Chapter 53 Chapter 53 Whose Apprentice

"Huh? Why are there only three kittens?"

The sudden female voice startled Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai. They immediately looked in the direction of the sound, weapons in hand. They saw figures swaying in the forest. A dozen men and women, with menacing auras, stepped over broken trees and scattered rubble, approaching in a semi-encircled formation.

As the distance got closer, Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai soon discovered that these people's faces were either as pale as paper or as dark as ink, with murderous glint in their eyes, black mist surging in their eyes, and a bloody smell on their bodies.

The leading woman had pale skin, smaller pupils than normal people, and bloodless lips with a faint purple hue.

She wore a dark purple dress embroidered with large expanses of black mandala, with faint glimpses of several green scorpions hiding among the flowers. Layers of fabric enveloped her entire body, even her neck, leaving only the skin of her head and hands exposed.

She was beautiful when she smiled, with her upturned lips and curved eyes showing all kinds of charm, but she still gave others a cold and sharp feeling, like a cold-blooded animal slowly crawling over the warm skin of a human body.

Anyone who sees her for the first time will immediately realize that she is a typical femme fatale.

The young man who was half a step behind her was dressed very slutty. He only wore a pair of loose pants, and his entire skinny upper body was exposed. His pale skin was covered with dense black tattoos. Even his bare feet were covered with black tattoos, so dense that it made people dizzy.

Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai couldn't tell what the tattoos were. They could only vaguely make out that they seemed to be some twisted and strange words.

However, what caught their attention the most was the aura of these people that made them naturally feel disgusted.

Tan Xiaobai tightly gripped his folding fan: "Demon energy, you are demon cultivators!"

Huo Xin frowned as he looked at the large black mandala on the purple-clothed woman's skirt. "Are you the Poison Lady? Are you all members of the Demon Cult?"

Poison Lady originally came to find the sword cultivator who released the sword energy, but she didn't expect that she didn't see the powerful sword cultivator, but instead saw three young disciples of Xuantian Sect.

A girl in green with blood-stained collar sat cross-legged on the ground, while a girl in black and a boy in yellow were guarding her on either side.

Although the surroundings were filled with broken stones and wood, and in the distance there was a chasm split by sword energy, giving the appearance of having just experienced a fierce battle, Poison Lady knew that these three young cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage did not have the strength to release such a strong sword energy.

She looked around, and finally her eyes fell on the girl in black. She smiled and said, "You have a good eye. What's your name?"

Huo Xin felt as if she was being stared at by a poisonous snake. She remained silent and did not answer.

The tattooed young man sneered: "So they are from Xuantian Sect. Why waste time talking to Xuantian Sect disciples? Just kill them directly."

"Embroidered ghost, stop shouting and calling for war and killing all the time."

Poison Lady glanced at him in disapproval, "It's because of people like you that people outside always think we in the Demon Cult are a bunch of mindless, bloodthirsty brutes with no refinement at all."

The tattooed young man was silent for a moment: "Poison Lady, my name is Hua Xiu Gui, not Xiu Hua Gui."

Poison Lady: "What's the difference? They sound pretty much the same anyway."

The Flower Embroidered Ghost was shocked. "Of course there's a difference. The Flower Embroidered Ghost sounds like a domineering ghost covered in embroidery, while the Embroidered Ghost sounds like a poor ghost who embroidered so much that he went blind and his hands trembled, and ended up with a miserable old age, starving to death at home! It doesn't sound elegant at all!"

Poison Lady commented nonchalantly, "Really? I think it sounds just as bad."

She pointed out the problem. It was common knowledge that upon the death of a Xuantian Sect disciple, their disciple token would immediately shatter. The corresponding life token within the sect, which corresponded to the disciple's token, would also shatter, revealing the last scene the disciple witnessed before death. This facilitated the Xuantian Sect's dispatch of forces to search for the corpse and seek revenge, clearly demonstrating the Xuantian Sect's protectiveness and pettiness.

Although the Demon Cult, as the mortal enemy of Xuantian Sect, usually does not pay much attention to this, but today is different from the past. The secret realm they are now in is underground in Luohua Town, which is under the nose of Xuantian Sect.

If Xuan Tian Zong discovered that a disciple's life tablet was broken, they would immediately send people out to search for it. If Xuan Tian Zong found out by then, it would be a disaster. Therefore, these people could not be killed.

She said, like a venomous snake, "Let's take them with us first. Once the mission is completed and we're far away, we can deal with them. That way, we'll be completely safe."

Upon hearing this, the other demon cultivators immediately flattered her, praising Poison Lady for her extraordinary intelligence and unparalleled wisdom!

Hua Xiugui was still a little reluctant when he heard this. He felt that it was unlucky to take three disciples of Xuantian Sect with him on the road. He really didn't like the sight of them. He thought it would be better to chop off their hands and feet first and then take them with him. That way he would feel much better.

Poison Lady: "Okay."

Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai felt a chill run down their spines after hearing what Hua Xiugui and Du Niang said. Just as they were gritting their teeth and thinking about what to do, they heard Du Niang continue with a smile.

"When the time comes, you will carry them on your back, and you will be responsible for their food, drink, and toilet needs. We don't know how long we will be staying in this secret place, so take it easy and don't let them die."

Hua Xiugui, who was ready to fight, paused and then silently took a step back.

"Actually, after a closer look, I found these three young disciples of Xuantian Sect to be quite pleasing to the eye. They have handsome features and healthy limbs. The feng shui of Xuantian Sect really is beneficial for health. It would be a shame to chop off their arms and legs, so let's just leave it as it is."

Poison Lady nodded and said, "Well said. From now on, it will be your responsibility to look after them."

Hua Xiugui turned around and said angrily, "Why? Don't I agree with everything you say?"

Poison Lady spoke softly, "If you don't, I will tell the young master that you just pleaded for the disciple of Xuantian Sect. He must be an undercover agent sent by Xuantian Sect into my Demon Sect."

Hua Xiugui was shocked: "You are slandering me!"

Poison Lady raised her hand to admire her sharp purple-black nails. "So, do you have any objection to my slander?"

Hua Xiugui immediately recalled how powerful the Poison Lady's poison was, and her body froze. "...No. Of course not!"

Tan Xiaobai's eyes flashed, and the next moment, the skinny, tattooed young man was already clinging to his side. He stretched out his skinny arms and tightly hugged his neck, looking like a good brother.

Tan Xiaobai felt as if his neck was about to be strangled to death. He tried to struggle, but Hua Xiugui tightened his arms maliciously and gave a flattering dry laugh to Du Niangzi.

"Whatever Madam Du says is true. If you say I'm an undercover agent of the Xuantian Sect, then I'm definitely an undercover agent of the Xuantian Sect. So, you can rest assured and leave these three little disciples to me. I promise to raise them fat and white."

Huo Xin drew his sword with a cold expression and slashed at Hua Xiugui: "Let Xiaobai go!"

Hua Xiugui raised her hand and easily grasped Huo Xin's blade. She then gave Tan Xiaobai a kiss on his already blue cheeks and said affectionately, "So your name is Xiaobai. What a nice dog name... No, I meant what a nice nickname."

"I've long forgotten my real name. Everyone calls me Hua Xiugui. If you have any problems in the future, just come to me, Hua Xiugui."

While he was acting pretentiously, he secretly glanced at Poison Lady's expression. When he saw that she looked away with disinterest, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and pushed Tan Xiaobai away with disgust.

Bah! Bah! Bah!

"Ahem,"

After being released, Tan Xiaobai covered his throat and coughed painfully.

The flower-embroidered ghost only spoke nicely, but in fact, the strength of his arms was terrifying. He could feel that at that moment, the flower-embroidered ghost was really murderous and wanted to strangle him directly!

Huo Xin hurried to his side and saw the horrible bruise on his neck at a glance.

"Xiaobai, how's your neck?"

Tan Xiaobai didn't answer Huo Xin's question. He just wiped his face vigorously with his sleeve in grief and anger: "Huo Xin, what should I do? I'm going to be disfigured!"

"Pah, my mouth is about to rot."

Hua Xiugui spat, cursing and muttering that the bad luck of the Xuantian Sect disciples must have rubbed off on him. He might be in for a few days of bad luck and would lose every time he gambled. What bad luck!

Poison Lady, who was standing at the edge of the chasm, suddenly said, "Okay, Embroidered Ghost, you've talked too much nonsense. Come over and take a look at this."

“…It’s the Flower Embroidery Ghost.”

Hua Xiugui muttered softly, reluctantly walking to the edge of the chasm. However, he only needed one glance down to become interested. He saw that the bottom of the chasm was not a deeper layer of soil, but a collapsed wall, or more accurately, a collapsed ceiling.

Through the big hole in the ceiling, you can see that the space below is very large and empty, with dim light, and some strangely shaped objects are vaguely placed inside.

Hua Xiugui released his spiritual sense to see more clearly, but found that his spiritual sense was blocked by the walls. The bricks and stones of the walls were all made of obscure stones that could block the detection of spiritual sense.

He withdrew his spiritual sense without caring. Although the current cultivation world rarely uses obscure stones, anyone who has entered ancient ruins a few times knows that ancient ruins are always accompanied by a large number of obscure stones.

When they are built into tightly fitting walls, they will encircle that space just like they did when they enclosed the Xuanxin Mine, preventing the cultivators' spiritual consciousness from entering and blocking the flow of spiritual energy.

"This must be the core of the secret realm that the young master mentioned in the message. It's true that after searching high and low for something, it's finally found without any effort! Madam Poison, shall we go down now?"

Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai immediately became nervous. Yun Miao was still in the stage of enlightenment and breakthrough, and she couldn't be disturbed now.

Fortunately, Lady Du did not agree with Hua Xiugui's suggestion. She said that she would send a few people down to confirm the situation first. Otherwise, if they found the wrong place or stepped into the trap set by the ancient powerful in the secret realm, it would be bad.

Many inexperienced monks have heard too many stories about some lucky people who accidentally entered a secret realm, discovered ancient ruins, obtained powerful ancient inheritances, and then soared to the sky. They dream all day long that they can also have such an adventure, but they don’t know the dangers of ancient ruins.

Small ancient ruins are usually tombs prepared by ancient powerful people for themselves. There may be their legacy inside, but more often they are filled with murderous intentions that do not welcome outsiders to disturb them.

Upon hearing this, Hua Xiugui immediately stretched his arms and smiled sinisterly, "I haven't seen blood in the past few days, and I feel like my body is almost rusted. I'll take two people down to explore the way. It's a good opportunity to stretch my muscles."

Poison Lady nodded and raised her hand to hand over a green poisonous scorpion the length of her little finger: "Take this with you, it can protect you."

Hua Xiugui looked at the poisonous jade scorpion and tried to reason with the Poison Lady: "Actually, I can protect myself."

Poison Lady smiled: "You can't."

Flower Embroidered Ghost: ...

"Well, I can't."

He reluctantly took the jade scorpion again, suppressing his murderous intent and letting it crawl onto his shoulder. Then he and the other two demon cultivators jumped into the rift.

*

There is no sun, moon or stars in the sky of the secret realm, and it is always gray. It is impossible to tell whether it is morning or afternoon from the color of the sky. Time seems to have stopped here.

For Yun Miao, the breakthrough in the game was just a blink of an eye. The pills in several small porcelain bottles in front of her turned into a pool of powder because the spiritual energy was sucked away by her through the air. This was actually a waste of the medicinal power, but there was no other way. She had to do this at this critical moment.

When she opened her eyes again, she felt refreshed all over. The system prompt box in front of her showed that she had successfully broken through to the first level of the Foundation Establishment Stage.

She was happily about to tell Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai the good news, but when she looked up, she saw a group of ferocious-looking people sitting around the campfire, eating meat and drinking wine with big mouthfuls, while Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai had dark faces and looked frustrated as they grilled meat and poured wine for them.

[Golden Core Stage, Level 9, HP: ???]

[Golden Core Stage 3, HP: 123540]

[Golden Core Stage, Level 7, HP: 171550]

[Golden Core Stage Sixth Level, HP...]

【Golden Core Stage...】

…

Poison Lady, who was sitting under a tree drinking, turned her head and looked over: "The kitten is finally awake."

The others also looked over when they heard this.

Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai immediately put down the barbecue and wine jars in their hands, walked forward quickly and hugged Yun Miao tightly.

"Yun Miao, you're finally awake! Sorry, we couldn't keep your secret from those demonic cultivators."

"Boss, I swear I'm not a traitor this time. I was fully prepared. Even if they whipped me, I wouldn't say a single word. But they didn't whip me at all. That Poison Lady guessed that your master might be the Sword Peak Master in just a few words."

Without waiting for Yun Miao to ask, the two men told Yun Miao what had just happened, and then whispered a warning to Yun Miao.

"Yun Miao, now those demonic cultivators know that Purple Bamboo Sword Master Che Ruojin is your master. They might have other intentions, so you must be careful."

"That's right, Boss. The Demon Cult has always been at odds with our Xuantian Sect. Now that your identity has been exposed, you must be careful."

Yun Miao was stunned for a moment, then quickly understood what Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai meant.

First of all, this group of people are evil cultivators from the Demon Cult. They sneaked into the Yun family's secret realm and wanted to do something big in the ancient ruins inside the secret realm. In order not to alarm the Xuantian Sect, there is no plan to kill the three of them for the time being.

The woman in the dark purple dress was the legendary Dan Wang Poison Lady. She had just speculated that the powerful sword energy not long ago must have belonged to a powerful swordsman.

Because there were only her, Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai present, Poison Lady, based on the Xuantian Sect's usual habit of protecting its own disciples, guessed that one of the three of them must be the disciple of a powerful swordsman of the Xuantian Sect.

The most famous swordsman in Xuantian Sect is naturally Purple Bamboo Sword Master Che Ruojin. Only a swordsman of Che Ruojin's level can seal in sword energy that can reach such an earth-shattering level.

So after taking a quick look around, Poison Lady decisively concluded that she - Yun Miao, was Che Ruojin's apprentice.

Yun Miao was silent for a second: "Master of Sword Peak? Who is that?"

Poison Lady shook her head and chuckled, "Kitten, you were born with a clever face. It's really not suitable for you to play dumb. Moreover, since I have already guessed your identity, it is not something you can easily dispel with a few words."

Huo Xin quietly squeezed Yun Miao's hand.

Yun Miao really stopped pretending to be stupid. She tried hard to recall the appearance of the Sword Peak Master whom she had met at the disciple-recruiting ceremony before, and glanced coldly at Du Niang.

"How did you tell that?"

"Isn't this simple?"

Poison Lady raised her hand and pointed at the other two. "One wears a long sword at his waist, and the other is a sniveling pretty boy. Only you... have already broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage at such a young age. Not only are you incredibly talented, but the coldness between your eyebrows and eyes is also very similar to Che Ruojin's serious demeanor. Who else could it be but you?"

Tan Xiaobai felt like a dog that was kicked while passing by. He was so angry that he wanted to curse but didn't dare to, so he could only hold it in and suffer internal injuries.

Yun Miao stepped forward and protected Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai behind him: "Although Xiaobai is very white, he is not a gigolo. He usually loves to laugh and only cries when he is bullied."

"I just said that one sentence, and he didn't say anything, but you started to defend me. You have a pretty bad temper."

Poison Lady chuckled and appeared behind Yun Miao in the blink of an eye. Her cold fingertips rested on Yun Miao's shoulders, and a small jade scorpion slowly crawled onto Yun Miao's neck with a creepy chill.

"You already know I'm the Poison Lady, yet you still dare to speak to me like that. Do you really think I wouldn't dare to kill you?"

Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai were shocked. Just when they wanted to step forward, Poison Lady lightly warned them not to move, otherwise they would scare her little scorpion, which would then bite Yun Miao in panic, and their little friend would be dead.

Yun Miao, who had just established his foundation, glanced at the venomous scorpion, who was also at the ninth level of the Golden Core Stage. He felt like cursing. Was this Golden Core here a hospital sale for kidney stones? How could even a scorpion have a Golden Core?!

But she was just jealous, not afraid at all.

She raised her hand and slapped Poison Lady's hand away, then grabbed the scorpion off her neck.

Poison Lady was stunned, her smile faded, and there was a hint of scrutiny in her eyes.

She used her spiritual sense to stop the jade scorpion's attack, let the girl in green turn around, grabbed her hand expressionlessly, and put the jade scorpion back into her hand.

"I don't like scorpions. Please replace them with a golden toad that can spit out spirit stones."

Poison Lady was stunned again and gave Yun Miao a reproachful look: "If I had that thing, I would have kept it for myself. Why would I let you have it for free?"

"But you're truly fearless. You're worthy of being Che Ruojin's disciple. You have some of his former charm. What a pity..."

She didn't say it was a pity, but just took Yun Miao's hand, and placed the green jade scorpion in Yun Miao's hand with a smile, and said that Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai also had such green jade scorpions on their bodies. As long as she gave the order, the poisonous scorpion's tail sting would pierce their skin.

"I know you're not afraid of death, but I don't know if you're afraid of their death."

Yun Miao paused and let the scorpion crawl up her sleeve and reach her shoulder.

She raised her eyes coldly and said, "To threaten the lives of others' loved ones is the most shameless behavior."

"really."

Poison Lady smiled and raised her hand to tuck Yun Miao's messy hair behind her ears, leaving behind a wisp of cold fragrance.

"But I'm already a demon cultivator with extremely serious crimes, so please let me go."

The other demon cultivators laughed out loud upon hearing this, looking at each other.

"Yeah, I've killed countless people, so you have to let me go from now on."

"I'm still extremely vicious, it's obviously you who should give in."

"Everyone, get out of the way! I'm the worst, I've committed countless evil deeds, you should all let me go!"

Yun Miao: ...

"I'm hungry."

Poison Lady looked towards the bonfire and said, "There's wine and meat there. They're all top-quality spirit wine and monster meat. As long as you dare to eat, we'll let you eat whatever you want."

A demon cultivator laughed provocatively: "If you don't dare, come with your two friends and grill us some meat and pour us some wine!"

Seeing this, Yun Miao immediately strode over and pulled out a sizzling chicken leg from the simple grill made of branches.

Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai followed quickly.

Tan Xiaobai whispered, "Boss, be careful, it's poisonous."

Yun Miao opened his mouth and took a bite of the chicken leg. The chicken was fresh, fragrant and delicious, without any problems.

"It's not poisonous. You can eat it."

Then she took out a porcelain bowl from her storage bag and poured herself a full bowl of wine.

It was very spicy and hard to drink, but fortunately it was not poisonous. Even after drinking it, Yun Miao still felt a warmth in his dantian. The spiritual energy in the spiritual wine was like an easily digestible milk biscuit. As soon as it entered his dantian along the tendons and veins, it was quickly refined into a trace of fire spiritual power.

After breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, the capacity of her Dantian expanded tenfold compared to before, but the spiritual power she had stored was completely consumed when she broke through to the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Now her Dantian was empty, and this place was a poor place with thin spiritual energy. She was just worrying about how to replenish her mana bar, but unexpectedly, she had a pleasant surprise.

Yun Miao couldn't help but recall what her master had taught her before. Because demonic energy is extremely aggressive, compared to spiritual plants that absorb spiritual energy to grow, there are very few demonic plants in the world that can absorb demonic energy to grow. Most of them are made into elixirs specially used by demonic cultivators and are treasured in the storage bags of high-level demonic cultivators.

Therefore, like ordinary spiritual practitioners, demon cultivators usually take spiritual pills, drink spiritual wine, and taste spiritual tea, and then refine these spiritual energies into demonic energy in their bodies.

After all, the Demon Cult is a large sect on par with the Xuantian Sect, and the demonic cultivators have always been particular about eating, drinking, having fun, and indulging in dark things, so their spiritual wine is naturally of the highest quality.

“Good wine!”

For players, any food that has a beneficial effect is a good thing!

Yun Miao found an empty seat and sat down. She asked Huo Xin and Tan Xiao to eat boiled meat while she gulped down the wine. Later, she found that eating too much meat could also slowly restore the mana bar, so she started eating meat again.

The demon cultivators who were sitting around the campfire to rest stopped talking and laughing, and all looked at the little devil in astonishment for daring to come to the table. They didn't expect that she would actually dare to eat it.

Putting aside their identities as demon cultivators and the hatred between the Demon Cult and Xuantian Sect, the reputation of Poison Lady was well-known throughout the cultivation world. How many people in this world dared to eat next to her?

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Author's Note: Yun Miao: There's a free buffet to eat? Yay!