The Sword Fairy in White

"As expected from my disciple!"

The adorable little loli below cheered for the arrogant Li Shiyin on the stage.

"What disciple are you talking about?"

Suddenly, a gloomy voice sounded nearby...

"Did you see the female sword immortal on stage? She is my...disciple..."

Long Qiqi was about to proudly answer, but she suddenly realized the familiarity of the voice and quickly looked over.

Next to her stood a bald young man, holding a large white cat in his arms.

That bald head...after carefully discerning, it looked like Qin Ran, and that large white cat, wasn't it Chasing the Wind!

"Qin Ran?!" She cried out in shock.

Qin Ran's face was dark as he asked Long Qiqi, "What are you two doing?!"

"Why did you become bald?" Long Qiqi didn't answer his question, but instead asked her own after regaining her composure.

Qin Ran's gaze suddenly shifted to rest upon her, staring straight at her, waiting for her to answer his question.

"Cough..." Long Qiqi coughed drily, and weakly responded, "We just came out to play, to practice our mystic arts and such."

As she spoke, she quickly changed the topic, "What happened to Chasing the Wind?"

"Upset stomach..." Qin Ran responded curtly.

During their conversation, the stage greetings had already ended. Li Shiyin drew her sword as Lu Jin took up his stance, and the battle was about to begin.

Her opponent was from the Qi Sect, and those from the Qi Sect generally liked attacking from afar. Li Shiyin leaned forward with sword in hand, her eyes fixed upon Lu Jin's hand, watching what kind of long-range mystic art he would unleash.

Instead of immediately closing in for melee with the sword-wielder before him, her opponent was just standing there waiting for her to make the first move. Lu Jin sneered coldly to himself, she was indeed arrogant and impetuous due to her youth. Since that was the case, he would show no mercy!

"The origin of all mystic arts!"

He shouted softly, pushing his hand forward. His mystic power gushed forth, azure light flashing like brush strokes before him, instantly forming a huge azure talisman in the air.

The talisman was completed in but a single breath, and Lu Jin's mouth hooked into a cold smile. With the glyph formed, what followed next was an endless barrage of attacks. He raised his head to look at the pretty girl Li Shiyin, wanting to see her frantically dodging about in a sorry state...

"Eh! Where did she go?!"

But the Li Shiyin who was originally standing opposite him had mysteriously vanished into thin air!

He was shocked in his heart, and hurriedly searched for her...

"Are you looking for me?"

Li Shiyin's voice suddenly sounded from right before him. He looked forward to see Li Shiyin sword-in-hand, right before his face. With a sweep of her sword, starry purple light gleamed along the length of the blade as she slashed at the celestial talisman in front of him. Her strike was like a sharp blade slicing paper, lightly sweeping across the celestial symbol.

The talisman split into two halves, the mystic art dissipating as magic power steamed up into the air.

"Sword... qi!"

Lu Jin exclaimed in astonishment.

"That's right."

Li Shiyin's voice sounded from behind him. He lowered his head to see her sword already resting against his neck from the back.

"You've lost."

Li Shiyin stated.

"I've lost." Lu Jin repeated, not even lasting a single exchange before his defeat. Was it because he was too lacking in skill, or were the youths of today just too strong?

"The Dao Sword Sect, such impressive generations indeed!" Qin Ran shook his head, "This man probably lacks actual combat experience. His speed of spellcasting and body movement capabilities are rather pitiful."

Another quick knockout!

The entire venue cheered for Li Shiyin...

On stage, Li Shiyin's expression was tranquil as she bowed with hands clasped towards the four directions. At the same time, she sought out Long Qiqi's location.

She quickly found her, but next to Long Qiqi was a very familiar bald head, and that bald head's face was currently overcast as he looked at her.

"Mas...ter!"

Li Shiyin's expression drastically changed in an instant as she loudly shouted, "Master, I'll take my leave first!"

Her body flashed as she leapt skyward. The Cherished Star Sword obediently flew to meet her feet, carrying her as she shot upwards and vanished from the Stage of Discussion.

"Who is it that caused the Sword Immortal such panic?"

"Her master?"

"Is it my goddess's master?"

Witnessing Li Shiyin's rather unsightly escape, the entire venue broke out into a clamor. As for Lu Jin, he watched Li Shiyin's swiftly retreating figure in puzzlement. Did he lose or did she lose?

"What an unrighteous wench!" Long Qiqi said indignantly.

"So this is the extent of your sworn sisterhood?" Qin Ran mercilessly mocked.

Having squeezed through the crowds while pulling along the little loli, the two continued on towards the marketplace.

"Where did you go? Why did you end up like this?" En route, Long Qiqi held Qin Ran's hand as she asked him.

Qin Ran shot her a sideways glance and said, "Don't meddle in adults' affairs."

"Then what happened to silly Chasing the Wind? He was knocked unconscious..." Long Qiqi continued asking, "Isn't he just a kid?"

Unable to worm his way out, Qin Ran could only explain, "He got food poisoning from eating a northwesterly gale."

Well, he wasn't lying about it. Chasing the Wind did indeed pass out after consuming a gale. However, at that time he wasn't paying attention and didn't know if that gale had blown in from the northwest.

"You can faint from drinking a northwesterly wind?" Long Qiqi was shocked, "Fortunate that we didn't drink any northwesterly winds then..."

"Can you tell me what you lot were up to here? Running here to fight!" Qin Ran held onto the little loli's hand, afraid that she might wander off.

"Firstly, what we're doing here is battling, not fighting. And secondly, there's money to be earned battling at the Stage of Discussion!" Long Qiqi earnestly corrected him.

"Just how much money can you earn risking life and limb fighting on that Stage of Discussion? Are we that lacking in money?" Qin Ran asked, puzzled.

"Indeed!" Long Qiqi raised her head to look at Qin Ran, asking in righteous indignation. "Think about it, how long have you guys been out?"

Qin Ran wasn't too sure. He had left home in the middle of the night after all. "Six days? Seven days?"

"Seven days!" Long Qiqi said. "Do you know how we've survived these past seven days? No food, starving our stomachs empty everyday..."

She spoke with such grief that listeners' hearts would ache and onlookers would shed tears. Quite a few people around them shot curious glances over.

"That's enough pretense!" Helpless, Qin Ran quickly put a stop to it. "Get to the main point."

Long Qiqi cut off her tearful act. She continued,

"I'm a snake, so not knowing how to cook is pretty normal right? But who knew that Li Shiyin doesn't know how to cook either! There was originally quite a lot of food in the fridge. As a snake I could still barely sustain myself eating raw food. But Li Shiyin insisted on showing off her cooking skills to me..."

"In the end, the ingredients in our home were all spoiled by her, one after another."

Given Li Shiyin's cooking skills, Long Qiqi ruining all of their ingredients fell within Qin Ran's range of understanding. What he was concerned about was, "Is the kitchen...still alright?!"

The last time he went out chasing Chasing the Wind, that little critter wrecked their home. Don't tell him this time Li Shiyin wrecked their home while he was out!

"Lucky I was around, no huge incidents occurred." Long Qiqi proudly thumped her chest.

Qin Ran took a look at Long Qiqi, not entirely convinced by the poisonous snake's words.

"Even if all the food at home was botched, you guys could have just gone out to buy more!" Still puzzled, Qin Ran said, "Shiyin just received her monthly allowance."

"Oh...now that's the crux of the issue!" For some reason, Long Qiqi seemed embarrassed.

Qin Ran looked at her, growing curious. "So what exactly happened?"

"Cough..." Everything else was easy enough to mention, but only this matter was difficult for Long Qiqi to speak of. She hemmed and hawed for quite a while before finally saying, "We did come to this marketplace intending to buy food...then, we got scammed."