By evening, the three of them began tallying their haul.
Horns, Demon Crystals, and pelts could all be exchanged for money.
Lu Piao could not contain himself and burst out laughing. "We're rich!"
Du Ze hurriedly covered his mouth.
The place was wide open and deserted. Who knew how many times louder that shout would carry?
Nie Li could not help giving Lu Piao a smack, too.
Lu Piao grinned. "I suddenly became a rich man. I couldn't help myself for a moment."
Du Ze began doing the sums. Killing a Horned Sheep took only the time needed to drink a cup of tea. If they kept this up, he would soon be able to repay the enormous debt his family had taken on to send him to school.
Nie Li hoisted the sack onto his shoulder, wiped the corner of his mouth with a finger, and looked back at them. "Then what are we waiting for?"
They spent the entire night killing Horned Sheep. Naturally, Lu Piao was still the funniest of the lot.
The next morning arrived.
The three of them stood at the back, listening to the lesson. They now had dark circles under their eyes. They had not slept all night, and although they could endure it, they could not fight off the drowsiness. They were truly exhausted.
Du Ze asked whether they would go hunting again that night, and Nie Li nodded.
That evening, Lu Piao served as bait while Du Ze and Nie Li split up to make the kills.
Over the next few days, their faint dark circles successfully transformed into panda eyes. Standing gave way to sitting, and sitting gave way to slumping over.
Some students nearby were discussing the matter, too. There had been far fewer Horned Sheep in the Trial Grounds lately. Had something like a Spotted Tiger gotten in?
One student shook his head and said that the academy had sent instructors to investigate, but they had found nothing.
At dusk, the owner of the shop that exchanged hunting spoils walked back, yawning.
Nie Li asked whether they could exchange their spoils now. The owner yawned, waved a hand, and told them to put everything on the ground. A sudden thud instantly chased away his drowsiness.
He looked back and saw more than a dozen bulging sacks on the ground.
"Hehe, just these. Sorry for the trouble."
Night fell.
Nie Li looked at the other bulging sacks, then at the one Lu Piao was holding.
"All right, we don't need to come tomorrow. We've earned enough to begin the next stage of the plan."
Lu Piao could not take any more, either. They had hunted nonstop for seven days. Even a man forged from iron could not endure that.
So he went to sleep.
Du Ze stretched as well. He was tired, too.
But when he saw Nie Li heading farther in, he asked whether Nie Li was going to sleep.
Nie Li waved a hand, saying that opportunities like this were rare. He had to explore the depths of the Trial Grounds.
Du Ze reminded him to be careful, then found a safe place to sleep himself.
Beneath the sky screen, some people who knew arithmetic began calculating how much Nie Li and the others had earned altogether.
They could kill one Horned Sheep in the time it took to drink a cup of tea, and they had hunted for seven straight nights.
Quite a few people estimated that they must have made at least ten thousand.
It made many people feel that he truly lived up to being someone who had lived a second life. A thirteen-year-old boy had led two other thirteen-year-olds to earn over ten thousand in seven days.
Shen Yue began sneering disdainfully again. What good was earning over ten thousand?
Becoming a Demon Spirit Master was not something a mere ten thousand could accomplish.
When Nie Ming of the Heavenly Marks Family saw how capable his son was, he felt proud of him once again.
Seeing Nie Li head farther in, Xiao Ning'er knew that their first encounter would happen soon.
Our first encounter... wait!
No, no, no, no!
Then the part where Nie Li treated me...
Xiao Ning'er's face turned scarlet.
No, don't do this to me!
Seeing Xiao Ning'er wringing her hands uneasily, looking as though she could not bring herself to speak, Nie Li could not help asking, "Ning'er, are you ill?"
Xiao Ning'er hurriedly brushed the matter aside.
On the sky screen.
After running for some distance, Nie Li noticed that someone else was there.
"Someone's still coming to the Trial Grounds this late?"
Parting some bushes, he saw a cyan glow.
It was a sign of an impending breakthrough to Bronze rank.
Looking more closely, he realized it was Xiao Ning'er.
Dressed in close-fitting training clothes, she stood barefoot in a pool of water, cultivating.
Nie Li was surprised that it was her.
In my previous life, shortly after Xiao Ning'er reached Bronze One-Star, her cultivation plummeted because of an illness, forcing her to leave the academy. To cling to the Sacred Family's coattails, the Xiao family actually arranged a childhood betrothal between such a strong girl and that playboy Shen Fei. But no one imagined that Xiao Ning'er would be this resolute.
"I, Xiao Ning'er, cut my hair today to sever all ties. From this moment on, I have no connection whatsoever to the Xiao family. Once I enter the Black Devil Forest, my fate will be mine alone, whether I live or die."
Everyone beneath the sky screen could hear that voice.
This girl truly was extraordinarily resolute.
Xiao Yunfeng's eyes turned bloodshot. Was this how his daughter's story had ended?
What sort of place was the Black Devil Forest? For Ning'er, whose cultivation had barely advanced, it was nothing short of hell!
Great Elder Xiao Yi, however, was decidedly displeased. He had always hoped that Xiao Ning'er would marry Shen Fei, prompting the Sacred Family to provide more resources to strengthen the Winged Dragon Family. If Xiao Ning'er did this, would all his plans not go straight down the drain?
No, I have to pressure the family head and find a way to bring Xiao Ning'er back. What does she think she's doing, spending all day with Nie Li, that scion of a declining noble family?
Could living a second life change the fact that he had a Red Soul Sea and a soul force of five? Impossible.
According to the rules established by Legendary Demon Spirit Masters, among red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple, red was the most useless.
Could the Legendary Demon Spirit Masters all be wrong?
Shen Fei was rather angry as well. The Winged Dragon Family still had to rely on his family, yet Xiao Ning'er dared to do this. She truly showed him, Shen Fei, no respect.
Looks like I need to go teach this fiancée of mine a proper lesson.
What he did not know was that Ye Ziyun had already decided that, this time, even if it displeased her father, she would do everything she could to bring Xiao Ning'er into the City Lord's Mansion.
Every day she could keep them at bay was another day gained.
Nie Li agreed, too. There was nowhere safer than the City Lord's Mansion right now.
Xiao Ning'er would have none of it. She wanted to stay by Nie Li's side now and go nowhere else.
On the sky screen, Nie Li was also marveling that Xiao Ning'er was still cultivating at this hour. She really did work hard.
Noticing movement, Xiao Ning'er took a short blade from her Space Ring and shouted, "Who's there?"
Nie Li hurriedly gave an awkward laugh, parted the bushes, and stepped out.
Naturally, Xiao Ning'er knew Nie Li. After all, she was hardly the only one who knew about his bold declarations in class; plenty of people at the Holy Orchid Academy had heard about them.
"What are you doing here?"
"Uh, hehe, I was bored. Just wandering around."
Xiao Ning'er put away her short blade. "Don't think I don't know that you've been hunting Horned Sheep these past few days. I'm not interested in your business, and I won't tell anyone. I still have intensive cultivation training to do. You can leave."
Nie Li was in no hurry to leave. Instead, he looked Xiao Ning'er over from head to toe, until he spotted the bruising on the top of her foot.
Seeing what he was doing, Xiao Ning'er's gaze turned cold. She drew her short blade again and held it against his neck. "Still not leaving?"
Before you continue