“Little Junior Sister, she…” Duan Xianxing opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say.
It was Mu Wenyan who patted him on the shoulder.
“Don't worry too much. Little Junior Sister wouldn't want us to worry about her like this. At least we're by her side now, and we can protect her immediately no matter what happens.”
Seeing that Duan Xianxing still had his lips pursed, Mu Wenyan had to speak again.
“Every one of us has our own past. You, me, and Little Junior Sister—all of us. Haven't we all tacitly agreed not to ask? If Little Junior Sister doesn't want to talk about it herself, there's no point in us pressing her. It's better to just stay by her side until she becomes strong enough—strong enough that nothing can ever hurt her again.”
“Eldest Senior Brother…”
“I am your eldest senior brother. This was originally my responsibility, and I do it willingly. It's because of you all that I feel the Five Elements Dao Sect is my home. Alright, don't think too much about it. You should go get some rest as well.”
Mu Wenyan watched as Duan Xianxing went to sleep before he sat at the cave entrance, cradling his sword.
Looking out at the night, Mu Wenyan thought to himself: Was he not the same?
He had once been like his little junior sister—perhaps his past self was even more extreme than she was now.
Being born with a dark spiritual root meant he had no place in the cultivation world at all.
The world was vast, yet there was never a place that could accommodate him.
Fortunately, there was the Five Elements Dao Sect.
He had once lived like a creature of the darkness, having struggled through agony, but since he had walked out of it, his little junior sister could as well.
At the very least, she might be the only person he could truly help right now.
A good night's sleep followed.
Li Nanzhu stretched. She felt like she hadn't slept this soundly in ages. She had been cultivating constantly lately and hadn't had time for a proper rest. Thanks to her eldest senior brother's sleeping spell, her spirit felt much better.
“Which way are we going today?”
“North.”
Today was already the fourth day, and Li Nanzhu was preparing to head toward the location of the Glazed Wood. Because she didn't want to affect the training experience for herself and her seventh senior brother, she intentionally avoided the route the female lead took in the original novel. Once they ran into Cang Dongqing, there was no telling what trouble might arise.
For now, she would try her best to avoid getting her senior brothers involved with the female lead.
If something truly went wrong, it would be too late for regrets.
In the original novel, the profound light glazed wood appeared in the westernmost part of the secret realm. Both the Wuji Sect and Cang Dongqing were likely heading west, so Li Nanzhu was moving toward the northwest.
However, by heading north today, they would likely discover the people from the Wuji Sect by tomorrow.
This would allow her to observe from the shadows and find a way to prevent Cang Dongqing from stealing that Glazed Wood.
Since Li Nanzhu had spoken, Mu Wenyan and Duan Xianxing naturally agreed.
Mu Wenyan's original plan had mostly been for the sake of his little junior sister anyway.
As for Duan Xianxing, it made no difference to him which way they went, so he certainly had no objections.
After reaching an agreement, the three set off toward the north.
Except…
“We actually ran into robbers?”
Li Nanzhu and Duan Xianxing looked at each other with peculiar expressions.
To avoid trouble, Mu Wenyan had long since disguised his cultivation to the Foundation Establishment stage. Two Foundation Establishment and one Qi Condensation stage cultivator were not particularly eye-catching in this secret realm, but they were more likely to be seen as “fat sheep” by other cultivators.
Clearly, the three of them were those “fat sheep” right now.
The opposing team consisted of two late-stage Foundation Establishment and one early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. For them to rob a group with one late-stage Foundation Establishment, one mid-stage Foundation Establishment, and one Qi Condensation cultivator, ordinary people might truly have been unable to win.
But they were not ordinary people.
Li Nanzhu couldn't help but wonder: if the group opposite them knew there was a Nascent Soul stage master suppressing his cultivation in their party, would they be scared to death?
However, Li Nanzhu felt her eldest senior brother wouldn't take action against people like this.
After all, the very first lesson of truly entering the cultivation world was killing.
The moment one stepped into the cultivation world, they had to be prepared—either kill or be killed. It had always been a world where the strong preyed on the weak. Unless one had the protection of a great sect or was strong enough, there was a risk of falling at any time.
The leading cultivator signaled the other two to surround the three in a triangular formation.
“Are you going to hand over the items in your storage bags yourselves, or should I kill you before taking them?” The scar-faced leader looked greedily at the storage bags hanging from the trio's waists.
The storage bags on their waists were all high-grade. Although he knew that anyone who could afford such things was not ordinary, his inner greed ultimately triumphed over his caution.
“If you're sensible, hand over that little girl too. She's quite pretty. I might even spare your lives then, right? Hahaha!”
Scarface and the other two looked at each other and burst into laughter.
But Mu Wenyan and Duan Xianxing's expressions instantly darkened.
They dared to target their little junior sister? They were looking for death!
“Seventh Junior Brother, you take the scarred one. Little Junior Sister, you take the fat one. I'll handle the remaining one.”
As soon as the words fell, Li Nanzhu and Duan Xianxing had already sought out their respective opponents.
The three robbers hadn't expected Li Nanzhu's group to strike directly without even considering the offer, and their gazes turned vicious.
“Get them! Can the three of us at the Foundation Establishment stage not beat them?”
In the next instant, a sword light slashed directly past the side of Scarface.
“Oh? You dodge quite fast! Let this young master see just how capable you are! You actually dared to target my little junior sister!”
Duan Xianxing was already beyond excited. After fighting nothing but demonic beasts for the past two days, he had started to find it a bit boring. Demonic beasts always used the same attacks; fighting people was much more interesting.
However, since Scarface and his crew had dared to target his little junior sister, his excitement had long since transformed into rage.
Yet, following the rage came a cold calm. He now only wanted to kill this scar-faced man so he could never harbor ill intentions toward his little junior sister again.
Thus, his strikes were both ruthless and steady, not letting his anger cloud his judgment in the slightest.
Scarface was not weak either; being able to reach the late-stage Foundation Establishment as a rogue cultivator naturally meant he had a few tricks up his sleeve.
He pulled out a large saber and swung it down toward Duan Xianxing.
Simultaneously, an earthen spike emerged beneath Duan Xianxing's feet, forming a pincer attack.
Duan Xianxing didn't panic. Lightning flashed beneath his feet, instantly shattering the earthen spike as he met the large saber head-on with his sword in both hands.
The moment the weapons collided, two colors of spiritual qi clashed directly through the blades.
Both were aggressive fighters. Although it appeared Scarface currently had the upper hand, Scarface knew that someone possessing a thunder spiritual root was bound to be a core disciple of a major sect.
Furthermore, the opponent's spiritual power was incredibly vast, not at all like a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation. Not to mention, the thunder attribute was even more violent than his own fire attribute. From that single collision, his hands were already beginning to feel numb.
Regret began to well up in his heart, but it was clearly impossible to stop now. He couldn't help but curse inwardly: Which sect disciple comes out to play without wearing their sect uniform?
Meanwhile, the situation for his companions wasn't looking good either.
The buzz-cut man was being pinned to the ground by Duan Xianxing's pressure, unable to move an inch. As for the fat man, although he was facing Li Nanzhu with her Qi Condensation cultivation, her kiting tactics were making him incredibly frustrated.
Despite his girth, the fat man was not slow at all; in fact, he was quite agile.
As a result, a large portion of Li Nanzhu's attacks missed, and those that did hit were still blocked by his spiritual power.
After all, even if that fat man was the weakest of the three, he was still in the Foundation Establishment stage. Li Nanzhu was not arrogant enough to think she could face a Foundation Establishment cultivator head-on with level five Qi Condensation.
Fighting above one's level was a privilege for the female lead, not for her.
However, Li Nanzhu did not give up. The experience accumulated from fighting demonic beasts over the past few days, combined with her past life's experience, allowed her to avoid looking too pathetic while retreating. Even if she was injured by the fat man, she would quickly use Wood Vitality to heal herself.
Although the Xuanze Two-Polarity Sutra could also provide healing, the secret realm was filled with growing plants everywhere, which was more conducive to Li Nanzhu's use of wood-attribute techniques and allowed her to store a certain amount of vitality.
She also used the gaps while dodging to continuously fire off fire lotuses using the Kalpa Fire Dance Sutra.
Those seemingly weightless fire lotuses would explode upon touching anything, igniting everything nearby that could be burned.
Of course, these explosions couldn't cause much damage to the fat man yet. Instead, because he couldn't extinguish the flames in time, his fury only burned hotter.
“You brat, I’m going to kill you!”
Rate on N.U.
