novelraw Chapter 30 : Obviously I’m Stealing Offerings
Chapter 30 : Obviously I’m Stealing Offerings
Chapter 30: Obviously I’m Stealing Offerings
After giving instructions to the two, Fang Chang found an opportunity and slipped into the inner hall.
Medicine Master Manor was vast.
The Martial Lecture Plaza outside was only one part of it, yet already sufficient to accommodate all the cultivators attending the True Cultivation Assembly.
As for the inner hall areas,
they involved the manor’s side chambers, warehouses, ancestral hall, medicinal gardens, and other relatively private locations—naturally, outsiders were not permitted to enter.
Originally, in the storyline of Fallen Immortal,
if players wanted to reach this place, they needed to cooperate with Dai Bojun and sneak in.
Otherwise, guards would appear in time and say something like, ‘You’ll have to explore this area later,’ forcibly driving you away.
But now, things were different.
The guards would not appear like ghosts, and Fang Chang slipped in with ease.
This could be considered one of the advantages after the game became reality.
“What are you planning? Why let those two enter the secret realm first?”
Zhao Yuntong’s voice drifted over.
She hid within the Black Tortoise Square Cauldron, having heard every word between Fang Chang, Dai Bojun, and Luo Yi.
And Fang Chang clearly intended to have the two head to the location where the secret realm would first open, entering ahead of everyone else.
Fang Chang leaned against the doorway, chewing on a soft pastry he had casually taken, in no hurry to answer.
He waited until the patrolling guards outside passed by, their footsteps gradually fading, before striding back onto the corridor beside the hall.
He stepped into the fragrance of flowers in the courtyard and the breeze flowing through the passage.
Then he replied, “Come on, I’m just a Qi Absorption cultivator. Do you think secret realms are that easy to break into?”
In Fang Chang’s plan,
it was very necessary to have someone like Luo Yi—whose character and morals were fairly decent—act as the vanguard.
Yet Zhao Yuntong was still somewhat displeased.
In her mind, since Fang Chang already had her, he shouldn’t rely on others.
“You went through the trouble of obtaining that so-called key, yet you shouldn’t let outsiders get ahead of you.”
“He’s trying to save his Dao companion. Do you have any sympathy at all, Tong?”
“A human and a demon—such an improper union. Luo Yi acting like this, he deserves this calamity.”
“Our relationship isn’t so different from theirs. By that logic, we shouldn’t get too close either.”
Zhao Yuntong snorted coldly.
The chill in her tone was nearly overflowing. “Suit yourself.”
Fang Chang fell silent and continued forward.
Morning light slanted over the courtyard wall. A few roses were half in bloom, dew clinging to their pink petals.
The droplets trembled, on the verge of falling.
“Actually, that’s not the case.”
Zhao Yuntong suddenly spoke.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean—you and me, compared to Luo Yi and that demoness.”
Fang Chang curled his lips. “Go on.”
“Look at them—they are Dao companions, lovers. Their bond is formed through mutual feelings, supporting and taking from each other, relying on a few promises or a marriage contract. In essence, it is a cooperative relationship.”
She paused, then continued:
“As the saying goes, husband and wife are birds of the same forest, but when disaster strikes, they fly their separate ways. This also shows that such cooperative relationships are not reliable.”
“Mm, and then?”
“And what about us? I am your Yin Corpse, something that entirely belongs to you—one object, one master. There is no concept of mutual support or exchange. How could an object trade with its owner? I am completely devoted to you, and you can use me freely without any burden. Think about it—if an object and its owner are separated, distanced, what kind of relationship would remain between them…”
Fang Chang couldn’t hold it in.
He burst out laughing.
As soon as he laughed, Zhao Yuntong’s words abruptly stopped.
The next moment, a chilling aura slowly spread from the Black Tortoise Square Cauldron.
Crimson thought-fire mixed with Spiritual Essence power, gradually taking form.
A wave of cold fragrance drifted over.
Zhao Yuntong’s face—pale as snow, lips red and full—appeared right before him.
Her face flushed red, caught between anger and embarrassment, the tips of her ears burning.
Baring her pearly teeth, she forced out a sentence:
“Laugh again, and I’ll tear your mouth apart!”
“Alright, alright.”
As he spoke,
Fang Chang had already stepped into an ancestral hall.
Sandalwood incense drifted through the air, and the offering table was filled with spirit tablets.
Zhao Yuntong simply stepped out of the coffin.
She wore a bright red dress, her already stunning features now appearing almost unreal.
The soft fabric outlined her slender waist and full chest…
Fang Chang shifted his gaze away.
What echoed in his mind was that perfect silhouette, backlit by candlelight, flickering and moving.
He grabbed a glutinous rice dumpling from the offering table and bit into it with a crunch. The rich red bean filling burst forth in his mouth.
Soft, abundant, chewy, tender, juicy, sweet with red bean fragrance.
Mm.
Exactly the same.
“Anyway, the deeper treasure that requires the key is what I’m truly after. As for the rest… what’s wrong with letting the brothers have some soup? Be a bit generous.”
Zhao Yuntong’s expression turned cold and distant, no longer listening to his explanation.
Fang Chang shrugged.
This trip was mainly to find a suitable place to enter the Nine Heavens Secret Realm.
The seal on this ancient secret realm had already been somewhat loosened.
With the sudden regime change in the Yan Kingdom, the instability of the dragon vein, the chaos of Spiritual Essence from the True Cultivation Assembly—
it finally broke open completely, reappearing in the world.
A secret realm
could be a naturally formed land returning to simplicity.
Or it could be a void-domain left behind after the death of a powerful being.
The Nine Heavens Secret Realm was the latter.
When it suddenly unsealed, it did not emerge gradually, but in a domineering, invasive manner, merging with the surrounding area.
Right within Medicine Master Manor.
Because of this, many people would be dragged into the secret realm—and many would die.
There were not many safe entry points.
The place he directed Luo Yi and Dai Bojun to was one; this ancestral hall was another.
As he pondered,
a wave of startled commotion came from the Martial Lecture Plaza.
Faintly, a sharp, drawn-out voice could be heard:
“His Majesty arrives——”
“Consort Ning arrives——”
The voice was eerily shrill, stretched long, piercing through the noisy crowd.
Consort Ning.
That Jade Planting Path practitioner.
Fang Chang found a spot to lie down, unsurprised.
In the storyline, this Consort Ning would also enter the secret realm.
“Someone’s coming.”
Zhao Yuntong suddenly said in a low voice.
“Mm, I know.”
“That’s it?”
She gestured toward their current position.
Openly inside someone else’s ancestral hall.
“That’s it.”
Before long, soft footsteps approached from outside the hall.
Creak—
The door opened, and sunlight poured in.
The light flooded in from outside, making Fang Chang squint.
Against the backlight, he first saw a silhouette—shoulders straight, ponytail swaying.
The wind blew from behind her, carrying a faint fragrance, lifting a loose strand of hair by her temple.
The woman was tall.
Her shoulders were perfectly proportioned, supporting her fitted gray-green attire without looking bulky. Her waist was tightly drawn in, and even through the fabric, one could sense its strength.
As the sunlight gradually dimmed, her expression became clear.
Her brows slanted sharply upward, full of heroic spirit.
Her eyes were bright, now wide open, the emotion within shifting from surprise to slight anger:
“You… what are you doing here!”
The one who came—
the young manor master of Medicine Master Manor, You Yuan.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Fang Chang raised the glutinous rice dumpling in his hand.
“I’m stealing the offerings.”