“I’ve truly handed over every spirit stone and magical treasure I possess. I can even sign a blood contract with you, Immortal Maiden. From now on, my life will be yours to command.”
The man repeatedly kowtowed and begged for mercy. He was battered and covered in wounds and blood, with none of his former splendor remaining.
All around him lay pools of blood and mangled corpses, turning the place into a living hell.
“What would I want with your life? You have nothing worth having.” A mocking smile touched the cold, beautiful face of the female cultivator. “You’ve ruled this mountain and terrorized the people for decades, at the very least. Over the years, countless cultivators have taken the bounty on your head, only to vanish without a trace. The possessions they left behind would be enough to last you several lifetimes. And with your low cultivation—you haven’t even reached the Dao Pass—those high-level cultivation resources are useless to you. You can see them, but you can’t use them. Be honest. Letting you buy your life with money is already an act of mercy on my part.”
The man was about to argue, but the woman’s sword suddenly circled viciously beside his chest. Sword qi, like thousands upon thousands of steel needles, pierced his internal organs. Not only did it prevent him from circulating his spiritual power, it also subjected him to unbearable agony.
“If I don’t hear another honest word from you, I’ll search your soul,” the female cultivator said with a frown. “If I weren’t worried about seeing something filthy in your mind, I wouldn’t bother wasting words on you.”
The man had no choice. He cut open the flesh at the root of his thigh and dug out yet another storage stone from within his own body.
This storage stone was exceedingly valuable. It contained most of his wealth.
“Immortal Maiden, there’s also a formation inside this storage stone that I had someone set up. Without the correct incantation and hand seals, the formation will not only destroy everything inside—it can also detonate the talismans and ensure that whoever takes the stone meets a gruesome end.”
A fawning smile spread across the man’s face. He struggled to his feet and, seeing that the female cultivator did not object, edged closer to her. A murderous glint flashed through his eyes.
These so-called righteous sect disciples were still far too foolish. As long as he got close enough to activate the formation, the tables would turn.
Back then, that so-called disciple of a great sect had clearly possessed cultivation a level higher than his. He had even been protected by a sect treasure. Yet in the end, the man had still killed him, seized his treasures, and refined his soul into a soul banner. To this day, he could still remember the victim’s screams.
“Immortal Maiden, please look. Inside this storage stone of mine…”
A slit had already opened at the man’s waist. From within it, a long, wormlike demon beast opened its maw and lunged toward the woman before him.
This demon beast was his ultimate trump card. At such close range, even a Core Formation cultivator who had reached the Dao Pass would either die or suffer grievous injuries. His ability to become the master of this demonic den was entirely thanks to this beast.
“Wait.”
The female cultivator suddenly shouted.
The male cultivator’s face twisted into a savage grin. Now that she had realized something was wrong, it was already too late. He—
Before his thought could finish, the man’s head struck the ground, falling even before the severed wormlike beast.
The man noticed that the female cultivator had suddenly grown much taller.
No—his head had fallen off.
A flying sword was lodged in his headless neck.
“‘Wait’ is my sword’s name. No matter how fast your demon beast is, can it really be faster than my sword?” The woman lightly touched the blackwood scabbard at her waist. The treasured sword had already cut down its enemy.
“You’re despicable!” Only the last trace of spiritual energy remained in the man’s head as he hovered on the brink of death.
“To be called despicable by a demonic cultivator means I must be doing something right.”
A spark of spiritual light flashed between the female cultivator’s fingers as it shot toward the man’s head, tearing it apart.
Men who talked too much really were the hardest to kill. Even after losing his head, he still wouldn’t shut up.
The demonic cultivator instinctively looked toward the sword scabbard at the woman’s waist.
A sprig of orchid was engraved on the ebony scabbard.
That was…
Shu Xin!
A cultivator of the Dao Infant Realm.
What had he done to deserve someone like her coming to kill him?
The man’s eyes widened. He died unseeing, the last trace of life in his eyes vanishing completely.
【This demonic cultivator’s flesh and demonic energy are decent—more than those of an ordinary Core Formation cultivator, even. Not a bad haul.】
The long sword in the female cultivator’s hand—no, in Shu Xin’s hand—could no longer maintain its original form. It transformed into two broken halves, its blade stained with blood and looking worse than scrap metal.
Once a renowned sword known throughout the realm, it could now maintain its complete appearance only through a minor illusion spell.
The two halves of the blade were engraved with four large characters in total: “Wait” and “Hold On.”
The “Wait” mentioned by the woman was clearly the name of one half of the broken sword.
【Shu Xin, he hasn’t even formed his core yet. With your cultivation, you could be his ancestor. Did you really need to ambush him? No wonder he called you despicable.】
A treasured sword had fallen into dust.
And its new master was clearly not a normal person.
When she had refined it back then, she had even declared with complete confidence, “You’re too conspicuous. People will keep an eye on me because of you. If I split you in two, no one will be able to tell who you are.”
Thus, a supreme immortal sword had suffered a devastating drop in rank, becoming an ordinary spirit sword that could barely cling to life and looked incapable of fetching more than a few spirit stones.
And the flesh and demonic energy of the demonic cultivator before them could only wash away a tiny bit of bloodstain from the sword’s surface—so little that it was invisible to the naked eye.
“I’m a disciple of a righteous sect, not an idiot.”
Shu Xin grinned as she joined “Wait” and “Hold On” together and slid them back into their scabbard. “Besides, I only ever pick fights against opponents above my level.”
Indeed. A dignified Dao Infant cultivator had just ambushed a demon who had yet to form his core.
She had thrown every shred of face out the window.
Shu Xin saw nothing wrong with it.
Back in her previous life, hadn’t those college students gone to elementary schools to bully the younger kids?
Who in their right mind would insist on picking a fight they had no chance of winning?
If you were going to fight, you fought to win.
【Don’t you have even a shred of the pride and dignity befitting a high-level cultivator?】
Shu Xin shrugged. “Live long enough and gain enough seniority, and pride and dignity will come naturally.”
【Other people dream of challenging opponents above their level to make a name for themselves. But whenever you kill someone, you specifically look for enemies one or two cultivation stages below you. That does absolutely nothing for your cultivation!】
“But it does wonders for my Dao heart.” Shu Xin proudly planted her hands on her hips. “I haven’t suffered a single defeat in a hundred years. My Dao heart is crystal clear!”
…
She bullied weaklings every single day. It would be a miracle if she ever lost.
The broken sword spirit’s sigh echoed directly in Shu Xin’s mind.
【If my former master had possessed a heart like yours, how could I have become the demon sword everyone loves to hate?】
Shu Xin pretended not to hear.
What difference was there between a broken sword that never stopped nagging and boasting about its glorious past, and some old fart at a drinking table who did nothing but brag and embellish his own history?
If not for the supreme cultivation method passed down through this broken sword, she would have found a way to sell it off eight hundred years ago. Why else would she still be working so hard to earn resources?
Sigh. Born at the wrong time.
Shu Xin briskly used the blood of the dead demonic cultivator to break the restriction on the storage stone. After glancing around, she set the place ablaze, burning the demonic lair—which had endured for nearly a century—to nothing but ash. Only then did she rise and leave.
【All the blood on my blade comes from immortals I once slew. Only the flesh and blood of the foulest demonic cultivators in the world can cleanse it. This is already the twenty-first demonic lair you’ve destroyed in the past ten years. So many people are grateful to you—don’t you ever want to experience the glory that comes from fighting so hard?】 the sword spirit asked once again.
“People fear fame, and pigs fear getting fat. Other people’s gratitude will only leave me tied down.” Shu Xin yawned. “If you keep yapping, I’ll shove your blade into a mortal’s latrine. Believe me or not?”
The sword spirit immediately fell silent.
It knew that this terrifying woman would genuinely do something like that.
Her mind was deeper than that of the most frightening demonic cultivator, and her methods were more ruthless than anything it had witnessed in its several-hundred-year existence.
If she ever switched to the demonic path, what would there be left for those so-called Demon Venerables?
And yet, she insisted on keeping a low profile as an elder of the Longevity Dao Sect.
Could it be that she truly had feelings for her fiancé?
No. Impossible.
That was even less likely than it happily jumping into a latrine.
Longevity Dao Sect.
“Elder Shu.”
“Elder Shu, these spirit stones were sent by disciples of the Azure Mountain Sect. At the Dao Infant Assembly, she wants to sit beside the Seven Swords of the neighboring Xiaoyao Sword Sect.”
“There aren’t enough spirit stones. Put her somewhere she can at least see the Seven Swords’ backs.”
With a sweep of her divine sense, Shu Xin knew at once that there were barely any spirit stones inside.
“Elder Shu, these are gifts from the Spirit Fruit Merchants’ Association. They hope to supply all the spirit fruits for this assembly. As for the price, they can offer them at ten percent below market value—and they’ll give you another ten percent as a token of their respect.”
“Mm. Verbal promises mean nothing. Have them draw up a written agreement.”
Shu Xin was currently receiving several stewards she had personally trained in her own cave dwelling.
These outer-sect stewards were all mediocre in cultivation, but when it came to managing miscellaneous affairs, they were exceptionally capable.
How much could one person skim from kickbacks? The real money was in organized crime!
Besides, Shu Xin had the stewards’ lives, fortunes, and even the families behind them firmly in her grasp. Even if the sect discovered everything one day, they would still throw themselves forward to take the blame for her, protecting everyone else and safeguarding their own future.
After all, this was a cultivation sect. Skimming kickbacks was not enough to get them executed under the sect rules. At worst, they would be locked up for a few hundred years. As long as Shu Xin achieved mastery during that time, would they really have to worry about never getting out?
The pie Shu Xin had drawn for them was enormous—and delicious—but they still had to work hard enough to reach it!
An elder willing to share thirty percent of the profits with her subordinates was practically a Bodhisattva reborn. How many sect elders took in disciples and servants under the guise of mentorship, then squeezed them until not even the oil in their bones was left, all before finally stopping? And to make matters worse, they held the formal status of master and disciple, leaving their subordinates with no way to resist.
Ever since Shu Xin had taken over as an outer-sect elder of the Longevity Dao Sect, she had thoroughly familiarized herself with every way to milk the sect, skim kickbacks, and skirt the sect rules without being held accountable.
No helping it—these days, the spirit stones required by Nascent Soul cultivators were practically astronomical in number!
Have you ever tried living a life where, despite being alive, you felt like an evil ghost condemned to hell for all eternity?
Or let me put it another way.
Have you ever worked without a single day off for ten straight years, slept less than an hour a day, and labored endlessly—only to earn less than what someone else spent on one meal?
Shu Xin was living that life.
Every time she woke from using meditation in place of sleep, she would ask herself: What exactly was she still alive for?
Had she transmigrated into this world and taken up cultivation in pursuit of immortality just so she could evolve past the need to eat, sleep, and scroll on her phone—all for the sake of working?
To roam free and easy, unfettered by anything—that was attaining the Dao and achieving immortality.
To cultivate bitterly every day, swallow pills, and work yourself to the bone—that was eternal damnation!
Modern-day workers were called corporate cattle and horses. Cultivators were more like nuclear-powered donkeys.
No need to eat. One fasting pill would keep hunger at bay for an entire month.
No need to sleep. An hour of meditation could replace ten days of rest.
No need for housing, either. Dig a cave into a mountain, set down a meditation cushion, and that was all you needed to cultivate.
From the moment they stepped onto the path of cultivation—whether through innate talent or acquired training—all cultivators had to cross the threshold of absorbing spiritual energy. Only once they could draw in spiritual energy could they truly be considered cultivators.
Afterward, once one’s innate cultivation was complete, one shed the mortal body and forged a Dao Foundation, entering the Dao Foundation Realm, with one’s lifespan extended to three hundred years.
After establishing the Dao Foundation, one would knock upon the Dao and question the heavens, condensing a Dao Core. This was the Core Condensation Realm, where one’s lifespan extended to five hundred years.
Beyond Core Condensation, one had to open an inner domain within the primordial spirit in order to attain the Nascent Soul Realm.
Only when a Nascent Soul cultivator had reached the peak of the realm, taken residence in the primordial spirit’s inner domain, and grasped the lifeline of the primordial spirit could they become an Inner Domain True Person.
Beyond the Inner Domain Realm lay the Stainless Realm, the Mahayana Realm, and the realm of the Earthly Immortal.
The Longevity Dao Sect was ranked among the Nine Sects and Ten Schools precisely because it still had an Earthly Immortal in its ranks!
That immortal was the founding patriarch of the Longevity Sect, and had lived for more than ten thousand years.
Yet the Earthly Immortals who remained in the world no longer walked among mortals.
The reason was the great catastrophe that had swept the cultivation world five thousand years ago, leaving countless dead and wounded and drastically thinning the world’s spiritual energy. In the present age, this world could no longer produce another Earthly Immortal. Even Stainless Realm cultivators were now great figures, counted among the foremost righteous sects.
In some second-rate sects, a Nascent Soul or Inner Domain cultivator could serve as sect master.
Therefore, someone like Shu Xin—self-taught, extraordinarily gifted, and already a Nascent Soul cultivator at such a young age—was a talent rarely seen even once in a century.
And the Longevity Dao Sect had taken the phrase “make full use of every person” to its absolute extreme.
Especially when it came to cultivators like her, who came from an unorthodox background. The sect coveted her abilities, yet did not want to give her sufficient spirit stones—and feared that her cultivation might one day surpass that of its own disciples.
So the Longevity Dao Sect “recruited” her.
She became the only elder of rogue-cultivator origins that the Longevity Dao Sect had accepted in the past hundred years!
At the time, Shu Xin had only two paths before her.
Either she accepted their “recruitment,” and she and the young fiancé she had rescued would both have to enter the sect.
Or she would be killed by the cultivators the Longevity Dao Sect had sent, who would also seize the “broken-sword spirit” she had hidden away.
To protect her “cheat,” Shu Xin could only put on a tearfully grateful expression and join the Longevity Dao Sect.
Although she did not yet have what it took to break away from the Everlasting Dao Sect, she could still poach a few of the sect’s resources and find ways to build up her own cultivation reserves.
“As usual, I’ll take seventy percent of the spirit stones collected. You can divide the remaining thirty percent among yourselves according to your contributions.” Shu Xin waved her hand. “If there’s nothing else, you may leave.”
The several stewards exchanged glances. In the end, it was a younger female steward who stepped forward two paces and said through clenched teeth, “Elder, something major happened in the sect while you were away.”
“Oh?” Shu Xin’s interest was piqued. “Tell me about it.”
The female steward hurriedly said, “It’s about the ‘Brocarded Lin Clan’ of the Everlasting Dao Sect. I hear Lin Youwei has already obtained the consent of her clan’s ancestor and secured a top-tier dual cultivation technique. She intends to dissolve your engagement with Dao Lord Situ at his Nascent Soul ceremony and take your place.”
“That’s right, Elder. You’ve been running yourself ragged preparing for Dao Lord Situ’s Nascent Soul ceremony. You can’t let someone else swoop in and reap the rewards.”
“Back when Dao Lord Situ was merely a Qi Refining cultivator, if you hadn’t taken a liking to him, brought him into the sect, and secretly supplied him with spirit stones, how could he have opened his Divine Soul Grotto-Heaven and achieved the Nascent Soul stage within a mere hundred years?”
The stewards were already furious.
The story of Situ Jian and Shu Xin was nothing short of the greatest legend the sect had seen in a century.
A hundred years ago, Shu Xin was already a Core Formation cultivator, just one step away from the Nascent Soul stage. Situ Jian, meanwhile, came from a declining noble family. Word had it that he had only managed to attach himself to Shu Xin because one of his ancestors had once done her a small favor. He had offered himself to her and become her fiancé, and Shu Xin, with her discerning eye, had brought him with her when she joined the Everlasting Dao Sect.
Now, one was an outer-sect elder and the other an inner-sect disciple. Both had reached the Nascent Soul stage and could finally officially become Dao companions.
And then someone had appeared to steal him away!
The barren field had gone untouched, only for someone to fight over it after it had been cultivated.
The Brocarded Lin Clan might indeed be one of the most powerful aristocratic factions in the Everlasting Dao Sect, but that still did not give them the right to swoop in and steal the fruits of someone else’s labor at a time like this.
Where had they been a hundred years ago?
“I thought you were going to say the sect had discovered our kickback scheme. You nearly scared me to death.” Shu Xin took a deep breath, her face relaxing into an easy smile.
As long as no one cut off her source of income, everything else was negotiable.
