Chapter 65: Ponytail

Her Snow-Mud Fish had changed.

Why?

What had happened?

Only a single day had passed.

The next day, Vane arrived in a hurry, his hem stained with blood. He stole a glance at the fish hanging at Zora's waist. The change was tiny; the expansion of the ink-color was negligible, and the darkening wasn't particularly heavy. However, according to a cultivator's eyesight and Vane's inherent perception, he noticed the difference at first glance.

Zora let out a puzzled "mhm."

She suddenly leaned in, sniffing Vane.

Her face was right at Vane's chest, very close, before she turned her head to press close to his arm.

"The scent of blood, but mixed with the smell of that demonic cultivator's blood," Zora concluded.

The demonic cultivator killed in Daoshi Village wasn't that long ago; Zora had not forgotten the scent of his blood.

Vane's body had stiffened from the moment she approached. He didn't lower his head, to avoid causing any "offense" or displeasure, and averted his gaze to look at the high rocks near Falling Rock Forest. Then, he silently stole a glance down at her.

Vane: "When I went to do the mission, I took a detour to handle his corpse."

Zora hadn't disposed of it; she felt it wasn't necessary. She had checked the body; aside from the storage bag, it had no value whatsoever.

The youth had accepted a new mission on his first day back at the sect, resulting in the scent of blood from his wounds. When he returned to Daoshi Village, he hadn't alerted anyone.

The demonic cultivator's corpse had not rotted; as someone who had cultivated, the body remained as it was. The youth stepped into the ore vein. The night was dark, and the families living near the mine were already deep in sleep. His arrival didn't draw the attention of any creature; even the birds resting in the trees didn't notice someone had infiltrated the mine cavern.

The villagers had sealed the mine. The corpses of those monsters and the demonic cultivator hadn't been handled; they hadn't even stepped close to look, hurriedly blocking the entrance with stones. Vane broke through the stones. His spear tip delivered a sharp thrust; with that point as the center, cracks spread out like a spiderweb. The hard, heavy boulder, as tall as five men, shattered instantly.

The barrier prevented the sound from traveling; no one heard the sound of the boulder crumbling into fragments. He stepped into the cave. In the center was a bottomless pit. He gave it a casual glance; inside were the shards of stone Zora had thrown down using her spiritual power. Between the dense stones, one could glimpse the mangled flesh of the monsters, with dark liquid staining the edges of the rocks.

The stiff corpse lay not far away, pierced through the heart with a single sword strike. Vane could easily reconstruct the course of Zora's battle. He was familiar with her sword techniques and understood her style perfectly. Zora wouldn't clean up the scene, which was why the corpse had remained undisturbed in its place.

The corpse was pale and rigid, its limbs naturally bent and shriveled. Deprived of the support of demonic aura, the cultivator's face showed the dark, bluish fatigue of someone whose energy had been depleted even while alive. Vane stood by the corpse like a straight spear—silent and sharp. Dressed in black, the silver patterns on his hem flashed like a silver thread under the faint moonlight.

His fingers, hanging at his side, twitched, but in the end, he didn't torture the corpse. There was no point in torturing the dead. He checked one more time, perfectly covering up every trace of Zora's battle bit by bit, then dripped a corpse-dissolving liquid onto the demonic cultivator. The body instantly turned into a pile of ash and dissipated into the air.

If this were just an ordinary demonic cultivator, leaving the corpse there wouldn't have mattered. But he likely had closely connected accomplices with many ties to the cultivation sects, so he had to be eradicated completely. He wasn't afraid of the enemy. He was afraid they would notice early and bring trouble to Zora. Doing the cleanup was also the duty of a servant.

When Vane left, he used another boulder to reseal the cave entrance and set up a hidden array around Daoshi Village. As long as the enemy wasn't foolish, they should know the importance of lying low and wouldn't recklessly murder commoners—especially since the annihilation of a village would draw attention. But then again, nothing was certain.

Foolish and short-sighted people are as numerous as cow hair. He was used to making everything more perfect. If it weren't because she cared about Liyu, he wouldn't have bothered.

The successor to the Daoshi Village Head was named Zhang Shu. He was sleeping soundly with his wife when he was suddenly awakened for no reason. On the table where the moonlight fell, a bird sat with a letter in its beak, its head tilted, its bead-like eyes staring fixedly.

Zhang Shu broke into a cold sweat. He rose slowly, approached to take the letter, and unfolded it. As he read, his eyes grew serious and his mind focused. His wife also woke up: "What is it?"

"...It's a letter sent by the immortal from last time."

Vane hadn't used a tone of advice to tell them to move. He simply laid out the potential dangers in a straightforward manner. Life and death were entirely up to them; he merely offered a reminder. In the signature, he clearly stated he was acting for Zora's purposes, placing the credit on her. If they chose to move, he also left the contact method and runes for the nearby Floating Cloud Valley.

"...The immortal is truly kind-hearted," Zhang Shu sighed.

Regardless of what the immortal thought in his heart, one judges by deeds, not intent. To them, this was kindness. Moreover, cultivators had no obligation to save ordinary people; cultivation is a personal journey. Saving someone is kindness, not saving them is the standard, but harming them is evil.

Zora?

He noted the name in his heart.

Liyu had also warned them about the danger of demonic cultivators before she left, but no one was willing to move; that was their choice. Thinking about it now, could they use spirit stones to hire cultivators for protection? Set up arrays? Once they contacted Floating Cloud Valley, they would naturally be able to contact other types of cultivators. This was a path. Zhang Shu solemnly put the letter away.

Today, when Vane received the message from Zora telling him to return, he was in the middle of a mission, clearing obstacles. There are always degenerates in the vast world of cultivation; this is an eternal truth. Naturally, there are those who see the mission content early, don't take it, but instead target the cultivators doing the mission, lying in ambush at the location to pick up the remains. Vane usually counter-killed such people.

Returning to the sect to see Zora, he had only roughly changed his clothes. Even with a Cleansing Spell, the scent of blood couldn't be washed away instantly. Only then did Zora smell it.

The youth watched her approach and finish sniffing. Her fluffy head was right under his eyes. The scent on the girl was mostly the fragrance of her clothes; her own scent required getting even closer to detect, yet he felt his nose could faintly catch it. A clear, cool sweetness, as if infused with the scent of pale, fragrant flowers.

Zora lifted her eyes and said, "You went to Daoshi Village?"

Vane instinctively avoided her gaze the moment she looked over, but since she was asking, he had to face her directly. After a pause, his dark pupils turned back to entwine with her gaze.

"Yes," Vane paused for a moment. "After all, this matter needed cleanup. I was the most suitable person."

"..."

Cleanup? What cleanup?

Zora, who had absolutely no concept of a "cleanup," looked at her flatly. In her original world, killing meant winning; there weren't so many details to keep track of.

Fine, anyway, I can just leave it to Vane,

Zora thought.

Then the two fell silent.

Vane suddenly continued: "I gave the contact runes for Floating Cloud Valley to those villagers in Daoshi Village."

Zora: "Oh."

She had a face that said "I have no thoughts on this."

Vane paused, as if mentioning it casually: "Because they are the villagers your friend Liyu cared about..."

Mhm... true. Zora wasn't the type to guard something just because her friend cared about it; she didn't have that sense of being empathetic or constantly sacrificing for friends. What she cared about was the specific person who was her friend; she wouldn't keep everything attached to that person in her heart, let alone stay behind for those things, unless it affected her friend's life and her own promise.

The villagers were also mission targets; although the mission was over, protecting them a bit more was fine. Zora thought for a moment, then reached out and patted his head again. His ponytail had somehow fallen over his right shoulder; as Zora lowered her hand, she naturally grabbed his ponytail and gave it a shake.

She said, "You did well."

"We need to investigate the matter of that demonic cultivator. It's not about solving it ourselves, but just making sure the people of Drunken Lu Bay don't all die."

In Zora's view, the reason Yiling Ke would die was because those top-tier array masters were wiped out. She wouldn't guarantee that her family would all live—it was too hard, and she didn't know who the mole was or where the demonic cultivators were; she had only seen a rough ending. Yiling Ke's family members were all front-ranking cultivators, so naturally, they would be at the front line of the guarding duty. They would likely do so even if they knew of their future deaths. Zora only aimed to prevent the entire Drunken Lu Bay sect from being slaughtered.

Zora shook his ponytail again. The side of the youth's neck was repeatedly brushed by the swaying ponytail, bringing a surge of dense, ticklish sensation.

"You can do it, right?" Zora said earnestly. "You are very smart, so you can do a good job investigating this, can't you?"

"Yes." Before his brain could catch up, Vane's words had already escaped his mouth. "I will do a good job."

His thoughts returned and began to turn. "Can I ask... why you want to investigate?"

Zora was very honest: "Because if everyone in Drunken Lu Bay dies, Yiling Ke will die too. I said I would save her."

Vane automatically supplemented her explanation. If Drunken Lu Bay was slaughtered and Yiling Ke's family were all there, leaving her alone, she would likely step up to fill the vacancy in the guarding post. That is to say, Zora believed she would die during the duty. Vane deduced the logic with extreme ease. If that were the case, the change in the Snow-Mud Fish must have been caused by this matter.

He let out a breath, and a strange emotion inexplicably arose. She was beginning to understand affection. Like the moon above, she was shedding more moonlight, making the direction she guided him even clearer.

Vane had no intention of meddling in any so-called righteous matters, and Zora hadn't thought of "righteousness" either. Her goal was clear: she only cared about Yiling Ke's life, and everything else was secondary. The hearts of both were indifferent and detached; she simply did things as she pleased and kept her promises, while he merely carried out her orders. However, what they were doing was something that even some kind-hearted cultivators couldn't resolutely do.

Neither had any intention of dwelling on the good or evil of their actions. To Zora, this was boring and meaningless; if one day she did evil, it would also be as she pleased, as she had no primitive concept of good or evil. Vane was even simpler; he knew the difference between good and evil and his heart leaned toward evil, but to survive in the cultivation world, he didn't mind disguising himself as good—but if it were his master's order, there was no need to distinguish.

"The Sect Leader should have informed the Sect Leader of Drunken Lu Bay. We shouldn't alert the enemy now. In a few days, we can use the excuse of accepting a mission to enter Drunken Lu Bay and check first."

Vane said.

Zora nodded and agreed.

Having decided on the next step, Zora let go of his hair. Vane watched her walk toward the clearing, the Jiangxue Sword unsheathing. The girl turned back, feeling that since the discussion was over, it was put aside. She said, "Sparring."

Vane: "Okay."

Spear met sword, and in a few heartbeats, dozens of moves had passed. The weapons clashed with flashes of light, and the crisp, constant ringing echoed. After the sparring session, she leaned over the table by the yard to read. Vane sat on her right, quietly reading a book.

Zora couldn't stay still while reading; under the stone table, she would accidentally bump into him whenever she stretched her legs. After a moment, Zora turned and bumped his knee with her leg again.

Twice.

Thrice.

The hems of the boy's and girl's robes intertwined, flowing with what he considered an intimate emotion.

Vane continued reading, his lashes trembling slightly. At Zora's third bump, he lifted his eyes expressionlessly, as if unaffected by her actions.

"What is it?"

Zora showed him her book: "This, how do you explain it?"

She was reading a book Zhou Shijin had given her about local customs and habits. Vane lowered his head and explained, speaking eloquently; whenever he wanted to be, he was the smartest and best teacher. Except this student had no sense of respect; when he spoke too much or for too long, she would space out and not listen, and would even boredly reach out to grab his ponytail, which he had specifically placed on his left shoulder.

Unfortunately, it was only a light grasp—no pulling, no shaking. He couldn't even feel much.