Chapter 30

Wei Shizheng used an excuse to send Qin Zhen away and set off for Qiutao Valley at the back of Xianyun Peak, where the outer gate of Xiandu Sect was located. Outside Qiutao Valley, there was a large peach orchard. During the blooming season, the flowers were as brilliant as brocade. After the White Dew, the autumn peaches gradually ripened, sweet and juicy, with a lingering taste, a rare treat that only the disciples of Xiandu Sect could enjoy.

The sun was high in the sky, and the mountain path was deserted. Wei Shizheng passed through a dense peach orchard, the unique sweet fragrance of peaches hitting him, almost intoxicating.

"Hey, big guy!" A slow, deliberate voice came from above, as if the speaker had something in their mouth, mumbling.

Wei Shizheng stopped, looked up, and saw a girl of about fifteen or sixteen sitting among the peach branches. She had two buns on her head, skin as white as snow, and features as beautiful as a painting. Her feet swung back and forth, and she held half a peach in her hand, with shiny juice still on her lips.

Wei Shizheng was momentarily dazed, thinking that if she were eating sunflower seeds and had a small, snow-white weasel with red eyes by her side, it would be even more interesting.

"Why aren't you talking? Ask me who I am and why I stopped you." The girl took a bite of the peach, the juice trickling down. She raised her little finger to her mouth and licked it, her agile tongue evoking all sorts of fantasies.

Such a beautiful girl, alone on a peach tree, eating peaches with relish, completely disregarding her image, speaking frankly and confidently, clearly someone of importance—perhaps even the daughter of the sect leader of Xiandu. But the sect leader was a Taoist priest; could a Taoist priest have a wife?

Thinking of this, Wei Shizheng politely said, "I don't know the young lady's name or her master."

"You go first."

"I am Wei Shizheng, a probationary disciple of Xiandu Sect, under the tutelage of Daoist Yunhe."

The girl tilted her head and thought for a moment. "Daoist Yunhe? Who's that? I only know about Xi Huizi. You know Xi Huizi, right?"

Xi Huizi was the sect leader of Xiandu, the master of Xun Ye, whose secular surname was Xi and whose Taoist name was Huizi. Wei Shizheng smiled bitterly. "Daoist Yunhe is an outer gate disciple, not someone of high status."

"I haven't heard of your master, but I'm not looking down on him. Big guy, why are you called 'Seventeen,' not 'Eighteen' or 'Nineteen'? Could it be that you are the seventeenth in your family, with sixteen older brothers?"

"My father gave me the name, probably on a whim."

"Seventeen, Wei Shizheng, hehe, it sounds nice, easy to remember. When others call you by your full name, do they hear it as 'Hey, Seventeen'?" The girl laughed as she spoke.

"Forgot to tell you, my surname is Ruan, a disciple of Kunlun Sect, nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you. May I ask why you stopped me?"

"Here, want a peach? This peach is very sweet and delicious." She stretched out her arm, picked a peach, and threw it to Wei Shizheng. Her sleeve slipped, revealing a section of her snow-white, tender arm.

Her speech was a bit slow, her thoughts a bit scattered, her expression a bit dazed, and her attitude a bit intimate. All these together added a lot of allure, making one feel a sudden tenderness.

Wei Shizheng caught the peach, wiped it on his clothes, and took a bite. It was sweet and crisp, melting in the mouth, indeed a rare delicacy.

"Is it good?"

"Very good, the taste is quite special." Wei Shizheng finished the peach in a few bites, threw the hard core on the ground, and stepped on it, burying it in the soil.

"Um, where were we? Right, you have a strange smell. Let me think, it's the smell of dan poison—"

Wei Shizheng's heart skipped a beat, his face changed slightly, then he showed an innocent look of confusion. The girl jumped down from the peach tree. She was short, only reaching Wei Shizheng's chest. She looked up and said, "Breathe out, let me smell again."

What is this all about? Wei Shizheng, thinking quickly, tried to avoid it. "I have bad breath, it might offend you."

"You talk to me, and it would offend me anyway. Don't worry, I don't mind. Hurry up, don't be so hesitant, are you a man or not?"

Wei Shizheng had no choice. He steeled himself and breathed out toward her. The girl wrinkled her nose and sniffed, then said confidently, "It's the dan poison of a beauty python, no doubt! Hmm, you do have bad breath, you eat too much meat. A cultivator should eat pine seeds and drink clear spring water to maintain a pure energy, as my master always says."

The dan poison of a beauty python! A glimmer of hope rose in Wei Shizheng's heart. He asked urgently, "Can it be cured?"

"This isn't a disease, and it's not hard to eliminate, but it will take some effort. First, tell me where the beauty python that attacked you is hiding."

Betray or hide? Hiding was impossible, so Wei Shizheng made his decision immediately. "She calls herself Nainai, she harmed my master Qi Yunhe, transformed into his appearance, and is hiding in Qiutao Valley."

The girl seemed to disbelieve her ears. She looked at Wei Shizheng with a strange expression. "You just... betrayed her without hesitation?" In her imagination, Wei Shizheng should have hesitated, stammered, and been incoherent, only to be finally exposed by her sharpness and forced to reveal the truth.

Wei Shizheng was at a loss, "This is a secret, I only told you, it's not betrayal."

"That's because Xi Huizi can't help you, and only I can, right?"

Wei Shizheng really didn't know what emotion to show,委屈 or resentment? He felt he had been outmatched by her. After a long pause, he could only say, "Your nose is so sensitive, you already knew, yet you still said that to tease me, it's not fair!"

"Tease you, that's an interesting way to put it!" The girl thought for a moment and laughed. "You're right, it's not fair, I'm sorry. But do you know why Nainai didn't eat you?"

Wei Shizheng's heart stirred, and he asked tentatively, "She wanted me to hide my identity?"

"You underestimate Nainai. Eating you would have been the end of it, but keeping you alive was a huge risk." The girl pointed at Wei Shizheng's abdomen with her index finger. "Nainai didn't harm you because she discovered you have a trace of demon blood, and she felt pity. It's really not easy for you to be alive today."

Wei Shizheng thought this was the strangest thing in the world, and the girl spoke with such certainty. He shook his head. "You're teasing me again."

"Believe it or not, it's up to you. Actually, proving you have demon blood is quite simple. Birds are born to fly, fish are born to swim, and rats are born to dig holes. This is called innate ability. Think about it, do you have any ability that ordinary people don't have?"

Eating the flesh of demons and converting it into yuan qi, does that count as an innate ability? Wei Shizheng stared at her intently, a bizarre thought rising in his mind. If he continued to cultivate like this, he would eventually become a bloodthirsty demon.

"There is, but I won't say! If I were you, I would do the same..." The girl pulled Wei Shizheng's hand confidently. "Let's go to Qiutao Valley to find that beauty python. I chased her all the way from Liushifeng, and this time she won't escape!"