Childhood Sweethearts
The handsome man's real name is Xu Zheng. He is Jing Yu's childhood friend. The two are childhood sweethearts and have a deep affection for each other.
However, this beautiful love story was not approved by Jing Yu's parents, who saw through Xu Zheng's wicked intentions.
Xu Zheng lacked both temperament and talent, yet he was ambitious and always dreamed of one day joining a major sect, Foundation Establishment Formation, and becoming a figure revered by all.
Xu Zheng looked down on his father's generation. They struggled at the bottom of the Cultivation World their whole lives, working as a resource-poor rogue Rogue Cultivator. Despite their hard work, they could not break through to the late stage of Qi Refining.
After Jing Yu's father made it clear that he would not marry his daughter to Xu Zheng.
Enraged, Xu Zheng used sweet words to seduce the naive Jing Yu, and the two secretly pledged their lives to each other and eloped.
The two left the small, independent Rogue Cultivator town where they had lived since childhood and headed to the Beast Taming Sect, hoping to join it.
After overcoming numerous hardships and dangers, they finally arrived at the Beast Taming Sect.
But reality dealt Xu Zheng a heavy blow.
His aptitude was very poor; even if he joined the Beast Taming Sect, he could only become a low-ranking menial disciple.
The proud and arrogant Xu Zheng would never do the menial work, not even for the Beast Taming Sect.
He brought Jing Yu, whose aptitude was even worse than his own, to East Birch Market.
He was confident that, with his intelligence and talent, he would one day rise above others as a Rogue Cultivator in East Birch Market.
But reality was even crueler than he imagined. The two inexperienced young men almost died in East Birch Market. In the end, they were left penniless and homeless on the streets.
At this moment, Heng Cheng appeared and immediately took a liking to the young and beautiful Jing Yu.
Still immersed in beautiful fantasies of love, how could Jing Yu possibly agree to become Heng Cheng's mistress?
But Xu Zheng, having suffered repeated blows, had come to terms with reality. He knew that if things continued like this, he and Jing Yu would really die in East Birch Market.
Under his constant persuasion, Jing Yu eventually became Heng Cheng's mistress.
However, Heng Cheng was unaware of Xu Zheng's existence and assumed that Jing Yu was Rogue Cultivator who had drifted to East Birch Market alone.
He wouldn't come to East Birch Market for ten days or half a month at a time, which gave Jing Yu and Xu Zheng the opportunity to secretly rekindle their romance using the Spirit Stone given to them by Heng Cheng.
When Jing Yu asked him to leave East Birch Market, a look of hesitation flashed in Xu Zheng's eyes.
Over the years, he has relied entirely on Jing Yu for support. After leaving East Birch Market, they became destitute, low-level Rogue Cultivator again.
Perhaps seeing through Xu Zheng's worries, Jing Yu said.
"Over the past few years, I've saved up a sum of Spirit Stone, more than a thousand in total. That's enough for us to cultivate for a long time. If all else fails, we can go to the mortal world and become an ordinary couple."
Jing Yu didn't notice was that when she mentioned there were a thousand Spirit Stone, a glint of light flashed in Xu Zheng's eyes.
Xu Zheng looked distressed. "But this place is far from the mortal realm, and the journey is fraught with danger. You and I are only at Qi Refining third or fourth level of Qi Refining. How can we safely reach the mortal realm?"
Xu Zheng's cultivation level was at the Qi Refining Third Layer, while Jing Yu, with the rare pills that Heng Cheng occasionally gave him, broke through to the Qi Refining Fourth Layer before him.
Jing Yu said with a hint of melancholy, "If only we had a flying boat."
Even the cheapest flying boat costs four or five thousand Spirit Stone, far beyond what the two of them can afford.
After a moment of silence, Xu Zheng sat up, his gaze fierce, and said.
"Otherwise, let's try to get some Spirit Stone from Heng Cheng."
Jing Yu's eyes lit up, and she became interested, asking, "Do you have a solution?"
Xu Zheng looked out the window. There, an innocent boy was playing with children's toys.
His gaze was like that of a wild beast hunting in the dead of night, bloodthirsty and indifferent.
"This little bastard is Heng Cheng's only child, and Heng Cheng dotes on him. Only by threatening Heng Cheng him can we force him to submit."
Jing Yu's eyes were full of hesitation as she spoke.
"Although I don't like this child, he is still my flesh and blood, and I can't bring myself to hurt him."
Xu Zheng reassured him, "Don't worry, we don't need to kill him. We'll just use him to blackmail Heng Cheng."
Jing Yu hesitated for a long time, but finally succumbed to Xu Zheng's burning gaze and tender affection.
"Alright! But what are we supposed to do? Heng Cheng is a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivator; killing us would be as easy as slaughtering chickens and dogs for him."
"With this child in our hands, would Heng Cheng dare to make a move?" Xu Zheng sneered.
Immediately, the two began to plot in hushed tones.
The innocent boy played happily in the courtyard, completely unaware that his own mother, along with her lover, was plotting a conspiracy around him.
Having witnessed all this through the Black Armor Gu, Song Wen turned and left. Before departing, he placed three Divine Sense imprints on the two large and one small individuals respectively.
Originally, Song Wen had planned to use the mother and son to lure out Heng Cheng and reach a deal for the Silverhorn Grass and Beast Brocade Pill. But seeing this scene, he had a new idea.
Three days later, at the hour of Wei (1-3 PM).
A middle-aged man with a refined and scholarly demeanor appeared outside the gate of courtyard number 87 in the eastern part of the market.
He was Heng Cheng.
Having not seen his son for many days, Heng Cheng missed him dearly.
This morning, he learned from his dao companion Rong Jingyun that Rong Jingyun was going to start refining the Beast Brocade Pill. So after his dao companion left the cave abode, he also left the cave abode and headed to the market.
Refining a batch of Beast Brocade Pill will take at least two days, which is enough time for him to spend with his children and mistress.
Unexpectedly, Jing Yu was not at home; the courtyard gate was locked with a large padlock, and Jing Yu were unknown.
Heng Cheng darted over the courtyard wall and entered the Small Courtyard.
Everything in the Small Courtyard and inside the house seemed normal, with nothing out of the ordinary. However, based on the leftover food and dust in the kitchen, he concluded that no one had entered the kitchen for at least two days.
Heng Cheng frowned, a bad feeling rising in his heart.
Jing Yu is weak and lives alone with her child in this expensive eastern district. Will she be harmed by greedy Bandit Cultivator?
The more Heng Cheng thought about it, the more worried he became. He carefully searched every part of the house, trying to find any clues.
Finally, he found a letter on the back of the door.
It's easy to tell from the handwriting in the letter that it was written by a man. The content says that Jing Yu and her son have been kidnapped by a group of men, and Heng Cheng is to meet them alone at a monk's restaurant.
Heng Cheng's face turned extremely ugly, and his worry for Jing Yu and her son turned into a raging fire.
The letter in his hand suddenly turned into dust, which was swept up by a gust of air and flew in all directions.
Heng Cheng leaped into the air and headed towards the cultivator's tavern mentioned in the letter.
The restaurant was small, with only five or six tables in the main hall.
It was past lunchtime, and there was only one young man in the restaurant, sitting at a corner table drinking tea.
This man was Xu Zheng.
Heng Cheng took a few steps to stand opposite Xu Zheng and said angrily.
"Jing Yu and her child were kidnapped by you!"
Sensing Heng Cheng's fierce aura and overwhelming anger, Xu Zheng suddenly felt an urge to kneel down and beg for mercy. After barely suppressing his fear, Xu Zheng...
"They, mother and child, are indeed in our hands."