From slave trader to the Immortal Lord of Ten Thousand Laws

"Indeed, this is the technique."

The woman in the purple dress took over the conversation, her smile becoming even more alluring, yet with a hint of bewitching evil:

"The technique was tampered with by our master, so it can only be used to absorb the vital energy of men. The magical power cultivated from it is most suitable for female cultivators in our lineage to break through the Qi Refining stage."

"Let's go first."

The woman in green finally spoke:

"Once we've absorbed this woman's magical power, it won't be long before some of us start practicing Qi cultivation."

Upon hearing this, the other two women's gazes immediately burned with fervor.

A strong competitive atmosphere quietly emerged among the three women.

Where is that woman now?

The woman in the purple dress glanced around, her jade-like finger tapping her chin as if recalling something: "I remember... that woman seemed to be employed by a wealthy and powerful merchant family."

"Which family was it again?"

"The Xu family," the woman in green said coldly.

"Ah! Yes! It's the Xu family."

Upon hearing this, the woman in the purple dress clapped her hands and chuckled, "Look at my memory. After all these years of traveling around, I finally managed to gather some magical power, but I can hardly remember any of the mortal families."

The girl in the pale yellow dress looked relaxed.

Her eyes crinkled into a sweet smile: "Why worry, sister?"

"Since that woman has cultivated the 'Qi-Inducing Scripture of the Last Month' bestowed by our master, no matter how she hides, she appears to us with a yellow light, like a pillar of smoke rising from the ground."

As the girl spoke, she suddenly raised her slender hand, pointing towards the sky above the capital, gazing at a certain yellow light:

"Look, isn't that it?"

The other two women followed her gaze.

Upon seeing the yellow clouds drifting in the sky, he said no more, but simply strode towards that direction.

They moved with incredible speed, covering hundreds of feet in an instant, leaving the official road and entering the capital in just a few steps.

However....

The moment they left, the teahouse, which had been bustling with noise and filled with foul language, began to deteriorate.

"Thump..."

"Thump... Thump..."

Inside the teahouse, a series of muffled thuds could be heard.

All the tea drinkers, waiters, and even the storyteller turned into mummified corpses without warning.

Their eyes were wide open, their faces still showing the same infatuated look they had when they first saw the three women. However, their skin was rapidly losing color and moisture at a visible speed, becoming ashen, dry, and wrinkled.

Muscles atrophy, bones and tendons become prominent.

In the blink of an eye, the dozen or so living people who were just moments ago had all turned into skeletons.

Lying haphazardly, as if they had been dead for many years.

There was no life inside or outside the teahouse.

Willows still line both sides of the official road.

...

...

The distance from the teahouse on the outskirts of the capital to Xu's residence in the city was no less than forty or fifty li.

However, the three women had only walked a little over a hundred steps.

They then arrived at the alley near Xu's residence.

"Is that the Xu family's youngest son?"

The woman in the purple dress looked towards the Xu family's gate.

A large vermilion gate stood tightly shut, flanked by rows of servants. Whenever servants entered or exited, they would go through the side gate on the right. If they were meat or vegetable vendors, they would push their carts or carry their loads on shoulder poles, pass by the gate, and then go around into the alley to the back gate.

This is not a new thing.

Strict rules were in place, as were those of all prominent families.

But the yellow light was concentrated on the roof of the rear building.

"How could this be? Isn't that the servants' quarters? Is that woman a lowly maid?"

The woman in the purple dress couldn't help but ask a question.

Her tone rose, clearly indicating that her current discovery was quite different from what she had expected.

Upon hearing this, the girl in the pale yellow dress beside him smiled and remained innocent and carefree.

She waved her hand and said crisply:

"Sister, don't be angry. We have come here to take away the magical power she has cultivated and make her our maid."

"Her status or position has nothing to do with our path of Qi cultivation."

The girl smiled as she spoke.

They appear to be harmless.

The woman in the purple dress smiled faintly upon hearing this, but did not continue speaking.

Although the three of them were fellow disciples, from the same school, and served the same master, their cultivation resources were limited, and there was already an undercurrent of competition between them, which they tacitly understood.

Many things need to be said only briefly.

Explaining it too clearly is actually less appealing.

However, at this moment, the woman in green, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke:

"Junior sister, you are still too young."

"Hmm? What makes you say that, Senior Sister?"

The girl in the pale yellow dress paused slightly, then turned to look at the woman in green, only to see that her gaze remained fixed on the yellow light. She slowly said, "Junior sister, think about it carefully."

"Who is Master? She always chooses only those of exceptional beauty when selecting pawns. Such women... if they were willing to sacrifice a little of their looks and know how to flatter, how could they easily be reduced to servants?"

"Even if her family fell into decline, or she was married into an official's family but was implicated, with her looks, she should have been sent to the brothel to become a courtesan, or even the top courtesan, to be sought after and live a life of luxury."

Therefore... it is absolutely impossible for him to live among ordinary servants and laborers.

After the woman in green finished speaking, she looked at the girl in the pale yellow dress.

As the girl in the pale yellow dress listened, the lively light in her eyes gradually faded, and she fell into deep thought.

She blinked, and then it dawned on her:

"Does Senior Sister mean... there's something fishy about this?"

The woman in green nodded slightly, confirming her junior sister's guess. She withdrew her gaze and continued to stare at the yellow light.

"That's how it should be."

"Something unusual must be going on. We should keep a low profile and not alert the enemy."

After these words were spoken, the alley fell silent for a moment.

As all practitioners know, to achieve Qi cultivation, one must activate the inner landscape and absorb spiritual energy, all of which require a massive amount of magical power.

However, although the three women practiced different cultivation methods, they all followed the same path. Those from their lineage who ultimately achieved Qi Refining were the ones who spent the shortest amount of time gathering magical power outside.

To ensure fairness, the three women took turns collecting magical power at each location, and the time spent by each woman was calculated separately.

Now that we've arrived in the capital of the Great Qian Dynasty, it's time for the woman in green to collect this magical power.

But the woman in green was not in a hurry.

Her name was Gong Qingxue.

As his name suggests, he has a cold exterior but a warm heart.

The woman in the purple dress was named Yang Zi. She was naturally alluring and possessed a venomous heart. Seeing that Gong Qingxue was not in a hurry to speak, she stood aside, happy to see things go smoothly.

after all....

The longer others spend, the more opportunities she has to practice her Qi.

But Gong Qingxue saw through her thoughts.

But they see through it all without saying a word.

On the contrary, the girl in the pale yellow dress became anxious.

Her name was Liu Xiaoxiao. She was only fifteen or sixteen years old, more than a hundred years younger than the other two girls. However, through hard work and sweat, she obtained a lot of magical power from many male cultivators. She had accumulated more than forty strands of magical power, which had condensed into an inner landscape.

The three women were of similar cultivation levels.

If they were to engage in a contest of magic, the outcome would be difficult to predict.

At this moment, when Liu Xiaoxiao saw her senior sister in green shake her head and say, "Don't alert them, observe them carefully for a while," she immediately became anxious. Her usual innocent and carefree smile vanished, and she hurriedly said:

"Senior sister, how can this be?"

"This time you're the one collecting magical power. If you waste so much time for nothing, wouldn't you be handing over your path to Qi cultivation to someone else?"

Gong Qingxue did not speak.

The woman in the purple dress smiled gently, covering her face with her sleeve: "Junior sister, you don't need to worry about that."

"When we arrive at the next place, I will withdraw my magic power and give up this much time so that Junior Sister Qingxue will not suffer any loss."

She said this, but in her heart she only wanted to put on an act.

The girl in the pale yellow dress smiled broadly upon hearing this and said, "Since that's how it is, sister, then when it's my turn to withdraw my magic, I'll do the same and give you some time."

"In this way, it will be fair for the three of us."

The woman in the purple dress nodded.

She smiled and said, "That's excellent."

But what I was thinking was: once this matter is over, when we move on to the next place, it will be my junior sister's turn to collect magic power. At that time, she will have given up some time for nothing, which will have benefited me and given up so much time for the two of them.

In this way, how could there be no opportunity to practice Qi!

The woman had already made up her mind, and a smile involuntarily appeared on her face. She covered her face with her sleeve and chuckled lightly, her eyes sparkling with a seductive light, but hiding a coldness and chill that was hard for others to detect.

...

...

A short while later.

As the sun sets in the west, the sky grows dark and gloomy.

As the hustle and bustle of the capital gradually subsided, lights began to illuminate countless homes one after another.

To avoid attracting attention, the three women did not stay at a hotel or eat at an inn. They had cultivated their inner realms, and although they could not abstain from grains like Qi-cultivating immortals, they had gained the ability to eat dew and drink the morning mist. So, after a brief discussion, they followed the rules and each found a place to rest.

The woman in green chose a mountain temple and sat down on a prayer mat.

The cool moonlight leaked through the dilapidated roof, shining on her beautiful face and blue dress, making her look like an ethereal jade statue, with a refined and elegant air.

The woman in the purple dress, with her graceful figure, gathered three or five strong men, and together they began their cultivation practice.

The night was as dark as ink, slowly pouring down from the sky.

The Xu family compound has high walls, with blue bricks and gray tiles, casting a heavy and majestic shadow in the night.

In the corner of the wall, an old pine tree, verdant and vigorous, with its gnarled branches, peeks out over the top of the wall.

A petite, pale yellow figure, like a nimble raccoon cat in the night, appeared silently on the wall.

She took the opportunity to climb the old pine tree.

I listened intently for a moment.

"Hehe, during the day the senior sisters all remain still, but I won't allow it. After I kill and burn the bodies, who will know that I stole the magic power?"

Liu Xiaoxiao flashed her canine teeth and chuckled to herself.

"To achieve Qi Refining, one needs a vast amount of magical power. There are three of us, my senior sister and I, and this amount of magical power is hardly enough for three people to share. However, if it were just me, it would be more than enough!"