Chapter 140: The Second Encounter Between Suannai and Qingcai

The lights in the bathroom were as bright as day.

Chen Shu stood before the mirror, quietly locking eyes with himself in the reflection, examining himself carefully.

Looking at his appearance, and also inspecting his inner self.

The gaze of the man in the mirror was completely serene.

The inner heart of the man outside the mirror was also completely serene.

Spiritual Sense is a mysterious thing, profound and subtle. Spiritual Sense perceiving a person's change in gaze is definitely not through the changes in facial or eye muscles; it is more likely related to the changes in that person's inner emotions at the time, and for those with profound cultivation, it may even involve more mysterious principles.

Fortunately—

Chen Shu's acting skills were only average, but when it came to his mindset, there were probably very few people in the world who could surpass him.

It's just a matter of a calm heart!

Chen Shu's heart was very calm right now, still as stagnant water.

Thinking of nothing.

Too lazy to think of anything.

A salted fish mindset.

At this moment, Meng Chunqiu passed by outside, tilted his head to look at him, and couldn't help but feel a bit strange:

"Brother Chen, what is the meaning of this?"

"I am practicing controlling my gaze and emotions. I've heard that wild animals possessing a Beast Bloodline have an innate ability to sense danger. If a hunter reveals obvious killing intent, they might be detected by them in advance," Chen Shu said solemnly, still staring at the mirror.

"So that's it. I thought you were admiring your own appearance, Brother Chen," Meng Chunqiu laughed. "I was thinking, with your looks, Brother Chen, you certainly wouldn't be so obsessed with admiring yourself."

"?"

Chen Shu slowly turned his head and said to him, "You don't know a damn thing! I am the most handsome man in the world!"

"Brother Chen is truly humorous."

"..."

Chen Shu silently closed the door.

This idiot, it's one thing to lack talent in poetry, but he also lacks the eye to appreciate beauty.

Good for nothing.

After a while, Chen Shu left the bathroom, sat on the sofa, and opened the Ancient Cultivation Group.

Qingcai Keke: @GrandmaAlwaysSays

Qingcai Keke: When are you going to Qingshan Ridge to participate in the Hunting Festival?

GrandmaAlwaysSays:?

GrandmaAlwaysSays: Want to go with me?

Qingcai Keke: I'm just asking.

GrandmaAlwaysSays: When are you going?

Qingcai Keke: You say first.

GrandmaAlwaysSays: You say first.

Qingcai Keke: You say first /cute

GrandmaAlwaysSays: You say first /despise

Qingcai Keke: I haven't decided whether to go or not yet.

GrandmaAlwaysSays: /suspect

Qingcai Keke: /cute

GrandmaAlwaysSays: What are you afraid of?

Qingcai Keke: Afraid of danger.

GrandmaAlwaysSays: /smirk

Qingcai Keke: I'm not going.

GrandmaAlwaysSays: /smirk

Qingcai Keke: /smirk

Nameless Person: /confused

Door of All Wonders:???

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Amitabha, what kind of riddle are you two donors playing?

GrandmaAlwaysSays: This is a battle of wits; it's normal for a master's wooden-fish brain not to figure it out.

Qingcai Keke: That makes sense.

Haoran: /eating melon seeds

Chen Shu put down his Mobile Phone.

He felt that Zhang Suannai was becoming increasingly suspicious of him; he probably wouldn't be able to hide it for many more days.

Daily Cultivation.

March 12th.

According to the small camera installed near Zhang Suannai, Zhang Suannai went out early again today, and he didn't know where she went. Chen Shu speculated that this person had come to Yujing Academy again to stake out him and Brother Meng.

So, when he went out for class, he took Brother Meng through the back door, agreed to eat at another cafeteria after class, and took the back door on the way back as well.

Meng Chunqiu was very happy about this, feeling that Brother Chen was exceptionally close to him today.

Returned and packed the things needed for the Hunting Festival.

Daily Cultivation.

Chen Shu lay on the bed and fell into a deep sleep, having survived another day.

……

March 13th.

Zhang Suannai woke up from her bed.

She had another dream last night, a rather absurd one.

In the dream, she and Qingcai Keke went out to meet in person, and because she claimed to be a student at Yujing Academy, that silly Qingcai suggested they meet at Yujing Academy.

For some reason, she didn't raise any objections.

How infuriating!

If she had been awake, she definitely would have objected and insisted on changing the location to Ling'an Academy!

So, in the dream, she went to Yujing Academy to keep the appointment.

When they met, neither side could find the other, and after fumbling around for quite a while, they realized the other person was right beside them.

Standing face to face, both fell into silence.

Immediately, Qingcai Keke accused her first, blaming her for being a girl, and she immediately bit back, asking him why he was a boy.

After finally calming down, that silly Qingcai suggested she take him around the school.

However, Zhang Suannai wasn't actually from Yujing Academy, so she had to lead him in circles around Yujing Academy. What was even more speechless was that she had to introduce things to him along the way; she had to point at the administrative building and call it a Teaching Building, and point at the girls' Dormitory and call it the boys' Dormitory.

By noon, that silly Qingcai asked her to take him to the canteen to eat.

Zhang Suannai walked in silence for a long time, winding here and there, and when the path became blocked, she looked up and realized they had arrived at the entrance of the Sports Field.

She vaguely remembered the final part of the dream—

That silly Qingcai, whose face she couldn't see clearly, pointed at her: "You liar! You aren't a student of Yujing Academy at all! You are a person full of lies!"

Before Zhang Suannai could retort, the dream ended.

She was absolutely furious.

After waking up, she sat on the bed, sulking for a long time, and even tried lying back down to sleep again to continue the dream so she could retort, but she found she couldn't fall asleep no matter what, which made her even angrier.

That silly Qingcai, even in her dreams, he was trying to anger her.

Zhang Suannai suppressed the urge to find him and hack him to death, took two long breaths, and then looked at the clock.

It was almost seven o'clock.

Ring-a-ling~~

Oh, it's already seven.

Zhang Suannai turned off the alarm, rolled over, and got out of bed.

Today was the opening of Yujing's annual Hunting Festival, and she naturally wanted to join in the fun. Not to mention whether it was fun or not, this was also her largest source of income for the year, aside from the money her sect sent and the red envelopes she swindled from her senior brothers and sisters using her master's Flying Letter account during the New Year.

Zhang Suannai was very enthusiastic about this.

She washed up;

Went to the canteen to buy breakfast, and brought a portion for her roommate while she was at it;

Tidied up and went out;

Because she had a Space Artifact, Zhang Suannai didn't have any big bags or luggage; she traveled light, scanned a shared car outside the school, and drove directly toward the village at the foot of Qingshan Ridge.

According to the news, these villages had been suffering from Sword Pigs, but at other times, Sword Pigs were protected and could not be hunted at will.

Today was different.

Zhang Suannai had come once last year, so she was familiar with the route this time.

As she approached the village, many people blocked the road to ask if she was there to participate in the Hunting Festival. If you answered yes, they would hand you a business card, hoping you would sell the Sword Pigs you caught to them, offering a good price.

Last year she was too naive and afraid these people were scammers, so she only took one business card; later, when she wanted to sell, she had no way to compare prices and lost quite a bit.

In fact, these were all people from slaughterhouses.

This year, Zhang Suannai accepted business cards the whole way, collecting over a dozen, and asked them for rough prices while accepting them.

Some answered, while others were vague and refused to say clearly.

For the latter, Zhang Suannai threw the business cards away directly.

Currently, the retail price of farmed Sword Pigs in supermarkets was about fifty yuan per jin; this was the price for clean meat. In reality, there were layers of profit-taking, and the profit margin for Sword Pigs was very high. Plus, there were many parts of the pig that weren't worth much, so the ex-farm price of a Sword Pig, calculated as a whole pig, might only be twenty-something yuan per jin.

Wild Sword Pigs weren't much more expensive than farmed ones.

With the recent Hunting Festival, a lot of wild Sword Pig meat would flow into the market, and the price would be impacted, basically offsetting the wild premium.

These merchants only bought live pigs and didn't take partial cuts; the quoted price was usually around twenty-something yuan per jin, with large fluctuations between different merchants, which was not standardized at all.

And only live pigs fetched this price.

Because Yiguo law stipulated that slaughterhouses could only accept live animals with slaughter qualifications, and they had to pass quarantine inspection before they could be sold. Live Sword Pigs caught during the Hunting Festival had to be registered for a number before they could be temporarily kept if they weren't slaughtered immediately.

If a hunter accidentally killed a Sword Pig during the hunt, they either had to take it back to eat or give it away, or sell it at a low price to slaughterhouses that dared to accept dead pigs; those slaughterhouses would put in more effort to sell them off.

Zhang Suannai kept three that offered higher prices, then closed the car window and accelerated toward the village.

After passing through the village, the car could drive a bit further along a dirt road; once they reached the foot of the mountain, the road ended there.

There was an open space here, already full of cars.

Most were off-road vehicles and pickup trucks.

Zhang Suannai looked around, couldn't find an empty spot, and so very casually parked in front of someone else's car—she figured these people were all here for the Hunting Festival, so they should be able to move a one or two-ton car, right?

She got out, locked the car, and returned it.

All in one go.

Zhang Suannai put away her Mobile Phone and looked up at the cold stone path before her.

At the end of the stone path were rolling green mountains, lush with vegetation, covered in a thin mist on this early deep-spring morning; the deep mountains were like the dwelling of immortals, and in fact, there were indeed reclusive Cultivators living inside.

People were walking into the mountain in a steady stream.

Some carried a Sword or blade, some carried long bows, some led hunting dogs, and some carried various tools for setting traps, looking very professional.

Few people act alone and travel as light as she does; most people carry large and small bags of things.

Zhang Suannai looked down at herself again.

Dark gray skinny jeans—they were full-length pants, but because her legs were too long, they became cropped pants—a pair of sneakers, a white cotton short-sleeved T-shirt, and a blue and white jacket on the outside; she was in the prime of her youth, looking more like a schoolgirl out for an excursion than a hunter.

"Hey!"

I am the most beautiful!

Zhang Suannai took a step forward.

Just as she stepped onto the small path, she heard the sound of pigs coming from the mountain, squealing very miserably.

Who knows how many Sword Pigs are about to meet their doom at the hands of humans.

Suddenly, a greeting came from behind: "Little sister, are you alone?"

Zhang Suannai looked back.

It was a few young people, looking to be in their twenties, four men and one woman; the men held long bows, knives, and swords in their hands and carried hiking backpacks, while the girl only carried a small bag; the person who had spoken earlier was looking at her curiously.

"Yeah..."

Zhang Suannai answered with a smile, instantly knowing that her chance to show off had arrived, so she scratched her head in embarrassment, pretending to be naive: "I heard there's a Hunting Festival recently and wanted to come join the fun, but I asked my roommates to come, and they wouldn't, so I had to come by myself..."

"You didn't bring anything?"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to bring..."

"Then you're really bold!"

The young man twitched the corner of his mouth and looked the girl up and down again, unable to help but swallow his saliva in secret.

The figure of the girl in front of him was truly stunning; her legs were long and straight, and just looking at her back earlier had left them all fascinated. Now that she had turned around, her appearance was even prettier than they had imagined, but if she wasn't a big shot, then she was an idiot for coming to Qingshan Ridge dressed like this.

What a pity, she looks so good, but turns out to be an idiot.

The young man took two more looks at the girl and urged: "Then remember to just walk around the outside and watch the fun before heading back. It's very dangerous inside, and there are many poisonous insects, snakes, and rodents. If you go in without any preparation, you might encounter danger!"

"Eh? What about you guys?"

"Us? We're obviously going in to hunt Sword Pigs!" the young man said, "How about we add each other on social media? If we have a harvest later, I can send you two pictures for you to post on your social feed."

"No... no need."

"Then forget it, goodbye, little sister!"

"..."

Zhang Suannai watched them leave blankly and scratched her head.

Shouldn't the correct script be: these people see that she is beautiful and innocent and weak, so they decide to take her along to add fun to the hunting process, and then when they are in a panic while hunting Sword Pigs, she steps out and displays her might, defeating the enemy in one move and stunning them all?

Or: they see she is alone, and after reaching the deep mountains and old forests, they develop lecherous intentions and speak frivolously to her, but they never expected that this seemingly delicate girl is actually a peerless genius of the Sword Sect, and she knocks them all down in one go?

"Emmm..."

Zhang Suannai was a little unwilling, so she still followed this group, following quietly to see if she could force a show-off—

When they encounter a group of Sword Pigs and are in crisis, she will pretend to pass by inadvertently and perform a "beauty saves the trash."

Zhang Suannai even thought of her lines for that moment:

"Eh, isn't this you guys?

"What a coincidence!

"What? Danger? Ha, what's dangerous about Sword Pigs! Can't you slap one to death with one palm?

"Wow, so many Sword Pigs! Ten Thousand Swords Return to Sect!

"Ah? How to carry so many Sword Pigs down? It's fine, I have a super large Space Artifact, you guys can come and snatch it if you want..."

Thinking of this, Zhang Suannai couldn't even help but giggle.

However, she soon discovered—

These people look like trash, and they indeed are trash, but they have self-awareness and also have some hunting experience. They don't go deep, and it looks like they only pick on solitary or straggling Sword Pigs, and they even set traps.

Damn it, Cultivators setting traps while hunting!

Phew!

Shameful!

With her wish unfulfilled, Zhang Suannai clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and finally left this group of trash Cultivators, walking toward the depths of Qingshan Ridge.

Based on years of experience and guides read online, it is known that although there are many people at the Hunting Festival, most participants are just here to join the fun; they only gather on the outskirts of Qingshan Ridge and will not be too far from the few entrances. Sword Pigs naturally avoid human settlements during their daily activities, and coming down the mountain to forage is a last resort. Coupled with the fact that a large number of human Cultivators pour in after the Hunting Festival begins, it forces them to flee further into the depths, so the outskirts of Qingshan Ridge are destined to be just a playground for those dabblers.

"Swish!"

Zhang Suannai jumped from the canopy of one tree to another and quickly climbed to the top of the mountain behind the village.

Looking into the distance, the mountains before her were layer upon layer, undulating like waves. It was noon, and the sunlight had long since dispersed the mountain mist, but the depths of the continuous green mountains were still shrouded in dense fog that the eyes could not penetrate, and the boundaries could not be seen.

Before her was a steep slope leading straight to the bottom of the mountain.

Zhang Suannai withdrew her gaze, leaped down, jumped dozens of meters away, and then her body fell lightly toward the bottom of the mountain like a falling leaf.

After crossing a mountain peak, the surroundings suddenly became much quieter.

The Sword Pigs of Qingshan Ridge were indeed rampant—

Zhang Suannai had only taken a few steps when she heard movement not far away; listening carefully, it seemed to be a Sword Pig running toward her in a panic, and at the same time, more faint footsteps could be heard.

Zhang Suannai stopped.

She held her breath and focused, sensing carefully.

She adjusted her stance.

Before long, a huge black figure rushed out from the grass above.

It was wild and sturdy, with a sharp snout and a large body, high-arched shoulders, hair like needles, tusks like thorns, and a row of bone swords growing on its spine. At the same time, Zhang Suannai also saw Spirit Power arrows stuck in its body, with blood flowing out.

It was clearly fleeing for its life.

This Sword Pig must weigh more than half a ton; running at full speed, it seemed to carry the force of ten thousand jun when it rushed out of the grass, and I fear even a Four-stage Martial Artist could not stop it.

But just as it rushed out of the grass, it widened its eyes.

A female Wise Human stood before it, one hand raised, five fingers spread, that tender, white, slender palm precisely gripping its tusks!

Immediately, a massive force surged forth!

"Boom!"

The Sword Pig's massive body traced an arc in the air before crashing heavily onto the ground, smashing a pit into the earth.

Then, a fair, tender fist struck!

"Bang!"

The Sword Pig fainted instantly.

Zhang Suannai reached out and drew a large circle in the air, causing a void larger than the diameter of the Sword Pig's body to appear, leading to an unknown expanse; she then gripped the Sword Pig's tusks and hoisted the beast up.

"In you go!"

The Sword Pig was tossed into the void.

The space closed.

At least twenty or thirty thousand in the bag.

Zhang Suannai clapped her hands.

Ten seconds or so later.

Three burly men rushed out of the grass, but the Sword Pig was nowhere to be seen; instead, they saw a young girl with a high ponytail, a hot figure, and form-fitting clothes, walking slowly with her left hand in her pocket and her right hand cracking melon seeds.

"Miss! Have you seen an exceptionally sturdy Sword Pig?"

"Ptoo..."

Zhang Suannai turned her head to spit out a seed shell and pointed to the right.

"Many thanks!"

"Ptoo... you're welcome."

Zhang Suannai kept a calm expression, continued cracking seeds, and walked forward; only after walking a few steps did she quietly turn her head to glance at the three of them.

Seeing them walk away, she raised an eyebrow and looked up at the sky—

The sun was high, and it was getting a bit hot.

Her stomach also began to growl.

Zhang Suannai used the same method to take out a compressed biscuit and a bottle of milk bought by Ning Qing; this was her lunch for today.

The afternoon passed quickly.

Zhang Suannai had already caught six Sword Pigs, a much richer harvest than last year.

During last year's Hunting Festival, she was only at the Fourth Rank Peak; although with her talent and the Sword Sect inheritance, fighting a Sword Pig was no problem at all, it was still very difficult to catch up to and knock out a Sword Pig in the deep mountains and old forests.

She had even borrowed a hunting dog from her grand-nephew last year.

The sun set behind the western mountains.

Zhang Suannai prepared to leave Qingshan Ridge, sell these six Sword Pigs, eat a meal and sleep one night in a nearby small town, then come back early tomorrow morning.

She would never stay in here all night to hunt.

But just as she took two steps, she smelled a strange fragrance; she couldn't help but twitch her nose and look toward where the scent was coming from.

"What the hell... making it smell so good!

"Damn it, are they here to hunt?

"Are they here for a picnic?"

Zhang Suannai decided to go over and investigate, and if it was appropriate, she would shamelessly ask for some to eat.