The Dragon of the Fallen Demon Master Sister in a Book - Chapter 23

“How much do you know about this Beast Valley Secret Realm?” Feng Qingzhuo stroked her chin, her gaze drifting forward. Seeing the long queue ahead and realizing it wouldn’t be their turn anytime soon, she turned back to Wen Qian and asked, “And what about Qingyang City? How much do you understand?”

“Regarding the Beast Valley Secret Realm, to be honest, I don’t know much.” Wen Qian frowned slightly. She wasn’t fond of going into battles unprepared, but right now, she felt cornered. “As for Qingyang City… I’ll tell you everything I know. If you have any questions later, feel free to ask me directly.”

“I’ll answer everything without holding back.”

Secret realms were classified into four tiers: Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow. The Beast Valley Secret Realm was a top-tier Mystic realm. For a Qi Refinement cultivator, the potential gains from such a high-quality realm were immense.

Years ago, there was a cultivator who entered a mid-tier Mystic realm at the Qi Refinement stage and emerged three years later at the early Core Formation stage—leaping two major realms. That person became a sect elder almost overnight, skipping nearly a century of arduous cultivation.

Some cultivators were simply born with extraordinary luck. Though their innate talent might not be remarkable, they always managed to turn danger into opportunity during their travels—stumbling upon heavenly treasures on the roadside or discovering untouched secret realms while hunting in the mountains, inheriting legacies left behind by ancient predecessors.

Among sect cultivators, such individuals had a unified title: the Favored by Heaven. No matter what they did, success came effortlessly. Their path was devoid of setbacks, as if their will aligned with the world’s. Of course, people like this were rare—exceedingly rare, like phoenix feathers or qilin horns. One might wait centuries without encountering a single one.

Wen Qian and Feng Qingzhuo remained seated in their carriage. Qingyang City was located in the cultivation world, and entry required a travel permit. Yet, for some reason, the crowd waiting to enter the city today was unusually large, stretching all the way down the stairs, with people packed tightly in every direction.

Ahead of them were numerous merchant caravans and mercenaries, all queuing to enter. It seemed they wouldn’t be getting in anytime soon.

Qingyang City occupied a strategically vital position. Above it lay the Endless Forest, teeming with ferocious beasts. Though the city stood on the outermost fringes of the forest, and beasts rarely ventured beyond its borders, whenever food grew scarce, some would inevitably emerge in search of prey.

Thus, every three to five years, a beast tide would assault the city. To suppress these creatures, Qingyang City had Core Formation cultivators stationed within its walls. Moreover, whenever the city’s cultivators sensed an impending beast tide, they would alert the city lord, who would then post notices recruiting talented individuals to help defend against the onslaught—offering generous rewards and bounties for the heads of slain beasts.

Wen Qian explained calmly, “Under normal circumstances, the head of a mid-stage Qi Refinement beast is worth ten spirit stones, a late-stage one thirty, a peak-stage fifty, and a Foundation Establishment beast one hundred. The value increases accordingly beyond that.”

“Wow!!!” Chris’s eyes sparkled. “So rich!!! No, so many spirit stones!!!”

Chris counted on her fingers, “Five spirit stones would be enough to buy an entire food street’s worth of snacks. Maybe… even more?”

Now the little dragon’s eyes shone even brighter. “Spirit stones, so many spirit stones! I feel like they’re raining down on me!!!”

“A-Zhuo, A-Zhuo.” Chris tugged at Feng Qingzhuo’s sleeve. “Money, love, love, money!!”

Feng Qingzhuo rubbed her forehead. Her dragon seemed particularly obsessed with wealth, but she didn’t refuse. Stroking the dragon’s head with her right hand while secretly touching her own slightly depleted storage pouch with her left, she agreed, “If we come across any, of course we’ll make some money.”

Little Dragon: “Yay!”

Wen Qian smiled at her. “Exactly. Because Qingyang City is offering such high prices, many cultivators are coming.”

Among these cultivators, the majority were rogue cultivators—those without sects and with the lowest cultivation levels. Rogue cultivators had limited access to resources, so they seized every opportunity to prove themselves, striving to advance their strength and survive in the cultivation world.

“From the looks of it, your family seems to be a cultivation clan?” Chris tilted her head, curious as she asked Wen Qian.

How could an ordinary mortal possibly become the city lord of Qingyang City and command Golden Core stage cultivators? Surely it couldn’t just be because of wealth, right? What a joke! In the cultivation world, strength was the most important thing. No matter how rich one was, without matching power, that wealth would eventually belong to someone else.

Wen Qian replied somewhat awkwardly, “My maternal grandmother’s side was indeed a cultivation clan, but… my mother was just an ordinary mortal. She had no spiritual roots, otherwise she wouldn’t have…”

“Besides, my… my mother and my grandmother didn’t get along.” Wen Qian touched the jade bracelet on her wrist. “They were on very bad terms. My mother was long ago expelled from the family. Now, my grandmother has passed away many years, and the current ruler of Qingyang City is my grandmother’s adopted daughter. I should call her… Aunt.”

“My condolences,” Chris said solemnly. Every family had its own troubles—that was understandable. But given that Wen Qian was now facing a life-or-death situation, and her so-called aunt hadn’t even shown up, the problem here was serious. Did family ties really mean nothing?

Still… this was someone else’s family matter. She couldn’t pry too much. Listening was enough.

“Then… who gave you the information to come to Qingyang City now?” Feng Qingzhuo stroked the little dragon’s head as she asked. “Since you chose to come here, there must be a reason.”

“Junior Sister Wen, would you be willing to share that reason with us?” Feng Qingzhuo lifted her gaze, her dark eyes bright and radiant, naturally stunning.

Wen Qian froze. This was the first time Feng Qingzhuo had addressed her like that. For some reason, her heart skipped a beat—a strange feeling. At the Tianxuan Sect, no one had ever acknowledged her, all because of her low cultivation level and her entanglement with Li Haochen.

Li Haochen’s excessively cruel nature made Wen Qian instinctively keep her distance from others. She feared that anyone close to her might end up like the sparrow she’d raised as a child—alive and chirping one day, only to become a lifeless corpse stripped bare by Li Haochen and delivered to her doorstep the next.

Wen Qian was afraid—terrified, in fact. Because of this, she focused solely on her cultivation, too wary to make friends casually. Most of her so-called “friends” only approached her for her spirit stones. Only Feng Qingzhuo seemed different.

Yet… Feng Qingzhuo’s simple address of “Junior Sister Wen” inexplicably warmed Wen Qian’s heart, giving her a sense of validation. It was as if all the suffering she had endured and all the effort she had put in had finally borne fruit. For some reason, standing beside Senior Sister Feng made her feel incredibly at ease.

“Exactly,” the dragon cub said, patting Wen Qian’s shoulder with its claw. “Since we’ve exchanged secrets, that makes us ‘secret friends’ now. That means we’re connected!”

“I…” Wen Qian was momentarily stunned. She looked up at the sky above Qingyang City. Grandmother, do you see? Just as you said—if I treat others with sincerity, people will naturally gather around me.

Lowering her head, she returned to her usual demeanor and shook her head. “To be honest, this isn’t really a secret.”

She patted her storage pouch. “Although my mother and my aunt have never gotten along, my relationship with my aunt isn’t actually bad. It’s just…” She paused, her expression shifting slightly. “Sometimes, my aunt even sends me spirit stones for cultivation.”

Wen Qian extended her hand, revealing a high-grade jade bangle with floating green patterns peeking from her sleeve. Her skin was pale, but her fingertips bore thick calluses—hardly the hands of a pampered young lady. Wen Qian also enjoyed horseback archery, and for convenience, most people wouldn’t wear jade bangles on their wrists. Yet now… she wore one. It must have been a gift from someone very important.

“And the news of the Ten Thousand Beasts Secret Realm’s emergence was relayed to me by my aunt,” Wen Qian explained. “The Endless Forest holds many secret realms—Hundred Beasts, Thousand Beasts, and so on. Among them, the highest quality and most suitable for cultivators of our level is the Earth-rank superior Ten Thousand Beasts Secret Realm.”

After just a few hours of conversation, the two of them and the dragon had nearly uncovered Wen Qian’s entire background. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to mind. On the contrary, she was eager to answer questions, almost never holding back.

Feng Qingzhuo suddenly asked, “Junior Sister Wen, why do you trust us so much? Aren’t you afraid we might be bad people?”

Wen Qian shook her head firmly, her eyes still slightly red. “I just chose to listen to my heart. I don’t believe Senior Sister Feng could ever be a bad person.”

Perched on Feng Qingzhuo’s shoulder, Chris glanced at the dragon spirit and asked, “Dragon Spirit, after reading so many of my novels, don’t you think Wen Qian resembles a typical female protagonist?”

The longer she spent with Wen Qian, the more Chris learned about her, and the more familiar the story seemed. This girl was practically a naive, sweet fool—the kind who would happily count the money for the person who sold her out.

Moreover… protagonists with a background setting like Wen Qian’s are actually quite rare in novels. If she had read such a story, she would definitely remember it.

By asking about the Dragon Soul now, Chris wanted to know whether such a novel truly existed in her memories.

There was no helping it—transmigrating into books had become so popular lately that she had to be cautious. What if this really was a novel? Who could say for sure? Chris, who had always been extremely insecure about her luck, needed some reassurance from the Dragon Soul.

“No,” the Dragon Soul shook its head. “At least not in your surface memories.” It never missed an opportunity to explain, “Here, surface memories refer to images you’ve seen, while deep memories are things you can’t forget—like moments when you were emotionally overwhelmed and might temporarily lose those memories.”

“You wouldn’t have such life-and-death emotions over some novel, would you?” the Dragon Soul reflexively retorted.

Chris shook her head, her body stiffening slightly, yet instinctively denying, “I shouldn’t…”

“Probably not.”

Chris scratched her head in silence, unable to recall anything for the moment. But… there shouldn’t be, right?

–

After a long wait, it was finally their turn. Fortunately, the merchant caravan had all the necessary travel permits and documents. The guards even required Feng Qingzhuo to present certification for her spirit beast, and the documents she had previously obtained from the Beast Taming Hall elder of Tianxuan Sect came in handy. Everything went smoothly—until, upon entering, Chris casually glanced at a massive notice board that read…

“Recruiting Talents.” Chris read aloud word by word. The notice stated that the lord of Qingyang City was seeking new cultivators—both rogue cultivators without sects and disciples from established sects were welcome. The more she read, the more excited Chris became, as this recruitment only happened once every few years, and they had coincidentally arrived at just the right time!!!

After hearing Chris’s words, Feng Qingzhuo turned to Wen Qian. “From what you know, when was the last beast tide in Qingyang City?”

“And is this the bounty notice you mentioned?”Chris and Feng Qingzhuo asked in perfect unison, displaying remarkable tacit understanding.”

The sudden loudness from this human-dragon duo made Wen Qian instinctively shuffle her feet, but she still answered meekly, “That’s correct. As for when the last beast tide was… I haven’t returned to Qingyang City in so long that I’m naturally a bit unclear about that.”

Both the human and dragon averted their gazes. Coincidentally, the provisions had now been brought into Qingyang City, and the portly merchant Feng Qingzhuo had first encountered—along with four other merchants—approached Wen Qian. “Miss Wen, since we’ve reached your destination, we’ll take our leave first.”

Wen Qian nodded at them with a smile and wrote, “Thank you uncles for your help today.”

She then pressed several valuable items into their arms, which immediately brightened their expressions and smoothed their brows. They chimed in, “Little niece Wen, if you ever need anything, just call on us uncles! As long as we can help, we definitely will!”

Wen Qian smilingly acknowledged each of them in turn.

Watching the merchant caravan depart, Wen Qian finally managed to send off all her uncles after much persuasion. Now, only Chris and Feng Qingzhuo remained by her side.

“Aren’t you two planning to take on bounties? I can show you where to go. You’ll need a spatial token to store the beast heads—though you can use your own storage pouches if you prefer,” Wen Qian said as she stepped down from the carriage. “After the hunt, you can deliver them directly to the City Lord’s Manor. But the spatial token also serves as your pass to enter the Endless Forest, so you’ll need to get one first.”

Feng Qingzhuo nodded.

“Still, will this beast tide affect our trip to the secret realm?” Feng Qingzhuo asked. “If so, we might need to move faster.”

He then glanced at Wen Qian. “Do you need to buy anything? If not, we can head straight for the secret realm.”

Wen Qian shook her head and patted her storage pouch. “I prepared all my daily necessities before leaving the Tianxuan Sect.”

Chris also shook her head.

Feng Qingzhuo: “Then let’s just get the pass token and enter the Endless Forest directly.”

“Um…” Wen Qian quickly raised a hand, her gaze flickering nervously as she stood before the City Lord’s Manor. “I… I’d rather not go inside. I’ll wait for you at a teahouse outside while you handle the bounty.”

“You seem tense,” Chris remarked, leaning in to study her face.

“D-do I?” The sudden closeness made Wen Qian even more flustered.

Chris nodded seriously. “You do.”

“Your teeth are chattering as you speak. What’s wrong? Scared? Or just excited to be back in your hometown?”

“N-no,” Wen Qian reflexively replied before falling silent again, fiddling with the jade bracelet on her wrist.

Chris patted her shoulder reassuringly. “What, don’t want to see your aunt? Honestly, I’m not a fan of crowded places either. I’ll stay here and keep you company.”

“Qingzhuo!” The dragon cub raised a paw. “I’ll stay with her—hurry back!”

Feng Qingzhuo glanced at them and agreed. “Alright.”

Chris and Wen Qian found the nearest teahouse and settled in a quiet corner. As soon as they sat down, a waiter approached. “What would you like to drink, miss?”

Before Wen Qian could answer, a woman’s voice interrupted.

“Bring her a cup of Snow Bud tea.”

“Right, Qianqian?” A golden-haired woman in a cyan robe embroidered with a golden tiger at the chest smirked at Wen Qian, her smile gentle.

“Wow, a golden-haired beauty,” Chris couldn’t help but think. “Pretty rare.”

The dragon cub nodded. “Mm, especially in the cultivation world.”

“A-Auntie…” Wen Qian stiffened as if struck by lightning. She sat ramrod straight, hands on her knees, head bowed, her dark hair cascading down—looking every bit like an obedient schoolgirl.

The blonde woman nearby stood up and walked skillfully behind Wen Qian. With a deft flick of her slender fingers, she effortlessly gathered the latter’s long hair and secured the unruly dark locks with a pale blue hair ribbon. The blonde woman said lightly,

“Qianqian still prefers sitting in this spot.”

“After all these years, Qianqian didn’t come to see her auntie first… that makes auntie a little sad…”

When Feng Qingzhuo returned with the token, she was met with this scene.

A blonde woman was tying up her new teammate’s hair, the atmosphere between them somewhat overly intimate. Meanwhile, her dragon cub stood before them with an inexplicably gossipy expression—that kind of thirst-for-knowledge look…

Feng Qingzhuo: “……”

At this moment, Feng Qingzhuo fell somewhat silent, and somewhat regretful. She thought to herself: I really shouldn’t have left you alone here, dragon.

Little did she know the dragon cub was already excitedly concocting an entire drama in her mind. Chris’s eyes sparkled as she said to the dragon spirit: Look!!! Mother’s rival/enemy × her beautiful and powerful adoptive sister auntie × the naive and bullied niece in the sect!!! Oh my god, this is premium content!!!

Dragon Spirit: …Their dragon cub seemed to have some kind of illness.

Feng Qingzhuo grabbed her dragon cub by the scruff, her face cold. “Sorry to interrupt.”

The upside-down dragon cub: ?