Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Only to see Jiang the Witch transform into black fog, swiftly passing through the body of the Kunlun Mirror, and then reappearing behind it, her expression becoming unpredictable.

Contrary to expectations, when she passed through the opponent, she did not capture any essence, as if the opponent's body was not made of flesh and blood, but merely an empty shell.

No, it was indeed an empty shell.

Jiang Lian recalled that long, long ago, probably in the era before the heavens were mended, cultivators devised various tricks to deal with the extremely frequent attacks from heavenly demons.

For instance, creating an empty shell clone to wander in front, hiding the true body elsewhere, then luring the heavenly demon to extract essence, locking it inside the empty shell the moment it enters.

Of course, such a method worked on low-level demon heads but was much less effective on the Great Unrestrained Heavenly Demon—firstly, ordinary traps were hard to be effective, and secondly, the true body would soon be found and then devoured.

The only thing that could restrain the Great Unrestrained Heavenly Demon was the sophisticated and rare Sealing Skill, but Jiang Lian was certain there was no trap set inside this empty shell, nor any traces of the Sealing Skill.

It wasn't human, nor was it an empty shell, so it was most likely a transformation of some magical treasure or flying sword.

Jiang Lian carefully studied the opponent, outwardly appearing as an adorable little round-faced girl.

This was odd because the appearance of a magic artifact's transformation could be freely adjusted, so most artifact spirits would aim for perfection, rarely adopting features like a round face... They didn't comprehend the niche aesthetic of being slightly chubby.

"Had enough fighting?" the Kunlun Mirror coldly asked.

As a mirror, it didn't possess much offensive capability, but its defensive capabilities were maximized. Whether space teleportation or the Mirror Flower Water Moon, it could handle most damage methods, naturally unafraid when facing this demon.

Jiang Lian detected that the opponent was a magic artifact in transformation and, after a quick mental turn, didn't continue to attack, only smiled and said:

"So, it's a magic artifact transformation... Where is your master? Cultivating nearby?"

"I don't need to explain to you," the Kunlun Mirror replied with a distant attitude, hoping the demon would retreat knowing the difficulty.

"How about this?" Jiang Lian asked again, "Let's mind our own business. You don't stop me from going down to find someone, and I won't attack you, how about it?"

"The place below is my cave dwelling," the Kunlun Mirror refused, saying.

"Very strange indeed." Jiang Lian hid her mouth pretending to laugh, "As a magic artifact transformation, where would you get a cave dwelling? If you meant your master's cave, and you're loyally protecting it to stop me from entering, that's one thing... But you don't even admit to having a master, isn't that bizarre?"

"I told you, this has nothing to do with you," the Kunlun Mirror said coldly.

She admitted that she didn't have Chen Guanshui's flexible negotiation skills, so she simply adopted a stonewalling attitude.

"What if I insist on going down?" Seeing as she couldn't extract any information from the opponent, Jiang the Witch also turned cold, asking in a stern voice.

"Go ahead and try," the Kunlun Mirror said expressionlessly.

The opponent's fearless stance caused Jiang the Witch to hesitate slightly, but being of a daring nature, she soon chose to ignore the Kunlun Mirror and transformed into black fog, rushing into the crevice.

The Kunlun Mirror remained calm, activating the illusion technique of Mirror Flower Water Moon to obscure Jiang Lian's senses.

When it helped Wei Dongliu disguise himself in the past, Jiang the Witch hadn't seen through it, and naturally, it was effective this time: Jiang Lian floated down with ease, arriving at a fork where there were paths on both sides, yet she decisively chose right, as if she didn't even see the left path.

The Kunlun Mirror leisurely followed behind her and took a moment to teleport to Chen Guanshui's place, instructing:

"She's in, stay here, don't come out. I'll use illusions to send her away."

"She? Who is she? How are you going to send her away?" Chen Guanshui asked repeatedly, but the Kunlun Mirror did not intend to answer him and teleported away again.

This Ah Jing... talking about "sending her away" without a good reason, if it hadn't prefixed with "illusion", Chen Guanshui would have really thought she intended to kill her.

The Kunlun Mirror returned to Jiang Lian's side, continuing to follow behind her, secretly manipulating her senses with illusions to make her avoid the route leading to Chen Guanshui.

Jiang the Witch went all the way down but found it suspiciously smooth.

No traps, no restrictions, that transformed girl followed behind, with no sign of intending any obstruction, vastly different from her earlier vigilance.

Does it mean... she's completely certain that no matter how I search, I will find nothing?

Having searched through the entire fissure without finding a trace of a cave, Jiang Lian was certain she had fallen into a trap.

Just not knowing what trick the opponent used to hide the real cave, or if she had simply taken the wrong path altogether, the real cave being elsewhere... In any case, it was all Wei Dongliu's fault!

Not only did he not return home, but he's also mingling with other women? Now he's even hiding in someone else's cave, refusing to come out and see me!

Thinking of this, Jiang Lian silently made a mental note against her husband, then turned around with a bright smile and instructed the Kunlun Mirror:

"Kindly tell my husband, I'll be back."

"What do you mean?" the Kunlun Mirror tried hard to feign a look of shock and confusion.

"There's no need to pretend." Jiang Lian said with a sly smile, "I saw him with my own eyes passing through the clouds and descending here... If he's not hiding in your cave, where else could he be hiding?"

"Tell him to come up with a reasonable explanation quickly, otherwise next time I catch him, it won't be solved in just one or two times, oh?"

After speaking, she rose into black mist again and swiftly left the place.

...Need to find a younger sister who excels at breaking illusion techniques to come here again, though I don't know if there's any... Best to return to the Demon Palace and ask around.

Kunlun Mirror scanned and confirmed the other party had left, then quietly teleported back beside Chen Guanshui.

"It's resolved." She said with a beaming smile, "Guess who came?"

"Uh." Chen Guanshui quickly ran through his thoughts, "Shi Liuli?"

"Why Shi Liuli?" Kunlun Mirror asked curiously, "Didn't I say her art calculation was blocked by me?"

"Then could it be An Zhisu?" Chen Guanshui thought of her utterly unreasonable intuition.

"Are you afraid of your Senior Sister, hence you're guessing her?" Kunlun Mirror asked again.

"Could it be Junior Sister Xu?" Chen Guanshui pondered, "Does the Phoenix in her mind have the ability to break through your art calculation block?"

"Guessing here and there, none of your guesses are right." Kunlun Mirror sighed and said, "It's your Madam Jiang."

Chen Guanshui couldn't help but shiver, and after a while, he said:

"How did you resolve it?"

"I let her search directly." Kunlun Mirror said calmly, "She couldn't find anything, so what else could she do besides leave?"

Chen Guanshui realized this and felt inexplicable relief and unease.

When dealing with Junior Sister Xu, Senior Sister An, and Miss Shi, he could play dumb, stall, and buy time with ease. But Jiang the Witch was never one to be reasonable; the Heavenly Demon's style of action was violent and disregarded social courtesies.

Once she harbors even the smallest suspicion, no matter how you argue, she'd directly come for the kill.

Luckily, I timely sought Ah Jing!

Thinking of this, he felt some pride and relief. But then he thought of Madam Jiang certainly not letting things rest, wondering when she'd return with a vengeance, he couldn't help but fall into unease and worry again.

Meanwhile, Xu Yinglian, An Zhisu, and Shi Liuli, the three of them were jointly blocking the Flying Asura's attack, retreating as they fought.

Xu Yinglian excelled in large scale Daoist magic, using fire element Daoist techniques to intercept and confront on the battlefield; An Zhisu supported with dual swords from the side, though the Flying Asura had a bronze body and iron arms, impervious to blades, simply colliding with her Flying Sword's spine, disrupting the Flying Asura's spellcasting accuracy at crucial moments, or preventing its continued pursuit, was also effective.

Shi Liuli, not adept at magical competition, could only protect herself with Hooke Star Sand.

Watching from the sidelines for a moment, seeing the Flying Asura being jointly subdued by the two, losing all initiative, she suddenly felt unwilling to be outdone.

She clasped the Daoist Formula in her hand, summoning the water of the Milky Way, using the ocean below to increase the water flow, washing towards the Flying Asura.

The Flying Asura, hit by the water column, was not surprised but pleased, quickly rushed towards the fire sea, using the Milky Way water to disrupt the fire field constructed by Great Bright Fire.

Fortunately, An Zhisu burst forth at a critical moment, using Man-Sword Unity to powerfully charge the Flying Asura, forcibly knocking it back into the depths of the fire sea.

"Dong You Fellow Daoist." Xu Yinglian endured her anger, "If you don't know how to engage in magical competition, you don't have to. You're making me question which side you're on."

Shi Liuli faced embarrassment, awkwardly retracted her divine skills, and retreated silently to the distance to cast a hexagram.

The hexagram indicated extreme danger in this battle, a slight negligence would result in downfall.

But from the scene, the Flying Asura was clearly suppressed by the joint efforts of the two, it had no chance to fight back...

Shi Liuli, though admitting her lack of magical competition skills, was not naive enough to believe those two were very skilled either, quickly voiced a warning:

"Careful! It's pretending to be weak!"

Xu Yinglian and An Zhisu were suddenly startled, seeing the Flying Asura raging, it immediately charged out of the fire sea, rushing madly towards Shi Liuli.

Although it feared the Great Bright Fire, it didn't reach the point of being unable to touch it, it deliberately acted afraid of the flames to pretend weakness and distract, aiming for an opportunity to strike viciously, killing the three in an instant.

Otherwise, forcibly killing one, the other two knowing they weren't a match would scatter to flee, making it easy for one to escape.

Now, exposed by Shi Liuli, seeing the Flying Asura rushing out of the fire sea, the two realized they were nearly tricked, quickly moved to intercept the opponent.

An Zhisu once more became Man-Sword Unity, the overwhelming sword light pounded the Flying Asura, yet it resisted with brute force head-on.

Xu Yinglian took the opportunity to unleash Crimson Feather Nine Phoenix Fire, spewing golden threads capable of splitting gold and stone, but the Flying Asura seized the chance to release its strength, pushed by An Zhisu's sword light out of the golden threads' attack range, then rapidly shifted direction in midair, once again killing towards the unsuspecting Shi Liuli!