Chapter 6: Initial Victory_1

Your father Yi Xuan remains.

A short letter, yet it bore the profound love of a father, moving Dugu Qianye deeply.

Father, I will definitely find you, mother, and Baili Ruyan. You all must wait for me.

Ever since she saw the letter left by her father, Dugu Qianye practiced even harder. She could tell her father had no choice but to leave her and her mother; she needed to strengthen herself to find them.

A month and a half later, the night shrouded the small courtyard.

Dugu Qianye sat cross-legged on the bed, guiding Phantom Power into her body, gradually feeling Phantom Power brimming and encased within a barrier. She twisted the Phantom Power into a strand and hurled it ferociously at the barrier, creating tiny cracks. Seeing this, Dugu Qianye intensified her efforts, striking several more times until, finally, the barrier shattered, and Phantom Power burst forth, circulating through her meridians for a cycle before returning to her Dantian, surrounding Dandan. Phantom Power from the world poured into her body as if it were tangible.

Beneath her feet, light of four colors appeared, revealing five small stars, and then, another small star emerged beside them. After flickering for a while, the light slowly faded.

Dugu Qianye opened her eyes, exhaling a long breath.

Phantom Warrior Level 6! She wondered about others' training speed, but considering Mo Ju reached Phantom Warrior Level 9 at 16, she supposeed her progress to Level 6 in two months must be quite fast. Moreover, this was despite her meridians being so fragile and narrow. Dandan truly deserved to be called a cultivation treasure, with a rate of Phantom Power absorption that simply wasn't comparable to ordinary external forces.

From the beginning of her training, she discovered that, perhaps due to Dandan, she could conceal her own Phantom Power, making it invisible to others, and she could also display any level she wished.

Now, with her Phantom Power reaching Phantom Warrior Level 6, she had practiced the Formless Divine Skill and Ethereal Step Technique to the second layer.

Based on her past life experiences, advancing too quickly in training could create an unstable foundation. Currently, except for Mo Feng, no one visited her courtyard, so she figured no one would notice if she left for a few days.

Early the next day, Dugu Qianye left a note for Mo Feng saying she would be out for a few days, then leaped over a secluded wall and out.

Walking on the street, Dugu Qianye was quite curious. It was her first time out of the courtyard since arriving in this world more than two months ago.

The street was lined with buildings of Eastern retro style, as well as those of Western design; there were weapon shops, medicinal herb shops, food stores, clothing stores, and more. Although it was still early in the day, the streets were already busy with many people. Upon seeing Dugu Qianye, groups of two or three pointed and whispered about her.

Dugu Qianye glanced at them then ignored them; she didn't have the luxury of time to waste on such matters. Seeing a clothing store, she stepped in. The shopkeeper, busy with his accounts, looked up as a customer entered, ready to greet her. But upon recognizing her as the useless Ah Jiu, his smile immediately faded: "What are you doing here? Get out, get out. Don't bring bad luck with you first thing in the morning. So unlucky!"

Dugu Qianye looked at him and said, "Isn't your store in the business of selling clothes? Why are you driving customers away?"

"Only those with money are customers, you have money?" the shopkeeper said, looking at her disdainfully.

Too lazy to argue, Dugu Qianye glanced at the clothes in the store, threw a gold coin on the counter, and said, "Get me a set of all the black men's clothes in your store in my size." Without waiting for the shop owner's reaction, she took a set of clothes and headed for the changing room.

After changing, she combed her hair into a man's topknot, and immediately, the mirror reflected a handsome young man with rosy lips and pearly teeth. With over two months of training and adjustment, her complexion was no longer sallow, but looking down at her flat chest, she pursed her lips. An airport runway indeed, no need for padding to play a man!

When she came out of the fitting room, she saw the clothes packed on the counter. She waved her hand and swept them into her spatial ring. As she was leaving, the beaming owner said, "Welcome to come again!"

After leaving the clothes shop, Dugu Qianye went to a food store and bought some edibles. There was no air or passage of time inside the space ring, so something hot put into it would still be hot when taken out.

Then she chose a secluded path out of the city and headed towards the Cangmang Mountains.

Cangmang Mountains are the largest mountain range in Mors, spanning across the entire southern part of Mors. The mountain range is divided into the outer, middle, inner, and central regions. Inside the mountains, countless phantom beasts and herbs could be found. The outer areas were mostly home to animals and spiritual beasts without spiritual intelligence, while the middle areas were the domains of holy beasts, and the inner regions were where divine beasts congregated. No one had ever ventured into the central region, so what lay there was unknown. People generally only trained in the outer and middle areas, venturing into the inner regions only for specific missions.

Walking through the woods, Dugu Qianye held a gold-handled dagger with a blade as thin as a cicada's wing, which she had taken out from her ring. She chose it simply because it looked very sharp — forgive her for not knowing the rank of the weapon.

"Rustle rustle rustle rustle"

Dugu Qianye stopped, watching the bushes ahead with caution.

"Rustle rustle rustle rustle"

Suddenly, Dugu Qianye leapt to the left. The spot where she had been standing was corroded by a splash of venom, leaving a hole the size of a bowl.

Pocketing the dagger, she conjured a ball of phantom power in both hands and threw it towards the bushes. A ten-meter-long, bowl-thick rattle snake with silver scales appeared in front of the shrubbery, its tail shaking and ringing like a bell.

A level three spiritual beast rattle snake! Primary level, with an attack strength comparable to the peak of a Phantom Master. For her now, it was quite a challenge.

They were at a standoff for a while, then the rattle snake launched the first attack, swinging its tail towards where Dugu Qianye stood, raising a cloud of dust. She activated her Ethereal Step Technique and stepped back, simultaneously conjuring phantom power and hurling it at the rattle snake. With a flick of its tail, the phantom power was scattered.

Without hesitation, Dugu Qianye quickly attacked towards the rattle snake's vulnerable spot. The snake twisted its head and spat venom at her, forcing her to change direction and leap to the side.

The rattle snake's venom came in a continuous spray, and Dugu Qianye kept dodging while pushing the second layer of the Ethereal Step Technique to the extreme. Amidst evading the venom, she kept concentrating phantom power and aiming at the rattle snake's vulnerable spot.

Seeing her constant dodging, the rattle snake spit another stream of venom towards Dugu Qianye's left side while its tail silently swept in from the right. Dugu Qianye, caught off guard for a moment, was struck by the tail and sent flying, crashing to the ground with a bloodied taste in her throat. The tail came at her once more, but she rolled on the ground, narrowly avoiding the attack.

Getting up and spitting out the blood from her mouth, she willed the dagger to appear in her right hand. She conjured phantom power in her left hand and threw it at the snake's eyes. To dodge the attack, the rattle snake whipped its head to the left. Seizing the opportunity, Dugu Qianye jumped to the back of the rattle snake and, invoking the Formless Divine Skill, drove the dagger fiercely into its critical spot. The rattle snake thrashed in agony, flailing wildly in the air. Dugu Qianye was thrown off again.