Special thanks to Teo for help translating this chapter.

Didi: [Does the host have questions?]

Bai Fanlu: [I wanted to ask you something before I head down the mountain...You told me that it didn’t matter if I changed the plot. As long as all the villains are eliminated and peace returns—then I may leave?]

Didi: [Correct.]

Bai Fanlu: [Since I already know how the villain will die, can I take shortcuts?]

Didi: [Affirmative.]

Ban Fanlu specially confirmed this with the system last night.

Although he had the tendency to do nothing—like a salted fish—if he must accept the task of going down the mountain, he might as well grasp the opportunity to take shortcuts to accelerate the plot and get rid of the villains quicker. This would mean he could get home quicker right?

At first he was very concerned, but now he suddenly felt extremely motivated.

The next morning, when he visited him to bid farewell, he learned that Ling Qingzi went back into seclusion again. With Yun Zhan, the acting Sect Leader, descending the mountain, in his absence Tianshu Sect’s affairs would be temporarily managed by Wang Chongyu.

Wang Chongyu accompanied the two, then watched them depart from the foot of the mountain. He urged Bai Fanlu repeatedly to be mindful of everything, then exchanged a look with him, hinting at something that Bai Fanlu didn’t understand.

After leaving the mountain gate, the two directly switched to traveling on their swords. Bai Fanlu stepped onto his new sword. He didn’t know whether it was because he had recovered, or became more adept, but he could now use his sword with ease. When soaring high in the clouds, he felt as though he was riding on a Segway.

They flew until they reached a posting station, which was also a teahouse.The two stopped for a rest. Throughout the journey, Yun Zhan didn’t speak. This pleased Bai Fanlu, because he no longer had to deal with the man.

As for the issue of addressing him incorrectly, Bai Fanlu decided to continue calling Yun Zhan ‘Shidi’ after pondering over it yesterday.

Since he had clearly expressed where he stood with Yun Zhan, he should draw a clear boundary with him in the future. If Yun Zhan ever asked about it, he could say that he only saw the other party as his Shidi and that it was inappropriate to address him by a nickname.

As they both were immortal cultivators, they didn’t need to consume water. But due to the presence of other customers at the teahouse, Yun Zhan ordered a pot of tea when the waiter stopped by their table.

It was noon and the sun hung high in the sky三竿 or three bamboo heights is a description of the sun in the sky/ time of the day.. Bai Fanlu didn’t realise it earlier when he was flying on his sword, but when they sat down for tea, he wondered why didn’t they teleport to their destination instead?

Even with his success in short-distance teleportation, Bai Fanlu was aware that he had not fully grasped the mechanism of this technique. It was also impossible to ask Yun Zhan why they were not teleporting.

While sipping the hot tea, he overheard the waiter chatting with some guests at another table.

“What? Sir, you are here to seek shelter from relatives?” The waiter sighed. “Haven’t you heard? Yufang City is not as peaceful these days as well!”

“Huh? Even Yufang City is crawling with monsters? No, that can’t be possible…”

“Well, I’m not sure if it's monsters. But there’s something evil happening in the city. People traveling from the city say it’s more frightful than monsters. There have already been several deaths…”

Yun Zhan’s slender fingers rubbed against the edge of the cup. He gazed down at the cloudy tea and seemed indifferent. But Bai Fanlu knew that he took in every word from that conversation.

The two of them were ordered by their Shizun to go down the mountain and secretly investigate the reason behind the demon’s rampage in the mortal realm. Their main targets were at two places: Yingzhou in the far east and Ling City in the far north. In the novel, because they heard of the rumors surrounding Yufang City midway in their journey, they decided to head there first. There wasn’t any other reason, except that the plot was starting to converge with that of the novel. 

Bai Fanlu didn’t want to detour, because Yufang City was where the book’s Bai Fanlu got tricked by Yun Zhan to disguise himself as a woman and then almost got violated. Although Bai Fanlu felt confident of avoiding this, he still didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.

Then, an idea occurred to him. He leaned over slightly and whispered, “Shidi, Yingzhou and Ling City are very far apart, I don’t think it is wise for us to delay this matter further.”

“En.” Yun Zhan gently tapped on the wooden table with the hand that was previously rubbing against the cup.

Bai Fanlu guessed that right now, the male protagonist, an agent of justice for the heavens, was having an internal struggle that was like a battle between heaven and earth because of his compassion for mortals. Yun Zhan was deciding if he should change course and Bai Fanlu offered him a way out.

“Why don’t we investigate this separately? I can head to Yingzhou first.’

Yun Zhan looked up and met Bai Fanlu’s eyes.

Yun Zhan had long and slender eyes. When he glanced at someone at an angle, the blue light which was reflected in them appeared like icicles forming on a high cliff. Bai Fanlu’s heart was pounding from the fear that his hidden scheme was about to be uncovered. However, he displayed none of his trepidation and continued to face him naturally.

For his personal long-term ease and safety, he had to maintain this gaze no matter what—or face his death!

“Alright.” Yun Zhan answered in a muted tone.

He actually agreed! Bai Fanlu suppressed his inner ecstasy and continued indifferently, “In that case, I’ll set off right away, so that I may arrive as soon as possible. It is best if we delay this no further.”

Finally, he must not forget to act in an affected manner. “Shidi needs to be careful at Yufang City. Contact me immediately if anything comes up.”

With Yufang City being close to their Sect, it was more worthwhile for Yun Zhan to do anything else but get in touch with him.

Bai Fanlu was certain of this. Although Shizun gave them a pair of blue birds, nothing beats immediate aid. Just like one couldn’t quench their present thirst with water that exists far away. To put it bluntly, the birds worked like a special telephone line. Even if one side dialed a call, the other end could choose not to answer.

He believed Yun Zhan wasn’t that stupid to wait for his aid. Once he got far away, wouldn’t he be able to sleep peacefully? Besides, Bai Fanlu knew about the plot that took place in Yingzhou. If he didn’t have to put on the appearance of making the trip, he could pretty much report the results straight to Ling Qingzi.

If he were to go with Yun Zhan, it certainly wouldn’t be as easy as going through the motions. He would have to actually investigate and battle it out for real.

Now was the perfect chance to separate himself from Yun Zhan. As long as he finished things behind the scenes, he could take a direct route to defeat the minor boss in Yingzhou with no difficulty. It would speed up his process, allow him to return home early, and also avoid more interaction with Yun Zhan. He could even take the opportunity to go on a scenic tour.

Perfect! This was like killing multiple birds with a single stone!

Without time to lose, Bai Fanlu quickly removed himself from this undesirable situation, for fear that Yun Zhan would go back on his word.

However, Yun Zhan remained seated. He picked up the teacup and slowly sipped his tea. He neither bid farewell nor continued with the conversation. There was no mention of their plan to regroup.

Bai Fanlu walked out for a distance and vaguely felt that he seemed to have gotten away too easily. This couldn’t be a trap, right?

After a few steps, he hid behind a tree and quietly looked back. The post station was already a distance away, but the blue figure was still quite conspicuous under the wooden roof.

Bai Fanlu immediately performed a series of hand signs, internally reciting a location’s name to cast the teleportation spell.

Inside the teahouse, Yun Zhan glanced at the direction where Ban Fanlu disappeared and drew out a sigh. He then spoke, as if to someone, “Escaped again. Are you satisfied now?”

This time, Bai Fanlu discovered the basic principle for teleportation spells. Last time, he only wanted to go to the mortal realm without an idea of where to go, so he appeared at the random Heguan Town. This time, he wanted to go to Yingzhou and he was sent in the right general direction. Unfortunately, he fell right outside of Dongchang City, a distance away from Yingzhou.

As mentioned in the novel, Dongchang was a necessary spot to pass through when traveling to Yingzhou. The teleportation spells could be precise, but limited by distance. That meant that casters couldn’t reach their destination directly at once.

After some rough calculation, this method may not be much faster than traveling on a flying sword. But in terms of spiritual energy consumption, unless in an emergency situation, it was not efficient.

Bai Fanlu found a hidden place outside the city to meditate and regulate his breathing before entering.

Dongchang City was much larger than Heguan Town, the flow of pedestrians was denser, so his white robes did not attract as much attention as his time in Heguan Town.

Dongchang City was as massive as he had heard. Normally, in the afternoon, the majority of people would return home, but this city’s main street was still lively. There were even many patrons dining in the restaurants. From time to time, melodious songs and tunes would travel in the air, sometimes mixed with shouts and applause.

Bai Fanlu wanted to search for a small street peddler to get something to eat, but he couldn’t find one he liked. So, he entered a restaurant and sat down by the window on the second floor.

When the waiter came over, he ordered, “Two good dishes, one meat and one vegetable, and no need for wine.”

To finally regain his freedom. The first thing on the agenda was to satisfy himself with delicacies from the mortal realm.

“Right away, Sir!”

Bai Fanlu leaned against the window and gazed into the distance. There was a sea of houses in the city, and the city design was very organised. He observed for a while. Suddenly, he heard a clear voice coming from below. It seemed that someone was playing a pipa on the wooden platform. He turned in that direction and saw a man dressed in a fitted, grey casual outfit and standing on the platform.

Bai Fanlu glanced at the young man. During this time, many spectators gathered near the wooden platform. From his angle, he was viewing the performance from the back. The man on the platform was wearing a straw hat, so Bai Fanlu could not make out his appearance. However, the man’s laughter sounded extremely pleasing to his ears, which added points to his aesthetics.

“My fellow countrymen, many thanks for everyone’s support. Now, I’ll perform ‘monkey steals the peach猴子偷桃, also mean distracting an opponent with one hand and grabbing them by the balls with another.’, please enjoy the show!”

Bai Fanlu watched with interest as he propped his chin up by the window.

The man took off his straw hat using a hand, to show that the hat was empty. To allow the surrounding viewers to see it at close distance, he walked half a circle on the stage.

When he came to a specific side, Bai Fanlu caught a glance of the performer's side profile and was stunned.

What a handsome young man, but that side profile...

The moment Bai Fanlu was caught in a trance, the young man returned to the middle of the platform and whistled loudly. With that, a white monkey came scuttling out of nowhere. It skilfully climbed onto the performer’s shoulder, hopped twice, and then landed back onto the ground, rubbing its hands and feet.

The adorable action garnered a burst of laughter from the audience.

The youth clenched his hands in the air, right above his hat, acting all mysterious while reminding the crowd, “Do not blink…”

The viewers subconsciously kept silent and stared with widened eyes.

Suddenly, the monkey jumped up and into the hat, falling out from the hole in the hat. When it landed on the ground again, everyone’s attention was on it. The little monkey on the stage held a small peach in each hand and squeaked.

“Haha! It really stole the peaches!”

The audience took the lead in applause, and everyone laughed happily. The youth then put on his straw hat again, cupped his fists and bowed in each direction.

The little monkey brought out a food bowl from behind its master and gestured to ask the audience for rewards one at a time. Everyone tossed copper coins for the lovely little thing.

Bai Fanlu watched the entire performance from above, chuckled and shook his head.

At this moment, the waiter served his dishes and more laughter could be heard coming from below again. Bai Fanlu didn’t continue to watch, but focused on eating instead. Once he was done, the youth had also left.

Bai Fanlu didn’t pay further attention to it. He walked around the streets, and got a room at an inn in the evening, because he wasn’t sure if he could reach another town on his sword or teleportation spell in the time remaining of the day. To be on the safe side, he would set off tomorrow and not worry about ending up in the wilderness at night.

To prevent himself from taking a wrong turn, Bai Fanlu shut himself in the room and quietly meditated for a couple of hours. When it got dark, the innkeeper inquired if he needed dinner and a bathtub, which he declined. He used some hand seals to casually cast a purification spell before resting.

If everything went well, he would be able to arrive at Yingzhou in two days. Although he had figured out how to avoid fighting, Bai Fanlu decided to be in top form, just in case.

Even though he planned well, his chronic insomnia was not willing to cooperate.

Bai Fanlu recalled the original plot while counting sheep. In a daze, he lost count of the number of times he heard random sounds coming from his window. Whenever Bai Fanlu heard one, he would open his eyes a little and close them back up. Suddenly, a new and unusual sound came from the roof.

At the top left corner, two footsteps, each with varying weights.

The steps were disorderly, and there seemed to be the sound of broken tiles from right about him!

As soon as Bai Fanlu sat up, he heard a crash, followed by a large hole appearing in the ceiling and a figure falling down from it. It was too late for Bai Fanlu to dodge as he was pinned by the person.

Then there was another loud crash and the bed…collapsed.

At first Bai Fanlu wanted to push the stranger off, but when the bed collapsed, he lost his balance and the two rolled onto the ground together.

After rolling twice, Bai Fanlu was keenly aware that the other’s face was buried in his abdomen and he could feel the two arms tightly around his waist.

Bai Fanlu widened his eyes.

Thud! A corner of the roof collapsed, and several broken bricks fell down and landed perfectly on the person’s head, who cried ‘ouch’ twice.

Hearing the sound of the voice, Bai Fanlu who was solidifying an energy in his palm, paused. His hand was just inches from the other party...