The man took off his bamboo hat and looked at Kong Hou askance: “You little girl really don’t know how to talk.”

“My apologies, my apologies.” Kong Hou smiled obediently and apologized. “Uncle who sells salted fish, what are you doing here?”

“I catch fish and sell fish. If I don’t hang around the seaside, where else would I go?” The salted fish uncle hung the bamboo hat at his waist. With each step he took, the bamboo hat bounced back and forth beside his knee. He swept his gaze over Huan Zong and Kong Hou from the corner of his eye. “First tell me what you’re doing here?”

“We heard there’s a legend about dragons at Wuwang Sea, so we came to take a look.” Kong Hou looked at the salted fish uncle with burning eyes. “Uncle, you often fish at sea. Have you seen a dragon?”

“Dragon?” The salted fish uncle sneered with unclear meaning. “Haven’t seen one.”

“What are you all standing at the gate for? If you’re going in, go in. If you’re going in, don’t block the way. Good dogs don’t block roads.” The gatekeeper scolded impatiently. “Our hall master is a Core Formation ancestor. If you continue dawdling here, be careful our ancestor will deal with you.”

“Core Formation… ancestor?” Kong Hou looked at the gatekeeper full of malicious energy with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. “Since when did a mere Core Formation stage cultivator have the face to make people call him ancestor?”

The gatekeeper became furious, considering Kong Hou’s words the greatest offense to the hall master. He immediately drew the blade at his waist: “I see you’re looking for death.”

The common people around the city gate, seeing this, all fled in terror. The timid ones even knelt down.

Kong Hou had originally been in a playful mood, but seeing the local ordinary people frightened like this, she guessed that the local cultivation sect must have been extremely oppressive toward ordinary people. Otherwise, the common people wouldn’t have this reaction.

Look at those common people in Yong City—not only did they dare to actively greet them, even when there was cultivator excitement to watch, they didn’t retreat at all. Finding the ideal position to watch the spectacle was practically an instinct for Yong City’s common people.

Relying on having some cultivation and wantonly treating ordinary common people as less than human—what use was it for such cultivators to cultivate the dao?!

Without thinking, Kong Hou raised her foot and kicked the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper only felt as if he’d been struck by a great iron hammer. His entire body flew through the air and smashed onto a cultivator who had rushed over after hearing the commotion, knocking him flat on the ground.

How could two cultivators with only Qi Refining Stage cultivation withstand a kick from a Divine Transformation Stage cultivator? The two lay on the ground without moving, having fainted.

“Miss, miss.” An old person with graying hair and a face full of wrinkles walked over with a hunched back. “You should run quickly. The hall master of Golden Dragon Hall is extremely brutal and also loves beautiful women. You’re so pretty—if he discovers you, what will you do?” After saying this, she saw Golden Dragon Sect people rushing this way from afar. She hurriedly covered her face and ran away, not daring to stay.

“Truly, shallow pools have many turtles, small temples have strong demon winds.” Kong Hou rolled up her sleeves and placed one hand on her hip. “Whether it’s a golden dragon or silver dragon, this big sister has good fortune approaching and shouldn’t see blood. I can only beat them half to death, tie them up, and hand them over to the ten great sects to handle.”

The salted fish uncle looked at Kong Hou’s exposed delicate arms, then at the two men behind her who had stepped back several paces, preparing to give her space to fight. He leaned against the base of the wall and sat down, pulling out a water radish to gnaw listlessly.

Huan Zong turned his head to glance at him, then moved his feet five steps to the side. This position was just right to prevent the salted fish uncle from suddenly attacking Kong Hou. His steps were casual, as if he’d just randomly walked a few steps.

Lin Hu noticed Huan Zong’s movement and couldn’t help but look a few more times at the middle-aged man sitting at the base of the wall. Although this man’s footsteps were solid and powerful, he seemed more like a physically strong ordinary person than a cultivator. But when ordinary people saw cultivators fighting, even if they weren’t afraid, they shouldn’t be as calm as him. Not afraid of being affected by techniques and spiritual energy, not afraid of being blamed—as if everything had nothing to do with him.

Seemingly ordinary, yet strange in every way.

The Golden Dragon Hall people arrived at the city gate. Seeing their sect mates lying on the ground with unknown life or death, they became furious: “Who is so rude as to injure our Golden Dragon Hall disciples?”

Golden Dragon Hall had been stationed here for over a hundred years. With almost no other cultivators appearing in the small town, they’d long grown accustomed to living high above others. They’d also forgotten that in other places there were many powerful cultivators—powerful enough to destroy the entire Golden Dragon Hall with a flip of their hand.

“As cultivators, you should guard the people of your region, not treat the common people as fish and meat.” Kong Hou looked at these swaggering Golden Dragon Hall cultivators. “The ten great sects’ disciples have higher cultivation than you, their sects are more powerful than yours, yet they act more gently than you.”

Hearing Kong Hou’s words, the Golden Dragon Hall cultivators actually laughed heartily: “Which family raised this wealthy young miss who actually tries to scare us with the ten great sects? The ten great sects are all in places with fertile land and abundant spiritual energy. How would they know about bitter, cold places like ours? Using the ten great sects to scare us is useless. We’ve cultivated bitterly for many years, all for fine silks and satins, beautiful women, and delicious food. These ordinary people were born lowly. That they can be our servants is their bad fate. Blame only that they haven’t opened their spiritual apertures and cannot step onto the cultivation path. Living in this world, what matters is the law of the jungle. Little beauty, rather than sympathize with these common people whose lives are worth less than nothing, you might as well follow this master. I’ll guarantee your eternal youth and constant beauty. That pretty boy beside you is good-looking, sure, but in ten or twenty years, he’ll just be a decrepit old man…”

“You’re wrong. Even after twenty years, he’ll still be a handsome old man. Unlike you wastes—even living several hundred years, you’ve never been good-looking.” Kong Hou removed her hairpin. The hairpin transformed into the Shuishuang Sword in her hand. She raised her chin. “However, you just said one thing well—the law of the jungle.”

What would the final result be when a group of Qi Refining Stage cultivators faced a Divine Transformation Stage cultivator?

These cultivators wore brocade, but it was all ordinary clothing without any defensive function. Within three moves, Kong Hou beat all these people flat on the ground. She kicked the ugly-faced cultivator who had just cursed Huan Zong as a pretty boy. “Is bullying the weak fun?”

The ugly-faced cultivator spat blood and shook his head.

Kong Hou tilted her head slightly, smiling sweetly: “I actually find it quite fun.”

She turned to look at Huan Zong: “Huan Zong, let’s go smash their hall. I’ve grown this big and never done this kind of thing. Come with me.”

“Alright.” Huan Zong nodded and walked to Kong Hou’s side, taking her hand.

Lin Hu: “…”

What was good about doing this kind of thing? He turned to look at the common people crowded together watching the spectacle outside the city gate. His gaze swept toward the base of the city wall—that man gnawing the water radish had disappeared.

Looking at Huan Zong and Kong Hou holding hands ahead, he sighed. Where was this going to smash a hall? This was clearly holding hands to find amusement.

He took out an artifact for binding people and tied all these Golden Dragon Hall disciples together. The extremely frightened common people watched this scene, the terror on their faces not yet faded. They didn’t know who the people who defeated Golden Dragon Hall were, nor did they know if these people were as bad as Golden Dragon Hall, or even worse.

Golden Dragon Hall was very easy to find, because among a cluster of low houses, a tall and wealthy-looking building was especially conspicuous. This sect might have had a fanatical worship of dragons. Not only were dragons carved on the walls and dragon patterns coiled on the pillars, even the vermilion gates were carved with two dragons playing with a pearl.

Kong Hou was made dizzy by these overwhelming dragon patterns. She turned to ask Lin Hu: “Senior Lin, you’re well-traveled and knowledgeable. When smashing a hall, what’s more imposing—kicking the gate down with one foot?”

Lin Hu took a deep breath: “Miss Kong Hou, I’m also not experienced with smashing halls.” His words had barely fallen when he heard a “boom” sound—Golden Dragon Hall’s gate collapsed. Lin Hu turned to look and saw the young master slowly withdrawing the Longyin Sword, saying casually to Miss Kong Hou: “Kicking the gate hurts your foot.”

Staring dumbstruck at this scene, Lin Hu felt he was about to suffocate.

“Senior Lin?” Kong Hou walked through the gate. Turning her head and seeing Lin still standing in place in a daze, she said, “Smashing halls is very fun. Come on.”

Watching Kong Hou’s expression of “sharing joy is better than enjoying it alone”—that good things should be shared with everyone—Lin Hu silently moved his gaze to Huan Zong. He truly didn’t know which of the young master and Miss Kong Hou was leading the other astray.

He wiped his face and followed in with a stern expression.

As a cultivation sect, although Golden Dragon Hall was so small it didn’t even count as a local tyrant, the gate still had some defensive formations. They were just split open by Huan Zong’s single sword strike. Countless disciples rushed over.

The disciples saw three people in brocade and fine clothes walk in. Their own gate had been cut into two sections with a neat cut. The defensive formation might as well not have existed. They swallowed hard and all retreated several steps together.

Among the disciples, an old man wearing low-grade ceremonial robes stepped forward and cupped his hands: “I don’t know where the experts come from or what guidance you have for our humble sect?”

“I came to bully the weak.” Kong Hou drew the Shuishuang Sword and raised her chin.

The old man’s expression changed. He gripped his natal artifact in his hand: “Miss surely jests. You and I are both cultivators—why be so aggressive?”

“You cultivators and the common people outside are all human. Why do you oppress them?” Kong Hou glanced at this old man—Foundation Establishment Great Circle cultivation. The spiritual energy on the other disciples’ bodies was weak—all Qi Refining Stage cultivation.

Ha, not a single one who could fight.

“So the xianzi has come for those common people in the city.” Having just called her “miss,” the old man now changed to calling her “xianzi.” This old fellow was more perceptive than those disciples earlier. He couldn’t see Kong Hou’s cultivation level, but he could recognize that the sword in her hand was a top-grade divine artifact. Just this one sword alone was worth more than their entire sect. He didn’t know which great power’s disciple had suddenly run here. He only hoped these young masters and misses had simple thoughts so they could cover this matter up.

“How can the words of these unruly people be believed?” The old man said, “In winter they want us to help them go to sea, in summer they want us to help dry fishing gear. If there’s the slightest dissatisfaction, they throw tantrums and say we cultivators bully people. The spiritual energy here is thin. If our sect hadn’t been established here for over a thousand years, we would have moved away long ago. As the saying goes, poor mountains and bad waters produce unruly people. Xianzi absolutely must not believe the one-sided words of unruly people.”

“You mean I misunderstood?” Kong Hou turned to look at Huan Zong. Huan Zong’s five fingers grasped, and the speaking old man involuntarily flew before them. Huan Zong placed his hand on this person’s spiritual platform and used his spiritual sense to scan through the memories in his brain. With disgust, he threw the person out.

The old man didn’t even make a sound before fainting.

“Those who commit evil are glib-tongued and deserve more than death.” Huan Zong used a handkerchief to clean his hands, his eyes like cold ice. “Tell your hall master to get out here.”

Seeing that the elder had no power to resist before these three people, the remaining disciples were already scared witless, unable to stand steady. Usually they committed many evil deeds and oppressed countless common people, but facing death, they had no dignity whatsoever.

“Visitors are guests, but I’m afraid you three are unwelcome evil guests.” An aged voice came from all directions. “My Golden Dragon Hall’s ancestors had golden dragon bloodline. Even if we’ve fallen on hard times now, we cannot tolerate a few yellow-haired children insulting us like this. Are you three trying to oppose this old man?”

As the words fell, the speaker had already appeared. This person’s hair and beard were white with yellow, wearing robes embroidered with golden dragon patterns, topped with a nine-dragons-playing-with-pearl crown that flickered faintly with magical light. Those who didn’t know might think he was an earthly emperor. Behind him followed a short, fat man in black robes. This man had a shaved head with a gleaming forehead and was full of murderous energy.

However, the murderous energy all over his body disappeared without a trace the instant he saw Huan Zong. He retreated several steps in succession and tried to flee. But as soon as he stepped out, the Longyin Sword flew before him. The icy sword energy pointed at his brow—pain like tearing flesh.

“Immortal Elder, Immortal Elder.” The black-robed man pulled his feet back and bowed repeatedly to Huan Zong. “It’s been many years. Immortal Elder’s demeanor is as before, brilliantly illuminating…”

Huan Zong frowned: “Shut up.”

The black-robed man immediately didn’t dare make a sound. He hugged his fat belly and curled into a ball.

“Senior Lin, who is this person?” Kong Hou was somewhat surprised. Why was this person so afraid upon seeing Huan Zong?

“Do you still remember White Venerable who came to us for revenge because of his disciple?” Lin Hu crossed his arms over his chest. “He’s White Venerable’s brother, Black Venerable.”

“Then those two really don’t look like brothers.” Kong Hou laughed dryly. “Didn’t this Black Venerable previously clamor about leading evil cultivators to attack the cultivation world and avenge White Venerable?” No wonder such a small Golden Dragon Hall dared to treat ordinary people as less than human with such an arrogant attitude. It turned out the sect was hiding an evil cultivator.

“If evil cultivators’ words could be taken seriously, the world would have been at peace long ago.” Lin Hu sneered. “These evil cultivators don’t value feelings but value profit more. Never mind just a dead brother—even if their parents died, it wouldn’t be worth risking their lives. He shouts about revenge but hides in this kind of place living his life. Isn’t it because he’s afraid that after the young master killed White Venerable, he’d come kill him too?”

“Truly a brotherly bond like broken ice—melts as soon as the sun shines on it.” Kong Hou shook her head and sighed. Seeing Black Venerable under Huan Zong’s sword not daring to breathe heavily, she said with some disdain, “With such little courage, yet he wants to overthrow the cultivation world. Who gave him such confidence?”

Lin Hu looked at Kong Hou silently and didn’t speak.

Miss Kong Hou didn’t know that back then, when the young master pursued evil cultivators who committed evil deeds and killed them extensively, the entire mountain valley’s soil was stained red by the evil cultivators’ fresh blood. Since then, the young master’s prestige rose greatly in the evil cultivation world, becoming an existence many evil cultivators didn’t dare provoke.

Past events were like wind and need not be mentioned again. Moreover, in Miss Kong Hou’s heart, the young master was perfect from head to toe. This kind of brutal past—if he spoke too much about it, the next person the young master would be brutal toward might be himself.

The Golden Dragon Hall master hadn’t expected that the mysterious and powerful senior, upon seeing Huan Zong, would actually be scared more obedient than a dog. His heart hatched a plan, and he turned his gaze toward Kong Hou. This female cultivator had unstable footsteps and appeared to have very poor cultivation. If he could capture this female cultivator, he might still be able to save his life.

Having this plan in his heart, the Golden Dragon Hall master also took action. As a Core Formation Great Circle cultivator, he had several passable artifacts on him. He immediately took them out and threw them at Kong Hou.

But as soon as the artifacts touched the edge of her clothing, they dropped down like birds with broken wings.

What happened? What was going on?

The Golden Dragon Hall master thought the artifacts had problems from being unused too long. He bit his teeth, endured the heartache, and threw out his remaining artifacts. But these artifacts met the same fate as the previous one—dropping down weakly.

“Oh my, are these middle or low-grade artifacts?” Kong Hou kicked the artifacts with her foot and turned to Lin Hu. “After staying in the cultivation world for so many years, I’ve never used middle or low-grade artifacts.” She trampled the artifacts on the ground with both feet and blinked innocently at the Golden Dragon Hall master. “I’m truly sorry. I’m wearing top-grade ceremonial robes. These middle or low-grade artifacts are useless to me.”

The Golden Dragon Hall master only felt his heart being cut by knives, aching all over. Looking at the trampled artifacts, he still had to endure the reluctance and anger in his heart. His face pale, he said: “Who exactly are you all?”

“As a cultivation world sect, yet secretly harboring evil cultivators—is your Golden Dragon Hall an evil cultivation sect or a righteous orthodox sect?” Kong Hou’s expression became serious. She stared at the Golden Dragon Hall master. “As a disciple of the ten great sects, I can only hand you over to the sects to handle.”

“The ten great sects?!” The Golden Dragon Hall master looked at Kong Hou in shock, unable to believe that disciples of the ten great sects would actually come to their bitter, cold place. Was there something wrong with these great sect disciples’ brains? With so many spiritual mountains and spiritual lakes they could go to, why come here?

“Zhenren Zhong Xi, Zhenren Zhong Xi, I’m just living here. I haven’t killed anyone, truly.” Black Venerable’s face was pale. Holding his head with both hands, he said, “In consideration of how difficult cultivation is, please spare me.”

Huan Zong ignored him and took out the Immortal-Binding Rope to tie him into a round ball of fat meat.

Zhong, Zhenren Zhong Xi? This white-robed man holding a sword was actually Zhenren Zhong Xi?

Even though this place was extremely remote, he’d still heard the great name of Zhenren Zhong Xi. The Golden Dragon Hall master’s entire body went soft and he collapsed sitting on the ground. He was just being a local tyrant in this small corner—how did he encounter Zhenren Zhong Xi? Heaven was truly destroying his Golden Dragon Hall.

Kong Hou kicked the Golden Dragon Hall master who had collapsed into a heap: “You said your Golden Dragon Hall has golden dragon bloodline. Is that true?”

“Please, please spare my life, xianzi.” The Golden Dragon Hall master said with a sobbing tone, “Our humble sect is a small sect. How could we have any golden dragon bloodline? When the founding ancestor established the sect, fearing the sect had no prestige, he put a few drops of carp blood in a bottle and falsely claimed it was dragon blood. Actually, actually carp blood can also count as half dragon blood. As long as it jumps over the dragon gate, won’t it become a dragon?”

“Shut up. Don’t pull this twisted logic with me.” Kong Hou sealed the Golden Dragon Hall master’s meridians and said to Huan Zong: “Let’s stay here for a day. We’ll leave after people come to take these cultivators who committed wrongs away.”

“Miss Kong Hou, don’t worry. I’ve already sent a message to the sect. There are Liuguang Sect disciples near Wuwang Sea. They’ll be able to get here by tomorrow.” Lin Hu said, “Going to look around the city now is also good. Who knows what state these people have ruined the common people into.”

Kong Hou looked down at the Golden Dragon Hall master with disgust. After a long while, she sighed: “Living your whole life just to bully the weak—what’s the difference between living a thousand years and living a hundred years?”

Unfortunately, the Golden Dragon Hall people didn’t understand these words. Those who understood wouldn’t do such things.

After tying up all the people from Golden Dragon Hall who had committed major wrongs, these people accused each other and exposed each other’s faults. In the end, there were actually very few who were truly clean.

Listening to these people cursing at each other, Kong Hou only felt her brain ache. She handed these people over to Lin Hu, turned, and pulled Huan Zong out of Golden Dragon Hall.

Golden Dragon Hall’s gate was destroyed, and the usually extremely arrogant disciples also hadn’t come out to curse. Some of the bolder local common people secretly hid in corners to observe. Their hearts were both relieved and worried. Relieved that these tumors had finally been eradicated. Worried that the people who eradicated Golden Dragon Hall were even worse than the Golden Dragon Hall cultivators.

Kong Hou walked on the main street. She saw that most of the common people here showed bitter expressions. Seeing her and Huan Zong in luxurious clothes, they were even more frightened, repeatedly avoiding them, not even daring to raise their eyes. Evening already had a cool feeling, but the children running on the street side wore tattered clothes that barely covered their bodies, barefoot picking up vegetable leaves fallen on the ground. Kong Hou even saw two children fight over a single vegetable leaf.

The magnificently carved Golden Dragon Hall and the common people on this street seemed like two different worlds.

“Let’s go back.” Seeing her frown deepen, Huan Zong stopped and said, “The sky is getting dark.”

“Mm.” Kong Hou nodded. Looking at these ordinary people with hunched backs, she let Huan Zong hold her hand and returned to Golden Dragon Hall.

The next morning, just as the sky was brightening, Liuguang Sect disciples rushed over. Worried that these disciples’ cultivation wouldn’t be sufficient and Black Venerable might escape, Huan Zong destroyed the other party’s spiritual platform and handed the person to several disciples with respectful expressions.

“Leave two people to handle local affairs and quickly let the common people live normal lives. The other disciples take these people back to the sect.” Huan Zong said, “I won’t travel with you. Be very careful along the way.”

“Yes.” The disciples bowed respectfully and even specially bowed to Kong Hou. “Please take care, Uncle-Master Zhong Xi, Uncle-Master Kong Hou, Senior Lin.”

Thus these disciples received another portion of meeting gifts from Kong Hou.

Kong Hou had not a bit of doubt about Liuguang Sect disciples’ ability to handle matters. Looking at the rising sun of early morning, her mood improved. With a face full of smiles, she walked out of Golden Dragon Hall’s gate.

Walking out of the city gate, just as she was about to summon her flying sword, she saw the salted fish uncle helping other people dry fish. Her heart stirred, and she ran toward him.

“Uncle.”

The salted fish uncle drooped his eyelids, looking like he hadn’t woken up. He still wore yesterday’s clothes, but the bamboo hat that had hung at his waist was gone. Hearing Kong Hou call him, he didn’t turn his head back: “Little girl, I’m not selling dried salted fish today.”

“I’m not buying salted fish today.” Kong Hou bent down to pick up half-dried dead fish with a fishy stench and arranged them like the salted fish uncle did. “Uncle often goes to sea?”

The salted fish uncle saw Kong Hou’s fair, clean palms get stained with salt residue. His eyes widened slightly: “Mm.”

“Then can I ask uncle to go to sea with us?” The ocean was boundless and full of danger. Even cultivators with extremely high cultivation had to be cautious. Having someone who often went to sea accompany them would be much more convenient.

His fish-drying motion stopped. The salted fish uncle raised an eyebrow to look at Kong Hou—where was the look of someone who hadn’t woken up: “You want to go find dragons?”

—

**Author’s Note:** Kong Hou: Each profession has its specialty. People skilled at catching fish might also be able to find dragons.