Chapter 23: Is There Some Misunderstanding Between Us?

Yu Wanqiao froze on the spot.

The person who had arrived was no stranger; it was Xu Shaodeng, whom she had just swindled the day before. Yu Wanqiao let out a sheepish laugh. "Is there something you need?" As she spoke, she cast a subtle glance behind him. Only when she confirmed he was alone did she breathe a sigh of relief.

Seeing Yu Wanqiao’s nonchalant demeanor, Xu Shaodeng turned green with rage. He forced himself to restrain his temper. "Where is the Glazed Heart Grass?"

Yu Wanqiao played dumb. "Ah, what?"

Xu Shaodeng no longer believed a word of her nonsense. Seeing her eyes darting around, he knew she was about to lie to him again. "Don't try to deceive me anymore; I already know everything."

Upon hearing this, Yu Wanqiao abandoned that plan. "Look, how did the Glazed Heart Grass get over there?" She pointed excitedly in a certain direction.

Sure enough, Xu Shaodeng’s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately looked in the direction she pointed. There was nothing there. He realized at once that something was wrong and turned back around, but there was no sign of Yu Wanqiao—not even her shadow.

"..."

He had been tricked again. Xu Shaodeng flew into a frustrated rage and left immediately to hunt her down.

Only after Xu Shaodeng had departed did Yu Wanqiao emerge from beside a small shop. Ignoring the strange looks from the shopkeeper, she headed in the opposite direction. "Forget it," she thought, "I’ll go look for the sword oil and whetstone tomorrow."

She hummed a little tune as she strolled along, her mind drifting to the ghost sword in Aunt Wu's house. She wondered how Wu Zhuang, a ghost, had come up with the idea of possessing a sword. Yu Wanqiao always felt that his purpose went beyond merely dwelling within the blade. As she pondered this, she felt that the situation was becoming increasingly strange.

She recalled that, back when she was penniless, she had learned a thing or two from a talisman master. When Shen Que first entered the Xuantian Sect, he was constantly bullied, his monthly spirit stones stolen every time. Yu Wanqiao, having brought him up the mountain, felt she had to be responsible for him until the end. Knowing that Shen Que was a half-demon whose true form was a wolf, she knew he had never revealed his nature to others in the sect, even when bullied. Precisely because of this, some of the outer disciples of the Xuantian Sect deemed him an easy target and intensified their harassment, banking on his fear of being expelled from the sect to keep him silent.

Yu Wanqiao had seen Shen Que in his true form a few times: a black wolf licking his wounds in a corner of the Lanyue Pavilion. That was when she realized he would always run to the pavilion to tend to his injuries rather than tell her what was happening. To keep him from being bullied, she began teaching him simple swordsmanship. Seeing him practicing with nothing but a wooden stick, she had wanted to buy him a proper sword. Though her spirit stones were not exactly scarce, commissioning a sword was still beyond her means at the time.

Then, she hit upon a plan: selling talismans. She acted immediately, spending the day in the library archives researching and consulting other talisman masters from different sects. Fortunately, she was a quick study. She soon earned enough spirit stones from selling talismans to forge a sword for Shen Que, a blade he still used to this day.

Thinking of this, Yu Wanqiao’s heart ached. *What was I thinking back then? Was I kicked in the head by a donkey?* But fortunately, because of that experience, she still remembered the materials needed for drawing talismans. She wanted to plaster Aunt Wu’s house with them. She didn't know if Wu Zhuang harbored any malice toward humans, but being prepared was never a mistake. If she could trap him in the house, he would have nowhere to run, allowing her to confront him directly. She was one hundred percent certain that everything happening to Aunt Wu was his doing.

Yu Wanqiao glanced at the surrounding shops and dismissed the idea; none of the supplies there would be strong enough to suppress Wu Zhuang. Suddenly, she thought of the Fire-Scaled Black Tiger. Its hide could be fashioned into parchment, its blood used for ink, and its fur for brushes.

Action followed thought. Yu Wanqiao immediately set off for the mountain. Only one night had passed, and although she had already taken its spirit core, the carcass should still be there. This time, no inexplicable people blocked her path up the mountain, likely because the Glazed Heart Grass had already fallen into someone else's hands.

As she expected, the black tiger was still where she had left it. With a decisive heart, she set to work skinning and butchering the beast right there. Once finished, she stood up and dusted off her hands. She would handle the rest back at Aunt Wu's.

However, before she could enjoy her success for long, she sensed a familiar aura closing in behind her. Yu Wanqiao’s heart sank; she cursed under her breath and prepared to quicken her pace, only to hear the sharp hiss of sword energy cutting through the air toward her.

Yu Wanqiao sidestepped and caught the blade between two fingers. She flicked it aside, sending Xu Shaodeng stumbling back several steps. He stared at his sword in disbelief—this person had actually caught his blade with her bare hands.

Yu Wanqiao smiled at him as if nothing had happened. "Long time no see."

Xu Shaodeng’s face was dark, his eyes blazing with fury. "Hand over the Glazed Heart Grass, or you won't be leaving here today."

Yu Wanqiao didn't take his threat to heart. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Young Master Xu, you just saw it yourself—my strength is above yours."

"You!"

Yu Wanqiao continued, "The Glazed Heart Grass was never meant for you. Why are you so persistent? Why force my hand?"

Xu Shaodeng pointed his sword at her. "Eloquent, yet deceitful."

Yu Wanqiao sighed. "You and I have no grievances. Why make things so unpleasant over a single blade of grass?"

"Shut up! You snatched that Glazed Heart Grass from my junior brother! And you call that having no grievances?"

"What?" Hearing this, Yu Wanqiao was momentarily stunned, but in the next second, Xu Shaodeng lunged with his sword.

Yu Wanqiao dodged the attack. Finally, she understood: Xu Shaodeng had clearly misunderstood something. "Young Master Xu, wait! Let me explain, it’s not what you think! There’s definitely a misunderstanding here!" she shouted.

But Xu Shaodeng refused to listen, his sword strikes becoming increasingly fierce. Yu Wanqiao cursed her luck and had no choice but to pick up a tree branch to defend herself. She wondered if Xu Shaodeng was also tied to the plot involving Bai Chuwei and if he was being influenced by the script. If she accidentally killed him, would she be punished by the heavens? Thinking of this, she was even more reluctant to draw her own sword, *Xueyuan*, fearing she might cause irreparable harm.

A single branch was enough to hold off Xu Shaodeng, but he seemed to misunderstand even that. Seeing her refuse to draw her sword and opting for a branch instead, his anger flared even further. The two traded blows, locked in a stalemate, eventually fighting their way out of the cave. The surrounding leaves were shredded by the colliding sword energy, and the atmosphere grew tense to the point of breaking.