Chapter 9: The System Is Giving You a Free Dao Companion.

"Luo Qiao?!" Fairy Li was caught completely off guard. It felt as if her head had been struck hard, her mind going briefly blank. Fortunately, the wind chimes at her waist rang out in a flurry, forcibly knocking that streak of cold light out of her sea of consciousness.

Taking advantage of the opening, Fairy Li steadied her mind and swept a glance over it. Although the cold light had been driven out, it still hovered in the air, circling without leaving. Within its haze, a blurry face could be seen, unmistakably Luo Qiao, one of the outer-sect elders of the Recondite Abyss Sect who had only recently been said to have "fallen."

Her expression darkened. "You still have another strand of soul here?!"

"Fairy Li?" Luo Qiao's soul had been hidden inside the jade slip and had no idea what was happening outside. Only when he sensed someone trying to inspect the cultivation art did he seize the chance to launch a sneak attack. Now that he realized it was Fairy Li, he was greatly surprised. "Given your status, Fairy Li, you would still covet the Six Desires Secret Manual?"

Fairy Li gave a cold snort. "Who complains about having too many ways to form a Nascent Soul? Cut the nonsense. Surrender and I'll grant you a quick death."

"You're quite the joker, Fairy," Luo Qiao said, his soul flickering in midair with a dark laugh. "We of the Sacred Sect aren't the sort to sit and wait for death. Besides, Fairy, your future is bright, while I, Luo, am already cornered. Do you really intend to take such a risk and drag us both down with you?"

"Why not let me hand over the cultivation art to you, and you spare me?"

As he spoke, he rolled up the jade slip and offered it to Fairy Li. The moment her gaze fell on it, Luo Qiao's face twisted viciously; he suddenly looked up and let out a piercing soul shriek.

Fairy Li only sneered. "I was already expecting that."

She had only just suffered from carelessness once. How could she possibly underestimate him again?

At some point, the skulls on the wind chime at her waist had all opened their mouths, their faces locked in silent wails.

Luo Qiao's soul form seemed to be struck by invisible blades, and the shriek in his throat cut off abruptly. At the same time, purple light flashed at Fairy Li's fingertips; her spiritual power, like a spirit snake, leapt into the air and lashed toward Luo Qiao.

"Soulbinding Force?" Luo Qiao and she had trained in the same sect, so of course he recognized this technique as the bane of lingering souls and shattered remnants. Even though he had once been at the Core Formation stage, he still instinctively feared that purple glow.

His thoughts raced. He shot Fairy Li a venomous look, then split into two, then four, then eight, darting away in every direction.

Fairy Li was not surprised in the least. She gave a grim smile. "Trying to run?"

She spread her delicate, slender fingers open toward the sky, then clenched them hard.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The next instant, a fierce yin wind erupted, spiritual energy went haywire, and even the surrounding sky dimmed. Five faintly visible bars rose with a boom around Fairy Li, forming a prison.

Luo Qiao's soul, which had already scattered and fled, was forcibly dragged back by some unseen power. He cried out in alarm, "The Five-Finger Dragon Prison! You've actually mastered that divine ability!"

Before Fairy Li could answer, he already bared his teeth in a vicious smile. "Since I am certain to die today, then neither of you gets the Six Desires Secret Manual."

The words were still hanging in the air when his soul wrapped around the jade slip and began to fluctuate violently. He was clearly preparing to self-detonate.

"You dare!!" Fairy Li held a lofty position in the Recondite Abyss Sect and had traveled all the way to Luquan City for this very cultivation art, a technique said to alter one's foundations and break the core to form a Nascent Soul. How could she allow all that effort to go to waste?

Though she knew that the self-detonation of a Core Formation cultivator's soul would be terrifyingly powerful, she still advanced instead of retreating.

At the same time, the wind chimes on her body rang wildly. Layer upon layer of intricate patterns appeared on her fair skin, and her slender hand reached out, forcefully cutting through Luo Qiao's soul and seizing the jade slip.

The instant she clenched the jade slip in her palm, Luo Qiao's soul exploded.

A long while later, the small hill was gone. The three pagoda trees on the slope below, which Pei Ling had described as a triangular landmark, had been reduced to three holes. Within a radius of several li, the ground was pitted and cratered, and in some places bare, broken rock lay exposed.

It was proof enough of how horrifying a Core Formation cultivator's soul self-detonation could be.

"Cough, cough, cough..." At that moment, Fairy Li slowly descended from the air. The moment she touched down, she couldn't help coughing several times, then covered her mouth with her sleeve and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Still, she wasn't too concerned about her injuries. With Luo Qiao gone, there was nothing in this tiny Luquan City capable of threatening her. She quickly checked the jade slip.

Sure enough, although she had protected it as best she could, it still had a crack in it.

Fairy Li frowned. From her experience, she naturally knew that in this condition the cultivation art inside had definitely been affected.

It wasn't ruined outright, but she would still need to return to the sect and have someone repair it before she could obtain the Six Desires Secret Manual.

Though it was more troublesome than expected, at least the purpose of this trip had been achieved. Fairy Li coughed a few more times, put the jade slip away, and vanished from the spot with a gentle swish of her black gauze skirt.

A while later, at the Biwu Courtyard, Fairy Li reappeared in the yard just as she had when she left.

Having borne the brunt of a Core Formation cultivator's soul self-detonation and then raced all the way back to the Pei residence, even she, a top-tier prodigy in the Recondite Abyss Sect, could not help feeling her blood and qi turn unstable.

By the time she landed, another bout of coughing seized her. She waved a hand to hang the wind chime back under the eaves, then quickly walked into the secluded chamber.

At once, the chamber door swung shut on its own and slammed closed with a bang.

Inside, Fairy Li sat cross-legged on the cloud couch, swallowed a pill, and circulated her power to heal.

She was anxious to stabilize her injuries so she could return to the Recondite Abyss Sect and find someone to repair the jade slip, and had already forgotten about Pei Ling. After all, he was only a minor collateral member of the Pei family.

Even the Pei family's direct heir, Pei Hongnian, what was he before her if not a dog?

No, less than a dog.

After all, only someone like Zheng Jingshan counted as a proper dog.

Pei Hongnian was at best fit to be Zheng Jingshan's dog.

As for Pei Ling, in Fairy Li's eyes he was even less than Pei Hongnian. Why bother mentioning him?

So even if, because of her carelessness, he died beneath the Seductive Bone Rakshasa Painting, it could only be said that Pei Ling had met his fate.

What did that have to do with her?

Just then, Pei Ling had also forgotten all about Fairy Li. He was immersed in the proper cultivation method of the new art when, all of a sudden, the system chimed: "Ding-dong. Detected that the nameless cultivation art is a dual-cultivation technique, and requires a Dao companion in order to continue cultivation..."

Pei Ling: "?!"

"Ding-dong!" the system said mechanically. "Detected that the host lacks a Dao companion. The system will gift you one for free..."

The next moment, Pei Ling watched helplessly as his body stopped cultivating, snatched up the pellet beside him, then got to his feet and strode to the door. At a speed far beyond what his current cultivation base should have allowed, he bolted out of the room.

"System??" Pei Ling was about to explode. In his mind he roared over and over, "Stop right now, you damn thing! Do you even know where this is? The only people here who could be my Dao companion are my sisters or the women of my brothers and uncles!"

He finally understood: this idiot system would not rest until it got him killed!

As Pei Ling frantically tried to figure out how to clean up the mess after the family discovered the incest, he saw something so horrifying it nearly scared him to death: he was back in the Biwu Courtyard!

He had entered the Biwu Courtyard!

He ignored the main house ahead, along with the servants' side rooms, and instead followed the exact route Pei Xuan had used to bring him here before, heading straight for the back courtyard's secluded chamber!

Outside the chamber, the wind chime under the eaves suddenly let out a rapid burst of ringing.

Inside, Fairy Li sensed it, frowned slightly, and after a brief probe, discovered Pei Ling sprinting madly toward her.

"I nearly forgot!" Fairy Li said with some realization. Earlier, she had promised that once she got the jade slip, she would remove the threat of the Seductive Bone Rakshasa Diagram from this collateral branch of the Pei family. But because she had been busy breaking Luo Qiao's seal, she had put the matter out of mind.

Now that Pei Ling had barged in without any manners and was pounding on the door, he must already be at his limit.

Thinking that, Fairy Li temporarily cut off her healing and said, "This seat..."

But before she could finish, the chamber door was suddenly kicked open!

The next instant, Pei Ling strode inside with fury blazing in his eyes yet his face utterly calm. Fairy Li only thought he must be on the verge of death to dare such insolence, and was about to rebuke him when Pei Ling, the moment he entered, hurled a pellet straight at her face.

That pellet burst into dust with a bang in midair, instantly enveloping the entire room.

Seven-Apex Soul-Shaking Powder! Fairy Li was shocked. This was Luo Qiao's lineage's trump card. She had thought it had been used up long ago during his disciple's flight, yet it had somehow fallen into Pei Ling's hands.

Under normal circumstances, such a trick couldn't hurt her at all. But not long ago, in order to preserve the jade slip of the Six Desires Secret Manual, she had just borne the full force of Luo Qiao's soul self-detonation head-on, and both body and soul were badly injured.

Right now she was already weak, and had completely assumed that Pei Ling had come seeking help. She had never imagined that a mere third-level Qi Refining collateral disciple of the Pei family would dare make a move against her.

A flash of shock and fury crossed Fairy Li's eyes, but she didn't even have time to say a single word before she went limp and collapsed!