I'll Grind You Beneath My Feet!

The ornately decorated room was filled with wisps of smoke. A maid carrying a tray carefully took a drag, and a faint fragrance of lotus blossoms filled her nostrils.

The maid didn't like the smell. The originally delicate aroma, after being specially prepared, had lost its freshness and instead had a cloying sweetness.

But she dared not show it, for this was the favorite scent of the saint she served.

The graceful young female cultivator sat up from behind the curtains. She moved lightly and slowly off the bed, took the newly made robe from the maid's tray, and ordered someone to help her change into it—a task that could be accomplished simply by making a hand seal, but the Holy Maiden just didn't like it.

She seemed to thoroughly enjoy being served, a fact the maid had discreetly observed.

After dressing the saintess in expensive robes and jewelry, a new maidservant stepped forward, picked up a brush, dipped it in fine medicinal powder, and gently applied it to the scars on the saintess's cheeks in front of a water mirror.

With the help of these medicinal powders, the scars on the saintess's face have faded considerably, leaving only a barely noticeable white mark.

Other female cultivators might not have cared much about this, but this saintess was different. She needed her face to be flawless, even though the medicine used to heal her was obtained from the belly pearl of Jiaoren.

"Why are you being so careful? Get more powder; you haven't even covered this scar yet!" The saintess's voice, tinged with anger, startled the maid who was applying powder to her.

The maid was just a mortal, so naturally she dared not disobey her master's orders. However, there was only a thin layer of powder left in the powder box in her hand.

"My lord, there's not much powder left. If you use too much today, you might not have enough for tomorrow," the maid replied cautiously.

Upon hearing this, the beautiful face reflected in the water mirror instantly turned angry, and the previous ethereal beauty vanished, replaced by a distorted expression.

"How come it's gone again? Didn't I tell you to bring back more powder? How come it's gone so quickly? The scars on my face haven't even fully healed yet!" The saintess was furious, and all the maids in the room hurriedly knelt down, not daring to breathe.

The maid in charge of the medicinal powder could only explain, "Holy Maiden, you don't know, but recently the Jiaoren hunted within the sect has been decreasing. We've captured almost all the Jiaoren from the Immortal Spirit Realm, but Jiaoren only has a tiny pearl in its belly, which isn't enough to make much medicinal powder..."

The maids dared not recall how terrified they felt when they received those blood-stained Jiaoren Pearl.

Those were Jiaoren! Such powerful and beautiful creatures, dying time and time again before her eyes. Even though the maid wasn't a particularly compassionate person, she still felt a chill.

On one occasion, she arrived a little early and witnessed the people retrieving the pearl. The beautiful blue fishtail struggled desperately before her eyes, slowly losing all its vitality and fading away bit by bit.

The maid will probably never be able to forget it for the rest of her life.

I thought that after saying that, the Holy Maiden would be somewhat more understanding.

But to everyone's surprise, the other party simply snorted and said, "What does this have to do with me? If I can't catch him in the Immortal Spirit Realm, then I'll try in the Black Tortoise Realm, or at the very least, the Cloud Mulberry Realm! My face is almost healed, and I absolutely cannot allow myself to fail at the last minute!"

The maids lowered their heads sharply, suppressing their shock.

"Yes, I will certainly instruct them to produce more medicinal powder for the Holy Maiden." The maid's tone was chillingly cold as she spoke these words.

Seemingly pleased by the maids' respectful attitude, the elegantly dressed female cultivator finally showed some satisfaction.

She looked at the group of maids prostrate on the ground, but made no move to tell them to get up.

"Any interesting news today? Tell me about it," the saintess said, slowly sitting down.

These days, the remnant soul in her sea of consciousness said it needed to recuperate for a while, and there was nothing important to do to accumulate strength. Since no one was urging her to cultivate, she naturally relaxed.

But there was really nothing fun to do in the Mara Gate, so she could only listen to news from the outside world to pass the time.

The saintess had cultivated this habit for a long time, so as soon as she spoke, someone got up and came forward.

"The third young master of the Qing Zhou Gong Household attempted to seize power but failed and was expelled by the family head. His whereabouts are now unknown."

The saintess chuckled softly. She knew about this; after all, the third young master of the Gong Household had been tricked into seizing power by her. She had said she liked powerful people, and that fool had recklessly fought with his father and brothers for it.

But the other party had no idea that this was just a way for the saintess, who was tired of him, to get rid of him.

The news was rather interesting, so the saintess patiently listened on.

The maid immediately added, "Qing Zhou Ten Thousand Daos Born recently held an entrance exam, and an unknown Rogue Cultivator overpowered all the other talented individuals to win first place."

"This person seems to be named... Sang Ying!"

The saintess's smiling expression suddenly froze. She turned her head to look at the maid, who had also fallen silent after sensing something was wrong.

"What did you just say was the name of that Rogue Cultivator who won first place?" As if she couldn't believe it, the Holy Maiden asked again.

Sweat beaded on the maid's forehead, but she had no choice but to answer, "That person's name is Sang Ying."

With a "bang," the maid who had answered was thrown out of the house.

The others dared not look, nor did they need to. They knew very well that after such a heavy blow, the person was surely doomed.

A chill crept into their hearts as they heard the saintess's shrill, crazed voice. "Sang Ying, Sang Ying, Sang Ying! Why can you appear even after I've hidden here? Why can you crawl out of the valley even without your Golden Core?!"

"Since you insist on making things difficult for me and keep showing up in front of me, then don't blame me!"

She Curse under her breath, then flicked her long sleeves and went into the training room that she didn't particularly like.

It's alright, the sect competition will be coming up soon, and then she will trample this person under her feet once again, just like before!

Sang Ying, I will make you taste the bitterness of being betrayed and abandoned by your own sect once again!

This holy Mara Gate from the Twin Orchid Realm secretly made a vow.

Qing Zhou, Ten Thousand Daos Born.

Elder Gu of Broken Sword Peak had just seen off his newly accepted disciple and was about to have a couple of sips of spiritual wine to rest when an uninvited guest suddenly barged into his peak.

Looking at the newcomer's devilishly handsome face, Elder Gu snorted coldly, "What are you doing here? Why don't you stay on your Carefree Peak and cultivate a relationship with that disciple you snatched by trickery?"

Having heard countless similar taunts along the way, Jiulian smiled gently, unusually showing a kind expression to Elder Gu: "Senior Brother, what are you saying? When can't we cultivate feelings? Compared to that, coming to Senior Brother for a gift is more important."

"A gift?" Elder Gu sat up. "What gift?"

He didn't recall ever saying he would give Jiulian a gift.

"Senior brother, you really have a bad memory. I've finally taken on a disciple, how can I not give my nephew a small gift? Besides, you don't need to worry, I've already thought it through. My dear disciple has a Mutated Ice Spirit Root, nothing else is needed, just that ice-attribute sword spirit in your hand will suffice."

Elder Gu's eyes widened. He had only said it casually when he was vying for a disciple in the main hall, but this kid had actually remembered it!

He said with a mixture of fear and anger, "What does that have to do with me? Besides, I'm not the only one with ice-attribute treasures; some people even have ice-attribute Cultivation Method hidden away!"

The young man in Hongyi smiled gently and politely, revealing the items in his arms, which scattered on the ground. "Senior brother, don't worry, I've already obtained everything you mentioned, except for what you have."

Elder Gu:... Are you a bandit?!