Chapter 80: Utter Defeat at the Hands of the Mortal Eldest Sister

Zhou Qi marched aggressively, leading Jiu'er to the front of Auntie's shop. Pointing at the goods displayed, he declared, "Miss, if you are willing to apologize to my sister, I’ll buy everything you have here."

Auntie rolled up her sleeves, planted one hand on her waist, and jabbed her finger at Zhou Qi, shouting, "Who are you calling Miss? I’m only twenty-five! Are you blind? I’m still a maiden, and you dare call me Miss?"

Zhou Qi, flustered, quickly corrected himself, "Young lady—"

"You’re the young lady! Your whole family are young ladies! So what if you have money? Do you think wealth gives you the right to bully people and do as you please?" The maiden launched into a tirade, saying whatever came to mind, the nastier the better.

Jiu'er couldn’t bear it any longer and tugged at Zhou Qi's sleeve, whispering, "Brother, let’s just go. Forget it."

Zhou Qi was stunned by the scolding, his pride wounded. He had come to defend Jiu'er, but after barely two sentences, he was utterly defeated.

Seeing Auntie still unwilling to let matters rest, Zhou Qi unconsciously released a trace of a cultivator’s aura—not to threaten mortals, but as a last-ditch effort to salvage his dignity, though leaving with such embarrassment hardly helped.

The moment Zhou Qi released his aura, Auntie stopped cursing and shouted, "Immortal! Immortal, where are you? Someone’s threatening me!"

No sooner had she yelled than Zhou Qi found himself surrounded by several cultivators, some at the Foundation Establishment stage, others at the Qi Refining stage.

"Who threatened you?" one cultivator asked fiercely, brandishing an iron rod.

"Fellow Daoists, it’s a misunderstanding," Zhou Qi replied. He noticed that none of them possessed even a low-grade spiritual weapon and had no intention of quarrelling with them over such a trivial matter. Oppressing the weak was not his nature. Quietly, he released the aura of a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the second level and revealed the edge of a mid-grade spiritual weapon, the Immortal-Slaying Sword.

The cultivator saw Zhou Qi’s level and the mid-grade weapon and realized that justice would not be served today.

"If it’s a misunderstanding, please leave quickly," he said.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qi had no choice but to take Jiu'er and Xiao Bai and depart. Had their strength been inferior, they would surely have been subdued for bullying mortals.

Auntie, seeing Zhou Qi walk away so easily, was still not satisfied. "Why did you just let him go? He called me young lady!"

---

"Miss, calling you young lady is a compliment to your youthful beauty," the cultivator replied, sweating.

"What? You’re calling me Miss too?"

Zhou Qi and his companions mounted their swords once more. Jiu'er pouted, feeling wronged—there was a hairpin she truly liked.

Seeing Jiu’er unhappy, Zhou Qi took out the Thousand Illusion Glass from his storage ring and transformed it into the hairpin she had her eye on. The Thousand Illusion Glass could morph into any weapon, so changing it into a hairpin was hardly difficult.

"Jiu’er, this is for you," Zhou Qi said, handing her the Thousand Illusion Glass.

"Brother, when did you steal it?" Jiu’er was delighted, yet wary, fearing a sudden appearance of a righteous hero to seize her.

Zhou Qi laughed, explaining the matter of the Thousand Illusion Glass, and only then did Jiu’er happily wear it.

Xiao Bai was envious—his boss was truly extravagant, using such a fine mid-grade spiritual weapon to please his sister.

To accommodate Zhou Qi, the three flew low, stopping periodically to wait for the cooldown period of the Shapeshifting Technique. Within the Daoist sects’ territory, it was possible that Heaven’s Path sent its own cultivators, and with Long Chengye and Zi Qing both determined to see Zhou Qi dead, caution was essential.

Xiao Bai had also learned about Huangfu Xiu’s situation and thought to himself that, at this pace, by the time they returned with the Dragon Pearl, it would likely be too late.

During the waiting period, Zhou Qi quietly studied the Primordial Guardian Technique. This technique enveloped the entire space around the caster in a thin halo, providing powerful and mysterious protection within its bounds—like wearing an extra layer of defensive equipment. Of course, it was not absolutely effective; against high-level cultivators, it was as good as useless.

Yet, it was sufficient for healing Huangfu Xiu’s golden core. Newly advanced in the core stage, Huangfu Xiu could use the Primordial Guardian Technique to completely wrap her core, preventing an explosion during the fusion of the Dragon Pearl.

Combining the Primordial Guardian Technique with his own Nine Transformations of Heavenly Mystery would enhance his resilience. If he could master the full set, his physical body might reign supreme in the world. No matter how formidable your techniques, if you cannot harm him, what use are they? However, Zhou Qi had no clue about the subsequent methods of the Nine Transformations—neither did even the Nascent Soul cultivator Liu Ruitai—so he wondered whether he could ever piece them together.

The white halo appeared and faded. The technique demanded precise control of spiritual power and had a complex circulation path. Whenever he had a moment, Zhou Qi kept practicing, hoping to master it before healing Huangfu Xiu.

---

The three continued their intermittent journey, fully experiencing the atmosphere within the Daoist sects’ territory. There was no fear of being robbed, but bullying others was inadvisable. Otherwise, righteous cultivators would appear at once.

Xiao Bai explained to Zhou Qi that many were not true Daoist cultivators, but small factions within the Daoist domain, flying the Daoist banner and acting as heroes to suppress evil, hoping to gain spiritual stones. Powerful solo cultivators did likewise; outright robbery was forbidden, but earnings from heroic deeds were legitimate.

In these acts of heroism, strength was the deciding factor. If the target was stronger, it was merely a misunderstanding; if weaker, then apologies were out of the question. Zhou Qi had already experienced this principle firsthand.

Zhou Qi considered revealing his true face to lure Heaven’s Path cultivators, letting these righteous heroes help him kill his enemies. In the end, he abandoned the idea—if the Daoist hierarchy learned that the Saintly Medicine Palace was in his hands, he’d immediately be branded a villain.

"After it! It’s running that way! Don’t let it escape!" A group of cultivators rushed forward.

Zhou Qi stopped one and asked, "Fellow Daoist, do you need help?"

"No need, it’s only a first-rank demon beast. We can handle it," the cultivator replied, hurrying off on his sword.

Curious, Zhou Qi led Xiao Bai and Jiu’er to follow the group.

A small white fox was stumbling ahead, bleeding in several places—a clear sign of the cultivators’ attacks. The fox was agile, constantly evading their blows, but the encirclement was tightening. Its death was only a matter of time.

"Brother, let’s help it. It’s so pitiful," Jiu’er pleaded, tugging Zhou Qi’s sleeve. She had discovered Zhou Qi’s weakness—calling him brother while tugging his sleeve was almost always successful.

Zhou Qi was startled, forgetting that Jiu’er was a nine-tailed fox demon herself. Spending time with her daily, he overlooked her other identity.

"Boss, you can’t. The path of humans and demons is different. You can’t let your sympathy for the white fox cloud your judgment," Xiao Bai said, noticing Jiu’er’s tactic and fearing Zhou Qi might impulsively turn against the cultivators for a demon beast. He had no idea Jiu’er was a nine-tailed fox demon herself.