Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 72

After resting for two days, Yun Qing finally thickened her skin and stretched out her hand toward Jiang Baiyu, “Baiyu, lend me some cultivation first.”

She had always lacked patience, and now that her cultivation recovery speed was very slow, she became somewhat anxious, planning to first borrow some cultivation from Baiyu for emergency use. At worst, she could pay him back later.

Jiang Baiyu smiled and grasped her hand.

His warm, dry palm wrapped around hers. Yun Qing felt Baiyu’s cultivation flowing into her body like a gentle stream, circulating through her meridians and finally gathering in her qi sea.

“That’s enough.” No matter how thick-skinned Yun Qing was, she felt embarrassed to take too much.

She loosened her palm, and Jiang Baiyu slowly withdrew his hand.

Yun Qing asked everyone, “How can I quickly improve my cultivation?”

Ci Li said, “All methods for rapidly improving cultivation have severe negative effects. I don’t recommend you be too hasty. There’s only one method with slightly less harm.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“Dual cultivation.”

“Mm.”

Jiang Baiyu felt that after Ci Li spoke those two words, everyone’s gazes swept toward him, either directly or subtly.

His face began to uncontrollably flush with heat, his eyelashes fluttering as he secretly glanced at Yun Qing.

Yun Qing seriously fell into deep thought.

Jiang Baiyu: “……”

His face grew even hotter.

Fu Xue covered her mouth with one hand and asked Cheng Suiyan, “What if he’s unwilling?”

Cheng Suiyan: “Simple, knock him out, tie him up, and put him on Yun Qing’s bed.”

Fu Xue: “What if he’s still unwilling? Should we supervise from the side?”

Cheng Suiyan looked at her speechlessly. “That would be too perverted!”

Jiang Baiyu said quietly, “Your whispers could be whispered more quietly.”

Fu Xue and Cheng Suiyan both touched their noses in unison.

Yun Qing seriously considered the feasibility of dual cultivation and concluded it wouldn’t work.

She felt her current problem lay with her body. After being injured, she recovered much more slowly than ordinary people, which was probably the price of her special constitution.

There had been signs during the battle with the Golden-Haired Hound, but it was relatively mild then and hadn’t caught her attention.

After the battle with Qingcheng Zi, this problem became fully apparent. Her overexertion had damaged her meridians and dantian, which in turn slowed her cultivation circulation speed – this was the root cause.

It was like a blocked pipe naturally slowing water flow. This physical problem couldn’t be quickly resolved through dual cultivation.

Yun Qing said, “No, this method won’t work.” She didn’t explain further.

Ci Li nodded. “That’s fine too. Dual cultivation just has fewer side effects than other techniques, but it’s not entirely without harm. Throughout history, many have gone into qi deviation from dual cultivation.”

Fu Xue clicked her tongue. “Dual cultivation can make you go crazy? That’s too scary.”

“Not necessarily crazy. As far as I know, besides going mad, some people have both reverted to childhood, or had their bodies swapped. Such situations are rare, but not unheard of.”

“Body swapping? That’s so magical. If a person and cat practiced dual cultivation and went into qi deviation, would the person become a cat?”

Hearing this, Ci Li glared at her. “What do you mean? Are you a pervert?”

Fu Xue didn’t understand why he was angry again and said bewilderedly, “I can’t even ask?”

“You can’t ask, and you can’t even think about it!”

“You definitely have some serious illness!” Fu Xue was so angry her cheeks puffed up, making her face look even rounder. After scolding Ci Li, she looked at Jiang Baiyu. “Baiyu!”

Jiang Baiyu’s eyebrow twitched. He couldn’t understand what their argument had to do with him.

Fu Xue: “Baiyu, I’m going to teach you the Dog Barking Talisman.”

Jiang Baiyu: “???”

He even suspected there was something wrong with his hearing. “What is a Dog Barking Talisman?” It definitely wasn’t what he thought it was.

“Literal meaning. Anyone hit by the Dog Barking Talisman will have everything they say turn into barking.”

Jiang Baiyu didn’t know what to say. This kind of talisman was simply inconceivable and unheard of. The key question was, what role could it play in actual combat? To humiliate opponents?

He said with difficulty, “Can I not learn it?”

“Others can choose not to learn, but you absolutely must!”

Jiang Baiyu was stunned. “Why?”

Fu Xue crossed her arms and glared fiercely at Ci Li. “Your cultivation is high. Once you learn the Dog Barking Talisman and use it on this dog-thing, think about it – a cat opening its mouth and barking… isn’t that exciting?”

Jiang Baiyu thought it would be terrifying instead…

He looked helplessly at Yun Qing. “Yun Qing, say something.”

“Hm?” Yun Qing had been thinking about her constitution problem. Hearing Baiyu’s words, she said, “Learn it. Learn everything. More skills don’t weigh you down.”

Jiang Baiyu pressed his lips together.

Already feeling down, and now having to learn the Dog Barking Talisman – life really had no meaning.

****

Later, the Huayang Sect people finally caught up again. Yun Qing’s group led them in several circles, then quietly went to Immortal-Seeking Town again.

The group stayed in a dilapidated temple on the outskirts of Immortal-Seeking Town, right under Jiang Binghe’s nose.

This temple was of unknown age, with broken gates, damaged pillars and rafters, rats and insects running rampant, and spider webs everywhere.

The clay statue worshipped in the center had collapsed halfway, with everything from the thighs up piled on the ground as a heap of mud. The colors were extremely faded, making it impossible to tell which deity it was.

Yun Qing offered a stick of incense to the statue and said, “Divine spirit above, we few are passing through and will disturb this place for several days. Please forgive us.”

After several days passed, when Jiang Binghe heard his subordinate disciples’ report, he couldn’t help but sneer coldly.

His index finger lightly rubbed the huge ruby on his sword hilt as he muttered to himself, “Playing hide in plain sight with me? A few young whelps really underestimate people.”

Xie Junze stood respectfully at his side, carefully asking, “Master, when shall we act?” His tone carried hidden excitement.

Working with his master to crusade against sect traitors, especially including a young master who had cruelly murdered his own mother – such a major event would surely let him perform well and show his master that his abilities were no worse than that dog Yu Beiting.

Jiang Binghe’s slender eyes narrowed slightly. “Tonight.”

Xie Junze was somewhat surprised. “Tonight? Won’t that be too hasty? Shouldn’t we arrange things in advance? They have Hanlu Zi after all, and that great demon of unknown background.”

Jiang Binghe picked up an object from the table and examined it carefully, saying, “I’ve already made arrangements. It’s tonight.”

It was a newly refined magic treasure – a round red lacquered plate with sixty-four hexagram patterns drawn in gold powder, and two crystal-clear glass beads, one black and one white, on the plate.

As he played with it, the glass beads rolled around in the lacquered plate, making crisp collision sounds when they hit the edges.

Xie Junze was curious and asked, “Master, what is this magic treasure for?”

Jiang Binghe smiled faintly. “This is specially prepared for that demoness.”

These past days, he had continuously sent people to track the demoness’s group. Based on the intelligence his disciples reported, he analyzed that Yun Qing might have suffered serious backlash after the battle in Linglong City, and the battle outside Guizhen Cave confirmed his guess.

Strike while she was ill to kill her – now was the best opportunity. Since he knew the demoness’s whereabouts, he decided to act immediately. This dead girl had repeatedly ruined his plans; he couldn’t possibly let her go.

Of course, the most important thing was still the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus.

Thinking of Jiang Baiyu, Jiang Binghe’s expression darkened.

He still didn’t know when Jiang Baiyu had learned the truth. This little bastard was harder to deal with than Yu Wanzhi. The only thing that could be called his weakness was probably that demoness Yun Qing.

That was fine. Young and impetuous, hot-blooded and vigorous – just the age to love desperately. If Yu Wanzhi had been this age back then, he would have gotten the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus long ago.

If even the demoness didn’t work, then…

Jiang Binghe narrowed his eyes and said coldly, “Then I have other methods too.”

Xie Junze said, “Master, I’ll go notify the disciples acting tonight.”

“Choose trustworthy ones.”

Xie Junze said solemnly, “Rest assured, Master. They’re all willing to die for you.”

Jiang Binghe nodded approvingly at Xie Junze, who felt encouraged and became more spirited. Then Xie Junze asked, “Should we call a few elders?”

Jiang Binghe pondered.

Yun Qing feared the Jade River Sky-Shaking Mirror, but little did she know Jiang Binghe also somewhat feared her “A Neat Family.”

In single combat, below immortals, Jiang Binghe feared no one. But now he needed to capture them alive. The demoness also had a teleportation treasure, which would indeed require some effort.

“Call Elders Xingge Zi and Mingxuan Zi.”

“Yes.”

During Huayang Sect’s heyday, there were nine elders under the sect master. Later, due to the Cold Heron Rebellion, the sect suffered great damage and six elders died.

After Jiang Binghe reorganized the sect, he temporarily didn’t have enough elder candidates, so he reduced the elder positions to six.

Over the years, the six elder positions had changed several times. Currently, among the six great elders, Xingge Zi and Mingxuan Zi were Jiang Binghe’s junior brothers, both personal disciples of Huayang Zi like him. After Yu Wanzhi’s death, they smoothly pledged allegiance to him and could be considered his trusted confidants.

The other four were lukewarm toward Jiang Binghe. He knew they had opinions about him, but he didn’t care.

In this world where strength was supreme, some people had to swallow their opinions.

This day was September 20th.

From noon onward, leaden clouds hung heavy, and by afternoon, snow began falling leisurely. By evening, the snow fell more heavily, with north winds whistling and pear blossoms dancing wildly across the world.

Yun Qing stood outside the temple door, reaching out to catch snowflakes. The snow fell into her palm in clumps like sugar frost, then melted away cold and cool.

A slender hand suddenly grasped hers and slowly pulled it down.

Then, a warm current flowed into her body.

These past few days, Jiang Baiyu had lent her cultivation quite often, making Yun Qing somewhat troubled about how long it would take to pay back so much.

Feeling the warm, broad palm wrapping around hers, Yun Qing suddenly remembered how in Linglong City, in front of Qin Ranqing, he had unhesitatingly admitted to falling in love with her.

Her heart became somewhat chaotic.

She made conversation: “This year’s snow came really early.”

“Mm.” Jiang Baiyu turned his head to look at her. The heavy snow made the deep night bright as day. She stood in this crystal world, untouched by any speck of dust. Snowflakes fell on her hair and eyebrows like scattered jade sprinkled among peony flowers.

Words couldn’t fully express it, nor could brush and ink adequately describe or paint it. Jiang Baiyu suddenly regretted not having a memory stone at hand – he really wanted to record this moment forever.

Yun Qing’s gaze pierced through the wind and snow, settling steadily in the distance.

Between heaven and earth was a vast expanse of white. The world was eerily quiet, as if only the two of them remained.

“Yun Qing, what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing. Let’s go, it’s cold outside.” Yun Qing withdrew her hand, and the two turned together to walk into the temple.

Inside the temple, a fire crackled and popped. Hanlu Zi sat cross-legged on a broken straw mat, whether sleeping or awake was unclear.

The other three were all sleeping. Among them, Cheng Suiyan had the best sleeping posture, while Ci Li surprisingly had the worst.

This great demon, back in his small cat form, lay sprawled on his back on the ground like a large cat-shaped pancake. Who knew what good things this cat pancake was dreaming of – he was so excited his cat tail kept swishing back and forth.

Sensing the two enter the broken temple, Ci Li opened his eyes and flipped over to stand up.

Hanlu Zi also opened his eyes.

Just as Ci Li was about to speak, Jiang Baiyu’s expression suddenly turned stern as he pulled Yun Qing behind him. Reacting even faster than him was Hanlu Zi – her Xuan Sword flew from its sheath with a clang, speeding toward the door to block.

Having spent her life immersed in the way of the sword, Hanlu Zi was especially sensitive to sword intent. The Xuan Sword flew to the door in an instant, blocking three sword lights at once!

Yun Qing was puzzled – she hadn’t sensed these three sword lights at all. This was partly because she hadn’t fully recovered, but more importantly, the people outside must have very high cultivation!

She also quickly drew her steel sword and shouted, “Junior sister, wake up – we have work!”