Chapter Sixteen: What?

As Yanqing woke up from his slumber he asked [Aurora], "How many days have passed since then?", [Aurora] responded by going to the wall and slashing 4 times to indicate that it has been four days since they escaped. 

Their bounty by their side, a black colored spike roughly up to 9 meters in diameter and 6 meters tall sitting in the corner. Although it took some effort to clean off the dirt, it was finally done. 

It was shiny too, and when he tested it by slamming [Aurora] against it normally, there was not even a scratch. 

Now came the problem… he did not have space. He did not know his location either as he just ran towards anywhere that was not close to any fluctuations. For all he knows he could've flown to some brand new continent. 

In all honesty he probably could've just cut off the tip of the spike and the beast would not have minded it, but Yanqing was naturally reckless and almost suffered a consequence for doing so. 

An even bigger consequence occurred back at the location of the battle, however, as each faction squared up against one another for three days consecutively, fighting for the demon core. 

Although there were no deaths, yet, several life magical weapons had been damaged through this endeavor, but each of them walked away happily. Except for the poor fellow who lost the demon core. 

Thankfully the ice that Yanqing used was not the Six-Phased ice during [Glacial Parade], meaning that the Cultivators would not know that Yanqing could produce such an excellent material. If they did find out… he would probably be kidnapped and induced as one of their core disciples. 

A shutter went up Yanqing's back at that moment, surprising even him as the thought was able to make him feel the cold that he has not felt from his own ice. What a terrifying thought. 

He did not want to be kidnapped for the 'nth time and it was not about to happen again! 

Though… he would not mind if the sect had a bunch of swords. Sadly, the Profound Sword Sect had already been destroyed. The second best pick was the Giant Sword Sect but they were incredibly weak in the original story.

During this period of time Yanqing had forgotten his goal of creating or at least acquiring a foundational establishment pill which left him lost as he forgot his main goal for the trip. 

'Eh, it doesn't matter. I got this material for my beautiful new sheath~' Yanqing's eyes glimmered and he giggled as he thought of the prospect of creating something extremely beautiful. 

Yanqing first buried his newfound treasure in the cave before sealing it with ice and hiding it with dirt. He did not want others taking his precious things while he went out. Since his storage bag was full, he had to find another one that was bigger in size. 

Jumping on [Aurora], the two soared through the sky while Yanqing made a mental reminder of where the spike was before flying off into the sky once more. His robes fluttered as he enjoyed the cool wind that went against his body. 

His goal was still relatively the same, searching for inheritances of the Cultivation trade, refining, talisman making, alchemy, formation, and more. Not to mention the pesky foundational pill he kept forgetting. 

After testing himself against a formidable foe, thank you tortoise monster, he was finally able to determine his current strength. He should be able to absolutely demolish a foundational establishment cultivator as long as they did not have any special treasures.

Especially those that were made using the life magical treasures of a Core Formation Cultivator. Those magic artifacts could only exert 1/10 of the strength, but it was still a guaranteed kill in the foundational realm in most cases. 

Speaking of treasures… Yanqing was dead broke for his power still. With a grand total of 83 spiritual stones and a bunch of crappily made talismans. Although he had killed the two demonic beasts before, they were damaged too much during the fighting and butchering process. This left some remnants that were difficult to identify, and therefore sell. He sighed in his poverty as he continued flying across the sky. 

Though, he still had the demonic core from one of the beasts. He was planning on using this demonic core in order for an alchemist to create a pill for himself. Though… it would be unlikely. 

He couldn't just break through without a guarantee at least, he was not dumb enough to. So there was a decision to be made. 

Yanqing had to face the tough decision of deciding whether or not to return to his previous area, the State of Yue, or to remain in his currently unknown location. By going back he may reveal himself to some of the sects, or he could continue on into the unknown in which the story itself had never told. 

…

After around a month of deciding what to do and slaughtering nearby demonic beasts to gain more wealth, he gathered a grand total of 3 additional demonic cores of the 3rd stage. Now he had 4 of these cores, giving him more options. 

Although Yanqing was a cultivator, he was still incredibly new in the field which puzzled him on several issues. 

First off, how does one get information? There should be a place to buy information, but from all the shops and cities he's been in already there was nothing like that. 

Second, finding an appropriate alchemist or refiner was the same as trying to find a pig that could fly without any cultivation or a special bloodline. Most of these inheritances were dominated by families and the others by the sect. 

Perhaps he could find some in an auction, if there was one that actually existed. Due to the volatile state of the Cultivation world right now there were no families or sects that dared to auction something. There was a high chance of being robbed and no one wanted to suffer such an unfortunate fate after spending their fortune. 

Maybe in a couple of years they would open again, but Yanqing was growing impatient. 

Suddenly, he heard a loud scream that sounded like it came from a person nearby! 'Finally some action!' he thought to himself as he mentally asked [Aurora] to fly him to the location. 

After arriving at the destination in no time at all, he covered his spiritual fluctuations to find…

Three middle-aged women cornering a teenager that looked around to be of similar age to himself… The three women had a cultivation of around 8th Stage Qi-Condensation, 7th Stage Qi-Condensation, and the lady standing in the front had a cultivation of the 10th floor of Qi-Condensation. 

The young teenager was barely reaching the 7th floor of Qi-Condensation.

'I should probably go help him out here…'

"Hand over the inheritance now, brat! If you give up your storage bag and all your treasures we could leave you with an intact corpse!"

'...'

"I refuse, what gives you the right to take my treasures you senile granny!" The young teenager with black hair and an average appearance shouted with a loud and clear voice, startling the three women. 

"Junior, you dare!?" Spoke the lady in front before the other two promptly glared at the young teenager. 

"Yes, I DARE!" The young teenager declared back at them with a voice more vigorous and full of spirit than before. 

'...' Yanqing wanted to face palm, but it would prevent him from seeing the next few scenes.

An urge within Yanqing surged as he wanted to just remove himself from this… scene. He did not imagine that such a scene from the books and novels he had read could actually occur. Should he just freeze this area and take their storage bags? 

The four promptly activated and surged their spiritual energy as the three women each brought out a magical treasure. The first lady dressed in a plain white robe took out an eerily familiar bell-like treasure that Yanqing swore that he saw it before. 

The second lady took out a… sword. The sword was fabulous in shape and size as it was of perfect length to match the height of the lady herself. It had a blue scabbard made from what seems like a blue metal that only existed in the cultivation world. The sharpness of the sword could also be seen from when she drew the sword and a noise cutting the air itself came out. 

From his experience, this blade had to be of a remarkable grade as he saw the glimmer and the fact that the blade seemed to be both flexible and sturdy. It was similar to one of the blades produced by the Artisan Commission. 

The only bad thing that Yanqing would state about the sword was its non-existent guard as there was only a wooden handle and the blade itself. It looked quite unappealing when he considered that, but it was something that could easily be fixed. The specs of such a blade must have been amazing.

While [Aurora] felt the gaze its master was giving the other blade, a jealousy rose up within it. Why didn't he glaze it as much as the sword down there? It was clearly the superior of the two in both appearance and ability!

The third lady… who cares about the third lady, everyone cares about the sword. 

The fight soon started as Yanqing looked on intently, specifically at the sword the second woman held. The conductivity of the sword wasn't great, but it was quite the beauty to witness in action as it cleaved through the air and trees effortlessly as its useless wielder failed to use sword arts properly. 

The three were trying to murder the young teenager in front of him, and even with their superior number and cultivation, they failed horribly. The young man effortlessly dodged all their attacks and even mocked them while he did so. 

"Is this all you got? Have you really gone senile from all the arguing you do all day? Maybe this is why your father married you off to Yan Ming, the trash, with no regrets. That way he can easily ruin the opposition's whole family. Revenge without firing a shot, very cost-effective." The young teenager spoke with vicious mockery. 

"You- you're whole family–" spoke the woman before she promptly spit blood from the insult… somehow? 

'Do insults cause mental or psychic damage here?' Yanqing thought to himself while he looked on with bewilderment. 

The second woman backed up the third woman before they promptly spoke, "Trash! Know your place. If it wasn't for the patriarch you would not even be where you are! You are just a worthless parasite on the family!" 

"You should be thankful your mother died early! This way she didn't have to see your disgraceful behavior!" The boy promptly replied on the spot with zero hesitation. 

The second woman soon suffered from the same side effects as the first woman since she also spit out blood. 

The first woman with the bell-like treasure soon stepped up and fought the young teenager while her companions were incapacitated… from spitting several gallons of blood? 

The two stared intently at one another before the woman turned her back to the boy and the two used their treasures at the same time. The boy's spear and the woman's bell hit the other two at the same time causing them to fly back into a tree. 

'What'

From this point forward, the third woman pointed her finger at the first woman before speaking, "You… you're…!" before promptly collapsing. Her breath disappeared as her eyes closed for the final time. 

The second woman shook in fear as she barely survived the attack, but her entire left side had been pierced through by the spear of the teenager, "You! Stay back! Stay away from me–" before she was promptly ended by another spear. 

The boy soon fell onto his knees as he stared at the first woman in the eyes before kowtowing in the woman's feet. "Thank you, elder sister!"

"--Hmph! Do not get yourself in this danger again, I will not help you anymore" the woman spoke in a mean tone, but there was some softness behind it. 

The two soon flew off in different directions, leaving the corpses of the other two behind. 

The bewildered Yanqing didn't even know what to think anymore. What was even going on? Was this normal? Am I the irregular one? What happened to all the plots of old monsters? Was this a protagonist existing other than Han Li?

'Please tell me this does not happen often in this world. I was making a joke before!' Yanqing thought to himself before promptly looting the two bodies and burying the two cultivators. 

He prayed that this would not happen again, even if he had gotten some free benefits from just watching.