Chapter 14: How unbearable the pain must be?

The jade bed of the spirit boat continuously emitted a faint spiritual energy—cool but not icy—helping the cultivator upon it calm their mind and focus on cultivation.

Yet, Bu Xiwei felt a coldness that pierced to her very bones.

Yu Xiu’s expression remained unchanged, as if she had seen nothing. She merely thanked Bu Xiwei sincerely for actively concealing her aura when Jiang Hanxing had arrived.

Otherwise, with Senior Brother Jiang’s rigidly upright nature and hatred for evil, if he had discovered a venerable figure from the demon world hiding inside the spirit boat, he would most likely have assumed Yu Xiu was being held hostage and would have fought Bu Xiwei to the death—even at the cost of his own life.

Jiang Hanxing was only a newly advanced Golden Core stage cultivator. If the two had fought, he would’ve stood no chance against Bu Xiwei. The only variable in the outcome would have been the degree of his injuries.

Hearing this, Bu Xiwei snorted. “…I’m not clinging to you just to cause you trouble.”

When her thoughts weren’t clouded by excessive emotion, Bu Xiwei was actually very calm and clear-headed.

The sourness and grievances she carried were hard to bear—but compared to Yu Xiu’s safety, they were insignificant.

From the very beginning, Bu Xiwei’s goal had never been some perfect outcome with Yu Xiu. That was impossible. Her core objective had always been to protect Yu Xiu’s safety.

She wanted to watch her with her own eyes as she realized her ideals and ambitions.

Everything else… she could endure.

After all, no matter how painful it was, it couldn’t compare to the agony she had suffered—desperately struggling to survive alone after Yu Xiu’s death in her past life.

Bu Xiwei spoke softly and quickly. An ordinary person, even standing nearby, wouldn’t have caught it clearly.

But with Yu Xiu’s hearing, not a single word was missed.

Yu Xiu: “…”

In her field of vision, Bu Xiwei’s complexion had slightly improved. Yu Xiu lowered her eyes, a faint shadow cast over her pupils.

After nearly ten hours, the spirit boat arrived at Huangshi Town.

According to the information obtained from the soul-searching, there were five demonic path evil cultivators in this den: two in the mid-stage of Qi Refinement, and three in the late-stage.

This level of difficulty was utterly insignificant to Yu Xiu.

Huangshi Town was a densely populated area, bustling with residents. The evil cultivators primarily hunted low-level immortal cultivators who passed through. However, there were no righteous sects stationed nearby. Immortal cultivators rarely came this way, sometimes only once every few months. These five had to wait long stretches between each opportunity.

Bored and impatient, they often turned their attention to the common folk—attacking innocent mortals and making their lives miserable.

Yu Xiu didn’t have to expend much effort to gather information about their whereabouts.

When the townspeople heard that an immortal cultivator had arrived to eliminate demons and defend the righteous path, they were overjoyed. They eagerly provided Yu Xiu with everything they knew.

After calming the agitated crowd, Yu Xiu withdrew and headed toward the location she had deduced would be the most likely place to catch the evil cultivators, listening carefully as the information came in.

As expected, her judgment was spot-on.

In a seemingly ordinary house on the outskirts of town, she found all five of the evil cultivators—not a single one missing.

At that very moment, the five were forcing several townspeople they had kidnapped to offer up all the chicken, duck, fish, and meat from their homes to prepare a grand feast for their “masters.”

It was a typical case of take everything, then erase all traces. After they ate, they had planned to kill everyone and destroy the evidence.

Summoning her natal spiritual sword, Peize, Yu Xiu used only three strikes to deal with the five evildoers.

The townspeople, who had been trembling as they slaughtered chickens and gutted fish, stared at the cultivator who had descended like a savior. Dragged back from the brink of death, they were moved to tears. Several even began kneeling to kowtow.

Yu Xiu quickly stopped them and gently comforted the innocent victims.

Earlier, when she was still gathering intel, Yu Xiu had asked a few locals to report to the officials. She had prepared some loose copper coins as compensation, but the townspeople, hearing she planned to eradicate the evil cultivators, became so enthusiastic that they didn’t let her pay them at all.

Now that the job was done, she waited a while in the house. Soon, the highest-ranking officials in Huangshi Town arrived, respectful and humble before the immortal.

Yu Xiu handed over the kidnapped villagers to them for resettlement and briefly exchanged words with the officials.

She did not accept the thank-you gifts offered with trembling hands.

After confirming that there were no further hidden dangers in the area, Yu Xiu left without hesitation.

The entire operation—from eliminating the enemies, to comforting the victims, to smoothly coordinating with the local officials—was handled with practiced precision. Yu Xiu was composed yet warm, direct yet courteous, without a single misstep.

Bu Xiwei, who had observed everything from beginning to end, noticed the awe and admiration in the eyes of the townspeople and the officials alike.

Crossing her arms, Bu Xiwei felt a little smug.

What was this? She had seen Yu Xiu in even more impressive and charming states!

Throughout Yu Xiu’s operation in Huangshi Town, Bu Xiwei hadn’t lifted a finger—just watched as a pure observer.

These little pests couldn’t even graze Yu Xiu’s shadow.

And for a dignified Demon Lord to move unseen, escaping everyone’s notice but Yu Xiu’s, was as easy as flipping her hand.

From beginning to end, no one discovered there had been another person following Yu Xiu all along.

When Yu Xiu stopped the few kidnapped townspeople from kneeling, Bu Xiwei considered for a moment and decided to search the souls of the five recently slain evil cultivators.

However, even their direct superiors knew little about the “Venerable One’s” plans. These low-level cultists had even less information to offer. They didn’t even know about the existence of the other dens—only that they had been ordered to hunt down low-level immortal cultivators and collect their flesh and blood.

They had died in ignorance, which made Bu Xiwei laugh.

She didn’t know which little bastard from the Han family had come up with such a half-baked plan. For something so sloppy and unrefined to catch any prey at all was like a blind cat stumbling across a dead mouse.

Still, there was one advantage: there was no risk of leaks. But then again, since when did the Han family care about leaks? Even the Gu worms planted in these evil cultivators weren’t particularly advanced.

Rolling her eyes, Bu Xiwei waited until they returned to the spirit boat before telling Yu Xiu what she had found.

When Yu Xiu left Huangshi Town, many townspeople spontaneously knelt on the ground, facing the spirit boat she boarded.

This time, Yu Xiu couldn’t stop them.

The spirit boat swiftly took off. Even when Huangshi Town had become a mere dot in the distance, Yu Xiu’s sharp eyes could still see that the townspeople hadn’t gotten up.

With a soft sigh, she turned and returned to the cabin.

After listening to Bu Xiwei’s report, Yu Xiu frowned and fell into deep thought.

Bu Xiwei, meanwhile, was staring at Yu Xiu, lost in her own thoughts.

Back in Huangshi Town, when Yu Xiu had slain those evil cultivators, Bu Xiwei had noticed something unusual: Yu Xiu’s natal spiritual sword looked slightly different from the one she remembered from her past life.

There weren’t any drastic changes, but Bu Xiwei knew that sword extremely well. Some of the finer details were definitely off.

She furrowed her brows, trying to recall the differences.

Then, a sharp, indescribable pain suddenly stabbed through her mind—like several fine needles piercing her brain at once.

In an instant, her vision went black. Her thoughts became chaotic. Instinctively, she clutched her head, a muffled groan escaping her lips.

Yu Xiu, jolted from her own contemplation by the noise, turned and was startled to see Bu Xiwei’s pained expression.

Demon Lord Bu Xiwei was the undisputed ceiling of combat power in the entire Five Elements Immortal Domain—the strongest cultivator in this world. The higher one’s cultivation realm, the greater their willpower and pain tolerance.

To make even Bu Xiwei suffer like this… just how unbearable must that pain be?

Without hesitation, Yu Xiu quickly stepped to the jade bed, placed her right hand on Bu Xiwei’s shoulder, and transferred her spiritual energy into her.

Normally, the spiritual energy of a Foundation Establishment cultivator wouldn’t affect someone at the Soul Formation stage—and might even backfire.

However, Yu Xiu had already experienced this twice. Whether Bu Xiwei was in her little bird dumpling form or her human form, receiving Yu Xiu’s spiritual energy always brought visible comfort and stabilization.

Even a Bu Xiwei on the verge of Qi Deviation had been brought back this way.

It should help her this time too… right?