Luo Qingyao stood beneath the parasol tree, eyes closed.

She remained motionless, her clothes and long hair draping over her shoulders swayed gently with the night wind.

Time, to her, seemed to slow down infinitely. Her senses magnified, capturing the dust in the wind, the water in the ditches, the weeds between the wall cracks... every slight movement became exceptionally clear.

The leaves and branches of the parasol tree swayed. It seemed as if it was merely the night wind blowing, or perhaps the tree itself was shaking on its own accord.

Luo Qingyao suddenly opened her eyes, a cold glint flashed briefly.

The aura within her surged rapidly, breaking through Foundation Establishment in an instant, forming a Golden Core... a pure, flawless Golden Core without any lines on it.

Even the worst Golden Core Cultivator would have at least one alchemical pattern. Someone as talented as Fu Manman had as many as nine lines.

But she... had none at all.

Far different from how she appeared beside Fan Wubing. Now, she stood tall, resembling a sharp sword, refusing anyone's approach. Though she was a Sword Cultivator, she seldom displayed the fierce aura typical of one.

Yet at this moment, she was even more sharp-edged than Sword Cultivators who never held back their nature.

If Fan Wubing were beside her, without seeing her face, he wouldn't recognize her. Because her aura had completely changed, unlike Luo Qingyao... or perhaps, this was her true self?

In her left eye, a Sword Seal faintly flickered in and out of sight.

"Sha..." she looked up at the sky, after a moment, she slowly uttered a word.

Then, she moved like lightning, piercing through the night, heading directly for the slum area in the west of the city.

Along the way, she saw Evil Qi raging in the North City Garden District, several white blessings flying chaotically in the air, with many seeking blessings vying for them. She paid them no mind, nor was she moved by those blessings.

Soon she arrived at the slum area.

Here, it seemed completely isolated from the world. Despite tonight's turmoil, with other regions bustling, this place was eerily quiet. It was unusual. Luo Qingyao sensed it slightly and knew it was the "Evil Qi" wandering in the air, preventing others from coming here. Ordinary people encountering such Evil Qi would unconsciously take a detour, and even Cultivators would instinctively feel aversion and leave.

A dark green shadow flashed through the Purple Mansion between her brows, immediately covering her body with sword patterns, shredding all the Evil Qi attempting to approach her.

...

"Someone's coming."

Inside a small Daoist temple deep in the slum area stood a statue. The statue was lifelike, meticulously crafted, exuding authority. A shadow slowly wriggled on the statue's surface.

Beside it, a man so emaciated he was almost just skin and bones excitedly said,

"Daoist!"

The shadow on the statue laughed. The voice was not eerie; it was warm and gentle,

"I know you're starving. But the one coming now isn't those two from before; it's a Sword Cultivator. Can you handle it?"

The emaciated man's eye sockets protruded severely, his eyes rotating entirely out of human anatomy, with pupils turning backward,

"What level of cultivation?"

"Hmm... First-Layer Golden Core."

The man laughed uproariously,

"I'm already Seventh-Layer Golden Core, how could I not handle a First-Layer? Dao... Daoist, leave it to me."

The man's stomach growled noisily. He kept swallowing his saliva, indicating how famished he was.

The shadow on the statue said,

"Alright, go on then. Clean it up. My ascension ritual is about to be completed, don't mess it up."

The man made a sound like someone drowning,

"Daoist, when you ascend, don't forget us?"

"Of course, I won't forget you all, rest assured."

The man, excitedly knelt and bowed, then vanished into the darkness.

...

Luo Qingyao walked leisurely through the tangled, chaotic alleys of the slum area.

In the darkness, many pairs of eyes quietly watched her.

She could sense these gazes, mere ordinary folk from the slum area, not worth any attention.

"Bang."

A crisp sound came from somewhere, breaking the deathly silence. The eyes peeking from inside rooms vanished instantly, leaving only strands of fear.

Luo Qingyao stood still. She furrowed her brows, searching for the direction of the sound.

"Bang."

Another sound.

Like... someone tapping a bowl with chopsticks.

"Bang bang bang..."

The rhythm quickened, faintly expressing a melody. This melody was not cheerful, oppressively dreary, giving an impending sense of doom in such a setting.

Luo Qingyao sharply looked back.

On the long, winding path, there was nothing, only a white porcelain bowl missing a corner and a single chopstick.

She blinked.

In that blink, looking again, the bowl was filled with rice, heaped high and rounded, like a raised grave mound. It was still steaming.

She blinked again. Red blood oozed from the rice, strikingly glaring.

Soon, a rich scent of fresh blood seeped into the air. It was hot, fresh.

She blinked once more.

This time, when she looked, she found a hand, replacing the rice, lying quietly in the chipped white bowl.

The appearance of the hand seemed somewhat familiar.

"Drip—"

A drop of water noise sounded at her side.

Luo Qingyao looked at her right hand, shockingly discovering... her hand was missing. From the cross-section, it seemed like something sharp had sliced it off in an instant.

"Caw caw—"

The hurried and panicked sound of chewing came from ahead. She suddenly looked up and saw a man so thin that he was almost only a skeleton, crouching like a monkey in front of a white bowl, holding a palm in his hands, gnawing frantically.

Flesh and bone fragments flew everywhere.

He wasn't spitting out the bones.

In no time, he was done, then looked up and stared at Luo Qingyao. He grinned, a savage smile, with pieces of meat stuck between his decayed teeth. His eyes kept darting, finally settling down, filled with greed and excitement.

"What a delicacy, soft skin and tender meat... You're so good-looking, and your flesh is equally delicious. Do you really want to live... haha..."

He laughed madly. Again, he reached out to the broken bowl to grab more.

Every time he grabbed, there was more meat in his hands, correspondingly, there was less meat on Luo Qingyao.

"Are you done eating?"

Quiet Luo Qingyao suddenly asked.

The emaciated man suddenly froze, looking at her in shock,

"You... you can talk?"

"I have a mouth, why couldn't I talk."

"Weren't you supposed to be scared out of your wits by me! Letting me take flesh and blood, drinking your blood!"

"Eating human flesh and blood raw..." Luo Qingyao calmly said, "Oh, I remember. You're usually called a 'hungry ghost.' Starved to death when alive, turned into a vengeful ghost, forever ravenous, never full... Without food, you'd even eat yourself."

The emaciated man stared blankly at Luo Qingyao,

"Why are you acting like nothing happened?"

Luo Qingyao frowned,

"Look closely, what exactly are you eating!"

The emaciated man shivered suddenly, looked into the bowl. To his surprise, what was in the bowl wasn't Luo Qingyao's flesh, but stones and mud. In the moment of his dazed stupor, a sharp Sword Qi suddenly shot out from between the stones and mud.

Unable to dodge, he directly collided with this Sword Qi.

Immediately, half of his head was cut off. The severed edge didn't bleed, but crazily spewed out black Qi.

"Ah!"

He frantically grabbed handfuls of that black Qi and stuffed it into his mouth,

"Come back, come back!"

He tore off his own belly again, covering the severed edge, barely controlling the black Qi from gushing out. Then, he looked at Luo Qingyao, ferociously saying,

"You flesh-and-blood human, you've really pissed me off! I'll use a knife and cut you eighty thousand times, and devour every piece of meat in front of you!"

His momentum suddenly surged, instantly overwhelming Luo Qingyao's sword presence.

"You're only a First-Layer Golden Core, not controlled by my hunger miasma, not thinking of escaping, yet you dare to provoke me!"

Luo Qingyao's expression remained unchanged,

"First-Layer Golden Core, is it."

She suddenly reached forward, grabbed something, and crushed it directly.

The hungry ghost vaguely saw something akin to shackles shattering from her body.

The moment it broke, a rich aura surged from Luo Qingyao, instantly pushing her cultivation to the Fifth-Layer Golden Core.

"How about now?"

The hungry ghost gritted his teeth,

"You suppressed your own cultivation! So what if you suppressed it, only a Fifth-La—"

Before he could finish, a dark green shadow flew from nowhere, instantly cutting off his head.

His head hit the ground, and black Qi crazily escaped from within his body.

He wasn't dead yet. His eyes' perspective changed continuously as his head rolled, finally stopping when it hit a nearby wall. Only then did he react, screaming in terror,

"You're only a Fifth-Layer Golden Core, I am a Seventh-Layer Golden Core, Seventh-Layer Golden Core! How! How!"

Luo Qingyao looked at him coldly,

"Did you think fighting is a numbers game? Two greater than one, seven greater than five? Only in this Peach Blossom Spring could you cultivate to the Seventh-Layer Golden Core, outside, you would have died countless times already."

Having said this, she commanded the Sword Qi, completely shredding the hungry ghost.

A fortuitous opportunity flew out from him. Luo Qingyao grabbed it, briefly contemplated it, and regretfully thought,

"There's no way in this fortuity for Senior Brother to cultivate."

She then forcefully stuffed it into her Purple Mansion, heedless of it anymore.

Just as she was about to proceed deeper into the shack area... her heart suddenly thumped violently.

A strong sense of unease enveloped her, causing her scalp to tingle instantly. She suddenly looked up into the air deep in the shack area, and to her surprise, saw a mass of black Qi forming into a huge phantom, pointing a finger that summoned thunder!

Luo Qingyao saw by its posture, it intended to strike her with lightning.

Danger!

In an instant, she judged herself no match, her figure erupted in movement, pulling out streaks of sword shadows, darting out of the shack area at great speed.

How could this be, how could the Peach Blossom Spring have such power?

Wasn't it agreed, limited below the Nascent Soul Realm!

Such power, clearly infinitely close to Nascent Soul, perhaps even already Nascent Soul!

Luo Qingyao hadn't completed her mission, dared not take risks, and swiftly left.

...

In the Daoist temple,

The shadow on the idol kept shaking,

"Is this a Sword Cultivator? Just a Fifth-Layer Golden Core, able to kill a Seventh-Layer hungry ghost in one move... It seems the outside world is indeed remarkable! I must break through the constraints and ascend from here! She will certainly come again to probe... My power is unstable now, I cannot act rashly!"

After some thought, the shadow calmed down,

"Seems, it must be the Door God to guard for me."

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