Turning My Junior Sister into a Mary Sue In Xianxia Yuri World - Volume 3 Chapter 60 / Chapter 227: Jiujiu, Spewing Profanities

Lower Level of the Snow Dragon Cave—

Pop, pop—

The bubbling sound echoed from the boiling surface of molten lava. A massive platform made of obsidian was suspended above the lava lake, held by iron chains as thick as a grown person’s arm.

At the center of the platform was a three-tiered alchemy furnace, its bottom surrounded by roaring flames, with white mist drifting from the top.

Around the furnace, six cultivators in the Core Formation stage sat cross-legged, focused on channeling their spiritual energy to fuel the furnace’s fire.

Behind each of these cultivators stood about a dozen Foundation Establishment stage disciples, aiding them by supplying spiritual energy.

Among these disciples, dressed in the sect’s uniform and with a veil covering his face, was Ye Anping. He sat cross-legged, just like the others, concentrating on sending his spiritual energy to the Core Formation cultivator in front of him. Next to him, Feng Yudie sat obediently by his side, holding his left hand and tucking her legs underneath her.

After sneaking her into the Snow Dragon Cave, Ye Anping worried that her silver hair would be too eye-catching. So, he had found a secluded spot earlier and wrapped a few bandages around her head to make her look like she had been injured.

As for holding his hand, that was to use the jade talisman given by Sima Xuanji to conceal their cultivation levels and identities.

Feeling a bit bored, Feng Yudie glanced around the place since there were others nearby, making it inconvenient for her to speak.

Seeing her so fidgety, Ye Anping looked at the Foundation Establishment cultivator sitting close to him and whispered, “Shuiting, if you’ve got nothing to do, wipe the sweat off my forehead. Stop looking around, or Elder Zhuang might notice you in an instant.”

“…”

“Yu Shuiting…”

“Oh…”

It wasn’t until he called her a second time that Feng Yudie remembered she was currently pretending to be Yu Shuiting.

Realizing her mistake, she blinked and cautiously raised her right hand to wipe the sweat off Ye Anping’s forehead.

However, after wiping for a moment, she paused, raising the sleeve she had used to catch his sweat to her nose and sniffed it.

Sss—sss—

?

Ye Anping was puzzled by her actions. “What are you doing?”

Feng Yudie recalled that Ye Anping had told her not to speak, so she could only nod and shake her head repeatedly, trying to convey her thoughts with her eyes.

After some back-and-forth head shaking and eye gestures, Ye Anping finally got it. She seemed to be saying:

—I’m smelling to see if you have that ‘manly scent’.

“…”

Ye Anping was silent for a while before remembering that Feng Yudie equated “manly scent” with the smell of sweat. He didn’t know what expression to make, so he raised an eyebrow and asked:

—Well, do I?

Feng Yudie frowned slightly, took another deep sniff, and shook her head:

—No.

Ye Anping rolled his eyes and decided to ignore her.

He shifted his gaze toward the upper platform, where a few high-level cultivators were overseeing the alchemy process.

They seemed a bit tired, with several of them yawning.

Noticing this, Ye Anping quietly replaced the wood spiritual energy he was supplying with water spiritual energy.

The pill being refined in the furnace was a fire-attribute pill, requiring 60% fire energy, 20% wood energy, and 10% earth energy. The remaining 10% was reserved for the inevitable input of water and metal energies.

It wasn’t feasible for Zhuang Yan to gather sixty cultivators with single spiritual roots to fuel the furnace, and dual or Trinary spiritual root cultivators couldn’t completely control what type of energy they transmitted. Should the allowance for water energy exceed the limit, it would combine with the fire energy in the furnace.

The result? A furnace explosion.

Given that six Core Formation cultivators and over sixty Foundation Establishment cultivators were currently channeling energy into the furnace, an explosion would create a deafening blast that could be heard from hundreds of miles away.

When that happened, all Foundation Establishment cultivators who couldn’t react in time to shield themselves with spiritual energy would die in the fiery explosion.

At the same time, the explosion would act as a beacon for his fellow sect members searching for the Snow Dragon Cave, marking their location perfectly.

This was the first of several contingencies Ye Anping had planned. Though there were backup options, the furnace explosion was by far the simplest and most effective.

Rumble, rumble—

The sound of a stone door opening filled the cavern. Ye Anping immediately switched back to channeling wood spiritual energy and turned his head toward the entrance.

Zhuang Yan, with his hands behind his back, stepped through the stone door and floated down onto the platform. Two Core Formation disciples followed, dragging Yun Yiyi and Yun Jiujiu, both of whom had shackles on their feet and chains binding their hands, onto the platform as well.

Zhuang Yan walked up to the furnace and peered into the opening at the top, inspecting the black pill forming on a golden needle inside. He frowned slightly, then raised his right hand and flicked his fingers.

A ray of spiritual light shot from his fingertips, striking a nearby Foundation Establishment cultivator square in the chest.

Thud—

The cultivator let out a grunt, his legs still crossed as he was lifted into the air and flung off the platform, falling into the lava lake below.

“Ahhhhh—!”

A blood-curdling scream echoed throughout the cavern.

After the person’s screams faded away, Zhuang Yan swept his gaze over the group and scolded:

“If this pill isn’t completed, all of you will be sent for a lava bath! Be serious! If I catch anyone mixing the wrong spiritual energy into the furnace again, that last person will be your example!!”

Upon hearing this, the seventy or so cultivators immediately straightened their backs and focused, their energy levels now at maximum.

“Yes, sir…”

Ye Anping clicked his tongue softly. Zhuang Yan’s sharp eyes had indeed caught the problem.

The unfortunate victim had been a cultivator with water, wood, and earth spiritual roots. He had briefly dozed off and lost control of his spiritual output, which Zhuang Yan instantly noticed.

Clearly, Ye Anping’s plan to sneak in water-attribute energy wouldn’t work.

That left the backup plan: He’d have Feng Yudie break the restrictions on the furnace with her sword technique, creating a hole. He had a pure water-attribute spiritual pearl in his pouch. Once tossed in, it would cause the same explosive result.

It was just unfortunate about the spiritual pearl—he had bought it for his junior sister to use in her training. It had cost nearly 200,000 spirit stones, and Zhuang Hu had taken a hefty cut in the process…

Clink, clink—

Suddenly, the iron chains around Yun Jiujiu’s wrists rattled.

The next moment—

“Hyaaah—!”

Yun Jiujiu let out a shout, her face turning red with effort. The Core Formation stage cultivator holding her was caught off guard, and she swung him into the air with the chains around her wrists.

“What?”

The Core Formation cultivator’s eyes widened.

He tried to pull back on the chains, but Yun Jiujiu’s strength was far greater than his. Like swinging a shot put, Yun Jiujiu used the chain to hurl the cultivator straight into the formation of Foundation Establishment disciples where Ye Anping sat.

Ye Anping’s eyes widened in shock.

He hadn’t expected Yun Jiujiu to be this reckless.

As the Core Formation cultivator hurtled toward him, he hesitated. Zhuang Yan would probably step in to catch him.

Sure enough, Feng Yudie, sitting beside him, was excitedly making eye contact, as if asking:

“Hmm? Hmm? Hmm?”

It seemed that seeing Yun Jiujiu fight had sparked her desire to join in.

You two really are well-matched… Ye Anping shot her a warning look, his expression stern:

Stay put! It’s not time yet!

Just as Ye Anping expected, as the Core Formation cultivator was about to crash into him, Zhuang Yan appeared behind the man in a flash. With a casual move, Zhuang Yan grabbed the cultivator’s shoulder, stopping his momentum.

He then yanked the chain from the man’s grasp.

“Second Young Mistress, your temper sure is quick.”

With that, Zhuang Yan gave the chain a sharp tug, pulling Yun Jiujiu off the ground and toward him. As she flew through the air, Zhuang Yan raised his right hand and caught her by the throat, suspending her mid-air.

“Gah—”

Yun Jiujiu coughed violently, kicking at Zhuang Yan with all her might. But no matter how much force she used, Zhuang Yan stood as immovable as a mountain.

Realizing that her kicks were futile, she suddenly let out a sound of contempt:

“Hmph—”

Ptui!

She spat at Zhuang Yan’s face. Zhuang Yan deftly tilted his head to avoid the spit, which instead arced through the air and landed squarely on Feng Yudie’s forehead.

Her eyes squeezed shut as the spit splattered across her face.

Feng Yudie wiped her face, her eye twitching in annoyance. But seeing the warning in Ye Anping’s gaze, she bit her lip and swallowed her frustration.

Yun Jiujiu, furious, glared at Zhuang Yan’s smug expression. Her teeth clenched so hard they almost cracked as she yelled:

“Zhuang Yan, you old bastard! I’ll—”

Before she could finish—

Shhck—

Blood spurted into the air.

At some point, Zhuang Yan had produced a sharp dagger-like weapon, which he plunged into Yun Jiujiu’s chest. The blade didn’t fully penetrate her, but the wound was deep enough.

Yun Jiujiu coughed up blood, her eyes bloodshot with fury.

“You old bastard, I’ll—”

Before she could complete her sentence, Zhuang Yan violently swung her by the throat and smashed her into the ground. The impact left a crater in the obsidian platform, and she slid across the floor until she lay unconscious at Yun Yiyi’s feet, blood trickling from her mouth.

Yun Yiyi’s eyes widened slightly.

Though her expression remained calm, even she hadn’t expected Zhuang Yan to be this ruthless.

That strike had pierced Yun Jiujiu’s heart.

With that blow, Yun Jiujiu’s chances of survival were down to about 20%.

Yun Yiyi stared at her sister, who was now crumpled at her feet, bleeding and unconscious. She clenched her teeth and glared at Zhuang Yan, but remained silent.

“…”

Feng Yudie’s eyes also widened at the sight.

She instinctively tightened her grip on Ye Anping’s shoulder, her gaze questioning him frantically: Aren’t we going to act? Yun Jiujiu is about to…

Ye Anping calmly shook his head: No.

He could feel Feng Yudie’s fingers digging into his shoulder, her desperation palpable. But he gave her a reassuring look, signaling with his eyes: Trust me.

“…”

Feng Yudie bit her lip, glancing at Yun Yiyi and the unconscious Yun Jiujiu. She took a deep breath and slowly relaxed her grip.

“…Okay.”