Luo Qingci crumpled the ruined letter paper into a ball and tossed it into the wastebasket.
Forget it.
The annulment was not urgent.
Her top priority right now was the sect’s Grand Competition next month.
According to the sect, it was called the “Outer Sect Promotion Tournament,” held once a year.
Outer disciples could be promoted to inner disciples through the tournament, and inner disciples could obtain better cultivation resources.
Her current status was only an outer disciple of Qingyun Sect.
She hadn’t even entered the inner sect, so she had no say in the sect.
If her father received her unilateral annulment letter, a single letter from home could summon her back, leaving her no room to resist.
Ending the engagement required capital.
And capital was earned with one’s fists.
“One month…”
’I repeated it silently, then pulled out a dusty wooden box from under the bed.’
The box contained the pills and spirit stones she had saved up over the years.
They weren’t high quality nor numerous, but enough to sustain a month of cultivation at least, she figured.
Rummaging through the bottom of the box, she found a small porcelain bottle.
She uncorked it, sniffed, and confirmed it was Condensing Qi Pill for cultivation enhancement.
Eleven pills left.
Eleven pills.
One month.
Not enough.
She gripped the bottle in her palm, then dug out three spirit stones from a corner of the box—one medium-grade, two low-grade.
She placed them neatly on the table, stared at them for a few seconds, then put them all into her storage pouch.
This wasn’t her first time participating in the Outer Sect Promotion Tournament.
Last year, she had been incredibly unlucky.
As a Qi Refining Mid-Stage cultivator, she drew a Qi Refining Peak expert in the first round.
She was defeated in one move.
By “one move,” she meant she didn’t even see his sword clearly before being sent flying by his sword aura, crashing down beneath the arena stage, her back hitting the stone steps, leaving a bruise that lasted half a month.
Back then, she silently vowed that this year she would make it to the top thirty-two.
Now she had reached Qi Refining Peak.
The senior brother who defeated her last year had entered the inner sect, and she figured she could probably do the same.
Luo Qingci sat down at the table, spread out a clean sheet of paper, and began writing a cultivation plan.
She needed to get as close to Foundation Establishment as possible before the tournament.
It wasn’t arrogance—it was a necessary strategy.
From last year’s experience, most participants in the Outer Sect Promotion Tournament were Qi Refining Late Stage, with only a handful of Qi Refining Peak seeded contestants.
As long as she could touch the threshold of Foundation Establishment, she wouldn’t lose.
One Condensing Qi Pill per day, combined with night meditation.
Morning practice extended to two hours, with an additional movement technique practice.
No more tasks for now.
All time dedicated to cultivation.
After finishing writing, she scanned it once and added a line at the end: “One piece of Osmanthus Cake every day.”
The tip of her brush paused on the paper, leaving a small ink dot.
She drew a tiny osmanthus flower next to that dot.
Five small, crooked petals, like a child’s drawing.
She looked at it again, felt it was a bit childish, and thought about turning the paper over.
But after thinking it over, she left it as it was.
After all, no one would see it.
But plans were plans, reality was reality.
Eleven Condensing Qi Pills, one per day, would only last eleven days.
For the remaining half of the month, either she would have to ration them—one every three days, severely diminishing effect—or she would have to find a way to get more.
Pills required spirit stones.
Spirit stones required earning.
So, she’d have to do tasks…
Luo Qingci stood before the notice board in the Task Hall for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.
Her eyes swept across the bounty posters.
Collection-type tasks had too low pay; escort-type tasks took too long; extermination-type tasks offered decent income, but she couldn’t do them alone.
Her gaze stopped on a notice in the corner.
“Cangwu Mountain Northern Foothills — Jade Scale Python Extermination Task. Reward: Five Medium-Grade Spirit Stones. Requirement: Qi Refining Mid-Stage or above. Note: This demon beast moves slowly, ice-type techniques are effective counters. Solo acceptance recommended.”
Ten low-grade spirit stones.
Luo Qingci stared at that number for a while.
Her monthly allowance from the sect was only five low-grade spirit stones.
If she could complete this task, her cultivation resources for the coming period would be secured.
The Jade Scale Python was a first-rank demon beast, corresponding to a human cultivator’s Qi Refining stage.
She stood there a bit longer, then decided to go.
She needed those spirit stones.
From Qingyun Sect to the Cangwu Mountains’ northern foothills, it took most of a day on foot.
Luo Qingci set out before dawn the next day, wearing a simple white disciple robe, carrying an ordinary iron sword on her back, and a small storage pouch tied at her waist.
The mountain path in the early morning was wet and slippery, the stone steps overgrown with moss.
She walked quickly, almost jogging downhill.
In her mind, she calculated the time: arrive at the northern foothills around noon, locate the python’s lair in half an hour, the battle wouldn’t take long, make it back before sunset, and still catch the cafeteria’s dinner.
Perfect.
Soon after, she reached the shaded side of the Cangwu Mountains.
Sunlight rarely reached there.
The trees were short and twisted, the ground covered with a thick layer of decaying leaves that felt soft underfoot and gave off a damp, moldy smell.
A faint miasma hung in the air, making her lungs feel stuffy when she breathed.
Luo Qingci slowed down, channeled spiritual power into her eyes, and scanned the surroundings.
The notice said the python’s lair was in a rocky cave on the northern side of the mountain.
A crooked pine tree stood at the cave entrance, making it easy to identify.
She found the pine tree.
Luo Qingci walked back and forth between three pine trees, eventually settled on the middle one.
She drew her sword, cut away the vines blocking the cave entrance, and squeezed inside sideways.
The cave was deeper than she expected.
The first section was fairly spacious, but after about twenty steps, the passage grew increasingly narrow.
The rock walls were wet, sticky to the touch, with an undefinable fishy stench.
Luo Qingci frowned and pressed forward.
After about the time it took to finish a cup of tea, the passage suddenly opened up.
She straightened up and found herself in a naturally formed stone chamber.
The chamber was roughly the size of two rooms.
Several cracks in the ceiling let in faint light, just enough to illuminate the central area.
She saw the Jade Scale Python.
But not one.
There were three.
’Screw this.’
Luo Qingci gave a helpless laugh.
If she survived this and broke through to Foundation Establishment, she was definitely going to beat up that senior brother who issued the task.
Three miles downstream.
In a forest clearing by the riverbank, a young man in a grey-blue long robe was channeling his energy in front of a large tree.
He was about twenty years old, handsome but not strikingly so, with a lazy, easy-going look in his eyes.
His clothes were the most common rogue cultivator robes, washed pale at the cuffs and collar, but clean—clearly worn for years.
The tree was thick; two grown men might not have been able to wrap their arms around it.
The bark was pitted and covered in dark green moss.
The young man took a deep breath, suddenly opened his eyes, raised his right arm, bent his elbow, and then drove it into the tree trunk.
“Man!”
The tree snapped cleanly, the trunk sent flying by his elbow.
That shout was full of vigor, echoing in the open forest and startling a few unknown birds from the branches.
The tree snapped cleanly.
Not a slow crack, not a wobbling fall—it broke off cleanly at the point where his elbow struck.
The upper half of the trunk, with all its branches and leaves, shot into the air like it had been snapped by an invisible giant hand, drawing a low, flat arc and flying toward the river.
Xiao Han stayed in the elbow-strike pose, veins bulging on his arm before slowly subsiding.
He gradually lowered his elbow, straightened up, and watched the direction the half-trunk flew.
His lips curled involuntarily.
“Not bad.”
He muttered to himself, a hint of pride in his tone.
He had practiced this Meteorite Breaking Sky Elbow for three days now.
First day: shattered a blue stone.
Second day: snapped three bowl-sized saplings.
Today was the first time he’d struck a tree this thick.
The result was better than he expected.
No, it far exceeded expectations.
He had thought at most he’d punch a hole in the trunk, but the entire tree broke cleanly, and the upper half flew off.
If something like this hit a person…
Xiao Han shuddered, a mix of excitement.
He decided to go check the effect after the half-trunk landed, to see where the true damage manifested on the tree.
Was the inside already turned to pulp?
Or was it just pure physical fracture?
As a transmigrator, he had an almost obsessive curiosity about these details.
He patted the dust off his hands proudly and strode toward the riverbank.
Pushing aside the bushes blocking his view, he saw the scene on the riverbank.
Then Xiao Han’s smile froze on his face.
He stood frozen, his expression shifting from pride to confusion, and then from confusion to guilt.
The half-trunk was lying across the shallow water, the broken edge jagged, wood chips and bark scattered everywhere like a wooden flower blooming on the river’s surface.
The end of the trunk pinned someone—a young woman in white clothes, lying face-down in the shallow water, half of her body trapped under the trunk, the other half soaking in the water.
Her white disciple robe was stained with mud and wood chips.
Her long black hair spread over the water like tangled seaweed, swaying with the ripples.
“Holy shit!”
Xiao Han stood behind the bushes, silent for about two breaths.
Then he rushed out at top speed.
“Miss! Miss, are you okay?” he shouted as he leapt into the water, taking three steps in two, reaching the woman’s side.
He grabbed the trunk with both hands and heaved it to the side.
The trunk flipped over, splashing water everywhere.
The expression on Xiao Han’s face shifted from guilt to panic.
That elbow strike of his felt amazing a moment ago.
But now, not so much.