When the second bowl of noodles was served, the woman ate angrily while threatening Chu Xuan:

"Don’t even think about shaking me off. If you don’t hand over the treasure, I’ll keep freeloading off you every day until I eat you into poverty."

Chu Xuan shook his head, "Then you need to find another way. Even if there weren’t kind-hearted people today, you couldn’t eat me into poverty in a hundred years; I’m afraid you’d have to be with me for a lifetime."

The woman frowned, "Are you taking advantage of me?"

Chu Xuan chuckled, "This isn’t taking advantage; it’s just speaking the truth."

"Do you know that girls like you from the demonic path are easily swayed by righteous young heroes like me, eventually falling hopelessly in love?"

"Are you asking for a beating? Are you nuts?!" This "weak woman" was truly infuriated by Chu Xuan.

"Have you been reading too many storybooks, leading to such nonsensical delusions?"

"Are women from the demonic path this dumb? This naive? If they don’t crush you so-called ’young heroes’ bones to dust and leave nothing behind, it would be a disgrace to their claims of being from the demonic path."

At the same time, in her mind, she cursed the likes of Bai Xiaosheng and others who love to gather information. If not for those rascals constantly writing similar storybooks, others wouldn’t have such misconceptions about women from the demonic path.

While the other party was angry, Chu Xuan was in a cheerful mood.

He didn’t expect that a single sentence could reveal the woman’s background. She indeed hailed from the heretical path; he just didn’t know which family.

"I’m curious, how exactly did you find me?" Chu Xuan asked while eating noodles.

One had to know that his destiny was shrouded in chaos, impossible to locate through divination.

Previously, Chu Xuan repeatedly checked to make sure there was nothing suspicious on him, but the other party always managed to catch up to him.

The woman snorted softly, "Do you think I would tell you? Anyway, don’t think you can easily shake me off."

Chu Xuan thought for a moment, "May I ask how to address you, miss?"

"You first, what’s your name? Which sect or school do you come from?"

He originally intended to say the words "Leng Yubing," but immediately changed it to: "Chu Xuan."

After all, the other party was from the demonic path, and it’s possible they might know the alias Tian Xie.

At this stage, Chu Xuan must distance himself from Demon Venerable completely, or else people would get suspicious and he’d be in trouble. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Moreover, with other random names like "Jade Taoist," Chu Xuan couldn’t guarantee he hadn’t used them before, so he must pay attention to these details in the future.

Although she didn’t know if the name was real, adhering to the principle of fairness, the woman said, "Just call me ’Lady Qing.’"

"Is it the same Qing as in ’lovebirds Qing Qing’?" Chu Xuan asked curiously.

The woman nodded.

"Okay, Qingqing."

The woman frowned and said, "Are you asking for a fight?"

Chu Xuan was speechless, "You insist on taking advantage of me, what can I do?"

"How am I taking advantage of you?" The woman looked puzzled.

"Ah, I must have misunderstood. It seems people usually call you Lady Qing, never mind, let’s eat noodles."

Although Chu Xuan had said that his grandmaster was greedy for good food, he himself wasn’t much better; after all, in his view, life was meant for enjoyment.

Once they finished eating, Chu Xuan took the initiative to settle the bill, paying for three bowls of noodles.

The middle-aged man seemed a bit surprised, intending to return the money, but Chu Xuan said:

"My wife is mischievous; she was just playing with me earlier. Please don’t misunderstand, sorry for the confusion."

Only then did the man understand. He thought so, why did this man and woman seem to know each other well, chatting while eating? It turns out he had unintentionally interrupted the fun between the married couple.

He scratched his head, a little embarrassed, "Your wife looked really pitiful; it’s my fault for being too straightforward."

Chu Xuan thought Qingqing would be angry, but she surprised him by cooperatively coming over to link arms with her "husband."

Of course, Chu Xuan immediately dodged. He wasn’t foolish enough to let his enemy touch him so easily.

This made Qingqing put on a pitiful, teary face, "Husband, are you disdaining me?"

Now it was Chu Xuan’s turn to feel awkward because the middle-aged man was looking at them suspiciously.

Chu Xuan cleared his throat, "Your husband still has business to attend to today. If you get me all dirty, people might mistake me for a beggar."

"So, go wash up first, change into new clothes, and I’ll take you to see the lanterns later."

Qingqing looked at him with an innocent expression, "Really? Husband, you can’t lie to me."

Chu Xuan nodded repeatedly, "Truer than pearls."

And so, Qingqing temporarily departed. Chu Xuan said to the middle-aged man, "I see your forehead is bright and exudes a red glow, within three days, you’ll surely have good news."

As soon as the words fell, he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

This left the man bewildered, "Wait, your wife..."

Once the two left, they never returned, leaving the man to shake his head helplessly and continue his business.

Unexpectedly, the next day, his wife, who hadn’t shown any signs after years of marriage, suddenly started having morning sickness, possibly indicating a pregnancy, which delighted him immensely.

At this point, the man recalled the remark made by the young fortune teller the previous day, and couldn’t help but marvel: truly a living immortal.

...

After leaving this time, Chu Xuan employed the transformation divine technique of the Intelligent Stone Monkey to turn into an ordinary field mouse, hiding in the fields outside the city.

Not long after, a very beautiful woman in a red dress swept across from the sky. She searched nearby with a puzzled look but couldn’t find a single trace of anyone. Soon, she changed direction and continued her search.

Chu Xuan took in everything, and he speculated in his heart that this demoness indeed had a way to find him, but it seemed not precise enough, only able to sense a general area.

Furthermore, this sensing was likely distance-limited.

If Chu Xuan was determined to shake her off, he could choose a random direction to leave, alternating between earth escape and transformation divine techniques, as long as he increased the distance between them, the demoness would completely lose track of him.

Despite some curiosity about this woman, Chu Xuan decided it wasn’t time to get entangled with her now as he was tasked with several missions.

Moreover, the results of the three turtle divinations before descending the mountain had always been a shadow in his heart, seemingly foreboding that this trip wouldn’t be smooth.

If so, then caution was more than necessary.

Chu Xuan resolved to depart in the opposite direction of the demoness’s search.

Along the way, he initially used earth escape to travel. When tired, he emerged, transformed into common creatures like a hawk or a green snake, rested briefly, and occasionally swallowed a Replenishing Essence Pill to replenish magical power.

In this way, he spent three days and nights, finally no longer seeing the woman in black following him.

Chu Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, dismissed the matter from his mind, and continued towards Wuyou Valley.

...

For these three days, Qingqing kept pursuing Chu Xuan’s traces but couldn’t find the person, knowing the general direction was of no use as the distance between them grew wider and she eventually lost track.

This made her furious; as the Saintess of the contemporary Demon Sect, although she had unavoidable duties, outside of them, everyone was careful to please her, fulfilling her every desire for fear she would drop everything and not comply.

Additionally, Qingqing had a unique natural constitution, adept at understanding others’ thoughts, having seen much of the wickedness of human hearts, she developed an arrogant, extreme, and solitary character from a young age.

This time, she barely managed to find an excuse to temporarily leave the sect, shake off that disgusting woman, not having to recall those painful memories, Qingqing had become enamored with this taste of freedom.

To be precise, it was the taste of freely fleecing fat sheep.

Having succeeded several times recently, Qingqing was immensely pleased, looking at the dazzling treasures in her storage ring gave her a rare sense of satisfaction.

Actually, she didn’t lack these external objects, but the fulfillment is entirely different between what is obtained from the sect and what is plundered oneself.

Previously in Shanhai Pavilion, Qingqing sensed that Chu Xuan had a supreme treasure on him, at least of Celestial Tier.

Moreover, this person... was very special, Qingqing couldn’t see through him, thus she had the idea of robbery.

Of course, she was also worried about hitting a hard target, so she specially observed for a while, ensuring the target was indeed a fat sheep before tailing him.

Unexpectedly, she suffered a major setback this time with Chu Xuan.

This lecherous, shameless, vile idiot with more money than sense turned out to have some skills, no wonder he dared to carry precious treasures out.

Qingqing didn’t know what that treasure was; the divine secret technique she cultivated was called the Celestial Treasure Seeking Technique and could only be practiced by a few with special constitutions.

Despite not having achieved mastery yet, Qingqing could sense the preciousness of treasures and their approximate location remotely.

Now having lost track, no matter how powerful her divine technique was, it was useless; although extremely unwilling in her heart, she had no choice but to remember this bastard secretly, aiming for revenge next time.

Don’t ask what the grudge is, Chu Xuan repeatedly took advantage of her, deceiving her, Qingqing gritted her teeth at the thought of his detestable face.

"Forget it, let’s head to Wuyou Valley first," she muttered to herself.

As a neutral sect that doesn’t involve itself in the conflict between good and evil, Wuyou Valley widely invites female cultivators from all over the world to attend a banquet, theoretically not only righteous female cultivators can participate, but demon ones can as well.

However, in this world, righteousness carries a noble name, hence Wuyou Valley still dares not to invite evil sects.

Not to mention, these folks aren’t easy to deal with; if they come and don’t follow the rules, it’s practically inviting robbers to dinner, as if asking for trouble.

But Qingqing knows very well that if a woman from the demon sect is willing to hide her identity and promises not to cause chaos at the Hundred Flowers Banquet, Wuyou Valley is willing to turn a blind eye.

After all, the reason the Hundred Flowers Banquet is becoming more famous is because of this openness.

This banquet only happens once every 120 years, naturally Qingqing wanted to join the fun, see what outstanding figures there are among contemporary female cultivators, and listen to their teachings to aid her cultivation.

Not to mention, her most admired figure, the legendary Primordial Monarch Taixu, was said to also attend this time.

The Monarch was incredibly powerful, independent, respected by all in the cultivation world, precisely the image Qingqing dreamed of becoming.

Surely, someone like her lives life with utmost freedom, right?