The Late Punishment

Early the next morning, Ling Tian woke from his cultivation inside the formation. After washing up carefully and gathering a few things, he set out for Qingdie Peak.

The morning breeze drifted over Qingdie Peak. Birds chirped softly, flowers filled the air with fragrance, and butterflies fluttered among them. It was truly a paradise on earth.

Ling Tian had no mind to admire the picturesque scenery. He hurried to the square outside the Great Hall on Qingdie Peak. A few figures were already faintly visible there.

"Big Brother Ling Tian, over here!" Hua Min'er called and waved to him, even though he was still quite far away.

Ling Tian saw her but said nothing, only picking up his pace. With a few light bounds, he landed in front of Hua Min'er.

"Min'er, you're all here already?" Ling Tian glanced around and asked softly. Everyone was looking at him with a hint of annoyance, though he had no idea why.

"Mm. You're the only one missing. Hee-hee, Big Brother Ling Tian, you're late. Making a group of girls wait isn't a good habit, you know." Hua Min'er smiled and quietly explained why they were a little annoyed.

"Uh, all right. I was wrong." Ling Tian flushed with embarrassment. He'd been late for dates with Hua Min'er before, so he knew all too well what terrifying consequences lateness could bring.

"All right, everyone's here. Let's go." Yun Ying glanced around, saw that they were all present, and spoke up.

So Yun Ying was probably leading the group this time, Ling Tian thought to himself. Whenever Yun Ying's gaze swept over him, he felt like a cat had its eye on a mouse. A chill ran down his spine, but he could only brace himself and follow along.

"Mm," everyone replied in unison.

"Rise!"

At Yun Ying's soft command, a green treasure shaped like a flying boat appeared. It grew with the wind, reaching several zhang in size in an instant.

"Let's go!" Yun Ying said, then leaped aboard and sat at the front, presumably to make it easier to control.

The others followed her and found places to sit. Ling Tian took Hua Min'er's little hand, and the two exchanged a smile before drifting aboard and sitting together.

"Go!"

At Yun Ying's soft command, a streak of green light roared southward.

"Hey, this treasure's pretty good. It's only a little slower than flying on a sword." Ling Tian clicked his tongue in wonder and couldn't help praising it.

Hua Min'er chuckled and explained, "Big Brother Ling Tian, this is the Green Spirit Flying Boat Master gave us for this trip. It's a ninth-grade Magic Artifact, and a pretty good one. It can carry dozens of people at once."

"Oh, I see. Your master was quite generous." Ling Tian nodded in understanding and remarked casually.

"Mm. There are a lot of people going on this trip, and quite a few of them can't fly on swords yet, so this is certainly more convenient," Hua Min'er added.

"Mm, that's true. There are eighteen of us, counting our group. This flying boat should be just right." Ling Tian glanced around and immediately counted them.

"Besides Senior Sister Yun Ying, who's at the Qi Solidification Stage, Senior Sister Yao Yu and four others are at the same stage. The rest are only at Qi Condensation." Hua Min'er pointed toward Yao Yu and the other women, who were apparently the ones at the Qi Solidification Stage.

"Mm. Senior Sister Yun Ying is at the thirty-fourth level of the Qi Solidification Stage, Senior Sister Yao Yu is at the thirty-second, and the other four senior sisters are all at the thirtieth. With this kind of strength, we should be quite safe on the road." Ling Tian's Mental Cultivation was very high, nearly at the Golden Core Realm, so he could tell their cultivation levels at a glance.

"Big Brother Ling Tian, your Mental Cultivation is so high! That means it must be at least at the thirty-fourth level of the Qi Solidification Stage. You're amazing!" Hua Min'er said enviously.

Only someone with higher Mental Cultivation could discern another person's cultivation level, and most people's Mental Cultivation was about on par with their own cultivation. Since Ling Tian could easily tell Yun Ying and the others' levels, his Mental Cultivation had to surpass theirs.

"Heh, since I can't cultivate spiritual energy, I naturally put more effort into cultivating my mind. It's nothing to be proud of." Ling Tian gave a faint, self-mocking smile.

"All right, Big Brother Ling Tian. Don't be sad. I believe you'll definitely be able to cultivate spiritual energy." Seeing his downcast expression, Hua Min'er hurried to comfort him.

"Mm, I'm not sad. It just feels a little uncomfortable. Watching all of you grow stronger so quickly makes me a little envious." Ling Tian smiled faintly, and the gloom vanished from his face.

"That's not true, either. Your formation skills have improved so astonishingly that even Grandpa Yuan Ming can't stop praising you." Hearing Ling Tian say he was fine, Hua Min'er felt much better, too.

"Hehe, you're improving faster than I am. In just one year, you went from the twenty-fourth level of Qi Refining to the thirty-sixth level of Qi Condensation. You could enter the Qi Solidification Stage at any moment. That progress is truly astonishing. With your Innate Wood Spirit Physique, you really are blessed with extraordinary talent." Ling Tian couldn't help praising her.

"Hee-hee, that's thanks to your Spirit Gathering Formation. I cultivate more than ten times faster inside it." The little girl was quite pleased to hear the person she loved praise her, but she still spoke modestly.

If outsiders heard that, it would probably cause an uproar. Going from the twenty-fourth level of Qi Refining to the thirty-sixth level of Qi Condensation in a mere year was something others might not achieve in decades of cultivation. Yun Ying and Yao Yu might look young, around twenty, but each of them had cultivated for at least twenty or thirty years. They were all intensely envious of Hua Min'er's rate of progress.

"Hehe, it's the result of your own hard work." Hearing Hua Min'er praise the effects of his Spirit Gathering Formation made Ling Tian feel a little proud, too.

"Hee-hee, of course. I'm a genius!" Hua Min'er couldn't help joking, making Ling Tian burst into laughter.

Seeing the two of them chatting and laughing, the others joined in, too. The whole group talked and laughed along the way, and the mood was lively. None of them seemed worried at all; it was as if they were going on an outing rather than hunting demons and exorcising evil.

About an hour later, Yun Ying brought the Green Spirit Flying Boat down. They had presumably reached the destination for their training trip. Everyone disembarked, and Yun Ying put the flying boat away. Ling Tian and the others carefully surveyed their surroundings.

It was a small village. After a zombie attack, the surviving villagers had all been moved away, leaving a scene of ruined walls and broken buildings. A faint stench of corpses hung in the air, and the occasional caw of a crow made the place seem even more desolate and bleak.

"Hey, the Corpse Qi is much thicker than it was a few days ago. I guess some more bodies have undergone Corpse Transformation." After a moment, Yun Ying furrowed her brow and muttered to herself.

She had visited a few days earlier, so she knew the situation here. Back then, the Corpse Qi hadn't been nearly so thick.

"The villagers bitten a few days ago probably turned into zombies. It's nothing serious, just newly formed low-level zombies. It'll be a good chance for the junior sisters to get some practice." Yao Yu looked unconcerned.

"Mm, that's probably it. Clear out a space for us to set up camp. We'll be staying here for a few days." After hearing Yao Yu, Yun Ying relaxed a little and gave the order.

"I'm not doing that filthy work. Isn't there only one man in our group? Hee-hee, let him do it. Might as well put him to use." Yao Yu glanced at Ling Tian, who was chatting with Hua Min'er, and gave a mischievous grin.

"Hee-hee, that's right. Might as well put him to use." Yun Ying chuckled, then glanced at Ling Tian, who still had no idea what awaited him. "Hmph. He actually dared to be late when he came out with us, making all us ladies wait. We'll teach him a lesson. This gives us the perfect excuse to put him to work."

"Ling Tian, come here a moment." After hearing Yun Ying, Yao Yu grinned even more brazenly.

"What is it, Senior Sister?" Ling Tian asked, puzzled.

"Go clear out a space. We're setting up camp here today." Yao Yu ordered without a hint of courtesy.

"Uh, weren't we here to catch zombies? Why aren't we going now?" Ling Tian's head began to ache.

"You don't know how it works. Zombies come out at night, so we can't go now. Besides, we don't know how many days we'll be here, so we need to set up camp first." Yun Ying explained, joining Yao Yu in their little act.

"Oh, well..." Ling Tian started to say something.

"What, you want a whole group of girls to do the work?" Yao Yu looked at Ling Tian in mock disdain.

"Uh, no, of course not." Cold sweat broke out across Ling Tian's forehead, and he hurriedly answered. He couldn't afford to offend this group of women.

"Then what are you waiting for? Besides, you were late today and made all of us wait. You know what you have to do, hmph." Yao Yu gritted her teeth as she spoke, looking ready to fly into a rage.

"Yes, yes, I'll go right now." Ling Tian didn't dare say another word. He hurriedly agreed and went to clear the area.

"Hee-hee..." A burst of silvery laughter rang out after Ling Tian left.

"Senior Sisters, you're bullying Big Brother Ling Tian. Hmph." Hua Min'er came over, her little mouth puckered.

"Junior Sister Min'er, we, we..." At the sight of Hua Min'er's faintly angry expression, Yao Yu didn't know what to say. She doted on this junior sister and couldn't bear to see her wronged in the slightest.

"Hee-hee, it's a great idea. Who told him to be late and make me wait?" In an instant, Hua Min'er's face broke into a little devil's grin.

"You little..." Yao Yu cried, "You dared to fool me? I'll teach you a lesson!" She lunged viciously at Hua Min'er and tickled her.

Hua Min'er couldn't take it and hurriedly fought back. The two girls' silvery laughter rang out in this deserted place, adding a little liveliness to it.

Now, back to our protagonist, Ling Tian.

"Ah, I should've known better than to come. Following a whole group of women—was I just asking to be bullied?" Ling Tian muttered under his breath, careful not to let the women hear him.

"Ah, girls really are the most vindictive creatures. They didn't say anything when I first arrived, so I thought they'd forgotten. Who knew... Forget it. I wanted to see more of the world, too. Besides, I don't want anything to happen to Min'er. I feel a lot more at ease coming along." After a sigh, Ling Tian began looking for ways to console himself.

"Better get to work. I haven't done this in ages. Luckily, Father once had me clear the paths on Qingyou Peak. It brings back memories." Ling Tian remembered his days clearing the mountain paths on Qingyou Peak. As he thought of them, he took a long knife from his Storage Ring and headed toward the weeds and shrubs nearby.

Ling Tian hadn't done this kind of work in a long time, but he wasn't unfamiliar with it. The long knife in his hand flashed rapidly, and several streaks of blade energy burst forth. The weeds and shrubs fell at its strike. In a burst of inspiration, he even started using the Illusory God Phantom Shadow Movement Technique. His movements were naturally nimble and fluid; in moments, afterimages filled the air. Even as he did this menial work, he moved with an effortless, unworldly grace, as if he were strolling through a garden. Before long, he had cleared a large area.

"Wow, those movements are so handsome! So graceful and nimble!" A female disciple noticed Ling Tian's footwork and couldn't help exclaiming.

Drawn by the shout, Yun Ying and Hua Min'er followed the disciple's gaze. In an instant, Ling Tian's peerless footwork captivated them, and they couldn't look away.

"Wow, I never expected that kid to be so handsome," Yao Yu couldn't help praising.

"Exactly. Even Master's footwork might not be this good," Yun Ying added, unable to hide her admiration.

"Hmph. We told him to clear a space, but he's showing off instead." Seeing the many female disciples staring at Ling Tian in a lovestruck daze, Hua Min'er felt as if she'd swallowed a whole jar of vinegar. She grumbled with a snort.

"Oho, that's a strong whiff of sourness. Looks like someone's jealous, hee-hee." Hearing Hua Min'er complain, Yao Yu couldn't help teasing her.

"Hehe, Ling Tian's got all these girls' attention. Of course Junior Sister Min'er is jealous!" Yun Ying teased her, too.

"I'm not jealous! Senior Sisters Yao Yu, you're making fun of me. I'm not talking to you anymore." Hua Min'er pouted in mild annoyance. She said she wasn't jealous, but who would believe her?

"Hee-hee." Yao Yu and Yun Ying said nothing, only watching Hua Min'er with amused smiles.

"All right, all right, I am jealous! So what? Big Brother Ling Tian is mine. None of you can try to steal him from me, hmph!" Unable to stand Yao Yu and the others teasing her, Hua Min'er blurted out the words with a pout.

"Ha ha..." Everyone burst into laughter, making Hua Min'er's face turn scarlet. She was as bashful as a hundred thousand blooming flowers.