59: Chapter 59 Street Slacker Pei Se

Pei Se stayed right like that in Qin Family Village.

Since there was no inn, she sat under the Old Locust Tree at the entrance of the village for the entire night.

Leaning against her saddle, covering herself with her own cloak, listening to the sound of the waves, she drank wine all night.

As a peak Third-turn Martial Artist, her qi and blood surged furiously within her body, making catching a cold completely impossible.

Early the next morning.

Upon waking up, Pei Se found herself surrounded by a group of children.

The youngest little girl, wearing braided pigtails, tilted her head to look at her.

"You slept here last night, weren't you cold?"

Pei Se rubbed her eyes, sat up, and found that a coarse cloth blanket had been draped over her body at some point, though she had no idea who covered her with it.

"Not cold at all."

Pei Se shook her head and then followed the children toward the seaside.

The children picked up seashells on the beach, and she followed along to pick them up too.

The children chattered away, teaching her to identify various conches and shells.

Even though she was a dignified martial artist lord, she played together with the children without the slightest sense of incongruity.

"Oh, right, those scales on the offering table inside the temple."

Pei Se asked casually, pretending not to mind.

"Do you guys know where they came from?"

The children's eyes lit up instantly.

"I know! I know!"

The girl with braided pigtails raised her hand first, her voice crisp and clear.

"Lord Qinling went out to sea and slashed them off a dragon!"

The other children also scrambled to speak, chiming in one after another and painting a chaotic picture of that night.

Some said golden light flew out from the temple, while others said thunder rumbled all night.

Some claimed that dragon was even bigger than the village, and others claimed Lord Qinling split the dragon in half with a single sword strike.

The little girl even gestured, holding both hands high up before hacking down fiercely.

"Like this, with a snap, and the dragon died!"

Squatting on the beach, listening to those childish and disjointed accounts, Pei Se's eyes lit up little by little.

Although she hadn't believed it from the very beginning when she heard the old wine-brewing man say that Qin Family Village was protected by a divine spirit.

But what if it were true?

What if there really were gods in this world, and what if something extraordinary truly lived inside that dilapidated temple? That would be ten thousand times more important than a Third-turn weasel.

The Demon Slayer Association had been tracking Huang Zu for so long; a few more days wouldn't hurt.

But this village, this temple, and this divine spirit named Lord Qinling—she had to figure them out!

Pei Se stuffed the seashells she had picked up into her pockets and decided to stay in Qin Family Village for the next few days.

Over the next few days, Pei Se stayed in Qin Family Village.

To say she stayed was actually just wandering around the village during the day and sleeping against her saddle under the Old Locust Tree at night.

She folded the coarse cloth blanket and returned it, only to find another one over her body the next morning.

She didn't ask who covered her with it, nor did she return it, simply using it just like that.

She folded it up and placed it under the tree roots during the day, then spread it out again at night.

What she did every day was very simple—drinking wine, strolling around, and chatting.

Wandering from the village entrance to the docks, from the docks to the fish-drying ground, and from the fish-drying ground to the temple entrance.

The wine gourd at her waist emptied one by one, only to be filled back up one by one.

The old man's wine jar was already half empty. Every time he saw her coming, he would expressionlessly insert the funnel into the gourd, pour the wine, plug it with a stopper, and hand it over, not saying a single extra word.

She wasn't polite either, taking the gourd to gulp down a mouthful before strolling away swaggeringly, acting precisely like a street loafer.

But every afternoon, she would appear punctually in the courtyard before the Qin Family Village temple.

Qin Yin and Qin Mo practiced martial arts in the courtyard every afternoon.

Qin Mo's spear technique grew increasingly ferocious. Every thrust carried a howling sound of breaking wind, and the long spear danced like a windmill in his hands.

Yet every thrust landed precisely on the exact same spot.

That small hole pierced by him on the courtyard wall had deepened by over an inch from the first day until now.

Qin Yin's saber technique was also wielded quite decently. Hacking, slashing, sweeping, and lifting—every single stance and move was practiced very earnestly.

Pei Se squatted at the base of the courtyard wall, leaning against it with the wine gourd dangling in her hand, squinting as she watched them practice.

After watching for a while, she would take a gulp of wine, wipe her mouth after finishing, and speak up.

"Qin Yin, your waist was too stiff when you hacked down with that saber. Power rises from the ground, and your waist is a pivot axle, not an iron plate."

Qin Yin withdrew her saber, froze for a moment, and tried to adjust. When she slashed down again, it indeed felt much smoother.

"And you, Qin Mo."

Pei Se shifted the wine gourd to her left hand and said.

"The movement of the spear shaft must stay close to your waist, using your waist as the axis to drive the spear. Didn't you know that the spear is a waist-wrapping lock?"

Qin Mo withdrew his spear and adjusted the movement of the spear shaft, finding that wielding the spear was indeed much more comfortable.

Seeing this, Pei Se nodded and took another swig of wine.

The siblings Qin Yin and Qin Mo felt rather helpless toward this woman who lingered in Qin Family Village and refused to leave.

She wasn't a villager, nor did she ever say when she would leave.

She just stayed there, drinking wine, strolling around, and making random criticisms.

However, gradually, Qin Yin and Qin Mo stopped disliking Pei Se.

After all, what Pei Se said to them was genuinely useful.

Whenever Qin Yin previously hacked with her saber, she always felt something was wrong, but after a single pointer from Pei Se, everything instantly clicked.

Qin Mo's spear technique was fierce, but it lacked variation. What she said about "the spear is a waist-wrapping lock," seemingly simple as it was, made Qin Mo ponder over it for an entire night.

The cultivation techniques they practiced were given by Lord Qinling, and they were nourished by the gift of the qi and blood talisman from Lord Qinling to become martial artists, but Lord Qinling wouldn't teach them how to practice martial arts.

After all, how could the noble Lord Qinling possibly have time to manage such trivial matters?

Pei Se nagged like this in the courtyard every day, periodically pouring a mouthful of wine into her mouth.

The siblings Qin Yin and Qin Mo didn't refute her either, simply absorbing Pei Se's teachings just like that.

No matter what, Pei Se was a Third-turn Martial Artist; teaching two First-turn Martial Artists was more than enough.

Qin Ling naturally knew that a Third-turn Martial Artist of unknown origin like Pei Se had entered Qin Family Village.

His main body was right inside the shrine niche of the temple, receiving incense offerings every day.

Qin Ling's current cultivation was also at the peak of the Third-turn, so Pei Se, being in the same tier, couldn't possibly detect him at all.

On the contrary, all of Pei Se's actions were right under his eyelids.

Pei Se sleeping under the Old Locust Tree, picking seashells on the beach, squatting at the base of the courtyard wall drinking wine, and teaching martial arts to Qin Yin and Qin Mo.

He knew all of this.

Upon discovering that Pei Se harbored no ill intentions, Qin Ling didn't plan to do anything.

Because right now his attention wasn't on Qin Family Village at all, but rather on the East China Sea Seabed.

A peak Third-turn Martial Artist wasn't worth him splitting his focus.

Inside that bejeweled temple on the seabed, the pearl carved into a divine statue on the offering table was still emitting light.

The pearls on the temple eaves dotted the space like stars, shrouding the entire temple in a warm, gentle halo.

The Little Clam Spirits of the First-turn were sweeping the temple hall.

Some were wiping the offering table, while others were cleaning up the incense ash.

Some used their tentacles to dig out the pearls stained with seaweed one by one, wiped them clean, and then re-embedded them back into the temple eaves.

Qin Ling's split spirit sat cross-legged inside the shrine niche, his eyes passing beyond the temple to see the reefs outside the temple.

Bengbu, whom he had previously ordered to go out and continue recruiting underwater monsters, had returned, and truly lived up to his mission by actually bringing back some monsters.