08
In the deepest part of the secret realm lived a giant serpent that liked to eat evildoers.
My second senior brother came from a beast-taming clan, and their secret arts taught that luring beasts with special meat was the best approach.
I stood by the cliff, chopping the bones and meat in my bag of holding into small pieces and tossing them down into the serpent’s lair.
For three days and three nights straight, I kept at it. On the fourth day, a brilliant light suddenly flared from the chasm below.
A gigantic green serpent shot into the sky, pierced the clouds, and finally transformed into a dragon.
The dragon twisted through the mist for a while, then soon came down to earth and turned into a five-year-old girl.
“Sister, please give me a name.”
The girl licked her lips, eyeing the bones and meat left in my bag of holding with hungry eyes.
I devoured spiritual energy to become an emperor; the dragon devoured corpses to become a true dragon.
One human and one dragon, both feeding on the evildoers of the world. What a perfect arrangement!
“Your name is Meng Zhang. From now on, you are my Azure Dragon, under La Phu Ngoc’s command.”
After we formed a contract, I stood on the back of the Azure Serpent and soared through the clouds and mist.
The distant mountain ranges shrank to the size of ants in an instant, and the rivers looked like winding ribbons of silver. The whole world had become a place where I could roam freely.
Cultivating immortality was wonderful. Truly wonderful.
09
Before leaving the secret realm, I ordered Meng Zhang to strike mercilessly and leave me gravely wounded, while using magic to conceal my Nascent Soul cultivation.
The Sword Peak elders were devastated. They swore they would skin that giant serpent alive, tear out its sinews, and grind its bones to dust.
No one suspected me. After all, I was only fifteen; in the eyes of those old immortal cultivators, I was no threat at all.
I was lying in bed, resting and regaining my strength, when good news came from outside.
It turned out Immortal Venerable Chang Yan had broken through into the late stage of Great Ascension, becoming a half-step Great Emperor. He was truly unrivaled across the Nine Provinces.
In less than half a year, he would emerge from seclusion after undergoing his tribulation.
The disciples of Chang Le Sect were rejoicing everywhere, but my heart was filled with dread.
My wings were still too weak to oppose this old monster. If I fell into his hands, I would surely meet my death.
I was racking my brains for a place to hide when an elder of the sect summoned me to the fighting arena.
“Sở Trần wins!”
“Well done!”
“I heard Sở Trần was found to have useless spiritual roots and was rejected by a prominent clan. Who would’ve thought he’d be this powerful!”
The fighting arena was in an uproar, packed so tightly with Chang Le Sect disciples that not even water could get through.
On the platform, a man in coarse cloth wielded a heavy sword of dark iron. His attack was fierce and overwhelming, driving his opponent to the very edge of the raised platform.
Phù Tông’s junior sister couldn’t hold her own against him and was about to fall off the platform.
Sở Trần rushed over and wrapped an arm around her waist. The junior sister’s cheeks flushed faintly.
“Junior Sister, your medicine.”
I walked over to the junior sister and offered her a pill I’d spent the past few days refining myself.
“Senior Sister Phu Ngoc, Sở Trần didn’t hurt me.”
The junior sister was as graceful as snow. Looking bewildered, she gently declined.
“This is a Heart-Severing, Love-Forsaking Pill. It can make you forget love, and it’s extremely nourishing.”
“…”
In the end, I still firmly shoved the pill into the junior sister’s bag of holding. Who knew? She might need it someday.
“Phu Ngoc, take the field.”
Nearly all the sect’s disciples had been defeated, so the elder immediately called me up to the platform.
At the sound of my name, the confidence in Sở Trần’s eyes began to waver.
【Master, the True Phoenix blood in Empress Phu Ngoc is compatible with my Primordial Dragon Body. If she bears me a child within three years, that child will surely be able to serve as a vessel for your divine soul.】
【Today I’ll subdue her with my absolute strength. One day, she’ll surely be a great asset in helping me ascend to immortality.】
There was a hint of lingering tenderness in his thoughts, and hearing it made me want to vomit.
“Senior Sister Phu Ngoc, would you like me to go easy on you?”
Sở Trần drew the heavy sword from his back, the corner of his mouth curling into a reckless, arrogant grin.
The blade was pitch-black and dull, yet emanated a powerful, ancient pressure. He took steady steps, each one seeming to weigh a thousand pounds.
I stowed the Qingfeng Sword in my bag of holding and summoned a heavy sword of my own, meeting force with force.
I would be the one to win on the platform today.
Because his heart was consumed by the desire to conquer me, while I wanted nothing but to kill him.
One move—his sinews and bones snapped.
Two moves—blood sprayed into the air.
Three moves—his spiritual sea was thrown into chaos.
The Chang Le Sect disciples were horrified by my heedless, life-or-death fighting style. Even Sở Trần couldn’t help taking a step back when he sensed my killing intent.
“Clang!”
The pitch-black heavy sword flew off the platform. Sở Trần staggered back several steps, his face pale.
I didn’t stop. Pressing my advantage, I lunged forward, intent on running him through the throat and killing him with one strike.
At the critical moment, a powerful force of divine soul burst from the ring on his hand and enveloped him.
“Phu Ngoc wins!”
The pain in his throat scattered Sở Trần’s daydreams.
He touched the crack in his ring in alarm. The only thing left in his eyes as he looked at me was hatred.
Hatred. That’s right.
He hated women stronger than himself, and those he couldn’t conquer.
Every time he saw them, he felt inferior and was reminded of his own failures.
That was good.
On the night of the tenth day of the tenth month, with gale-force winds and a black sky, the barrier around the courtyard was silently breached.
A figure concealed their aura and made their way toward the adjoining room, several love gu worms clenched in one palm.
Sở Trần pushed the door open and flicked his hand, dropping the gu worms onto the bed. He chanted an incantation, urging them to burrow into the flesh of the person beneath the bed curtains.
“Phu Ngoc, Phu Ngoc, if you have anyone to blame, blame yourself for being a clueless peasant girl who dared to hurt me.”
“If Master didn’t need you to bear a child to serve as his physical vessel, I would’ve killed you on the spot.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he pulled his robe open, revealing a glimpse of bare skin. With a pained expression, he climbed into bed and embraced the soft body beneath the curtains.
But when he turned the person beneath the curtains over, their eyes were empty and lifeless.
By the time Sở Trần realized something was wrong, the human-skin puppet had swollen like a balloon and suddenly exploded.
The violent spiritual force blasted him into a corner. He was just about to summon his heavy sword and counterattack.
“Pfft!”
I’d been lying in wait in the corner. The moment he fell at my feet, I ran him through the throat with my sword.
Fresh blood sprayed across the corner of the room, and Sở Trần’s body crumpled to the floor.
“You… vicious… and… cruel…”
Afraid he wasn’t quite dead, I simply cut off his head and ordered Meng Zhang to turn into a giant flood dragon and swallow him whole.
Then came his hands, feet, heart, liver, lungs, and stomach.
Sở Trần had the Primordial Dragon Body, and dragon blood flowed through his veins.
Meng Zhang crunched up his flesh and bones, drank all his blood, and shot straight into the sky.
When he appeared again, golden light blazed around him, and beneath a low growl came the faint sound of dragon roars.
【Warning! Warning!攻略 failed!】
I watched his transformation with satisfaction, quietly absorbing the spiritual energy from Sở Trần’s late-stage Nascent Soul.
Only then did the remnant soul hidden in the ring reveal itself. Sensing that Sở Trần’s fate had run its course, it let out a heart-wrenching scream.
During the day, the remnant soul had fallen unconscious after saving Sở Trần from a fatal blow. Who could have guessed that when it woke, the disciple it had been counting on would have perished, body and soul?
“Vile wretch! I’ll make you pay for this in blood!”
The remnant soul flickered between light and darkness, then slipped through the space between my brows into my spiritual sea.
It tried to snuff out my life force, but to its surprise, a thread of phoenix true flame surged to life along my meridians!
“Ah!”
Its spirit had already been damaged, and now the strange flame burned it. In an instant, it turned to green smoke and vanished from the mortal world.
I curled my lips into a smile and absorbed all the spiritual power refined by the phoenix true flame.
I broke through the Nascent Soul stage and advanced to Spirit Severing—mid-stage Spirit Severing.
I really ought to thank his good disciple. Thanks to him, I learned that ancient strange flames are the natural enemy of spirits.
Otherwise, I would’ve run away as soon as Meng Zhang turned into a half-dragon.
With only half a month until Immortal Venerable Chang Yan emerged from seclusion, I decided it was time to leave Chang Le Sect.
But before I could enter the sect’s formation, thunder suddenly rumbled across the sky. Dark clouds churned overhead, and demonic energy swirled in the air.
This was the sign of a heart demon manifesting during a breakthrough!
I immediately turned my sword around and raced straight toward the palace where Immortal Venerable Chang Yan was in seclusion.
You old relic, I’m here to take your worthless life.
Several sect elders had gathered outside Chang Yan Palace, all of them looking worried.
Five-colored spiritual energy was streaming out of the hall—the unmistakable omen of an immortal’s fall.
“I report to the sect leader and the esteemed elders: this disciple possesses a body that can contain all things. I am willing to sacrifice myself to cleanse the demonic energy from my master.”
As everyone looked on in astonishment, I bowed, wearing an expression of utter sincerity and devotion.
My Immaculate Body had been forged from the ancient True Phoenix blood. I was a peerless, heaven-born cultivation cauldron.
“You truly understand the greater good. Excellent, excellent!”
The elder in charge of the Scripture Pavilion handed me a dual-cultivation manual, then cast a spell to lift the barrier.
The barrier had been raised by the combined efforts of eight elders at the Great Ascension stage to keep anyone from disturbing Immortal Venerable Chang Yan’s breakthrough.
I put on a solemn, righteous expression, looking every bit like someone nobly sacrificing herself to save others, and calmly passed through the barrier, disappearing into the hall.
What dual cultivation? It was nothing but a secret art for harvesting yin to replenish yang.
Tainted energy flowed into my body, using my flesh and blood to absorb the demonic energy before sending pure spiritual energy back to my cultivation partner.
That way, I would be devoured by the demonic energy and die, while the other person would make a tremendous leap in cultivation.
“Phu Ngoc, come here.”
A faint, cold fragrance lingered in the great hall. From behind the fluttering silk curtains came a man’s hoarse voice.
Immortal Venerable Chang Yan’s robes hung loose, his eyes bloodshot, and a trace of demonic energy tainted his handsome face.
“Phu Ngoc, don’t be afraid. Dual cultivation feels wonderful. I’ll make you feel so good you’ll forget the world.”
“Your master has been waiting a long time for this day.”
He held out his pale, jade-like hands toward me, his eyes full of tenderness.
That’s right. He had been waiting a long time.
Ever since he brought me to Chang Le Sect, he’d been waiting for the day I became his cultivation cauldron and sacrificed myself to help him survive his tribulation.
“Phu Ngoc, your master is in so much pain.”
“Good disciple, come help your master. I promise I won’t hurt you.”
His face was strained with restraint. The spiritual energy in his body was in such turmoil that he couldn’t help letting out a soft groan.
“All right.”
I curled my lips into a smile, stepped forward, and laid a hand on his bare chest.
Where our skin touched, a torrent of murky spiritual energy poured into my meridians.
Immortal Venerable Chang Yan felt his agitated spiritual sea suddenly settle. He couldn’t help letting out a relieved, satisfied sigh.
“Mm…”
The man made no effort to hide his loss of composure, but I kept my expression cool.
The demonic energy tore through my meridians and threw my spiritual sea into chaos, but I patiently waited for my Immaculate Body to purify it all.
When the last trace of spiritual energy left Immortal Venerable Chang Yan’s body, pure energy gathered in my dantian.
He was overjoyed, his face flushed and his eyes still shining with delight.
“Phu Ngoc, once we consummate our union, the spiritual energy will naturally flow back into my body.”
The lights in the hall dimmed. The man tried to tear my clothes off, but I dodged him.
“You’ve never been touched by a man, have you? Don’t be afraid. It’s an intoxicating sensation—you’re sure to like it.”
He whispered his enticements like a poisonous snake.