Chapter 111: The Scapegoat Cheng Changsheng

Qu Yiqiu sowed the seeds, and Zhou Chen cast a rain-calling spell. Within a short time, the group had completely nourished the spiritual fields of Xiaoping Peak. By then, the scorching sun had set, and the horizon was ablaze with fiery clouds.

Qu Yiqiu gathered Zhou Chen and Mu Yunjin, gave them a few instructions, and then everyone returned to their respective caves. As Ao Qian passed by Mu Yunjin’s cave, she wrinkled her delicate nose, cast a curious glance, and then hurried back to Qu Yiqiu’s side.

"Benefactor, I’ve finished everything you asked me to do!" Ao Qian said, bouncing onto the side of the bed.

Qu Yiqiu smiled. "Good, thank you, Qian'er. You don't need to call me Benefactor anymore; the debt between us is settled."

Ao Qian paused, then replied in a sweet, coquettish voice, "No, what I did today was far too simple..."

"Qian'er, I will send you home in a few days," Qu Yiqiu interrupted her before closing her eyes to enter meditation.

Ao Qian sat beside her, staring in a daze. Did her benefactor not like her anymore? She shook her head—no, that couldn't be it. If the benefactor disliked her, she wouldn't have kept her around for so long. Perhaps the benefactor simply felt it was time for her to go home. Lost in thought, Ao Qian eventually drifted off to sleep beside Qu Yiqiu.

A long while later, Qu Yiqiu opened her eyes. With a hand gesture, she released a wisp of spiritual energy, light as mist, to gently place Ao Qian onto the stone bed, then took her own seat on a meditation cushion.

Time passed bit by bit. Following Qu Yiqiu’s instructions, Mu Yunjin regretfully failed in the second round of the trials. Jiang Shuangyan glanced at them with surprise, a faint smile touching her lips. To look after Mu Yunjin’s mood, the three of them bid farewell to Xia Changhan and quickly returned to Xiaoping Peak.

Before leaving, Qu Yiqiu could not help but glance once more at the young man beside Jiang Shuangyan. That familiar face was undoubtedly Xiao Yang, the one who had tricked her into the Spring Rain Tower. Why was Bai Shulan’s brother here? Qu Yiqiu felt puzzled but did not dwell on it; after all, besides Ao Qian, no one knew what she had done at the Spring Rain Tower.

Now that Mu Yunjin’s competition was over, she planned to send Ao Qian away within the next few days. Shortly after they returned to Xiaoping Peak, Luo Tangyu, worried that Mu Yunjin might be distressed, found an excuse to slip into the peak.

He hurried toward the mountainside, his nose catching the faint, sweet scent of a spiritual spring. With a flick of his mind, he arrived in the blink of an eye before the stone where Qu Yiqiu had inscribed the words "Bamboo Pool Forest."

"Did Senior Brother Mo move this spiritual spring here?" Luo Tangyu exclaimed softly, releasing his divine sense in all directions. He easily surveyed the entirety of Xiaoping Peak, his eyes gleaming with surprise. "It must be that after Senior Brother Mo advanced to the mid-stage of the Golden Core, he ordered his disciples to renovate Xiaoping Peak!"

Luo Tangyu found a reasonable explanation for himself, his relief and excitement evident. While Mu Yunjin’s mood remained unchanged, Luo Tangyu was overjoyed. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, seeing that Mu Yunjin was not dejected by her failure, he left the peak satisfied.

Xiao Yan sat perched on an eyeball, shaking its head. "He didn't suspect a thing; he seems to think this is what your master ordered you to do."

Qu Yiqiu rubbed Xiao Yan’s porcelain-white forehead with a finger and smiled. "Thank you for your hard work, Xiao Yan. As long as Sect Leader Luo thinks that, there won't be any problems!"

Feeling the warmth of her fingertip against its cool body, Xiao Yan blushed instantly and darted into her brow like a bolt of lightning. Qu Yiqiu blinked, confused, then sat back on her cushion to continue meditating.

While the third round of the sect trials was in full swing, Qu Yiqiu slipped out of the Tianyan Sect. Using Xiao Yan’s abilities, she fashioned a disguise and navigated through the teleportation arrays of various cities. Even with her late-stage Foundation Establishment strength, the journey took considerable time.

Ao Qian occasionally poked her head out of the spirit beast bag to look around, though she remained rather downcast. When she was with Qu Yiqiu, even though she couldn't run off to play, she felt a genuine, cozy warmth in her heart—she didn't have to worry about others hurting her, and life felt easy and happy.

Upon reaching Kuxin City, which offered teleportation to the Vast Sea, Qu Yiqiu brought Ao Qian out in a secluded forest. "Qian'er, there is a teleportation array in this city that leads to the Vast Sea. I will escort you to it shortly."

Ao Qian forced a smile and nodded. "Okay!"

A strange flicker of emotion crossed Qu Yiqiu’s eyes as she led her into Kuxin City. The teleportation array shimmered with a hazy fluorescent light, reflecting off their fair faces. Ao Qian, her eyes glowing with a faint blue light, took a beautiful, iridescent scale from her robes and handed it to Qu Yiqiu. "Benefactor, please, you must accept this gift from me!"

Qu Yiqiu’s gaze wavered. She took the scale and said, "I will accept it. Take care on your journey, Qian'er, and do not trust the words of strangers."

The last time Ao Qian had been tricked into the Spring Rain Tower, it was because of her simple, unguarded nature. Ao Qian forced a smile and nodded. "I will be good and remember your instructions, Benefactor!"

Qu Yiqiu felt a pang of emotion, but she quietly produced the "Oblivion Pill" she had prepared earlier, channeled her spiritual power, and flicked it into Ao Qian’s mouth.

"Hmm... Benefactor, what was that?" Ao Qian’s expression froze, and she looked at her in confusion.

Qu Yiqiu felt a tinge of reluctance, but she offered a strained smile. "Take care of yourself. Don't trust bad people again. If fate allows, we shall meet again."

She turned away resolutely and handed the spirit stones to the guard nearby. Ao Qian’s eyes grew increasingly unfocused as she looked at Qu Yiqiu’s back, which now seemed to be fading into the unfamiliar. A brilliant white light erupted from the array, the patterns on the ground pulsing with energy that swallowed Ao Qian’s form. In an instant, the array returned to normal.

Qu Yiqiu watched the empty array, then cautiously departed Kuxin City. It had been three months since she left the Tianyan Sect, a timeframe she had managed to shorten only by using numerous teleportation arrays at a massive cost of spirit stones.

Mo Qingli had emerged from seclusion during that time, but having not found her, he left Xiaoping Peak after a few days. Although Mu Yunjin and Zhou Chen were curious about when Qu Yiqiu had left, neither questioned her actions, both merely concerned for her well-being.

Meanwhile, a major event had occurred at the Tianyan Sect: Cheng Changsheng, the City Lord of Qunan City, had been thrown into the water dungeon by Luo Tangyu.

Sitting in a luxurious private booth, Qu Yiqiu listened to Yao Zhimei’s account, feeling a sense of melancholy. Cheng Changsheng’s imprisonment was, in some ways, linked to her. Because of Qian Jiangfan’s death, the mystery of the Qunan City treasury had been brought up once again, and the oath he made before his death to kill Cheng Changsheng had become widespread gossip. Consequently, the sect began to take seriously Qian Jiangfan’s claim that the Qunan City treasury was nothing but an empty shell.

Coincidentally, just as Cheng Changsheng had successfully broken through to the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul, the new sect leader of the Supreme Saint Sect publicly declared that Cheng had used the excuse of seclusion to sneak into the Supreme Saint Sect and kill Qian Jiangfan, all to silence him and secure his seat as the Lord of the City.