Abused Female Lead And Beautiful Villainess (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 157. Becoming Cultivation Partners? The Spiritual-Roots-Excavated Kind (9)

Shen Wan munched on handful after handful of roasted sunflower seeds in various flavors, sneaking glances at Xie Yunfu as she ate.

Xie Yunfu nibbled on raw sunflower seeds, catching whiffs of the assorted roasted seed flavors from across the way. She felt the usually tasty raw seeds had lost their appeal. 

But Xie Yunfu wasn’t one to give in just for some roasted seeds. So she pretended to ignore it all, savoring her raw seeds as if they were the finest delicacy.

“Brother 8, go to the market and get me some more seeds – five spice, butter, mint, walnut… two ounces of each.”

[188: “Wan Wan, eating too many of those will cause internal heat.”]

“I’m a cultivator now. If I get internal heat, I can just circulate my energy to fix it.”

Shen Wan munched on sunflower seeds for three straight days. Xie Yunfu hugged her pot, finishing off all the raw seeds inside.

Seeing Shen Wan had finally persevered, with her little mouth looking somewhat swollen, Xie Yunfu couldn’t help but laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Shen Wan pulled out a mirror and showed it to Xie Yunfu. “Don’t look at me, you’re no different!”

Xie Yunfu glanced in the mirror and saw her lips were indeed a bit puffy too. Even raw sunflower seeds in excess weren’t good. Truthfully, she might never want to see sunflower seeds again, let alone eat them.

She wondered why she had felt compelled to compete with Shen Wan in the first place.

“Three days have passed. Even if those people haven’t given up searching for me, they must be pretty frustrated by now. I’m going to go sell some spirit roots,” Shen Wan said, tossing a paper bag filled with various flavored sunflower seeds into Xie Yunfu’s pot. “Try some. The taste really is different between raw and roasted.”

Xie Yunfu didn’t move. Eating them would mean having a partner – she wasn’t falling for that trick.

Shen Wan laughed, exasperated. “These are store-bought, not ones I roasted. Eat as many as you want. I told you, you won’t be my partner unless you eat seeds I personally roasted.”

“I’m heading out now.”

As Shen Wan turned to leave, Xie Yunfu blurted out, “Are you angry?” She truly didn’t want a partner right now. Besides, demonic cultivators had no future. If they didn’t die from heavenly tribulation, their cultivation techniques could go wrong at any time, leading to qi deviation and sudden death.

From the day she chose the path of demonic cultivation, she was destined to live unattached, cold-blooded, and callous. For demonic cultivators, caring for others was taboo. It would hinder their path of following their hearts’ desires.

Simply put, living on a knife’s edge meant it was best not to have anyone you cared about. Being unattached was the key to longevity.

“I’m not angry. What would I be angry about?” Shen Wan turned back, blinking. “Am I the type to be petty? To get furious just because you won’t be my partner?”

She’d be Xie Yunfu’s partner sooner or later anyway. Why would she be upset? This old woman would understand everything eventually and apologize to her.

Seeing Shen Wan’s smiling face, seemingly not angry at all, Xie Yunfu felt relieved. “That’s good then.”

“Alright, I’m going to check out the situation outside.”

“Let’s go together,” Xie Yunfu said instinctively. With the entire cultivation world’s righteous sects hunting Shen Wan, it could be truly dangerous if she encountered something. Xie Yunfu had completely forgotten how they had escaped before.

“No need. I’m quite capable. They won’t catch me. Besides, it’s easier to avoid detection alone. I’ll sell the spirit roots and leave. You keep an eye on the movements of the major sects and send me any news right away.”

Xie Yunfu considered this and agreed it was a good plan. She would monitor the sects while Shen Wan sold spirit roots. If the sects came up with any schemes against Shen Wan, she could warn her. Having decided, she no longer tried to stop Shen Wan from leaving.

After watching Shen Wan depart, she glanced into the pot and finally couldn’t resist opening the paper bag. She took out a small package of roasted sunflower seeds to eat. Though she had eaten so many raw seeds that she’d grown sick of them, these different flavored roasted seeds had a unique taste. They weren’t unpleasant at all, but rather quite fragrant, just as they had smelled earlier.

“The flavor really is good,” Xie Yunfu remarked. She tucked the seeds away, holding a handful as she munched and leapt outside. First, she returned to demonic cultivator territory. Though she was alone without followers, she had decent relationships with most demonic cultivators.

Relying on just herself to monitor all the major sects wouldn’t work.

This time, Shen Wan had caused quite an uproar. The demonic cultivators of the cultivation world were likely delighted to see the righteous sects being toyed with like this. They would surely be happy to keep tabs on the movements of the various sects.

As expected, when Xie Yunfu explained her request, the demonic cultivators were more than willing to help. It went even more smoothly than she had imagined.

Thinking it through carefully, Xie Yunfu understood why.

The fact that Shen Wan possessed countless premium spirit roots was known throughout the cultivation world. Many of these demonic cultivators wanted to upgrade to premium spirit roots themselves. Moreover, in their minds, Shen Wan was a fellow demonic cultivator. They would be more than happy to swear not to ally with the Void Sect and to beat Yin Jue every time they saw him.

While the righteous side believed killing Shen Wan would eliminate future troubles, the demonic cultivators hoped Shen Wan would live long and prosper.

“Miss Xie, do you know exactly how many spirit roots that spirit root girl has? When she’s done, could she sell some to us? We’d take ten vows, not just two.”

Xie Yunfu sat on a rock, cracking sunflower seeds. She raised an eyebrow and smiled. “I’ll ask her for you later. She should have quite a few. As long as you don’t offend her, buying some spirit roots should be easy.”

“We understand that. I wonder if those righteous sects have water in their brains. They could have cooperated and befriended the spirit root girl, but instead they pushed her into a corner. They’re just bullying her because she’s alone.”

“That’s right, just like how they look down on us demonic cultivators. They think we’re taking shortcuts and should be ashamed. I say, isn’t our choice of cultivation method our own freedom? Why are they right and we’re wrong?”

“If you ask me, we demonic cultivators are more principled. We’re not as hypocritical as those righteous cultivators. Every time they see us, they shout to kill us. It’s really too much. We’re not evil cultivators who specifically harm lives. What’s their problem?

They’re just jealous that we cultivate faster. But everyone knows demonic cultivators have no future. In all these years, no demonic cultivator has successfully ascended. How many great predecessors have died from cultivation technique problems or heavenly tribulation?”

Xie Yunfu couldn’t help but interject, “If it weren’t for that, they would have banded together to wipe out all demonic cultivators long ago. How could they tolerate our existence?”

The others nodded, feeling this was indeed the case.

While Xie Yunfu collaborated with numerous demonic cultivators to monitor the sects’ movements, Shen Wan was secretly conducting underground transactions, selling countless premium spirit roots to those with mixed spirit roots. This time, the vow had changed. It became a vow not to ally with those who would harm her. She also provided a list of sects, indicating these were the ones intending to harm her.

The second vow remained unchanged – to beat up Yin Jue whenever they encountered him, regardless of the circumstances.

Other than that, there were no requirements.

Not allying with certain people and beating up Yin Jue when they saw him? For these small fry, taking such inconsequential vows in exchange for premium spirit roots was like manna from heaven. Almost no one refused.

Moreover, Shen Wan didn’t require them to be enemies with those people or help her, forcing them to do things against their will. They believed this spirit root girl might have been sent by heaven to save them and do good deeds.

“After installing the spirit roots, remember to hide and cultivate. You’re no match for those people now. If you’re discovered, you’ll lose your lives.”

“Don’t worry, miss. We understand.”

They were cultivators at the bottom rungs of the cultivation world, without talent or resources. If they didn’t have some brains, they would have perished long ago.

They understood the principle of “treasure invites calamity.” After parting ways today, they would find a place to cultivate in secret. Before they could protect themselves, they had no intention of revealing their true situation.

When they became accomplished in their cultivation, naturally they would fear nothing.

Shen Wan nodded and sent off another group of people.

Upon receiving a message from Xie Yunfu, she quickly slipped away, appearing in another location not long after. She observed for two days before continuing to sell spirit roots. Even when actively selling, she was selective about her customers.

The various sects hunted Shen Wan for an entire year, but each time they were a step too late, allowing her to escape.

They didn’t know if Shen Wan had sold all the spirit roots or to whom. Even as major sects, they couldn’t do something as drastic as killing a thousand innocents to catch one guilty person. They dared to do some underhanded things in secret, but they wouldn’t dare to carry out a bloodbath in the cultivation world.

Divine retribution for such actions was no joke – it could cost lives.

After a full year, the sects found the cultivation world had become much more peaceful, which made them very uneasy.

Now they had no leads on Shen Wan’s whereabouts.

As for Xie Yunfu, from their observations, she had been with the demonic cultivators the whole time, with no sign of Shen Wan by her side. They didn’t want to provoke the demonic cultivators unless absolutely necessary, as they were a group of madmen with no future, unafraid of death, who would fight to the death if provoked.

“I heard you want to buy spirit roots too?”

“Yes, miss. We can take vows.”

Shen Wan nodded. “Alright, I’ll sell some to you and install them for you later. By the way, since you’re changing spirit roots anyway, why not consider nullifying your cultivation and starting over? With premium spirit roots, recultivating will be quick. When you become accomplished in the future, you’ll be righteous cultivators too. You can even compete for their resources and turn them into historical relics.”

The demonic cultivators looked at each other in surprise. Could they really do that? Why hadn’t they thought of it? The idea was good, but implementation wouldn’t be so easy. There were too many variables. If they nullified their cultivation but were killed before they could cultivate anew, everything would be lost.

“We’ll consider your suggestion, miss.”

Shen Wan didn’t push further. She had merely made a proposal. How they chose to act was their own business. At any rate, the seed had been planted. With countless people in the cultivation world now possessing her premium spirit roots, the entire cultivation world would change dramatically in a few decades. All power structures faced a complete reshuffling.

This time, she might have gone a bit overboard.

The thought was quite exciting.

“Miss Xie, shall we live in the valley bottom for a while and come out again in a few years?”

Xie Yunfu agreed almost without hesitation.

But she hadn’t expected that this stay in the valley bottom would last twenty years. During this time, Shen Wan was unaware that some demonic cultivators had truly taken her advice. They first gathered resources, then found a secluded place to retreat. Steeling their resolve, they nullified their cultivation and started anew.

In twenty years, with their premium spirit roots, they had already made considerable progress.

As for those who had previously bought her spirit roots, apart from some who died accidentally, almost every one of them had surpassed the top disciples of the major sects in cultivation. Some who worked especially hard were even on par with sect leaders and elders.

In twenty years, Shen Wan’s sale of countless premium spirit roots had thrown the entire cultivation world into chaos.

“Miss Xie, shall we go out?”

Xie Yunfu saw that Shen Wan had removed her mask and hesitated before asking, “You’re going out with your real face this time?”

“Yes, there won’t be a spirit root girl anymore. I won’t sell spirit roots again. It’s about enough.”

Xie Yunfu nodded, wondering what kind of chaos they would find.

“What do you plan to do this time?”

“Go to the Void Sect to find Yin Jue.”

Xie Yunfu’s heart tightened instinctively. “Why are you still looking for him?”

“To see how he’s doing, if Lan Wanling has angered him to death yet. If he’s not dead, that’s even better. I’ll go add fuel to the fire. After all these years, Yin Jue might be lying there in despair. I’ll go give him some hope.”

Xie Yunfu unconsciously relaxed. So it was about settling scores with Yin Jue. Her lips curled into a smile. “He should get up indeed. It would be best if those two fought like dogs. I’ve noticed that man called Chu Qing by Lan Wanling’s side seems unusual towards her.”

“You even know about this?”

Xie Yunfu suddenly felt uncomfortable. “I heard it in passing earlier. Come on, let’s go out and see.”