Chapter 10: This Thing is Just So Useful

The Yuhua Sword was finally in her possession. An Zhi, feeling incredibly excited, headed downstairs.

"Let's go, to the back mountain." The Spirit Snake suddenly urged An Zhi to go to the back mountain to catch demons.

At this moment, An Zhi had calmed down. She shook her head: "No, let's go at night. We can't expose ourselves, or we'll become the target of everyone's arrows." After saying this, she wrapped the Yuhua Sword in cloth and placed it in the cabinet.

"Where are you going?" the Spirit Snake asked, seeing An Zhi about to head out.

An Zhi replied: "The fish pond hasn't been cleaned yet; I have to finish it."

The Spirit Snake was stunned. How had An Zhi changed into a different person?

……

The mountains of Sanqing Mountain were connected, rolling and undulating.

The winding and precipitous solid wood plank road circling the mountainside looked like ribbons draped among the green waters and verdant mountains, forming a unique and beautiful landscape. In the deep canyons, mysterious and unpredictable mountain mists rose, like a magical, translucent veil.

It was exquisitely and gracefully painted into a landscape scroll.

An Zhi was very diligent. At this moment, she wasn't excited about having obtained the Yuhua Sword; in her view, she needed to work even harder.

Time flew by, and the sun began to set.

As An Zhi carried two buckets of water back from outside and poured them into the fish pond, the entire pond became crystal clear once again. Fish swam back and forth at the bottom, turtles crawled leisurely on the stone pedestal in the middle, and a few dragonflies skimmed the surface of the water.

An Zhi teased the fish in the water with a blade of grass and said happily: "Alright, this young lady is going to catch some demons. You guys play slowly; I'll refill your water tomorrow."

With that, she ran toward the pavilion with light steps.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night fell.

An Zhi, clutching the cloth-wrapped Yuhua Sword and accompanied by the Spirit Snake, crawled through the dog hole to the back mountain once again.

In the deep, dense forest, An Zhi felt a thick, eerie aura, as if countless eyes were watching her from the shadows.

*Whoosh, whoosh...*

The sound of mournful winds drifted through the forest, making her shiver involuntarily.

Suddenly, a black shadow flashed through the woods. She only had time to catch a glimpse of a pair of red eyes flickering in the darkness.

"Snake-bao, I... I really feel a heavy demonic aura." An Zhi had this intense feeling once again.

The Spirit Snake said joyfully: "This is the feeling of progress. Only when your spiritual power and level improve can you sense the existence of demons. If your spiritual power and level were higher, you would be able to identify demons at a single glance."

"Oh," An Zhi continued forward, her heart no longer harboring the timidity she had felt before.

In truth, what neither An Zhi nor the Spirit Snake expected was that after the commotion they caused last night, Senior Brother Ke Dasheng and Luo Ling had searched for an entire night and morning to no avail. The two of them, frustrated and desperate, had released three Tier 4 demon spirits to lie in wait.

Tonight, the two had only opened the stone gate of the back mountain, and they had already set up an ambush in the surrounding area.

"You... is your injury healed? Are you okay?" the Spirit Snake asked with some concern, after all, she had been injured on her right arm by a demon spirit last night.

An Zhi shook her right arm and said: "The old man's medicine is quite effective."

After saying this, she tore off the cloth wrapped around the Yuhua Sword, and a sword radiating a biting chill appeared before her eyes.

An Zhi kept walking deep into the back mountain, but after feeling her way along the rocks for a long time, she hadn't encountered anything. She could feel the demonic aura, but she couldn't find the demon spirits, which left her and the Spirit Snake acting like headless flies.

"Where... where did these demon spirits go?" An Zhi asked in a low voice, feeling a bit disappointed. "Is there any magical artifact for finding demons?"

The Spirit Snake twitched its two antennae and said: "Yes, legend has it that a compass can quickly lock onto demons."

"Where would I get something like that?" An Zhi asked casually.

The Spirit Snake shook its head.

"Ugh, so annoying!"

*Slap...*

An Zhi swung her sword impatiently, and a burst of sword energy instantly split the tree in front of her.

The sheer power left An Zhi dumbfounded. Suddenly, the Yuhua Sword began to move uncontrollably.

"Ya, ya, ya, ya, Snake-bao, Snake-bao!" An Zhi struggled to control the Yuhua Sword.

The icy chill emitted by the Yuhua Sword pierced through An Zhi's heart. She gritted her teeth and pressed the uncontrollable sword against the ground for a long while before saying: "It finally stopped. This, this..."

Facing the bewildered An Zhi, the Spirit Snake explained: "Your level isn't high enough; it hasn't been activated at all. You must hurry and collect demon spirit seals to advance to a Demon Catcher."

"But, but where are the demons?" An Zhi looked around in disappointment. Aside from the pitch-black darkness, there was nothing else.

"Oh no, someone is coming." The Spirit Snake sensed a group of people approaching from a hundred meters away.

An Zhi was shocked: "It must be Luo Ling. She won't let last night's matter go easily."

"Run!"

With hurried steps, An Zhi and the Spirit Snake darted through the forest of the back mountain.

"Stop!" An Zhi suddenly halted. A strong demonic aura was behind her. She gripped the hilt of the Yuhua Sword tightly and swung it backhanded: "Monster, take this!"

A blast of icy energy flew out. After hearing a single "Awoo," the demonic aura vanished, and four shimmering demon spirit seals dropped to the ground.

"It... it just died like that?" An Zhi couldn't believe it. She hadn't even seen the shadow of the demon spirit, and it was already gone. She stood there, stunned.

The Spirit Snake wasn't as calm. After stepping forward to collect the four demon spirit seals, it quickly urged An Zhi to keep running.

Not long after running, An Zhi sensed demonic aura again, so she picked up another easy win.

Just like that, running and picking up wins along the way, An Zhi slew three Tier 4 demon spirits in a row, obtaining twelve demon spirit seals.

Behind them, Luo Ling and her group were in hot pursuit. They had intended to wait for the intruder to fight the demon spirits before capturing them, but they hadn't expected the intruder to be so powerful. By the time they arrived, the demon spirits had basically already been wiped out.

"Senior Sister, it seems this person's level is not low. All three Tier 4 demon spirits we set up have been slain," Junior Sister Li Tongyu exclaimed in disbelief.

Luo Ling was clearly furious. Because of the incident at the back mountain practice field, she had already been severely and sternly criticized by Elder Taiqing. Before Li Tongyu could even step back, she slapped her across the face.

*Slap...*

As a burning sensation spread across Li Tongyu's face, she retreated a few steps in fear.

"We must catch them tonight. Notify Senior Brother Ke immediately; bring people to search the mountain at once," Luo Ling said angrily.

"Yes." Li Tongyu turned around, aggrieved, to relay the orders.

Three Tier 4 demon spirits—even Luo Ling would need to fight dozens of rounds to take down just one. Now, the intruder had killed them in seconds, which made Luo Ling shiver: "Go to the Sanqing Hall immediately and report to Elder Taiqing. Tell him that a distinguished guest has arrived at Sanqing Mountain."

"Yes!" Another disciple left immediately.

Looking at the pitch-black forest, Luo Ling felt that this matter was not simple.

Meanwhile, An Zhi and the Spirit Snake had already returned to the dog hole by the original path.

It had to be said that An Zhi was clever; as she retreated, she covered the path with weeds and branches to avoid being discovered.

With an excited heart, An Zhi ran quickly toward the pavilion.

"An Zhi."

"Ah!"

Fan Jin's voice was like a soul-shaking spell, scaring An Zhi so much that she dropped the cloth-wrapped Yuhua Sword to the ground. She looked left and right, but the Spirit Snake was nowhere to be seen.

She saw Fan Jin sitting on the stone steps of the courtyard, holding an ancient book in his hand.

"Si, Si, Uncle-Master, Uncle-Master." An Zhi hurriedly picked up the cloth-wrapped Yuhua Sword from the ground, her mind going blank.

Fan Jin, holding the ancient book, also sat stunned for a long while before murmuring: "Just leave my Bagua jade pendant on the table and go get some rest. Don't run around in the middle of the night; it hasn't been safe in the back mountain lately."

"Oh, oh, oh." An Zhi nodded repeatedly, feeling nervous, and turned to run upstairs.

Back in her room, An Zhi leaned against the door, her heart pounding. She muttered to herself: "Did he... did he not see? The Yuhua Sword was so heavy when it hit the ground, the sound was so loud. And I came back so late at night, why didn't he ask where I went?"

"Does he... does he know what I'm doing?" An Zhi thought it was unbelievable: "What... what does he mean?"

Just as An Zhi was still feeling uneasy, a commotion came from the courtyard.

An Zhi poked her head out to look into the courtyard and saw Luo Ling leading a group of people outside.

"Ling'er greets Uncle-Master." As soon as Luo Ling arrived at the blessed land, she saw Fan Jin leaning on his cane, preparing to enter the pavilion.

Fan Jin turned slowly, saw the group of disciples, and said: "Oh, Ling'er, is something the matter?"

"Uncle-Master, tonight Senior Brother Ke and I encountered that person in the back mountain again. The three Tier 4 demon spirits in the back mountain were all slain. It seems a distinguished guest has visited our Sanqing Mountain. Tomorrow morning, Elder Taiqing requests that Uncle-Master Fan come to the Sanqing Hall for a discussion," Luo Ling reported.

Fan Jin was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then looked up at An Zhi's window on the fourth floor, which made An Zhi flinch back into the room.

"Hehe, a distinguished guest has visited, good, good, good."

"By the way, how is Junior Sister Shen Anzhi doing lately? She hasn't caused you any trouble, has she, Uncle-Master?"

"Oh, her? She's quite diligent. She changed the water in the fish pond today."

"That's good. If there's anything she does wrong, feel free to tell Ling'er."

……

(End of chapter)