The carriage came to a stop outside the Jiang residence.
Jiang Yunxi, who had been driving, jumped down and asked the gatekeeper when she could enter to undergo the spiritual-bone test.
In the world of Treading the Immortal Path, only those who possessed a spiritual bone could embark upon the road of cultivation.
Some people had spiritual bones in their eyes, making it easier for them to cultivate illusion arts. Others had spiritual bones in their legs, granting them an innate speed that could carry them a thousand li in a day, unmatched by anyone else.
These were all common types of spiritual bones. There was one kind, however, that appeared only once in ten thousand people: a spiritual bone located in the spine, also known as a sword bone. Those who possessed one were natural-born sword cultivators.
Before the gatekeeper could answer, an extravagant carriage stopped beside them.
The horses pulling it were three white-jade steeds, hybrid offspring of spirit beasts and ordinary horses. Gentle, obedient, and exceptionally swift, each one was worth a hundred spirit stones.
A carriage drawn by such horses was certainly carrying someone of no ordinary status.
After the carriage came to a halt, a young man stepped down first. He cast a disdainful glance at Jiang Yunxi. “Where did this Ugly freak come from?”
A large dark-red birthmark covered Jiang Yunxi’s face, nearly obscuring half of it. She had been called an Ugly freak since she was little and had long since grown used to it, so she paid the young man no attention.
The gatekeeper, who had been acting arrogant only moments ago, immediately put on a fawning smile when he saw the youth. “Young Master, what brings you here?”
The young man did not even spare him a glance. Instead, he turned toward the carriage and said, “Jiaoru, be careful. Don’t let something filthy dirty your eyes.”
So there was someone else inside the carriage.
A gentle breeze swept past, setting the bells hanging from the carriage roof tinkling softly.
A hand as delicate and supple as though it had no bones reached out. Just that hand alone was enough to make people stop and stare, yearning to see what the person inside looked like.
A young woman then stepped out.
She was sixteen, the age when a young plum blossom first began to bloom—fresh, sweet, and still carrying a hint of youthful innocence.
A veil covered the lower half of her face, revealing only a pair of limpid, lively eyes. Before anyone could examine them closely, a faint, alluring fragrance drew their attention away, leaving them to imagine what kind of beauty lay beneath the veil.
Jiang Jiaoru, Shangyin City’s Number One Beauty.
She was beautiful, certainly, but the words that came out of her mouth were anything but pleasant. “And where did this beggar come from to mooch off the Jiang family?”
Jiang Yunxi’s clothes were neat and clean. They simply lacked the refinement of the young masters and ladies, and were nowhere near deserving of the word “beggar.”
“Exactly! Hurry up and drive her away!” The young man, eager to please the goddess in his heart, showed no mercy as he ordered Jiang Yunxi to leave.
“I’m from a branch family of the Jiangs. I’m not a beggar.”
Jiang Yunxi tried to explain, but it was as if no one could hear her. Following the young man’s instructions, the gatekeeper reached out to shove the small figure aside.
The pushing and shoving soon caused quite a commotion at the gate.
“Yunxi?” Jiang Rongyi, who had been resting inside the carriage, was roused by the noise. He called out, “What’s going on?”
After waiting for a while without receiving an answer, Jiang Rongyi felt his way along the carriage wall and climbed out.
The sunlight outside was painfully bright. Having stayed in the darkness for so long, he suddenly found himself squinting against the light, and a few tears gathered in his eyes. Unable to see the situation clearly, he casually turned toward the direction where he could make out the shape of a person.
“Yunxi?”
The Jiang residence, which had been noisy only moments before, fell abruptly silent. The only sound left was the quickened rhythm of people’s breathing.
Jiang Jiaoru’s beauty had just now been hazy and indistinct, like a scene of tender longing in which words remained unspoken.
Jiang Rongyi, on the other hand, revealed his entire appearance openly and without reservation. His beauty was so straightforwardly breathtaking that, for a moment, no one could find the words to describe it.
Jiang Jiaoru was the first to recover. She had always believed that, when it came to beauty, no one in the whole of Shangyin City could surpass her. Yet today, some country bumpkin had appeared from nowhere and completely overshadowed her.
The surrounding onlookers gradually came to their senses as well, whispering among themselves in twos and threes.
“I think even Shangyin City’s Number One Beauty can’t compare with him.”
“Exactly, exactly. To have seen someone like that, I could die without regrets now.”
Jiang Jiaoru’s hearing was sharp, and she took in every word spoken around her. Unable to restrain her anger, she shot Jiang Rongyi a resentful look.
Jiang Jiaoru’s spiritual bone was only slightly below average, far from meeting the standard for becoming a disciple of the Penglai Immortal. She had come this time for no other reason than to rely on her beauty to win the favor of the Penglai Immortal and cling to that powerful connection.
She had never expected Jiang Rongyi to appear halfway through.
“Big Brother.” Jiang Yunxi felt terribly wronged, but she had always been good at enduring things. Pretending nothing had happened, she said, “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
Only after hearing her voice did Jiang Rongyi realize that he had been looking in the wrong direction. He turned his head and asked, “When does the spiritual-bone test begin?”
The young man who had been acting so arrogant earlier hurried to answer, eager to be of use. “It begins tomorrow. The inns in the city are all Jiang family properties, so you can choose any one of them to rest at.”
Jiang Jiaoru clenched her teeth.
Although she looked down on this young man, who spent every day hovering around her and currying favor, she could not stand watching him turn around and flatter someone else.
She endured it again and again before finally pretending to offer a casual reminder. “Let’s go inside. We shouldn’t miss the appointed time.”
Only then did the young man remember that there was still a banquet to attend. He could only bid Jiang Rongyi a reluctant farewell before following Jiang Jiaoru into the Jiang residence.
The banquet that day was being held to welcome the envoy of the Penglai Immortal. Jiang Jiaoru originally had no qualifications to attend, but thanks entirely to her reputation as Shangyin City’s Number One Beauty, she had managed to secure a seat.
“What do you think of that person just now?” Jiang Jiaoru asked only what the young man thought of him. She did not ask how he compared with her. In truth, she already knew the answer: she was far inferior to him.
The young man thought for a moment, then sighed. “Even immortals are probably no more beautiful than that. I’m afraid even the immortal envoy will fall for him.”
Those words struck directly at Jiang Jiaoru’s sore spot.
She was an extremely petty person who normally relied on her beauty to do whatever she pleased in Shangyin City. Jiang Rongyi had not only caused her to lose face at the entrance of the Jiang residence, but was also more beautiful than she was. Naturally, she could not let him off easily.
Quietly, Jiang Jiaoru took a sheet of yellow paper from her storage bracelet. She murmured an incantation, and the paper spontaneously burst into flames, turning to ash in an instant before scattering into the wind.
At the same time, Tan Jingfang, seated at the banquet in the Jiang residence, frowned.
The Jiang family patriarch had been observing Tan Jingfang the entire time. Afraid of displeasing the immortal envoy, he hurriedly asked, “What’s wrong, Immortal Envoy?”
Tan Jingfang shook his head.
Those who came from the Penglai Immortal sect were extremely sensitive to demonic aura. Just now, Tan Jingfang had sensed a trace of it.
The demonic aura had been so faint that he almost thought it was merely an illusion. Shangyin City was under the jurisdiction of the Penglai Immortal—how could demonic aura possibly be leaking out here?
Tan Jingfang sat for a while longer, but his mind remained unsettled. He could barely hear what the others were saying.
After hesitating again and again, he decided to go and investigate. Better to kill the wrong person than let one go.
Jiang Yunxi drove the carriage through the city in search of an inn.
There had been a great influx of visitors to Shangyin City recently, and she had already checked three inns in a row without finding a vacant room.
The carriage wheels rolled over a road paved with bluestone. Feeling exhausted, Jiang Yunxi closed her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them again, what appeared before her eyes was a dense forest.
Jiang Yunxi widened her eyes in disbelief.
Only moments ago, they had been on the streets of Shangyin City. How had everything suddenly turned into a forest?
Could this all be a dream? Jiang Yunxi pinched her own thigh, and a sharp jolt of pain shot through her immediately. This was no dream.
"Brother!" Jiang Yunxi called out, turning her gaze toward the interior of the carriage.
Jiang Rongyi was sleeping soundly. His body had sustained severe injuries, and he needed long stretches of rest to heal, so he could not be roused easily. If he were awake, he would have recognized at once that this was a crude Enchantment Formation, and that everything around them was an illusion.
Jiang Yunxi had no idea. She reined the carriage to a stop, swallowing hard in fear.
"Hahaha——"
Sharp, cackling laughter suddenly echoed from every direction through the silent forest.
"Beauty, come play with us——"
There it was again, that word "beauty."
Jiang Yunxi's face went blank, and the fear that had gripped her a moment earlier faded a little.
Ever since they left the small town where they had grown up, countless people had called her brother a beauty. Jiang Yunxi did not think much of it; to her, he was just better-looking than most other people.
Before the sound of the laughter died down, two dark figures dropped from the air right next to the carriage.
The first thing they saw was Jiang Yunxi, and they both let out a curious sound in unison: "Huh?"
It was not the terrifying birthmark on Jiang Yunxi's face that had caught their attention, but a strange, unusual aura emanating from her body.
The two men exchanged a glance, and spoke at the exact same time. "A Nine Yin Body?"
One of them said, "Let's take a look and confirm it!"
As he spoke, he reached out toward Jiang Yunxi. Just as his hand was about to touch her, a sharp streak of spiritual energy sliced through the air.
The man pulled his hand back to dodge the attack, and looked up into the air. It was Tan Jingfang, who had arrived just in time.
"Demonic Path scums!"
The disciples of Penglai Immortal were all staunch upholders of justice who hated evil with a passion. The very first rule of their sect was: upon seeing a demonic cultivator, kill without hesitation.
These two were no ordinary Demonic Path cultivators. They were the famous pair known as the Yin-Yang Envoys, twin brothers whose cultivation techniques complemented each other perfectly. On their own, neither was much of a threat, but when they joined forces, they could even challenge opponents far stronger than themselves.
They had not earned their infamy for their cultivation prowess, but for their despicable practice of harvesting and absorbing the cultivation base of other cultivators. Back in the days when the Demonic Path Supreme, the Lord of the Ten Hells, was still alive, he had loathed this type of demonic cultivator the most, so they had been forced to keep a low profile and hide away. Now that the Lord of the Ten Hells was long dead, they had finally dared to come out and wreak havoc.
This was the first time Tan Jingfang had ever faced demonic cultivators head on. Ever since the Lord of the Ten Hells' death, the Demonic Path had been left leaderless, and its members had not dared to cause trouble out in the open. He never expected to run into demonic cultivators acting so brazenly near Shangyin City.
The two men exchanged a look and let out chilling, snickering laughter.
"A little brat who hasn't even grown all his hair yet."
"Running right to his own death."
Tan Jingfang was no match for the Yin-Yang Envoys, but as a disciple of Penglai Immortal, he could not just abandon innocent mortals and run for his life.
He planted himself firmly in front of the carriage, like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, but he did not take a single step back, standing his ground against the Yin-Yang Envoys.
"I like this."
"The little brats from the righteous path are always so cute."
The Yin-Yang Envoys toyed with him like a pair of cats playing with a mouse, knocking Tan Jingfang down again and again, only to watch him drag himself back up with great difficulty every time.
Just as Tan Jingfang collapsed to his knees once more, blood spilling from his mouth, trembling as he struggled to pull himself back to his feet, Jiang Rongyi woke up.
This was the second time he had been woken up that day, and Jiang Rongyi was more than a little annoyed. "What is it now?"
He had just woken up from a deep sleep, so his voice came out soft, almost as if he were acting coquettish.
The Yin-Yang Envoys, who had seen countless people of all kinds, could tell exactly what kind of person he was the second they heard his voice, and they grew so excited they could barely contain themselves.
"A top-tier one!"
"This is a real treasure!"
They no longer had any interest in toying with Tan Jingfang. They kicked him aside roughly and moved to grab the person inside the carriage.
Jiang Rongyi did not wait for them to come get him. He climbed out of the carriage on his own, squinting for a long moment before he finally registered what was going on.
"You people..." Jiang Rongyi used Jiang Yunxi's hand to steady himself as he stepped down from the carriage.
The Yin-Yang Envoys could not wait any longer. Each of them grabbed one of Jiang Rongyi's wrists. "Beauty, come have some fun with us."
"Sure," Jiang Rongyi had already figured out exactly what was happening. He did not resist at all, lifting his eyes to glance at the two of them and speaking in a soft, gentle voice. "There's a child here. Why don't we go a little deeper into the woods?"
Blinded by lust, the Yin-Yang Envoys agreed immediately, carrying Jiang Rongyi off toward the deeper part of the forest.
"Brother!" Jiang Yunxi called out urgently, about to run after them.
Annoyed that a child would ruin their fun, the Yin-Yang Envoys sent a wisp of spiritual energy flying toward her, knocking her unconscious. Now that they had taken care of that distraction, they turned their full attention back to Jiang Rongyi.
"Beauty, I go first."
"Last time I let you go first! It's my turn now!"
The Yin-Yang Envoys were already treating Jiang Rongyi as their captured prize, and they started bickering over who got to have him first.
"Well then——" Jiang Rongyi leaned back against a tree trunk, "Why not both of you do it at the same time."
