Living Up to You

Chapter 16

At first, Ling Xi felt a bit guilty that Qing Kui had to use the wine gourd instead of Xianyin sword to get on the journey. After all, everyone looked valiant and formidable flying on a sword. Second senior brother, the one who was the most senior here, had to fly on a ma.s.sive wine gourd was a bit…not matching.

Especially when his wine gourd would throw a temper from time to time. It was it didn"t want to fly anymore or it would fly very fast, making him almost fell off the wine gourd several times. He had lost all respect and face.

Afterwards when Ling Xi thought about it, in fact, it was possible for the wine gourd as second senior brother"s immortal spirit to change into a sword. However, it was obvious that the wine gourd didn"t want to cooperate with second senior brother. Then, he couldn"t blame her for not having a sword. So, there was nothing for her to feel guilty about…

Hence, although Qing Kui would stare resentfully at his Xiangyin sword these few days, but Ling Xi would pretend to not have seen anything. Naturally, she couldn"t bear to change Nan Zhi in a sword and step on him and she didn"t want to use a dried branch. Then…pretend once more to be a fool…

"Juisheng, if you are not obedient again, I will change your name to Juigui!" Qing Kui sat under a big tree and educated his immortal spirit with indignation. "No, it wouldn"t be enough to just change your name! If you are not obedient again, when we return to Cangjia Mountain, I will tear you into pieces and throw you in the stove to refine!"

Ling Xi watched this not far away with her chin in her hand. She felt that her Nan Zhi was still very good. He didn"t like to bother with people, but after some time, he was a lot more obedient than in the beginning unlike senior brother Qing Kui"s immortal spirit. She remembered that three years ago, this wine gourd was still very obedient. He often took it out to show off. She had envied it very much. What had happened in these three years that when it threw a temper, it was even more difficult to deal with than Nan Zhi?

That is not right. That is not right. Her Nan Zhi is no ordinary immortal spirit. How could she compare him with a wine gourd…?

Ling Xi raised her hand and was about to touch the Chinese rose in her hair, but it happened that Qing Kui just casted her a glare at the moment. She quickly retrieved her gaze, took out the water jug on her waist, handed it to Qing Lian as she said, "Senior sister, have a drink."

"No need. Thanks."

Qing Lian acted very indifferent. Ling Xi"s hand stopped in mid air. It was a bit awkward. Xue Ran quickly said, "I happened to be thirsty. Thank you junior uncle."

"I will go look for Qing Nian." Qing Lian coldly turned and went deep into the forest, leaving only Ling Xi and Xue Ran.

Ling Xi smiled awkwardly at Xue Ran. Xue Ran moved closer to Ling Xi and whispered, "Master, she…junior uncle, don"t take it to the heart."

Ling Xi got gooseb.u.mps every time she heard this "junior uncle" and quickly said, "Big sister Xue Ran, in the future, when I and you talk, I will still call you big sister Xue Ran and you should call me Ling Xi. Anyway, you are senior brother Qing Nian"s big sister. It feels…very strange that you call me junior uncle."

Ling Xi continued to smile awkwardly. Xue Ran nodded and said, "Then, you also don"t call me big sister. Just call me Xue Ran, alright?"

"Xue Ran," Ling Xi"s smile relaxed a lot.

"Ling Xi, master usually treats people very well. It"s all…" Xue Ran"s face was full of guilt. Three years ago, if it wasn"t because she was worried that Qing Nian would enter the ways of the devil and let Ling Xi take her out of that cave, perhaps, all the things that happened afterwards wouldn"t have happened…

"It is all my fault. If that matter didn"t happen…"

"I don"t blame you, Xue Ran." Ling Xi held her hand and said sincerely, "No one is to blame for this matter. Let"s not mention it anymore in the future, alright?"

For the death of eldest senior brother, she had blamed herself, had blamed junior uncle Cang Hai, had blamed master and had blamed those devilish creatures. In the end, she had discovered that she could blame no one.

Countless of incidentally matters became the inevitable in the end. The initiator of those incidentally matters shouldn"t bear all responsibility of the inevitable.

Xue Ran looked at Ling Xi whose appearance had changed a lot in three years. She (XR)  felt that not only did her (LX) appearance change, her eyes were also hiding something and she definitely couldn"t be compared to the past her.

"Right, the supremo let me give you this." Xue Ran took out a small blue and white porcelain bottle from her purse of tail feathers. "The supremo said that your mortal body is too weak and you were confined too long at Xuw.a.n.g Cliff. Suddenly you had to eat in the wind and sleep outdoors. Your body may feel unwell. If you want to complete the task he gave you at the Four Immortals" a.s.sociation, you need to take a pill daily."

Ling Xi took the bottle and sniffed it curiously.

"Earlier master was here. I was afraid that she would be angry, so…," Xue Ran apologized.

Ling Xi quickly said with a smile, "It"s the same if I start taking one today."

As Ling Xi spoke, she stuffed one in her mouth. She vaguely felt that the taste was a bit familiar, but she didn"t think much about it. However, she was a bit curious as to why master didn"t let Qing Kui or Qing Nian give her this pill.

"Hey, bad wine gourd, where are you going?!"

Before Ling Xi could think carefully about that, she was distracted by Qing Kui"s roar. She saw that a wine gourd named "Juisheng" spun and flew into woods. Qing Kui chased closely behind it.

Ling Xi was about to laugh when she suddenly felt that this sunlight in this forest had suddenly become dark.

"Ling Xi…," Xue Ran also noticed that something was wrong. She held Ling Xi"s hand and pulled her (LX) behind her (XR) to protect her (LX).

Ling Xi felt a warmth in her heart. She turned her hand and held Xue Ran"s and her other hand stroked the slightly agitated Chinese rose in her hair. Before she had said to Nan Zhi unless she summoned him or the situation was and emergency, Nan Zhi couldn"t show himself easily.

Qing Kui"s cultivation was far above hers. The immortal spirit that he had raised for centuries couldn"t shape shift into a person yet. That hairpin of senior sister Qing Lian that shape shifted into a human, could only do that for a short period of time and with the help of Qing Lian. If she let others know that Nan Zhi only used three years to wake up from spiritual consciousness and able to shape shift into a person…

Ling Xi had always felt uneasy about that and afraid that Nan Zhi would be treated as a monster just like her when she was crusaded because she was able to let ten thousand snow lotuses grow from her palm…

"There is demonic aura…," Xue Ran whispered.

Above the huge forest, the sun suddenly hid behind the thick clouds. Dark clouds shrouded the sky above the woods as if they would break from the sky and come down the next moment.

Ling Xi knew her capability and took the initiative to stay behind Xue Ran.

From the forest suddenly emerged a sharp laughter, "Two lovely beauty"s skin…hahaha…"

"Bone-eating demon!" Xue Ran"s heart thumped very hard. She said solemnly, "Ling Xi, when you see an opportunity, leave with Xiangyin sword."

Bone-eating demon eats bones and retain the skin. In the past two years, it appeared frequently in the human realm. It specially attacks beautiful women in the human realm, swallowing their flesh and bones and leaving the beauty skin.

A year ago, Qing Nian was sent down the mountain to capture it and returned defeated. Xue Ran feels that if even Qing Nian couldn"t defeat it, now that only she and Ling Xi were left, they are certainly not its opponent.

Ling Xi had heard about fox demon, snake demon and flower demon, but she had never heard about bone-eating demon. She felt that it was such a coincidence that this demon would immediately appear right when senior brother Qing Nian went to explore the path, senior sister Qing Lian went after him and senior brother Qing Kui chased after the wine gourd. It was apparent that it had been following them for a long time and came prepared.

Even if she escaped from this open s.p.a.ce with the Xiangyin sword, she doesn"t know what is waiting for her in the forests. She might as well stay with Xue Ran and have a fight with this demon!

"The voice is harsh and unpleasant to the ears. Presumably, it is also so ugly that it can"t show its face. That is why it didn"t dare to show up for such a long time!" Ling Xi intentionally ridiculed.

Xue Ran shook her head at her. She didn"t want to get the bone-eating demon angry. Ling Xi looked at her firmly and nodded. Face to face was better than the enemy being in the dark and they be in the open.

"Little cheap wench, the cultivation is not great but the mouth is sharp! See how I will tear your cheap mouth first!"

Ling Xi only felt that the dark clouds above the forest suddenly fell down. The leaves seemed to turn into daggers. They whizzed across her ears and cut her skin. She let Xue Ran"s hand go and while she was at it push her (XR) away. She saw that a big black hand with a sharp murderous force came at her from the dark sky.

The expression of Xue Ran who had been pushed aside by her changed greatly. She chanted a seal, wanting to block the big black hand. Before she finished chanting the seal, she saw that thin five fingers of Ling Xi clasped the black wrist and pulled it back hard.

"The only thing that Ling Xi had been praised for by big brother was that Ling Xi has great strength!"

Ling Xi clasped that wrist fiercely. That hand immediately turned into black vine and clung to her hand, seemingly wanting to wrap her whole body and pull her over.

Seeing this, Xue Ran hurriedly pushed out the finished seal.

The blue sky appeared as the demon screamed. Ling Xi pulled out Xiangyin sword and was about to cut the demon!

The demonic aura was so great in the forest. Ling Xi"s sword didn"t cut it yet when she was forced to fly far away by the demonic aura. Xue Ran also fell to the ground. She was anxious about what to do if the demon wanted to follow up a victory and press home the attack when she saw that the dark clouds in the forest huddled around the black hand and wriggled into an old and wrinkled woman.

"You are Ling Xi?" The old woman grinned sinister. She looked at Ling Xi with shining eyes.

Ling Xi used her all to summon a seal and throw it out. Unfortunately, the attack was very weak. The old woman broke the seal with a light touch of a crutch, making a silver light scatter. Xue Ran who was not far away raised her sword at the same time. She gathered her power, pointed the sword at the old demon"s heart and threw the sword over!

Xue Ran entered the sect half a year later than Ling Xi and it had only been a matter of three years that she officially started to cultivate at Shuimai Peak. Although, her innate talent was not bad, but it wasn"t much higher than ordinary people. During these three years, she had only learned the entry-level spells. Because she had a gentle nature and Qing Lian like that very much, hence, she (QL) took her (XR) with her.

Therefore, even thought the sword was thrown very accurately, but it wasn"t deep enough. The demonic aura of the old demon made the sword bounce back and it happened to hit Xue Ran.

Ling Xi"s eyes deepened and clenched Xiangyin sword. She and the sword once again flew to the old demon"s chest! The old demon actually got very excited when she saw this. The deep wrinkles pulled out an unsightly smile. She didn"t dodge and her eyes shone when she stared at Xiangyin sword.

Ling Xi could guess what she was thinking. Suddenly she turned her body and threw Xiangyin sword out. The old demon ran after Xiangyin sword without thinking.

Xiangyin sword is a once in a century treasured sword. Its spiritual aura is compelling on itself. It flew around in the forest. The old demon seemed to be afraid of damaging it, so, she didn"t dare to use brute force and just kept chasing after it.

Ling Xi quickly ran to Xue Ran. She saw that she (XR) fainted from being hit by that sword. She knew that she couldn"t make them escape successfully. She put two fingers in her mouth and blew a loud whistle. She only hoped that one of her three seniors are close and can hurry back!

This whistle also sobered the old demon. She didn"t chase after Xiangyin sword anymore. She landed steadily with her crutch in front of Ling Xi and Xue Ran.

"Are you Ling Xi?" She asked strangely again.

Ling Xi bit her lip, held Xue Ran and restrained herself from shaking.

"I heard that Cangjia"s eldest disciple"s immortal souls got dispersed and his mortal parts got scattered because of you. Sure enough, your skin (beauty) is not bad…" The old demon"s five dry fingers touched Ling Xi"s face, causing her (LX) to get gooseb.u.mps all over her body.

"Huh…," The old demon raised Ling Xi"s chin and looked left and right. She got closer to Ling Xi. Ling Xi felt a foul smell. She didn"t want to face that deep wrinkled face and closed her eyes.

"You look somewhat familiar…" The old demon"s finger stopped at Ling Xi"s left face and didn"t want to put it down. She suddenly laughed, "It"s actually a thousand year old skin. Hahaha…"

The old demon"s hand suddenly grabbed Ling Xi"s neck. Xue Ran who had been leaning on Ling Xi fell on the ground. Ling Xi"s breathing tightened. The weight of her whole body gathered on the neck that was grabbed by the old demon. At the same time, her whole body turned cold and Nan Zhi"s aura became more and more heavy.

Ling Xi struggled to keep her eyes open. Seeing that the old demon stared at her face enviously. Sharpness flashed through her (demon) eyes. Her gaze turned and stared at her (LX) hair. The excitement grew.

"Spiritual object…" The old demon grinned sinister. The hand that grabbed Ling Xi tightened and pulled her closer. Her other hand reached out for the black Chinese rose in Ling Xi"s hair.