Hua Jian didn’t want to be a bad woman who killed innocent people.
Stealing chickens and poking dogs was different from murder and arson.
Although neither was a good thing, the former was clearly lighter than the latter.
Besides, Hua Jian couldn’t even be accused of stealing.
She had taken those treasures from others through her own strength.
That was a completely normal thing in this world.
But killing people on sight was not normal. That was something only completely insane cultivators on the Magic Path would do.
Crunch! Biting a piece of the fruit shell in her mouth, Hua Jian chewed the pit, which was as hard as steel, while earnestly instructing Xia Hui.
The gist was that even though they were currently in a Magic nest, they absolutely could not be led astray by the Magic Path.
They had to keep their original hearts and be good people—at least not become big villains.
Xia Hui deeply agreed. After learning about her mother’s background, she had no good feelings toward Wanhuagu.
And after getting ambushed by a Magic Path cultivator in the secret realm of the Ascension Gathering, she felt even more so.
Besides, she had already been in Wanhuagu for four years.
If she were going to be corrupted, it would have happened long ago.
She wouldn’t have waited for Hua Jian to try to persuade her.
If she had to say what she most wanted to do now, it was definitely to leave Wanhuagu with Hua Jian and return to the Saint Sect.
“Miss Hua Jian, can we still go back?” she asked cautiously.
“Rest assured a hundred times. I might not be able to go back, but for you, it’s simple.”
After swallowing the pit strip she had cut into the size of a French fry, Hua Jian replied casually.
Unlike Hua Jian, who had gained a notorious reputation and a big pot of blame, Xia Hui’s identity was that of an innocent victim.
She had good talent and strength, and with her connection to Hua Jian, returning to the Saint Sect as an outer disciple wouldn’t be too difficult.
The only issue was that after staying in Wanhuagu for so long, the Saint Sect might worry she had been brainwashed.
They might be unwilling to trust and accept her.
This was very different from Hua Jian’s situation.
Hua Jian was the kind of person where, after taking her in, the visible benefits outweighed the risks. But Xia Hui wasn’t.
That child wasn’t talented to that degree.
So Wanhuagu was pretty cunning. By luring Xia Hui there, they had essentially cut off half of her future path.
Either stay obediently in Wanhuagu or become a rogue cultivator. There was no third option.
Even considering that Hua Jian could pull strings for Xia Hui, Xia Hui’s future would inevitably be restricted and heavily monitored.
“It’s my fault, Xia Hui!” Hua Jian patted Xia Hui’s shoulder, wearing a look of deep regret.
But her tone was a bit too exaggerated, making Xia Hui unable to hear any sincerity in it.
“If it weren’t for Miss Hua Jian, I would probably be dead by now.” She pressed her chest and replied honestly.
She was indeed kidnapped by Wanhuagu because of Hua Jian, but without Hua Jian, she would have died long ago. Then none of the later things would have happened.
No matter what, Hua Jian was a benefactor to her family. That was impossible to change.
If she couldn’t go to the Saint Sect, so be it. Being a rogue cultivator wasn’t unlivable.
It might even be freer and more pleasant.
While convincing herself in her heart, Xia Hui watched Hua Jian stuff fruit shells into her mouth. Finally, she couldn’t help asking the question that had troubled her for a long time.
“Why does Miss Hua Jian eat these things?”
“Oh, Yang Hong Zun Zhe told me that if I finish eating this fruit pit, she’ll let me follow next month’s departing team to the Qian Family.”
Crushing the pit she had just put in her mouth forcefully, Hua Jian rubbed her sore cheeks, feeling that eating this man-height fruit pit in a month was a bit challenging.
Although eating it felt like taking a very potent alchemy pill, such a potent pill was a bit too tough.
If it were an ordinary person, their teeth would probably be shattered into several pieces.
Only a plant person like Hua Jian could chew them up without changing expression.
“Here, these are what I need to finish clean today.” Hua Jian pointed at the plate that still had about half the shells left.
She planned to eat this fruit pit over thirty days. The shells on this plate were today’s task, sawed off from the door she had opened yesterday.
Honestly, she felt this was a tempering of her will. If she could eat this fruit pit bite by bite, she would succeed at anything she did!
So over the next while, Xia Hui watched Hua Jian annihilate those fruit shells like a human shredder.
The various sounds coming from Hua Jian’s mouth broadened her horizons.
Anyone listening would think there was an all-out martial arts fight going on inside Hua Jian’s mouth.
But Xia Hui probably wouldn’t know that inside Hua Jian’s mouth was not a martial arts brawl but a grinder.
Those shells were ruthlessly ground by serrated vines inside her mouth into powder that was easier to digest and absorb.
That way, Hua Jian didn’t need to chew so hard.
See, that was the advantage of not being human. She could do things humans couldn’t.
If she weren’t afraid of scaring Xia Hui, Hua Jian could even perform rolling up the shells on the plate with her tongue and swallowing them.
“Then what does Miss Hua Jian plan to do next? Eating the pit won’t take you too long, right?”
“True. If I treat this as three meals a day, the amount per meal isn’t much.” Hua Jian nodded.
She had to eat so much today only because today’s three portions were all stacked into the evening. Starting tomorrow, it wouldn’t be like this.
She could simply carry a handful of pit strips in her pocket as a snack, eating them wherever she went.
“I plan to find someone to spar with and test my current strength.”
Since becoming a Ling King, Hua Jian hadn’t tested her strength yet.
It was like equipping her game character with a new set of gear and leveling up skills and levels, but not yet trying them out in a dungeon.
It made Hua Jian’s hands itch.
Without testing her current strength, she couldn’t know who she could beat and who she couldn’t.
That would make it hard for her to know how to interact with people.
So the first thing she had to do was pick a fight!
Fortunately, she had already learned from Hua Xinrui about the place where Wanhuagu cultivators sparred. She’d get up early tomorrow and go try it out.
According to Hua Xinrui, that place in Wanhuagu was quite lively. Many Wanhuagu cultivators liked to go there to spar and fight.
Sometimes, if they hit it off during a fight, they could even head to a nearby cultivation chamber and have a round.
As for how that worked—it was a special Wanhuagu style. Whoever came out on top depended on whose cultivation was deeper.
But Hua Jian definitely wasn’t going for that. Her only goal was to fight!
Fight people at her own level!
Compared to when she was in the Central Continent, Hua Jian hadn’t dared to use some inhuman techniques. But here, she could use whatever she wanted!
The reason wasn’t hard to explain. In the Central Continent, Hua Jian had to play the good person and care about her reputation. Here, she didn’t need to do any of that.
Afraid that acting too terrifying might cause gossip?
Oh, that would be wonderful. Hua Jian would be more than happy to be ostracized from Wanhuagu.
‘I’m the dignified Saintess of Wanhuagu. It’s normal to have some unusual traits, right?’
This change in mindset made the next day a dark awakening for the Wanhuagu Ling Kings.
When Hua Jian appeared on that great plain outside Wanhuagu’s core zone, the Wanhuagu cultivators sparring there were surprised and excited.
Compared to the Saint Sect, this place in Wanhuagu was much less strict. No need to report or apply for a venue.
The senior members of the valley had simply designated this place for Wanhuagu cultivators to burn off energy.
Here, there were no rules in fights, no referees, and even opponents could be swapped midway.
Even killing was fine. If someone died, they died. At worst, you paid a fine to the sect.
Of course, if someone with ulterior motives tried to use this place to kill a core disciple of Wanhuagu, the valley wouldn’t be blind.
This place was merely for the cultivators of Wanhuagu to resolve their own conflicts and to nurture each other like raising gu.
And this gu-raising operation was going smoothly until a gu king suddenly barged in from outside and turned the place upside down.
At first, a few proud Ling Kings noticed two unfamiliar faces and thought they were new disciples here to watch the fun.
They were about to teach those two the rules here when one of the Ling Kings recognized Hua Jian.
Or rather, recognized the clothes Hua Jian was wearing.
After four years, Hua Jian’s portrait had spread to every corner of Wanhuagu.
Everyone knew the valley had a Saintess whose beauty could make the moon hide and flowers blush.
But no one had ever seen her—until today.
Thanks to Wanhuagu’s vigorous propaganda, Hua Jian’s image in the eyes of these peripheral cultivators was that of an incredibly powerful existence.
But when they actually saw her, these cultivators immediately felt the Saintess didn’t seem like much.
Her cultivation was so low, barely mid-Ling King. How in the world did she become a Saintess?
Was it because of her face?
A Ling King whose illusion was shattered wore a dissatisfied expression.
He was then singled out by Hua Jian, who pointed at his nose and challenged him to a duel.
The summoned Ling King didn’t think much and accepted Hua Jian’s challenge.
And then… there was no ‘and then.’
Without using a spirit tool or a spirit technique, this high-level Ling King cultivator didn’t last a single move against Hua Jian.
He punched out with force, but Hua Jian caught it with one hand.
Then, vines grew from her palm and pierced into his arm. In the blink of an eye, they crippled his dominant hand.
After swallowing the arm, the vines showed no sign of stopping.
They continued spreading toward the cultivator’s body, scaring him into immediately slashing heavily at his own shoulder.
Cutting off his arm to survive—that was his instinctive choice.
If he hadn’t done it, he would definitely have died!
Hua Jian held the withered, sucked-dry severed arm in her hand and pouted, finding it a bit unsatisfying.
In truth, that Wanhuagu cultivator wasn’t too weak. The force behind his punch was considerable. But for current Hua Jian, the damage he could deal wasn’t high.
Earlier, to test her current endurance, Hua Jian had obediently landed and rooted her feet into the soil when no one was looking, not wanting to be knocked flying and embarrassed.
The result? He threw a punch, and Hua Jian caught it with one hand.
The cost was that some bones in her hand also cracked, but the next moment, those broken bones crawled back into place, returning to their original state. In effect, Hua Jian took no damage at all.
As for that severed arm… who told that Ling King not to wear any protection? Did he really think Hua Jian’s close-combat ability was weak?
Her close combat was so strong that even Linglong had to keep her distance!
“One isn’t enough. Come at me all together.” Looking at the other Ling Kings, Hua Jian crooked her finger at them.
“If you don’t, you know the consequences.”
She actually didn’t know if there would be consequences, but she was a Saintess after all. She had to show off a bit right now.
And this move was very effective. The Ling Kings, already afraid, had to muster their courage and attack her under her threat.
Then… came the scene definitely not suitable for children.
In the battle against high-level Ling King cultivators, Hua Jian displayed an overwhelming advantage in strength.
Although those unlucky few held on for dozens of exchanges, most of the time, they were being chased all over the place by Hua Jian.
It might sound funny, but current Hua Jian had become a character with weak long-range capabilities.
In close combat, her bizarre physical condition made anyone who dared to get close pay a heavy price.
Every part of her body could become a weapon—the value of that was immense.
Add to that the lack of any fatal weak spots and her super regeneration, and Hua Jian’s close combat was a pure bug.
In contrast, her long-range abilities were troublesome. In the four years she’d been in Wanhuagu, she hadn’t learned a single new spirit technique. Her original spirit tools were all gone.
Spirit techniques useful at the Ling Shi level were no longer effective at the Ling King level, and her own cultivation was just that high.
Her earlier instant kill was purely because the opponent chose to fight her in her strongest area.
Now that it had turned into a chase, Hua Jian experienced the pain of being kited.
The enemy knew they couldn’t win in close combat, so they wouldn’t fight her up close. They kept trying to wear her down from a distance.
Fortunately, Hua Jian wasn’t a sluggish warrior. With the Feihua Dun, she was very agile. Although those Ling Kings tried hard to delay her approach, their speed ultimately couldn’t match hers.
After reaching the Ling King level, her escape technique had also advanced. She could easily catch up to those Ling Kings trying to kite her and deliver warmth to each one in turn.
All of this was terrifying and suffocating in the eyes of those Ling Kings.