Chapter 21
Chapter 21
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: First Steps into the Jianghu (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Seoran arrived at the river after walking along the mountain path.
The river, swollen from the downpour, was a thick ochre color.
She looked around and spotted a wooden bridge nearby.
Unfortunately, it was broken off from the middle.
She really didn't want to step into that muddy water.
So Seoran transformed into a fan-crested pheasant.
The crown-like feathers on her head were truly charming.
She lightly flew across the river.
While enjoying the flight, she heard the cry of crows.
Caw caw—the flock of crows swarmed and attacked Seoran.
Seoran was utterly baffled.
Crows attacking a bird of prey?
Relying on their numbers to act tough?
How ridiculous!
Fist techniques were a luxury for mere birds.
Elegant kicks were more than enough.
The crows kicked away tumbled down one after another.
While she was at it, she raided their nest.
She plundered every last one of their shiny collectibles.
There were even a few precious glass beads.
Mercifully, she left the eggs untouched.
"Don't act up again."
Seoran, back in human form, said as she pocketed the tribute money.
Then she hopped down from the tree.
It was time to hit the road again.
Not long after, she left the mountains and arrived at a city.
The city nestled against wide plains and the river.
It was ideal terrain for human habitation.
The checkpoint couldn't block an invisible person.
Seoran released her concealment technique in an alley.
Then she naturally blended into the crowd.
She couldn't have done this in a mountain village.
In such closed societies, strangers stood out.
Especially a girl traveling alone through beast-infested mountains looked highly suspicious.
But in a city with heavy foot traffic like this, it was no problem.
Seoran began snacking in earnest.
She had travel money from leaving the Black Bamboo Sect.
Plenty of thumb-sized silver nuggets.
She bought some chicken skewers and handed over a silver nugget, receiving a heap of copper coins in change.
With her bulging money pouch at her waist, she strolled through the market.
Seoran headed toward increasingly crowded areas.
Then, she suddenly sniffed the air.
"What's this smell?"
It was a strange odor she'd never encountered before.
Not fragrant at all.
If she had to classify it, it was close to a stench.
Had someone dumped food waste on the street?
No, she'd never smelled it before in her life?
What on earth was it?
Seoran asked a man passing by.
"Excuse me, do you smell anything weird around here?"
"Smell? Just food smells to me."
Wondering if it was a gender difference, she asked a woman too.
But the woman seemed clueless as well.
No one else noticed the stench.
Anyone besides me?
Something clicked, and Seoran activated her Spirit Eye Technique.
Then she saw something murky like smoke.
It clung to people and drifted in the air.
The source of the stench was Turbid Qi.
Turbid Qi was Spirit Qi that had stagnated and rotted.
Spirit Qi corrupts if it doesn't flow.
The best place for it to stagnate was usually inside living creatures.
All creatures consume something to survive.
Predators and prey alike were steeped in Turbid Qi from the start.
Thus, the longer one lived, the thicker the Turbid Qi became.
If one had a Spirit Root, cultivation could wash away the Turbid Qi.
Polishing body and mind to let Spirit Qi flow smoothly.
Then the Turbid Qi would be cleansed, replaced by pure Spirit Qi.
But mortals were different.
As they aged and ate, Turbid Qi kept building up.
Eventually, filling the body, it began seeping out.
If the seeping Turbid Qi was minimal, it would be purified by ambient Spirit Qi.
But exceed the self-purification limit, and it reversed.
Now the Turbid Qi corrupted even the surrounding Spirit Qi.
That was why Seoran hadn't sensed Turbid Qi in the mountain village.
The Turbid Qi from just dozens of people was quickly purified by the mountains' abundant Spirit Qi.
Too few people.
Cities were different.
Dense populations in confined spaces generated massive Turbid Qi.
Exceeding self-purification, it engulfed the city.
In cultivation, an environment heavy with Turbid Qi was fatal.
Orthodox sects didn't hole up in mountains for self-sufficiency without reason.
Cultivators inevitably had to distance themselves from mortals.
Seoran was appalled by the Turbid Qi filling her vision.
Just breathing seemed to shorten her lifespan.
Of course, a Foundation Establishment cultivator could handle some Turbid Qi.
Pure orthodox spiritual power instantly purified any that entered the body.
But it was purely a matter of mood.
The bustling market-goers suddenly felt like tuna loaded with heavy metals.
Her appetite plummeted.
Seoran fasted for about a day.
*****
Seoran savored the meat dumplings deliciously.
Of course, this food was full of Turbid Qi too.
But in her past life, she'd eaten junk food just fine.
With Pure Earth Spiritual Power, what was a little Turbid Qi?
It was just a mood thing—nothing actually harmful to the body.
She just wouldn't use the Spirit Eye Technique.
Being overly sensitive only tired her out.
Blunt people lived more comfortably anyway.
Seoran was happy right now.
Then she overheard two men at the next table conversing.
"What, a yokai? You been drinking since morning or what?"
"No, for real! Some huge lizard scraped up the bottom of my ferryboat!"
"Lizard? Where?"
"Saw it upriver. No lie, it was bigger than my ferryboat!"
"Bullshit."
Frustrated that his friend didn't believe him, the young man squirmed.
But it was fine.
Seoran believed him instead of the friend.
Time for me to step in.
Seoran nodded to herself and stood up.
She swallowed the two remaining meat dumplings in one bite.
It was time for genius Single Spirit Root cultivator Ryu Seoran to take the stage.
Seoran rode Stone Lotus straight upriver.
She was using the Spirit Eye Technique to search for the yokai.
And she found something.
A house-sized lizard sat by the riverbank.
Its sharp scales glinting as it tore into something.
It looked truly ferocious.
Unleashing her Earth Divine Power, the lizard was sucked into the ground.
Seoran appeared before the yokai with only its head protruding.
Strict judgment would soon commence.
Cannibal yokai, sentence: execution!
Seoran looked at the victim.
A massive freshwater fish lay gruesomely dead.
Seoran's momentum deflated sharply.
It wasn't eating a person after all.
The fish was so big, she mistook it for one.
What now? She'd been furious for sure.
Embarrassed, Seoran hastily dug the lizard out.
The lizard stood on its hind legs and brushed the dirt off with its hands.
It glared at Seoran with a "What the hell are you?" expression.
"Croak, croak!"
It looked like a lizard but croaked like a frog.
Hearing the cry awakened dormant knowledge in Seoran's memory.
The written exam for the Outing Permit covered diverse topics on worldly conduct.
The most common were legal issues.
Clashes with other sects' cultivators due to ignorance would be troublesome.
Occasionally, there were questions on yokai, spirit beasts, and spirit herbs.
Few memorized that far, but Seoran, aiming for perfect score, had studied it.
The lizard's identity: Diamond Lake Toad.
In plain terms, a lake lizard with tough scales.
Habitat: naturally, calm freshwater lakes.
Favorite food: freshwater fish.
Temperament: mild and laid-back.
They usually lived at the bottom of deep lakes, hard to encounter.
Naturally, they didn't attack humans first.
They hid instead.
Uniquely, they loved shiny objects.
Seoran immediately pulled out a handful of glass beads from her bosom.
The Diamond Lake Toad showed interest in the beads.
Seizing the moment, Seoran offered one.
The lizard hesitated briefly before taking it.
It stared intently at the bead sparkling in the sunlight.
Then swallowed it whole.
Not gulping it down raw.
It stored it in the treasure pouch in its stomach.
It would regurgitate when it wanted it out.
"Croak, croak!"
It seemed happy again after receiving the gift.
Communication was impossible, but that's how it looked.
Seoran inwardly sighed in relief.
The lizard resumed its meal.
Listening to the sounds of it tearing into the fish, Seoran pondered.
The creature that scraped the ferryboat bottom earlier was probably this Diamond Lake Toad.
Not intentional—just swam by and unwittingly scratched with its back scales.
But why had a lake-dwelling spirit beast come to the river?
Records said it preferred calm waters.
Even now, it sat outside the water, unwilling to be swept away.
Why leave its habitat?
There must have been a reason forcing it.
What makes territorial animals abandon their homes?
Habitat destroyed?
A lake wouldn't vanish suddenly.
Prey shortage?
Spirit beasts could survive on Spirit Qi alone.
It wouldn't leave over lack of snack fish.
A predator appeared?
Forced to flee downriver?
But who could do that?
Diamond Lake Toads had rock-hard scales, as the name implied.
Even cultivators struggled to break them.
No natural predators to speak of.
Yet in reality, the Diamond Lake Toad had been driven from its home.
Seoran gazed at the lizard basking listlessly in the sun.
The world's most depressed sunbath.
Her curiosity surged wildly.