Chapter 2

At this moment, the barrier before the white-clad woman kept cracking open.

"Hehe… Saintess, stop resisting, obediently let me capture you to be my cauldron."

"Demonic Shadow, you're dreaming—don't you fear Profound Heaven Sect's retaliation? I, Yue Ning, will never agree to be your cauldron!"

"Hehe… Saintess, stop threatening me—this place is 108,000 li from Profound Heaven Sect; even if they knew, do you think they'd start a sect war over a corpse with my Demonic Sect?"

Hearing that, the Ling brothers below said, "Elder brother, they are from Profound Heaven Sect and the Demonic Sect."

Tianye City is a small town in the southwest of the Dayun Empire, while Profound Heaven Sect is the empire's foremost sect; its sect head Xuán Míng is even a Dimensional Realm expert. The rankings of the Profound Heaven Continent are, in order: Body Tempering Realm, Qi Condensation Realm, Elemental Spirit Realm, Ten Thousand Realm, Spell Mark Realm, Heaven-Reaching Realm, Void-Shattering Realm, Dimensional Realm, Netherworld Realm, and Tribulation Transcendence Realm.

The Demonic Sect is Profound Heaven Sect's mortal enemy; its sect leader Mó Míng has also reached the Dimensional Realm.

"Big brother, hurry, hurry, run—these bigshots are not someone we can provoke!" The two brothers sped into the forest depths. Though they knew there were ferocious beasts, with caution they could avoid them, but not going deep might get them killed by those two bigshots.

At that moment, the Saintess's barrier shattered; she seized her sword and began slashing the poisonous creatures. Demonic Shadow watched the toxins fall like chopped cabbage, one by one dying. His heart ached—these were painstakingly gathered—but thinking that soon a Profound Heaven Sect Saintess would become his cauldron made it all worthwhile.

Seeing the poisonous creatures increase the more she cut them, the Saintess prepared a last-ditch effort, instantly appearing before Demonic Shadow and condensing her strongest sword.

Demonic Shadow seemed to have anticipated this; he likewise unleashed his strongest move, the Five Toxins Fist. The Saintess was blasted into the forest below, and Demonic Shadow also fared poorly.

He was severely wounded by the Saintess. He then sat down to cultivate and heal his injuries.

Coincidentally, the Saintess fell right in front of the Ling brothers.

"Oh shoot, big brother, how can we not shake this off?"

At this moment, Ling Ye's head also throbbed; he hadn't expected that after running so long with Ling Feng, they still couldn't escape, and seeing the Saintess like this, she must be seriously injured.

"Two fellow cultivators, I am Yue Ning of Profound Heaven Sect. If you save me, I will surely repay you richly once healed." Yue Ning was now extremely weak, on the verge of unconsciousness. This appearance, combined with her looks, was quite moving.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, the Ling Ye and Ling Feng brothers bolted. They dared not help, for what if a black-robed person lurked behind? People like them could make Tianye City vanish with a flick.

Yue Ning had no choice; she gathered her last strength and hurled two flying darts at the Ling brothers. What cultivation level did Yue Ning possess? Each of the Ling brothers took a dart in the buttocks.

"Save me or not, you'll die anyway! The darts are poisonous." Then she passed out.

"Damn, big brother, this woman is too vicious!"

Ling Ye hadn't expected this woman to pull such a stunt.

"Sigh, no choice—we have to bring her back to the clan."

Thus, under cover of night, the two brought Yue Ning to the clan. To avoid detection, they took her to Ling Ye's room and also fed her a second-grade Rejuvenation Pill. This was a pill Ling Ye had painstakingly earned from a clan mission; he never imagined using it on this woman.

To hasten her awakening so as not to delay his and his brother's participation in the martial tournament, Ling Ye endured the pain and used it.

"This woman is nothing but a calamity." As Ling Ye just sat down, he forgot to remove the dart in his buttocks, and instantly winced in pain, gritting his teeth.

After the brothers painfully pulled out the darts and applied medicine, they went to rest.

The next day, upon waking, the woman found herself lying in someone else's room, recalling that the Ling brothers had rescued her.

"You're awake—how's your injury? Can you give us the antidote?"

"Not yet; my injury is severe, I need to stay here a few days. Also, I must not be discovered by Demonic Shadow." The woman replied.

Upon hearing this, Ling Feng's head swelled. "Sis, please don't do this—I beg you to leave quickly; if the clan head discovers I secretly brought such a vengeful expert into the Ling family, my life is over."

Yue Ning said nothing, producing ten thousand spirit crystals from her storage ring. "This counts as my lodging fee at the Ling household."

"All right, sis. Stay wherever you like. Hungry? I'll go make you something to eat." Ling Feng stared at the spirit crystals, speechless. The Ling clan gave him only a hundred per month; for ten thousand, he had no idea how long it would take to earn.

Ling Ye looked at his brother's state, utterly speechless. After Ling Feng gave Ling Ye five thousand spirit crystals, he left grinning.

Ling clan, main hall.

"You little brat, what are you saying? You're not joining this tournament? I tell you, Ling Feng, if you don't participate, believe me—I'll make your buttocks burst!" At that moment, Ling Hai cracked his knuckles, eyeing Ling Feng with ill intent.

"Clan chief, my elder brother is competing in this tournament; what need have I to go? He will surely win." Ling Feng said with a bitter expression.

"Ling Feng, you brat, are you just trying to slack off? In this tournament you must go regardless; besides, the Xiao family's top youngster has broken through to the eighth layer of Body Tempering, and this spirit vein is crucial to our Ling clan." Ling Hai stared at Ling Feng as he spoke.

Tianye City has twelve spirit veins; the Chen, Xiao, and Ling families each control four. Ownership of this vein allows a clan to produce more genius youths in years to come, so the three great clans will not easily relinquish it.

Ling Feng realized he couldn't escape, so he went out to clear his mind.

"Have you heard? The Treasure Pavilion's quarterly auction is about to start, and they say there will be some good items this time."

Ling Feng listened to the surrounding cultivators' discussion.

Previously, Ling Feng had never attended an auction—not because he lacked interest, but because the Ling clan gave him only a hundred spirit crystals a month, leaving him poor. This time, having obtained five thousand spirit crystals from Yue Ning, he swaggered into the auction house.

The auction house's maid also greeted Ling Feng and arranged his seat.

Soon the auction began. The Treasure Pavilion's manager, Shen Yue, walked onto the stage holding a box.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is a second-grade Swiftwind Pill, which can increase a cultivator's speed by thirty percent for a short time. Opening bid: one hundred spirit crystals; highest bidder wins."

Not long after, voices rose from below.

"One hundred twenty spirit crystals."

"I bid one hundred fifty spirit crystals."

In the end, the Swiftwind Pill was taken by a black-robed figure for three hundred spirit crystals.

Ling Feng watched, thinking how profitable pills were—one pill equaled three months of his salary.