Chapter 23
Xian Jiang Feng stood like a statue in that place for a while and the smile on his face was stiff and began to twitch. And his facial expression slowly changed as if he saw something incredulous and horrifying.
While he is still not moving the girls in his harem began to whisper and talk about the woman with a white veil on her head.
"Hey, do you know where that woman came from? She is Qin Lou, right?" one of the girls with a yellow robe asked.
"Yeah, she was once a genius of the Snow Wind School. But due to some accident, she became trash and is unable to improve on her cultivation."
"But she is still a primary-stage gold core realm cultivator. I don't think she is trash."
"She may be, but she is unable to use her spiritual Qi anymore and is too weak to be considered a gold core." a girl wearing a white robe said as she walks towards the group.
The girl seems to be a student of Snow Wind School, she had a fresh looking face and a long hair tied in a bun. When the girl looked at the disappearing figure of Qin Lou, her face had an evil sneer on it. This is almost common as many of the students in Snow Wind School was defeated by Qin Lou before and held a grudge against her, one of them is this girl.
"Hello, sisters! My name is Shan Su. A student at Snow Wind School. Hopefully, you won't associate yourselves with that trashy woman. You'll just ruin your reputation and regret it." Shan Su said her face full of concern.
"Who is Qin Lou really? Her background is so mysterious…" one of the girls asked.
"Ha, ha. Let me tell you who she really is." Shan Su said as he took a glance at the handsome feature of the still stunned Xian Jing Feng, and a small blush appears on her face.
"Qin Lou was once my friend… but she tricked me in hiding her cultivation level. She is just an adoptive daughter of two mortal farmers. I discovered that when she was born she is already at the body refining middle-stage. But now no matter much how a genius she was before, her power level now is only that of a middle-stage core forming realm. So you don't have to be scared of her." Shan Su said with a smile.
When Xian Jiang Feng's face changed and began to show a horrified look, everyone was dumbfounded. Then he subconsciously looks at them with disgust in his eyes which is still unfocused.
"Too ugly… Very ugly…" he muttered.
"Brother Feng! That's too much! Why are you calling us ugly? Just because you saw a beauty you would call us ugly now?" one of the women in the group shouted with an aggrieved look, her eyes began to tear up. She always considers herself a beauty, so being called by the man she likes her heart was hurt.
The same expression was plastered on everyone's faces, and Shan Su had an incredulous look on her face. She could not believe that he called these woman ugly. She was thinking that maybe Qin Lou gave him a love potion or cast a love spell.
"What? Oh, no… No… I… I… didn't mean you my darlings." Xian Jiang Feng suddenly said as if was suddenly awoken from his stupor.
"I mean, that girl Qin Lou… She… she looks so hideous. She has a large burn mark on her face and many wounds all over. Gosh… it's too horrible." He explained as he hugged himself and felt a shiver run down his spine.
Seeing his reaction, the women felt elated that their man didn't call them ugly but became curious at the same time. They now know why she would always cover her face with a veil.
But Qin Lou didn't mind what these people think of her, as of now she felt satisfied upon finding out how people reacted upon seeing her face. Since she found that it could stun someone to that degree for a long time, she can use it as a defensive weapon someday. With a satisfied look on her face, she just entered her own room and began to prepare the things she needs before the start of the inter-school activities tomorrow.
…
Meanwhile, in a mountainside pass, a lone figure of a young man wearing a bamboo hat and a weird goggles walks towards the direction of a really huge mountain. When he saw the mountain from afar he became curious and wanted to check it out. But when he was around 3 kilometers away from it, he suddenly stopped and a curious look appears in his eyes inside the goggles. What he saw within the mountain are cultivator auras and it seems that there are many of them. Judging from the position of the people inside he could deduce is that the mountain may not be a real one, it's an illusion.
So he decided to investigate the formation and see if he could find a way in. Then he walks around for a while and slowly studies the flow of Qi. After checking the formation he was dumbstruck, it is a level 7 illusionary great formation. With his current understanding with formations, he is unable to open it up or even disrupt this formation. And he also found that there is a secondary defensive formation inside the illusion. The defensive formation is also a level 7 force shield. This would be a great challenge for Shin Jiao's current knowledge and understanding of formations. But if he could learn about this formation his knowledge would jump up to another level.
So without a second thought, Shin Jiao started to study the formation and the patterns, after a day he still unable to figure out the crux of things. He wanted to give up as a level 7 formation is truly too hard for him at this time. The senior who put up the formation might be a formation master and very meticulous at that. But when he was about to give up, he noticed a slight energy reading on a very small and inconspicuous stone. This stone is nothing but an ordinary rock, which is placed on the ground but the energy it emits is truly small, like a fine line of thread. If he hadn't formed his 31st sphere inside his dantian and was not able to use spiritual Qi he would have a hard time finding that fine strand of Qi.
Upon discovering the Qi strand Shin Jiao was now able to see how the formation works. Although it took him some time before figuring out about the formation and seeing its weakness and strength, he is now able to understand a little bit about it. And after he had done this, though he still cannot remove or even open the formation he is now able to make a small hole or crevice as an entry point but only in a window of around 5 seconds. After that, the formation breach would be forcefully closed and if he were to get trapped in it he would be immediately disintegrated.
The next day Shin Jiao rose up from inside a tree hollow where he spends a day to make at least 30 formation flags and 25 runes. Then after resting for a while and regaining some of his used energy by absorbing some demon cores. He stood up and approached the far western part of the mountain, as this is the path where there would be no human would ever pass, as it is near a cliff. And there he put up a formation to counteract the defensive and illusion formations. After almost half a day of calculations and setting up the counter formations, Shin Jiao now stood in the middle of it. All he needs to do now is to throw the two flags and two runes in a certain area to activate it.
"Okay, I need to be fast as I only have around 5 seconds. Here goes nothing." Shin Jiao said as he quickly threw the flags and runes in their places.
Then a low hum suddenly echoes, which only he can hear. Then a man-size crack appears in the huge mountain formation, which Shin Jiao suddenly grab the opportunity to dash in. When he was inside Shin Jiao found out that something was wrong he didn't calculate the possible distance between the illusion formation and the defensive formation and because of this he needs to travel some distance as quickly as possible. It was around 300 meters, which he needs to quickly traverse within the short span of 5 seconds. Upon seeing this, cold sweat trickled down his back as the sense of great danger enters his senses.
"Holy Crap! Ahhh…" Shin Jiao suddenly used the burst speed of his shoes and quickly dashed towards the exit.
As he ran it seems that time was in a standstill as he used all his abilities just to be able to escape this predicament. When his figure approaches the exit the opening suddenly collapses. This would mean that the crevice will close instantly. Shin Jiao closed his eyes letting fate decides his life as he is already at this fastest speed possible.
"Zap!"
Upon hearing this closing sound Shin Jiao felt a little happy, but then all of a sudden.
"Umph... Thump..."
With a thumping sound, Shin Jiao found himself hitting something or someone and falling down. Luckily he was able to stop abruptly after he felt that he was outside of the crevice. But he felt that someone is below him and when he opened his eyes he saw that he was on top of something smooth and soft. The pleasant aroma of a flowery scent filled his senses, making Shin Jiao almost drown in blissful harmony. Then he subconsciously breathes in with gusto as if not wanting to forget about the heavenly scent.
Then suddenly he heard a silent whimper, which suddenly jolted his senses back to reality. When he lifted his gaze he found out that he is in a woman's ample bosom. Which is no less than that of Cherry Lao's but she had a different scent. Shin Jiao quickly jumped up not wanting to offend the woman wearing a white veil on her face. Even though he could not see her eyes, he felt that she is glaring at him and that tears are forming in her eyes.
"I'm really sorry! I'm really sorry! I was just passing by and was curious about this mountain. I didn't know that there are people here." Shin Jiao said frantically and lied without batting an eye.
The woman keeps her silence and just quickly got up and use a simple wind spell to dust out her robe. Then her head turns to Shin Jiao and she just stood there and was suddenly stunned. Shin Jiao suddenly understood what's going on. She cannot see his cultivation aura, and judging from her reaction, she found out that he is a mortal. Shin Jiao made a deep sigh in his heart.
"This mortal aura thingy would always cause me more trouble. I think I need to find a way to emit a small amount of cultivation aura." Shin Jiao thought to himself.
"You're… you're just a mortal right? But how did you?... How were you able to pass through here?" She asked with a confused voice.
Shin Jiao was stunned when he heard her melodious voice. It's like listening to an immortal goddess which is making him feel bliss.
"This woman not only smells good but her voice is like an enchanting song that can mesmerize one's soul. This is not good." Shin Jiao thought as defensive flags suddenly raised in his mind.
"Umn… sorry about… what happened a while ago. I was just in a rush to exit as the crack seems to be closing." Shin Jiao explained.
The woman just stood there in silence, but upon feeling that his expression and words are true, she just nods her head. Then she waved her hand and the basket full of medicinal herbs on the ground flew up to her hand. Then she turns around and was about to walk away when Shin Jiao woke up from being amazed at seeing her control on wind spell and called out.
"Ah, Excuse me! My name is Shin Jiao and I'm a little lost here. Can you help me?" he asked with a sincere tone.
The woman didn't reply and just pointed at a direction. Seeing her cold demeanor Shin Jiao gave up in asking and just followed where she pointed at. But before was walks away, he cupped his fist and nods.
"Thank you."
Then Shin Jiao went his way not minding the cold attitude of the woman anymore. After walking for a few steps Shin Jiao discovered that something is strange looking at the path he can see a thin trail on the ground. Feeling an ominous foreboding he quickly turns around and wore his goggles. Then there he found an aura of a level 4 tiny snake, this is a stealth viper. A very small beast that belongs to the top 100 of the most venomous snake beast according to Gubu's records. Upon seeing the beast silently approaches the woman with a white veil on her head, Shin Jiao quickly made his move. Using his fastest speed possible, he quickly dashed and grabs the viper's head in an instant before it could strike the woman.
Hearing the noise the woman suddenly turns back and saw that Shin Jiao is holding a struggling stealth viper on his hand.
"You! That… that's a stealth viper. How did you?..." she said as she stammered and quickly stepped back.
Then Shin Jiao exerted a small amount of strength and killed the viper. Then he unconsciously throws it inside his ring, which made the woman gasp.
"How could you have a storage ring? You're not a cultivator," she asked in confusion.
Shin Jiao didn't want to explain anything more as he doesn't want to make more mistakes and expose his secrets.
"Umn… anyway, this is my thanks for showing the direction. Be careful next time okay. And you really have a lovely voice." Shin Jiao said as he felt gratitude for the woman although her attitude towards him is cold.
Shin Jiao then turns around and started to walk towards the direction which she pointed before. The woman seems to hesitate but clenched her fist. She is not an ungrateful woman, after being saved by him she already had a good impression of the young man and she knows that if the young man walks towards the direction she pointed at he would be apprehended by the protectors.
"Wait!" she said in a low voice.
But Shin Jiao was able to hear it, and so he turns around with a knitted brow. He didn't know why the woman called but her voice is really too pleasant to brush off. The woman upon seeing that Shin Jiao stopped walks calmly towards him.
"Follow me."
Then she walks to another direction, which he followed as he became curious why the woman decided to help him.