Chapter 7: Fairy Li.

Pei Ling’s hair stood on end all over his body. Yet at that critical instant, the crisis instead sparked the potential buried deep inside him. He hurriedly rolled on the ground and, at the very edge of disaster, dodged the strike.

Wu Tingxi’s sure-kill finger missed, and he stared in stunned disbelief.

But this man came from a major sect after all, and his reflexes were swift. He had originally planned to stand with his hands behind his back and lecture Pei Ling’s corpse a few words, but he adjusted instantly. His foot stomped down hard, and he lunged forward like a shadow.

The next moment, his fist slammed into Pei Ling’s face.

Bang!

Pei Ling was left dizzy and seeing stars from the blow, but he was overjoyed inside: he was only at the third level of Qi Refinement, and he had never learned any real offensive technique.

If Wu Tingxi kept using the Five Poisons Finger, then even if Pei Ling had dodged that first strike, the next one would have killed him for certain.

Now that Wu Tingxi had actually resorted to fists and kicks, it only proved that his injuries were far worse than Pei Ling’s, and he was hardly any better off.

He immediately hooked both legs around the other man’s body, preventing him from creating distance to use other methods, while swinging his right fist and smashing it hard toward the man’s chin.

This was the full-force strike of a peak iron-boned cultivator at the third level of Qi Refinement. If it had been in the past, Wu Tingxi would not have given such an attack a second thought. But now he was injured too badly to avoid it. His face was knocked sharply to the side, and a faint taste of blood rose in his mouth.

"You bastard!!!" Wu Tingxi’s eyes were splitting with rage. In the next instant, he drove a vicious headbutt straight into Pei Ling’s skull!

Pei Ling was instantly sent reeling. Taking advantage of the opening, Wu Tingxi struggled up, grabbed a rock beside him, and without another word hurled it at Pei Ling.

Pei Ling heard the wind shift and quickly rolled aside. At the same time, he scooped up a handful of dirt from the ground and flung it at Wu Tingxi’s face.

Wu Tingxi reflexively shut his eyes. Pei Ling seized that opening, rushed in, wrapped both arms around his waist, and threw him to the ground.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Wu Tingxi had already suffered severe internal injuries, and this throw, combined with Pei Ling’s weight pressing down on him, made blood seep again from the corner of his mouth.

He knew things were bad. During the struggle, his fingertips searched inside his sleeve several times, and with deft movements he took out the pellet he had been holding earlier, when a mouse had startled him.

But that pellet was an item left by his master, handed down together with the jade slip of the cultivation method. It was the final trump card of his master’s line, something so valuable that using it on Zheng Jingshan would already be wasteful. And Pei Ling was nothing more than a third-level Qi Refinement trash...

Wu Tingxi only hesitated for a moment before his wrist suddenly shot with pain. Pei Ling had noticed something was wrong and, despite taking headbutts and kicks from him, had forced his grip onto Wu Tingxi’s wrist and smashed it viciously against the stone beside them several times.

Wu Tingxi cried out. The pellet in his hand slipped free and rolled to the ground on its own.

Shock, fury, and regret hit him all at once, and his spirit broke. But Pei Ling’s ferocity had been fully roused, and he only grew braver the longer he fought. In an instant the balance of power was clear, and Pei Ling took the chance to smash him to the ground with a rock.

Afraid the bastard from that hellish sect might be faking death and waiting for a sneak attack, Pei Ling did not dare slack off at all even after he felt the other man had stopped moving. He kept smashing rocks down, shattering more than a dozen of them, until he confirmed that Wu Tingxi’s head was completely mashed into the ground and the corpse had already gone cold, and only then did he finally stop, panting hard and wiping his face in lingering shock... He had won!

He had killed Wu Tingxi!

With danger still looming, Pei Ling was only briefly delighted before he scrambled to his feet, ignoring the pain, first giving the system a one-star review behind its back, then stripping Wu Tingxi of everything he had inside and out.

Remembering the pellet that man had been unwilling to use just now, Pei Ling also searched nearby and tucked it into his own chest. After that, he destroyed the body and erased the traces, then endured the dizziness and staggering vision and made his way away while holding onto the cliff wall.

Now that Wu Tingxi was no longer blocking the path, Pei Ling spent a bit of time before finally finding the route leading back to the surface through the spiderweb-like tunnels.

Thanks to his bastard father and stepmother, he had needed to come to Mount Yuanlao since childhood to gather herbs and hunt in order to feed himself, so he was very familiar with everything outside the deepest part of the mountain.

After identifying his direction, he quickly found a secluded side path down the mountain.

Along the way he ran into one or two members of the Pei clan. Fortunately, he had just been with them in the main hall of the Pei residence receiving orders, so although he looked utterly miserable now, claiming he had encountered a beast he could not defeat did not arouse any suspicion among his clansmen.

There was even a kind-hearted cousin who tossed him a bottle of hemostatic powder.

Pei Ling accepted it with heartfelt gratitude, used the excuse that he was going back to the city to find a doctor, and calmly slipped away.

After coming down Mount Yuanlao, he remembered Wu Tingxi’s earlier instruction to head west and decisively chose the east instead.

But before he had gone far, Pei Ling once again sensed someone spying on him from the shadows.

Worse still, the pain in his wounded left arm gradually faded, turning into numbness.

There was no one in sight, yet the dense, countless gazes were only increasing... Pei Ling’s pace slowed and slowed, his face turning ashen!

He knew he was in trouble. Not only had the Enchanting Bones Rakshasa Chart come looking for him again, the most dangerous part was that the place Wu Tingxi had injured was clearly poisoned.

Pei Ling rummaged through the things Wu Tingxi had left behind. Perhaps because that man had been hunted all the way here, he did not have many medicines on him, and among the few jade bottles that remained, Pei Ling only recognized the blood-qi pill. He had no idea what the others were.

At this rate, even if he used the system to cultivate and temporarily hold off the Enchanting Bones Rakshasa Chart, he still might not survive.

And that idiot system had first dragged him into stealing Zheng Jingshan’s bone-tempering pill during his first cultivation session, which had brought the Enchanting Bones Rakshasa Chart down on him; the second time, it had led him to snatch Wu Tingxi’s blood-qi pill, and he had only survived by fighting a life-and-death battle. Who knew what kind of situation this cultivation session would dump him into next?

Thoughts raced through Pei Ling’s mind. He looked at the dead man’s relics in his hand, his expression shifting uncertainly for a moment before he gritted his teeth and actually turned around to head for Luquan City.

Half a day later, in Luquan City, at the Pei residence, the family head Pei Xuan looked in surprise at the ragged, bedraggled Pei Ling before him. "You say you found Wu Tingxi? Then why didn’t you send the clan signal?"

"Reporting to the family head, nephew was badly injured at the time. I was afraid that sending the signal would draw Wu Tingxi’s attention. If that happened, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have made it back," Pei Ling said through light panting, then asked in a low voice, "May I ask where Master Zheng is? Nephew needs to report in person."

Pei Xuan’s eyes flickered as he said, "You’ve worked hard. Friend Zheng is not in the residence right now. How about this: I’ll have someone take you down to treat your injuries first, and you tell me where Wu Tingxi is. I’ll pass the message on to Friend Zheng for you."

"That place is very complicated," Pei Ling refused at once. The reason he had taken the risk of coming back was precisely to negotiate terms with Zheng Jingshan face to face. How could he let Pei Xuan act as the middleman?

He immediately said, "I’m afraid even if I explained it to the family head, you still wouldn’t understand. If that delays Master Zheng’s business, none of us in the Pei residence will be able to shoulder the consequences."

Pei Xuan’s face darkened as he stared hard at him.

But seeing that this collateral-line nephew showed no fear at all, and even seemed to have a reckless, take-me-or-leave-me look in his brow, Pei Xuan’s thoughts shifted and he forced a smile. "Very well. Still, Friend Zheng really isn’t in the residence right now."

At those words, Pei Ling’s heart sank. Was Zheng Jingshan in Mount Yuanlao right now?

That made sense. So many members of the Pei clan had gone into the mountains to search, and Zheng Jingshan was waiting there for the signal, making it easier to block Wu Tingxi as fast as possible... Then what about him?

His own situation was already extremely urgent. He might not even make it to the point where Zheng Jingshan returned.

He was just about to ask the family head whether there was a way to notify Zheng Jingshan immediately, and how long it would take Zheng Jingshan to come back, when he heard Pei Xuan say, "How about this: although Friend Zheng has gone to Mount Yuanlao, Fairy Li is still in seclusion in the Biwu Courtyard. I’ll take you to see Fairy Li right away."

Fairy Li?

Pei Ling froze, then immediately realized this should be the Nethersea Sect disciple who had come to Luquan City with Zheng Jingshan. It was just that this person kept a very low profile, and over the past few days all he had heard about were Zheng Jingshan’s deeds and reputation, so he had subconsciously ignored her.

"Family head," Pei Ling could not help asking, "how does this Fairy Li compare to Master Zheng in strength and status?"

What if she was just some nobody? If she could not help him at all, then it would be useless!

"Pei Ling, remember this!" Who knew that the moment those words came out, Pei Xuan’s expression changed sharply as he said solemnly, "This Fairy Li may keep a low profile, but her cultivation, status, and future prospects are far beyond what Friend Zheng can compare to!"

"She is a true disciple of the Nethersea Sect!"

"And barring accidents, she will be the Holy Sect’s next Saintess!"

"When you see her later, you must be even more respectful than you are to me or to Friend Zheng. Do you understand?!"

Pei Ling was delighted and hurriedly said, "Yes!"

"And are you certain that you know where Wu Tingxi is hiding, and that you won’t make Fairy Li run all the way there for nothing?" Pei Xuan seemed to be very wary of this Fairy Li. Even after setting off, he still wasn’t reassured, so he stopped and warned him solemnly, "This is a matter of great importance. If Fairy Li feels that our family is toying with her, it will not be a joke."

"Rest assured, family head!" Pei Ling said quickly. "If I didn’t have complete confidence, how would I dare lie to the family head? Besides, I’m asking to meet the Nethersea Sect’s immortal master because I have something to request."

Pei Xuan looked at him deeply. "Come with me!"

He led Pei Ling quickly into the Biwu Courtyard, but he ignored the main house ahead and instead took a side path around to the back.

This was the first time Pei Ling had ever come here. After all, an inner courtyard used to receive distinguished guests was a place he had always been warned to avoid given his status in the clan.

Right now, he was preoccupied with his own injuries and the negotiations ahead, and had no mind to admire the careful layout that the Pei residence had spent so much effort on. Instead, he quietly tightened his grip on the pellet in his palm.

After a moment, Pei Xuan slowed slightly and lowered his voice to instruct him, "In a moment, don’t lift your head. Especially don’t look at the wind chime in the corner of the room."

Only then did he continue forward to a refined dwelling and bend deeply at the waist. "Pei Xuan of the Pei clan pays respects to Fairy Li."

Seeing Pei Ling bow half a beat late, he frowned and snapped, "In front of the fairy, why are you not kneeling?"