Yu Ying, who had never rehearsed, met Chen Ji's gaze with satisfaction.
Yu Ying: If you're going to act in a play, you deserve to earn a little.
Chen Ji: Ever since I learned shamelessness from you, earning spirit stones has gotten much easier.
The two exchanged playful glances, which immediately infuriated Chang Jianhong. He was so angry he could barely contain himself, wanting to rush forward and take a bite out of Yu Ying.
Confident in his superior talent among the outer disciples, he rarely bothered making friends. Only Chen Ji, also from the mortal world, paid him any heed.
Chen Ji had acted as if he hadn't even noticed Chang Jianhong since arriving at the Deacon Hall. He had been completely won over by Yu Ying, and it was simply too much for Chang Jianhong to bear.
Yu Ying immediately noticed Chang Jiang panting like a bull in frustration, and she decided not to let his anger go to waste.
She also shared traits with the original owner of this body—at times, she was exceptionally resolute. For instance, she would create opportunities to provoke or touch Chang Jianhong's nerves and she was careful never to leave any lasting marks behind.
Master Qingfeng was a man of few words. Seeing that the outer disciples were still eager to press forward despite the obstacles, he understood that every cultivator had their own path and chose not to intervene.
Qingfeng: "Disperse—" He waved his hand, ready to end the farce.
Yu Ying: "Please forgive me, sir!" She quickly interrupted, pointing at Chang Jianhong with a perfectly wronged expression.
Yu Ying: "Senior Brother Chang deliberately rammed into me with malicious intent, so he should be punished, right?"
As she spoke, her eyes unconsciously flicked toward the Qiankun bag hanging at Chang Jianhong's waist.
Chang Jianhong: "You said it yourself—I didn't knock you down!" He snapped, anger flashing across his face.
Yu Ying: "Hey, trying to out-argue me with your sophistry? Fellow disciples, listen up!"
She pinched her thigh hard, tears welling in her eyes.
Yu Ying: "Oh, so the house was on fire and you kept throwing in firewood, and the house collapsed. Totally not your fault, right? If this evil trend isn't stopped, won't everyone start bullying weaker disciples, as long as no physical harm is done?"
She clutched her chest, glancing at Chang Jianhong's Qiankun bag, her expression filled with exaggerated pain.
Yu Ying: "However, my senior brother caused me great mental harm. I can no longer believe the sect is a warm family. Who knows when I might go mad from practicing cultivation?"
Everyone: "…" It sounded strange, but somehow, it made sense.
The disciples, who had been ready to disperse, all froze in their tracks, glancing at Master Qingfeng, whose expression was as cold as ice, silently amused by the spectacle.
Qingfeng rubbed his throbbing temples from the noise and asked, his voice sharp and cold: "What do you intend to do?"
Chang Jianhong's anger simmered, and he finally calmed slightly. Following Yu Ying's gaze to his Qiankun bag, he remembered the hundred low-grade spirit stones that Chen Ji had lost in the cultivation hall.
He hastily covered his Qiankun bag and shouted, "You're clearly after my spirit stones and trying to extort me!"
Yu Ying strained to look at the Qiankun bag Chang Jianhong was covering, her face serious.
Yu Ying: "Am I that kind of person?" Waaah… yes, I am!
Yu Ying: "Who doesn't know I'm self-reliant?" Waaah… heavens above, don't take it seriously! I actually prefer to freeload!
Chang Jianhong wasn't naive when it came to spirit stones; he let out a cold laugh.
"Fine, then punish me according to the sect's laws. You won't get a single spirit stone from me!"
At worst, Chang Jianhong would only fight with fellow disciples. Even if he were sent to the Law Pavilion, he would spend just a few days training at the Cliff of Repentance.
Seeing Master Qingfeng nod slightly, Yu Ying quickly interjected, "We are all fellow disciples. How could I bear to let Senior Brother Chang be severely punished by the Law Enforcement Pavilion?"
She coughed weakly a few times.
Yu Ying: "I was supposed to come to the Hall of Affairs to receive my outer sect mission, but now that I'm both physically and mentally injured, I'm afraid I won't be able to complete it properly. Why not punish Senior Brother Chang to help his fellow disciples? That would follow the sect's principle of mutual assistance."
Chang Jianhong: "…He does the work, and she gets the spirit stones?!"
Damn it, what are you daydreaming about!
Master Qingfeng: "As you say."
Too indifferent to care about his juniors bickering, he calmly consulted the steward of the Hall of Affairs before making a decision.
Turning to Chang Jianhong, he said, "I'll punish you by having you complete her previous mission. The spirit stones you earn from it will go to her."
Chang Jianhong's face lost its usual dark flush.
Recalling everything that had happened in the Spirit Beast Garden, his long face instantly turned pale.
No! He'll have to compensate with spirit stones, isn't that enough?!
Seeing his expression, Yu Ying's heart skipped a beat. A bad feeling gnawed at her, and she immediately wanted to back out.
Master Qingfeng didn't give her the chance to back out.
After explaining the punishment, he raised his hand, retrieved a mission token from the Hall of Affairs, and casually tossed it into Chang Jianhong's arms. Channeling his spiritual power, he ascended into the air and disappeared in an instant, riding the Azure Edge Heavy Sword.
Two weeks later...
"Brother Goose! Auwa~ Grandpa Goose! Ancestor, auwa~!"
Chang Jianhong's pitiful cries rang out from the goose enclosure in the Spirit Beast Garden. His hurried, chaotic footsteps kicked up clouds of dust and sent fallen leaves scattering in every direction.
A passing disciple clicked his tongue.
"Another unlucky bastard who traded his butt for spirit stones has ended up in the goose garden. He really can't think straight."
"Don't say that," another disciple replied with a smile. "He's a good person. Better for the ancestors to mock him than for them to pick on the other spirit beasts—or us."
Not only did the disciples seem unfazed, but the mythical creatures around the goose enclosure were also calm. When disturbed, they simply scratched their ears, changed direction, and went on with their business.
Oh and there's Yu Ying, half-lying on an artificial rock in the corner of the goose garden, mirrored them in her own way furiously writing on her jade slips.
After learning the mission details and seeing Chang Jianhong's near-collapse, Yu Ying felt a deep unease.
She didn't know exactly how powerful the Red Cloud Goose was, but memories of the giant geese people once feared before the apocalypse, and the mutated ones feared afterward, filled her mind. All she could see was darkness.
As if malfunctioning, Yu Ying followed Chang Jianhong into the goose farm. Unsurprisingly, the Red Cloud Geese immediately erupted into chaos.
Normally, the Red Cloud Geese liked to fight, but they weren't this irritable.
Few hours ago, Chang Jianhong pulled out the aphrodisiac incense, capable of bewitching spirit beasts, and tricked several Red Cloud Geese into courting him, allowing him to sneakily steal the Red Cloud Sand.
In the end, the tricked goose didn't get what it wanted. Once it came to its senses, the other geese laughed at it mercilessly.
Seeing Chang Jianhong still daring to come back to extort more, Hongyun'e's black bean–shaped eyes flared red as she charged at him.
Yu Ying, following behind Chang Jianhong… well, with two-legged beasts running amok and lusting after them, she thought: ugh, might as well just deal with them together!
Without a second thought, Yu Ying turned and ran. It didn't matter whether she could outrun the Red Cloud Goose or not; she just needed to outrun Senior Brother Chang.
Chang Jianhong knew the Red Cloud Goose's fighting strength better than Yu Ying.
Seeing that Yu Ying lacked martial ethics, he was overcome with both old and new grudges and threw a restrictive magic array at the gate of the goose garden.
Come on! Let's get hurt together!
Yu Ying: "..." You win!
What made things worse was that Chang Jianhong's cultivation level was higher than hers. By channeling his spiritual energy into his legs, he easily outran Yu Ying, even while running laps around the goose park.
Just as the Red Cloud Goose lunged to bite her, Yu Ying's mind raced. She suddenly remembered the magic technique the original owner had mastered and quickly used her spiritual energy to form a wooden shield in front of her.
As if things weren't already bad enough, the moment Yu Ying used her spiritual energy, her fevered head throbbed painfully, and her stomach, which had just quieted, began rumbling relentlessly again.
Chang Jianhong hurried up the artificial hill. When he turned around, he saw Yu Ying surrounded by the Red Cloud Geese and was so delighted he almost laughed aloud—like a goose.
This brat had tried to extort him and even snatched away his friend—he wouldn't let it slide!
Before Chang Jianhong could finish gloating, Yu Ying turned ruthless, her eyes sharp and determined.
She had awakened a seemingly useless superpower, one that allowed her to survive in a morally and legally corrupt apocalypse and even become a masterful fighter, ruthless beyond compare.
She wasn't afraid of death. So what did she fear? …Half-death, perhaps. She was willing to risk it all!
Yu Ying dispelled the spiritual energy of the Wooden Shield Technique and quickly lay flat on the ground. Shameless as she was, she couldn't risk being disfigured.
After securing herself, she fearlessly gathered every trace of spiritual energy in her body and reversed its flow according to her cultivation method, forcing all of it into her spiritual sea.
Her special ability had been practically useless in the apocalypse until level four, but the potential she unleashed upon awakening was immense.
Rather than risk being half-dead, she might as well impress these geese!
The pain from reversing her spiritual energy was as intense as self-destruction. Her whole body felt like it might explode, and she could feel her spiritual sea heating uncontrollably.
Whether it was only a moment or an eternity, Yu Ying completely lost track of time.
She didn't even have a chance to look inward. The illusory sea of her spiritual consciousness churned violently, like water brought to a rolling boil.
Countless towering waves rose without a breath of wind, gradually converging to form an irregular void amid the surging spiritual currents.
Blood quickly seeped from Yu Ying's body. Chang Jianhong, shocked by her reversal of cultivation technique, hesitated—unsure whether he should intervene.
Although he disliked Yu Ying, they were still fellow disciples. He couldn't simply stand by and watch her be tortured to death by the Red Cloud Geese.
But in the next instant, hesitation became unnecessary. The moment Yu Ying's spiritual energy was completely depleted, her entire body erupted in white light, blooming silently yet dazzlingly.
"Ouch—" Chang Jianhong screamed, covering his eyes as tears streamed down his face from the blinding white light.
"Caw—" The Red Cloud Goose, still trying to bite Yu Ying, cried out, squeezed its black-bean eyes shut, flapped its wings, and stumbled away.
Not only the man and the Red Cloud Geese, but all the spirit beasts in the Spirit Beast Garden sensed it and froze, staring toward the goose enclosure.
Those of lower cultivation trembled with an inexplicable palpitation, while the more powerful beasts felt a pressure that suppressed their bloodline, if only for a moment.
"Huh~ An aura that suppresses evil spirits?" True Monarch Hongyun, cultivating in the inner sect cave, suddenly opened his eyes and appeared above the Spirit Beast Garden in an instant.
Guiyuan Zhenjun, the sect leader of Yaoguang Sect and a Nascent Soul cultivator, appeared beside him, eyes fixed on the unconscious Yu Ying.
After a moment, he stroked his fine beard with a smile.
"Hmm… it's the 'Myriad Lights Burning Soul Technique.' I've only heard that its power at the Golden Core stage can suppress evil spirits. And yet this little girl comprehends it at the Qi Refining stage? She has a very promising future ahead."
Lord Hongyun scoffed lightly.
"Let's discuss her future after she survives. Her spiritual energy is nearly depleted."
When a Foundation Establishment disciple is carried off by a Red Cloud Goose infused with demonic essence, the essence is converted into spiritual power, causing minimal harm. But for a Qi Refining disciple, even a slight disruption can throw their spiritual energy into chaos.
However, with focused cultivation, one can expand their spiritual veins and condense spiritual energy. That is why the task of feeding the Red Cloud Goose is entrusted to outer sect disciples.
After Yu Ying was captured by the red cloudgoose, her chaotic spiritual energy failed to stabilize, and her cultivation technique was reversed. With her spiritual energy now collapsed, she could be crippled even if she survives
However, disciples who have mastered the Myriad Lights Burning Soul Technique can also greatly assist demon cultivators.
Though True Lord Hongyun spoke harshly, he produced a piece of Zhongling Vine, known to solidify the spirit and heal injuries. Channeling his demonic power, he dissolved it and flicked it into Yu Ying's body.
Guiyuan smiled silently. If the sect produces another disciple who masters the Myriad Lights Burning Soul Technique, then when they descend to the mortal realm to suppress evil spirits, far fewer disciples will perish.
He reached into his sleeve, withdrew a pill with a faint blue luster, and silently sent it into Yu Ying's mouth.
"This girl is fearless and daring, capable of turning the tide even in the face of death. Perhaps she can help Youhuang Dan reach new heights in life-and-death battles in the future."
Once a cultivator attains the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage, they can ascend to the Spirit Realm. These two, as Nascent Soul and True Monarchs just one level below that stage, acted without drawing the attention of any creature in the Spirit Beast Garden and disappeared without a trace.
When Yu Ying woke up, she had no sense of how much time had passed. The pain in her body had vanished, her fever subsided, and hunger no longer gnawed at her.
Chang Jianhong, with his eyes swollen and red, had set up a protective array and sat meditating quietly in a corner.
The geese were unusually well-behaved, their black-bean eyes red and swollen, resting peacefully in another corner of the enclosure.
Yu Ying probed her spiritual sea, and sure enough, a faint crystal core shimmered within. Her supernatural ability was now fully awakened.
The behavior of both Chang Jianhong and the geese was perfectly normal.
In her past life, when her supernatural powers first awakened, she had blinded an entire team of over three hundred people for several hours.
Later, when others discovered that her powers were mostly ineffective, they considered her a waste because the contrast between her past exploits and her present abilities was too extreme.
If Yu Ling was awake, Yu Ying would have called her over to see for herself. She would have said with a grin, "The Red Cloud Geese are actually quite well-behaved!"
Of course, their good behavior lasted less than an hour. Still holding grudges, they soon charged at Yu Ying and Chang Jianhong once again.
Yu Ying remained standing, smiling mischievously at Hong Yun'e, her eyes filled with a provocative glint.
Yu Ying had only awakened her supernatural power halfway before her spiritual energy was exhausted. Still shrouded in darkness, she had to rely on her physical potential, nearly drained to the point of collapse.
The Red Cloud Geese continued to nip at her, and she subtly noticed that each nibble, much like when she absorbed a low-level zombie crystal core, sent a weak power surging through her body. It circulated her spiritual meridians, gradually prompting her supernatural abilities to fully awaken.
In the cultivation world, there were no zombie crystal cores to feed her power—but there were Red Cloud Geese. What a wonderful source of energy!
As a spirit beast, the Red Cloud Goose had a surprising degree of intelligence, which made Yu Ying laugh so hard she nearly questioned her own existence.
The goose charging ahead seemed to think: is this two-legged creatures tired of living?
The one behind It: Is she trying to blind us with her beauty again?
The hesitant goose quacked reluctantly: Forget it. It doesn't matter who we catch,let's go after the other one, brothers!
One goose turned its head, and the rest quickly followed, charging fiercely toward the terrified Chang Jianhong.
Yu Ying, her face streaked with dust, shouted, "Ptooey! Don't run! Come here!!"
Chang Jianhong muttered through gritted teeth, …I'm tired of cursing them.
Chang Jianhong's low-grade protective array was no match for the onslaught of high-level Qi Refining Red Cloud Geese. Without hesitation, he deactivated the array and ran for his life.
The geese pursued him relentlessly, and Yu Ying, spitting in frustration, chased after them, causing the geese to sprint even faster. Chang Jianhong's backside bore the brunt of it, making the scene hilariously chaotic for a moment.
It wasn't that there weren't any skeptical Red Cloud Geese—they did turn around and attempt to snatch Yu Ying.
But every time they did, their demonic energy rapidly waned, while Yu Ying, as if she had swallowed a potent tonic, grew even more arrogant and domineering.
Who could possibly withstand that? Even geese aren't foolish!
In the end, Yu Ying had no more rebellious geese to contend with, and even had the leisure to produce the jade slip that Chen Ji had been urging her to complete.
Only Chang Jianhong suffered, forced to endure two hours of being chased for every five minutes of cultivation—a truly miserable fate.
He had wanted to rebel, forcing Yu Ying to bear the brunt! But the more she handled the tasks of the jade slip, the more he was chased by the birds.
Perhaps sensing that this troublesome two legged creature was harming them, the geese loyally followed Yu Ying whenever she got up for a walk. She fed them while absorbing their demonic energy to convert into power, leaving Chang Jianhong to endure even more miserable bites.
For example, just now, after Yu Ying finished feeding (picking) the goose, she lay back down to continue recalling the quotes from the head teacher and the chuunibyou teenager. The red goose, which had been ravaged, had its black bean eyes turned red bean eyes, which drove Chang Jianhong crazy.
When he finally hid in the protective array, his clothes were tattered, his body covered in bruises and swelling. He looked up and saw Yu Ying leaning lazily against a plump goose.
The red cloud geese that had been chasing him fiercely only moments ago now lined up obediently, allowing Yu Ying to scrape off their red cloud sand without resistance.
No matter how hard he tried to hold back, Chang Jianhong finally broke down, letting out a loud, pitiful "wuuu wuuu.