Lin Chang’sheng thought to himself.
"I wonder how Sister Zhen is doing right now?"
It had been a long time since he’d seen Yan Zhen, and Lin Chang’sheng couldn’t help but worry about her.
She came to the Immortal Realm from the Abandoned Land as well, and he didn’t know if she was adapting to life in the Immortal Domain!
After washing up, Lin Chang’sheng began cultivating with the Demon Devouring Sacred Flame Technique.
His cultivation was still a little low—he was only at the Middle Stage Mahayana. Even though he could challenge Early Stage Tribulation Crossing experts by relying on heaven-reaching immortal treasures and all sorts of powerful immortal techniques...
But if his cultivation broke through to the Tribulation Crossing Stage, Lin Chang’sheng’s strength would be truly terrifying.
"Ah—"
Just as Lin Chang’sheng was cultivating, a shrill scream came from Guo Yunchu in the room next door.
Lin Chang’sheng thought she’d run into some creep, so he rushed over immediately.
But when he pushed open Guo Yunchu’s door, he found her clutching her clothes and standing on the table.
On the floor underneath the table, a mouse was darting back and forth nonstop.
Guo Yunchu was just standing there on the table, shrieking wildly at the mouse.
It looked like she was trying to scare it to death with her lungs.
From the looks of it, Guo Yunchu had just been about to take a bath, when suddenly a mouse dashed out and freaked her into jumping onto the table.
Seeing all this, Lin Chang’sheng couldn’t help but be speechless. He pointed a finger, and the fist-sized mouse instantly burst into a cloud of blood mist.
"Just a mouse, and it scared you this bad?"
Lin Chang’sheng said with annoyance.
Only then did Guo Yunchu realize Lin Chang’sheng was there; she hurriedly covered herself, her face turning bright red.
"It’s not like I want to be scared! But you know I can’t even activate my primordial power right now—what was I supposed to do?"
Guo Yunchu said, aggrieved.
"Still, you’re not exactly helpless, right? The way you screamed—I swear, even if there weren’t creeps around, you’d probably attract them!"
Lin Chang’sheng frowned slightly.
Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, a group of loose cultivators came looking for the source of the racket.
Following the open door’s lead, a few of them peeked in and instantly got bad ideas when they saw what a knockout Guo Yunchu was.
"Boss, I wasn’t wrong! Even though she’s got that hat on, her figure’s top tier—if we had a chance to play with her, we’d be living better than immortals!"
Among the loose cultivators, a sniveling guy with a shoehorn face fawned.
The burly man up front burst out laughing. "San’er, good eye! If I wasn’t paying attention, this hottie almost slipped away!"
Without another word, he brushed past Lin Chang’sheng and strode over to Guo Yunchu, eyeing her up and down.
"Little lady, you made all this noise on purpose, trying to lure me in, huh? Well, here I am. Just behave and come with me! Trust me, you’ll get plenty of benefits!"
The burly man grinned, sure she was his now.
This guy might look like a brute, but his cultivation wasn’t that high—only at Middle Stage Integration.
Sure, he was a minor tyrant here in Jiuyue City.
But standing in front of Lin Chang’sheng, he was no different from an ant.
"Tch! Dream on!"
Guo Yunchu spat right in the burly man’s face.
He didn’t get angry—just laughed. "Haha, feisty—I like that! The more you fight, the more fun for me! All right, boys, grab her!"
With a wave, he motioned for his cronies to haul her away—totally ignoring Lin Chang’sheng standing there.
They must have done this sort of thing plenty of times.
"Hold it!"
Seeing they were about to take Guo Yunchu by force, Lin Chang’sheng barked out.
Only then did everyone’s attention shift to Lin Chang’sheng.
"What? You got a problem with this? She’s way too pretty to waste on you."
The burly man sneered.
"Me, no problem. But my saber’s got a big problem with it."
Lin Chang’sheng waved his hand and summoned a Middle Grade Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure long saber.
The burly man’s eyes went greedy when he saw the spirit treasure in Lin Chang’sheng’s hand.
Guys at their level—getting a Middle Grade Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure was a big deal.
"Wow, kid, not only did you bring me a beauty today, you even brought a heaven-reaching spirit treasure? I won’t be polite!"
As he said that, the burly man lunged, looking to snatch Lin Chang’sheng’s saber for himself.
"Idiot."
Lin Chang’sheng simply flicked his blade, sending out streak after streak of blade aura.
Squelch—
Squelch—
The sword aura flashed like thunder, instantly cutting down six loose cultivators.
The burly man took a blade to the neck, clutched his throat, tried to speak—but not a word came out before he dropped dead.
The inn’s staff outside was so terrified he didn’t even dare breathe, never imagining Lin Chang’sheng was this scary.
This burly guy was always freeloading here, but the staff never dared complain.
He had never expected Lin Chang’sheng could kill him with a casual flick.
"Hey, waiter—come clean up the trash!"
Lin Chang’sheng sheathed his saber and called out to the staff at the door.
The waiter hurried in to clean things up.
Lin Chang’sheng turned and headed back to his room after saying that.
"C-can I stay in your room?"
Guo Yunchu said, hanging her head.
"If you aren’t worried I’ll do something to you, then sure."
Lin Chang’sheng couldn’t be bothered to argue and just walked off.
Guo Yunchu hesitated, but eventually dressed properly and followed him.
After spending so much time with Lin Chang’sheng, she felt he wasn’t some shameless creep.
Plus, with no primordial power, it really wasn’t safe to stay alone.
...
And sure enough, it all went as Guo Yunchu had hoped—an uneventful night.
Lin Chang’sheng meditated on the bed the whole time, cultivating.
Meanwhile, Guo Yunchu could only sit there pretending to sleep—until somehow, she actually drifted off.
The night passed quietly. When Guo Yunchu sleepily opened her eyes, she suddenly realized she was flying through midair.
Lin Chang’sheng was already carrying her and Gu Shan, zooming toward Celestial Orchid Sect.
Today was Sect Leader Sun Tiance’s birthday, and Lin Chang’sheng needed to present his gift.
Celestial Orchid Sect held an impressive reputation throughout a thousand miles—the constant stream of cultivators made it bustling.
A lot of people had come from afar just for the promised ten immortal crystals.
Plenty of major sects on good terms with Celestial Orchid Sect showed up too, sending powerful cultivators with gifts for Sun Tiance.
"What do you mean ten immortal crystals for free? Turns out you have to pay twenty crystals as a gift just to get in, and then they only give you ten when you leave—we actually lose ten crystals!"
"Right? I thought Celestial Orchid Sect was generous—turns out it’s all a scam!"
"No way a sect like this stays popular for long!"
"Psh, I wouldn’t even give ten immortal crystals to a dog, let alone your Celestial Orchid Sect!"
...
Lin Chang’sheng heard some cultivators swearing as they stormed off just as he arrived at Celestial Orchid Sect.
So you had to offer at least twenty immortal crystals as a birthday gift just to join the celebration.
Lin Chang’sheng didn’t want to make a scene, so he handed over twenty immortal crystals without fuss.
He wanted to see which sects showed up for Sun Tiance’s birthday.
If any enemies came, he’d take them out all at once.
"Elder Wan of Blood Robe Sect, presents five hundred immortal crystals and a Lower Grade Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure!"
"Sect Leader Dugu of Myriad Beasts Sect, presents a thousand-year-old blood reishi!"
"Elder Liu of Nine Yang Palace, presents three Jade Blood Fruits and six hundred immortal crystals!"
...
Lin Chang’sheng watched the various sects sending gifts—some were from groups he’d tangled with before.
Including Blood Robe Sect and Myriad Beasts Sect.
Lin Chang’sheng remembered that Myriad Beasts Sect’s leader Dugu Yifang had gotten himself killed, but surprisingly, the sect hadn’t collapsed.
Instead, Dugu Yifang’s cousin Dugu Hong had managed to hold it together.
Honestly, with these guys here, Lin Chang’sheng could wipe them all out at once.
Once all the major sect leaders and elders arrived, Sun Tiance finally appeared.
"Thank you all for coming to celebrate my birthday amid your busy lives. Since we’re all here together, I, Sun Tiance, have some treasures I’d like to show everyone."
Sun Tiance clapped his hands, and two disciples carried out three treasures.
There was a longsword, a bottle containing a blood-red pill, and a dark green jade token engraved with a landscape.
"This sword is a Middle Grade Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure called the Blood-Breaking Sword; its edge is razor-sharp."
Sun Tiance picked up the sword and introduced it.
"This blood-red pill is a First Grade Blood Dragon Pill. Swallowing one can help Integration Stage cultivators break through the bottleneck!"
He laid down the sword and pointed at the pill.
"Last up, the Nine Peaks Order—infuse it with primordial power, and the token unleashes a mighty force, manifesting nine mountains crashing down!"
After introducing the items, Sun Tiance glanced at the crowd below, noting their varied reactions.
"Since so many are gathered here, each sect may send one disciple to participate in the tournament. The top three will be awarded these three treasures! Loose cultivators are welcome too!"
As soon as Sun Tiance announced that, the crowd immediately broke out in excited uproar.