Chapter Twenty-Seven: Yan Yushu

In the Southern Wilderness, mountains and marshes stretch endlessly. A woman with a cold and aloof aura suddenly climbed out of a deep river valley. If she was not a practitioner of Qi, she must be a phantom, a ghost, or a demon!

Chen Xuan stood motionless, staring coldly at the soaked young woman. She wore no makeup, her skin was fair, and droplets of water slid down her jade-like face. Her natural, unadorned beauty could not help but stir a sense of pity in one’s heart. She clutched a blue cloth bundle tied with a butterfly knot, looking exactly like a traveler who had met with villains and was forced to fall into the water to escape.

"Ah, someone is here..."

Noticing Chen Xuan’s piercing gaze, the girl jumped like a startled little fox, hurriedly using her hands to cover the snowy expanse of skin exposed at her neckline. A faint blush crept across her delicate, porcelain face. She glanced back at the river as if considering jumping back in to escape her awkward predicament, but in the end, she dared not.

"This creature... is she feigning weakness? Is she a Qi practitioner, or a monster?" Chen Xuan’s brow furrowed deeper, his wariness heightening, though he sensed no overt hostility.

The girl lowered her head and began walking toward the mountain path. Her thin, soaked, dark-green dress clung to her, making her fair skin faintly visible. While she clearly tried to avoid Chen Xuan’s eyes, there was a subtle, seductive allure to her movements that made one want to... commit an indiscretion.

Chen Xuan’s gaze turned fierce; he stared at her unblinkingly, as if facing a formidable enemy. As she passed by, the scent of a young woman—a fragrance that made a man’s blood stir—wafted toward him, involuntarily conjuring images of intimate, snowy-skinned entanglements.

*Plop!*

Something dropped at Chen Xuan’s feet.

Chen Xuan clenched his fists and immediately turned, his eyes still locked on her slender, delicate back. The girl’s body stiffened, seemingly sensing the increasingly intense gaze of the man behind her. Finally, she could bear it no longer, turning her head to snap, "Have you never seen a woman before? You keep staring..."

Her voice was pleasant, crisp like a mountain stream flowing over stones beneath the pines, trickling softly into one’s heart. Chen Xuan froze, his expression turning odd. He pointed to his feet and said, "You dropped something."

The girl looked down, her face flushing with shame. It was a small copper mirror for a woman’s vanity; it had slipped from her bundle and fallen right at the man’s feet. She hurried back to retrieve it, her voice barely a whisper. "Many thanks, fellow practitioner..."

She seemed guilty, turning quickly and hastening her pace until she was far away.

*A practitioner of Qi.*

***

Chen Xuan watched until the woman’s silhouette vanished before retracting his gaze and surveying his surroundings. He still did not understand; the riverbank was wide, and one could reach the mountain path from either side. Why had she panicked and chosen to pass by him? And the item in her bundle had fallen exactly at his feet.

"Was it intentional, or accidental?" Chen Xuan muttered to himself, his heart remaining on high alert. If the girl had shown even a hint of hostility, his iron-hard fists would have struck instantly. "Wearing a tattered dress, soaked to the bone, trying to hide what... I don’t believe you’re anything good."

Chen Xuan shook his head. He sensed that this woman was not simple, but it was of little consequence to him. He continued walking toward the edge of the mountains. In the quiet foothills, the river flowed slowly. The bare branches of the willow trees were showing signs of new green—a scene of vitality, with all things stirring to life. Winter snow was melting; spring was approaching.

***

Half an hour later, after passing several intersections, Chen Xuan ran into several imposing figures.

"Amitabha..."

Two monks appeared, draped in kasayas, their arms and legs as thick and straight as pillars. Their heads were square, resembling neatly cut blocks of stone stacked upon their shoulders. They wore solemn, grim expressions.

*Monks of the Hanging Temple!* They looked exactly like the block-headed figures described in rumors.

"Fellow practitioner, have you encountered a woman of about sixteen or seventeen? Her name is Yan Yushu, and her appearance is like that of a celestial being," the older monk asked, his face severe.

"I saw a woman climb out of the river," Chen Xuan replied. He was inwardly alert; he had once secretly studied the techniques of the Hanging Temple. However, these techniques were not like breathing methods that gradually altered one's physique over time. As long as he did not actively display them, they should not be able to detect anything.

The monk’s eyes lit up, and he pressed, "Please, tell us, which way did she go?"

Chen Xuan shook his head. "Master, I have no grievance with that woman, nor do I know what she has done to provoke you. Please forgive me, but I will not disclose the whereabouts of others so easily."

Though a refusal, the response was frank and open.

The two monks exchanged glances, their square heads drawing close to whisper in front of Chen Xuan.

"Brother Kongwen, this man intends to hide her tracks. He must be blinded by lust and has abandoned righteousness. His life and soul have been completely ensnared by the Six Desires Realm."

The younger monk said with conviction, "This man’s life is rotten."

The older monk, Kongwen, sighed with pity. "Along the way, Yan Yushu has taken too many lives..."

The younger monk’s eyes seemed to spit fire. "Yan Yushu is cunning. She knows that the great human cultivators cannot easily step into the Southern Wilderness. Hmph, but she does not know the great determination our Hanging Temple has made; she will not escape."

The temple had even dispatched young monks like him, who had practiced Qi for little time and had shallow understanding of Buddhist law. A vast, invisible net had been cast; even if she fled into the Southern Wilderness, she would surely be captured.

Nearby, Chen Xuan listened, deep in thought. *The Six Desires Realm?* So, the girl was Yan Yushu, the one registered by the Little Underworld as being from the "Six Desires Realm"?

*I knew there was something wrong with that woman,* he thought. *Although she is impossibly beautiful, she carries a demonic aura that inexplicably invites sin.*

But still, he had upheld his principles and refused to betray her. Why, in the mouth of this young monk, had he become someone blinded by lust, completely ensnared?

"If this Yan Yushu were truly heinous and wicked, I would have certainly told them which way she went. That would be doing a good deed with no psychological burden," Chen Xuan mused. However, the Mystic Cat Lady had once said that the monks of the Hanging Temple were insane and mostly not normal people. Though they did not involve themselves in worldly affairs, they had once made the mad attempt to awaken the "Yonghe" giant ape. Now, they were hunting the "Six Desires Realm" celestial seed; who knew what shocking, world-shaking plot they were hatching behind the scenes?

Chen Xuan did not wish to be involved in such matters and turned to leave.

Seeing him depart, the younger monk grew anxious. "Brother Kongwen, he is leaving!"

He lunged forward, intending to grab Chen Xuan’s shoulder. Chen Xuan, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, dodged to the side, his gaze darkening. "What are you doing?"

The younger monk was startled that the man had reacted so quickly. He turned to the older monk and urged, "Brother Kongwen, his life is already rotten and not worth saving! Let us subdue him and force the location of Yan Yushu out of him!"

It was a constructive suggestion. But before Chen Xuan could react, a roar like a lion’s erupted.

"Silence!!"

Kongwen’s expression shifted violently. He kicked the younger monk over ten meters away. The young monk’s chest caved in, countless ribs shattered, and he coughed up blood uncontrollably as he flew through the air.

"Junior brother, your heart is filled with evil thoughts, and you speak of harming others. How are you any different from a common mortal?" Kongwen’s face was stern as he shouted at the monk on the ground. "Junior brother, you are beyond saving; you should end your own life here!"

Chen Xuan stood stunned by the sudden turn of events.