Chapter 36: Spoils of War

After lecturing Qin Jiyue, Li Guanzhen finally asked,
“Will you be coming home for dinner tonight?”
Qin Jiyue was about to refuse, but recalling that she’d just made Li Guanzhen unhappy, she hesitated. If she refused now, she might not even get the chance for dual cultivation in the future.
That would be utterly unacceptable!
Without dual cultivation with Li Guanzhen, who knew how long it would take her to build her foundation—if she could even hope to reach the Golden Core stage one day!
“I’ll eat—I’ll definitely eat!”
She answered hurriedly, then approached with a sweet smile, looping her arm around Li Guanzhen’s, her tone coquettish and ingratiating.
“Husband, please don’t be angry. I know I was wrong. From now on, I’ll consult you in everything and never make decisions on my own.”
Li Guanzhen eyed that handsome, fair-skinned male face and felt a chill in his heart. He immediately shook her off, muttering,
“Keep your hands to yourself when we’re outside. Right now, you’re Qin Wuji.”
Qin Jiyue paused, then the corner of her lips curled up. She pinched her voice and leaned close, flirtatious and charming,
“There’s no one else here, husband. You worry too much. Should we have a spar here? Or would you prefer I come home tonight and use this face to spar with you?”
…
Without glancing back, Li Guanzhen strode away, leaving Qin Jiyue pouting and calling after him in a syrupy voice.
He hadn’t gone far when he sensed several bursts of spiritual energy ahead. Startled, he quickly ducked behind a tree, silently watching the scene unfold.
Qin Jiyue sensed it too and instantly appeared behind Li Guanzhen. Squinting at the fighting cultivators ahead, she remarked,
“Bandits… They’re bold indeed, daring to rob people just five miles from Falling Moon Valley. Do they have a death wish?”
Li Guanzhen looked at three somewhat familiar figures and chuckled,
“What’s so surprising? With some of your outer disciples backing them, of course they’d dare rob near here.”
“Which outer disciple would dare such a thing?” Qin Jiyue fumed.
This was ruining Falling Moon Valley’s reputation!
Li Guanzhen only smiled and changed the subject, intending to take a detour.
Although the cultivators ahead were only at the fourth and fifth layers of Qi Refinement, he preferred not to get involved to avoid exposing his identity.
Even if he had to act, he’d send his explosive puppet to fight for him.
“Aren’t we going to help?” Qin Jiyue asked.
“Are you familiar with them?”
“Not really… but one of them might also be an outer disciple of Falling Moon Valley.”
“Then let’s not meddle.”
Li Guanzhen’s expression was calm, with no intention of intervening. In this ruthless world of cultivation, meddling only brought endless trouble.
“Fine.”
Qin Jiyue was not the compassionate type anyway.

She had reached the sixth layer of Qi Refinement by eighteen—now at the eighth—thanks in no small part to her own ruthless nature.
Yet just as they turned to leave, two broadswords suddenly swept down on them with fierce momentum!
“What nerve!” Qin Jiyue sneered. A few mere fourth and fifth layer cultivators dared ambush her?
She instantly summoned a slender violet sword, blocking both blades in a shower of sparks, her eighth-layer cultivation plain to see.
“Eighth layer of Qi Refinement?”
“We didn’t recognize your strength, please forgive us!”
“What are you waiting for? Run!”
The bandits saw they’d kicked an iron wall and immediately fled, leaving their artifacts behind.
“Shall I kill them?” Qin Jiyue glanced at Li Guanzhen for instruction.
He didn’t answer, for a scream rang out nearby.
Qin Jiyue turned and saw that a sixth-layer puppet had punched a lone fourth-layer bandit into pulp.
“If we’ve been spotted, we can’t leave any witnesses—what’s there to hesitate over?” Li Guanzhen said dryly.
Qin Jiyue rolled her eyes. Just earlier you said everything had to be discussed with you, and now you want me to kill without hesitation?
Really, you want to have it both ways!
Fuming, Qin Jiyue took her frustration out on the bandits.
Her violet sword shot out, slicing through them as effortlessly as chopping vegetables.
Still uneasy, Li Guanzhen directed his explosive puppet to finish them off, making sure none feigned death.
“Kill those three bandits as well,” Li Guanzhen ordered.
“Why?” Qin Jiyue was puzzled.
You just said not to meddle—why meddle now?
“Have you never heard of the time-honored virtue of drawing your sword for the oppressed?” Li Guanzhen replied righteously.
Qin Jiyue couldn’t be bothered to argue. With a flick of her wrist, the violet sword soared out and dispatched the Qiu brothers on the spot.
Of those who’d been attacked, one was already dead; the two survivors—a man and a woman, both fourth-layer cultivators—were stunned, but quickly bowed in gratitude.
“Thank you, heroes, for saving us.”
The female cultivator, seeing Qin Jiyue’s unmatched handsome face, felt a surge of admiration. Curtseying, she said,
“Young hero, I have no way to repay your grace…”
Qin Jiyue, no stranger to such situations, rolled her eyes and snapped,
“How do you know we’re heroes? What if we’re bandits too?”
At her words, the two turned pale with fear, their bodies trembling.
Escaped the wolves, only to fall into the tigers’ den?

“Let’s go, stop teasing them. Are you returning to Falling Moon Valley or coming with me?” Li Guanzhen put away his explosive puppet and asked.
“I’ll return to Falling Moon Valley first,” Qin Jiyue replied. “Wait for me outside, I just need to handle some business.”
“I’ll wait in the usual place.”
Li Guanzhen had no intention of returning home with her, lest he draw the attention of the inner disciples.
“Alright.”
Qin Jiyue nodded. She was now almost completely obedient to his words.
Li Guanzhen didn’t head straight back to Qing’an City, but walked a ways with her.
“Be careful of disciples within the sect—the ones in Falling Moon Valley may be connected to the bandits. Otherwise, they wouldn’t dare act so close by… Also, the ones we just killed belonged to the Black Bamboo Stronghold, and the three after that were the Qiu brothers.”
“I’ll investigate thoroughly when I get back.” Qin Jiyue was no fool and instantly grasped his meaning.
“Try starting with the two guarding the mountain gate. You might dig up something.” Li Guanzhen said with a quiet chuckle.
“Do you know something?” Qin Jiyue eyed her cunning husband, suspicion glinting in her foxy eyes.
“Go find out yourself. I’m off… come back soon.”
With a laugh, Li Guanzhen turned and left.

As the two walked away, the man and woman finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Once they’d recovered, the woman glanced at the corpses strewn about and whispered,
“Those two heroes don’t seem to have the habit of collecting spoils. Should we…?”
The man’s spirits lifted. Overjoyed, he said,
“Hurry, let’s gather their storage pouches and get out of here!”
They’d struck it rich—truly struck it rich!
They’d thought they would die here today, but not only had they been rescued, they’d picked up a windfall.
Without another word, they began gathering the storage pouches, not even sparing those of the Black Bamboo Stronghold bandits.
However—
Just as they finished collecting everything, a calm voice sounded beside them.
“So, you’re planning to steal my spoils, are you?”