Chapter 730: The Girl Under the Starry Sky

"Chang Ying, please..."

"I drew three top-grade signs in a row; something good must happen today, a huge good thing!"

"Please, there are only two of us Spirit Sign believers here, you just draw a sign and try! Help me verify it..." The petite woman who was thrown away ran back in a hurry.

The woman squatted beside Chang Ying, one small hand tugging at Chang Ying's tattered trouser leg, shaking it left and right.

A look of impatience appeared on Chang Ying's expressionless face.

She didn't want to be whipped again.

Nor did she want to be locked in solitary confinement again.

Last year, in the twelfth lunar month, when she first came to this realm, she was picked up by people from Starry Sky Valley.

Starry Sky Valley, a force jointly established by Star Official and Flower Lantern disciples, treated her quite well and welcomed a Spirit Sign believer to join.

All along, everyone got along harmoniously, and Chang Ying did not suffer too much devastation from fate.

Hmm... just a little homesick.

Just a little bit.

At that time, she often lay alone in the grass on a small hill, pillowing her arms, looking at the starry sky, missing the human world.

Ironically, when she was in the human Great Xia, as a vast river, her heart became increasingly indifferent.

It seemed she didn't care about much.

Coming to this barren alien world, she instead began to miss her mom and dad, and miss her life in the human world.

Missing the teammates she fought side-by-side with in the past.

Tian Tian, Deng Yutang, Bai Manni, Jiang Ruyi, Lu Ran.

Face after face flashed through her mind, filling the growth process she had gone through.

Chang Ying even marked the stars in the night sky; those two were mom and dad, this one was little Tian Tian...

The brightest star, let's treat it as Lu Ran.

He is the most dazzling.

And the farthest from everyone.

Chang Ying still remembered one day when the Valley Master of Starry Sky Valley came to her personally, warning her not to run around and not to stay alone all the time.

It's dangerous.

Dangerous?

The naive girl didn't know what danger was.

She didn't know that under this beautiful starry sky was a filthy world.

She even wanted to go out and see, even though everyone persuaded her and warned her repeatedly to dispel such thoughts.

Until one day at the end of the twelfth lunar month, she drew a bottom-most sign.

Bottom-most sign?

During the day, she had drawn an ordinary middle-grade sign; how did it become a bottom-most sign at night?

Would it be accurate?

Who knows.

Before, when she was in the human world, when she was summoned by the Deity · Spirit Sign to go on a pilgrimage, Chang Ying also divined for herself.

At that time, what she drew was a top-top-grade sign.

Top-top-grade sign!

In the years since she became a Spirit Sign believer, the "top-top-grade signs" she drew could be counted on one hand.

Chang Ying went on the pilgrimage joyfully, welcoming her own glorious moment, but what she got was an inexplicable teleportation.

She couldn't react at all before she was thrown into the Holy Lingshan.

From the prosperous human Great Xia to a barren land.

You tell me this is a top-top-grade sign?

Regardless, on that quiet night, when Chang Ying, who was watching the stars alone, drew a "bottom-most sign," she still found the Valley Master of Starry Sky Valley.

Starry Sky Valley was like facing a great enemy!

Some suggested moving away overnight, some suggested strengthening vigilance, guarding the valley, and asking for help from Bee-Elephant Valley to the west.

You know, the Valley Master and the Valley Mistress were Sea Realm great powers! To the Chang Ying of that time, they were equivalent to deities.

The worried look of the couple made Chang Ying stunned.

Before, someone always told her how dangerous the Holy Lingshan was and how cruel the world outside the valley was.

That night, on the faces of the two Sea Realm great powers, Chang Ying seemed to confirm this.

After recognizing it, when she was asked to draw a sign again, what she drew was a bottom-grade sign.

Missing a "bottom" character didn't make the people of Starry Sky Valley feel much more stable, and facts proved that their worries were correct.

Just when the high-level officials of Starry Sky Valley were hesitating and discussing, a group of Dongting disciples appeared from nowhere and killed their way into the valley.

The starry sky after midnight was still bright and beautiful.

But the valley under the starry sky was full of screams, blood flowing like a river, and corpses everywhere.

Why were the Dongting disciples so cruel?

The warnings of the people in the valley still lingered in Chang Ying's ears.

Yes, no grievances were needed.

Conquer you, trample you—I want to do it, so I did it.

It was just that this beautiful Starry Sky Valley gave Chang Ying a trace of illusion.

The sad thing is, Chang Ying had even thought about whether the people of Starry Sky Valley didn't want her, a Spirit Sign believer, to leave, so they fabricated lies.

Ridiculous!

That night, Chang Ying only felt that she was extremely stupid.

She really wanted to do something, shaking the sign tube in her hand urgently, but what she drew was a rotten sign.

Rotten sign!

Chang Ying had no way to act, and even the cooling time was extended by a full three times.

That tattered rotten sign was like an annoying fly, spinning around her face and head, as if mocking her and ridiculing her.

It was also reminding her to pray to the Deity · Spirit Sign quickly and get through the skill cooling time!

When Chang Ying had the rotten sign dancing beside her, watching the Star Official disciples and Flower Lantern disciples die miserably under the halberds, she collapsed completely.

Crying heart-rendingly.

These people once gave her a home, a stable shelter.

It just so happened that this rotten sign became her life-saving talisman.

The Dongting disciples could tell at a glance that this crying girl was a Spirit Sign disciple.

Chang Ying didn't die.

Thanks to the rotten sign, she was captured.

From then on, the girl who often lay on the grass on the hill, pillowing her arms and watching the stars, became a prisoner in a dark dungeon.

Three divinations every day, once in the morning, once at noon, and once in the evening, not allowing the slightest slack.

Later, Chang Ying learned that these Dongting disciples came from the central and eastern parts of the Holy Lingshan continent.

They came as refugees.

These Dongting disciples once belonged to a sect—Jingting Mountain.

The two leading women were both Sea Realm great powers, said to be the second wife and fourth wife of the original sect master of Jingting Mountain.

Later, the two wives who occupied the magpie's nest fought openly and secretly, fighting for power.

Starry Sky Valley fell into turmoil again, until a month later, when the two wives completely parted ways.

To be precise, it was the fourth wife's side that won a tragic victory, and the second wife and her henchmen fled.

Chang Ying still remembered that day, she was released, and together with other slaves, she cleaned the battlefield and buried the corpses.

And these corpses were mostly Dongting disciples who had once killed their way into Starry Sky Valley and slaughtered the Starry Sky Valley disciples.

Now, the former Starry Sky Valley disciple · Chang Ying had to bury them with her own hands.

When burying them...

Chang Ying secretly spat into the dirt pit.

Later, Starry Sky Valley welcomed the dark rule of the fourth wife, and Chang Ying, who had secretly spat, no longer had the strength.

She became obedient and gradually became numb.

"Yingying? Chang Ying?"

Call after call awakened the sluggish Chang Ying.

She looked down and saw the woman tugging at her trouser leg, full of begging.

Chang Ying didn't know the woman's surname, only that she was called Xiao Man.

Or perhaps, this wasn't the other party's real name either.

Unlike herself, Xiao Man was captured into Starry Sky Valley a month ago; she hadn't been in the Holy Lingshan for long.

From those big eyes, Chang Ying could tell that the woman still harbored a trace of hope.

"Please, Yingying, just one divination, okay?" Xiao Man begged pitifully, "Don't just divine for yourself, help me verify it."

Xiao Man was very persistent.

This persistence stemmed from an extreme desire for the status quo to change, and from an unrealistic longing in her heart.

Chang Ying picked up the mountain-opening axe and chopped the branches, spitting out a word:

"Get lost."

"Yingying!" Xiao Man simply sat on the ground, hugging Chang Ying's lower leg with both hands, "Just once, I'll get lost immediately!"

Chang Ying was still expressionless, not minding having a small attachment on her leg; it didn't interfere with her work.

It's just that if this continues, and others see it, she will eventually be punished.

Pleas came from the side of her leg, disturbing Chang Ying a little.

Xiao Man seemed to treat Chang Ying as the only beacon, determined to verify something from Chang Ying.

"Rustle~"

The sound of wooden signs colliding rang out crisply.

Xiao Man's pleading stopped, and she hurriedly raised her head, seeing the sign tube in Chang Ying's hand.

"After drawing the sign, get lost immediately."

"Hmm, hmm, I'll get lost immediately!" Xiao Man's little face was full of expectation.

"Whoosh~"

A wooden sign flew out.

Xiao Man's eyes gradually widened, her small mouth slightly open, looking at the wooden sign incredibly.

Chang Ying was also a little sluggish, staring blankly at the wooden sign floating before her eyes.

On it were written two words—Top-Top.

Top-top-grade sign!

Top-top-grade sign?

"Wow!" Xiao Man shook Chang Ying's lower leg excitedly, her heart about to jump out.

In this life of being enslaved by others, being beaten and scolded, how could she draw a top-top-grade sign?

That must be... hmm?

Xiao Man's petite body stiffened, and she suddenly turned her head to look.

"Snap!" A crisp sound!

A long whip attacked from behind, whipping hard on Chang Ying's spine.

It didn't hurt.

Even if the whip was wrapped in divine power, it couldn't break the water flow armor of a River Estuary Realm · Fourth Stage great power.

And it wasn't humiliating either.

At least Chang Ying couldn't feel the humiliation.

In the past year, she had lost her self-esteem.

"Hurry up and work!" The man's stern scolding came: "The Valley Master will be back in the next few days. Before she returns, the palace must be built—oh?"

The man walking over stopped abruptly.

He naturally saw the extremely rare wooden sign.

"Top-top-grade sign?" The man holding the whip changed his face.

How could a lowly slave draw such a sign?

All along, when Spirit Sign believers in the valley drew signs, they did so from their own perspective, so that they could calculate more accurately.

For Chang Ying, it was a top-top-grade sign, but for Starry Sky Valley, I'm afraid...

"The Valley Master is here!"

"Valley Master Shen!" From afar, respectful greetings came.

The man holding the whip turned around and ran out in a hurry.

"Ying—ying—ying—" Xiao Man's face was pale, and that excited heart fell to the bottom of the valley.

Chang Ying lowered her head, looking at the woman at her feet: "Stay away from me."

"Yingying..."

"Get lost." Chang Ying spat out a cold word, raised her leg and shook it, finally kicking Xiao Man away.

Blame Xiao Man?

No need.

Three signs a day is a must, and it must be shown to the Dongting disciples.

You can hide from the first day, but you can't hide from the fifteenth.

For Chang Ying, every divination was like a choice of fate.

It's best to be a bottom-grade sign, middle-grade is also fine.

That is the sign that she, a lowly slave, should draw; in the past year, there had been no exceptions.

Until today.

Suddenly, Chang Ying sensed a terrifying pressure coming from behind.

She turned to look, only to see the man holding the whip bringing a woman in a purple robe, walking toward this side.

The former fourth wife, now the Valley Master of Starry Sky Valley · Shen Xiaotang.

She was born with a beautiful face and a graceful figure, naturally a beauty chosen from a thousand, otherwise she couldn't have caught the eye of the Jingxian Mountain Lu Zongzhu · Lü Xiao.

But at this moment, her charming face was full of hostility.

Shen Xiaotang walked step by step, and a sentence spat out from her thin lips:

"You, drew a top-top-grade sign?"

Three chapters today, asking for monthly ticket support!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 731 =====