Edited by RED

What appeared before Xu Qi wasn’t the humongous Giantwood Python he thought, but a beautiful woman in a long golden dress.

At this moment, a beautiful woman with enchanting looks enough to bring disaster to a country was looking at Xu Qi with a smile. Next, she used a voice that made anyone who heard it turn limp and said, “Big Brother, I missed you.”

Xu Qi was immediately stupefied at hearing this. The voice sounded very familiar, but this woman had a face unfamiliar to him, so he was unable to keep up with it.

On the other side, Lan Shu’er, standing at the village entrance, felt unpleasant in her heart when she saw this beautiful woman suddenly appearing and calling her husband “Big Brother” affectionately. She couldn’t help but bite her lips.

Standing next to her was the granny. She too was astonished at the appearance of this beautiful woman, because she saw that Xu Qi was clearly summoning his familiar earlier. Why did a beautiful woman appear instead? The granny was confused.

“That, err, you’re Little Snakey?” Xu Qi asked, looking at this woman in a golden long dress.

The woman slowly came to Xu Qi’s side, her face slightly blushing and said softly, “It’s been so long; you didn’t even visit me, letting me stay in there alone for so long. There was nothing to do other than cultivating, it was so boring! Luckily, Uncle Tortoise woke up.”

Hearing this, Xu Qi looked at her in disbelief. It looks like she was indeed Little Snakey. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have known about the Black Tortoise.

“Little Snakey, w-why did you become human?” Xu Qi asked, puzzled.

“Let’s put that off for later, Big Brother. Did you summon me to get rid of that old geezer there?” the beautiful woman continued, speaking seductively.

“Say, can’t you speak normally? Why must you speak in this way? It makes me uncomfortable. And you’re right, the reason I summoned you out was to take revenge for me. I was almost killed by this geezer,” Xu Qi said, annoyed.

The woman kept silent after hearing what Xu Qi said. She turned to face that white-haired elder, who was showing a puzzled look, and said irritatedly, “Geezer, you actually dare to try kill my Big Brother? Where did you find the gall!?”

Then, she casually shot a streak of golden light at Lian Qijin.

Lian Qijin was still deep in shock when he suddenly felt a sense of danger approaching him. He quickly put up his defense, but to his surprise, the streak of golden light didn’t slow down in the least upon contact with the energy barrier Lian Qijin put up, shattering it instantly and struck his body. Lian Qijin was instantly sent flying back and slammed onto the ground.

Xu Qi stared wide-eyed as he saw Lian Qijin was easily hit by a casual attack of the Giantwood Python. He carefully sized this Giantwood Python-turned-beautiful woman up.

“I’m strong, aren’t I, Big Brother? Do I look beautiful?” the beautiful woman said to Xu Qi, giggling.

Cough cough, “What about beautiful? Stop talking nonsense and finish off this geezer quickly. We still need to return home to prepare dinner,” Xu Qi quipped.

Hearing this, the beautiful woman replied joyfully, “Aw yeah”, and flew toward Lian Qijin.

Right as Lian Qijin stood back up, he saw that woman who casually sent him flying coming at him again. He cursed inwardly and quickly used his movement technique, wanting to make an escape. He wasn’t a match for her at all.

However, Lian Qijin didn’t go far before a golden light flashed before his eyes, and a powerful force struck him again, sending him back, crashing to the ground.

Puu, Lian Qijin spat out a mouthful of blood after he fell. He looked at the enchanting woman standing before him in bafflement.

“Who are you?” Lian Qijin cried out in fear. As a cultivator at the second stage of Void realm, truthfully speaking, he never met anyone who could casually torment an expert like him to such state.

“You only need to know, that I have to kill you if he wants you dead!” the enchanting woman in golden long dress said gravely. However, her voice still made anyone who heard it to feel all gushy.

Hearing this, Lian Qijin began laughing. He slowly stood up and turned to Xu Qi, saying, “Xu Qi, I didn’t think you would still have such a trump hidden. I advised the Sire to not go against you in the past. Even after you fell off the cliff, I insisted on locating your corpse. That was why I kept sending people to look for you downstream. I told them to never assume you’re dead before finding your corpse. Otherwise, you will definitely become a great source of trouble to us once you return. Alas, I still fell under your hands today!”

“You have to understand, Lian Qijin. I never had the intention of finding trouble with you. It was you people who came to me. I had no choice but to retaliate, and almost lost my life. If you hadn’t come here, perhaps I would still be that Lan Jiu! I would have had nothing to do with you people!” Xu Qi said plainly.

“Right, why did we offend you? But it’s all too late now. Xu Qi, do you know? This old man here really anticipates how far you could go in the future,” Lian Qijin said.

Wielding the Rainlord, Xu Qi flew to Lian Qijin’s side. He looked at Lian Qijin, whose hair was messy, and his aura unstable, saying, “I haven’t thought of how far I want to go, I only wanted a peaceful life, protecting those I cherish. I never had much ambition!”

Hearing this, Lian Qijin let out a hollow laugh, showing a look of frustration.

“Actually, I would very much want to let you go; you and Lian Chengwei, Lian Tianwei are two different species. However, you are too loyal to Lian Chengwei. There’s no way I can allow you to leave. I can’t risk the lives of everyone in this village, to gamble whether you will tell him about the events today. Therefore, you have to die,” Xu Qi said plainly.

Lian Qijin looked at Xu Qi. Red energy appeared in his hands once more. The woman in golden long dress quickly shielded Xu Qi behind her at seeing this, prepared to act at any moment.

However, Xu Qi patted her shoulder and pulled her behind him. He raised the Rainlord, pointing at Lian Qijin and said, “Lian Qijin, this sword is named the Rainlord sword, a godly sword from the ancient era. Today, I shall use it to end you, to uphold your reputation. I hope you won’t be my enemy in your next life, and become my comrade instead!”

Before Lian Qijin could reply, Xu Qi stabbed at Lian Qijin’s heart. The latter didn’t put up any resistance either. Lian Qijin watched as the blue-colored sword pierced into his heart, muttering, “The Rainlord sword. Good name. Thank you, Xu Qi.”

The rainbow energy on the Rainlord suddenly erupted, exploding in Lian Qijin’s chest, instantly shattering his heart. Lian Qijin’s body slowly fell backward.

Lian Qijin, the Second Uncle and guardian of the ruler of Mirrorlink, Lian Chengwei, was dead.

“Big Brother, why must you do it personally?” the golden-dressed woman asked, looking at Lian Qijin’s corpse.

“Although he’s my enemy, he’s a good man. He’s worthy of me sending him off,” Xu Qi answered as the All-Tempering Flame burned in his hand, tossing it at Lian Qijin’s corpse.

In just a moment, Lian Qijin’s corpse was burned to ashes, leaving a black human-shaped mark on the ground, the All-Tempering Flame still burning. Xu Qi sighed and retracted the All-Tempering Flame, then turned and walk back toward the village. The golden-dressed beautiful woman followed behind him, her gaze slightly bitter, her lips pouted.

The gazes of the Woodblue Village’s villagers standing around the village entrance turned fearful on seeing Lan Jiu, after witnessing this series of abnormalities from him.

Xu Qi didn’t mind their gazes. He quickly walked to Lan Shu’er and the granny’s side. He looked at Lan Shu’er and asked, “Shu’er, I didn’t scare you, did I?”

At this moment, Lan Shu’er felt there was something different about the husband who she faced day and night. However, when she saw his gaze, she knew for sure that he was still the same husband he was to her.

“Dear, you’re called Xu Qi?” Lan Shu’er asked.

Xu Qi nodded slightly.

“Dear!? Big Brother, you actually took a wife?” the golden-dressed woman behind him exclaimed.

“None of your business. I’ll settle our scores later; don’t speak now,” Xu Qi turned around and quipped.

That abnormally beautiful woman whose cultivation was unfathomably strong in the eyes of the villagers was instantly dispirited at hearing Xu Qi’s words. She lowered her head, no longer speaking and drew on the ground with the tip of her feet, like a wronged little girl.

“Granny, I’ve troubled you for these years. Thank you. I’ll come to your place some time later,” Xu Qi said to the granny.

Hearing this, the granny didn’t say a word. She nodded and turned around, walking into the village.

“Let’s scatter, everyone. It’s time you return to prepare dinner. Don’t think too much; I’m still that Lan Jiu, the one who’ll still treat you to meat and drinks!” Xu Qi declared.

“Lan Jiu, your cultivation seems very strong. Can you teach me?” Lan Daniu, standing by the side, asked.

“We’ll talk about that another time, Brother Daniu. I’m a little tired and only want to go back home for dinner, okay?” Xu Qi smiled, then took over his daughter from Lan Shu’er’s embrace, kissing her cheek.

“Daddy, Xin’er is so hungry,” Lan Xin said childishly.

Xu Qi lit up a smile at hearing this. He picked Lan Xin up and held Lan Shu’er’s hand, walking back to his house. The golden-dressed woman followed slowly behind, but her lips were still mumbling something.

As for the Woodblue villagers, they also slowly dispersed after watching Xu Qi leave. There were many things they didn’t understand from this battle today, but they didn’t think of asking. In their eyes, Lan Jiu was a good man.

------

Back at their house, Lan Shu’er looked at the woman who had followed them back. She went up and asked, “Miss, what’s your name?”

“Me? I don’t have one; Big Brother has always called me Little Snakey,” the golden-dressed woman said.

“Little Snakey? Why is your name so strange?” Lan Shu’er said, puzzled.

“How should I tell you this, Shu’er; she’s not human, but a monster. A Giantwood Python. I don’t know what happened, but she actually transformed into a human. I haven’t had the time to ask her what was going on,” Xu Qi said from the side.

Lan Shu’er didn’t really understand Xu Qi’s words. She looked at this beautiful woman before her. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t believe that this was a python. She said gently, “Since you address dear as Big Brother, I’ll call you Sister, then. I’ll go prepare dinner. You and him must have lots to talk about; I won’t disturb you then. Lan Xin, come prepare dinner with mom.”

Then, Lan Shu’er brought Lan Xin out of the house to prepare dinner, smiling.

“Sister? I recall being older than her,”1 the golden-dressed woman muttered to herself.

“What about being older, come over here quickly and tell me what happened. Why did you turn into a human?” Xu Qi quipped.

“Big Brother, can’t you speak gently like you did to her? I’m also a girl, after all,” she replied.

“Alright, don’t talk about such useless things. Quickly tell me, how did you turn into human form, and how is Uncle Tortoise?” Xu Qi asked anxiously.

“I don’t know what exactly happened regarding me turning to human either. I kept cultivating after you left the cavern last time. One day, the golden inner core fully turned into my personal inner core, and two horns grew on my head. I turned into this afterwards. According to Uncle Tortoise, I seem to be transforming into that dragon or whatever,” she added.

“You grew two horns?! Dragon horns?! Are you kidding me!?” Xu Qi exclaimed.

“What about it, Big Brother?” she asked, puzzled.

Xu Qi didn’t answer her. He lowered his head and began pondering. Previously, he unintentionally had the Giantwood Python consume a Five-clawed Golden Dragon’s golden inner core. Over ten years later, she fully absorbed the energy in it and the golden core turned into her personal inner core. Growing a pair of dragon horns was obviously it transforming into a dragon. Could it be that it was all because of that golden inner core?

Seeing this woman before him, Xu Qi confirmed that it was indeed the Giantwood Python. However, he was not used to the fact that the Giantwood Python had actually turned into such an enchanting woman. He couldn’t possibly keep addressing her as Little Snakey, either. It seemed he could only enter the Four Divinities Cavern later to ask the Black Tortoise about the things he didn’t understand.

“Big Brother, there’s still something I need to tell you. Uncle Tortoise’s strength has recovered, and he also turned into a human,” the Giantwood Python continued.

Hearing this, Xu Qi felt giddy, thinking inwardly, What has this world come to? We haven’t met for three years and everyone has turned into demon spirits!

TL Note:

1: The word for Sister in Chinese is different for younger and elder sister.