So he had not fallen asleep?
Xiao Bangchui sat beside him. Nearby, Ji Tongzhou was snoring peacefully. She lowered her voice and asked, “What do you want to ask?”
“Um… where are you from?” Lei Xiuyuan asked timidly.
Xiao Bangchui shook her head. “I don’t know. I was always with my master before. We lived on a mountain called Qingqiu.”
Come to think of it, she had only heard the name Qingqiu from Daoist Dongyang.
“…Qingqiu?” Lei Xiuyuan was clearly stunned for a moment. If he remembered correctly, wasn’t that supposed to be a forbidden land overrun by demons and monsters?
“Mm. Don’t ask me what my surname is either. I don’t know that too.”
“Then what about your father and mother? Did they abandon you?”
“…I don’t know.”
Seeing her expression dim slightly, Lei Xiuyuan immediately regretted it and hurriedly said, “I was just asking casually… Boss, how old are you?”
“Ten.”
“Ah…” Lei Xiuyuan seemed very surprised. “So you’re younger than me. Then I shouldn’t call you Boss.”
How could she possibly be younger than him?!
Xiao Bangchui glared at him. This child was thin and short. No matter how she looked at him, he seemed only seven or eight. Younger than him?!
Lei Xiuyuan looked rarely pleased with himself. “I’m eleven. Older than you.”
How had he lived all these years? He was already eleven but looked only seven or eight? Xiao Bangchui continued staring at him suspiciously.
He took out his first-selection letter and unfolded it. Sure enough, it had the words “Lei Xiuyuan, age eleven” written on it.
“I’m only a little better than you. I used to have a father, mother, older brothers and older sisters. Later, they were all killed, and only I was left.” Lei Xiuyuan’s eyes reddened slightly. Then he suddenly asked, “Have you heard of Gaolu?”
Gaolu.
It sounded a little familiar. When she was five or six, her master seemed to have taken her there once. She only had scattered impressions of it. The place had seemed very cruel and frightening.
“I’m from Gaolu. And if I’m not mistaken, Ye Ye and the Baili sisters should also be from Gaolu. Their accents are so faint now they can barely be heard, but I know the surname Baili. It used to belong to the nobles of Gaolu.”
Xiao Bangchui nodded slightly. No wonder the surname “Baili” had felt familiar. Gelin and her sister’s every movement was different from ordinary girls. So they had once been nobles.
“Gaolu no longer exists. Four years ago, it was annexed by the neighbouring state of Wugou. Although the people of Gaolu fought to the death, the enemy had immortals guarding them… Ye Ye said last time that the more imperial a family is, the more it must cultivate. Gaolu fell precisely because there were no immortals among its imperial clan. Before immortals, even if ordinary people fought to the death, they were as powerless as fallen leaves in a storm. All members of Gaolu’s imperial family died on the battlefield. Wugou used tyranny and heavy taxes to force officials and commoners into submission. Anyone who disobeyed was killed without mercy.
“My father used to be an assistant minister in the Ministry of Rites. After drinking, he wrote a poem mocking the government. Because of that, our entire household was seized. Everyone in the family over the age of seven, male or female, was beheaded and displayed in public… I was already eight then. The official who searched our home pitied me for being the youngest child in the family, so he lowered my age by one year and spared my life… On the day of the execution, I hid in the crowd and watched. I watched my parents, my sister, my brother… they all died… From then on, I wandered the world alone until I met Brother Lu… But Brother Lu was killed too, and I…”
Lei Xiuyuan’s tears fell into the fire. His whole body was trembling, and soon he rubbed his eyes hard, as if trying to rub the tears back in.
“Luckily, I met you all.” He forced a smile. “Boss, you’re always having to look after me. I’m really useless. If I were alone, I don’t even know if I could pass the second selection smoothly.”
“We still don’t know if we can pass the second selection smoothly now,” Xiao Bangchui said, poking the fire with a branch. “I haven’t really looked after you. You don’t need to say that.”
Neither child spoke after that. The forest was silent, with only the faint crackling of the fire.
After who knew how long, so long that Xiao Bangchui was almost falling asleep, a mournful, weeping howl suddenly came from the distance. It sounded like a bird, yet also like a group of women wailing. The birds in the forest were startled into flight, flapping up in a large mass. The miasma spread through the forest also began to ripple gently like the surface of water, wave after wave.
Xiao Bangchui immediately dropped the branch. Beside her, Ji Tongzhou, who had been sleeping deeply, was also woken by the noise and murmured, “What sound is that?”
Xiao Bangchui placed a finger to her lips, signalling for silence. She tilted her head and listened carefully. The sound came from due east. The mournful howls came and went, seeming to be mixed with other human voices. The wind blowing from the east gradually grew stronger, making the three children’s hair and clothes sway.
“Let’s go look.”
She quickly put out the fire. The three moved as one and ran towards the source of the sound.
The farther forward they ran, the sparser the trees became. In the end, an obvious little path actually appeared in the forest. Xiao Bangchui felt a burst of joy: if there was a path, that meant they were close to getting out of the forest!
There was a steep bend on the path ahead. The three had just turned the corner when the sight before them shocked them into stopping where they stood.
In the dim forest stood a huge fox demon, entirely white as silver. Nine long tails swayed and shifted in the air. It was beautiful to the extreme, and terrifying to the extreme. It was raising its head and howling at the sky, its cry mournful and tearful. Around it, in three or four clusters, were about a hundred children. Some were shouting wildly at the side, while others were calmly attacking it with talismans.
“It’s huge! And it’s a nine-tailed fox demon!” Ji Tongzhou’s tone changed. “The legendary nine-tailed fox demon!”
But Xiao Bangchui felt a different kind of shock in her heart. This fox demon looked so much like the one she had seen that night! Only its body was a little smaller. Was it the same one?
Beside her ear, someone suddenly let out a cold laugh. It was that hoarse voice, filled with disdain and anger.
“…Old sir?” she called softly.
This mysterious old sir finally responded to her. “It’s only a counterfeit. Not a real demon. Hmph…”
“How do you know it’s a counterfeit?” she quickly asked.
No one answered. He once again sank into endless silence.
“You over there! Are you just going to stand and watch?!” Several children busy using talismans against the fox demon shouted angrily at them. “Hurry up and help!”
Ji Tongzhou was the first to rush forward. A fire-element talisman was already pinched between his fingers. Flames rose fiercely, drawing a bright line through the air, fast as a shooting star, and stuck directly to the nine-tailed fox demon’s belly. The firelight expanded, burning a large patch of its snow-white fur black.
“So powerful!”
Surprised admiration rose all around. Ji Tongzhou stood proudly, arrogant and unmatched. He had finally recovered a little of his dignity.
“Boss? Aren’t you going over?” Lei Xiuyuan saw Xiao Bangchui standing there in a daze, causing several people to glare angrily at her, and hurriedly tugged her.
Xiao Bangchui smiled bitterly. To be honest, she did not know how to use talismans at all. Although she had learned that strange breathing method, she still did not know what it felt like for spiritual energy to enter her body. Talismans had to be triggered by the spiritual energy inside the body. It was not as simple as just throwing them out.
She slowly pulled a talisman from her bundle, chose one, and threw it tentatively. The paper drifted weakly to the ground without the slightest force. The other children immediately showed looks of contempt.
“Boss, that’s not how you throw it.” Seeing her being looked down on made Lei Xiuyuan more anxious than anyone. “First hold the talisman in your hand and imagine it as one with yourself. Only when spiritual energy fills the talisman can you throw it.”
If it were really that easy, she would have learned it long ago.
“Don’t panic. Take it slowly. I’ll go help first.” Lei Xiuyuan probably guessed she did not want others to see her useless side, so he thoughtfully walked away.
Taking it slowly was useless too…
Standing at the side doing nothing was really not her style. Xiao Bangchui picked up many stones and threw them one after another at the fox demon’s eyes. But every stone was repelled when it was still three feet away from the demon. Not a single one could hit it.
“What are you doing?!” A girl nearby finally could not hold back. “Someone actually thinks they can hurt a demon with stones! Are you deliberately slacking off?”
“Annoying.” Xiao Bangchui glared at her. “Aren’t you standing here doing nothing too?”
The girl snapped angrily, “That’s because I’ve used up all my talismans!”
“Then be quiet.”
Xiao Bangchui was too lazy to say more to her. From the beginning, she had felt something was strange. No matter how everyone attacked the fox demon with talismans, it remained standing in place. It did not move, nor did it attack anyone. It only let out all kinds of terrifying shrieks and swayed its tails.
Could it be that it could not move?
The old sir had said it was a counterfeit, not a real demon. Thinking about it, it was probably something Chufeng Academy had deliberately prepared for everyone to practise on. Its purpose was to test the children’s ability to adapt.
If she had guessed correctly, only by defeating this fox demon would they truly pass the second selection.
At some point, Lei Xiuyuan had run behind the fox demon. These children seemed to have discussed some kind of tactic. Suddenly, forty or fifty of them threw out water-element talismans at the same time. The water waves turned into layers of ice, quickly freezing the fox demon’s four paws to the ground.
Smart! Xiao Bangchui praised inwardly.
But this ice could not trap the fox demon for long. As it struggled, large sheets of ice soon began to crack. At the same time, countless talismans were thrown out together. Some turned into flames, some became lightning, some flashed with sharp golden light, and some glittered with cold radiance. All the talismans were hurled at the fox demon at once.
For a moment, thunder roared and lightning flashed. Even the ground trembled. Thick mist, firelight, and black smoke exploded outward. Xiao Bangchui hurriedly covered her mouth and nose and crouched close to the ground.
After a while, the mist and smoke gradually dispersed. The fox demon’s snow-white fur had been so badly damaged that its original colour could no longer be seen. Its huge body lay on the ground, and no one knew whether it was dead or alive.
“We did it!” someone shouted.
The children immediately cheered. That crybaby Lei Xiuyuan was so excited he started crying again. Ji Tongzhou stood there with his arms crossed, smiling proudly. When he turned and saw Xiao Bangchui standing to the side in a daze, he felt he could finally hold his head high.
“Do you know what strength is now?” He had completely forgotten how Xiao Bangchui had beaten him black and blue. His impression of her as fierce and vicious had also turned into “useless idiot.” “Haha! I saw it all. Throwing stones at a fox demon? If you have no strength, hurry up and go home!”
Xiao Bangchui cracked her fingers.
Ji Tongzhou immediately turned and walked away.
“Look! There’s a door over there!” someone shouted again.
Sure enough, at the end of the path, a shining golden door had appeared out of thin air. Xiao Bangchui could not help feeling excited. If they passed through the forest before noon, they would pass the second selection. As long as she went through that door, she could enter Chufeng Academy!
Many children could not hold back and rushed towards the door. Unexpectedly, the ones at the front were all thrown back without warning and collapsed to the ground, as if they had suddenly fainted. Those rushing after them immediately stopped and stared at one another.
Why could they not get out?
Suddenly, the fox demon on the ground, which should have been completely dead, silently stood up.
Under the children’s terrified gazes, it raised its head and howled. Xiao Bangchui felt as though its voice had become something solid, like a giant hand squeezing her heart, making it hard to breathe.
A violent wind swept up, sending sand and stones flying and blinding the eye. She hurriedly closed her eyes. Around her, cries of pain and screams rang out endlessly. Lei Xiuyuan seemed to be calling her, but his voice sounded as though it came from a thousand miles away, vague and impossible to hear clearly.
After a long while, the wind suddenly stopped.
Xiao Bangchui slowly opened her eyes. Almost none of the children around her could still stand. Most had already fainted on the ground. Only a few remained half-kneeling, seemingly still conscious.
“…Boss…” Lei Xiuyuan’s weak voice sounded beside her. He was crouching on the ground, his face pale and his expression full of pain. “Demon… demon aura! Such strong demon aura!”
Demon aura?
Xiao Bangchui was confused. What demon aura? Why did she not feel anything?
Her gaze shifted. Ji Tongzhou was also as pale as paper, seeming to endure some extremely painful pressure. But his condition was slightly better than the others; he was barely managing to stand.
All the conscious children looked despairing. The huge fox demon, which should have been subdued by them, was once again standing in place. Its nine long tails shifted and swayed, still not moving just like before. The difference was that this time, it seemed to have released a very powerful demon aura. The children who could not resist it had all fainted.
And it seemed… the only person who could move freely and felt nothing was Xiao Bangchui herself.
For a moment, she could not understand why.
What should she do next? If they did not truly defeat it, they could not leave through the door. But what could she do? Ordinary stones could not hit the demon, and she did not know how to use talismans. Was she supposed to just stand here staring at it?
The hoarse voice suddenly sounded beside her ear.
“Hmph. They stole my thing, and now they even dare use it here… Fine. Although it is less than one-thousandth, it can still be of some use. Little girl, walk forward. Go in front of it!”
There he was again, that mysterious old sir.
Xiao Bangchui began to suspect that she had been possessed by some powerful old ghost. Why was she the only one who could hear his voice?
“Why are you standing there? You idiot! Why do I have to repeat myself every time I speak to you?” the old sir snapped angrily.
“I can’t see you. Who are you?” Xiao Bangchui asked softly.
“That is not something you should know. Do you want to pass the second selection? Then hurry over! Otherwise, I’m going straight back to sleep!”
Right. She had to pass the second selection.
Xiao Bangchui immediately stepped towards the fierce fox demon.
Lei Xiuyuan cried out in alarm, “Boss! Don’t go over! It’s dangerous!”
She seemed not to hear him. She stopped beneath the fox demon and looked up at it. Her lips moved, though no one knew whether she was speaking or chanting something.
Very soon, she raised her right hand and gently pressed it against the fox demon’s fur.
Crack.
It sounded as though something had lightly shattered.
In an instant, the fox demon’s body turned into countless points of light, scattering into fragments. From mid-air, a piece of white paper drifted down. Talismans were drawn on it.
As expected, it had been an artificial demon-form created by someone.
The enormous demonic power pressing down on everyone vanished into nothing in an instant.
Lei Xiuyuan scrambled and rolled over to her. His eyes reddened, and he opened his mouth to cry.
The next moment, someone covered his mouth.
Xiao Bangchui held his chin and said calmly, “Can you try not crying?”
Ji Tongzhou also came over. He looked at her as if he were looking at a ghost, his eyes nearly falling out. The other conscious children, only four or five of them, also gathered around one after another. Everyone wanted to say something, but no one knew how to begin.
What kind of ability was this?
With just one touch, she had subdued the fox demon? And it had even revealed its true form. It turned out to be a piece of white paper transformed into a fake demon through immortal arts. The real second selection was not the forest full of miasma, but this fox demon.
Thinking back on how they had worked so hard to come up with tactics and exhausted all their talismans and spiritual energy, all the pride and hot-blooded excitement from earlier was wiped away by her single gentle touch.
At this moment, every one of them understood what it meant that there was always someone better, and a sky beyond the sky.
After who knew how long, a child finally moved. In the end, still no one spoke. No one knew what to say.
One by one, they passed through the shining golden door. This time, no one was thrown back.
Ji Tongzhou opened his mouth. Only after a long while did he finally manage to say, “…I’m going first.”
Lei Xiuyuan was still rubbing his eyes, but the expression on his face had changed from shock and worry to fervent worship.
“Boss, you really are the strongest!” His eyes shone. “You really are a true expert who hides her abilities! In the future, I want to become as strong as you!”
Strong?
Xiao Bangchui said nothing.
The strong one was not her. It was the mysterious person hidden inside her body. He was the true expert who hid his abilities.
“Let’s go too.”
She did not want to continue discussing this. The two of them walked through the door together.
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