At Xiao Jingting’s villa.
“Mother-father, when will father come back?” Xiao Xiaofan said gloomily while eating his meal.
“He’ll be back in a little over a month.” Xu Mu’an said.
Xiao Xiaofan slumped over the table with a dejected expression, “That’s so long! Without daddy here, even my food doesn’t taste good.”
“If it doesn’t taste good, why are you eating so much?” Xiao Xiaodong said irritably.
“I used to eat even more!” Xiao Xiaofan said dissatisfied.
“It’s just over a month! Before, he was often away from home. Not seeing him for a month was normal, and nothing happened!” Xiao Xiaodong said casually.
Xiao Xiaofan looked at Xiao Xiaodong strangely, “Was it really like that before?”
Xiao Xiaodong nodded, “Yes! Before, you were happiest when he wasn’t around.”
Xiao Xiaofan stammered, “But, but, I like him now! Father is very different. Brother, you miss him too, don’t you?”
Xiao Xiaodong turned his face away and said fiercely, “Who misses him? He’s only been gone a short while. We just saw him recently. I don’t miss him at all.”
Xiao Xiaofan puffed out his cheeks, “Really? But you’ve been asking people where father went and when he’ll return. You just couldn’t find out!”
Xiao Xiaodong’s face turned red, “I was just asking casually! He’s so stupid, he’ll get lost as soon as he goes out. I really don’t know what to do…”
Xu Mu’an rubbed Xiao Xiaofan and Xiaodong’s heads, “Your father should return quickly.”
Xiao Xiaofan sighed, “Alright.”
Xu Mu’an looked at his sighing younger son and said mischievously, “Is the food mother-father makes not as delicious as what your father makes?”
Xiao Xiaofan blushed and shook his head, “No, that’s not it.”
“While your father is away, you need to cultivate well. When your father returns, give him a surprise.” Xu Mu’an said.
Xiao Xiaofan nodded seriously, “Don’t worry, mother-father. I’ll work hard.”
“Mother-father, why didn’t you go with father?” Xiao Xiaodong asked.
Xu Mu’an touched his belly, “Mother-father still has things to do here.”
The family business couldn’t stop. With Xiao Jingting gone, the farm’s output wasn’t enough and the beverages were temporarily out of supply. Xu Mu’an planned to take the high-end route, only selling the most expensive beverages with limited quantities while doing more spirit wine business. In this world, without money, one couldn’t move an inch!
“Mother-father, aren’t you worried that father will attract romantic attention outside?” Xiao Xiaodong asked.
Xu Mu’an was stunned for a moment, and worry appeared on his face. Xiao Jingting was different from before – the current Xiao Jingting had extraordinary charm. Not to mention distant examples, even Sun Miaomiao wanted to rekindle their old relationship.
“Your father won’t do that.” Xu Mu’an said this aloud, but felt somewhat uneasy in his heart. “You two cultivate well. When your father returns, give him a surprise.”
Xiao Xiaodong nodded solemnly, “Alright.”
…
At the Marquis Manor, the competition had begun in full swing.
The Marquis Manor distributed different identity badges to participants of different levels: 4th layer Qi Refining received bronze badges worth one point, 5th layer received silver badges worth three points, 6th layer received gold badges worth eight points, 7th layer received purple-gold badges worth eighteen points, and 8th layer received jade badges worth twenty-eight points.
All participants were scattered randomly and then transported into the forest using transmission talismans.
Xiao Jingting steadied himself as the several people around him quickly dispersed and scattered in all directions.
The Marquis Manor used transmission talismans to send these participants into Biyue Forest. One transmission talisman could transport twenty people. Xiao Jingting noticed that among this batch of transported people, his strength was the highest, so as soon as they were transported in, the others immediately scattered like birds and beasts.
Xiao Jingting couldn’t help feeling somewhat pleased at enjoying the treatment of being a master.
A scream rang out. Xiao Jingting spread out his divine consciousness and saw a 5th layer Qi Refining cultivator killing a 4th layer Qi Refining cultivator.
Xiao Jingting swallowed and subconsciously heightened his vigilance.
For this grand competition, the Marquis Manor had invited two alchemists. Alchemists were extraordinary existences – the pills refined by alchemists could often amplify the effects of spirit herbs to six or seven times, or even more than ten times their original potency.
Alchemists were rare, and the success rate of pill refinement was very low, making pills extremely difficult to obtain.
All points from this competition could be exchanged for pills. The more points, the more pills one could exchange. No wonder everyone had gone crazy.
Just as Xiao Jingting was about to move, the jade pendant suddenly became hot, making Xiao Jingting somewhat puzzled.
A strange thought attacked Xiao Jingting’s mind – it was the jade pendant’s consciousness telling him to go left.
Although somewhat confused, Xiao Jingting still followed the jade pendant’s consciousness and walked toward the left.
“Bigen grass seedling, main ingredient for Qi Refining Azure Cloud Pills.” A strange voice echoed in Xiao Jingting’s mind, followed by a pill formula flooding into his head.
Xiao Jingting was stunned. Was this an identification function? He seemed to have found a treasure!
Why hadn’t the jade pendant reacted like this before? Xiao Jingting secretly speculated that perhaps there hadn’t been enough spiritual energy in the jade pendant before, or maybe the previous spirit plants had been too low-grade, so the jade pendant had disdained them.
Xiao Jingting transplanted three Bigen grass plants growing together into his space. Xiao Jingting had originally planned to find a place to hide for a while, but the space’s mutation suddenly ignited his fighting spirit. With the jade pendant in hand, those seedlings that hadn’t matured yet for others were priceless treasures for him!
…
The first three days of the competition were the peak period of slaughter. High-level cultivators frantically killed low-level cultivators to compete for points, reducing the number of people who entered the forest by thirty percent.
After three days, the cultivators who entered Biyue Forest either found people to team up with or hid themselves, so the slaughter decreased somewhat.
In the secret realm, identity badges were valuable, and various spirit herbs and beast cores were equally valuable. Various inconspicuous poisonous insects in the forest could kill someone instantly.
Some geniuses from small cities and towns were nothing more than ants to be slaughtered here.
Xiao Jingting moved carefully through the forest. With his 6th layer Qi Refining cultivation, lower-level cultivators who encountered him consciously avoided him.
With the jade pendant’s guidance, Xiao Jingting discovered many spirit herb seedlings and transplanted them all into the jade pendant space.
“Phantom Snow Lotus, two hundred years old, semi-mature.”
Xiao Jingting hid in a tree as the jade pendant’s transmission kept echoing in his ears.
Xiao Jingting rolled his eyes. This damn jade pendant space only knew about spirit herbs, spirit herbs – it didn’t even remind him that this Phantom Snow Lotus already had someone watching it.
Fortunately, he was cautious enough. If he had rushed forward recklessly, he might have already been torn apart by those wolf-like guys.
Xiao Jingting sighed in his heart and looked toward the confronting parties.
“Fifth Miss, the Marquis Manor has great wealth and power. A single Phantom Snow Lotus isn’t much to you. Fifth Miss, why be so aggressive?”
Ouyang Mingyue snorted coldly, “Since you know my identity, you should voluntarily give up. Get lost. This young lady is in a good mood and will spare your lives. Don’t be an eyesore here.”
Xiao Jingting rubbed his nose and thought: Novels are all lies!
He had originally thought that upon encountering a great beauty like Ouyang Mingyue, those male cultivators would eagerly rush forward to curry favor. He never expected they would actually want Ouyang Mingyue to give up.
It seemed that in this cultivation world, treasures were more important than beauty. But this wasn’t strange – in this world, with cultivation one could have everything. Although beauties were good, unfortunately this one was too fierce. It was also possible that these few didn’t like women.
“Fifth Miss, everything should follow first come, first served.” The male cultivator leading Ouyang Mingyue’s opponents said coldly.
Ouyang Mingyue snorted lightly, “Treasures naturally belong to the capable.”
Xiao Jingting looked at Ouyang Mingyue’s arrogant face and was immediately speechless. This Fifth Miss was quite arrogant! But as a pampered daughter of the Marquis Manor, being somewhat arrogant was appropriate.
“Big Brother, why waste words with this stinking wench? She’s from the Marquis Manor and has plenty of magical treasures on her. If we kill her, all the treasures will be ours.” A man with slanted eyebrows said greedily.
Ouyang Mingyue seemed to be enraged and roared, “Seeking death!”
Ouyang Mingyue controlled her magical instrument and attacked the three people. The three male cultivators each took out a pitch-black banner and counterattacked.
Xiao Jingting frowned. As soon as the three male cultivators’ banners appeared, black fog surged – they were clearly not good things.
Xiao Jingting squinted and thought: Ouyang Mingyue seems to be overconfident. Although she’s at the 7th layer of Qi Refining, she’s alone, while the other side has three 6th layer Qi Refining cultivators.
“Demonic cultivators? Where are you from?” Ouyang Mingyue screamed.
Xiao Jingting’s pupils contracted. Demonic cultivators were ruthless and liked to kill people to refine treasures. When cultivators encountered demonic cultivators, they had to eliminate them. This competition had actually been infiltrated by demonic cultivators, and their cultivation levels seemed quite high.
The three demonic cultivators obviously didn’t want to say more to Ouyang Mingyue and launched full-force attacks.
Xiao Jingting discovered that the three demonic cultivators seemed to have practiced some kind of joint attack technique. When they worked together, their attack power was extremely high, and Ouyang Mingyue was actually at a disadvantage.
“Big Brother, the stinking wench wants to escape.”
“Can’t let her escape, or there will be endless trouble.”
The three men surrounded Ouyang Mingyue completely, raining chaotic attacks on her.
Ouyang Mingyue seemed to be pushed to desperation and instantly threw out more than a dozen talismans, sending the three cultivators flying.
Xiao Jingting watched from the side, feeling secretly pained. What Ouyang Mingyue had thrown out were all sixth-grade spirit talismans! Sixth-grade spirit talismans were expensive enough to kill someone.
“Stinking wench!” The three were left disheveled by Ouyang Mingyue’s bombardment.
The magical instruments in their hands were also smashed to pieces. Under Ouyang Mingyue’s unrestricted attack, the three had obviously suffered considerable losses.
Ouyang Mingyue looked at the three people while gasping for breath, her eyes full of fury.
Xiao Jingting shook his head and thought: Ouyang Mingyue was too hasty. Exploding so many spirit talismans at once might have depleted the spiritual energy in her body. Although those three cultivators were also injured, they seemed to be in better condition than Ouyang Mingyue. It looked like Ouyang Mingyue couldn’t hold on much longer.
Ouyang Mingyue detonated two thunder beads and turned to run.
Xiao Jingting immediately looked at Ouyang Mingyue with new respect. Miss Ouyang was someone who could bend and stretch! Seeing the unfavorable situation, she ran.
Xiao Jingting noticed that Ouyang Mingyue wore seventh-grade Wind Control Boots on her feet, and her clothes had built-in lightness arrays with excellent quality and first-class defensive performance. The bracelet on Ouyang Mingyue’s hand also seemed extraordinary.
Xiao Jingting swallowed and thought: This woman is a rich lady! Robbing rich ladies is high-yield work, but this rich lady doesn’t seem easy to rob.
Xiao Jingting waited for a while, and the three brothers returned.
“The stinking wench actually disappeared without a trace.”
“This stinking wench will definitely spread word about the demonic cultivators everywhere.”
“What’s there to fear? This isn’t our true appearance anyway. We’ll just conceal our demonic energy later and pretend to be 5th layer Qi Refining cultivators.”
“That stinking wench’s bracelet could actually launch Foundation Establishment period attacks and severely injured Second Brother.”
“Who told her to be a young lady of the Marquis Manor? Next time we encounter Marquis Manor people, let’s avoid them.”
Listening to the three brothers’ conversation, Xiao Jingting couldn’t help clicking his tongue secretly. Second-generation cultivators were indeed different from others.
not jingting acting like he’s watching a show with some popcorn lmao :’))