Lin Shuang, seeking to satisfy her physiological needs, dashed away with a sword, leaving nothing behind but dust.
The sleeves of her sky-blue robe billowed in the wind, along with the red cords on her wrists, lifting high enough to nearly brush against Huangpu Yuan’s face.
Bai Yu rode a sword, carrying Huangpu Yuan, who stood completely rigid, forgetting entirely to dodge or move aside.
He remembered everything now…
The dead memories had attacked him again!
Today was an even-numbered day; it was her fat-burning and sweat-inducing workout day!
Bai Yu stared blankly with both eyes.
*
Hundreds of miles away.
Meng Zi rode a talisman-infused table, swiftly cutting down three evil cultivators in a single strike as he charged forward.
“The other two are yours!” he shouted to his two fellow members of the Annihilation Pavilion.
With a third-tier Swift Talisman underfoot, Meng Zi could escape at any time, employing guerrilla tactics to take on three opponents single-handedly, occasionally harassing them.
“Rank 1023 on the Ningyuan Wanted List, 2000 spirit stones… Rank 944, 3500 spirit stones… Rank 491, 5500 spirit stones… Huh?”
Meng Zi calculated the bounty with shining eyes. But as he turned around, he noticed one of his targets was missing.
Huh?
Where was his 5500 spirit stones?!
“Where’s my money?!”
Zhao Ming heard Meng Zi’s furious roar and felt a chill in his heart. He chased after a fleeing evil cultivator and, in the blink of an eye, rode his sword to a hundred steps away from Meng Zi.
But with his shout, Zhao Ming felt a sudden gust of air beside him.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a wide sword like a shooting star, dragging a silver claw hook, tightly following a black-robed evil cultivator, instantly pulling him into a grove!
“Zhen Nanshan?!”
Zhao Ming’s eyelid twitched.
Zhen Nanshan was at the third level of the Ningyuan Stage, not particularly powerful, but extremely brutal, ranked 491 on the Ningyuan Wanted List.
He had slaughtered an entire village ten years ago and wiped out 113 members of a cultivator family seven years ago.
Zhao Ming looked at the grove in shock. Whose was that wide sword? Was there a fourth member of the Annihilation Pavilion here?
…
[Ding! You’ve burned 292 calories! Keep it up a little longer. You’re doing great!]
The grove swayed.
The plump evil cultivator looked in terror at the pink-robed woman.
This woman had charming eyes and brows, but now beads of sweat dripped from her forehead.
She was panting, her gloved hands already trembling, her speed slowing.
[Rest for 5 seconds. Next move: battle rope swing. Ready.]
[Let’s strengthen our arm muscles!]
The strange, cute voice made the evil cultivator’s neck chill, and he turned to run.
But in an instant, two heavy ropes pulled him back from behind, dragging him back in waves—
“Don’t move. I’m almost at my limit. My fingers are out of strength…”
“Three minutes left… You’d better not make me do unnecessary movements, or I’ll get angry…”
The plump evil cultivator: “!”
A large bead of sweat dripped from her forehead onto the green grass.
The rope in her hands was soaked with sweat.
[Congratulations! You’ve completed the 124th session of the Hell-Level Fat-Burning III course.]
[Excellent job! The next Hell-Level Fat-Burning session will be in seven days.]
Lin Shuang heard the voice and finally lifted her head with a long sigh.
She took out a clean towel from her sleeve, pressed it against her flushed, burning face, and with trembling legs, leaned against a tree, squatted down, and poked the evil cultivator who had fainted after her final strike.
She picked up the storage bag he had dropped.
Three or four hundred spirit stones, pills, a small knife, and poison.
Nothing else.
She flipped through it twice but found no suspicious bones or anything.
Her eyelashes drooped slightly.
Although they were all evil cultivators, they didn’t have any special habits? Not in the same group as the Golden Hammer Liu Ba?
Tsk, her plan to kill two birds with one stone failed.
She immediately lost interest and walked out of the grove, wiping sweat.
Assassins of the Annihilation Pavilion had distinctive attire—black tight clothes, straw hats, and masks.
Outside the grove now, a masked and straw-hatted man fighting an emaciated old man already had seven or eight bleeding wounds. His attire was similar to the one who had been robbed of his kill earlier, clearly belonging to the same Annihilation Pavilion.
“Well, I’m returning him to you.”
Lin Shuang, panting, used her sword to drag the unconscious plump evil cultivator and threw him at the masked man’s feet.
Zhao Ming and the emaciated evil cultivator turned their heads simultaneously, their eyes twitching.
They saw Zhen Nanshan like a dead fish, still twitching… So he had been defeated like this?
The emaciated old man hesitated whether to flee, seeing the female cultivator wiping her face with a towel, climbing onto her sword. His legs almost gave way, nearly making him sit on the sword.
Luckily, she was quick enough to catch herself with her hand.
But her hands trembled badly, almost unable to support her.
Her spiritual energy was so weak it was barely detectable.
The old man was delighted, while Zhao Ming felt heavy in his heart.
“Little female cultivator, wait here. I’ll deal with you after finishing him!”
The old man cackled sinisterly.
“Or you can attack together!”
Lin Shuang panted with difficulty.
Compared to the beginner-level fat-burning workouts every two days, the Hell-Level III fat-burning workout once every seven days was still too tiring.
After one session, she just wanted to lie down.
She sighed heavily, “Sorry, my fat-burning workout for today is over.”
Zhao Ming was stunned.
Fat-burning?
Was this the fat-burning Xiao Qi mentioned in his note?
Was this the woman his junior brother foolishly lost to?
“Fat-burning… workout…?” Zhao Ming recalled.
“Huh? What did you say? Speak louder!” the old man frowned at him.
Lin Shuang slightly raised her eyes, her wide sword already rising into the sky, instantly disappearing into the clouds.
Zhao Ming sighed in relief.
Her staying would only be a burden to him.
The sword she left on swayed from side to side, clearly due to insufficient spiritual energy, making it hard to control steadily.
“It’s me you’re fighting!”
Zhao Ming instantly drew his sword to attract the old man’s attention, thrusting at the old man’s companion black snake.
But missing the first strike, Zhao Ming was instead cut on his right arm by the sickle, his flesh torn open, revealing bone.
“Ha ha, old man said, no one who sees me can leave alive!”
The emaciated old man narrowed his eyes, laughing sinisterly.
Far away, the Annihilation Pavilion assassin with untidy clothes, out of his depth, was struggling against two opponents, now unable to take care of himself.
Another assassin elsewhere was also hard-pressed to gain the upper hand.
“No one can save you! Die for old man!”
Zhao Ming’s blood from his right arm flowed onto his sword. Thinking of what he had told his seventh junior brother—that he would return in four days—he couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
The spirit-enhancing talismans in his storage bag were all exhausted.
Was he really going to die here this time?
Since the day he entered the Annihilation Pavilion, he had been prepared.
When you play with fire, you will eventually get burned.
Zhao Ming was drenched in sweat. As the black snake bit him once more, he gritted his teeth against the pain and reached for the communication stone in his ring pouch.
With a gentle touch, he sent out the spiritual message he had prepared before each mission.
[Seventh junior brother, this time, elder brother might be going on a long journey, not knowing when I’ll return.]
[Take care of yourself. Don’t worry.]
After sending the message, Zhao Ming gritted his teeth and charged at the evil cultivator.
Just as he was about to ignite his Condensed Yuan Golden Core to forcibly boost his cultivation, a weary yet distinct female voice suddenly rang out from the heavens.
“One hundred and twenty breaths.”
“?”
Zhao Ming looked up in confusion.
“You hold on for one hundred and twenty breaths.”
The self-damaging secret technique Zhao Ming was running immediately stalled.
What did that mean? One hundred and twenty breaths later, was she going to burn… fat again?
“No, my next schedule is to cultivate the Fire Eye and Golden Sight technique.”
“!”
“?!”
Fire Eye and Golden Sight technique, what use was that?!
Zhao Ming and the emaciated old man were fighting continuously, but both simultaneously had this absurd and confusing thought.
Who still cultivated the Fire Eye and Golden Sight technique these days?
It was low-level, useless, and the cultivation manual was absurdly thick!
Twenty years ago, it was used by cultivators to prop up table corners.
“Haha, old man didn’t hear wrong, right? That storyteller who cultivated for a hundred years and created the Fire Eye and Golden Sight himself?”
The emaciated old man couldn’t help but laugh.
Zhao Ming’s mouth was bitter.
The storyteller who created this technique was said to be particularly good at cliffhangers and filler content.
The technique had a total of one hundred and forty-four chapters, each divided into ten small stages!
A total of one thousand four hundred and forty layers!
“Old man heard he himself only reached five hundred layers after eighty years!”
The emaciated old man cackled, his sickle in hand shaking.
“In the end, his cultivation was only at the early stage of the Ningyuan realm. It made the ancestors laugh themselves to death!”
Eighty years, with decent talent, enough to enter Ningyuan.
What use was there in cultivating Fire Eye and Golden Sight?!
Back then, it was rated by the Wan Hua Building as the funniest cultivation technique, no doubt!
The emaciated old man wasn’t in a hurry to kill Zhao Ming anymore, looking at the wide sword in the sky and the pink-robed woman with a towel on her forehead.
He laughed out loud, “How many layers have you reached! Old man hasn’t heard this joke for many years!”
Zhao Ming couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
But in a moment, he heard the woman’s clear reply.
“Well, today is the day I breakthrough to layer 916.”
“???”
“What… What?”
[Ding, Fire Eye and Golden Sight technique at layer 916, cultivation progress at 97%.]
[Please focus, expected to observe the distance 13 more times, layer 916 will be completed.]
A strange cute voice came from the sky again.
Zhao Ming and the old man were stunned.
“Absolutely impossible, never heard of—”
The old man laughed.
But halfway through his sentence, his throat was choked.
[Need to observe the distance three more times.]
[… one more time.]
[Congratulations, you’ve entered layer 916!]
Zhao Ming was stunned when suddenly he felt a subtle spiritual sense, cool and gently landing on his eyes.
[Xiao Ai reminds, layer 916 sees the finest details, operation at 100%!]
Who… was Xiao Ai?
Was that the name of this junior sister?
Zhao Ming hadn’t finished thinking when his vision suddenly brightened.
The entire plain, the willow leaves beside him, the wrinkles on the old man’s face in front of him all magnified several times, everything becoming much clearer!
His vision was originally at the Condensing Yuan Stage Three. This technique…
Before he could finish his exclamation of amazement, he saw the black snake in front of him, its forehead diamond-shaped scales had a faint color variation—it was a weak spot!
Moreover, its movements seemed to have slowed down!
The water bucket-sized body had a gap at four inches from its body!
Zhao Ming: “!”
Instantly, he thrust his sword at the weak scale, aiming for its defensive weakness!
The black snake instantly spewed out a stream of foul-smelling blood, countless scales falling off.
Zhao Ming was stunned.
“Impossible, impossible… Fire Eye and Golden Sight, this low-level useless technique!” the emaciated old man stared in disbelief.
Why was it impossible?
Lin Shuang sat on her sword, her breathing already steady, but her body was still tired from the Hell-Level fat-burning workout.
She leaned weakly against the small table on her wide sword, supporting her forehead, pityingly looking at the old man.
“You’ve only been cultivating for a few years… 916 layers…” the old man, pierced through the right shoulder by Zhao Ming’s sword, stared in disbelief at Lin Shuang.
Lin Shuang sat cross-legged, leaning forward, her eyes tinged with a faint lapis lazuli color.
“Since you don’t have much time left.”
Lin Shuang lowered her head, “Well, I’ll tell you.”
“Not short, I’ve been cultivating this technique for three years and two months.”
Indeed, it was long.
No, wait!
The old man stiffened, Zhao Ming also paused in his incantation.
Three years, reaching layer 916.
On average, she cultivated one layer a day?!
What kind of cultivation speed was this?!
Disregarding their shock, Lin Shuang spun her broadsword—resembling a snowboard—and swiftly departed as the battle’s conclusion became clear.
“Brother from the Shanhai Sect, I’ll withdraw first. Give my regards to Xiao Qi.”
“!?”
Zhao Ming instantly panicked, reaching for his mask.
The snowboard-like wide sword disappeared from his sight in an instant.
“Brother! I’ll help you—”
Meng Zi finally dealt with the two evil cultivators and rushed over quickly.
He only saw the carved hilt of a wide sword, adorned with two red cords.
On both sides of the sword wings, yellow talisman papers fluttered, the vermilion ink strikingly crimson.
Hiss…
Meng Zi frowned, “Brother, who is this?!”
He felt the hilt looked somewhat familiar.
But in an instant, he kicked something hard, looked down, and his eyes lit up.
“By the Patriarch, Zhen Nanshan! My massive 5,500 spirit stones—so you were the one who took them!”
Zhao Ming: “…”
Zhen Nanshan: “…”
The emaciated evil cultivator: “…”
*
“Miscalculation. I specially took a detour to do the fat-burning workout, originally thinking I could find clues about the finger bones, but found nothing.”
“It wasted my detour time.”
“But it’s also good, I completed today’s breakthrough goal for Fire Eye and Golden Sight ahead of schedule.”
Lin Shuang supported her forehead.
“Xiao Qi still owes me a favor; I saved his sectmate. Hmm, I’ll record it and tell him next time.”
1 Fat-Burning Pomodoro √
2 Fire Eye and Golden Sight Pomodoro √
3 Enhancing friendship with Xiao Qi (extra gain) √
Lin Shuang looked at her list. Although she took a detour, she still gained something.
Happy.
She quickly sped up her sword riding, catching up with the main group.
On a tall tree ten miles away, Huangpu Yuan stood holding a jade-carved hand warmer.
He watched her lie back with a rosy face all the way home, left hand holding a novel, right hand a sketchbook.
Floating in the air, a music stone was playing a melody from a music cultivator.
“…High price for those people’s storage bags.”
Bai Yu took a deep breath, “Yes.”
All the evil cultivators who came were defeated here; none were worth tracking!
“Her cultivation level.” Huangpu Yuan’s phoenix eyes gently lowered a crease.
Bai Yu shuddered, silently lowering his head after a pause, “Qi Transformation Stage Three, I checked them with spiritual sense last night.”
“Oh?”
Huangpu Yuan lightly coughed with a smile.
When they shook off Zhao Kuran and Zhou Xuanwu and rushed over, she was already sitting on her wide sword, weak and out of breath, gasping.
Zhen Nanshan lay unconscious on the ground.
“Personality, top class.”
“Vision, top class.”
“Cultivation is weak. Hmph, interesting.”
Bai Yu bit her lip.
*
At the management office of the Qingshui Sect’s outer sect.
Lin Shuang and the other three arrived first to complete the mission.
[Protecting the Rongbao Treasury Manager and the Prince’s Transaction Mission (Class A)]
[Evaluation by the Client (Prince)]
[Lin Shuang: Class A+. Lin junior sister’s time management method is too useful! Let’s meet again next time!]
Xu Rui’s eyebrows twitched.
[Evaluation by the Client (Rongbao Treasury Manager Huangpu Yuan)]
[Lin Shuang: Class A, too fast.]
Xu Rui raised his eyebrows, involuntarily looking at the three dusty disciples in front of him.
Especially Lin Shuang.
A prince was one thing, but the Rongbao Treasury Manager also gave her such a high evaluation.
But ‘too fast’, this evaluation from Rongbao had a complex, unspoken feeling?
Xu Rui shook his head.
“Huangpu senior brother and Bai senior brother said they wanted to check the local shops first and had already submitted the mission evaluation.”
Zhao Kuran heard that her senior sister received an excellent evaluation, even though she didn’t, she was still very happy.
“But why did Huangpu senior brother only give a Class A? Not Class A+.”
Lin Shuang waved her hand, “That’s better. This way, I have more room for improvement next time.”
Xu Rui senior brother: “…”
[Mission successful, 2000 contribution points awarded.]
[Lin Shuang received a Class A rating, extra reward of 500 contribution points.]
[Disciple ranking update:
Zhou Xuanwu 1→1
Zhao Kuran 2→2
Lin Shuang 9999→8999]
Xu Rui senior brother pressed his swollen forehead, avoiding looking at this glaring ranking.
Zhao Kuran also sighed,
“Compared to the cultivation evaluation, the mission rewards are still too little. Senior sister hasn’t even entered the top hundred of the outer sect yet.”
Zhou Xuanwu pressed his lips.
More than not top hundred.
8999th place, she was barely in the top half of the 20,000 disciples.
“Lin Shuang, I’ve already reported you as a candidate for the outer sect elite disciple to the elders.”
Xu Rui senior brother frowned,
“Next spring equinox, the Donghuai Sect’s outer sect arena, the elite disciples will represent us in battle.”
Lin Shuang quickly raised her hand, “I’m just a substitute, senior brother.”
Xu Rui senior brother seemed not to hear, “But you keep delaying your breakthrough, the disciple ranking is really hard to convince people. The four masters are quite cautious, wanting to see more.”
Lin Shuang’s face lit up with joy.
But soon Xu Rui ruthlessly burst her bubble.
He chuckled, “I’ve already discussed with the four transmission masters, in six days we’ll open the secret realm at the West Gate for the outer sect elite selection.”
Lin Shuang’s eye corner twitched.
“This year, you must prove to everyone that you are qualified as an outer sect elite, and represent Qingshui in the spring equinox battle!”
“…Actually, it’s okay, senior brother. You don’t have to think too much for me.”
“…Come early in six days.”
“…”
For the outer sect elite selection, she had no problem.
Xu Rui felt particularly at ease in his heart.
But the next morning, Zhao Kuran, her round face flushed, rushed into the management office in a hurry.
Gasping for breath.
“Senior brother, senior brother—”
Xu Rui’s right eye jumped violently, “What, did Lin Shuang run away?”
“Of course not,” Zhao Kuran shook her head disapprovingly, giving him a blaming look, “How could senior sister be someone who flees at the last minute.”
Xu Rui sighed in relief.
“Senior sister has already gone to the secret realm at the West Gate.”
“Huh?” Xu Rui was stunned, “Didn’t I say it was six days later yesterday?”
Zhao Kuran patted her rapidly beating chest, “Yes, senior brother said so, but today at the West Gate, the inner sect elite selection secret realm opens.”
“?”
“Senior sister said, since she had to participate in the elite selection anyway, she might as well participate in both the inner and outer sect elite selections at once.”
“? ?”
“Today she goes to the inner sect selection. Once she is rated as an inner sect elite, when she comes back to the outer sect, she will definitely be rated as an outer sect elite too!”
Zhao Kuran repeated Lin Shuang’s words.
“This is killing two birds with one stone.”
Xu Rui senior brother’s dignified and solemn expression slowly crumbled.
As he was about to suffocate, Zhao Kuran took out the communication stone again and played Lin Shuang’s original voice message.
“Moreover, if I become an elite inner sect disciple, I won’t need to take the inner sect examination again when I advance to the Condensation Yuan stage.”
If she’s already an inner sect elite, then she’s definitely an inner sect disciple!
Is there still a need for the inner sect exam?
In one trial, she gets three titles.
Outer sect elite, inner sect disciple, inner sect elite!
“This is killing three birds with one stone on top of killing two birds with one stone.”
“Junior sister, remember, when something you have to do suddenly comes up, don’t panic. We still have ways. For example, do three things at once, combining it with other tasks. It’s not a loss and saves ten or even a hundred years of time later.”
Xu Rui: “…”
“Just tell me and senior brother Xu Rui that I’m going and I should be back before the outer sect elite exam ends.”
After the communication stone played this sentence, there was no follow-up.
Xu Rui supported the treasure shelf in the management office to avoid swaying.
But when he looked up, he saw Zhao Kuran’s shining round face.
“Senior brother, can I, can I go with senior sister to kill three birds with one stone?”
Zhou Xuanwu passed by, silently stepping in with one foot.
Xu Rui: “…!”
A group of Qi Transformation cultivators, dreaming!
*
The sun rose in the east.
Lin Shuang silently stood outside the secret realm entrance at the west gate of the Qingshui Sect, her two wide swords underfoot like snowboards.
She activated the Fire Eye and Golden Sight technique, scanning the inner sect disciples and quickly spotting familiar faces.
The pale and sickly Senior Brother Huangpu, the delicate and slender Senior Brother Bai, and the disheveled [Most Generous] Senior Brother Fu.
Tools for killing three birds with one stone—not, they were all her acquaintances.
She nodded seriously and walked forward.
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