Is this the power of a peak late Foundation Establishment cultivator? If he resisted, would he die?
No, he still wanted to cultivate immortality, still wanted to become stronger, still wanted to properly enjoy this world.
He had achieved nothing yet, how could he die now?
If only he had not discovered the existence of the Divine Tree's Coreflame. Then he would not be in such a dangerous situation.
Even if he resisted Yu Lin today, since this was the territory of the Heavenly Void Sect, how could Yu Lin possibly let it go?
With this kind of entanglement, would he not still end up as a cannon fodder supporting character?
Cannon fodder supporting character?
These four words flickered through Xiao Shou's mind.
He suddenly felt a strange sense of clarity.
Ignoring all the pressure and killing intent, he raised his head to look at the sky.
His mind became unusually clear.
It was the Heavenly Dao.
It was the Heavenly Dao that gave him the intuition to sense the Divine Tree's Coreflame.
It was the Heavenly Dao that used the greed of both him and Yu Lin to stir up conflict between them.
It was trying to pull him who wanted to break away from fate's arrangements back onto its chessboard.
It wanted him to help Yu Lin increase her cultivation and becoming a sharpening stone for Xiao Ran.
It wanted to use his hand to send the Divine Tree's Coreflame into Xiao Ran's possession.
Xiao Ran was the favored child of this world's Heavenly Dao.
And he who had clearly made up his mind not to be tempted by external treasures, not to covet the so-called golden fingers in the story, and to stay away from Xiao Ran, Yu Lin, and the plot, had in the blink of an eye been dazzled by the Divine Tree's Coreflame's temptation and almost fallen into the Heavenly Dao's trap again.
It's truly dangerous.
Xiao Shou took a deep breath, his mind becoming clear and bright.
Spiritual energy around him surged toward him wildly and his cultivation technique began to circulate on its own.
In just a few breaths, his cultivation unexpectedly jumped two levels, from Qi Refining eighth layer to Qi Refining tenth layer.
Was this a reward for sensing the Heavenly Dao's intent?
He turned his head and glanced at Yu Lin, the stall owner, and the surrounding onlookers, all of whom had changed expressions because of his breakthrough.
He casually used his spiritual energy to retrieve part of his spirit stones and that piece of mineral, then looked at Yu Lin with a faint smile that was not quite a smile.
"Senior is right. Then these demon beast cores will be given to you. This junior will take my leave."
"Wait. Besides these demon beast cores, I also want to buy something from you. I heard that your clan sister gave you a beautifully crafted stone bead. I have seen that bead before and quite liked it. May I buy it from you? I am willing to pay a high price." Yu Lin said this while also clearly feeling jealousy over Xiao Shou's breakthrough, but she also understood that Xiao Shou was, apart from Xiao Ran, the supporting character with the highest luck in the entire book.
This kind of luck might have been influenced by his identity as Xiao Ran's maternal clan cousin, close friend, trusted assistant, and one of her later backers.
It might also be because he was born with astonishing fortune.
However, such shocking luck had not deepened his sins and consequences.
Before completely erasing his fate, harming him would inevitably bring Heavenly Dao's condemnation and increase the difficulty of heavenly tribulation.
So after seeing him soften and endure the dissatisfaction in his heart, she withdrew the pressure and killing intent, collected the demon cores into her storage bag, and asked in a gentle tone.
When Xiao Shou heard this, he was momentarily stunned, then his whole body began trembling with anger.
What was Xiao Ran thinking?
Taking away the Soul Tempering Grass, causing the original owner to die, and that was still not enough.
Now that he had survived, she actually tried to push the huge trouble of the Heavenly Orb onto him.
This was clearly an attempt to make sure Xiao Shou could not live.
What had Xiao Shou ever done to wrong her?
Originally, he had wanted to use the Soul Tempering Grass and the original owner's life to settle the karmic debt of previous care.
But since she refused to leave him a path to survive, then do not blame him for being ruthless.
Let her and Yu Lin bite each other like dogs and see which of them still had time to bother him.
However, after today, this market could no longer be stayed in.
He let out a faint sigh and said, "Senior, you also know Sister Ran, right? You are from the same sect. But since you put it that way, you are putting me in a difficult position. Sister Ran used to take good care of me a few years ago, but starting two years ago she…"
"Then what happened to her?"
Yu Lin was not stupid either.
She also came from a world flooded with novels and endless genres.
Ever since two years ago, when Xiao Ran clearly agreed to give her the Heavenly Orb, but the next day suddenly said she had forgotten and already given the orb to an important person, she had already felt a faint unease.
On the surface, Xiao Ran still appeared pure and kind, but there were faint signs of rejection and disgust toward her that she could vaguely sense.
Until this time, Xiao Ran who should have already advanced to Foundation Establishment two years ago, not only failed to break through but also entered a secret realm and obtained Xiao Shou's Soul Tempering Grass, returning to refine her ice spiritual root.
At that point, she already felt something was wrong.