A Blossoming Young Matron

Chen Heng looked at Luo Yu Lei sprawled on the ground, the corners of his mouth rising of their own accord.

He had judged the force of that strike perfectly—enough to knock him senseless without damaging his brain, letting him sleep until dawn.

The reason he had not simply killed Luo Yu Lei was that this place was not far from either Little Bamboo Peak or Southern Foothills Market.

Luo Yu Lei held no lowly status within the Luo Family. Not only was he of the direct line, but he also had a blood-related elder sister who had joined the Azure Profound Sect and become a Violet Palace Venerable.

What if the two Luo Family Foundation Establishment Ancestors stationed at the Little Bamboo Peak mine and overseeing Southern Foothills Market had left some method on him?

If that happened, it would not be easy for Chen Heng to get away.

It was precisely because Chen Heng had considered this possibility that he had not directly killed the two of them.

Still, he would not let Luo Yu Lei have an easy time.

Chen Heng first collected the six storage bags hanging from his waist. Aside from one rather exquisite storage bag that belonged to Luo Yu Lei, the other five presumably belonged to this group of ill-intentioned Rogue Cultivators.

With a single glance, he saw three men and one woman lying in pools of blood. Apart from Wang Yi and Li Zheng, he did not recognize the remaining man and woman.

Li Zheng, with his thick brows, large eyes, square face, and trustworthy appearance, was in the most miserable state.

His head had been severed, and disbelief and terror still lingered on his face.

He probably had never expected that this operation would hook a local tyrant of formidable strength, one who even brought along two subordinates.

"What a pity. Such a beautiful female cultivator, and she died here too."

Chen Heng looked toward the only female cultivator in the room and sighed inwardly.

She was a blossoming young matron, gorgeous as peach blossoms and plum flowers, with fair, smooth skin and an exceptionally full, proud figure. She was truly a rare beauty blessed with both face and form.

Unfortunately, her fragrance had vanished and her jade had shattered. A flying sword appeared to have pierced through her intestines, and she had bled to death.

Chen Heng shook his head, then stripped off Luo Yu Lei's dharma robe. Fearing he might catch cold lying on the ground, Chen Heng left him a pair of white socks.

He then took out an Image Recording Jade Slip and preserved Young Master Luo's nude portrait within it.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. This fellow's development is incomplete. It's only this tiny!"

Chen Heng watched for a moment, made that unprompted comment, then solemnly put the Image Recording Jade Slip away.

Only after finishing these trivial matters did he begin seriously examining this ancient, weathered cave abode.

The cave abode had an antique design and a grand, majestic bearing. Its jade pillars were exquisite, yet the residence itself was completely empty.

It seemed that everything in the hall had long since been carried away, leaving behind only an empty main chamber.

Perhaps someone had already visited this cave abode before. Even Li Zheng, Wang Yi, and the others might not have been the first cultivators to discover this place.

Just as he swept his gaze across the hall, found not the slightest clue, and prepared to return to Southern Foothills Market—

He suddenly realized that the carved patterns on the jade pillars looked somewhat familiar.

Just as Chen Heng was trying to recall where he had seen them before, he suddenly heard hurried breathing by his ear.

It sounded like someone who had nearly drowned suddenly surfacing from the water.

No sooner said than done!

He spun around at once, his cudgel flashing like thunder as it struck toward the source of the sound.

"Fellow Daoist, please spare this little woman's life!"

A soft, seductive, pleasant voice rang out.

Following the motion, Chen Heng stopped the Ruyi Water-Fire Cudgel in his hand against the throat of the pale-faced, frail-looking blossoming young matron.

If he pushed it forward even a fraction of an inch, he could take her life in an instant.

His eyes narrowed as he asked in a low voice, "Speak. How did you survive?"

Chen Heng was quite certain that, when he had checked earlier, aside from Luo Yu Lei and Luo San Shi, whom he had deliberately spared, everyone else should have already stopped breathing.

The blossoming young matron's face was exceedingly pale, her brows tightly furrowed. Clearly, she had lost too much blood. Trembling, she said, "Turtle Breath... Talisman."

The Turtle Breath Talisman was a second-rank mid-grade talisman and a type of breath-concealing talisman. It could not only conceal one's aura, but also fabricate signs of death.

Chen Heng immediately understood how this woman had survived the previous melee.

After taking that sword through the gut, she must have seized the chance to activate this exceedingly precious second-rank talisman and played dead where she lay.

Even the Chen Family, renowned for artifact forging and talisman crafting, had never issued a talisman of such rank to him.

Chen Heng looked the young matron up and down several times, hesitating over whether to kill her.

This cultivation world was full of deception and mutual scheming, with trust nowhere to be found. It was the quintessential law of the dark forest.

He would not pity her merely because she now looked so fragile and pitiable, for she had seen things she should not have seen.

Chen Heng did not want the matter of him knocking Luo Yu Lei unconscious with a cudgel to leak out.

When the blossoming young matron saw that Chen Heng remained silent, a chill rose from her spine, utterly overwhelming the pain in her body.

She forcibly suppressed her pain and hurriedly said, "Fellow Daoist, how about sparing this little woman's life? I can make a Dao Vow. From this day onward, I will serve as your slave and maid, loyal to you alone."

In this world, a Dao Vow bound cultivators far more strongly than anything else.

A Dao Vow reached Heaven above and imprinted itself upon one's Dao heart below.

Once a cultivator violated an oath, inner demons would breed, Heaven and Earth would not tolerate them, and they would inevitably suffer qi deviation and turn into ash beneath tribulation.

This was the conclusion countless cultivators had verified through personal experience.

The higher a cultivator's realm, the more terrifying the Dao Vow they made.

Her willingness to swear a Dao Vow was even more binding than opening her sea of consciousness and allowing a restriction to be planted within it.

At this moment—

The blossoming young matron's eyes were like cleaved autumn waters, her glances rippling with light, filled to the brim with the desire to survive.

Though Chen Heng had lived two lives, he had never personally killed anyone thus far.

Moreover, he found it difficult to ruthlessly strike down such a breathtakingly beautiful, defenseless, pitiable blossoming young matron.

Besides, her cultivation was not bad. She was likely only one step away from late Qi Refining. If she could be used by him, many things would indeed become much more convenient in the future.

With that thought, Chen Heng slowly withdrew the Ruyi Water-Fire Cudgel in his hand, though his eyes remained full of vigilance.

He stared fixedly at her without speaking.

The young matron's brows remained tightly drawn, yet she forced a smile onto her face and waited patiently for Chen Heng's decision.

However, her body could not stop trembling—partly from unbearable pain, and partly from her desperate yearning to live.

Between life and death lay a terror beyond measure!

Not long after—

Chen Heng's expression softened slightly as he said evenly, "Chen Heng of the Chen Family."

Upon hearing this, the blossoming young matron let out a long breath of relief in her heart and hastily swore a Dao Vow. "This little woman, Wen Ning, is willing to honor Chen Heng as her master for the rest of her life. From this day onward, I will serve as his slave and maid, without the slightest complaint."

Seeing Wen Ning swear the Dao Vow on the spot, Chen Heng immediately took out a fine healing pill from his storage bag and handed it to her to aid her recovery.

He feared that this beautiful, delicate maid of his would bleed too much and suddenly die on the spot.

He then rose to his feet and gave Luo Yu Lei and Luo San Shi several more blows to the head, ensuring that neither of them could wake up.

Chen Heng came to the jade pillar from earlier and continued studying the carved patterns upon it.

At that moment, a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed his mind.

Chen Heng finally remembered where he had seen similar carvings before: on the artifact patterns of the shield he had bought during his first stroll through the Southern Foothills Market gathering.

The two were practically cut from the same cloth, sharing the same wondrous essence through different melodies.

There was a high probability that they had been forged by the same person.

Although the jade pillar before him was not a ranked dharma artifact, it was no ordinary object either. The carved patterns inscribed upon it were an artifact pattern that had not yet been fully perfected.

It was likely something that artifact forger—or rather, the owner of this cave abode—had casually refined.