Volume 3 Chapter 15 / Chapter 181: Yun Xi Returns from a Journey to the Western Regions
As evening approached, light snow began to fall from the sky. The once bustling streets of Wangchuan Town had quieted down. Only three cultivators dressed in raincoats and face masks still walked along the streets.
The leader, with a majestic demeanor, swept his deep purple eyes over the scene with a calm and stern expression. Beside him, a girl with orange eyes, holding his hand, caught a snowflake and brought it closer to inspect.
“Senior Brother, it’s snowing,” she said.
“Yes, it’s already early winter. We’ve been traveling for nearly two months,” Ye Anping replied, adjusting the slightly crooked hat on his junior sister’s head and then facing another direction.
Ye Anping and his junior sister were accustomed to the cold; a little snow was nothing to them. However, Feng Yudie seemed quite uncomfortable, shivering as she spoke:
“Yo–Young Master Ye, can we find an inn to rest? Why did the weather change as soon as we crossed the boundary? Is the Southern Region this cold?”
“The winter in the Southern Region feels colder…”
Ye Anping, turning to see her shivering, was surprised by how much she feared the cold. With a sigh, he took a cloak from his storage bag, draped it over her shoulders, and said, “Here, tie it yourself.”
Feng Yudie quickly tied the red strings on the cloak, smiling gratefully. “Thank you, Young Master Ye.”
Ye Anping, puzzled by her demeanor, corrected her, “Thank me more like a man. Don’t smile; just say ‘thanks’ with a straight face.”
“Oh!” Feng Yudie changed her expression, “Thanks!”
“Sigh—” Ye Anping shook his head slightly, pulled his hat down, and looked up at the sky. Seeing that night was falling and a mist was forming, he decided they could rest in this town for the night.
They arrived at an inn called Wangchuan Inn, which looked old and worn. Expecting the innkeeper and the staff to be sharp-eyed, Ye Anping led his companions inside and called out, “Innkeeper, we need a room.”
The innkeeper hurried over, bowed, and after looking at the three of them, said apologetically, “Sorry, we only have one room left. Maybe the Young Mistress can take the room, and I’ll set up two beds downstairs for the gentlemen.”
It seemed Feng Yudie’s disguise as a man was effective; the innkeeper hadn’t noticed. “We’ll all sleep in the same room,” Ye Anping said.
The innkeeper hesitated at the idea of three people sharing a room. “I misspoke. Just bring us two extra quilts; my senior brother and I will sleep on the floor,” Ye Anping clarified.
“Understood! Right away, sir,” the innkeeper responded, leading them to their room.
Upstairs, Ye Anping took off his raincoat and hat, ordered hot tea, and stood by the window, reviewing his plan one last time. If he wanted all three young mistresses to survive the Moonshadow Sword Sect incident, he needed to improve their relationships with each other.
In the game, this involved three favorability meters: Yun Yiyi and Yun Jiujiu, Yun Yiyi and Yun Xi, Yun Xi and Yun Jiujiu. Each started at -50, and players had to make choices to raise these numbers. It was found that no matter the choices, at least one person would die unless all meters reached +50. Ye Anping’s goal was to achieve this and save everyone.
The key to improving relationships was shared positive experiences and fighting common enemies. With this in mind, Ye Anping decided to stage a scenario where the three would face danger together and come out relying on each other, eventually turning against a common foe.
His first step was to get his junior sister close to Yun Xi. Yun Xi was the kindest of the three, and his junior sister would be safest with her. However, he needed to find Yun Xi first.
Just then, he noticed two injured cultivators with straw hats limping toward the inn.
“Finally here! I’m exhausted… Innkeeper! Innkeeper! Where is everyone?” one of the women shouted.
“Miss, why is our luck so bad? Demonic cultivators attacked us at the Chi Dragon Mansion, turmoil in the West, and now bandits just after crossing the boundary…” the man complained.
“I think you’re a jinx. I lost twelve disciples in the Chi Dragon Mansion, and you’re the only one who survived,” the woman retorted coldly.
“What? Miss, that’s unfair…”
“Next time, I won’t take you along. Did you at least keep our senior brother and sister’s ashes safe?” the woman asked.
“Yes… but wait… one, two, three, four… ten… Miss! One is missing!”
The woman took a deep breath and kicked him. “Zhang Yi! You moron!”
“Sorry, I must have thrown it out with the talismans during the fight. I’ll go back and look,” Zhang Yi stammered.
“Whose ashes did you lose?” the woman asked.
“Senior Brother Qiu’s.”
“Then go find them! Don’t come back without them!”
Ye Anping watched this scene from the second floor, feeling a bit stuck. He decided to involve Feng Yudie in his plan.
“Feng Yu, you’ll handle a task tonight,” Ye Anping said.
“Feng Yu?” Feng Yudie asked.
“You are a man for now, so you need to drop the ‘Die’.”
After a moment, she agreed. “… Okay, What task?”
“Yun Xi is here. You’ll capture a near-fourth-level beast in the mountains tonight.”
“Understood! To stage a beast attack so Junior Sister can make a dramatic rescue, right?”
“Exactly.”
“Will it be too obvious?”
“No, they’ve had bad luck; one more incident won’t stand out. My junior sister’s rescue will seem like a turning point for them.”
“Oh~”
Listening to her senior brother and Feng Yudie, Junior Sister Pei Lengxue nodded, pretending to understand.
“Do you really get it?” Ye Anping asked, tugging her cheek.
“Yes!”
“Really?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Pei Lengxue admitted, “No…”