Thud!
Without hesitation, Chun Xiaobai delivered another vicious knife-hand strike to his neck.
The male disciple's eyes rolled back. The word "die" caught in his throat as his body went limp, collapsing onto the woman in a heap.
"Fuck, that almost went sideways!"
Chun Xiaobai wiped away his cold sweat.
Now he understood. These cultivators were nothing like the weaklings in the mortal world. He couldn't afford to hold back at all.
He had only used half his strength the first time. Only on the second strike had he gone all out.
Luckily, this fellow had been in the heat of the moment, all his energy occupied elsewhere, and hadn't unleashed a spell right away. Otherwise, Chun Xiaobai would probably have paid dearly.
He considered himself immensely strong and highly skilled in martial arts.
But he certainly didn't think mortal martial arts could go toe to toe with immortal spells.
Even if he had never eaten pork, hadn't he at least seen a pig run?
The novels all said it: those spells could sever rivers and overturn seas!
Just to be safe.
He went over and gave both of them another blow to the backs of their necks.
Only then did he feel safe enough to pick up the two Storage Bags and stuff them into his robe.
Afterward, he carefully searched the two piles of clothing, but found no other valuable treasures.
Then his gaze settled on the pair again.
The woman had been born with a fine figure, curvaceous and fair-skinned. Only her face spoiled it: her foxlike eyes could steal a man's soul, but paired with that mean mouth and flat nose, they looked awkward no matter how he looked at her.
"This chick isn't even that good-looking..."
Thud!
With a disdainful kick to the male disciple's backside, he knocked him off the female disciple.
"You're a fucking disgrace. How could someone like this have you so utterly bewitched?"
After everything he had done, this woman probably wouldn't be able to fool the fellow again. That counted as helping him cut his losses in time.
Take money, not lives. That was the rule of the trade.
Chun Xiaobai curled his lip and spared their lives.
He was just about to slip back into the woods and make his getaway when inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind.
"Outer Sect disciples?"
He remembered that little girl, Bai Jin'er, mentioning yesterday that there were five hundred thousand Outer Sect disciples.
More people meant more chaos, and chaos was perfect for fishing in muddy waters!
"Tsk, tsk. Now that's one big fishpond."
Heading outside to plant his flag on some mountain would bring immediate returns, but the risks would multiply too. If he robbed some Immortal Cultivation big shot like before, he might well end up going straight down to reunite with his father.
If he slipped among these five hundred thousand people to blast some fish, the returns seemed higher and the risks lower.
"Fuck it, I'll take a chance! First I'll sneak in and pull a damn job, get myself some seed money, then head out to recruit men and horses and establish my own stronghold!"
Chun Xiaobai's gaze hardened with resolve.
He bundled up the blue-green Outer Sect disciple's uniform on the ground, stuffed it into his robe, then looked up to get his bearings and plunged into the dense forest.
He crossed the mountain and looked out.
Dozens of miles away beyond the mountain range, he could faintly make out a sprawling complex of buildings amid drifting clouds and mist, its pavilions and towers arranged in graceful harmony.
Could that be the Outer Sect grounds?
He had heard the little girl who brought him into the sect say that this was part of the Outer Sect grounds, so that should indeed be the Outer Sect.
He glanced back the way he had come.
With the three thousand jin of force behind his palm strike...
"Those two illicit lovebirds probably won't wake up anytime soon."
Chun Xiaobai had complete confidence in his strength, so he found a secluded cave, ducked inside, and immediately took out the Outer Sect disciple's uniform and the two Storage Bags from his robe.
The mouths of the two Storage Bags were tied with dark red silk cords, and their bodies were embroidered with indecipherable scrawls.
He pulled open one bag and peered inside. It was a deep, dark void; he couldn't see a thing.
"Hmm... how do you use this thing?"
Chun Xiaobai turned the bag upside down and shook it hard, but nothing fell out.
"If I can't get the treasures out, won't all that work have been for nothing?"
"Bind it with blood?"
A scene from the novels flashed through his mind. Without hesitation, he bit his finger and squeezed a drop of blood onto it.
The blood seeped in and vanished without a trace, but even after he waited a good while, the Storage Bag still didn't do a damn thing.
"Fuck!"
He simply thrust his hand into the bag instead and discovered that there really was a whole other space inside. His entire arm went in without reaching the bottom.
What exactly is in here?
The moment that thought arose, the contents of the Storage Bag suddenly appeared clearly in his mind like an unfurled painting!
"So that's how it works!"
Understanding dawned on him. He only needed to concentrate to sense what was inside.
He pulled his hand out, concentrated on the items inside, and tipped the bag over.
With a clatter, a heap of objects spilled out of the opening.
Two spare sets of clothes, five or six bottles and jars, several thread-bound manuals, a flying sword shimmering with blue-green light, a bronze token, and over a hundred white stones the size of goose eggs.
"Could these be spirit stones?"
Suppressing his excitement, Chun Xiaobai picked up a spirit stone and examined it, but found nothing unusual.
Next, he picked up the second Storage Bag. This one was noticeably more delicate and clearly belonged to the female disciple.
Once again, he concentrated on the items inside and tipped them out.
Clatter!
This Storage Bag held even more. The clothes alone, in all sorts of colors, formed a small pile. There were more than twenty bottles and jars, over a dozen jade boxes containing ink sticks, and three flying swords of different designs.
There was also a gray bag packed full of spirit stones, at least a thousand by his estimate.
"Damn, this woman's that rich? Looks like she's seen plenty of action out in the wild!"
Chun Xiaobai's grin stretched practically to the back of his head.
"I knew it! Getting back to my old trade is the right way to practice Immortal Cultivation!"
He picked up a manual titled "Stunning Rainbow Sword Technique" and flipped it open. He recognized every word, but strung together, they might as well have been heavenly script. He couldn't understand a thing.
He searched some more. He found nothing like a Qi Refinement Manual, but he did find an "Azure Cloud Manual." He opened it and took a look. Again, he knew the words, but couldn't make sense of the principles they described.
"This should be a cultivation method."
He figured he probably needed someone to guide him in drawing qi into his body before he could practice it.
Otherwise, if everyone could practice Immortal Cultivation with just a manual in hand, why bother joining a sect?
With little time to sort everything, Chun Xiaobai concentrated again and focused on the objects on the ground. With a thought, an invisible force sucked them back into the Storage Bag.
Then he dumped them out and collected them again, repeating the process over and over and having the time of his life.
"It really is magical!"
Only when his vision began to blur did he reluctantly put the Storage Bags away.
Immediately afterward.
He stripped off his ragged hemp clothes, pulled on the male disciple's blue-green sect uniform, and straightened the collar and cuffs.
"Hey, it actually fits pretty well."
Chun Xiaobai struck a few dashing poses, reined in his bandit-chief swagger, and tried to find the bearing an Outer Sect disciple ought to have.
Once he was sure he no longer looked like a mountain bandit, he left the cave and strode toward the distant Outer Sect disciple grounds.
Only upon reaching a vast plaza did he truly witness the sights of an Immortal Cultivation sect.
Quite a few disciples wearing the same blue-green robes as him descended from the sky on flying swords of various colors, like birds returning to their nests, and landed gracefully in the plaza.
After putting away their flying swords, they headed straight deeper into the Outer Sect grounds.
Other disciples came down from the mountain, reached the edge of the plaza, and gave a low cry of "Rise!" A flying sword shot out of each one's Storage Bag and hovered beneath their feet.
Then they leaped onto their swords and turned into streaks of light, shooting toward the distant sky in carefree delight.
Chun Xiaobai realized that nobody was paying any attention to a "newcomer" like him, so he boldly slipped into the crowd heading up the mountain and followed them.
Before you continue