According to her planned route, Xiang Haikui spent the first five years cleansing the harmful demonic beasts outside the Yin Sha border.

Whether uninhabited areas, poisonous barrier zones, or forbidden regions, there were no demons she couldn’t handle by transforming into a flood dragon.

If there were, she would flee.

After killing all that could be killed, she went to challenge the ancient Shen Yao sealed by the quicksand formation.

As a result, she was beaten to her knees by Shen Yao and endured his mockery, angering Tian Kuang so much that he banged against the walls.

Then, Xiang Haikui, along with her entourage, began traveling southward from Yin Sha, through the borders of “Shu Region,” “Tibet Region,” “Yunnan Region”…

These rarely visited places, swarming with demons, became her garden of spiritual herbs.

This took another four years.

But during these four years, she would return to Yin Sha at every year’s end, both to spend the New Year with her father and to continue challenging the Shen Yao.

After being beaten to her knees by the Shen Yao for the fifth time, Xiang Haikui shouted a fierce vow as she fled in disarray: “Just you wait! I’m going to find a divine beast specifically designed to counter you!”

Then she left the Central Continent, crossed the ocean, and smuggled herself into the Western Continent’s territory, where she found the divine beast she had mentioned—an alpaca.

“Can this short-legged camel defeat the Shen Yao?” Bai Xingxian had been asking this question the entire journey.

After asking, he glanced behind him.

This area was full of poisonous barriers above, making flight impossible, just like in Yin Sha. He and Xiang Haikui rode horses in front, while his uncle followed on the alpaca.

Originally, they could have used flying magic treasures to bypass the area, but the night-luminous pearl for detecting demonic energy suddenly lit up, indicating there was suitable demonic energy for his uncle to absorb. They had to land to investigate.

Xiang Haikui confidently said, “Just trust me.”

The mountain wind was fierce. She raised her hand to tuck the loose hair at her temples behind her ear.

Over these years, she had maintained shoulder-length hair, tied in a bun.

When her hair had been longer, she had tried various beautiful hairstyles, adorning her head with pearls and jade ornaments, but they were too cumbersome during battle.

After riding for a while longer, Xiang Haikui suddenly shouted: “Stop!”

The sword case on Yin Changli’s back suddenly opened, and Tian Kuang flew out, landing in her hand.

She turned her head and gave Yin Changli a meaningful look.

Yin Changli hastily pulled the reins, urging the alpaca forward with a trot. The two horses and two people surrounded him and the little alpaca, forming a protective circle.

“There’s an extremely powerful formation ahead, with at least twenty people in ambush, all with cultivation around the sixth or seventh rank.” Xiang Haikui instructed Bai Xingxian, “There are too many people; I might not be able to protect everyone. You’re responsible for watching over Senior.”

As the boss had predicted, although the little black snake was steadily improving, as long as his memory didn’t recover, his rational thinking would continue to deteriorate.

He hadn’t yet reached the state of crying while burying flowers that she had imagined, but he had already begun to show excessive compassion.

Earlier, he had rescued an injured little white rabbit and cared for it attentively.

During a brief nap, Xiang Haikui had roasted and eaten it.

He had silently watched her eat it all, then collected the rabbit fur and bones, buried them in the soil, and made a small grave mound.

After that, he became increasingly dramatic—reciting poetry when it rained, playing the zither when it snowed, and becoming sentimental at the sight of autumn frost and falling leaves.

Unexpectedly, this deviation had worked to their advantage, causing the water pool in Dao Chen’s Tianren Sword Realm to rise rapidly.

“Alright.” Bai Xingxian agreed.

However, Xiang Haikui had been holding her sword at the ready for quite some time before three people finally flew down from the mountain peak.

The female cultivator who led them seemed to prefer handsome young men. After landing, she glanced at Bai Xingxian several times before clasping her hands in greeting: “We are disciples of the Hundred Beasts Gate from Luoqi Peak. Are you three also here to catch the fish demon?”

So it was a fish demon. Xiang Haikui returned the greeting with clasped hands: “We are passing wandering cultivators. May I ask if this fish demon has been causing harm?”

The female cultivator was startled: “Aren’t you sent by the City Lord?”

Xiang Haikui answered: “Hmm? We only sensed demonic energy and came to take a look.”

The female cultivator and the two people behind her all appeared relieved.

Xiang Haikui listened as she explained. The area beneath their feet was the territory of the Great City Lord of Snow Dragon. The Panlong River flowed through sixteen small cities and hundreds of towns, serving as an important transportation route.

Recently, a strange fish spirit, estimated to be around the eighth rank, had suddenly appeared near the gorge entrance, devouring passing boats and causing numerous casualties.

The situation was serious. The ninth-rank Snow Dragon City Lord personally came to hunt it, but the fish demon remained hidden underwater and refused to emerge. The Great City Lord couldn’t stay indefinitely, so he offered a substantial reward, inviting wandering cultivators and sects within his territory to capture and hunt it.

“Miss, we have already set up the formation and have been waiting for over ten days…” The female cultivator was reminding her about the principle of first come, first served.

Xiang Haikui quickly said: “Don’t worry, we won’t compete for it. But after you kill it, could you give us its demon core?”

“What, if we don’t give it to you, you’ll take it by force?” The young man behind the female cultivator sneered.

This young man wasn’t a firecracker who argued with everyone; he was upset because he had seen his senior sister glance at the white-haired handsome man several times.

“I’ll pay for it.” Xiang Haikui ignored him and continued speaking to the polite female cultivator.

“Well…” The female cultivator hesitated.

An eighth-rank demon core was quite valuable, worth at least three thousand spirit pearls at its lowest quality. These three didn’t look particularly wealthy.

The monk’s mount, the short-legged camel, was something she had never seen before, but it appeared foolish with little spiritual energy.

As for the female sword cultivator and the handsome young man, their horses were the cheapest mountain horses in the area.

“Price is not an issue,” Xiang Haikui added.

She wasn’t short of money. She bought the cheapest horses because she only needed to ride for a short while. There would be no use taking them back to Yin Sha, so she would release them after obtaining the demon core, not wanting to waste resources.

“My, what big talk,” the young man couldn’t help but speak again. “So we can name any price for an eighth-rank demon core? If we ask for a hundred thousand spirit pearls, would you agree?”

“Junior Brother! Mind your manners!” The female cultivator turned and glared at him.

Xiang Haikui was truly annoyed by such people and was about to retort when Yin Changli said, “Xiao Bai.”

Bai Xingxian understood and patted his cheek, spitting out a small bag that expanded into a large one. He loosened the opening.

The fragrance of “money” spread out, instantly captivating the three members of the Hundred Beasts Gate.

The middle-aged man who had remained silent bowed to Bai Xingxian: “Young sir, let’s discuss this further.”

Bai Xingxian shook his head and pointed at Yin Changli: “Don’t talk to me. I’m just a servant. All the money belongs to my uncle.”

Damn, are monks so wealthy these days? The middle-aged man bowed to Yin Changli: “Venerable Master…”

“Don’t talk to me either; talk to her.” Yin Changli pointed at Xiang Haikui. “The money is mine, but I am her…”

He deliberately paused for a long time before reluctantly adding two words, “servant.”

The three were stunned again, looking at Xiang Haikui and then at Yin Changli in disbelief.

Xiang Haikui maintained her composure: “Yes, talk to me. Only what I say counts.”

Yin Changli carefully studied her expression and transmitted: “Aren’t you going to scold me for being wasteful?”

Xiang Haikui raised an eyebrow: “We dare to offer a hundred thousand pearls, but they wouldn’t dare accept it.”

Pulling out so much money without blinking, they couldn’t be ordinary people. “But in the future, don’t do this, Senior. If we encounter someone bold enough who accepts, we’d suffer a great loss.”

Yin Changli tugged at the soft wool on the alpaca’s neck, carefully saying: “It wouldn’t matter if they accepted. There’s no need for you to waste words on matters that can be resolved with a little money.”

For ten years, he had watched her run east and west, braving mountains of swords and seas of fire to collect demonic energy for him, and he felt extremely distressed.

Yet there was so little he could do for her.

Serving tea, pouring water, making beds, folding blankets, cleaning sword cases, sewing, cooking…

Xiao Bai was an excellent teacher, but that was about it.

“Oh! Alright!” The middle-aged man came to his senses and was just about to discuss the price with Xiang Haikui when an explosion suddenly came from the front.

Everyone looked toward the source of the sound and saw a huge overturned bamboo basket appear on the river surface.

This was the fish demon, which had triggered the formation set by the Hundred Beasts Sect.

The bamboo basket was the manifestation of the formation.

The female cultivator’s face became tense: “It’s here!”

She leaped up, covering a distance of more than ten zhang.

“Miss, we’ll talk later!” The middle-aged man and the young man also rushed after her.

Boom!

Another explosion!

The bamboo basket shook incessantly from the impact. The disciples of the Hundred Beasts Sect flew out, surrounding the basket in a circle. With their fingers joined, they chanted incantations, causing the basket to emit a great radiance.

Before long, the basket suddenly became still.

Had the fish demon escaped, or was it dead?

As they continued to chant, they exchanged glances, looking toward a person above.

That was the Elder leading them.

The Elder frowned: “Strengthen the formation!”

After strengthening it, the basket indeed began to shake again, but it stopped shortly after.

“Strengthen it further!”

“Don’t strengthen it anymore!” Xiang Haikui leaped down from her horse, holding her sword in reverse grip, placing Tian Kuang vertically on her back. She rushed over, stopping by the riverside, and said, “It’s using your formation to unseal itself!”

This fish demon had likely been sealed before, had escaped from the seal, but probably still carried sealing items like pins that it couldn’t remove on its own. Its power was restricted, so it deliberately ate people here to lure the Beast Sect to set up a formation, using the formation’s power to force out the sealing pins inside its body.

“It’s not just eighth rank. After the sealing pins are removed, that’s when things will truly become difficult!”

The Elder frowned. Their Hundred Beasts Gate had long dealt with demonic beasts, and he understood there was indeed such a possibility.

But the demon-detecting compass in his hand clearly showed that the fish demon’s power under the bamboo basket was growing weaker.

He questioned: “How do you know?”

Xiang Haikui: “My sword told me.”

When the fish demon first appeared, Tian Kuang did not react, but as they strengthened the formation, Tian Kuang shook more and more violently.

A member of the Hundred Beasts Gate said, “They might also be here to steal the demon. If we suddenly withdraw the formation, we’ll be backlashed by it, and the demon will fall into their hands!”

The middle-aged cultivator, who had witnessed them unflinchingly offering a hundred thousand pearls, refuted: “Junior Brother’s vision is too narrow. What you consider a treasure, they may not even value.”

The Elder remained silent.

Seeing the Elder still hesitating, Xiang Haikui charged forward with her sword.

“What are you doing?” The Elder swung out a blade of spiritual energy toward her, trying to block her.

Xiang Haikui cut it down with one stroke, the fiery line drawn by her sword tip both dazzling and eye-catching. She leaped high, diving down to pierce a hole in the bamboo basket!

A violent energy shot out from the hole, and then the basket disappeared. The disciples of the Hundred Beasts Gate were backed up by the formation, all flying backward more than ten zhang.

“How dare you!” The Elder was furious and was about to apprehend Xiang Haikui when the demon-detecting compass in his hand had its needle explode.

He was astonished, immediately realizing that everything Xiang Haikui had said was true, and he urgently shouted: “Flee quickly!”

By this time, Xiang Haikui had already reached the shore. She turned to look and couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

What kind of demon was this?

She saw a small boy, about two or three years old, sitting sideways on a black catfish. His buttocks and the fish’s back seemed to be fused, like some bizarre merman.

The boy’s mouth was split to his ears, and he was tossing a large pearl in his hand.

The fish’s mouth suddenly spewed out a stream of bubbles, sucking in nearby people who hadn’t managed to escape. A collection of transparent bubbles containing people bobbed up and down on the river surface.

The boy seemed to sneer, throwing the pearl in his hand toward one of the bubbles.

That bubble contained a wolf, probably a spirit beast of one of the disciples.

After entering the transparent bubble, the large pearl dispersed into countless small pearls that flew back and forth, looking like a lottery drawing machine. When they stopped, the spirit beast had been pierced like a sieve.

Those trapped in the bubbles were terrified. The fish demon was killing the chicken to scare the monkey!

Xiang Haikui’s eyes were exceptionally bright: “Senior, you’re in for a treat. This thing will be highly nourishing.”

Yin Changli was deeply worried: “Be careful, it’s not easy to deal with.”

“Don’t worry, the sealing pins inside its body haven’t been completely removed, and I’m exactly its counter!”

Flood dragons weren’t afraid of fish; there was a bloodline suppression.

“Take this!” She shouted to attract the fish demon’s attention, preventing it from throwing pearls into other bubbles.

Then she leaped up, raising her sword to slash at it!

The fish demon spat out a bubble, and with a “pop,” she was trapped inside.

Like everyone else, she fell onto the river surface with a “splash.”

People’s hopes briefly rose, then immediately fell, extinguished extremely quickly.

They felt utterly betrayed—what looked like a champion turned out to be nothing but scrap metal.

However, in the next moment, the female sword cultivator in the bubble was suddenly enveloped by a black light. When the light dispersed, a black flood dragon appeared!

The fish demon looked greatly shocked and hurriedly threw the pearl in its hand.

The pearl bounced off her scales with a series of crackling sounds.

The flood dragon’s body continued to grow larger, and the bubble expanded with it, until finally, it was burst by the flood dragon.

The flood dragon bit at the fish demon, which also expanded several times in size. Not only did it attack with its tail, but the small child on its back also transformed the pearl into a long spear.

The dragon and fish tangled together in midair, with dragon and fish scales falling in a shower. Finally, the flood dragon used its claws to tear the fish demon in half.

But after the fish demon died, the flood dragon seemed to go mad, smashing its head against the mountaintop, causing rocks to shatter!

After the bubbles around people disappeared, they hurriedly fled, escaping the falling debris.

At this moment, a string of prayer beads flew out and hung on the flood dragon’s horn. The flood dragon’s frenzied actions gradually subsided. After circling in the air, it landed on the shore and transformed into human form.

Xiang Haikui closed her eyes and remained motionless.

Tian Kuang fell from the sky, slanting into the stone mortar in front of her.

Yin Changli walked forward. The prayer beads from her head flew back to his hand, transforming into a plain white umbrella.

He held the umbrella over her, with gentle spiritual threads floating inside, looking like many tassels.

After a long while, Xiang Haikui finally opened her eyes.

Yin Changli switched hands to hold the umbrella and took out a handkerchief embroidered with sunflowers to wipe the sweat from her temples: “This time’s loss of control seems more severe than the last.”

Xiang Haikui settled her breath into her dantian and exhaled deeply: “It’s still manageable.”

She was now at the peak of the sixth rank, and Tian Kuang had also entered the fifth level.

Tian Kuang’s power was growing stronger, but its drawbacks were also increasing.

Her demonic nature was beginning to manifest, making her easily agitated and prone to losing control, becoming violent.

She was somewhat afraid to imagine what would happen as Tian Kuang progressed. It had nine levels in total, and now it was only at the fifth level. What would it be like further on?

Would she also inherit the dragon race’s “lust”?

It was known that many species in this world had dragon bloodlines. What did that indicate? It meant that there was nothing in the world that dragons wouldn’t mate with.

With her hand on her dantian, she spat out a round pearl: “See, I told you it would be nourishing. The fish demon’s core has already reached the state of spiritual essence… Xiao Bai!”

Bai Xingxian ran over and opened the snake jar.

The little black snake was now unfrozen, though its body was still somewhat stiff. She simply had to put the demon core inside, and the little black snake would absorb it on its own.

“How is it?” she asked Yin Changli. “How much more until you recover to thirty percent?”

“Just a little more.” Yin Changli sensed it.

Xiang Haikui massaged her temples. For half a year, the boss had been saying “just a little more,” and she had no idea how much this “little more” actually was.

“Then let’s go back to Yin Sha and defeat the Shen Yao. That should do it.” Xiang Haikui waved to the people of the Hundred Beasts Gate. “You can take the fish demon’s corpse to claim the reward from the City Lord. I obtained this demon core myself, so I won’t be paying you for it.”

The two horses and one alpaca then left the riverside.

Before departing, Bai Xingxian turned his head to glance at those people: “Little Sister Kui, after your transformation, they probably recognized you.”

Xiang Haikui frowned: “I don’t think so.”

Jing Wenxiu’s challenge decree had indeed made her famous throughout the Central Continent.

But this situation had only lasted for two or three years before being replaced by Xiang Tianqing.

Ten years ago, Jing Wenxiu had taken on two disciples at once. Jing Ran had been sought after by various powerful factions in the royal capital, but for these ten years, he had stayed in the Sword Dao Academy and rarely gone out.

He never participated in major or minor competitions.

It was said that he had gone astray in his cultivation, injuring his sea of consciousness. Xiang Haikui had written him several letters, but he never replied. She was about to go to the royal capital to visit him when she heard that he had debated with a senior and made that person cry, which reassured her.

This wasn’t surprising; her senior was from the law department. Although she had never seen him participate in debate competitions, his debating skills were certainly not inferior.

Xiang Tianqing, on the other hand, was more eye-catching than her senior.

She was like a detective from a mystery novel—wherever she went, incidents occurred. Each time, when others couldn’t handle the situation and it grew increasingly serious, she would step in and perfectly resolve it with a single move.

Xiang Haikui could be certain that someone else from her hometown had arrived.

Moreover, as Xiang Tianqing’s reputation grew, another theory emerged.

It was said that the reason the Sword Master had issued the challenge decree years ago was actually to give face to Xiang Tianqing, and Xiang Haikui was just a “buy one, get one free” addition.

This theory was almost identical to the rumors when she first arrived in Yin Sha, claiming she was the daughter of her father’s concubine.

Xiang Haikui was utterly speechless. Couldn’t the Meng family come up with a different strategy to target her? It was so disrespectful!

…

After they had gone far, the gorge became quiet.

A black figure appeared and took out a communication talisman: “Third Master, this demon is done for. There’s no need to guide the Young Miss to Snow Dragon City…”

From the other side of the talisman: “…”

The black-clothed person complained indignantly: “Third Master, this Xiang Haikui must be eliminated. All these years she’s been killing demons everywhere, she must have discovered our plan! There can’t be any other reason!”

These rare species that the Third Master had spent countless efforts cultivating hadn’t fully matured before falling victim to her.

Out of eight that had been released, she had already eliminated seven, using extremely cruel methods. It was truly infuriating!