The red pill was like blood, making that hand appear especially delicate and white.
“Is this it?”
Lao Niu had lived most of his life and considered himself to have seen his share of turbulent events, but at this moment, he was also shocked, stammering as he asked: “This… this is…”
“I killed that demon beast underwater, and this fell out from inside its body,” Zanxing answered.
In truth, this wasn’t quite accurate. At the time when she was underwater, she had used the sand ball to strike the shadow of the “Yu,” and the phantom image above began to dissipate. The solid black domain began to churn violently, and a blood-colored red pill flew out from within it. Zanxing hadn’t originally paid attention to it, but the Xiaoyuan Pearl at her chest began to heat up slightly, as if it desperately desired that thing. So she reached out and seized that pill that was attempting to escape.
“Ah, Uncle Niu, is this a demon core?” Hong Su was extremely excited. “This is my first time seeing a demon core!”
“I’ve never seen one either…” Lao Niu murmured.
“Uncle Niu, didn’t you just say that this demon core is equivalent to a third-grade spirit medicine? If Miss absorbs this demon core, wouldn’t her cultivation greatly increase?”
“That may be so,” Lao Niu pondered for a while, “but this demon core was formed inside a demon beast’s body after all, and contains demonic power within it. If one’s cultivation is insufficient, I’m afraid one cannot absorb the elemental power within it.” He glanced at the thoughtful Zanxing and suggested, “Why don’t we wait until we reach Pingyang Town and find a trading market to exchange this demon core for spirit stones or low-grade spirit medicines and pills? That way, Miss would find it easier to absorb.”
“Wouldn’t that be such a waste?” Hong Su pouted: “Low-grade spirit medicines and spirit stones are common, but demon cores are not. Why not give it to the Young City Master?” Her eyes lit up: “The Young City Master is right before the selection competition. With this demon core’s assistance, he would surely enter the sect smoothly. When that time comes, the Young City Master will surely be grateful to Miss and feel even deeper affection for her.”
Zanxing glanced at the little girl who was still immersed in her fantasies, thinking to herself that this child’s ideas were quite naive. However, she had no intention of giving this demon core, which she had fought desperately to obtain, to that scumbag.
…
The night was already very deep.
Dense fog shrouded the entire mountainside. There was no moon tonight, only a few sparse points of starlight filtering through the tree branches and falling into the forest. Beside the burning campfire, the little girl was sleeping soundly, leaning against the old coachman.
Zanxing walked over and gently covered them both with a blanket she had brought out from the carriage.
Hong Su smacked her lips and murmured sleepily.
Zanxing carefully stepped over them and walked toward the other side.
She stopped not far from the two of them, found a clean stone to sit on, and looked up at the night sky, letting out a sigh of relief.
From the beginning of her transmigration until now, she had been constantly dealing with sudden situations, so only now did she have time to properly accept the reality of the world she was in.
She had indeed transmigrated into the book world of “Nine Heaven Summit.”
“Nine Heaven Summit” was an old-school male-oriented upgrade-flow cultivation power fantasy novel. As its name suggests, throughout the entire book, the male protagonist did only three things from beginning to end: 1. Face-slapping. 2. Leveling up. 3. Collecting a harem.
As a female cannon fodder who appeared for less than two thousand words before going offline, from a certain perspective, when Zanxing had pulled back that hand pushing toward Liu Yunxin and fell into the water in place of the male protagonist, she should have already changed the plot. As the character “Miss Yang,” she would no longer repeat the ending of being slapped to death by the male protagonist Mu Cengxiao.
With no line of enmity with the male protagonist, she had also escaped the fate of cannon fodder. Even though this was transmigration, she had departed from the original plot line and could start anew, living her own new life in the book world… if only her face hadn’t been injured.
Zanxing’s hand touched her right cheek.
She had been injured by the mud shot by the “Yu” underwater. The disfigurement was secondary; more importantly, she could feel a stream of demonic energy spreading deeper along her face. If this continued, her life would be in danger.
As Uncle Niu had said, Yue City was a small place where physicians only treated ordinary injuries and illnesses. This kind of aftereffect left by a demon beast might only be resolved by those skilled healing cultivators in Pingyang Town.
She had to go to Pingyang Town.
But… after going to Pingyang Town and healing the scars on her face, what then? In this world, the strong were revered. Ordinary women took pride in marrying a cultivator husband. Without the ability to protect themselves, the better ones like Liu Yunxin found a strong person to rely on, but still had to tolerate that man being unfaithful to multiple women. The worst ones, like Miss Yang, not only followed the wrong person but couldn’t even preserve their own lives.
The original author of “Nine Heaven Summit” probably harbored great malice toward women. In this book, ordinary women were like goods, beautiful vases, bargaining chips for transactions, without a shred of human dignity or the right to choose.
But what if… she didn’t become an ordinary woman?
Zanxing looked up at the twinkling stars in the night sky.
Thanks to having read countless cultivation power fantasy novels before, she was at least not unfamiliar with certain universal settings.
Ancient texts said: “What the earth bears, within the six directions, within the four seas, illuminated by sun and moon, regulated by stars and constellations, recorded by the four seasons, governed by the Grand Year. What spirits generate have different forms, some short-lived, some long-lived; only sages can comprehend their way.”
The immortals of ancient times seemed to exist only in distant legends. Ordinary humans, whether pursuing longevity or seeking broader worlds, studied the Dao and cultivated themselves. From childhood, they practiced daily with bitter effort, listening to their breath and nurturing their qi, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, nourishing themselves with pills and spiritual herbs, longing to ascend and become immortals.
The cultivators of this world were the same, progressing from Refining Qi Stage, Foundation Establishment Stage, Golden Core to Yuan Ying, Out-of-Body, Spirit Division, and finally to Great Vehicle, Tribulation Crossing, and Spirit Transformation Stage. Each step was filled with hardship.
Her fiancé Wang Shao began refining qi at eight, established his foundation at twelve, and was now only at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment Stage. He was already considered outstanding in all of Yue City, a so-called “genius.” And Miss Yang, now seventeen years old, had only barely entered the first level of Refining Qi Stage by relying on the spirit medicines and pills Wang Shao gave her.
Of course, this was before Zanxing had transmigrated.
And now…
She opened her hand. The blood-colored red pill in her palm showed a somewhat demonic appearance under the sparse starlight.
A demon core was formed by the demonic qi within a demon beast’s body. Besides the elemental power that cultivators desired, it also carried the violent demonic power of the demon beast. For a rookie cultivator at the early Refining Qi Stage, she would probably not only fail to absorb the elemental power but would also be harmed by the demonic qi on the demon core.
However, she had a golden finger.
The Xiaoyuan Pearl at her chest seemed unable to wait any longer and began heating up rapidly. Zanxing placed the red pill in front of her, extended both palms facing each other, and gradually condensed a golden qi from her palms, firmly wrapping the red pill within it.
During those few days of cultivation in the sand cave, including when fighting with the “Yu,” she had roughly understood how to use this “qi,” which was the elemental power of heaven and earth. With cultivation that hadn’t yet reached Foundation Establishment Stage, Zanxing’s elemental power was somewhat strained to subdue the demonic qi on the demon core. But the Xiaoyuan Pearl was simply like an enhancement buff—Zanxing’s elemental power instantly increased tenfold under the Xiaoyuan Pearl’s augmentation.
The golden light bursting from her palms instantly swallowed the red pill.
The last trace of starlight dimmed, leaving only silent darkness between heaven and earth. After an unknown amount of time, wisps of red light like fine red threads flew from within the wrapping golden light toward the young girl sitting in meditation.