Chapter 7

The Moving Flower Palace is located in Yunzhou, and Wuliang Mountain also happens to be here.

But the Moving Flower Palace is not the absolute hegemon of Yunzhou, because they have two powerful neighbors—

The Dali Imperial Family and the Cang Sect!

The Dali Imperial Family needs no introduction; anyone capable of founding a nation is no pushover, even if it's only a small country.

The founding Emperor of Dali, Duan Siping, was a true Celestial being in every sense, dominating many nations with his peerlessly sharp "Six Meridian Divine Swords," rarely meeting a worthy opponent!

Although Duan Siping has vanished for many years, who dares be certain he is dead?

After all, a Celestial being has a basic lifespan of a full two hundred years!

Now let's talk about the Cang Sect.

It is an extremely low-profile faction, but its strength is by no means trivial.

The specifics are unknown, but one can glimpse a thing or two from the fact that even the Dali Imperial Family adopts a conciliatory policy toward it.

Lianxing worried that people from these two major factions might also have obtained a copy of the diary and head to Wuliang Mountain to seek treasure.

If the two sides were to clash and fight, Seeing Yao Yue would be outnumbered and might well suffer a loss.

By contrast, although Mount Emei is in Shuzhou, which borders Yunzhou, the journey is longer, but as far as she knew, there were no experts in that vicinity.

Only one person from the Emei Sect, a man named Dugu Yihe, needed to be watched.

But that was all there was to it.

Seeing Yao Yue told her to go to Mount Emei while she herself went to Wuliang Mountain—clearly looking out for her.

This moved Lianxing somewhat.

Seeing Yao Yue, however, left without looking back, coldly tossing back a single line: "Be good!"

……

Just as Seeing Yao Yue and Lianxing set out, people from all over the world began to move, converging on the locations of the treasures recorded in the diary copies.

Of course, not everyone was like this; among them were those like Xiao Longnu, who were indifferent to external things.

They each held their diary copies, reading the contents—some doubtful, some amazed, some angry, some yearning, some curious, some lost in thought…

Different expressions appeared at the same moment on the faces of these peerlessly elegant, exquisitely charming fairies, holy maidens, witches, and enchantresses.

Suddenly, a heavenly voice rang in their ears.

【Detected that Jiang Sishui has completed today's diary. Congratulations on obtaining one month's worth of Qi】

【Diary copy holder lottery program has been activated】

【Selecting today's winner…】

【Congratulations to Wang Yuyan on obtaining "Truth Water"】

As the words fell, all the women who possessed diary copies felt a stream of Qi appear out of thin air within their bodies.

The quantity and quality of Qi differed for each person—exactly the amount they would gain from a month of bitter cultivation of their own Cultivation Method.

For example: Seeing Yao Yue obtained one month's worth of Jade Bright Art Qi, while Xiao Longnu obtained one month's worth of Jade Maiden Art Qi.

As for those women who had no Wu Gong in their bodies, they felt a stream of Qi appear within them first, only for it to immediately dissipate into nothingness.

This is… gone?!

For a moment, many women sighed in regret.

But even more women's eyes lit up, their hearts wild with joy.

One month of Qi!

Without doing anything, they'd just gained a free month's worth of Qi—didn't that mean from now on, even without cultivating, their Wu Gong progress would be thirty times faster than now?!

"Hiss—"

With this calculation, the women grew increasingly shocked, gaining a deeper appreciation of the mysterious "diary's" power.

If they didn't know that the so-called "golden finger" of transmigrators was bound and couldn't actively harm Jiang Sishui for the first three months, some among them would already have begun planning to seize it.

At the same time, the women's attention all fell on one person—

Wang Yuyan!.

007 Shopkeeper, I've come to ask you… to sacrifice the sword

They were all diary copy holders—why was Wang Yuyan the one chosen?

Was it truly coincidence, or was there some factor that influenced the winning probability?

After all, the name "Wang Yuyan" was far too conspicuous in the first diary entry—in fact, arguably the most conspicuous of all.

Not only was she the "number one female protagonist of Dragon," mentioned multiple times, but also one of the "three women no Wu Xia story can avoid"!

This forced the women to overthink.

……

At the same time, Wang Yuyan, who was sprawled on the embroidered bed in a daze, suddenly had a small porcelain bottle appear in her hand.

Inside was precisely the "Truth Water"!

The moment her hand gripped the bottle, Wang Yuyan understood its purpose.

Whoever drank the "Truth Water" would, within an hour, speak nothing but the truth no matter what others asked; once the effect wore off, they would forget everything completely.

Wang Yuyan's unfocused starry eyes gradually gathered their light. Staring at the small porcelain bottle, she murmured: "With this, I'll be able to know what place I hold in my cousin's heart."

Wang Yuyan's heart was full of anticipation and anxiety, yet her small hand gripped the bottle tightly.

……

Suzhou.

The sky was gradually darkening.

Jiang Sishui knew nothing about the diary copy matter. At this moment, he was carrying a long sword and two roast chickens bought with all his savings, heading home.

Because the world was not at peace, and it was commonplace for jianghu people to kill each other in the street over a single disagreement, he didn't dare linger outside.

Although he wouldn't go looking for trouble, that didn't mean trouble wouldn't come looking for him.

At present, Jiang Sishui still didn't know how strong his beginner-level "Heavenly Sword Drawing Technique" really was, and he was truly unwilling to invite any more complications.

So he only wandered around the neighborhood once before heading back.

Although he hadn't managed to gather enough information, he did overhear two pieces of news.

First, the "Zhenlongqi Society" was about to begin.

Second, within the city of Suzhou, there was an extremely famous escort agency called "Central Plains Escort Agency."

"Zhenlongqi Society… Central Plains Escort Agency…"

After hearing these two pieces of news, Jiang Sishui turned around and headed home.

Because he already had a plan in mind.

After returning home, Jiang Sishui first picked up his long sword and practiced the "Heavenly Sword Drawing Technique" for a while, then grabbed a roast chicken and began gnawing on it in big bites.

First he'd restore his spirit and stamina — soon he was going to do something big!

The night market of the Great Song was bustling. Jiang Sishui hid his long sword beneath his long robe and strolled into the crowd as if nothing were amiss, looking this way and that as though he had no particular destination.

Until the hour grew late and the streets gradually returned to calm.

Before he knew it, Jiang Sishui had arrived in front of a medicine shop.

Knock knock!

Jiang Sishui went up and knocked on the door. After a short while, the sound of footsteps came from inside, accompanied by a wary voice: "Who is it?"

"Shopkeeper Tie, it's me."

"Oh, it's our top scholar Jiang!"

The person inside clearly recognized Jiang Sishui's voice, and his tone relaxed.

Then the side door cracked open a sliver, revealing a pair of small eyes glinting in the darkness.

Shopkeeper Tie curled his lip and teased: "Our top scholar Jiang isn't burning the midnight oil studying tonight — what brings you to my place?"

Jiang Sishui wore an ingratiating, humble smile on his face and explained: "Shopkeeper, I've come to…"

Before he could finish speaking, a cold flash suddenly flared in the dark night, like a bolt of lightning streaking past, vanishing in an instant.

And the flash of light from that moment seemed to have been nothing but an illusion.

"…keep an appointment. Didn't you tell me to come at this hour?"

After saying the second half of his sentence, Jiang Sishui stepped forward as naturally as could be.

He pushed the door, entered the room, turned and closed the shop door behind him.

Everything was so smooth and natural, as though Shopkeeper Tie had personally welcomed him in.

It was only once the shop door had sealed the inside off from the outside that Jiang Sishui finally let his smile fade, drawing his blood-slicked hand away from Shopkeeper Tie's throat.