Do Not Belittle Yourself

Xuan Jin looked at her utterly despondent expression and spoke slowly:

"I came to find you. That proves your worth."

"Do not belittle yourself. You never wished for such a constitution."

His calm words were like a ray of warm sunlight shining into the depths of Xiao Yi Xian's frozen heart.

She froze.

Ever since childhood, she had endured far too much loneliness because of this strange constitution.

This was the first time someone, after learning her greatest secret, had shown neither fear nor disgust. Instead, he had told her that it was not her fault.

"My... worth?" Xiao Yi Xian murmured, hardly daring to believe it.

"The Calamity Poison Body is a curse, but it is also a gift."

Xuan Jin rose to his feet and walked before her.

"If used properly, it can grant you strength beyond ordinary people and allow you to stand at the pinnacle of this world."

"The... pinnacle of the world?"

To Xiao Yi Xian, who had always lived in this small town, those words were far too distant, far too unreal.

Yet Xuan Jin's words made a faint spark of flame ignite once more in her deathly silent heart.

Just then, Xuan Jin's movements paused slightly.

He turned his head toward the eastern path.

"Some people have come looking to die."

Xuan Jin's tone remained calm.

"I presume you know them."

"People looking to die?"

Xiao Yi Xian followed his gaze, her heart full of confusion.

Before she could think further, a disorderly clamor of footsteps and shouts drew nearer, shattering the mountain wilderness's tranquility.

Torchlight tore gashes through the night.

Soon, dozens of vicious-looking mercenaries armed with weapons surrounded the old locust tree.

The crowd parted, and a sinister-looking young man swaggered out.

It was Mu Li, the young leader of the Wolf Head Mercenary Group.

At a glance, Mu Li spotted Xiao Yi Xian standing beneath the tree, her face pale. His eyes instantly burst with undisguised lust.

"Xiao Yi Xian, my beauty, why did you come all alone to this godforsaken wilderness so late at night?"

His gaze then fell upon Xuan Jin. After sizing him up, he revealed a scornful smile.

"Well, you even brought along a pretty boy? What, that old bastard from the Myriad Medicine Pavilion couldn't satisfy you, so you came out to try something different?"

His vulgar words were unbearable to hear.

Xiao Yi Xian's face instantly turned deathly pale. She subconsciously took a step back, her body trembling slightly with rage.

Among the crowd, she saw the scrawny man who had pretended to select medicine at the pharmacy that afternoon, now standing behind Mu Li with a fawning expression.

She also saw Xiao Cui, her personal maid, cowering at the very back of the crowd.

She understood everything.

Xiao Cui had betrayed her.

"Mu Li, what do you want?!" Xiao Yi Xian shouted, forcing down her disgust and fear.

In her eyes, Xuan Jin might have been mysterious, but he was far too young. How could he possibly stand against dozens of fierce mercenaries?

She had dragged him into this.

At that thought, powerful guilt surged within her.

She took a deep breath and stepped in front of Xuan Jin.

"Let him go. I'll come with you."

"HAHAHAHA!" Mu Li laughed loudly as though he had heard the greatest joke in the world.

"Xiao Yi Xian, you really are kind. But do you think you still have the right to negotiate?"

The smile on his face abruptly vanished, replaced by a vicious snarl.

"Today, I'm taking you, little beauty, no matter what! And this pretty boy who doesn't know his place has to die too!"

"Get them! Chop the man up and feed him to the dogs! The woman... take her alive!"

At Mu Li's command, the surrounding mercenaries erupted in laughter, brandishing their weapons as they closed in with sinister grins.

Xiao Yi Xian closed her eyes in despair.

Then, a warm hand gently patted her shoulder.

"It is nothing."

Xuan Jin's calm voice sounded beside her ear.

"They are merely a pack of ants."

Xiao Yi Xian abruptly opened her eyes and turned to look at him.

Under the moonlight, the young man's profile was so handsome it seemed inhuman. His composure and calm made the dozens of blade-wielding mercenaries before them seem truly like ants that could be crushed at any moment.

Xuan Jin walked past her and stood before her.

He did not even look at the charging mercenaries.

He merely slowly raised his right hand.

An indescribably terrifying aura erupted from within him!

"Hahaha, brat, you're about to die and you still dare put on an act!"

"Young Leader, this pretty boy has such delicate skin. Why not leave him for me to have some fun with?"

The mercenaries' vulgar taunts and sinister laughter came to an abrupt halt the instant they saw Xuan Jin raise his hand.

An indescribable chill instantly enveloped the entire wilderness.

The smiles on the faces of the few mercenaries charging at the front froze.

Their bodies remained in their forward-rushing poses, yet they could no longer advance even an inch.

A dark blue flame silently ignited in Xuan Jin's palm.

The flame was only the size of a fist, floating quietly there.

Yet this strange Blue Flame filled everyone present with instinctive fear.

"Th-this... what the hell is that?"

The lust and arrogance on Mu Li's face had already been replaced by horror.

As a Dou Zhe, he could clearly sense just how terrifying the power contained within that Blue Flame was!

It was a force he could neither comprehend nor resist!

Xiao Yi Xian was also stunned.

Standing behind Xuan Jin, she felt that aura of coldness and destruction intertwined, and her entire body stiffened.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Xuan Jin paid no heed to everyone's terror.

He merely flicked his finger lightly.

The Blue Flame in his palm instantly split into dozens of tiny sparks. Like fireflies in the night sky, they drifted lightly toward the surrounding mercenaries.

The mercenaries all widened their eyes, their faces filled with terror, yet they could not move even a finger.

They could only watch helplessly as those faint blue sparks slowly landed upon their bodies.

Not a sound was made.

The instant the dark blue sparks touched the mercenaries' bodies, something bizarre happened.

Starting from where a spark had touched him, one mercenary's body silently turned to ash.

The process resembled weathered rock crumbling away, or a painting being erased from existence.

The entire scene was terrifyingly quiet.

Only the rustling of the night wind through the leaves could be heard, along with the nearly inaudible whisper of bodies turning to ash.

The immobilized mercenaries could not even speak. They could only watch as their bodies were annihilated.

A moment later.

The wilderness returned to silence.

Those dozens of living mercenaries, along with their young leader Mu Li, had completely vanished from this world.

Xiao Yi Xian stared blankly at the empty patch of grass before her, her mind utterly blank.

She staggered back two steps and leaned against the old locust tree behind her, barely keeping herself from collapsing.

With a flick of his finger, dozens of mercenaries had been reduced to ashes.

What terrifying strength!