When Shen Ying went back to her straw cottage, it was already midnight. She pulled open the blanket, laid inside and breathed a deep sigh of relief—it was finally quiet.
It had already been four months since she had transmigrated into this world, yet she had no idea where this place filled with weird-looking trees was. Having a poor sense of direction, she had spent several days wandering within the forest where no other humans could be seen. She had been starving after braving the wilderness for a few days, when she finally met a couple of hunters that had scaled the mountain. The sweet potatoes which they gave her had comforted her protesting stomach temporarily.
At first they invited her to leave the mountain together, but holding the hope that she might transmigrate back with some sheer luck, she rejected their offer. She returned to the straw cottage hoping that it would happen sometime. Despite looking old and shabby like it could collapse any moment, this straw cottage managed to keep the wind and rain out. After staying there for a few days, the homebody in her erupted, and she lost all her desire to move.
Who would have known that once she started to shut herself inside the cottage, it would last four months. Since she could not return and had long finished the sweet potatoes that were given to her, she had no choice but to go out and search for food.
Within the depths of the forest, she could not differentiate between what was edible and what was not. There were quite a lot of small animals which seemed to have had a little too much nutrition as they were larger than the norm. Moreover, she realized that those small animals could actually talk.
Being an atheist, she was utterly shocked in the beginning. However, as her hunger persisted, she could not care less about strange powers and deities. She had already transmigrated to a different world, so how would it be hard for her to accept that some animals were a little different?
It was all until she stumbled upon a black rabbit biting someone which she conveniently beat up, and in doing so saved the people being attacked. On a closer look, she realized that those people looked familiar—they were the hunters who had previously given her sweet potatoes. That was when she found out that those small creatures were actually demons who devoured humans.
The small group of hunters thought that she was a deity and thanked her profusely. This time she was not invited to leave the mountain. They praised her actions of slaughtering demons and encouraged her to kill more so as to prevent them from eating humans, all whilst stuffing more sweet potatoes towards her.
Shen Ying, who originally had the intention of leaving the mountain: “…”
-_-|||
Looking at the sweet potatoes in her hands, she was too embarrassed to say that she wanted to quit. From then on, she led a life of slaughtering demons, starting by hunting those weird-looking small animals—at least their meat tasted better than sweet potatoes.
â•®(╯▽╰)â•
Once she started hunting, she realized something was different about her body. She had never hunted before, yet no matter what kind of weird little creature she encountered, she was able to capture them easily. Her strength was so great that even she could not believe it herself.
Some of the small animals even had special abilities such as spewing fire, breaking the ground with their paws and so on. However, these skills seemed useless against her. The damage inflicted by the fire they spewed would at most burn the corner of her clothing while them breaking apart the ground would only end up burying her for a bit before she climbed right back out. There were even times when she purposely let them bite her and they ended up with a mouth full of chipped-off fangs.
Her skin looked exactly like it was before, soft as ever, yet her opponents simply could not bite through it. Initially, she had thought that this was because those small animals were too weak. She even went to try lifting the century-old gigantic tree behind her cottage, and in the end she lifted that tree which had deep and intertwining roots with as little effort as pulling out a scallion. Dozens of trees around her cottage were completely uprooted by her, and as a result… she had conveniently cleared out a yard.
-_-|||
At that moment she finally acknowledged one thing, and that was the fact that she… just might be invincible in this world?
She felt that these differences between this otherworld and Earth was absolutely normal, just like how Earth and the moon had different gravities.
To be completely honest, after discovering this problem, she had wanted to find someone to acknowledge that there were indeed deities in this world, but to her dismay she barely met more than a handful of people in a month. Her character had always been happy-go-lucky: to put it nicely would be that she was adaptable to her circumstances, but to put it bluntly would be that she did not strive for progress and was a totally lazy shut-in. Her life was truly lacking of any pursuits.
Although her culinary skills were not exactly out of this world—more often than not, the food would be burnt or overcooked—but at the very least she would not go hungry. Eating the meat of animals that could talk felt a little awkward but the more she ate, the more she grew used to it.
â•®(â•Ż_â•°)â•
“So sleepy…” Shen Ying stretched her lazy bones as drowsiness overwhelmed her while she pulled at her old, tattered blanket. This night had been especially tiring and she could finally continue sleeping. Hopefully she would not encounter anymore events that would disturb her from her sweet dreams.
With such thoughts in mind, she closed her eyes. Yet at that moment, a sudden rumble jolted her.
A bolt of lightning struck the cottage roof and tore open a great hole. Rustling noises followed as hay was sent flying everywhere. Most of the cottage had fallen apart after suffering the lightning strike, leaving only a tiny portion above her bed intact.
Shen Ying: “…”
Then a loud boom resounded which was closely followed by a person falling into the yard, his blood splattering all over the place. His originally white shirt was half stained with blood and he was covered in numerous wounds.
“Hahaha…” An arrogant laughter rang out in the air, and then a black shadow slowly landed on the ruins of her cottage. “Youngling Yi Qing, didn’t you want to annihilate fiends and defend the Dao? Weren’t you going to kill me? Why are you not taking action yet?”
“Rui Mi… ” The man who had fallen into the yard struggled to stand, but the severity of his injuries made it almost impossible for him to support his body upright. “You fiend, using living human souls to offer sacrifice to a Soul Devouring Gonfalon is condemned by us orthodox cultivators!”
“Hmph! Still stubborn as ever!” The person in black snorted coldly. “Yi Qing, just because you practice the cultivation of swords, you chased me for three consecutive days and nights which nearly caused the destruction of the Soul Devouring Gonfalon that I went to great efforts to create. Now, I’ll sacrifice you to the Gonfalon to appease my hatred for you!”
The Soul Devouring Gonfalon was raised up along with those words. Right at that moment, dozens of lightning bolts shot out towards the yard. Not only was the man struck by those lightning bolts till he was limp, several gaping craters were made in the surrounding as well.
Shen Ying furrowed her brows… My yard.
“Hahaha… How does it feel to have demonic auras entering you?” The person in black sniggered. “The painstaking efforts I put in to set up this soul gathering array during the three days used to lure you in were not a waste.”
“Despicable!”
“Who asked you to be a busybody.” Rui Mi sneered. “It was just the killing of a few mere mortals. Not even the Blackheaven Sect would question it, so who are you to meddle and interfere?”
“What nonsense!” Yi Qing spewed a mouthful of blood, barely having any Spirit Qi left. He had never imagined that this fiend cultivator would have such guts to set up a soul gathering array at the entrance of the Demon Realm. His carelessness had ended up letting demonic aura enter his body and his Spirit Qi to dissipate completely. Hence, he was ambushed successfully and now he was already wounded to this state. While he was only an itinerant cultivator, he was certainly cultivating the orthodox Dharmic Dao, seeking the supreme Great Dao. How could he watch helplessly and not act as the fiend captured human souls? Weren’t the lives of mortals also lives?
As a sect with an exalted immortal, it was impossible for the Blackheaven Sect to ignore such matters; they had only yet to discover this deed.
“Forget it. Since you are bent on courting death, I shall grant it to you today!” Rui Mi raised the gonfalon in hand, ready to attack.
“Hey, you…” A gentle female voice sounded from the right side.
“Who’s that?” Rui Mi was taken aback. He violently turned his head back to check, but all he saw was someone covered in dust with a blanket over their body. Her body was filthy and her messy hair even had several pieces of hay stuck in it. His heart contracted—it was a woman. Since when was she here? Even with his level of cultivation, he had not detected anything at all!
He gave her a good look over and then realized she was void of any cultivation. He was relieved that she was only mortal.
“I can’t believe that there is a mortal living deep within the mountainous forest.” Rui Mi’s lips formed a strange arc. “Another good material to sacrifice to the Gonfalon.”
“What are you intending!” At his words, the man on the ground was provoked and used all his might to crawl up, shouting, “You still have thoughts of harming people?!”
“Aren’t you so kind.” Rui Mi showed disdain on his face. He walked in Shen Ying’s direction and said, “You are already in such a state yet you still have thoughts of saving others!”
“Stop it! Rui Mi, she is only a mortal.”
“Heh heh…” His grin widened. “My Soul Devouring Gonfalon isn’t picky towards the souls of mortals.”
“You! Lady, start running! He is not a good person!” The man on the ground tried to climb to his feet but was utterly powerless to stop Rui Mi’s footsteps. He was only capable of shouting for Shen Ying to escape as his voice reached a crescendo.
“Hmph, is it even possible for her to escape?”
“Stop right there!”
“I am thinking…” Shen Ying pulled away her blanket, her brows furrowed. “Can’t you all be quieter? It’s already very late.”
Rui Mi had already walked to the side of her bed. Hearing such a remark from her, he sniggered and said, “Heh heh. Little girl, I am going to give you quiet right away! The kind that lasts forever.”
He raised the gonfalon in his hand which instantly sparked with lightning…
Shen Ying stood up cooperatively, letting out a long sigh once again. She then stretched her hand out calmly, which passed through the heavy bolts of lightning, and grabbed the other party by the collar.
Uh?
Rui Mi was shocked but before he could react, he felt the world spinning around him.
Shen Ying gripped his collar and flung him to the right, slamming him to the ground. She switched her grip, and then he was flung to the left as if he were a cloth sack. To the left and right he went, and at that moment the whole forest was filled with the sounds of smacking along with her unhappy grumbling.
“I already said I have a bad temper when I wake up. Who asked you to disrupt my sleep! Who asked you to disrupt my sleep! Who asked you to disrupt my sleep…”
Yi Qing: “…”
Was he… seeing things?
But before his mind could register the scene before him, darkness fell before his eyes and finally, he fainted.