Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 409: When Three Travel Together, Each Has Hidden Motives

Perhaps because his romantic peach-blossom luck had finally run out, Lu Yang didn’t encounter noble young ladies being accosted on the road, female armed escorts getting robbed while delivering goods, or women hosting martial arts contests for marriage.

Marital martial arts contests were the most troublesome. The only option was avoidance. If Lu Yang participated and lost, the Unbeatable Golden Core wouldn’t let him off, and if he won, he would suddenly gain a wife he didn’t know.

No scenario would work out in my favor.

“Hmm, the sky’s cleared up already?”

When Lu Yang was approaching where the carriage was, he saw the mountainous region stretched before him under clear skies; the rain had finally stopped.

“Old Meng probably gave up on heading into the city.”

Lu Yang spotted four figures not far ahead, standing squarely on the only road back. freewebnøvel_com

Quickening his pace, he realized it wasn’t four people, but three cultivators and a walking corpse.

Their argument was carried by the wind and into Lu Yang’s ears.

~~~

“I’ve told you! Every time the three of us try to pass by here, we get stopped by all kinds of incidents. This is a warning! Some great horror is up ahead. We can’t go further!” A delicate-looking cultivator exclaimed frantically, preventing his companions from advancing.

“Brother Ye, these are just coincidences. With how massive the world is, coincidences are possible. I’ve never heard of warnings like this,” a bronze-skinned man contended. He had short hair and looked like someone with a careless and straightforward personality. Turning his head to their third companion, he asked, “Brother Zhao, you’ve traveled extensively and witnessed many things. Have you ever seen anything like this?”

Brother Zhao had a well-proportioned build, though his complexion was pale, as if he was perpetually ill. His brows were tightly knitted. He seemed to have heard of something similar, but as soon as the words reached his mouth, they seemed to be forgotten again.

~~~

Lu Yang stepped past them without a word and proceeded ahead.

“Hey hey hey, this brother here! You can’t walk past up ahead!” The short-haired man tried to stop Lu Yang.

“Can’t walk past?”

“There seems to be something supernatural at work up ahead. Just moments ago, the three of us kept running into strange mishaps that prevented us from moving forward.”

The delicate-looking man chimed in. “Brother Wenren is right. When I wanted to proceed further, my cultivation technique malfunctioned. It took me an hour of meditating to recover.

“After that, we ran into a lost old man and escorted him home.

“Upon returning here, we realized we’d left something behind at his house, so we ran back to retrieve it.

“When we came back here again, several boulders rolled down from afar and blocked our path. By the time we moved them away, we finally sensed that something was amiss. It felt as if an invisible force was blocking our path ahead.”

Brother Zhao suddenly seemed to have recalled something. “I remember now!”

“What did you remember?” His other two companions pressed.

“I’ve heard the elders mention situations like this. When some experts gather to discuss the Dao or duel, they will often set up arrays beforehand to drive others away. That way, others won’t be able to proceed forward and will be forced to take detours. However, such occurrences are rare. After all, sparring in the mountains would require them to restore the landscapes once their battles concluded, which was too troublesome. It was more common for them to duel on open plains or in the skies.

“Experts are likely battling in the area ahead. Didn’t we see it just now? Dark clouds congregated, and lightning flashed across the sky, followed by thunder rolls. It must be experts borrowing the powers of heaven and earth in battle!” Brother Zhao grew more solemn as he spoke, convinced that his reasoning was perfectly logical.

The delicate-looking man and the short-haired man, aware of Brother Zhao’s extraordinary background, nodded in agreement.

“When experts fight, it’s best to steer clear if possible. Since we can’t go through the mountains, we’ll have to take the long way around.”

Lu Yang studied the trio for a long while before suddenly asking, “Which of you is a woman disguised as a man?”

At these words, Brother Ye, the delicate-looking man, had a flood of emotions flickering across his visage. Meeting Lu Yang’s unwavering gaze, he gave in. “How did you tell?”

“Brother Ye, you...” The other two stared at him in shock.

Brother Ye removed a jade pendant from his neck with a bitter smile. His Adam’s apple was smoothed away, and his originally delicate features became alluring, revealing large, limpid eyes. His hair lengthened to his waist, and his chest swelled beneath his robes.

Watching Brother Ye transform from a man into a woman, his companions gaped in astonishment.

The three hadn’t known each other long; they had met while roaming the jianghu. Believing it was safer to travel together and finding their temperaments compatible, they chose to team up.

Yet, after all they had been through, “Brother Ye” had been a woman all along?!

“Brother Ye, no wonder you never bathed with us, always insisted on separate rooms at inns, and blushed whenever we told bawdy jokes, even begging us to stop!

“Wait, does that mean the woman I saw bathing in the lake that night was also you?!”

Brother Wenren pieced things together. When they were camping in the wild, he had gone to relieve himself by the lake in the dead of the night. Under the moonlight, he saw a slender woman bathing, looking like an immortal fairy of the lake. Unfortunately, the dim light didn’t allow him to have a clear view of her face.

The next day, when he had recounted it with his companions, Brother Ye laughed it off and said he must have dreamed it.

“I lied,” Brother Ye—or rather, Young Miss Ye now—admitted with her cheeks flushed with shame. “I’m actually from the Ye Family of Liang Province.” Disguised as a man, she had journeyed from Liang Province to Wilderness Province, befriending these two along the way.

The Ye Family of Liang Province was a locally renowned ancestral clan. Among their ancestors were high-ranking regional governors and great cultivators.

“I got this jade pendant from my mother. She said that it never failed her when she wandered the jianghu disguised as a man and met my father. I have no idea how this senior brother managed to see through it today.”

Lu Yang simply smiled without answering, not wanting to betray Meng Jingzhou.

To Young Miss Ye, however, it looked like a mysterious smile.

Young Miss Ye sighed inwardly. As I thought, jianghu people are inscrutable and profound. Even a random passer-by could see through my disguise.

With her identity exposed, Young Miss Ye stopped dwelling on the matter and turned to Brother Wenren with a gaze full of tender affection. “Brother Wenren, I like you. Do you still remember when we encountered those plundering cultivators? You took that slash for me and saved my life! I’ve liked you ever since!”

Brother Wenren hadn’t expected this confession from his good brother and was at a loss for what to do. Fortunately, he steadied himself quickly and removed his thumb ring with a soft sigh.

His body underwent transformations: his arms became slender, his short hair cascaded past his shoulders, and the robes over his chest were stretched tight over newly curved fullness. Only his bronze complexion remained, giving him a healthy glow.

“I’m sorry. I’m also a woman disguised as a man.

“Do you remember me refusing your treatment and insisting on healing myself after taking that slash for you? This is why.”

Young Miss Ye, “...”

Heartbreak came so swiftly.

Lu Yang, Young Miss Ye, and Young Miss Wenren turned to the sickly Brother Zhao, their intentions almost written across their faces: it’s your turn.

Brother Zhao flew into a rage. “I’m a man!”

So, out of us three travel companions, I’m the only honest one!

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