A Useless Weakling

The Myriad Spirits Mountain Range.

It sounded like a place brimming with spiritual energy, but in truth, the energy was thin-thinner than anywhere else.

Even the ordinary vegetation was withered and yellow, looking malnourished.

"Little ladies~ Run, scream, but don't ruin your throats. We're still waiting to put them to use! Hehehe~"

A flying boat sped ahead, while a pack of evil fiends wreathed in black energy pursued relentlessly behind it.

Aboard the flying boat were nearly twenty female cultivators and over a hundred mortal women, the youngest of whom were only a few years old.

Leading them was none other than Su Miao.

She clenched her teeth and drove the flying boat at full speed toward Heavenly Spirit Commandery.

Whenever she glanced back, the despair in her eyes deepened.

The evil fiends behind them belonged to the Spirit Devouring Cult.

They had just rescued a group of women from those people. These women all possessed the aptitude for cultivation and had originally been destined to become cultivation cauldrons, specifically for practicing an evil spirit-devouring art.

But they had never expected their accomplices to be nearby, including a group of trial participants who were prodigies from a Dual Cultivation Sect in Kan Prefecture.

Birds of a foul feather, they had flocked together.

"Heavenly Spirit Commandery is still two hundred li away. If only our cultivation hadn't been reduced to the Foundation Establishment Realm, we'd have nothing to fear from them!" Du Tinglan, the eldest senior sister of Sect Master Peak, felt utterly powerless.

"Those bastards are despicable! They even injured our junior brother!" Jiang Qingci's eyes darkened.

Su Miao said unhappily, "Enough out of you!"

Jiang Qingci reacted as though someone had stepped on her tail. With her life already hanging by a thread, her emotions easily spiraled out of control under such immense pressure:

"Am I not even allowed to speak?! If our junior brother hadn't risked his life to cover our retreat, we'd already be dead!"

Her words enraged another female cultivator.

Her eyes were red, and she had clearly just been crying:

"What do you mean by that?! Are you saying my two senior brothers died for nothing? Your junior brother was only injured, but they lost their lives!"

"What do you mean?!" He Lu grew angry too. "Are you wishing death on our junior brother? Would you only be happy if he'd died with them?"

This female cultivator was also a prodigy from a major sect in Kun Province, and she refused to back down:

"You have the nerve to say that? If your junior brother hadn't been so arrogant and stupid, my senior brothers wouldn't have died protecting him!

"I listened to you brag all along the way about how amazing your junior brother was, yet the moment he met someone stronger, his true colors came out.

"He even started blubbering after getting hurt. He's worse than a female cultivator like me.

"He was injured? Weren't we injured too? Why aren't we so precious that we have to hide in a room? Anyone who didn't know better would think some family's young lady was getting ready for her wedding!"

Clearly, this female cultivator was deeply dissatisfied with Ye Zhiqiu.

"Enough, all of you!" Su Miao snapped.

Her cultivation was the highest among those present. When she lost her temper, the women snorted coldly and fell silent.

Su Miao sighed.

Although Ye Zhiqiu was her junior brother, she could not take her own side this time.

In a situation like that, Ye Zhiqiu had simply had to go show off.

He was indeed powerful. His seven-aperture exquisite body granted him an astonishing cultivation speed and formidable combat strength.

But their opponents were no pushovers either. They were Demonic Path prodigies from Kan Prefecture, and their leader was a Dual Cultivation Demon Scion with powerful trump cards.

They could clearly have escaped, yet he had insisted on fighting.

Had those senior brothers not sacrificed their lives to save him, Ye Zhiqiu would almost certainly have met a grim end.

Su Miao acknowledged Ye Zhiqiu's strength, but he had far too little combat experience and was far too reckless.

Around the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect, he was naturally unrivaled among those in the same realm.

But this secret realm encompassed all Nine Provinces, with prodigies as numerous as carp crossing a river.

Despite being powerful and a male cultivator, he could not give their group of female cultivators even the slightest sense of security.

In fact, her injuries were worse, yet she had gritted her teeth and kept the flying boat moving as they fled.

Ye Zhiqiu, meanwhile, seemed to regard himself as their ultimate reserve fighting force, far too precious to risk.

Of course, she had seen the portrait occupying first place on the Slaughter Ranking.

This was a secret realm where the prodigies of the Nine Provinces gathered, yet Qin Feng had actually fought his way through millions of prodigies to claim first place in one stroke.

The weight of that achievement spoke for itself. There was not the slightest bit of inflation to it.

It was hard not to compare Ye Zhiqiu with Qin Feng.

She sighed inwardly. If the four senior sisters had not treated Qin Feng that way, how would they have ended up in this desperate situation, their lives hanging by a thread?

Meanwhile, inside the flying boat's cultivation room.

Ye Zhiqiu swallowed handfuls of pills, tear tracks still marking his cheeks.

"System! Why am I so weak?!

"I'm a Transmigrator who has you! Why should I be this weak?!

"Those people aren't even the strongest Crown Champions, yet I lost so miserably!

"Is it because you're useless? Why can't you just give me something like a Human Immortal Realm trial card?"

Ye Zhiqiu did not blame himself. He vented all his pent-up anger on the system.

[Weren't the seven-aperture exquisite body, the Nine-Revolution Nirvana Heart Scripture, and all those cultivation resources a starter pack? You haven't completed a single mission. What am I supposed to reward you for?]

[You transmigrated less than six months ago, yet you chose to enter the Ancient Immortal Secret Realm, where the prodigies and Crown Champions of the Nine Provinces gather. Didn't I tell you before to stay put and win over your bound targets in the sect? You ignored me, and now you blame me?]

[I'm a romance conquest system, not a show-off system. Only when you successfully win someone over can I steal this world's essence and use it to reward you.]

[Besides, if you were good at fighting, I wouldn't have been assigned to you.]

[If you want to become stronger, complete your missions as soon as possible. I'll do my best to secure a combat experience package for you.]

[Also-I've told you more than once that, in a low-level world, I could whip the Heavenly Dao like a spinning top. But this world's level is extremely high. Even I have to tuck my tail between my legs and lie low.]

[A Human Immortal trial card? With your temperament, you'd lose control even with Nascent Soul cultivation. First forge the heart of a true powerhouse, then we can discuss the rest!]

The system's retorts left Ye Zhiqiu utterly battered.

Just as he was about to say more-

Boom!

The flying boat shuddered violently.

Ye Zhiqiu hurried outside.

He saw that the pursuing evil fiends had already surrounded the flying boat.

"You certainly know how to run. You made me waste a precious escape talisman."

Directly ahead of the flying boat, space rippled around a purple-haired young man.

His aura was formidable, and his cultivation had reached the sixth level of Foundation Establishment.

Only Ye Zhiqiu matched him among those present. Su Miao was merely at the fourth level of Foundation Establishment.

With undisguised lust and an intense desire to possess them, his gaze swept over the five female disciples of the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect's Sect Master Peak and several other beautiful female cultivators.

"Wonderful! Simply exquisite!" Holding a Yin-Yang Dharma Fan, he stood at ease. "These female sword cultivators are mine. Divide the rest among yourselves."

"Junior brother!" Jiang Qingci was completely panicked now.

They rarely entered secret realms of their own accord, and in the past, they had never encountered evil cultivators like these.

This was their first true brush with mortal danger. Despite her actual cultivation having reached the Golden Core Realm, she was as lost and helpless as a little girl.

Women were inferior to men in martial strength.

This held true for mortals and cultivators alike, except for certain prodigies.

Thus, even the Female Cultivators Alliance, which fought for female cultivators' rights, often took the initiative to build good relations with powerful groups of male cultivators.

Especially the Sword Alliance.

They needed the protection of male cultivators.

This was all the more true in secret realms, where dangers lurked everywhere and the Dao Alliance's rules held no sway.

Yet at that moment, Ye Zhiqiu, the only male sword cultivator aboard the flying boat, was frantically questioning the system in his mind:

"If a bound target dies, how will it affect me?"

[There is no penalty.]

"Then can I still escape now?"

[Suit yourself. You only need to win over one bound target within the allotted time anyway.]

"Forget it. Mortal women will do just fine. They must be easy to win over!"

Ye Zhiqiu made up his mind.

Looking at the delicate female cultivators aboard the flying boat and the mortal women kneeling on the floor, he felt no pity, only regret at the waste.

But then he remembered that, with his system, he would sooner or later have a vast harem.

He would even have a chance to claim a peerless beauty like Ning Xi!

"Eldest senior sister, I'm handing control of the flying boat to you. Junior Brother Ye and I will carve out a path to survival. Otherwise, we'll all become these evil fiends' playthings and eventually be drained to death!"

Su Miao's gaze was resolute.

Ye Zhiqiu said nothing.

Soon.

The two rushed out through the flying boat's protective barrier, and Su Miao led the charge toward the purple-haired Dual Cultivation Demon Scion.

Aboard the flying boat, the female cultivators all watched Ye Zhiqiu intently.

Most of them focused on auxiliary professions and lacked combat skills, so they needed the protection of someone strong.

But what made their beautiful eyes widen in disbelief was-

Instead of joining Su Miao's attack on the Dual Cultivation Demon Scion, Ye Zhiqiu headed in a relatively safe direction and activated an escape talisman.

"Ye Zhiqiu!!!" Su Miao saw him. She clenched her teeth, her beautiful eyes filled with hatred.

Ye Zhiqiu had fled!

Facing the Dual Cultivation Demon Scion alone, Su Miao lasted only a few exchanges before he sent her flying with a kick. She spat out a great mouthful of blood and crashed hard into the flying boat's deck.

The purple-haired Dual Cultivation Demon Scion clicked his tongue. "I couldn't bear to kill you. Give up this pointless resistance. You'd be better off enjoying yourselves before you die. Back at my sect, who knows how many senior sisters, junior sisters, and female elders adore this body of mine~"

His eyes remained fixed on Su Miao and the other four women:

"You female sword cultivators are the best. Your bodies are more flexible, and you have strength too. I love conquering you most of all."

He glanced in the direction Ye Zhiqiu had fled:

"How pitiful. Your male sword cultivator abandoned you. You might as well willingly sink into depravity. If I see you serving me eagerly, perhaps I'll be in a good enough mood to turn you into Desire Puppets and let you retain a sliver of reason."

Faced with such despair.

Even female cultivators like Jiang Qingci and He Lu began sobbing, to say nothing of the mortal women.

Their whimpers and sobs blended into one.

"Go ahead and cry! Even if you cry yourselves hoarse, no one will come to save you!"

But the instant those words fell, an exceptionally sharp, piercing sword whistle rang out in the distance.

Clang-!

An icy, chilling voice sounded behind them:

"Go ahead and scream. I'll slaughter anyone who comes to save you too!"