Fang Xing was unexpectedly able to extort a great deal of spells and technique scripts from this young master’s head, even including the Scripture of Ravaged Tapestry that had awed all of Jambu. Fang Xing had heard from Bai Qianzhang that this particular script was extremely powerful, nearly reaching the level of an immortal with unmatched power. Bai Qianzhang had actually known quite a bit about this script and had explained its unique merits while telling Fang Xing to keep an eye out for it in the future.

　　Of course, Fang Xing wasn’t aware Bai Qianzhang had once mentioned this script at the Qing-Yun Sect in order to hide his true identity, although Xuan Si’nyang from the Fuyao Palace later saw through the deception.

　　This Scripture of Ravaged Tapestry was one of the most mysterious techniques held in the young master’s mind, and even those at the peak of Golden Core Stage couldn’t forcibly view it. Fang Xing was also unable to take it by force, but the young master’s head had wound up in Fang Xing’s hands, leaving it in a state even worse than death. In order to continue living, the young master actually had to explain the Scripture of Ravaged Tapestry to Fang Xing in detail.

　　The young master had his own reason for doing this as well. When studying the script, the user would draw upon resentful spirits to temper their soul, and the Budding Soul Stage great grand elder would perhaps be able to sense the process and come save him—giving this script to Fang Xing was also the young master giving himself a chance to live. What he didn’t know was that the Budding Soul Stage great grand elder of the Huangfu clan had already acted much earlier, only to be blocked off.

　　After Fang Xing obtained this script, he took a much closer look at it and felt it was extremely mysterious and profound. There were even techniques to help him enter the Golden Core Stage and it was very suitable for him right now, but he was naturally suspicious of others and decided to keep his options open rather than practicing it immediately. He had plenty of techniques at the moment to continue through Foundation Stage, so the most important thing for him to do right now was seek as many cultivation resources as possible.

　　Fang Xing was also thinking about whether or not he’d have any chance of completing the three flames of the True Samadhi Fire. Now that his foundation was at the mid-quality purple foundation, another step forward would put him at high-quality purple foundation. It could be said such a foundation would have reached a state of perfection and everything would come to a successful conclusion at the formation of the golden core.

　　Actually gathering the flames wasn’t so simple, however. They were called the immortal’s flames, so it stood to reason the best method to find them would be seeking them out within the Mysterious Domain, but all of the opportunities had been cleaned out by now and were being protected by sects and clans with layer after layer of protective spells and formations. Not only would he have to find out whose hands they’d fallen into, if he searched bit by bit and plundered one place at a time, who knew how many years it would take before he found even a trace of it?

　　In such a circumstance, the only thing he could was take things one step at a time and first temper his battle prowess through combat.

　　—

　　One day, Feng Xing was boredly eating a bunch of frozen grapes, drinking well-aged wine, and using the head of the Huangfu clan’s young master to fish for sea turtles. In a moment of carelessness, a large sea turtle suddenly swallowed the young master’s head, and a weak spirit sense started rising up from the turtle’s stomach calling out, “Help… help….”

　　“Oh sh*t, this turtle bastard is rather quick….” Fang Xing dragged the large sea turtle up onto the deck and jostled its head before squatting next to it to try to pull the head from its mouth. By the time Fang Xing finally managed to tug the head free, he’d worked up quite a bit of sweat. Feeling aggrieved, Fang Xing pointed at the young master’s nose and cursed, “This is really troublesome. Why don’t you give me the all the secrets in your head so I can kill you off and be done with it?”

　　The Huangfu clan’s young master could only cry invisible tears. Compared to all the punishment Tie Rukuang had been subjected to, he felt the situation he was currently in was a true case of “can neither live nor die”.

　　The young master vowed with sincerity that he truly did have a rare treasure that had been given to him by his Budding Soul Stage great grand elder when he attained the title of “young master”. It would protect his spirit soul from being destroyed, allowing him to be resurrected no matter how heavily he was wounded while also ensuring he wouldn’t go into qi deviation even when practicing certain difficult techniques and spells. It had originally been given as protection, but the Huangfu clan had perhaps never imagined there would be a bandit like Fang Xing who’d grab the head after the kill….

　　As a result, that rare treasure and the young master’s head had both fallen into Fang Xing’s hands, making the situation even more chaotic.

　　The Huangfu clan’s young master told Fang Xing that if he attempted to take the treasure by force, he would self-destruct his spirit and the lotus treasure would flee on its own, preventing Fang Xing from getting his hands on it. It was for this reason Fang Xing wasn’t able to crack open the young master’s head directly to take the treasure for himself.

　　Fang Xing turned to sit on his reclining chair after cursing at the young master, be he suddenly let out a surprised breath and froze. A pink-dressed girl with a crown of pretty long hair and bare legs had managed to seat herself on Fang Xing’s comfortable chair without him noticing. The way she reclined in the chair while swinging her shoeless feet off the edge, eating his frozen grapes, and drinking his aged wine all gave the impression of someone even more arrogant and lazy than Fang Xing himself….

　　“Who are you?” Fang Xing had nearly sent out a slap in that moment of surprise, but he didn’t do so. This girl’s arrival had simply been too peculiar—even with his spirit sense, he hadn’t noticed it at all.

　　The girl didn’t look at Fang Xing; she simply picked out the largest grape on the plate and put it into her small mouth. The way she ate was extremely indulgent and serious, and only once the entire thing had been finished did she turn around with bloated cheeks to spit the grape seed and skin into the sea. She closed her eyes and began savoring the aftertaste while slowly extending her hand towards Fang Xing. “Give me back my lotus seed!”

　　“Nn? What lotus seed?” Fang Xing was immediately put on his guard. As a bandit, he was always very sensitive towards people who spoke like they were some sort of creditor.

　　After taking a sip of the aged wine, the girl pouted her lips as though to say the taste wasn’t bad before she downed a much larger drink. Extremely satisfied, she rolled her eyes towards Fang Xing and continued, “My lotus seeds! The ones you’ve taken from me!”

　　Fang Xing didn’t reply to this and simply tilted his head while looking to the girl. He sensed that the aura around her seemed to be somewhat familiar, yet no matter how he looked, he couldn’t remember where he’d seen her before. The memories with the lotus seeds were even more lacking, so he was convinced she was here to cause trouble for no reason. Perhaps some kind of spirit beast from the sea had even snuck onto his ship to scam him, in which case it would be best to bed her before steam-cooking her….

　　He secretly activated his Book of Revelation in an attempt to see her cultivation level and was relieved. A quick glance showed that the girl’s cultivation level was a mere late Foundation Stage, and since she wasn’t a Golden Core, there was nothing to be frightened of—with abilities like his, a head-on fight with a late-Foundation Stage cultivator wouldn’t necessarily end in his loss. His temper began to return, and he sat on the arm of the chair with a smirk before raising the girl’s chin with his hand. “Come, tell this uncle about it. What lotu—”

　　Fang Xing’s action had been too unexpected for the girl, and the chin that had been chewing a grape abruptly froze as disbelief appeared in her eyes. A full three breaths later, her small face faintly started to blush blush and light shine formed around her. An indescribable power was suddenly released, causing Fang Xing to let out a peculiar yell as he was flung over dozens of feet head-first into the ocean.

　　“What happened? What happened?”

　　This shout alerted all of the boatmen and the golden crow who’d been studying the jade coffin inside his cabin. Everyone ran over to the deck, only to become dumbstruck when they saw this pink-dressed girl. These boatmen and servants were all shocked by the girl’s beauty and felt a sense of inferiority that kept them from moving closer, but the golden crow was extremely alarmed and felt something wasn’t right.

　　As for Fang Xing who’d been sent flying into the ocean, he didn’t even bother resurfacing and only dived as deep as he could to get away as quickly as possible. He wasn’t stupid; as soon as he was flung away, he immediately knew he must have kicked a nail. Although her supposed cultivation had been identified by the Book of Revelation, how the f*ck was this the power of someone in Foundation Stage? She must have been hiding her cultivation level; to be able to send him flying so easily, she would at least need to be in Golden Core Stage! Yep, better flee as soon as possible….

　　Fang Xing dove into the ocean, his body twisting and turning like a fish. He fled hundreds of feet in a flash without looking back.

　　However, the girl looked at the ocean as though seeing Fang Xing secretly trying to escape. Seemingly interested, she showed a smile and curved her finger into a hook, causing the Immortal’s Snare that had been fishing for sea turtles with the young master’s head to suddenly fly up from the deck and into her hands. She lightly shook the Immortal’s Snare, and it flew out like a meteor hammer.

　　The Immortal’s Snare was activated to its peak. The original limit to its flying distance was thirty or so feet, but it had become extremely easy to use in her hands—it flew out three hundred or so feet in an instant and started searching the bottom of the ocean floor. Once three breaths had passed, the edges of her lips curled up into a light smile and she gently tugged on the Immortal’s Snare, causing a screaming and kicking Fang Xing to be fished up like a sea turtle.

　　Once this was finished, the girl flicked the Immortal’s Snare and caused it to fly towards the area behind the cabin. The golden crow had noticed things weren’t right and was trying to furtively sneak away with his jade coffin, but the snare came right for him. It bound him together with Fang Xing before the two of them were easily tugged back like two dead dogs onto the deck, leaving them extremely battered and shocked.

　　“You’ve won, you’ve won!” Fang Xing and the golden crow both shouted, shamelessly begging for mercy.

　　The girl lightly smiled and let go of the Immortal’s Snare before placing a grape into her mouth, but—with a loud rumble—Fang Xing and the golden crow suddenly turned in unison and attacked her with their most powerful attacks. The girl was speechless at this, but a light appeared around her once more; with two more loud explosive sounds, the golden crow and Fang Xing were sent flying like rockets into the ocean….