She Drew a Circle

Xiyang City and the Azure Mist Sect were separated by almost nothing but desert, blazing beneath the scorching sun as if the land had been set aflame.

Along the way, Li Lingzhou briefly went over what had happened that day with Jiang Chen. As she listened, she nodded repeatedly, and an idea for making money seemed to take shape in her brows.

Her sword-riding style swayed all over the place, relying almost entirely on reckless momentum, yet she was extremely fast. Before long, they arrived at the Azure Mist Sect.

At present, the Azure Mist Sect was still repairing its mountain-protecting formation while investigating the Demon Sect spy and the fox demon Liu Ruyan with all its strength.

Jiang Chen was thankful he had fled like the wind!

Li Lingzhou led Jiang Chen straight to the main peak's Hall of Affairs. Seeing no sign of Luo Qingzhou, she shouted:

"Luo Qingzhou, come see me at once!"

Luo Qingzhou, who had been recuperating in his cave residence, felt his scalp go numb. He had no choice but to drag his frail, sickly body to the Hall of Affairs.

Luo Qingzhou had always been physically weak, and the Heavenly Demon's demonic aura had severely wounded him the day before yesterday. Simply standing was already his limit.

There was no helping it. Li Lingzhou had come. If anyone else received her and carelessly said something wrong, the disaster that followed might be worse than the female demon herself.

When he arrived at the Hall of Affairs, Li Lingzhou was as radiant and flourishing as ever.

In the past, whenever she came to the Azure Mist Sect, she would bring along a beautiful female cultivator.

Today, however, she had brought a handsome male Qi Refining cultivator with her.

He had known Li Lingzhou for five hundred years. Had she finally changed her tastes?

"Senior Sister Li, I hope you have been well. And this young friend is...?"

Li Lingzhou did not hide anything.

"This is Jiang Chen, your sect's former disciple and an eyewitness to the female demon's assault on the mountain. He is my subordinate now."

An eyewitness to the female demon's attack on the mountain?

Luo Qingzhou's expression stiffened.

He had planned to tell Li Lingzhou that he had risked his life to drive the female demon away.

Now it was over. Li Lingzhou had come prepared. Today, these two would surely join forces to spin a story and swindle him out of money.

"I never expected Senior Sister Li to be interested in men as well."

Luo Qingzhou said stiffly.

Li Lingzhou plopped down in the chair of the hall's master and did not bother making small talk with Luo Qingzhou. She went straight to the point.

"I know everything that happened three days ago. Tian Mingye single-handedly tore through the Azure Mist Sect.

"Even after your sect's elders trapped her and devoured her demonic aura, she could still transform into a Heavenly Demon and slaughter countless living beings. She was not someone a Nascent Soul cultivator like you, or the rest of that rabble, could defeat.

"The female demon clearly suffered a great loss, yet she did not massacre your sect in retaliation. Why do you think that is?"

Luo Qingzhou gritted his teeth and refused to take the bait. He instinctively coughed twice.

"Perhaps Tian Mingye was never a cruel, bloodthirsty person to begin with."

Li Lingzhou took a sip of wine and sneered.

"You mean the female demon who slaughtered more than ten cities in Fireburn Kingdom is not bloodthirsty?

"She casually killed the two elders beside you, so why did she spare your life?

"Think carefully. Whose classmate are you?"

Luo Qingzhou was sick of hearing this. He simply laid his cards on the table and took out a brocade pouch containing spirit stones.

"Our sect is repairing its mountain-protecting formation and is in urgent need of funds. These are five hundred spirit stones from me personally, as Senior Sister Li's travel expenses and usage fee for your reputation."

Five hundred?

Li Lingzhou took another sip of wine and said impassively:

"My reputation may not be worth much, but it saved all five thousand disciples of your Azure Mist Sect. Are the lives of five thousand disciples not worth anything either?"

Luo Qingzhou began coughing again, then sighed toward the sky.

"Alas, both my life and finances are exhausted. I truly cannot take out any more money."

Out of consideration for their former schoolmate relationship, Li Lingzhou could not press him too hard. She could only turn to Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen had come prepared. He spoke calmly.

"The year before last, this sect discovered an underground mineral vein fifty li east of here. By conservative estimates, the crystal ore excavated from it brought in several hundred thousand spirit stones.

"Last year, when Sect Master Luo married Yellow Maple Valley's prodigy, he sent Yellow Maple Valley eighty thousand spirit stones as a betrothal gift.

"This year, Sect Master Luo again purchased Zhang Myriad Phenomena Realm's famous work, A Thousand Miles of Mountain Views, for eight thousand spirit stones."

Luo Qingzhou's voice caught in his throat.

He pointed at Jiang Chen and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Then he staggered and collapsed to the ground...

Unfortunately, his acting was not convincing enough.

In the end, he still had to pay five thousand spirit stones before he could send off Li Lingzhou, this immortal, and Jiang Chen, this traitor.

On the way back to the city, Li Lingzhou practically wanted to sling an arm around Jiang Chen and stride through the blazing desert with him.

"You look so honest and upright, kid, but when it comes to dealing with your mother sect, you really draw blood without spilling a drop!"

Jiang Chen did not respond. He merely held out his hand.

Feigning ignorance of what he meant, Li Lingzhou took his hand and examined it closely.

"I can tell you're about to have some romantic luck, kid. If you hook up with some young girl, don't forget about me. We can all have fun together."

Jiang Chen kept a straight face, vaguely sensing that something was wrong.

"My five hundred spirit stones!"

Li Lingzhou let out a long sigh.

Jiang Chen had indeed contributed greatly to their easy gain of five thousand spirit stones.

She also wanted to win over this little brother with a special physique, so she gritted her teeth, took out a pouch containing five hundred spirit stones, and casually tossed it to Jiang Chen.

"If you wanted money, you should've said so earlier. Would Li Lingzhou ever break her word?"

Jiang Chen put away the pouch and patiently counted the spirit stones. Only after confirming that there were exactly five hundred did he relax.

With spirit stones and the demonic aura in the Demon Shrine, all he lacked now was some demon aura. Then he could explosively raise his cultivation in a short period of time.

Jiang Chen thought of the Thousand-Faced Fox again, of that noblewoman...

To curry favor with Jiang Chen, Li Lingzhou did not merely keep her promise and pay him. She also draped an arm around his shoulder and brought a mouthful of fragrant wine to his lips.

Jiang Chen choked on the wine, his face turning red.

After savoring it carefully... he realized it was fake wine, not even as fragrant or delicious as the saliva around the mouth of the jar.

Her beautiful yet muddled eyes rolled back and forth. Li Lingzhou seemed to have come up with another way to make money, and she asked Jiang Chen quietly:

"Do you have any connections to Tian Mingye?"

"No."

Jiang Chen answered without hesitation.

He had seen through Li Lingzhou's wicked scheme.

The last time Luo Qingzhou asked Li Lingzhou to resolve the crisis, he had originally promised ten thousand spirit stones. Jiang Chen had only agreed to help her collect the payment. If she secretly joined forces with Tian Mingye to come up with crooked ways to make money, would that not amount to extorting his mother sect?

Jiang Chen had no desire to associate with such despicable conduct.

Li Lingzhou shoved Jiang Chen's shoulder away and muttered dejectedly.

"How boring."

As they spoke, the two of them had somehow walked to the summit of a certain Flame Mountain.

It was still early spring, yet this place remained a natural furnace. Even the air had been roasted into distortion.

Jiang Chen had no idea what Li Lingzhou intended.

"Why aren't we flying back on our swords?"

Li Lingzhou strode to the mountaintop. The surging heat ignited a jar of her fake wine, and she took the wine and flames into her mouth in one gulp.

Jiang Chen stared in stunned disbelief.

Li Lingzhou belched before finally explaining at length.

"You don't receive a salary for being my little brother.

"If you want an official salary, you must at least become a Grade C Prison Suppression Envoy of Xihe Prefecture. That requires at least Golden Core Realm cultivation.

"For you, raising your cultivation in the short term will be difficult.

"However, your Half-Immortal Physique is an advantage. I can thoroughly assess your Basic Spirit Control, combat ability, and mental fortitude.

"If all three are exceptionally outstanding, I can apply for you to become a specially appointed Prison Suppression Envoy. Once you enter the Prison Suppression Bureau, the monsters there will naturally have ways to raise your cultivation.

"For example, refining your dantian; dissecting it and manually reshaping it to break through; or simply replacing it with an artificial dantian..."

Wasn't this some alternative form of mechanical ascension?

Jiang Chen's scalp tingled as he listened.

"So you want to put me through special training in the desert?"

Li Lingzhou nodded.

"With no one but you... this place is hot enough, and there are plenty of man-eating sandworms. There are even giant sand monsters. Try surviving here for a month."

An extreme survival trial?

Jiang Chen froze, then asked her in return:

"You're not planning to murder me to silence me over a mere five hundred spirit stones, are you?"

The look in someone's eyes when they wanted to kill was impossible to hide. Fortunately, Li Lingzhou had no such intention.

She smiled disdainfully, then drew her sword and casually carved a huge circle atop Flame Mountain.

"I have drawn a sword-aura domain within a radius of ten zhang around the summit. Within this domain, I can ensure you do not die even once.

"Of course, I can only help you kill sand monsters you cannot defeat and end this trial early. I cannot guarantee that you will not die of thirst, hunger, or spiritual energy depletion.

"If you cannot hold on any longer, or if a month has passed, draw your sword and thrust it upside down into the mountaintop. I will come find you and end this trial."

As the Sword Domain opened, spiritual energy flowed in reverse and the Flame Vein inverted. A moment later, everything returned to normal.

Jiang Chen recognized the extraordinary nature of the sword aura at a glance and suddenly felt that she had been rather thoughtful.

Although he did not want to become any sort of Prison Suppression Envoy, this place was safe enough under the protection of the Sword Domain. There were also sandworms for him to use in training and cultivation. Waiting here for the main plot to unfold did not seem bad either.

The only thing he could not understand was why he had to stick his own sword into the center of this woman's Sword Domain in order to end the trial.