Eerie

Watching the refugees' reactions, Shi Lan fell silent for a moment. Then she took a couple of steps back, swung herself onto her horse, turned the reins, and prepared to leave.

"Wait!"

One of the refugees, sharp-eyed, spotted the demonic beast meat strapped to Shi Lan's horse and called out to her. After whispering with his companions, the group surrounded her.

It was obvious that, seeing Shi Lan alone, young, and seemingly no threat, they had gotten some bad ideas.

"Leave that meat behind!"

"Get down. Leave the horse, too!"

"Right, leave the horse!"

"What have you got on your back? Open it up and let us see!"

As the demands around her grew more and more outrageous, a complicated look flickered in Shi Lan's eyes. She had kept her distance from the refugees earlier precisely because she'd feared something like this might happen.

There were two sides to human nature, light and dark. Clearly, their gnawing hunger and their present state of having nothing had magnified the darkness in their hearts without limit. Greed and bullying the weak were human nature, after all.

Having nothing made it easiest to drive people to extremes. The constraints of morality weakened, or even vanished completely.

Seeing that Shi Lan still wasn't saying anything, one refugee walked up to her and reached for the bundle on the horse's back.

"Crack—"

A sharp report rang out. Clutching his hand, the refugee let out a howl of pain and collapsed to the ground, rolling around.

Shi Lan slowly lowered the riding crop in her hand and swept her gaze over the refugees surrounding her. Her voice was cool as she said, "Get out of my way!"

The refugees around her instinctively took a few steps back. But after exchanging glances, the ferocity returned to their eyes, and they all lunged at Shi Lan together!

Clearly, Shi Lan was no tiger demon. She couldn't frighten these refugees into losing all will to resist.

A cold glint flashed in Shi Lan's eyes. Without hesitation, she swung her riding crop again.

Whip shadows lashed through the air, and several sharp cracks rang out!

The refugees charging at Shi Lan were almost all knocked to the ground at once, their cries of pain rising in a chorus.

Shi Lan had already held back. Otherwise, with the force she could muster now, how could these starving refugees have survived a single strike?

"Hyah."

Shi Lan didn't stop. She lightly squeezed her horse's flanks and rode past the refugees sprawled across the ground, gradually disappearing into the distance.

Shi Feng slowly walked over to a group of refugees and watched Shi Lan's retreating figure on horseback, his expression complicated.

Shi Feng had been ready to step in as soon as Shi Lan was surrounded. Given her usual temperament, she surely wouldn't have known what to do with these refugees. But before he could act, Shi Lan had given him a huge surprise.

Looking at the refugees lying on the ground, Shi Feng's eyes were utterly indifferent. He raised his hand and sent two nearly three-meter-long blades of sword energy slicing through the air, cutting the tiger demon's corpse into several pieces.

The wounds from this strike were no longer charred black. Blood sprayed everywhere, and the wind carried the heavy stench of it far and wide.

In this area, where demonic beasts now roamed unchecked, the smell of blood was undoubtedly a beacon pointing the way.

Leaning over her horse's back, Shi Lan wondered who was following her.

Shi Feng was her prime suspect. But if it was him, why hadn't he simply shown himself and followed her openly?

Shi Lan also remembered the first time she'd practiced the Vajra Divine Fist. She'd passed out from menstrual cramps, and a mysterious person had rescued her. Perhaps someone had been following her all along, and she simply hadn't known.

The thought sent a chill through Shi Lan. If there really was someone like that, wouldn't that make him a pervert...

The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt. Shi Lan shook her sun-dazed head, sat upright, and looked for somewhere to escape the heat.

After riding for another half hour, Shi Lan finally came upon a small grove. A brook ran through it.

Shi Lan crouched beside the brook and splashed water on her face. The cool water made her feel instantly refreshed.

Sitting beneath a tree, Shi Lan propped her chin on one hand and looked up at the sky, feeling lost for a moment. She had no idea where to go. If she kept wandering around aimlessly like this, when would she ever reach her destination?

"Does the system have any missions?"

[The host's cultivation has not yet reached the requirements to unlock the main quest.]

Shi Lan felt she was being a little perverse. When the system had kept pushing missions on her, she'd cursed it countless times. Now that there really weren't any missions, she found herself missing the feeling of having a goal.

Shi Lan took some beast meat from her horse and roasted it. Then she closed her eyes and practiced the Jade Forging Art. Improving her strength always came first.

Before long, evening arrived. Shi Lan rode her horse and shot out of the grove like the wind.

It was summer, and by evening all the insects in the woods seemed to turn into man-eaters—especially the mosquitoes.

"Everything has a spirit, except mosquitoes!"

Shi Lan cursed under her breath and picked up speed, hoping to reach a city or town before nightfall made it too dark to see her own hand.

In the end, Shi Lan's plans came to nothing. Even after darkness had fully set in, she still hadn't found anywhere people could stay, so she had no choice but to stop and rest in a valley.

Shi Lan lit a fire and put the meat on the grill.

The meat was halfway cooked when a woman's soft laughter suddenly rang out through the valley. It echoed among the hills, sounding eerie in the night.

Shi Lan sprang to her feet, nervously scanning her surroundings.

A graceful figure emerged from the darkness, stepping into Shi Lan's field of vision.

A woman—a very beautiful woman. Every gesture and movement of hers exuded a startling allure.

The woman's curvaceous figure was draped in nothing but a layer of black gauze. In the firelight, a few tantalizing glimpses of the mysterious scenery beneath could even be made out.

Shi Lan took two steps back and swallowed instinctively. In the wilderness, with a beauty by the campfire, one would expect a great battle to unfold any moment.

But all Shi Lan felt now was fear. The Lingyang Realm wasn't Earth. Science didn't work here; ghosts really existed.

A woman dressed so provocatively, appearing all alone in the middle of nowhere—anyone who gave it even a little thought would know something was off.

Had she run into a ghost...

"Young master, are you not lonely out here all by yourself in the wilderness?" The woman walked up to Shi Lan and sat beside the fire. Her red lips parted as she asked, her words heavy with implication.

"It's nice being alone." Shi Lan gave a dry laugh and took another couple of steps back, inwardly hoping the person who'd been following her would intervene again.

The woman gently lifted her thin veil, revealing a pair of long, jade-white legs. Her eyes, brimming with spring, turned toward Shi Lan. "Young master, do you think I'm beautiful?"

"You are quite pretty." Shi Lan's gaze wandered, and panic welled up inside her. What in the world was going on...

Hidden in the darkness, Shi Feng's clothes were already soaked through with cold sweat. His eyes were dark and unfathomable.

A lone woman appearing in this area, dressed so provocatively—and with a cultivation he couldn't discern—could only mean one of two things.

One, she was a demon king who had already taken human form. Two, she was a wandering ghost...

Please vote for the novel and add it to your collection~