Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 37: Earth Illusion Lotus

The talismans were still sleep charms, but the moment the three-colored lotus roots touched them, they instantly wilted.

Three-colored lotuses were notoriously tricky. For sword cultivators like Lu Jiu, one strike could never sever all the roots. If even a single tendril struck her and slowed her movement, she’d be overwhelmed in the next instant—just like the corpse floating beneath the lotus leaves earlier.

But Ye Su? She simply stood near the water’s edge with two Talisman-Spraying Gun, casually firing talismans and neutralizing every root without breaking a sweat.

—Anyone watching would’ve been envious.

The name Talisman-Spraying Gun sounded odd and had nothing to do with a spear, but the first two words, "talisman spraying gun," were incredibly fitting.

Ma Chongqiu craned his neck for a better look. He’d seen plenty of talisman cultivators before—most liked tossing talismans by hand—but none had ever used such a strange yet effective tool.

The two shooters in Ye Su’s hands were different. The first one had a single talisman slot, releasing one charm at a time—ideal for precise, limited-use attacks.

The second had a circular barrel with multiple slots. Press the trigger, and a storm of talismans would fly out, blanketing the enemy in a downpour. Nicknamed the "multi-shot model."

"Fellow Daoist Ye, that’s... truly impressive," Ma Chongqiu said, unable to hide his admiration. He’d always thought sword cultivators were the coolest—swords flashing, robes flying—but now it seemed that with the right gear, you could look just as impressive just by lifting a finger.

"That kind of barrage burns through talismans fast," Xu Chengyu commented rationally. "Best suited for talisman cultivators."

He wasn’t wrong—but still, everyone there was staring at Ye Su’s shooters, eyes gleaming, fingers twitching.

—They really wanted to try them.

Ye Su stowed the shooters away just as Xi Yu finished collecting the sap from the lotus stalk and they were getting ready to leave—when suddenly, a skinny figure in yellow robes darted over out of nowhere.

"Fellow Daoist! It must be fate that we meet again!"

Ye Su looked closer—wasn’t this the same shady peddler who had bought talismans from her outside Dinghai City?

The wiry man smiled warmly. "Those two magic tools of yours are truly unique. May I ask who crafted them?"

Ye Su saw right through him. Just like last time, he was probably looking to buy and resell them at a higher price. Still, she answered, "I made them."

The yellow-robed man froze, eyes darting down to the emblem on her robe. He rubbed his hands together.

"Ah, fellow Daoist. Honestly, if you took these to the Wuxing Sect, talisman cultivators would be lining up to buy them. But... they’re not too hard to make, right?"

Ye Su said nothing, but inwardly she had to admit—he had a point. The shooter’s internal mechanism was simple. Any decent refiner could take one apart and copy it easily. There wasn’t much technical complexity—just a basic trigger device inside.

"What are you getting at?" Xia Er stepped up with a frown. He didn’t like this guy’s tone. "Anything made by my Senior Sister is not simple."

The man gave a sly chuckle. "Refiners from Qianji Sect don’t exactly have the best reputation. How about we work together? You make the tools, I sell them. You get sixty percent, I take forty."

"Once other refiners reverse-engineer this, they’ll flood the market," Ye Su pointed out. "How are you planning to sell mine?"

"Ah, don’t worry about that. I know how to keep customers coming back to your brand," the man said, glancing again at the name stitched onto her robe. "But you’ll need to sell them under a different name—not Qianji Sect."

"Eighty-twenty split," Ye Su said, holding up two fingers. "You get twenty."

She wasn’t against temporarily hiding her sect’s name for now. The tools needed exposure, and she wasn’t about to pass up a good chance to earn spirit stones—but she still wanted Qianji Sect to shine in the long run.

"Eighty-twenty’s a bit steep," the man said, trying to look distressed. "Selling isn’t easy, you know."

"Refiners like me are rare," Ye Su replied calmly. "Middlemen like you? A dime a dozen."

The yellow-robed man: "..."

Xu Chengyu, still recovering from the sight of the Talisman-Spraying Gun in action, watched this entire exchange. It was fast, fierce, and completely unexpected—but somehow, they’d struck a deal.

"Fellow Daoist," the man said proudly, slapping his chest, "As long as you can supply me with those two tools, I promise I’ll sell them across the entire cultivation world!"

They quickly agreed on when and where to meet after leaving the secret realm, and how many shooters Ye Su would provide.

"You don’t have to use your sect’s name," the man added. "Use an alias. And if you ever want to sell anything else, I—Huang Erqian—can move anything."

"Call me Mu Ji," Ye Su said casually.

"Deal!" Huang Erqian responded, then ran off—probably to start another side hustle.

Xu Chengyu stepped forward to walk beside Ye Su, still in awe.

"Is this... normal for your secret realm outings?"

In his sect, they charged into secret realms chasing monsters and treasure, swords flashing from start to finish.

"Never miss a business opportunity," Ye Su said with complete seriousness.

"Senior Sister, let me take a look!" Ming Liu Sha came over, wanting to examine the shooters.

But before he got close, his junior brother blocked him and pushed past.

You Fushi beat him to it, sticking his hand out with exaggerated pride.

"Add fifty more characters for me!"

Ming Liu Sha: "..."

Anyone watching would’ve thought he had offered fifty spirit stones.

Ye Su chuckled and handed the single-shot Talisman-Spraying Gun to You Fushi, giving the multi-shot version to her second junior brother.

Ming Liu Sha inspected the tool for a while, asked Ye Su a few technical questions about its internal design, then respectfully returned it.

……

The group continued moving forward.

You Fushi trailed behind Ye Su, holding the spell-spraying gun in his hand. He didn’t really understand how artifact crafting worked—he just wanted to shoot spells.

He lifted the gun and pulled the trigger toward the open air. Nothing happened.

"Ye Su, it’s broken," he tugged at her sleeve from behind.

"There are no talismans inside," she replied. Ye Su had only equipped the multi-shot gun with an internal storage expansion—something like a spatial pouch—so it could hold plenty of talismans and avoid running dry during use.

She pulled a stack of Giggling Talismans from her storage pouch. "Try these."

You Fushi loaded them, then eagerly raised the gun again and pulled the trigger—blasting a full spray right into Ming Liu Sha, who was walking ahead.

Covered in talismans, Ming Liu Sha instantly doubled over in uncontrollable giggles.

He turned around, glaring while still laughing. "Little brother… heehee… you…"

You Fushi silently shuffled behind Ye Su, pretending nothing had happened.

Ming Liu Sha couldn’t speak properly, and it took Xia Er stepping in to help peel off the talismans before he could calm down.

The three Golden Core sword cultivators trailing behind felt a sudden chill: There are talismans like that?!

Ma Congqiu quietly wiped his forehead and mentally added Ye Su to his "Do Not Offend" list.

Why does she have so many weird but terrifying tools?

"Senior Brother," Zhou Yun whispered to Xu Chengyu, "Do they even need us?"

Xu Chengyu sighed. "...Maybe."

In this small secret realm, it only took Ye Su’s group two days to find the most spiritually abundant location. But when they arrived, they discovered it wasn’t the eye of the realm—it was a den full of spirit beasts.

"Maybe we should just run," Lu Jiu, standing in front, said as a pack of gray-spotted wolves closed in. "Even the weakest of these beasts are on par with late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators."

"Aren’t you the sword cultivator who pierces the heavens and earth?" Xi Yu, nervously adjusting the pink dagger in her hair, asked.

"That’s only if I’m still alive to swing my sword!" Lu Jiu replied. As a lone rogue cultivator, she knew all too well the importance of being flexible—and knowing when to bail.

"Let’s just run," Xi Yu muttered. The two exchanged a look, nodded, and turned to escape—only to find the others had already disappeared. They were the only ones left.

Stunned, they turned and bolted.

The wolves chased them fiercely, but once the two crossed a certain boundary, the wolves abruptly stopped, growling low before gradually dispersing.

Xi Yu looked back and saw Ye Su walking out from the shadows behind her. "Senior Sister, you all just ran off without saying anything!" she said, full of resentment.

"She was training you," Xia Er said confidently, "so you’d stay alert—always keep your eyes and ears open."

"…Next time, you go in front," Xi Yu snapped.

Ye Su frowned and looked behind them. "You should be more worried about whether we can get out of here."

She had sensed something strange earlier, which is why she left first. You Fushi, Ming Liu Sha, and Xia Er had followed instinctively.

"What do you mean?" Lu Jiu gripped her sword, an ominous feeling creeping up on her.

Ye Su pointed behind them. "There’s a large group of spirit beasts heading this way—fast."

Wolves in front, beasts in the rear. Whatever was happening, it wasn’t good.

"Ye Su, come look," Xu Chengyu called out, his normally calm face tense and slightly excited.

Ye Su quickly walked over and followed his pointing finger to a crack in the ground.

"Do you smell that?" Xu Chengyu asked.

Ye Su knelt beside the crack. "It smells fragrant—like lotus leaves—but there’s also a heavy muddy stench."

Xu Chengyu’s expression changed. "If even that stench can’t cover the fragrance…"

He suddenly stepped back in alarm. "We need to leave—this is Earth Illusion Lotus! Zhou Yun, Congqiu, take them and go!"

Grabbing Ming Liu Sha, Xu Chengyu turned and ran. Zhou Yun took Xi Yu, Ma Congqiu picked up Xia Er, and the three of them flew off on their swords toward where the wolves had been.

Lu Jiu didn’t hesitate—she took to the air and followed.

Just then, the ground cracked open violently, and a massive double-headed worm burst out, both ends lined with sharp fanged maws.

Ye Su immediately leapt back, sword in hand, ready to flee with her little disciple—only to see You Fushi already approaching the giant worm.

Her heart dropped. She dove down at a sharp angle, grabbed You Fushi off the ground, and flew upward, narrowly avoiding the worm’s snapping jaws.

She activated her flying mirror armor just in time. The worm slammed into the shield with a crash.

Expressionless, Ye Su waited for an opening in the creature’s thrashing mass, slipped through the gap, and flew toward Xu Chengyu’s direction.

"Ye Su! Over here!" Xu Chengyu had returned, worried they hadn’t escaped safely. He handed Ming Liu Sha off to Ma Congqiu and flew back to help.

You Fushi poked Ye Su’s back with one finger and opened his other palm to reveal something. "Trade for the spell gun."

Xu Chengyu, flying nearby, caught a glimpse of what was in his hand—and nearly blacked out.

"That’s Earth Illusion Lotus!"