Chapter 15: The Origins of Ji Xiaoliu

Ji Yao broke out in a cold sweat, realizing she had wandered far too deep. The overgrown, dense weeds around her made it clear that no one had set foot here for a long time.

The girl standing opposite didn’t move, but stared at Ji Yao with a gaze full of complexity and confusion, as if trying to confirm something.

Since her opponent remained still, Ji Yao didn’t dare make any rash moves either. The girl’s cultivation was obviously higher than hers—at least on par with Ling Ru.

The silence between them felt unbearably oppressive. At last, the girl across from her spoke, though she sounded uncertain.

“Are you… Ji Six?”

Ji Six? Could she be talking about her? Ji Yao was certain the girl recognized her—or rather, the original owner of this body.

Ji Yao’s silence seemed to confirm something for the other girl. Her expression twisted with sudden ferocity.

“Why aren’t you dead yet?”

The girl stared at her, the same impassive face that had ignored her question, showing no emotion. Though her features had matured and grown fairer, and the scar at her eye’s corner was gone, that expression remained—the same old deathly look, as if nothing in the world concerned her.

It was as if she was seeing that skinny, stubborn little wretch from before.

If Ji Yao could have known her thoughts, she would have protested her innocence.

“Poisoned, and you fell from such a height, yet you didn’t die! You really do have a hard life!”

Ji Yao felt she needed to say something. She couldn’t just admit to being the person the girl thought she was. What if it was a case of mistaken identity?

“I don’t know you! I’m not the person you’re talking about.”

“You’re still the same, always denying everything. No matter—you’ll know me soon enough!”

With that, the girl suddenly struck, a palm wind slicing through the air as she lunged forward.

Heavens! Can’t we just talk this out? Must you attack at the drop of a hat?

Ji Yao instinctively dodged to the side, her fingers forming a rapid seal as she flung a sharp Metal Art in the direction the wind had come.

The girl didn’t even bother to look; with a flick of her left hand, the small cauldron she held expanded, billowing with black smoke, effortlessly blocking Ji Yao’s attack.

So what if you have a magical tool? Ji Yao felt utterly outclassed.

She quickly summoned a Lightfoot Art, retreating at speed to widen the distance between them, then cast an Earth Spike to block the girl’s path.

This was, in fact, Ji Yao’s first true battle. She’d previously used her techniques only on low-level demon beasts with little offensive power, and her bouts with Ling Ru had been playful sparring, never serious.

Thus, her attacks now were meant to distract and hinder, not to harm. She didn’t believe she could injure her opponent—the gap in their strength was too great.

“Your poison hasn’t been cured yet, has it?” the girl suddenly remarked mid-attack.

Flustered, Ji Yao was caught off guard. “You know what poison I’ve got?”

“So you really are Ji Six! Since you didn’t die before, why not stay here now?”

The girl seemed to abandon close combat, directly summoning the small cauldron. A sinister red light shot toward Ji Yao, enveloping her completely.

No matter how she tried, Ji Yao couldn’t escape the red light’s radius. Panic surged within her.

Soon, she felt as if all the blood in her body was being drawn upward by some force, rushing to her head. The black cauldron hovering above seemed to sprout a giant bloody maw, inhaling forcefully over her.

She knew she couldn’t wait any longer. If she hesitated, she’d die here today.

She snatched a stack of talismans from her storage pouch, poured her spiritual power into them, and hurled them all at the cauldron’s mouth as it inhaled.

With a thunderous boom, the air current at the cauldron’s mouth exploded. The massive shockwave flung the black cauldron far away—and sent Ji Yao flying as well.

“My cauldron! I’ll kill you!” screamed the girl in black. She summoned a massive rock to her hand and hurled it with all her might toward Ji Yao’s trajectory, then dashed after her fallen cauldron.

Ji Yao had barely landed when she saw the boulder hurtling toward her. Terrified, she scrambled to her feet, mustering what little spiritual power she had left to shield her back as she tried to flee.

But she was too slow. The stone smashed into her back, darkness clouded her vision, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood, pitching forward once more.

The great stone, too, shattered upon landing.

Struggling to remain conscious, Ji Yao staggered to her feet, drew her sole remaining Earth Escape Talisman, infused it with spiritual power, and fled toward Guangqiang City.

It was the lowest-grade Earth Escape Talisman, so it didn’t carry her far—but it was enough to get her back to the city.

Arriving five hundred meters outside the city gate—where a formation spell was set—Ji Yao emerged in a patch of tall grass. Fortunately, this gate led to North Peace City and was rarely used; no one noticed her arrival.

Wiping away the blood at her lips, Ji Yao cast a Cleansing Spell on herself, straightened up with effort, and walked calmly through the gate toward her rented courtyard.

There was a forbidden array at the courtyard, and being within the city, Ji Yao felt certain the girl wouldn’t dare attack her here. Her safety was assured for the moment. The instant she entered, she activated the defensive array and could hold on no longer, vomiting another mouthful of black blood.

This—! She quickly stretched out her right hand. Sure enough, the skin was aging visibly, the effect spreading rapidly up her arm.

The suppressed poison was flaring up! Ji Yao recalled what Situ Jing had said—time was running out.

She staggered into her room, clinging to the wall, and collapsed as soon as the door was closed. In the next instant, her figure vanished from the room.

Meanwhile, the girl who seemed to know Ji Yao carefully checked her small cauldron. Finding it undamaged and its contents intact, she stowed it away with relief.

She turned to look for Ji Yao, but the girl she’d expected to be incapacitated had already vanished, leaving only shattered stones and the lingering energy of a used Escape Talisman.

The girl glanced toward Guangqiang City and let out a cold laugh. She hadn’t expected the little wretch to be so lucky—still alive.

And seemingly with some new fortune, too. In three years, her facial scar was gone, and she’d reached the fifth layer of the Qi Refining stage—a feat that certainly aroused suspicion.

If she hadn’t found a master, then she must have stumbled upon some extraordinary opportunity.

But judging from her lack of any magical tools, the use of only the lowest-grade talismans at the end, and her failure to deploy any killing moves, the girl in black was certain she hadn’t taken a master.

Could it be that the place where Ji Six had fallen held some hidden treasure cave? The idea took root in her mind—she would have to find time to investigate.

After all, back then Ji Six had been an ordinary mortal without cultivation. Even if there had been treasures, she couldn’t have taken much.

The truly valuable treasures were usually guarded by arrays or demon beasts, and the girl believed that if someone as clueless as Ji Six could survive and change so much, then the place she fell must hide a trove of treasures.