In the vast expanse of heaven and earth, finding a tiny black pearl was no easy task.
Er Sheng searched for her flying sword for a long time without success. Just as she was about to despair, she sensed a strange energy emanating from behind Wufang Mountain. After some hesitation, she finally decided to follow it.
The earlier incident when she first entered Wufang had thoroughly dampened her interest in this forbidden area—she usually wouldn’t even take a detour near it. Today, for the sake of that pearl that might bring harm to the mortal world, Er Sheng gritted her teeth and forced herself to circle above the forbidden area. Seeing no suspicious spots, she was about to head back when suddenly, an eerie wind blew past her.
Having helped Ji Ling hunt many demons across the lands, Er Sheng’s keen senses detected demonic energy in the wind, along with intense killing intent!
A demon had infiltrated Wufang…
Just as Er Sheng realized this, a blade of light appeared from nowhere, slashing toward her. Er Sheng’s gaze sharpened as she immediately maneuvered the Yilin Sword to dodge, but the light blade seemed to have a life of its own. When its first strike was missed, it changed direction and continued attacking. Er Sheng couldn’t keep up with its attacks and was forced to retreat repeatedly in an embarrassing manner.
The light blade seemed to be toying with her like a plaything—appearing dangerous yet always stopping at the crucial moment, allowing Er Sheng to escape.
At first, Er Sheng hadn’t noticed the opponent’s intention, but as she continued dodging, she gradually sensed they were just playing with her. Her pride severely wounded, Er Sheng darted back and forth several times. Seeing the opponent getting more and more into their game, Er Sheng finally snapped. She stopped the Yilin Sword, boldly turned around, and threw back all the etiquette her teacher had taught her over the years:
“Which bastard is playing tricks? Want to lose your life?!”
As soon as the words fell, the light blade suddenly froze before Er Sheng’s face. Soon after, the killing intent in the wind disappeared completely, and an alluring voice seemed to float down from the heavens: “Tsk tsk, it seems Wufang’s disciples aren’t so strict after all.”
Er Sheng looked in the direction of the voice and saw a devastatingly beautiful man wearing extremely gorgeous clothing, standing crookedly on a cloud. He was playing with the Bone Mite’s core that Er Sheng had been searching for, which had now turned completely black. The man tilted his head and looked at her with interest: “Such words match this young master’s aesthetics perfectly. What fun it would be if you became my disciple.”
Er Sheng studied the newcomer for a long while: “Who are you?”
Beauty Kong nearly fell off his cloud. He narrowed his eyes dangerously: “To forget this young master’s beautiful face, little girl, have those Wufang idlers taught you to be stupid?”
Er Sheng pondered for a long time before finally pulling up a vague figure in her mind: “Beauty? The demon who wanted to be my master?”
“Little girl, you’re being disrespectful. Considering we master and disciple have been separated for three years, I’ll let you off this time. Come with your master now.” Beauty Kong said, extending his beautiful fingers and beckoning her forward.
Er Sheng held the Yilin Sword across her chest and retreated vigilantly: “I am a Wufang disciple. When did I ever take a demon like you as my master?”
Only then did Beauty Kong slowly straighten up on his cloud and sigh: “These idlers are most boring in how they like to brainwash people with grand principles of the world. My disciple, don’t listen to their words. Cultivation is only for seeking power. Whatever Wufang’s people can teach you, I can teach too. What they can’t teach, I can still teach. Moreover, at Wufang you must observe all those rules and precepts. This young master has never cared for heavenly principles—do whatever you want to do. Naturally, my disciples can also do whatever they want. Such a free life, and you still won’t come with me? Have you thought it through clearly?”
Er Sheng wasn’t a girl with principles and righteousness firmly planted in her heart. Hearing these temptations, she shamefully wavered for a moment, but thinking of her living master and senior sister, Er Sheng shook her head and said: “Hmph, these conditions… even if you added fifty chicken legs, I wouldn’t go.”
Beauty Kong narrowed his eyes: “How about this young master adds a hundred chicken legs?”
“Even if you add ten beautiful clothes, I won’t go.”
“Twenty pieces.”
Er Sheng shamefully fell silent, and after a long while finally said: “Help me find Chang Yuan…”
Beauty Kong raised an eyebrow: “This young master isn’t very good at finding people, but if I seriously search, there’s no one I can’t find.”
Er Sheng looked at the Yilin Sword in silence.
Beauty Kong beckoned again, still appearing very leisurely: “If we’ve agreed, come quickly. I seem to see someone troublesome coming.”
Er Sheng looked up at Beauty Kong’s hand: “What did we agree on?” she asked curiously. “Even if you help me find Chang Yuan, I won’t go.” With that, she waved her sleeve, mounted the Yilin Sword, and turned to leave.
Beauty Kong’s face rarely turned green, then he smiled: “I usually don’t like people joking when I’m being serious.”
Er Sheng knew this was bad and flew away on the Yilin Sword in an instant, but no matter how fast she was, she couldn’t outpace Beauty Kong. The figure that had been standing on the cloud a moment ago flashed, and in the blink of an eye, Er Sheng found herself caught in his embrace with a hand over her mouth.
Beauty Kong said coolly: “Little girl, there are things you can’t say, like joking with this young master. There are things you can’t do, like making this young master angry. There are people you can’t offend, like…” Er Sheng had no patience for his nonsense, knowing only that she was at someone else’s mercy and might even lose her life. In her panic, she completely disregarded proper conduct and bit down hard, her sharp teeth sinking into Beauty Kong’s tiger’s mouth.
Who would have thought that a seventeen-year-old cultivator would still use children’s fighting tactics? Beauty Kong was stunned for a moment, his hand loosening, and the black pearl fell.
A pearl that could bring disaster to the mortal world…
Er Sheng found strength from somewhere unknown, shoved Beauty Kong hard, and chased after the pearl.
Beauty Kong came to his senses, looked at his dripping hand, and his natural cleanliness was triggered. He flew into a rage, sending a burst of murderous demonic energy after Er Sheng.
Just as she was about to catch the pearl, Beauty Kong suddenly attacked from behind, forcing Er Sheng to turn back and defend herself. With this block, she lost the pearl again. Er Sheng also grew angry, and when Beauty Kong attacked again, she gripped the Yilin Sword and recklessly converted her spiritual power into sword energy, slashing straight at Beauty Kong.
Taking advantage of Beauty Kong’s momentary surprise, Er Sheng let out a low shout and finally caught up with the Bone Mite’s core. Before she could rejoice, her collar suddenly tightened. Er Sheng turned her head in horror to see Beauty Kong staring at her intensely, saying in a deep voice: “The Evil Spirit Pearl is hidden in your body?”
Er Sheng was bewildered. Beauty Kong grabbed her neck with one hand and held her wrist with the other as if carefully diagnosing something. Finally, Beauty Kong slightly narrowed his eyes, his expression still leisurely, but the colors flowing in those black pupils changed—part ecstasy, part excitement: “I knew an ancient artifact wouldn’t be so easily destroyed.”
Er Sheng was terrified by the eeriness in his tone and struggled desperately, but the current Beauty Kong was like a different person from before, not loosening his grip no matter how much she moved.
He avoided Er Sheng’s hand holding the Bone Mite’s core and said: “Though this object can’t compare to the Evil Spirit Pearl, it’s still something that can absorb evil energy. Combined with the residual energy of the Evil Spirit Pearl in your body, it should produce some extremely interesting changes.” Beauty Kong smiled, “Little girl, would you like to see whether this object absorbs the evil energy in your body, or whether the evil energy in your body assimilates this object?”
Er Sheng didn’t understand what he was saying at all, but seeing Beauty Kong’s extremely lewd smile, her mind was racing with thoughts of how to escape.
Beauty Kong smiled evilly: “Let’s make a bet, see whether this world will produce another Evil Spirit Pearl, or whether you’ll become a monster controlled by evil energy.”
Er Sheng was terrified: “You bully the weak, you’re despicable and shameless!”
“Unfortunately, this young master loves his face the most.” His tone remained relaxed, but his actions weren’t gentle at all. Using one hand to restrain Er Sheng’s movements, his other hand went “pop” as he dislocated Er Sheng’s jaw, making it impossible for her to close it herself. Beauty Kong met Er Sheng’s terrified gaze and placed the completely black Bone Mite’s core in her mouth, then slightly applied force to reset her jaw, forcing her to swallow the core.
Er Sheng felt the round pearl stuck in her throat, unable to spit it out or swallow it down.
Beauty Kong released Er Sheng and stood aside watching idly, seemingly waiting for her to react.
However, after a while, Er Sheng was still stretching her neck, desperately patting her chest, looking like she was trying hard to swallow. Her face had turned red from the effort, appearing as if she was about to choke to death.
Beauty Kong looked disgusted: “How can your throat be so narrow?”
Er Sheng was choking so badly that her eyes were rolling back. She thought that if she died from choking on this pearl, not only would she die with grievances, but she probably wouldn’t even be able to close her throat.
Beauty Kong sighed and slapped Er Sheng’s back, causing the pearl to smoothly roll past her throat and finally slide into her esophagus. Although it still felt extremely uncomfortable, it was much better than before.
While Er Sheng was still catching her breath, another burst of sharp killing intent came from somewhere. Beauty Kong raised an eyebrow and smiled: “Someone’s come to die?” He waved his hand, thinking he could easily deflect this blatant spell, but unexpectedly, this killing intent was extremely overbearing and tyrannical. One strike broke through Beauty Kong’s defense, and another strike followed immediately, hitting Beauty Kong so hard his chest tightened and he had to step back twice.
Beauty Kong suppressed the surging blood in his chest and condensed his expression: “Who dares to ambush me?”
Cold wind whistled past his ears, but there wasn’t a trace of the opponent’s presence in it.
While Beauty Kong concentrated on facing the enemy, Er Sheng had no attention to spare for any of that. By now, the pitch-black Bone Mite’s core had probably slid into her stomach, seeming to jump up and down inside, twisting her stomach with unbearable pain, her face as white as paper. If she hadn’t been tightly gripping the Yilin Sword, she would have fallen from the clouds long ago.
The pain grew increasingly intense, and Er Sheng bent over, unable to bear it. She fearfully mumbled: “It’s over… it’s over, this thing can’t come out, it can’t come out…”
Even in such a scene, Beauty Kong couldn’t help but laugh at Er Sheng’s words. However, before his smile could fully form, the person approaching from the horizon made his brow sink again. Beauty Kong coldly laughed: “So it was Wufang’s Immortal Lord who personally made a move? I didn’t know Wufang had learned such a tyrannical internal breathing technique.”
The Immortal Lord slowly walked across the clouds, not to explain Beauty Kong’s words. His cold eyes merely glanced at Er Sheng, lingered on the Yilin Sword for a moment, and finally fell on Beauty Kong as he said: “Disturbing my Wufang, you must be executed.”
The smile on Beauty Kong’s lips gradually pulled into a bloodthirsty arc: “Big words. If this… young master hadn’t been careless earlier, how could you have even grazed me?”
The Immortal Lord slightly raised his hand, and Er Sheng felt some mysterious force pulling her away. Beauty Kong coldly smiled and used his magic to hold Er Sheng back: “How can you take away the disciple I want to recruit without even saying a word?”
At that moment, the Yilin Sword seemed to come alive, suddenly raising its tip to point directly at Beauty Kong. A cold light flashed, and Beauty Kong’s magic connecting to Er Sheng seemed to be cut off from afar, instantly disappearing. His expression subtly changed.
In that split second, the Immortal Lord waved his hand, throwing Er Sheng behind him before engaging Beauty Kong in battle.
The Immortal Lord had intended for Er Sheng to fly away on her sword, but he didn’t expect that Er Sheng was already unconscious from pain. With his throw, Er Sheng, having lost all control, was flung straight toward the forbidden area behind Wufang Mountain.
The Immortal Lord and Beauty Kong were locked in intense combat, with no attention to spare for Er Sheng. Therefore, at this moment, no one noticed a black shadow flashing through the air, diving straight toward Er Sheng.