Stolen-Life Baleful Intent

His gaze drifted into the distance.

Knowing there was no time to lose, Zhang Yuan led Xiao Yuanjun toward the Li Mansion in Cloud Province City.

The Li Residence.

As the headquarters of the Eastern Bian Li, the Mansion was naturally immense, even grander than the prince's residence in the center of Cloud Province City.

"Master, how do we get inside?" Zhang Yuan asked.

The Li Residence was heavily guarded, and its main Gate was now firmly shut. Sneaking inside would not be easy.

"We walk in."

Xiao Yuanjun answered lightly, then took Zhang Yuan by the shoulder and stepped forward as casually as if strolling through a garden, taking him straight through the courtyard wall.

They entered the Li Residence without a hitch.

Although Zhang Yuan had already seen Xiao Yuanjun act several times, he still found it unbelievable.

And someone with such abilities was only at the Qi Refinement Realm of the Gang Sha Path.

Once inside the Li Residence, the two stopped moving so cautiously and instead swaggered through the estate.

Well, to be precise, Xiao Yuanjun swaggered, while Zhang Yuan had no choice but to follow behind.

"Master, the Li Residence is heavily guarded, and guards patrol the outer courtyard. Isn't it a little unwise to be this brazen?" Zhang Yuan reminded her at an opportune moment.

After all, he had survived in the Li Residence for five or six months and knew its layout reasonably well.

The inner courtyard where the Li descendants lived had no guards, but the outer courtyard was thick with them, with patrols even in the dead of night.

The weakest of these patrolling guards were at the peak of Outer Dao Qi Refining, while most had reached Outer Dao Foundation Establishment.

"There's no need. I've used a divine ability. You and I now have neither cause nor effect, neither form nor body. Even if someone sees us, they'll take us for a gust of wind."

Xiao Yuanjun spoke calmly.

Only a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being could see through this divine ability of hers. Even another Qi Refinement cultivator of the Gang Sha Path would never detect it.

"Zhang Yuan, do you know what the Gang and baleful intent of Heaven and Earth are?" Xiao Yuanjun asked.

Barring any surprises, Zhang Yuan would be following her in cultivating the Sha Ingestion Gang Devoration Path, so this was a good opportunity to teach him the basics of the Gang Sha Path.

"I don't." Zhang Yuan shook his head.

"The Gang and baleful intent of Heaven and Earth are born of innate spiritual grace and the workings of all things' karma. There are one hundred and eight in total. The Heavenly Dipper brings fortune and accounts for thirty-six, while the earthly baleful forces bring calamity and account for seventy-two."

"Cultivators in the Qi Refinement Realm must seek out and subdue these one hundred and eight kinds of Gang and baleful intent, then refine them for their own use. Every three can be condensed into a corresponding divine ability. Once all three divine abilities are brought forth together, they can attempt to attain the Dao and become Foundation-Building Heavenly Beings."

"Oh, and while the one hundred and eight kinds of Gang and baleful intent are fixed, the divine abilities condensed from them are not. Different divine abilities emerge depending on what is refined, as well as the cultivator's innate gifts and intentions."

Xiao Yuanjun explained with easy confidence.

Zhang Yuan noticed a discrepancy. "Three divine abilities? Then why do you have four, Master?"

Earlier, Xiao Yuanjun had said she had four life-bound divine abilities. That did not match what she was saying now.

Xiao Yuanjun remained breezy. "Ordinary cultivators refine nine kinds of Gang and baleful intent and indeed have only three life-bound divine abilities."

"But my gifts defy heaven. I created my own Golden Core method and broke through nine, the ultimate number. After refining a tenth kind of Gang or baleful intent, I condensed a fourth divine ability!"

She made it sound effortless, but this was a groundbreaking achievement. Four life-bound divine abilities made her far stronger than a ninth-level Qi Refinement cultivator.

She was simply modest enough to call herself a tenth-turn Qi Refinement cultivator. Otherwise, calling her Half-Step Foundation Establishment would have been perfectly reasonable.

Without that Half-Step Foundation Establishment strength, an ordinary ninth-level Qi Refinement cultivator would have long since been discovered and killed by a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being.

Zhang Yuan did not understand, but it sounded impressive. He asked, "Then, Master, which of the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Baleful Forces are we looking for this time?"

"According to my calculations, there's an earthly baleful force in the Li Residence that suits you. It is called [stolen-life baleful intent]. Although it is a baleful force of earthly calamity, it can also resolve the problem with your body."

Xiao Yuanjun extended her left hand, working her fingers as she calculated.

The Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Baleful Forces were exceedingly rare, but the Eastern Bian Li dominated this region. Their headquarters, the Li Residence, surely held more than one.

Yet there were a full one hundred and eight kinds of Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Baleful Forces, and they could not simply be combined and refined at will. Otherwise, even if the refining succeeded, the resulting divine abilities would be weak.

That was why ordinary rogue cultivators practicing Qi Refining on the Gang Sha Path were always a notch weaker than Qi Refinement cultivators backed by lineages and other powers.

"[Stolen-life baleful intent]? Just the name tells me it suits me." Zhang Yuan listened, turning it over in his mind.

Three kinds of Gang and baleful intent from Heaven and Earth condensed into one divine ability. With [stolen-life baleful intent] in the mix, the result would surely focus on preserving his life.

As for its combat power, that could wait.

After all, when cultivating immortality, the most important thing was to stay alive, steadily and safely.

Xiao Yuanjun calculated the threads of karma along the way, taking turn after turn until they finally reached a secluded courtyard within the inner courtyard.

Actually, if she had searched Li Jiehua's soul, she would not have needed to expend so much effort calculating the karma of [stolen-life baleful intent]. Unfortunately, searching his soul would inevitably have entangled her in karma.

Then the Li's Foundation-Building Heavenly Being would have followed that trail straight to her.

"[Stolen-life baleful intent] is inside. You lived in the Li Residence for a while. Do you remember anything about this secluded courtyard?" Xiao Yuanjun stopped and asked.

Zhang Yuan looked at the quiet little courtyard and shook his head slightly.

He had married a woman from a branch of the Li, and they had treated him quite well over the past five months. He had eaten and lived alongside the Li descendants, all of them housed in the inner courtyard.

But he had no recollection whatsoever of this secluded courtyard. He did not even know whether anyone lived here.

"Never mind. We'll know once we go inside."

Xiao Yuanjun pushed open the courtyard Gate.

The two walked in.

Old moss clung to the blue-green walls, and a stone path led beneath the eaves. The furnishings were sparse and simple, but a few details hinted that the resident was a woman.

"It isn't in the Yard, so it must be in the house?"

Zhang Yuan surveyed the courtyard, his gaze finally settling on the house.

He exchanged a look with Xiao Yuanjun.

The two walked slowly toward the house.

This place was within the Li Residence's inner courtyard. For all they knew, its owner might be a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being who lived in quiet detachment from worldly desires.

Caution was best.

"Stay still for now. I'll poke my head in and take a look."

Xiao Yuanjun signaled for Zhang Yuan to stop, then stepped forward and poked her head through the tightly shut Gate.

The Gate might as well not have existed as Xiao Yuanjun's head passed through it.

The room was even more sparsely furnished than the Yard. Aside from essential furniture, there was almost nothing else—except the most eye-catching thing of all, [Stolen-life baleful intent].

On the table, a peach lay quietly in a dish. It looked as though it were made of jade, its surface shimmering with flowing colors like an immortal peach.

This was the manifestation of [stolen-life baleful intent].

"It really is here."

Delighted, Xiao Yuanjun beckoned toward the Jade Peach, intending to draw it over from a distance.

"Fellow Daoist, what are you doing?"

Someone seized Xiao Yuanjun's wrist, and a cool voice questioned her at the same time.

Xiao Yuanjun's smile froze. Before she could look up, an incredibly fierce blast of cold air swept toward her.

Bang!

The Gate was violently blown open.

Xiao Yuanjun reacted swiftly, forming a hand seal with one hand and sweeping her sleeve to send a defiling wind crashing into the cold blast.

The collision of the two divine abilities instantly blasted a vacuum through the falling rain in the Yard, briefly halting it.

"What's going on?"

Clutching his head, Zhang Yuan scrambled to his feet. Caught completely unprepared, he had been hurled away by the shock wave.

This world is too dangerous. Once I get through this, I'm finding some remote mountain forest cut off from the world and living there.