The Heavenly Sound Sect, a Demonic Sect.
Below Heartbreak Cliff.
A river flowed gently through the mountain forest, its clear, tranquil surface shimmering in the sunlight.
Bang!
A dull thud came from a small wooden house on the riverbank.
The wooden house had two floors, with a fence surrounding it.
Some spirit herbs grew within the fence, their faint medicinal fragrance drifting through the air.
On the second floor.
Jiang Hao was flung aside and slammed into the wall. A breathtakingly beautiful woman in sheer gauze appeared beside him in an instant, pressing a sword against his neck. Its edge sliced through his skin, and crimson blood slowly seeped out.
At that moment, Jiang Hao felt that death was only a single step away.
A calamity out of nowhere.
Last night, after pruning the spirit herbs, he had been about to cultivate when a woman with a flushed face and chaotic blood and qi suddenly descended from the sky.
She had a graceful figure and peerless beauty, but her mind seemed rather muddled.
She had probably been poisoned or suffered cultivation deviation.
He had no intention of helping, but her cultivation was unfathomable. She forcibly restrained him, took him upstairs, and subjected him to her assault.
It was his first experience of such a thing. The sensations were pleasant, but unfortunately, he had been entirely at her mercy.
Her beauty was flawless, nothing short of perfection. Had she not awakened with murder in her eyes, she would have been even more perfect.
Early that morning, she regained her senses and attacked him with her sword.
Which had led to his current predicament.
Now, Jiang Hao could see humiliation in her icy eyes. Presumably, she remembered what had happened last night.
She seemed to be hesitating over whether to kill him.
"Senior, perhaps there's been some misunderstanding between us." Jiang Hao felt he had to say something, though he had no idea what the misunderstanding could be.
"Are you a disciple of the Heavenly Sound Sect?" the woman asked coldly.
With a sword at his throat, Jiang Hao only dared answer hoarsely:
"Yes."
"Swallow this." The woman took out a pill and held it out to him, her face expressionless.
"What is it?" Jiang Hao asked instinctively.
Bang!
Her long leg struck Jiang Hao in the stomach. Pain made his mouth gape open, and the pill went straight in.
Seeing this, the woman picked up her discarded clothes. Pink mist enveloped her, and she vanished through the window.
"Phew..."
Once he was certain she had left, Jiang Hao let out a heavy sigh of relief. He touched his neck and only began to think after finding that the wound had scabbed over.
Her arrival must have been an accident, but her murderous intent was real. I nearly used up my only chance to substitute for death. That woman was absurdly powerful.
He went out onto the balcony and looked around, still shaken.
Though the woman was incomparably beautiful and had even slept with him, rice already cooked could not be uncooked was hardly a useful argument in the world of cultivation.
Especially not in a Demonic Sect.
One careless move, and his ignorance could get him murdered.
"A world at peace was still better." Jiang Hao shook his head and sighed.
It had been nineteen years since he transmigrated here.
From his birth to being driven out of his home, then secretly sold to a Demonic Sect by his stepmother, his early years had been fraught with hardship. Had he not possessed an aptitude for cultivation and happened upon a Demonic Sect recruiting disciples, he might already have become a departed soul in a blood sacrifice.
Given the choice, he would have joined a renowned righteous sect.
The Haotian Sect, for instance, reputed to be the strongest immortal sect.
Unfortunately, he had no such luck. He could only scrape out a living in a Demonic Sect.
Fortunately, after he began cultivating, some changes had occurred within him.
He had gained a few things.
Jiang Hao concentrated and saw a panel invisible to everyone else.
[Name: Jiang Hao] [Age: Nineteen] [Cultivation: Qi Refining, ninth level] [Cultivation method: Heavenly Sound, Hundred Turns] [Divine abilities: Nine-Turn Substitute Death (unique), Daily Appraisal (locked)] [Blood and qi: 100/100 (available for cultivation)] [Cultivation: 100/100 (available for cultivation)] [Divine ability: 1/3 (unavailable)]
At the sight, he let out a long breath. His blood and qi, cultivation, and divine ability progress had all accumulated through his everyday activities.
Planting spirit herbs, clearing out demonic beasts, and wandering around all allowed him to pick up bubbles and gain these things.
Not just blood and qi and cultivation, but also some magical treasures and cultivation aids.
Still, accumulating a hundred points of blood and qi and cultivation was no easy feat. It had taken him several years to reach a hundred for the second time.
The first time had toughened his body and raised his cultivation from the third level of Qi Refining to the eighth.
Fortunately, he could absorb it little by little. Otherwise, it would have drawn far too much attention.
It was also thanks to this that he had gone from an outer sect disciple to an Inner Sect Disciple.
He guarded the Spirit Medicine Garden at Heartbreak Cliff.
It also made moving around the sect much easier. Here, he would rather advance his cultivation a little faster than pretend to be ordinary.
A Demonic Sect.
One careless move, and a fellow disciple might kill him for some ridiculous reason.
He might even lose his chastity.
Last night was the strongest proof of that.
Divine abilities differed from blood and qi and cultivation. Once blood and qi or cultivation reached ten points, he could use them to cultivate, whereas a divine ability required three fragments to form a complete ability.
So far, he had only obtained one divine ability: Daily Appraisal.
Nine-Turn Substitute Death was an innate divine ability.
A little later.
He returned to his room and stared at the patch of crimson on the bedsheet. With a heavy sigh, he decided to replace it.
Perhaps those bloodstains had something to do with why he had escaped death.
"I don't know who she is. Hopefully, she isn't from the Heavenly Sound Sect."
"Otherwise, if she can't swallow her anger and comes to kill me, I'll be in trouble."
Being toyed with and then facing death-he was the one who lost out in the end.
He felt ashamed that he had failed to protect himself.
After tidying up the bedding, Jiang Hao left his residence for the Spirit Medicine Garden to tend the heartbreak grass.
When he returned tonight, he would attempt to break through to Foundation Establishment.
Once blood and qi and cultivation reached a hundred, their conversion rate was somewhat different from when they reached ten.
"I also need to find time to visit the Scripture Pavilion and see what pill that woman fed me."
Along the way, Jiang Hao considered his next steps.
"That woman's appearance was rather unusual. I need to stay alert for a while."
The Heavenly Sound Sect was a first-rate sect.
The likelihood of it falling to an attack by the renowned righteous sects was low, but he still had to be on guard.
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