CH 16

Chapter 16

The boss wailed loudly. 

Cultivators had sharp senses. Even after they were out of Xunxian Town, Qin Wanwan and Bai Suiyou could still hear the boss’ wail. 

The two subconsciously glanced at each other, but no one dared to look back. They could only pretend that they didn’t hear anything as they sped up to the forest.

The horses they rented were spiritual horses.  The horses were much faster than ordinary horses. A thirty miles distance was reached in less than a quarter of an hour.

Catching sight of the dense forests from a distance, Bai Suiyou said “Here we are.”

He dismounted, leading the horse to the side.

Qin Wanwan dismounted after him. She looked behind and saw the disgraced Jian Xingzhi.

He had tried his best to maintain himself, but Qin Wanwan still could see some embarrassment from his messy hair, his stained white clothes, and his smeared face.

“You…”

“No one will treat you as a mute even if you don’t talk.[1]” Jian Xingzhi spoke quickly and took the lead towards the forest. “Go.”

Bai Suiyou tied his horse, and walked back to Qin Wanwan. He glimpsed at Jian Xingzhi’s menacing back and doubtfully said, “Today… Isn’t it us that come here to do the task?”

“It supposed to be so…”

Qin Wanwan also doubted. Still, she accelerated her pace and urged Bai Suiyou, “Let’s catch up. ”

The three entered the forest together. Bai Suiyou opened the way in front of them and led them inside.

Jian Xingzhi and Qin Wanwan walked side by side. The three searched around and found nothing unusual. Qin Wanwan peeked at her Qiankun Bag swinging around on Jian Xingzhi’s waist. She took advantage of Jian Xingzhi’s inattention and snatched it into her sleeve.

With her Qiankun Bag back in her hands, Qin Wanwan was reassured. She began to chat with Bai Suiyou, “Fellow Daoist Bai, should we keep looking for the ants like this?”

“We should go deeper and find a suitable location. I will take out an incense sachet made of Fire Spirit Grass to attract the Illusion Ant. ”

Bai Suiyou explained, “The Illusion Ant like Fire Spirit Grass. The scent of Fire Spirit Grass can attract the Illusion Ant within a five-mile radius.”

“Won’t it be too many?” Qin Wanwan was worried, “Will we be able to handle that many?”

“Except for the King, the other Illusion Ant won’t do much harm. At most, they just scare you to faint and you will wake up unscathed after fainting.”

Qin Wanwan nodded. Jian Xingzhi asked one more question, “What about the Ant King?”

Bai Suiyou’s expression changed into a serious one, “The Ant King is on the highest grade of the Earthly level. He will not only transform into the most terrifying thing in people’s hearts but also devour them after scaring them.”

Qin Wanwan inhaled sharply, “Let’s hope we don’t meet the Ant King.”

As she spoke those words, a “ding” sound appeared in Jian Xingzhi’s mind. 

[Random Task: Let Qin Wanwan fight the Ant King and obtain the Ant King’s antenna. Points +50]

Jian Xingzhi, “……”

If this went on, could he really complete the task of making Qin Wanwan voluntarily say she will protect him until ascension?

For the first time in his life, Jian Xingzhi began to doubt himself.

Regardless, if she could fight the Ant King and get its antenna, it was beneficial for Qin Wanwan’s progress. 

Jian Xingzhi started to ponder how to get rid of Qin Wanwan and act alone.

When Qin Wanwan noticed Jian Xingzhi hadn’t spoken a word, she coughed softly, “That… Zhang San,” she looked at him, “It’s too dangerous ahead. You’d better go away, lest we attract too many Illusion Ant and harm you.”

“Okay.”

Jian Xingzhi agreed readily. Qin Wanwan was startled and watched Jian Xingzhi trot away.

“See you later.”

Qin Wanwan watched Jian Xingzhi run away without a trace in a daze, Bai Suiyou leaned his head curiously, “Is he always so easy to talk to?”

“It’s not important now, ” Qin Wanwan grabbed Bai Suiyou to run out of the forest, “Let’s hurry back!”

By dumping this calamity star[2] away, she could avoid half of the trouble and go to Tian Jian Sect to safely perform her task.

Bai Suiyou obediently let Qin Wanwan pull himself with a strange smile on his face. He licked his lips and raised his other hand silently, ready to stab Qin Wanwan with his hand. However, as soon as he raised his hand, Qin Wanwan abruptly stopped and spun back, “No, this won’t do.”

“Ah?” Bai Suiyou was taken aback. He stood still awkwardly. Qin Wanwan looked down at his hand, “What are you going to do?”

“I…” Bai Suiyou slapped himself lightly, “There are mosquitoes.”

“Oh.” Qin Wanwan accepted his reasoning. She reminded him, “We can’t go back empty-handed. We have to catch some Illusion Ant first.”

“You’re right.” Bai Suiyou nodded. “Let’s find a clearing and attract the Illusion Ant there.”

Qin Wanwan responded by dragging Bai Suiyou towards a vacant space near them, “Just do it there!”

The two hustled to the open space, then Qin Wanwan let go of Bai Suiyou’s hand, “Come on, take out the Fire Spirit Grass. ”

“Wait.”

Bai Suiyou nodded. He gasped for a while and fished out a silver sachet from his sleeve. When he put it in his hand, he glanced at Qin Wanwan secretly.

If she was someone who was familiar with medicines, she certainly could smell that it was not the smell of Fire Spirit Grass, but an incapacitating agent

But, from what he could see, Qin Wanwan was undoubtedly not familiar with medicines.

He focused back on his hands with a triumphant smile, waiting for Qin Wanwan to faint.

Yet, after some time had passed, Qin Wanwan was still sober. She looked up at Bai Suiyou, “Why are you smiling so strangely?”

Bai Suiyou froze, “You… Don’t you feel anything?”

“Feel what?”

Qin Wanwan was confused.

Bai Suiyou coughed gently. With a serious expression on his face, he conveyed, “Ordinary people will feel a little dizzy when they smell the scent of Fire Spirit Grass for the first time. That’s good if you are fine.”

“Oh.” Qin Wanwan nodded, “It’s alright, I’m fine.”

Bai Suiyou nodded back. They waited for a while, but there was no response from the surrounding. Eventually, Qin Wanwan frowned, “Why haven’t they come yet?”

“Maybe,” Bai Suiyou gritted his teeth, “The dosage is not enough. I’ll take some more.”

“Hurry, hurry.” Qin Wanwan urged.

Bai Suiyou took out ten more sachets from his bag, “Smell it, do these ten sachets smell the same? I’m afraid I took the wrong one.”

Qin Wanwan received ten sachets from him in her hands. She sniffed them one by one and answered, “It all has the same smell.”

“I see, it seems that the dosage is really not enough.” Bai Suiyou fished out another thirty sachets. “Try it again?”

Qin Wanwan complied and smelled another thirty sachets. She looked up at him, “The dosage may not be enough. Take out all you have.”

“I understand,” Bai Suiyou inhaled deeply, “Let’s follow what you said.”

Bai Suiyou brought out his Qiankun Bag and poured all the sachets on the ground until the sachets piled up. He pointed to the ground, “Try to smell it again,”

“This is used to attract Illusion Ant,” Qin Wanwan was baffled. “It’s no use to me. Why must I smell it all again?”

The expression on Bai Suiyou’s face stilled. Qin Wanwan sat cross-legged on the ground, “Let’s wait a while, maybe it will take some time for the Illusion Ant to react.”

Bai Suiyou nodded with some hidden pain. Then, he sat next to Qin Wanwan, “Maybe.”

While Qin Wanwan was busy waiting for the Illusion Ant, Jian Xingzhi had his own things to do. The moment he walked out of Qin Wanwan’s field of vision, Jian Xingzhi closed his eyes. He scouted the surroundings to the tiny details with his divine sense. In less than a second, he discovered the cave of the Ant King.

Jian Xingzhi spun around and dashed towards the Ant King Cave, and soon reached the entrance of the cave.

Jian Xingzhi stood at the entrance of the cave, contemplating how to let ‘Qin Wan’ fight the Ant King and get its Neidan[3]. 

First of all, he must guide the Ant King to ‘Qin Wan’, and then provide ‘Qin Wan’ a reason to fight the Ant King.

But ‘Qin Wan’ was so weak. How could she fight the Ant King?

“Master, you don’t have to worry,” 666 encouraged him. “You just need to lead the Ant King to the Female Lead, act weak and ask her for help. With the Female Lead’s feelings for you, she won’t leave you behind.”

“Really?” Jian Xingzhi frowned. “I don’t believe it.”

“You have to believe the plot!” 666 shook its small fist, “As the Great Female Lead, even if she herself is a bit weak, she won’t abandon the weak!”

Jian Xingzhi, “……”

Sorry, he really couldn’t believe it.

Nevertheless, he had no other choice at the moment. The first thing was to guide the Ant King to Qin Wanwan.

Jian Xingzhi didn’t think much about it and directly questioned, “How to lead it out?”

“The Ant King hates people who are more literate than him. “666 was confident with her answer, “You can enrage it by reading a few poems.”

Jian Xingzhi was silent. 

666 spoke with uncertainty, “Master?”

“Bright moonlight before my bed…” Jian Xingzhi racked his brain to recite poems he could recall, “I wonder if there is frost on the ground…[4]” 

“Goose, goose, goose. You bend your neck towards the sky and sing…[5]“

Jian Xingzhi stood at the mouth of the cave and recited poems clumsily.

The Ant King sat in the cave, picking his teeth. He listened to the voice outside and turned his head to sneer at his subordinate, “This person is less literate than me. I can recite these poems all day long.”

Jian Xingzhi finished reciting all the poems he had learned in the mortal world, and the Ant King in the cave remained motionless. He clenched his fists and 666 was a little afraid to speak.

“Why hasn’t it come out?”

Listening to Jian Xingzhi’s tone, 666 didn’t dare to answer at all.

Because there was only one possibility, in the heart of the Ant King… Jian Xingzhi was less literate than it.

Jian Xingzhi took a deep breath. He decided not to listen to 666’s words anymore. Without another word, he stomped his foot on the wall cave and yelled, “Come out!”

The Ant King’s cave shook. As the dust fell, he still picked his teeth. He glanced outside, “This illiterate person is really annoying.”

Jian Xingzhi saw that the Ant King was still motionless, so he simply trampled down the Ant King’s cave. The Ant King only saw that a person in white fell from the sky and kicked him in the face, leaving a footprint on his face. The person in white flipped over and landed on the ground with both feet, looking down at him with frost. 

The Ant King raised his hand and wiped the footprints on his face. He scowled, “You are looking for death!”

As soon as the voice fell, illusions enveloped Jian Xingzhi’s mind heavily. Jian Xingzhi opened his mouth and recited “The Sutra of Purity and Stillness”.

“If a person can be pure and still, all of Heaven and Earth will return to him. The original human spirit is best in purity, but the heart may disturb it.[6]”

“Ahhhh!!”

The Ant King emitted a mad roar and instantly transformed into a huge ant.

“Stinky Daoist,” the Ant King’s voice reverberated like a bell, “You dare to recite Sutra in front of Laozi, you are really asking for death!” ”

The Ant King bolted towards Jian Xingzhi with two huge antennas as sharp as knives, frenziedly stabbing at Jian Xingzhi.

Jian Xingzhi was as light as a swallow. He led the Ant King in the direction of Qin Wanwan.

While running and chanting sutras, Jian Xingzhi had a sense of superiority since he found that chanting sutras can enrage the Ant King.

He could only recite a few poems, but he could recite a ton of sutras.

He could recite them all day and night, and recite them to this ant to death!

The more Jian Xingzhi thought about it, the happier he was. Noticing that he was about to reach Qin Wanwan, 666 quickly reminded him, “Master! Act weak!”

Upon hearing this, Jian Xingzhi swiftly slowed down. He disheveled his clothes and messed up his hair. Then, he staggered towards Qin Wanwan.

On Qin Wanwan’s side, she was sitting near a fire, baking the sachets on the fire. She fanned the scent again and again. She began to suspect, “Fellow Daoist Bai, perhaps you bought a fake?”

Bai Suiyou sat on one side with nothing left to live for in his expression, “Perhaps.”

“Why don’t we call it a day?”

Qin Wanwan had pondered about it. In the end, it’s more important to get rid of ‘Jian Zhiyan’.

Where ‘Jian Zhiyan’ was, where trouble was. 

Maybe it was because of him that they couldn’t catch any Illusion Ant today?

Her words cheered Bai Suiyou up, “As you say. Let’s try it another day.”

Qin Wanwan complied. She was about to extinguish the fire when she felt the ground shake. She and Bai Suiyou met each other’s gaze. Then, they heard a roar. Soon afterward, Jian Xingzhi stumbled to the ground from the bush. His hair was messy and his clothes were disheveled. The whole person seemed to have just been ravaged. He raised his head from the ground, stretched out his hand, and shouted sadly, “Wanwan, save me!! ”

The Ant King behind him was so shocked that the steel knife that was about to stab him paused.

Qin Wanwan and Bai Suiyou were also shocked. They slowly raised their heads to look up at the huge Ant King behind Jian Xingzhi, whose antennas were knives, whose mouth was like a blade, and whose body was like a hill.

Not a second later, Qin Wanwan turned around to run without the slightest hesitation!

It was Jian Xingzhi’s turn to be shocked. He got to his feet quickly and passed the dazed Bai Suiyou to run after Qin Wanwan. He ran side by side with her, and shouted, “Don’t run, save me!”

“Do you still need my help when you can run so fast?!”

Qin Wanwan pointed to the other side,”You run that way ah!”

He was the one who provoked the Ant King. The Ant King wouldn’t chase after ‘Qin Wan’ if they went separate ways!

Jian Xingzhi quickly refused, “No, I can’t be separated from you!”

“You一! You sicko!”

Qin Wanwan despaired. She held herself back from swearing like a pirate.

Qin Wanwan was desperate, and Jian Xingzhi was also desperate. But, he thought, as long as he ran faster than Qin Wan, the Ant King would catch Qin Wan and fight with Qin Wan first.

And Qin Wanwan also thought so.

So for a while, the two were chasing each other in the forest, competing for life and death.

Jian Xingzhi not only wanted to outrun her but also blocked her from escaping out of the woods. So he ran into the outer circle, if Qin Wanwan planned to run out, he would block her back in. He had to run and provoke her at the same time, “That big ant bullied me! I’m your person. Don’t you care about me? What kind of woman are you! What kind of master are you!”

“I am not your woman!” Qin Wanwan broke down, “I’m not your master either. Let me go!”

“You stop there! It’s just an ant! Go back and cut off its antennas, then we won’t have to run away!”

“You asshole! That ant is on the highest grade of the Earthly level! You want me to die, don’t you?! You want to kill me, don’t you?!!”

“Isn’t it just chopping off its antennas?!” Jian Xingzhi panted, “Why are you so unpromising?!”

“You are driving me to death, I don’t care about being promising! I haven’t met anything good since I met you! Stay away from me!”

“You think I want to be with you who has no courage or uprightness at all?!”

“You think I want to be with you who has no brain at all!”

The two scolded each other as they ran. They didn’t notice that the Ant King behind them was getting farther and farther away. After a long time, they just heard a loud “bang” behind them. Qin Wanwan and Jian Xingzhi halted and looked back. They saw the Ant King lying soundlessly on the ground.

Fainted.

Footnotes

[1] 你不说话没人把你当哑巴 – When used to interrupt someone, it is with the hope that the other party will stop talking/telling the other to stop talking. ↵

[2] 灾星 – zāi xīng. Someone who always brings bad luck. ↵

[3] 内丹 – nèi dān. Inner Pill. The pill with the inner alchemy (power) of a yao. Longdan is a Dragon Neidan. Probably a typo bc the task said antenna? ↵

[4] Quiet Night Thoughts by Li Bai. [靜夜思 by 李白 (Jìng Yè Sī by Lǐ Bái)] ↵

[5] An Ode to the Goose by Luo Binwang, [咏鹅 by 骆宾王 (Yǒng é by Luò Bīnwáng)] ↵

[6] The Sutra of Purity and Stillness by Anonymous in Tang Dynasty. 太上老君说常清静经 – tài shàng lǎojūn shuō cháng qīngjìng jīng, Translation by Abbot Li Shifu, taken from Five Immortals Website. ↵

Lei’s Corner

JXZ and 666 called the Ant King using “It”.

I layk their banter.

Also, shaddy Bai-daoyu.

Other Romance Novels available in Elysian Pit

The Memory Lost in Space by Tong Hua [Interstellar]

Nanzhao, you are my AAAAANGEEEEEEL

The Villains I Raised All Died by Mo Shu Bai [QT]

Dijun so hensem

Low IQ Supporting Female, Waiting for Death Online by Wei Ke [QT]

Xu Chi bae

The Husband was the Long Aotian by Mo Shu Bai [Transmigration]

I love you *smack Jian Xingzhi* and you *smack Xie Gutang* and you—

The Sword Immortal was My Ex-Boyfriend by Mo Shu Bai [Transmigration]

ZICHEN BABY AHH

Words count (excluding title, footnotes, TL’s corner): 2828