry about attacks from monster beasts.
It was just that the tasks arranged by Scarface were a bit heavy, and Ye Fan was often very busy.
Bai Yunxi processed the materials in his hands, looked at Ye Fan and said, “Your movements are getting faster and faster.”
In order to save time, Ye Fan refined some spiritual tools to assist in processing materials, which greatly improved the efficiency.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Yes! The old man only comes to pick up the materials every five days. According to the current situation, we can prepare the things in three days and have two days to rest.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “En, that’s fine.”
Ye Fan looked at Bai Yunxi and said, “How about I catch a monster beast tomorrow and roast it to eat? We have been taking Fasting Pills recently and haven’t eaten meat for a long time.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “Okay!” Jungle life was very boring, and Bai Yunxi occasionally wanted to relax.
…
Ye Fan caught a sheep-like monster beast near their cave residence and roasted it on a grill.
Ye Fan brushed layers of oil on the monster beast. The sound of sizzling meat had Ye Fan extremely intoxicated.
Princess Jiaojiao came over in a daze. Bai Yunxi looked at Situ Jiaojiao and frowned.
This princess seemed to have restrained herself a lot recently.
Bai Yunxi looked at Situ Jiaojiao and felt that this princess was completely different from before.
”Princess, are you okay?” Bai Yunxi asked.
Situ Jiaojiao nodded her head and said, “I’m fine.”
Ye Fan had little contact with Situ Jiaojiao and Wang Chenxiao during this period, but he was very aware of their movements. At the beginning, Situ Jiaojiao only thought about how to escape. After more than ten days, when Sheng Zhihao asked Situ Jiaojiao about the progress of the matter, Situ Jiaojiao said nothing.
Sheng Zhihao was not someone who loved fragrance and cherished jade*, so when Situ Jiaojiao didn’t say anything, Sheng Zhihao slapped her.
Situ Jiaojiao had never met someone like Sheng Zhihao. She suddenly felt like she had been struck by thunder. But the other person was someone she couldn’t afford to offend, so she had no choice but to endure it.
”Your Highness, you seem to be in a bad mood! Did something happen to you?”
”He called me a waste, said that I have a false reputation, and that he shouldn’t have looked highly upon me. He said that if I kept doing this and there was no progress, he would beat me to death,” Situ Jiaojiao said.
Bai Yunxi: “…” This girl with chunnibyou syndrome was actually a paper tiger! When she met a real tiger, she turned into a kitten.
Ye Fan looked at Situ Jiaojiao and said, “In that case, Your Highness, just study the talisman diagram carefully. That senior’s talisman skills are amazing! If you can learn a few things from him, you will benefit greatly.”
Situ Jiaojiao said with displeasure, “The reason why the Divine Talisman Sect declined is because the talisman inheritance left behind is too profound for ordinary people to understand. Now only half of the talisman diagram is left. Asking me to restore it – isn’t that making things difficult for me?”
Ye Fan secretly thought: The talisman recorded in the jade slip was indeed very different from what he had seen before. The talisman may have reached the holy level. It was true that expecting a spiritual-level talisman master to restore a holy-level talisman was a bit too much.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Well, it sounds a little difficult.”
Situ Jiaojiao glanced at Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi and said, “If I knew earlier, I might as well be like you and help process materials without having to use my brain.”
Ye Fan rolled his eyes and said, “That’s not necessarily true. It’s very hard to help Senior process these materials. If you were really assigned to process the materials, you would give up in a few days.”
Situ Jiaojiao looked at Ye Fan with displeasure and said, “I am a great talisman-making genius. Do you think I can’t even process some materials? You underestimate me too much.”
Ye Fan secretly thought: What kind of genius was Situ Jiaojiao? If they wanted to talk about genius, he was the real genius. This dead girl with no eyesight.
…
Ye Fan tore off a piece of roasted meat, put it into his mouth, and said happily, “Ah! My skills have improved again.”
”Xi Yun, eat quickly.” Ye Fan tore a piece of roasted meat and gave it to Yunxi.
Bai Yunxi hadn’t eaten anything for a long time. After taking a bite, he felt pretty good.
Seeing that the two of them had no intention of inviting her to eat, Situ Jiaojiao couldn’t help but feel a little aggrieved. Situ Jiaojiao said with disgust, “As cultivators, you actually attach so much attention to food and drink. Really inappropriate.”
Ye Fan looked at Situ Jiaojiao and said righteously, “Princess, you are wrong. You know why cultivators work so hard to cultivate? It’s just to eat. The longer you live, the more you can eat. Eat all the delicacies of the mountains and seas.”
”That’s nonsense. Cultivators cultivate in order to pursue the path of immortality.” Situ Jiaojiao said with displeasure.
Ye Fan: “…” Those with a different Dao really couldn’t understand each other!
Seeing the two of them eating meat, Situ Jiaojiao couldn’t help but feel a little greedy, “Give me some.”
Ye Fan glanced at Situ Jiaojiao and said, “There’s no share for you.”
”Presumptuous! How dare you disobey this princess?”
Bai Yunxi glanced at Ye Fan and said, “Just give it.”
Ye Fan said reluctantly, “I’ll give you some to eat.”
***
T/N: This princess is so annoying… you would think she’d have gotten a wakeup call by now because she can’t understand the talisman diagram at all, but she’s still pretty full of herself and continues to call herself a genius… Sheng Zhihao is right that she has a false reputation.
*What an incredibly inappropriate and disgusting thing to say… I don’t find rape funny in any context and am pretty disappointed the author wrote this.
*Changing spiritual beast to monster beast other than where the raws specifically say spiritual beast (灵兽 lingshou). The raws mostly use 妖兽 (yaoshou). You may have seen the term 妖 (yao) from other cultivation novels. Yao are usually animals and plants that have awakened spiritual wisdom and can cultivate. In this novel though, since they’re eating some yaoshou, not all have awakened spiritual wisdom.
*怜香惜玉 (lianxiang xiyu) – love fragrance and cherish jade – to have tender and protective feelings toward the fairer sex.
