Chapter 3: Shameless

Hua Jian was a good child who valued money as much as her own life.

A single life cost a hundred Spirit Stones— she wouldn’t dare risk hers.

So why did she go out of her way to come back and mock these fishing fools?

Of course, it was because she wanted to lure every last one of these silly guys into the inescapable net she had set up, and strip them clean.

Hua Jian was a Wood Element Spell Cultivator, specializing in miasma and evasion techniques— in other words, poison and running away.

In the jungle, her evasion was as silent and elusive as a ghost, far superior to Linglong’s grand and ostentatious methods.

The cultivators who had been thoroughly provoked by her chased her through the dense forest, but before long, they completely lost track of Hua Jian’s whereabouts.

With their prey gone, surely they would just return to the lakeside and resume fishing, right?

But just then, a sudden cry rang out from the crowd, “Is that a Jinfenghua?!”

Everyone turned toward the voice, and through the pale white mist, a glimmer of golden light could be seen.

The golden glow took the shape of a golden phoenix bird, breathtakingly beautiful— the very mark of the rare spiritual herb, Jinfenghua.

“Jinfenghua… can it really appear in this Secret Realm?”

“I think the Linglong Pavilion’s brochure really did have a picture of Jinfenghua on it…”

“Could it be…”

A wave of wild joy surged through everyone’s hearts.

If they could take out that single Jinfenghua and sell it, the Spirit Stones they’d get would be enough to enter this Secret Realm many more times!

Greed overwhelmed them. The cultivators who had just been united instantly fell apart, turning on each other in a fierce struggle for the precious spiritual herb.

……

“What? Still following me? Planning to ruin my business?”

Hua Jian sat on the branch of an ancient tree, one hand holding an Array Plate, the other deftly moving the markers upon it.

With her movements, the white mist enveloping the forest acted like a silent beast, swallowing the fighting cultivators within.

Linglong floated behind Hua Jian, frowning at her actions.

Here, she could clearly see what was happening below— the Jinfenghua that had everyone fighting wasn’t real at all, but a fake Hua Jian had deliberately planted here.

Hua Jian had lured these cultivators here precisely so they would see the Jinfenghua and fight over it, making it possible for her Mist Array to catch them all in one go.

“Crooked ways,” she commented coldly.

Hua Jian rolled her eyes. So what if it was a crooked way? She could say everyone had their own way to survive. She hadn’t done anything truly heinous, so what was there to be afraid of?

“I’m just knocking them out and taking the valuables from them. But look at their fighting— every move goes straight for the kill.” Hua Jian pointed to the chaos below and asked Linglong, “If they didn’t have Space Stones on them, what do you think that mess down there would look like right now?”

“All of this is your doing,” Linglong felt Hua Jian was just arguing for the sake of it.

If Hua Jian hadn’t lured them here, how would these people have started fighting among themselves?

“My dear Saintess, have you been in those big sects so long your brain’s gone soft? Even without me, if they saw any valuable spiritual herb, they’d fight all the same.” Hua Jian looked up at the floating Linglong, thinking this Saintess really was the epitome of a Saintess.

Naive and full of old-fashioned principles, she had no idea how dangerous the world could be.

“You—why don’t you just stay in your Yaoci Holy Sect and be your Saintess? What are you doing here, trying to fry us little fish?”

“Master said my temperament was too innocent, so I needed to come down the mountain and temper myself. There’s something I’m interested in inside this Secret Realm, so I came.” Linglong lowered her gaze but didn’t refute Hua Jian’s earlier words.

In her heart, she understood that what Hua Jian said was not baseless. Even without Hua Jian, these people would still end up fighting for various reasons.

In this Secret Realm, where everyone was a competitor, there were no eternal friends— only eternal interests.

“You really believe all that promotional stuff? This place has been dug and sifted over so many times—how could anything be left?”

“With a brain like yours, isn’t your master afraid someone will kidnap you?” Hua Jian sized up the white-haired girl behind her.

Letting such a naive and beautiful Saintess come down the mountain alone to train— these big sects were really something.

If anything happened and the Saintess got kidnapped, wouldn’t the Yaoci Holy Sect have nowhere to cry?

“……” Lightning flickered in the Saintess’s palm.

Alright, probably no one would dare kidnap a human-shaped Pikachu like her anyway.

Hua Jian sensibly shut her mouth and continued using the Mist Array to take down the wounded cultivators one by one.

Gradually, fewer and fewer cultivators were left fighting around the Jinfenghua, and their movements grew more sluggish.

Finally, one cultivator realized something was wrong.

Why did his body feel so heavy and stiff? Why did his vision seem shrouded in a white mist?

Not good! It’s an ambush!

“It’s that thief, we’ve walked into an ambu—”

“You talk too much!”

Pfft!

A thick, sturdy green vine shot up from the ground, pinning the cultivator in place. Several fine, hair-thin tendrils pierced his body, injecting him with a sleep-inducing toxin.

The few remaining cultivators still standing were quickly subdued by Hua Jian.

As the last one lost consciousness and collapsed, she clapped her hands and dispersed the surrounding white mist.

The ‘Jinfenghua’ finally revealed its true face— just a yellow flower shaped a bit like a bird.

The lucky cultivators who’d been knocked out by the mist were moved here by vines, and Hua Jian happily started rummaging through their clothes.

Linglong, standing quietly on the tree and watching the show, found the scene oddly familiar. Last night, when she woke up, she’d seen something almost exactly like this.

Actually, it was even scarier.

Back then, when she opened her eyes, she saw a person in black, face hidden, trying to strip off her skirt. She’d been so scared she thought she’d met the legendary lecher.

Instinctively, she struck with lightning, only to discover the one stripping her was a girl.

But she knew well—lechers came in all genders. And when she checked her clothes, she found her Ling Sword, Storage Pouch, and Identity Token had all been stolen. Naturally, she couldn’t let this little thief go.

After that, well, it led up to what had just happened.

“Tch, all paupers— nothing valuable on them at all…” After quickly stripping the cultivators of their belongings, Hua Jian glanced over her haul.

Apart from a few Storage Pouches and some ordinary weapons, there was nothing of value.

There wasn’t a single valuable Spiritual Garment or Ling Sword, and she couldn’t break the Divine Sense Marks on these Storage Pouches anyway.

She’d just have to hand them to the recycling counter at Linglong Pavilion after leaving the Secret Realm— one for five Spirit Stones.

After finishing, Hua Jian looked up at Linglong, still floating in the air, tilting her head a little.

What was this Saintess doing? Not leaving?

Could it be… she wanted a share of the loot?

Glancing at the ten Storage Pouches in her hand, Hua Jian gritted her teeth and, with great reluctance, picked out the shabbiest one and tossed it to Linglong.

“Here, take it. You’re so rich but still want to snatch my stuff. Shameless.”

Linglong, who’d just had a Storage Pouch thrown at her for no reason, looked utterly confused.

“Huh?”