Chapter 7: The White-Haired Witch.

In this world, there exists a group of hunters who make their living by slaying demonic beasts and gathering rare spiritual herbs and immortal medicines.

Among them, a rumor about the “White-Haired Witch” has spread. It circulates by word of mouth among the immortal cultivators in the capital.

It is said she wears black clothes, a bamboo hat on her head, with long silver-white hair and blood-red eyes.

She rarely appears. Hunters might see her only a few times a year in demonic beast gathering grounds. But whoever encounters her must retreat three steps and take a detour.

Her strength is unfathomable. Her methods are cruel, and her personality is silent and cold, utterly merciless. Those who have seen her only ever heard her speak one word:

“Scram.”

But the real reason she inspires terror and makes people’s faces change at the mere mention of her name is her strange principle—“never kill.”

When you climb the mountain and see ice-fanged wolves with blood dripping from their mouths, all their teeth pulled out and eyeballs gouged, whimpering in agony on the ground; or rock-eating bears with their livers removed and paws chopped off, growling lowly under trees—those are almost certainly her handiwork. No prey ever escapes her, yet no prey ever dies in her hands either.

The weapon she uses is a black stone stele that floats beside her, roughly two meters tall and one meter wide. Some say controlling such a massive stele in battle is demonic arts, but great experts who have witnessed her claim it is—“Sword Control Technique.”

There are always a few reckless fools who deliberately seek trouble with her, but no one knows what becomes of them, and no one asks, because everyone can guess.

The incident that truly made her famous occurred once in a secret immortal valley. Two groups from different sects came to cultivate there and got into a dispute, dragging her into it.

More than fifty people on the scene, including eight at the Core Formation stage, none escaped. All were “dealt with” by her. It is said the first hunter who discovered those fifty-plus “corpses” vomited on the spot and suffered nightmares for half a year afterward.

Yes—living “corpses” are far more terrifying than dead ones. Every victim had their body, except for the head, neck, and chest, smashed into a pulp of flesh and blood, yet “not a single one died.” Not only were they crippled, but the vast majority later lost their minds and went mad, eventually forcing others to “euthanize” them.

One Core Formation stage expert who remained relatively sane spent a great price to recast his body. According to his recollection, with a gentle wave of the “witch’s” arm, the black stone stele shot through the valley like lightning, slamming down like a pestle used for grinding medicine. Flesh and blood flew everywhere until the entire stele was dyed red.

The white-haired witch remained completely silent. After stopping the bleeding for everyone, she simply left.

It is said that later an expert at the Soul Emergence stage also went looking for her, but upon returning only said:

“I could not see through her cultivation.”

After all, as long as one did not provoke her, she would not cause trouble. No one dared seek her out anymore.

Opinions about her origins vary wildly. Some say she comes from the mysterious “Six Doors,” but anyone with even slight knowledge of the Ministry of Justice knows that underestimates her greatly.

Some say she is from the Spirit Gate Sect, others claim she belongs to the Emperor’s most secretive organization “Chess Shadow.” The most ridiculous rumor is that she is a maidservant from the Prince Rui’s residence, because she is the only person in the capital with white hair and red pupils.

But that maid is only twenty-two years old! How could that be possible? Although she does run errands for the Prince Rui’s residence to buy pills, she has no cultivation at all. Thus, this theory was the first to be dismissed by everyone.

——————

With Qian Junyou’s death and revival, time was pulled back once more to the night of the Hero Soul Festival.

“So frustrating! I was so close to sorting it out…”

Qian Junyou sat at his desk with an utterly exhausted expression, recalling everything that had just happened. He truly hadn’t expected that Bai Shuxi would block a sword for him at the very end…

On his table sat a wine gourd. It was something an old Daoist had given to “Qian Junyou” before the transmigration. Not a single drop remained inside.

According to the servants, a week earlier “Qian Junyou” had encountered an old Daoist asking for money for wine. He generously tossed over an entire bag of copper coins—about ten or so. In return, the old Daoist gave him a pot of wine, saying it could fulfill the desire in his heart.

A few days later, after taking a concubine and returning to his room, out of curiosity he drank the wine and then slept until “Qian Anhao” transmigrated over.

It was obvious—this pot of wine was the cause of his transmigration!

Perhaps if he found that old Daoist and asked for another pot, he could transmigrate back? But thinking about that now was unrealistic.

Gazing at the moonlight outside the window, he pondered. It seemed the fire incident could no longer be avoided.

He didn’t know how many more times he could revive. What if next time he closed his eyes and never opened them again? The terror brought by each death was all too real.

Perhaps he should try using his own abilities to catch the person who caused the fire?

“How long does it take to get from here to the disaster victims’ camp?”

“Uh… probably… even at the fastest, it would take two hours. We’re in the north of the city, and the disaster camp was set up outside the south gate!”

The coachman answered with a confused face. Shouldn’t the young master be heading to the pleasure quarters to meet the Second Prince for some flower-viewing and willow-seeking? Why was he suddenly asking about the disaster camp?

There was only about one hour left until the fire. It was definitely too late to rush over. Qian Junyou thought for a moment and decided to send someone instead.

As for the Second Demon Prince, he would happily stand him up again. At worst, he could make it up with another banquet on the fourth day.

“Unharness the carriage. I’m not going anywhere. Call Old He over.”

By seniority, Old He was Qian Junyou’s uncle. He was originally a bastard son of the He family, but because he possessed Core Formation stage cultivation, he had been sent to the Prince Rui’s residence to serve as both a servant and a household guard.

With Core Formation stage cultivation, going to the scene would be more than enough. There were over a dozen people in the household with similar cultivation levels.

Being able to casually order such powerful people around gave off a proper villain family vibe.

“Young Master, you called for me?”

“Do you know the disaster victims’ resettlement camp in the south of the city? Go circle around that area and keep watch for me. Look for any suspicious people.

If you see someone setting a fire, capture him for me. If it’s just an ordinary fire… I mean, if a fire breaks out, help put it out, then you can return.”

Old He also looked bewildered after listening. His young master usually only cared about eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling—wherever was fun and exciting. Recently he had been racking his brains trying to pursue Miss Bai. Could this… also be part of the plan to chase Miss Bai?

Old He asked no further questions. After receiving the task from his young master, he set off.

After arranging the task, Qian Junyou finally breathed a slight sigh of relief. He thought: This time there shouldn’t be any problems, right?

As a character who had died right after appearing, the original author had not described “Qian Junyou’s” talent or cultivation. But after transmigrating, he was surprised to discover that he actually possessed the Twelve Meridian Connection and the Primal Chaos True Body.

This “Primal Chaos True Body” was a physique unique to the imperial bloodline. Not every member of the imperial family had it, but anyone who did was definitely of the Qian imperial bloodline.

In the later stages of cultivation, the body would be tempered to remove impurities, tendons relaxed and bones sharpened, allowing one to cultivate the “Primal Chaos Heavenly Dao Divine Body,” with star veins directly connecting to the Ziwei Emperor Star.

In this world, after Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment, immortal cultivators still had to go through a stage of connecting to the “star veins,” linking their primordial spirit with their natal star, before they could begin Core Formation.

In the original novel, the demonic cultivator Second Demon Prince colluded with the Crown Prince to exile the Third Prince from the capital. Afterward, the Third Prince joined the protagonist’s group. That fellow also possessed the Primal Chaos True Body.

Later he obtained opportunities and cultivated the divine body, becoming extremely powerful—comparable to the protagonist. He was another old cheat.

However, because “Qian Junyou’s” spiritual roots were covered by a layer of evil miasma, after reaching the third layer of Qi Refining he could no longer break through. Afterward, he gave up on himself and abandoned cultivation.

Although “Qian Junyou” had given up, “Qian Anhao” had no intention of doing so!

He didn’t seek to cut off the protagonist’s opportunities for now. Snatching the Third Prince’s opportunities should be fine, right? If he could survive smoothly… then the Third Prince would be his first target for opportunity snatching! He would call him “Suffering Lord”! Mm… Third Suffering Prince!

In previous loops, with Nalan Xueya’s help, he had tried guiding qi into his body. But there were always evil ghost whispers interfering in his ears, and spiritual qi was always blocked by a layer of evil energy.

After trying several times, he basically confirmed it was the same mysterious power that appeared when he encountered Miss Bai. As long as he could find a way to overcome it, he should be able to continue cultivating. Moreover, with each additional death, his resistance was also increasing. There was still hope.

About an hour later, a violent heart-wrenching pain seized every nerve in Qian Junyou’s body.

“Wah—! It’s happening again!”

Intense dizziness hit him like drinking fake wine. One hand clutched his head, the other gripped his chest as he twisted on the ground nonstop.

Those ghostly whispers sounded in his ears once more, as if countless demons were reveling. Vaguely, he could hear what seemed like an invitation for him to join them. It lasted about ten minutes before slowly subsiding.

However, the sounds he heard this time were different from when he encountered Miss Bai. He kept hearing a strange bird cry—deep and sharp—repeating a single English word over and over:

“befall——befall——”

Of course, there was no English in this world. It was just that Qian Junyou felt the bird’s cry sounded similar to the American pronunciation of that word.

He considered this a death penalty, because it appeared once shortly after every revival. He didn’t realize—perhaps by coincidence—that the timing perfectly overlapped with the fire.

Outside the window, the originally silver-white moon had somehow turned a scarlet red… Did the Hero Soul Festival always have a blood moon?

“Young Master, are you alright?”

Qian Junyou’s painful cries drew Nalan Xueya and several maids over.

“I’m fine now. I just need to rest a bit. You all can go down first.”

With a ferocious expression, Qian Junyou panted heavily and gently held his forehead. Even a slight shake of his head brought lingering pain. He waved his hand, sending the others away first.

But Xueya did not leave. Instead, she helped Qian Junyou sit on a chair and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Young Master, are you feeling better?”