The map was well-made, with clear and detailed markings of the demonic beasts' nests.
As she slowly made her way through the dense forest, Jian Xiaolou didn't encounter a single aggressive beast. As for a few insignificant baby beasts, a packet of beast-repelling powder specially made by the Beast Taming Pavilion easily took care of them.
Lush grass grew at her feet, and wildflowers bloomed in clusters — it almost felt like a pleasant countryside outing.
About halfway through the journey, a faint ripple of spiritual energy suddenly came from the southeast.
Jian Xiaolou moved closer and perked up her ears. It sounded like someone was weakly calling for help. Sniffing the air, beyond the fresh scent of green plants, she also caught a whiff of a faintly sweet, bloody smell.
Drawing even nearer, she saw under a nearby large tree a young girl, around eleven or twelve years old, lying on the ground. Her cultivation was only at the second level of Qi Refining. Not far from her lay a white python, already lifeless.
"Big sister, please help me," the girl cried weakly upon seeing someone approach. "I-I was picking herbs and ran into this awakened python…"
Jian Xiaolou didn't say a word. She turned and walked away.
Too fake — it was obviously a trap.
There was a bloody mess from a fight between a person and a snake, yet the surrounding brambles and bushes were completely untouched? Who are you trying to fool? If you're going to set up a trap, at least put in some effort!
The girl shouted anxiously, "Big sister, are you here to join the Fire Refining Sect too? I'm a disciple of the Fire Refining Sect — please help me!"
"Fire Refining Sect?" That suddenly made Jian Xiaolou think of a possibility. She hesitated, her brows furrowed slightly, and used her spiritual sense to carefully scan the surroundings again. Could this be a test from the sect?
She asked, "You're a disciple of the Fire Refining Sect?"
The girl nodded vigorously, tear streaks glistening on her pale cheeks, looking pitifully up at her.
After some thought, Jian Xiaolou decided to help her. In uncertain situations like this, it was better to be cautious and believe it might be true. If she was wrong in her judgment, well — this little girl was only at the second level of Qi Refining. Would Jian Xiaolou not be able to handle her?
She first stowed Xiao Hei into her spirit beast pouch and secretly clutched a Shrinking Earth Talisman in her hand. Speaking a few comforting words, she steadily walked forward. Just as she bent down to help the girl up, a sharp whistle suddenly cut through the air — the unmistakable sound of an arrow flying toward her.
As expected — it was a trap!
Jian Xiaolou's bright eyes darkened, but her reaction was lightning-fast. The spiritual energy she had long been storing surged forth, activating the teleportation array within the Shrinking Earth Talisman. A flash of white smoke appeared, and in the blink of an eye, her body retreated more than ten feet away.
With two crisp cracking sounds, the jade bracelet on her wrist released several streaks of purple smoke. They twisted and coiled, solidifying into several short swords crackling with purple lightning, circling around her to form a protective sword shield.
These weren't lethal weapons, but a high-grade set of human-level defensive spiritual tools — a gift her eldest brother had exchanged for her from the Tianyi Alliance.
Not being able to harbor killing intent didn't mean she was defenseless.
However, what surprised her was that the arrow hadn't been aimed at her. With a sharp whistle, it pierced straight through the chest of the young girl who had been sobbing moments earlier.
The arrow's force carried the girl's body through the brambles, pinning her to the trunk of a large tree.
Just moments ago, she'd seemed barely alive — now, she was unmistakably, completely dead.
The arrow embedded in her heart still had tendrils of electric current writhing at the tail.
Jian Xiaolou stood frozen, watching it all unfold, her teeth chattering slightly out of instinctive fear, unable to react right away.
She had never been a timid person. It had been fifteen years since she arrived in this world, and this wasn't the first time she'd witnessed someone kill another. But every time she encountered such ruthless slaughter, a chill would still creep into her heart.
"Why did you try to kill her without saying a word?" Jian Xiaolou turned her head, frowning as she looked toward the direction the arrow had come from.
"If I hadn't killed her, she would've killed you. I saved your life — instead of thanking me, you question me? What logic is that?"
A woman in her early twenties gradually stepped into Jian Xiaolou's line of sight.
She was at the ninth level of Qi Refining, just half a step from Foundation Establishment. Her features were sharp — not beautiful per se — but her long legs and tall, commanding figure stood out. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and she wore a fitted leather outfit with narrow sleeves, belted at the waist. Deer-hide boots wrapped her feet, and slung across her back was a massive iron bow almost the size of Jian Xiaolou herself.
She also wore a heavy, two-foot-long repeating crossbow strapped to her forearm.
She strode forward confidently and stopped in front of Jian Xiaolou. "I am Zhan... Zhan Tianxiang."
Momentarily overwhelmed by this powerful, commanding "cool beauty" aura, Jian Xiaolou straightened her back. No matter what, she first offered her thanks, then gave her own name, and finally asked, "How did you know she was going to kill me?"
Zhan Tianxiang explained, "She had applied Energy Dissolving Powder on her body. If you had touched her, your cultivation would've dropped drastically for a moment. That powder isn't anything special — at most, it could weaken you for a single breath — but a single breath is more than enough for her to take your life."
Seeing Jian Xiaolou remain silent, she added, "The body's hanging right there on the tree. If you don't believe me, feel free to go check."
"No need. I believe you."
Since it wasn't part of the entrance exam, it could only have been a robbery attempt taking advantage of the test. Jian Xiaolou had already guessed as much earlier, so she naturally believed it. She had even considered the possibility that the attacker might use poison and had countermeasures prepared — though there was no need to tell the other person that.
"How did you know all this so clearly?" she asked.
"Because I fell for it yesterday," Zhan Tianxiang replied. "Luckily, I'm not afraid of poison and managed to subdue her."
That was odd. Jian Xiaolou looked at her, puzzled. "Then why didn't you kill her yesterday?"
Zhan Tianxiang's lips thinned into a straight line, clearly stung by the question. She pressed her lips together before replying gravely, "She begged me. Said it was her first time doing such a thing, that she had never taken a life before, and she only did it because her parents were ill and she had a disabled younger brother..."
"You believed her? And let her go?" Jian Xiaolou was a little shocked. She had thought this long-legged warrior was the type to kill without blinking — but now she realized...
Zhan Tianxiang said nothing, her expression stiff as she walked past Jian Xiaolou to the tree where the girl's body was hanging.
She opened and closed her palm, then grabbed the arrow with five fingers and pulled it out of the girl's chest with a cold, mechanical motion, ignoring the blood that gushed out. Without a glance back, she turned and continued up the mountain.
"That's why I came back today to check. Fortunately, you're unharmed. In the future, be careful. The human heart is treacherous. Don't show mercy so lightly."
Jian Xiaolou hadn't been feeling particularly merciful earlier, but she could now be fairly certain of one thing:
Despite her naivety, this long-legged woman was rare and dependable. Strong in combat too — perfect to travel with.
So what was there to hesitate for? Jian Xiaolou quickly caught up, trying to warm up to her.
"Big Sister Zhan, thank you for saving my life. Are you also here to join the Fire Refining Sect?"
"Mm."
"I'm from Baiyun City. Judging from your outfit, you don't seem like you're from Yunzhou?"
"I'm not."
"You're really strong. That iron bow must weigh dozens of pounds. Isn't it heavy carrying it around?"
"It's not."
"And your boots—"
"Why do you talk so much?"
"..."
The two of them moved quickly, one following the other. By sunset, they finally emerged from the mountain forest path and arrived outside the gates of Fuguang City.
There had just been a mountain rain. After the storm, mist clung to the mountainside, swirling halfway up the slope. From afar, the entire immortal city of Fuguang looked like a magnificent palace floating on a sea of clouds — breathtakingly beautiful.
"Tsk tsk, a level-two immortal city really is something else," Jian Xiaolou exclaimed with genuine admiration.
"Truly different," Zhan Tianxiang said with a slight tilt of her head, her dark, bright eyes looking straight at the top of the city gate. She smiled faintly. "I bet your Baiyun City doesn't hang a living person above its gate, does it?"
"Hm?" Jian Xiaolou followed her gaze and only then noticed a golden iron hook suspended in midair above the city gate — horrifically, the hook had pierced straight through a person's ribs, leaving him dangling in the air.
It was clear that the person was still alive.
Jian Xiaolou found him somewhat familiar — wasn't that the young man in the purple robe who had refused to travel with her earlier?
She took a deep breath and whispered, "I know him. I think he's from a fourth-tier family. He was also here to join the Fire Refining Sect. How did he end up hanging there so suddenly?"
Zhan Tianxiang clasped her hands behind her back and muttered without context, "That brat from East Continent... truly a dog of a man."
At the city gate, a fat cultivator with a barrel-shaped waist pointed at the two of them and shouted, "Hey, you two newbies! What are you dawdling for? Hurry over and pay the fee!"
The fat cultivator wasn't wearing armor, so it was clear he wasn't part of Fuguang City's official guard.
Jian Xiaolou asked suspiciously, "Daoist master, we already paid the entry fee at the base of the mountain."
The fat cultivator squinted his eyes until they were almost shut. "What you paid down there was the city entry fee. Now you're paying the immortal city maintenance fee — twenty lower-grade spirit stones each!"
Twenty lower-grade spirit stones? This was blatant robbery.
Level-two immortal city entry only cost two spirit stones. That was the rule set by the Tianyi Alliance. Since when did "maintenance fees" exist?
Jian Xiaolou was just about to argue when Zhan Tianxiang suddenly grabbed her wrist.
Zhan Tianxiang shook her head slightly, signaling her to stay silent.
The fat cultivator pointed up at the purple-robed youth hanging from the hook and said smugly, "See that idiot up there? He could've just paid and gone on his way, but no, he had to run his mouth and insult this little Daoist lord. Bad luck for him — my master happened to overhear. And who is my master? The mighty Young Overlord of the East Continent! He got assigned to guard this godforsaken dump over some minor offense and was already in a foul mood — so he decided to play a little. That's the result!"
Jian Xiaolou instantly swallowed her words, giving up any resistance. She quietly fished out her spirit stones.
She didn't know who this so-called East Continent Young Overlord was, but she was certain it was someone she absolutely couldn't afford to offend right now.
"Not bad, not bad. You're a smart little lady — got potential," the fat Daoist praised Jian Xiaolou with a grin. Then he tilted his head toward Zhan Tianxiang, his narrow eyes sliding over. "And you, sweetheart?"
Zhan Tianxiang didn't argue. Calmly, she handed over twenty spirit stones to the fat Daoist and said politely, "I'll leave these spirit stones in your care, Daoist master. Make sure to keep them safe for me."
The fat Daoist took the stones, still grinning as if he hadn't registered her words at all.