Volume 3, Chapter 442 – Entering the Mountains

Hearing this, Chi Xiyan’s expression changed.

“Elder, listen to my explanation, it’s not like that!”

Clang.

Chi Muxue’s natal sword flew back into Chi Xiyan’s hand.

The elder also saw the sword in Chi Xiyan’s hand.

“This sword qi! It really is you!”

“It wasn’t me!” Chi Xiyan explained. “This man isn’t the Family Head at all! He’s been body seized! Please, Elder, examine him!”

As Chi Xiyan’s words fell, a low, muffled bell tolled throughout the entire Chi Family Grand Mansion.

Along with it came an old voice, carried to every corner through voice transmission.

“The Family Head has been attacked, his life token shattered. Seal the main residence, capture the culprit!”

“Seal the main residence, capture the culprit!!”

The transmission repeated twice.

Chi Xiyan couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

‘In a situation like this, no amount of explaining would clear her name.’

A whooshing sound tore through the secret passage. It was the elder who had witnessed the scene, transforming into a blur of wind and rushing outward.

Along with it rose his booming shout.

“The culprit is here! Come help me at once!”

“Chi family guards! Form ranks and seize the thief!”

Chi Xiyan felt her scalp prickle.

‘She couldn’t afford to delay any longer.’

‘Setting aside whether this old fiend had any other accomplices within the Chi family, even if she wanted to uncover the truth, there was no time left for her to linger here.’

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She raised the small jade sword in her hand.

“Many of the Chi family’s guards are Fourth Realm warriors. On my own, it will be difficult to break through the encirclement.”

“From here on, I’ll be counting on you.”

The small jade sword hummed softly a few times, as if responding.

Chi Xiyan gripped the small sword tightly in her hand.

***

The Chi family’s guards reacted quickly.

The moment the alarm sounded, they assembled at once.

Chi Xiyan was familiar with the guards’ deployment. She knew how the Chi family’s guards positioned themselves during emergencies.

As long as she was careful, avoiding these guards wasn’t difficult.

Of course, more importantly, with the Family Head dead, the Chi family’s Great Array had no one to preside over it. Left uncontrolled, the array instead became a natural aid, covering Chi Xiyan’s escape.

After about the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, Chi Xiyan, relying on the small jade sword in her hand, successfully carved a path through the encirclement.

As the final layer of the array’s barrier was cut open, Chi Xiyan successfully escaped the Chi family.

Behind her, shouts and the clanging of alarm bells continued without end.

Chi Xiyan turned her back on the Chi Family Grand Mansion, walking farther and farther away.

***

Half a day later, the Chi family of Beihe Commandery officially issued a bounty order.

A bounty on the Chi family traitor, Chi Xiyan.

***

Half a month later.

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A small inn on the border of Beihe Commandery.

Chi Ning sat at the table, looking at the woman across from him with an expression hard to put into words.

The woman appeared to be in her thirties, travel worn and weathered, her face lined with hardship.

“Sorry, but I still want to confirm again.” Chi Ning said, brow furrowed. “You’re really Chi Xiyan?”

“You’ve already asked twice.” Chi Xiyan said. “To avoid the Chi family’s bounty, I had to disguise myself. This is the effect of a Disguise Pill.”

Chi Ning clicked his tongue. “It’s just that you look so different from what I remembered. Can a Disguise Pill really make someone this ugly?”

Chi Xiyan’s eye twitched. “Never mind that. Did you bring what I asked for?”

Chi Ning took out a storage ring. “The common herbs you wanted are all in here.”

“Thank you.” Chi Xiyan took the storage ring and offered her thanks.

Chi Ning asked again, “What do you plan to do next?”

Chi Xiyan pondered for a moment, looking out the window.

Chi Ning followed her gaze, his eyes widening in shock. “Are you mad? That place is crawling with demonic beasts!”

Deep in the perilous mountains, demonic beasts ran rampant.

“This is my best option.” Chi Xiyan said. “With the Chi family’s influence, staying in the towns would leave me severely restricted.”

“That’s not what I want.”

“I still need to go save Muxue. I don’t have time to waste against those people.”

“Besides, the rare herbs I need can only be found there.”

The land of demonic beasts was extraordinarily dangerous. But it also concealed abundant opportunities.

“I understand.” Chi Ning sighed softly. “Will you be able to return to the Chi family after this?”

Chi Xiyan withdrew her gaze and shook her head.

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“The Chi family is in your hands now. I don’t belong there.”

Chi Ning paused. “I looked into what you told me these past few days…but the elders have kept it tightly sealed. My standing isn’t enough to get access to the Family Head’s body.”

Chi Xiyan remained silent. She wasn’t surprised by this outcome.

Chi Ning smiled bitterly. “Three years from now, I’ll go to Lingxiao Mountain to witness the ceremony.”

“I want to see with my own eyes as you bring the young lady back.”

Chi Xiyan looked surprised, then smiled softly.

“I will.”

***

Entering the mountains was a choice Chi Xiyan had no other option but to make.

However, she wasn’t entirely unprepared either.

As early as when she’d first discovered she couldn’t obtain those rare herbs through normal means, she had already begun considering this.

Back then, her plan had been to hire a team to escort her into the mountains to gather herbs.

She was an alchemist, well versed in herbs. As long as someone could help her fend off the demonic beasts’ attacks, gathering herbs wouldn’t be a particularly difficult task for her.

But now, plans couldn’t keep up with change.

After being expelled from the Chi family, she had no choice but to rely on her own strength to enter the mountains and gather herbs.

Still, crisis was also opportunity.

The demonic creatures within these great mountains could also become an aid to her cultivation.

This was a trial, a trial that would last three full years.

No protector at her side, no treasures or talismans to rely on.

For the first time, Chi Xiyan experienced what it felt like for an ordinary cultivator to train between life and death.

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Once, while gathering herbs, she had been bitten and gravely wounded by a tiger demon guarding the plants.

Only by using Chi Muxue’s natal sword to tear through the tiger demon’s flesh did she manage to escape that disaster.

Even so, she still lay in a sealed cave for half a month before recovering.

The countless dangers of the mountains taught her that the knowledge she’d learned from books was nothing more than empty theory.

Real experience was always filled with sudden emergencies and unknown perils.

Chi Xiyan trained, and she learned.

A year later, she had fully ventured into the heartland of the demonic beasts.

She had witnessed Sixth Realm demonic beasts fighting to the death over territory.

She had also once taken advantage of sword sect disciples slaying demons during their training to sneak into a demonic beast’s lair and clean it out of every treasure inside.

She had also, by chance, once saved a noble clan’s scion of similar strength, who then traveled alongside her for a time.

After a year of stumbling through hardship like this, Chi Xiyan’s cultivation had, miraculously, advanced to the middle stage of the Fourth Realm.

This pace was already far faster than it had been in her previous life.

Of course, more importantly, her combat experience had made tremendous progress.

The person she was now was no longer the treasure hunting fairy of before, one who could only fling talismans and treasures wildly when facing an enemy.

Even if she encountered a sword sect disciple of the same rank, she now had the ability to hold her own against them.

Training in the mountains, she lost track of the passing years.

There was only endless hunting and killing.

Killing in order to survive.

The second year.

Chi Xiyan’s cultivation steadily advanced to the late stage of the Fourth Realm.