Saintess of Zixiao Peak

"Going too far!"

Fang Chen watched Cao Bin and Tian Hu's retreating backs, grinding his teeth in fury.

He had never imagined Cao Bin and Tian Hu could be this excessive.

But there was nothing he could do now.

"Just you wait. One day, I'll have my revenge!"

Fang Chen clutched his chest and slowly rose from the ground. Tian Hu's two kicks had been vicious, and waves of pain still pulsed through his chest.

Only after Tian Hu and Cao Bin had gone far away did he summon the Heavenly Remnant Sword and continue chopping bamboo.

He knew the bamboo he cut down would definitely be embezzled and claimed by Cao Bin and the others, yet he still chose to do it, because given his current circumstances, compromise was his only option.

If he did not chop down another two Exquisite Bamboo stalks before nightfall, Cao Bin would surely have those Handymen give him a savage beating when he returned.

There was another reason as well: to increase his strength.

Even if the bamboo was snatched away by Cao Bin and the others, they could not steal the energy he absorbed from the Heavenly Remnant Sword while chopping it.

Cao Bin was crafty too. Telling him to chop down another two stalks before nightfall meant he was not giving him a single moment to catch his breath. He was squeezing him dry like a beast of burden.

At Dragon Tiger Mountain, his status was the lowliest of all. Anyone in a bad mood would curse him a few times, or even slap him a few times.

Why did all these people bully him?

At the end of the day, it was because he was weak.

Strength!

In this world where the strong reigned supreme, strength alone was the true path. Only by becoming stronger himself would others no longer dare bully him.

Fang Chen treated the Exquisite Bamboo before him as Cao Bin, and that made his chopping even more vigorous. It seemed that with hatred fueling him, every strike of his sword sent even more energy from the Heavenly Remnant Sword surging into his body.

With the Heavenly Remnant Sword's help, if Fang Chen went all out, he could chop down at least three Exquisite Bamboo stalks in one shichen.

But he did not do so.

He carefully kept track of the time, spending the rest of it running off to chop rocks.

Two shichen later, Fang Chen chopped down another Exquisite Bamboo stalk, and he could clearly feel that he had grown considerably stronger.

"It's only been a few shichen, and my strength has already improved so noticeably!"

"If I keep this up for a month, a year, or even several years, what realm will my strength reach? I wonder if, by then, I'll be able to rival cultivators of the Qi Refining Realm!"

Fang Chen muttered to himself. He knew that cultivators of the Qi Refining Realm possessed Mana and could wield spells. Their strength far surpassed that of ordinary people.

Mana was also called True Qi or Internal Force. The Savage World was vast, and people in different places had different names for the same thing.

He activated his identity token, and Cao Bin soon arrived with Tian Hu.

Cao Bin did not dare openly register these Exquisite Bamboo stalks under his own name, so he could only bring Tian Hu and register them under Tian Hu's name. Once they returned, the two would divide the spoils.

Fang Chen timed it precisely, chopping down the third Exquisite Bamboo stalk just before sunset.

By the time he returned to the foot of the mountain, it was already completely dark.

The Handymen were all sitting by the entrance, waiting for dinner. Everyone looked dead tired.

But Fang Chen was different. With the Heavenly Remnant Sword's help, the more he chopped, the more invigorated he became; the more he chopped, the more alert he felt.

Of course, he too put on an utterly exhausted appearance.

All the Handymen from Dragon Tiger Mountain spent the night at Thousand Bamboo Ridge.

Thousand Bamboo Ridge had Handymen of its own. Their usual duties were managing Thousand Bamboo Ridge, digging bamboo shoots, planting bamboo, gathering bamboo rice, catching Bamboo Worms, chopping bamboo, and making all manner of items from bamboo.

Although Thousand Bamboo Ridge also had several dozen Handymen, they were all old, weak, sick, or disabled. Recently, the price of Exquisite Bamboo had soared, and the sect wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to chop down more Exquisite Bamboo to sell. That was why they had transferred people from Dragon Tiger Mountain to help.

Naturally, this was paid work. During this time, the food and lodging of these Dragon Tiger Mountain Handymen were covered by the people of Thousand Bamboo Ridge.

Everyone ate dinner together. Since this was Thousand Bamboo Ridge, and with Thousand Bamboo Ridge's Handymen watching, neither Cao Bin nor the other Dragon Tiger Mountain Handymen went too far or made trouble for Fang Chen.

After suffering oppression at Dragon Tiger Mountain for so long, Fang Chen could finally sit at the table and eat with everyone tonight. He even got to eat the braised pork he had dreamed of.

After dinner, everyone began sharpening their knives. Once their knives were sharpened, they all jumped into the lake not far from the dormitories to bathe, then gathered at the dormitory entrance to boast and shoot the breeze.

Fang Chen did not even get a chance to cut in.

He simply sat there quietly and watched them talk. The topic these people discussed most was still women.

Whenever they spoke of the women at Spring Breeze Pavilion, every one of them grew animated with excitement.

Spring Breeze Pavilion was a tower in the marketplace. It was filled with many young women, each more lovely than the last, skilled in singing, dancing, playing instruments, and more.

Listening to these Handymen talk about men and women, Fang Chen, still a greenhorn, felt a deep yearning stir in his heart as well.

Just as everyone was talking with great enthusiasm, a blazing violet light shot into the sky from the southeast, followed by a powerful wave of energy.

"Rumble!"

Even the ground shook violently.

"What's going on?"

"What a powerful spiritual energy fluctuation!"

"That direction... it looks like Zixiao Peak!"

"What on earth happened?"

Everyone raised their heads to look at that violet pillar of light that pierced the heavens.

At that moment, Fang Chen also felt a slight warmth in his palm. Looking down, he saw a faint green glow radiating from it.

The beam lasted for roughly ten breaths before gradually fading away. The Heavenly Remnant Sword Mark in Fang Chen's palm also returned to stillness.

"Hahaha! Five hundred years! A full five hundred years! Zixiao Peak has finally produced a Holy Maiden!"

A booming voice echoed between heaven and earth, lingering for a long while.

"What? Zixiao Peak has produced a Holy Maiden?"

"That's wonderful! Zixiao Peak has finally produced a Holy Maiden!"

After hearing that voice, everyone was both shocked and thrilled.

The Glazed Sword Sect had a total of eight main peaks.

Those eight main peaks were Crimson Rainbow Peak, Orange Sky Peak, Yellow Springs Peak, Green Support Peak, Azure Cloud Peak, Azure Abyss Peak, Zixiao Peak, and Glazed Peak.

Dragon Tiger Mountain and Thousand Bamboo Ridge both belonged to Azure Cloud Peak.

Each main peak possessed an Inherited Divine Sword.

The eight divine swords could form the immensely powerful Glazed Sword Array.

Glazed Peak was the foremost of the eight peaks, and the Glazed Sword was the strongest among the eight divine swords.

Every divine sword contained a complete inheritance.

The inheritances within the divine swords could be understood but not put into words.

As the saying went, a thousand people saw a thousand faces. The cultivation arts each person comprehended from these divine swords differed, just like clouds in the sky—one person might see a dog in the same cloud, while another might see a horse.

Among the eight divine swords, the Zixiao Sword was the most unusual. To this day, only women had been able to comprehend the sword arts upon it, so all disciples of Zixiao Peak were women.

The other seven divine swords, however, could be comprehended by both men and women.

Unfortunately, ten thousand years ago, the Glazed Sword was damaged in a great battle, causing Glazed Peak's inheritance to be severed.

The strongest main peak of the Glazed Sword Sect in bygone days was now bereft of talent and had long since declined.

The destruction of the Glazed Sword had also caused the Glazed Sword Sect's overall strength to steadily decline.

Ten thousand years ago, the Glazed Sword Sect had been a first-rate force in the Southern Barrens. Now, it had fallen to the second rate, and was practically at the very bottom even among second-rate factions.

Only by cultivating the inherited supreme arts of the various main peaks to a certain realm and earning the recognition of an inheritance sword could one become a Holy Son or Holy Maiden.

For the past several hundred years, no one on Zixiao Peak had been able to gain the Zixiao Sword's recognition, leaving the position of Holy Maiden vacant for centuries.

Now that Zixiao Peak had finally produced a Holy Maiden, it was an earthshaking delight for the Glazed Sword Sect.

After they were done bragging, everyone returned indoors and crowded together on the floor bedding to sleep.

Fang Chen, meanwhile, was squeezed into a corner by everyone else, unable even to lie down flat.

Perhaps because they had worked all day, everyone soon fell asleep, their snores rising and falling one after another.