Volume 1, Chapter 31 – Journey

The horses had probably been spooked by the Iron-Backed Wolves, so they broke free of their reins and bolted.

Feeling a pang of heartache for the silver she’d spent on them, Shi Lan headed back into the ruined temple.

Lu Chengye was sitting by the fire. From the look on his face, it was obvious he was still brooding over how he’d turned tail and run in panic just now when facing the demonic beasts.

Song He was directing the martial artists, having them skin and butcher the Iron-Backed Wolves, packing the hides and meat up separately.

After such a commotion, Shi Lan had no more desire to sleep. She chatted idly with Song He and the others.

“Brother Shi, why don’t you travel with us? Come with us to the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect’s territory.” Hearing that Shi Lan was now wandering aimlessly on her own, Lu Chengye extended the invitation.

When Lu Lingshan heard this, she quietly poked her head out from under her quilt, ears pricked to listen.

Shi Lan thought it over, then declined Lu Chengye’s kind offer. Based on their route, they were definitely heading toward Tenglong City. If she tagged along, there was no telling when she might run right into people from Tenglong City.

If they found her, slipping out again next time wouldn’t be so easy. And if the System threw a new mission at her then, she’d really be in trouble.

When the sky was just starting to pale, Song He stepped out of the ruined temple and began arranging for the martial artists to pack up.

Because the horses had bolted in terror earlier and vanished without a trace, Shi Lan discussed with Song He whether she could spare one for her.

Song He agreed without the slightest hesitation. He picked the sturdiest horse out of the herd, tied a few sacks of cured wolf meat to it, and led it over to Shi Lan.

He pushed away the silver Shi Lan tried to hand him and shook his head.

Rеαd οn КаtRеаԁіոgСafe

“Little Brother Shi, there’s no need for money. Strictly speaking, you saved my young master and young lady’s lives this time, and we ought to thank you heavily. But we don’t know how long this journey will take, and we have to be extremely careful with our funds. Please don’t take it amiss. If you ever have time in the future, you can come find us in Xianwu City at the foot of the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect’s mountain gate. We’ll be sure to thank you properly then.”

“Senior Song, you’re too polite. In that case, I’ll shamelessly accept this horse.” Shi Lan didn’t refuse and straightforwardly accepted Song He’s kindness.

“Brother Shi, with demonic beasts running rampant these days, please take good care of yourself,” Lu Chengye said from the side.

After coming out of the ruined temple, Lu Lingshan had slipped straight into a carriage and gone quiet.

“Young Master Lu, I wish you an early success in cultivating your Haoran qi. This is where we part ways. Senior Song, farewell.” With that, Shi Lan tightened the long case on her back, swung herself into the saddle, and urged her horse forward.

Lu Lingshan lifted the carriage curtain and watched Shi Lan’s departing back, silently offering a blessing in her heart.

“Safe travels.”

…

Shi Lan rode on without any particular destination. Because of Song He’s reminder, she no longer headed due west, but shifted her direction slightly.

Once she finished her dry rations, she took out some of the wolf meat and roasted it.

She hadn’t expected much of the taste, but the meat turned out surprisingly good. What’s more, after eating it, she felt her strength increase noticeably.

When she circulated the Jade Tempering Art, it seemed to flow even more smoothly, and her comprehension of the Vajra Divine Fist also sped up significantly.

As the days passed one by one, Shi Lan’s strength, as if naturally reaching completion, stepped into the fifth stage of the Body Tempering Realm. She barely even felt any bottleneck.

Rеαԁ οn ΚаtReaԁіոɡСαfе

This unexpectedly smooth progress made her feel that something was off. She summoned her status panel, and one look confirmed that something was indeed different.

Host: Shi Lan

Cultivation: fifth stage of the Body Tempering Realm

Constitution: 8 (once in a century)

Cultivation Arts: Vajra Divine Fist (small accomplishment), Jade Tempering Art (second layer)

Divine Ability: Heaven’s Eye Qi-Sight (three-star)

Strength Evaluation: just set foot on the martial path

Seeing that her constitution had changed, Shi Lan thought for a moment, then realized it had to be related to that Dust-Cleansing Pill.

Improved constitution was a good thing, no matter how you looked at it.

Shi Lan kept practicing whenever she could spare the time as she traveled on. Gradually, she noticed that demonic beasts were appearing more frequently around her, and she started to run into groups of people fleeing for their lives.

Anyone still relying on their legs or horses to travel clearly hadn’t reached the Innate Realm. Most of these refugees were Mortals; martial artists were rare.

Compared to Song He and the others she’d met earlier, these refugees were far more miserable. Their faces were lined with hardship and worry, some were barely clothed, skin and bones, sallow and thin.

Whenever she saw them, Shi Lan generally chose to circle around from afar. She didn’t have the ability to help these refugees right now and didn’t want to invite trouble.

Reаԁ оn ΚαtRеαԁіոgCafe

…

By now it was already July. The sun in the sky was like a blazing furnace. To avoid being roasted by it, Shi Lan had added a bamboo hat with white gauze draped from the brim to her head.

As usual, she sat astride her horse, riding forward at an unhurried pace.

After taking a swig of water, Shi Lan wiped the light sheen of sweat from her forehead and looked around, planning to find a shady spot to escape the heat, when a beast’s roar suddenly rang out ahead, mixed with panicked screams.

“Hyah!”

Shi Lan frowned, let out a soft shout, and urged her horse forward.

From the sound of it, someone was clearly being attacked by a demonic beast. She couldn’t just sit back and ignore it.

Just as she was about to reach the source of the noise, the beast’s roars turned into a shrill, agonized howl—and then cut off abruptly.

When Shi Lan arrived and saw the scene before her, she paused for a moment.

A tiger-shaped demonic beast more than three meters long was lying in a pool of its own blood. Its forehead had been split cleanly in two, the cut surfaces charred black.

Scattered around the demonic beast’s corpse were a dozen or so refugees in ragged clothes, some standing, some collapsed on the ground, all of them trembling, their expressions filled with terror.

Looking at the wound on the beast’s body, Shi Lan’s gaze sank.

That wound again.

Reаⅾ οո КаtRеαԁіոɡСafе

From the ruined temple in the wilderness all the way to here, she’d seen this kind of wound over a dozen times. Clearly, the person making these strikes had been following her all along—or rather, protecting her.

“Thank you for saving our lives, Immortal!”

“Thank you, Immortal!”

When the refugees came back to their senses and saw Shi Lan, they all dropped to their knees, kowtowing over and over, faces full of gratitude.

Just now they’d seen a streak of light shoot over from Shi Lan’s direction and cleave the ferocious tiger demon cleanly in half. Then, seeing that her clothing was completely different from that of ordinary fleeing refugees, they naturally assumed she was the one who’d acted.

Martial artists of the Innate Realm actually weren’t common. Across the entire Chengtian Domain’s population, they were one in a hundred thousand.

These refugees had no experience of the wider world. The strongest martial artists they’d ever seen were only capable of lifting a few hundred jin at most.

How could they have ever seen something like just now—a single flash, and before the person even arrived, the tiger demon was already dead on the spot? Someone that powerful—if not a celestial being, then what?

Faced with a whole line of people kneeling and knocking their heads on the ground, Shi Lan was a bit at a loss. She hurriedly dismounted, ran over to them, and spent quite some time explaining before she finally managed to clear up the misunderstanding.

Once they confirmed that Shi Lan hadn’t been the one to act just now, their attitude toward her changed completely. They clustered around the tiger demon’s corpse, watching her warily.

Some even went so far as to threaten her outright, telling her to leave immediately.