After the path was cut off

The familiar place in Zhang Guoren's memory was the last migration point in Baixi Town.

Li Qinghan was adopted by Baixi Town when he was four years old. That year, Baixi Town was on its way to relocation.

After that, she experienced three more migrations at the ages of eight, twelve, and sixteen.

When she was eight years old, she had just entered the Qi Refining stage and could only follow in the group, being protected by others.

At the age of twelve, she had reached the third level of Qi Refining and possessed combat power, yet her grandfather still forbade her to fight. However, on that particular occasion, she witnessed her familiar fellow villagers being slaughtered by evil cultivators, and finally, unable to suppress her anger, she drew her sword and killed for the first time. That migration went exceptionally smoothly, with surprisingly few deaths.

But when he was sixteen, the evil cultivators came with exceptional ferocity during the migration.

There are fifteen people in the mid-stage of Qi Refining and dozens in the early stage of Qi Refining.

At that time, Li Qinghan was at the fifth level of Qi Refining. He drew his sword and fought the evil cultivators to the death, killing ten and escaping five.

But the ordinary villagers of Baixi Town suffered heavy casualties. It was as if those who had miraculously survived the last time had been wiped out all at once.

She remembered it clearly. A wicked cultivator whose body she had severed halfway told her with venomous resentment before he died—it was her previous act of resistance that had angered the Bone-Chewing Demon of the White Bone Path. That's why this "warning" had occurred this time.

Li Qinghan still remembers the absurdity of that moment.

More than a dozen cultivators died, just to kill more mortals, just to give her a warning?

For a moment, she couldn't quite tell whether, in the eyes of those high-level evil cultivators, mortals or low-level cultivators were more despised.

In Zhang Guoren's memory, that old site has now become a market town.

It was very lively.

Whether they were independent cultivators or heretical cultivators, they often stayed there to trade and take on missions.

She had seen many people die there.

Now, the places where those people died have become bustling spots for haggling.

Unaffiliated cultivators and heretical cultivators are not the same thing. Unaffiliated cultivators are without sect or school, and still feed on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Heretical cultivators, on the other hand, use humans as sustenance and have crossed the bottom line of cultivation.

However, in the Central Plains, spiritual energy is locked away, making cultivation difficult. Many rogue cultivators, in their struggle, turn to mortals for food and drink, thus slipping into evil cultivation.

While he was deep in thought, Zhang Guoren cautiously spoke:

"Fairy, could we return to the battlefield we just left on?"

"There are still many bodies over there that can be recovered."

"Moreover, Liu Quan, the one you killed, his corpse can also be used."

Li Qinghan was about to refuse when Zhang Guoren added another sentence.

"Liu Quan also has a genital storage bag, which he usually sews into his flesh; that's the real treasure."

Li Qinghan's eyes flickered slightly. She had clearly checked the reflection in the mirror just now and hadn't noticed anything unusual.

"Can."

Zhang Guoren immediately turned around and flew back to the battlefield he had just left.

Ten miles is only a short while. Yet, even in that short time, Zhang Guoren was not idle.

He seemed afraid that Li Qinghan wouldn't understand him, or perhaps he was trying to please her, and he went on and on about introducing himself from head to toe.

"Xiao Xiu Zhang Guoren was originally a disciple of the Corpse-Wrapping Sect. The Corpse-Wrapping Sect chose the wrong side during the War of Opening Up, secretly offending a ninth-rank immortal sect, and was later brutally slaughtered."

"My master, a few fellow disciples, and I managed to escape. I was only six years old that year."

"Later, I had no choice but to follow my master and work as a servant for other immortal sects, serving as a soldier, collecting corpses, and gathering bones on the battlefield to make a living."

"I drifted along like this for decades, then my master died, and in the end, I was all alone."

He described the situation very poorly. Of course, some of it was true, and some was false.

In some places, even he himself couldn't tell whether he was speaking to Li Qinghan or to himself.

"Later, the Immortal Palace issued a decree, and the war to open up the Northern Plains was withdrawn without warning. They even said they were going to go to the Yunmeng Great Marsh."

"Is that godforsaken place even fit for humans?"

"Every year, the major sects drive demonic beasts into the Yunmeng Great Swamp, isn't it all to quell the chaotic spiritual atmosphere there?"

"Now look what's happened. The monsters have been chasing us for so many years and haven't filled the hole yet, and now they're going to fill it with people."

As he said this, his voice carried a hint of genuine resentment.

"I really didn't want to go to that place to die, so I came to Zhongzhou with Liu Quan to hide."

Li Qinghan found it annoying and was about to tell him to shut up. But upon hearing that he had come to Zhongzhou, he subconsciously asked:

Why did you choose to come to Baixi Town of all places?

Zhang Guoren's eyes lit up when she struck up a conversation. Finally, he had a chance to curry favor.

"I heard that Baixi Town was a peaceful place where all the mortals gathered, so I thought I'd come here to relax. I never expected to find a market here, where someone was offering 500 first-tier spirit stones for a fairy's head. Liu Quan and I couldn't resist and accepted."

At this point, he quickly showed a concerned expression:

"Fairy, please be careful. There are at least four other people besides Liu Quan and me who have accepted this mission."

Li Qinghan had already seen this in the mirror, and she didn't care. What she cared about was this person's purpose in coming to Baixi Town. After all, memories don't contain a person's thoughts. So she asked:

"Entertainment? What's so entertaining about?"

Zhang Guoren chuckled dryly.

"As you know, fairy, even the smallest thing a cultivator might casually drop is a treasure in the eyes of mortals!"

"I love seeing them so grateful and trying so hard to please me."

That would have been enough, but Zhang Guoren, being the sharp-tongued person he is, couldn't resist saying another word:

"At most... at most, I'll find one or two more decent-looking girls."

"Hehe, don't worry, fairy, I'm not the kind of beast who uses force."

"They were all given plenty of money and benefits."

"It's a fair trade."

It would have been better if he hadn't listened. Upon hearing those words, Li Qinghan suddenly turned her head and glared coldly! Under the glow of the morning sun, a thin layer of red appeared on her usually cool face, making it impossible to tell whether she was cold or hot.

Zhang Guoren's heart skipped a beat when she looked at him, and he hurriedly fell silent. But his thoughts kept racing uncontrollably.

For a fleeting moment, he felt that although this fairy was cold and aloof, and exuded a murderous aura, that one glance she gave him showed more of a human touch than those seemingly gentle but actually cold-hearted female cultivators in the major sects. She seemed more like... a living person.

The thought had barely formed in Zhang Guoren's mind when a sharp sword aura slashed down upon him.

He went straight between his legs.

Zhang Guoren felt a chill in his lower body and reacted almost the fastest he had ever done, suddenly taking a step back.

The sword energy pierced through the groin, cutting a hole in the back of the flying corpse.

If this Yin Corpse hadn't been an inanimate object, that attack would have likely sent both the corpse and the person plummeting from mid-air.

Zhang Guoren's face was deathly pale, and even his lips were trembling.

"Fairy, fairy..."

Li Qinghan frowned.

They managed to dodge it.

After a moment's thought, she guessed that the Mirror Master had probably done something behind the scenes.

Fortunately, her anger subsided somewhat, and she didn't deliver another blow; otherwise, Zhang Guoren would have been dead.

Zhang Guoren stood frozen in place. He still didn't understand where Li Qinghan's anger came from.

Deep within his consciousness, Xuan Li seemed afraid that this mouth might utter something it shouldn't, so he simply transmitted the relationship between Li Qinghan, Li Wangxiang, and Baixi Town directly into Zhang Guoren's mind.

Zhang Guoren was taken aback at first.

His face immediately turned completely pale.

Is Baixi Town Li Qinghan's town?

Li Wangxiang, the true disciple of the Tianxuan Sect, was from Baixi Town.

The bounty I accepted was for killing a sword cultivator from the hometown of a true disciple of the Heavenly Profound Sect.

Zhang Guoren's mind went blank.

Oh my goodness.

How is that possible?

Which damned bastard would send him to his death with five hundred spirit stones?!