Chapter 35: Guardian Envoy
Inside the Earth Fire Chamber, Zhao Zuo took out the porcelain vial he had acquired.
His expression was calm, but his heart was filled with lingering fear. At the time, they had only been three or four meters apart. At that distance, a Lower Grade Magical Artifact could close the gap in the blink of an eye. This was definitely the closest he had come to death since he’d transmigrated.
From now on, Zhao Zuo would have to be extremely vigilant even when encountering random passersby. This incident had also exposed one of his weaknesses: he lacked a Defensive Magical Artifact. Specifically, a passively triggered one that didn’t require activation was what he needed most right now.
Zhao Zuo tipped a Pill Medicine out of the porcelain vial. It was pale blue and occasionally flashed with a Spiritual Light. He found the scent very familiar, somewhat like the Purifying Spirit Pills he had taken before, but he didn’t dare to be careless. If the enemy had left it as a last-ditch effort to take him down together, things would get ugly.
In the Cultivation Realm, it was common for people to go through great pains to kill an enemy, only to die with their guts rotting after consuming the enemy’s Pill Medicine while trying to break through. One had to be on guard against dangers from every possible angle.
’Logically, that person must have just left the Earth Fire Hall. He probably bought a few Purifying Spirit Pills from a shop and was heading home to enter seclusion and break through his bottleneck. But then he ran into me... and was suddenly overcome by greed.’
’The ambush must have been a spur-of-the-moment decision, which is why it was so rushed. He also hadn’t expected my Spiritual Sense to be sharp enough to detect the danger instantly. Based on that analysis, he shouldn’t have prepared a lethal poison for a mutual-destruction scenario beforehand.’
But Zhao Zuo did not let his guard down. He first scraped a tiny bit of powder from the pill’s surface with his finger and placed it in his mouth, waiting for the effects to manifest. The speck of powder dissolved into a mist of pure Spiritual Power, which was then converted by his Meridians and stored in his Dantian.
The pill’s surface was fine.
Zhao Zuo then found a silver needle in his pouch and inserted it into the center of the pill. He carefully held it in his mouth. If anything went wrong... he could quickly spit it out and rinse his mouth with cool water. Besides, to kill a Cultivator with such a small dose, it would have to be a Second Tier poison.
’Given that person’s status and strength, there’s no way he could have gotten his hands on a Second Tier poison.’
After two successful tests, he could confirm that this pill was indeed a Purifying Spirit Pill.
After some thought, Zhao Zuo put the pills away. He planned to ask Shen Yunjiao to help identify these three pills later. Although his own tests should be correct, he couldn’t gamble with his life.
He then began to adjust his state, consuming a Purifying Spirit Pill he had bought from Shen Yunjiao.
Dense Spiritual Power spread through him, continuously being converted by his Meridians and filling his body. After about four two-hour periods, Zhao Zuo let out a long, turbid breath. His Cultivation was now one step closer to the Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer.
His Cultivation session finished, Zhao Zuo was about to start forging Spirit Iron. But in a daze, he seemed to see a sword shadow flash before his eyes, and a soft voice suddenly whispered in his ear, as if someone were right beside him.
"I am Chen Xiaorong, True Inheritor Chief of the Moyun Sect and the Guardian Envoy for the winter Market."
"I have three rules. Please abide by them."
"Do not ambush and kill your fellow cultivators. Do not abuse women. Do not use your strength to prey on the weak."
"Violators will be killed."
The speaker’s voice was soft and clear, but her tone changed on the final word, "killed." It became cold and imposing, like a bone-chilling wind on a harsh winter day.
For some reason, hearing this, Zhao Zuo was suddenly reminded of the young girl who had traveled with him on the Flying Ship to the Moyun Sect ten years ago. She had a cute, round face. After so many years, his memory of her specific features had blurred. He only remembered her name was Chen Xiaorong, and her dream was to become a great hero.
At the time, he had thought her name was a bit too delicate.
’To think that in just ten years, she’s already become the True Inheritor Chief. Truly worthy of a Celestial Spirit Root and a Sword Heart Clarity physique. She’s a shoo-in to become a Nascent Soul True Monarch, a Sword Dao Great Power.’
Zhao Zuo sighed, then stood up and began to hammer the Spirit Iron.
’No matter how brilliantly others shine, that’s their life. There’s no point in being envious, and no need to be.’
Zhao Zuo remained in seclusion in the Earth Fire Chamber, but the outside world was undergoing earth-shaking changes.
The connection between the Yunlan Mountain Range and Moyun Mountain was a valley a hundred meters wide. The two adjacent peaks were covered by an Array, and on those peaks were the clan grounds of Foundation Establishment families, forming a barrier against Demon Beast invasions.
Therefore, if Demon Beasts wanted to enter Moyun Mountain to hunt, that valley was the only path they could take.
And at this moment, a lone figure was waiting on this very path.
Chen Xiaorong, the new Guardian Envoy, intended to single-handedly block the Demon Beast invasion. She wore simple, elegant clothes, her figure light and slender. She wasn’t particularly tall, but her proportions were perfect. Her eyes were bright and clear, revealing a trace of resolve and calm.
She had a classic oval face, with delicate features and no makeup. Her skin was fairer than snow.
She gazed at the Demon Beasts hiding in the distant forest, her robes fluttering in the breeze. Her clothes were decorated with embroidery of Immortal Cranes and cloud patterns, and her hair was tied back neatly in a ponytail.
She held a longsword, its blade about a meter long and as pure white as snow.
Finally, driven by hunger, a Demon Beast charged toward Chen Xiaorong and attacked.
SWISH.
A flash of silver light, and the Demon Beast was decapitated.
Spurred on by the scent of blood, the Demon Beasts went into a frenzy. Holding back no longer, nearly a hundred of them began to stampede toward the slender figure standing at the valley entrance, as if to tear her to shreds.
Silver sword light rained down like a torrential storm. From beginning to end, Chen Xiaorong’s expression remained serene. Under the moonlight, she herself seemed to radiate a dazzling silver glow.
That night, the four major districts were harassed by fewer than ten Demon Beasts in total. At first, most people didn’t understand why... until they saw the piles of white bones at the valley entrance. Their confusion quickly turned into profound shock.
「Seven days later.」
Zhao Zuo ran into a dejected Shen Yunjiao in the street stall area and learned from her what had happened. Chen Xiaorong, with her sword alone, had halted the Demon Beasts’ invasion. Afterward, many people started intentionally waiting at the valley.
They weren’t there to help kill the Demon Beasts, but to collect the carcasses of the beasts Chen Xiaorong killed, taking them back to sell or eat. This caused the price of Demon Beast meat in Moyun Workshop to plummet, which was the reason for Shen Yunjiao’s current gloom—her business had been stolen.
On another note, Shen Yunjiao had used her own methods to inspect the three pills, confirming they were indeed Purifying Spirit Pills.
That guy had originally planned to enter seclusion for a breakthrough, but instead, he ended up being a Treasure Delivery Boy.
From then on, Zhao Zuo would often go to the street stall area to chat with Shen Yunjiao. Perhaps because the area was always crowded with all sorts of people, she always managed to get her hands on the latest intelligence within Moyun Workshop.
Of the first few Loose Cultivators who went to the valley to collect and sell Demon Beast meat, two were targeted by Tribulation Cultivators... and died during the night. Not long after, Chen Xiaorong took action, killing six or seven Loose Cultivators and declaring them to be Tribulation Cultivators.
This happened three or four times. In total, over thirty Tribulation Cultivators were killed. The one with the highest Cultivation among them had already reached the Qi Cultivation Eighth Layer. Even though he had ground his target’s bones to dust and scattered the ashes, erasing all traces, he still couldn’t escape Chen Xiaorong’s Tracking Technique and was beheaded directly.
After that, it was as if the Tribulation Cultivators in Moyun Workshop had vanished.
"This new Guardian Envoy is certainly busy," Zhao Zuo remarked. "Other Guardian Envoys just come here to earn Spirit Stones, but she acts like she’s punching a clock. She even works day and night shifts without rest—slaughtering Demon Beasts in the valley at night and hunting down Tribulation Cultivators during the day."
"Someone like her won’t come to a good end," Shen Yunjiao sighed. Her eyes held admiration, but also a hint of pity and even incomprehension.
"Oh? Why is that?" Zhao Zuo asked.
"Because she has put herself in opposition to ninety percent of the Late Period Qi Cultivation experts in Moyun Workshop."
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