"How to put it... the world will become very, very chaotic in the future. Super demonic creatures, ancient great powers, and things like that will resurrect from time to time, throwing the entire continent into turmoil. I personally don't really like that kind of environment, but other Demonic Path Cultivators seem to enjoy it." Tossing a Spirit Stone into the air and catching it, Qian Lin spoke off the top of her head to the black-haired girl, Ye Qiuhan.
"Demonic Path Cultivators enjoy chaotic times. You, who dislikes chaos, are the odd one out." Ye Qiuhan indicated the problem wasn't with the other Demonic Path Cultivators, but with Qian Lin herself.
Regarding this point, Qian Lin actually agreed quite a bit. The more she acted as a Demonic Path Cultivator, the more she felt she must have been blinded by lard to choose this path. Wouldn't it have been better to honestly join a Righteous Path School as an ordinary Disciple? Why did she have to choose this seemingly great path? And look what happened—she ended up with the whole world as her enemy.
The most outrageous thing was, as her strength grew and her fame increased, all sorts of inexplicable blame kept landing squarely on her head.
"I was being chased all over the northern ice fields by those sword maniacs from the Green Lotus Sword Sect. I barely managed to escape back to the central plains, only to hear that I supposedly smashed the Seal of the Divine Beast Vermilion Bird in the south! That's utterly ridiculous!" Qian Lin angrily waved her fist. As a Cultivator of ice and water attributes, why on earth would she go to the south?
If you're going to make up lies, at least make them somewhat believable!
But there were actually Righteous Path Cultivators who believed this completely unreasonable nonsense. Their sense of justice exploded, and they came straight to pick a fight with Qian Lin, only to be slapped back into their mothers' wombs by her to start cultivating all over again.
As if she, Qian Lin, was someone easy to mess with!
"I think those guys just figured a Loose Cultivator like me with no backing would be easy to bully. Tch."
"So, Qian Lin, what do you need Spirit Stones for? To buy Medicinal Pills to aid your cultivation?"
"Wrong." Qian Lin shook her head.
Ye Qiuhan wore a thoughtful expression. Could it be that Qian Lin had more far-reaching plans? She knew about future events. Was she now accumulating strength to change the future?
Truly far-sighted and strategic. As expected of the future Demon Path Supreme!
"Then, are you going to the market district now to find precious Spiritual Artifacts disguised as ordinary items and buy them at a low price?"
Had this girl read too many storybooks? Where in the world were there so many bargains just waiting to be picked up?
"Wrong."
"Then what do you want the Spirit Stones for?" Ye Qiuhan couldn't think of any more possibilities. She could only puff out her cheeks, hoping to get the correct answer from Qian Lin.
Qian Lin spread her hands and gave a very... ordinary reason. "The allowance from my family ran out by accident. But today is the day Fairy Chang Ye from Penglai is holding her concert. She's my favorite Fairy, so I planned to come out and scam some money to buy a ticket."
"Huh? So everything you said earlier was a lie to me?" Ye Qiuhan's eyes widened, her voice trembling.
Oh, come on, did this girl actually believe it? Qian Lin blinked. In this day and age, there were still people who could be fooled by such a low-level scam?
"There's no such thing as Rebirth in this world. Even if there were, no one would just casually talk about it. Silly girl, be more careful in the future. Consider these five Spirit Stones tuition."
"You jerk, give me back my Spirit Stones, you big liar!"
"I earned these through my own skills. A bet's a bet!" Qian Lin took off running. This was her 'fated money' for Fairy Chang Ye; it couldn't be snatched back!
Ye Qiuhan wasn't about to let Qian Lin get away. The two of them began a chase, running through the Honghu Academy.
Starting from the west courtyard all the way to the central courtyard, attracting the gazes of many fellow students along the way, a panting, out-of-breath Qian Lin was finally caught by a similarly winded Ye Qiuhan, who grabbed the corner of her clothes.
How far did I run? Seeing stars before her eyes, Qian Lin leaned against a wall, coughing several times before regaining clear consciousness from the feeling of nearly ascending to heaven. Looking at her surroundings, great, it seemed she had run into some unfamiliar place.
Ugh, were Righteous Path Little Girls this formidable nowadays? What surprised Qian Lin even more was the endurance of this black-haired girl. She was the Demon Path Supreme! How could she lose a long-distance run to this black-haired brat?
"Give me back my Spirit Stones!" Ye Qiuhan grabbed Qian Lin's collar, shouting with a voice full of grievance and anger. "Big liar!"
It's your own fault for being gullible! How can you blame me for that? Qian Lin rolled her eyes upward. This damn girl was really persistent. She should have picked someone else to scam.
Speaking of which, this damn girl's face looks somewhat familiar... Hmm... a bit like that Yaochi Saintess?
No, it couldn't be that much of a coincidence. That Saintess has always been a Personal Disciple of Yaochi. There's no way she would appear here at Honghu Academy. It must just be a hallucination from extreme exhaustion.
Yes, it's all an illusion. This faint, sweet, fishy smell lingering in the air must also be an illusion.
...Probably?
"Wait, I feel something's not right!" Qian Lin shuddered. She couldn't be wrong. This smell was definitely the scent of blood!
In her previous life, she had fought her way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood to become the Demon Path Supreme. She would never mistake the smell of blood. There was a large amount of blood nearby, and it was relatively fresh.
"Are you trying to trick me again?" Ye Qiuhan was somewhat skeptical but unconsciously stopped her actions. "Should we tell the Academy teachers?"
"Of course. This sort of thing is definitely not something we two newly enrolled students can handle." Qian Lin nodded immediately. She wasn't some reckless brute. In her past life, managing to become the Demon Path Supreme with the whole world as her enemy, caution was an indispensable virtue.
Ye Qiuhan immediately took a cyan-green Token from her pocket, infused a bit of spiritual power into it. As the Token lit up, she sighed in relief and said to Qian Lin, "The teachers should have received the message. Should we wait here now?"
"We could, but I want to find out where the smell of blood is coming from." Qian Lin sniffed and noticed the blood scent seemed particularly strong in one direction. "Found it. It should be over there!"
Carefully walking a few steps in that direction, Qian Lin sensed a discordant feeling in her perception. It seemed like there was something at that corner ahead, but she couldn't see it.
A Formation to conceal presence? A Formation she could sense as odd wouldn't be very high Rank. It should collapse with a bit of external interference.
Thinking this, Qian Lin took a Spirit Stone from her pocket and threw it towards that corner.
The Spirit Stone contained a wisp of Spiritual Qi, which naturally counted as external interference.
The Formation obscuring their vision collapsed. What appeared before Qian Lin and Ye Qiuhan was a scene that could only be described as Hell.
"Well... we've really landed ourselves in it now." Qian Lin muttered softly, casually covering Ye Qiuhan's eyes. "Little Girls shouldn't look. You'll have nightmares tonight."