When had all these people gathered here?
Ruan Xinyou’s face turned pale in an instant. She hadn’t noticed that at the edge of the crowd, Lin Yizhi was silently giving Bai Ying a thumbs-up. Seeing how things were escalating, Lin Yizhi hadn’t stepped forward to mediate. Instead, he had gone outside and brought back a group of people to witness the scene unfold.
Ruan Xinyou’s eyes turned red. She had always maintained a gentle and charming image in front of others. Who knew how much of that image had been shattered by what these people had just seen?
She tried to explain, “I just really liked that jade pendant. I can exchange something very valuable with Senior Sister for it.” As she spoke, she took out a stalk of spirit herb. The herb was indeed precious—more than enough to exchange for what looked like a mere decorative pendant. If this had been before, her senior and junior brothers would have praised her for being kind and generous, offering such a valuable treasure for something so insignificant. They might have even said Bai Ying had taken advantage of her.
But now, not a single person praised her. Instead, someone sneered and said, “It’s just a lousy herb. Do you even know how many treasures Bai Ying obtained during the trial? You think she’d care about this trash?”
Another added, “Exactly! Don’t just take out any random herb and assume someone will think it’s a good deal. Doesn’t matter what you think—it’s whether she wants it.”
Someone else spoke up, “What’s wrong with Green Bamboo Peak? If we hadn’t come here today, we’d never have known Bai Ying was treated this badly. Is this how you bully people?”
Everyone Lin Yizhi brought had watched Bai Ying’s battle in the trial. They were already her fans, eager to shout her name. Now that they saw Ruan Xinyou trying to take advantage of her, their anger exploded. None of them held back their words.
Since entering the sect, Ruan Xinyou had always received endless praise. She had never experienced being cursed at so mercilessly. Tears filled her eyes, and she cried, “I’m sorry… I just liked it…”
Someone immediately replied, “So just because you like it, you think you should be given it? What next—you like the sky, so we should pull it down for you?”
“Shameless. Who do you think you are? Just because you like something doesn’t mean it belongs to you!”
It was the first time Ruan Xinyou had faced such overwhelming hostility. She panicked completely. She could feel her luck value rapidly depleting. Crying, she ran away from the scene.
“Little Junior Sister!” Liu Qingyue shot Bai Ying a venomous glare before chasing after her. Su Yu, left with no choice, also followed the two of them.
The crowd didn’t bother with them. Instead, they surrounded Bai Ying, asking if she was alright, showing concern, praising her.
Bai Ying had never been surrounded by so much warmth and admiration before. She stood there dazed. In her previous life, she had been cast aside by everyone. No matter where she went, she was met with scorn, treated like a rat in the streets. But now, there were actually so many people speaking up for her. Find the original chapter at g.com.
Lin Yizhi waved to the crowd, “Alright, alright, that’s enough. I’ve got something to discuss with my boss. You all can leave now.”
Once the crowd had dispersed, Bai Ying looked at Lin Yizhi and sincerely said, “Thank you.”
“What are you thanking me for?” he grinned. “It’s just… I finally realized that the person Ruan Xinyou kept talking about wasn’t you at all. It was her. She’s the one with all the schemes. I can’t believe I let myself be fooled. Boss, don’t stay mad at me.”
“I won’t.”
“Boss, I came to ask for your help with something,” Lin Yizhi said. A friend of his had asked him for assistance, and Bai Ying had immediately come to mind. “My friend found several stalks of Purple Jade Ganoderma, but they’re guarded by a Nether Spider. He’s looking for someone to help him kill it. If we succeed, we can get two of the stalks and a thousand mid-grade spirit stones. Are you interested?”
Bai Ying had exhausted all her spirit stones while fighting the Azure Flood Dragon, so upon hearing this, she nodded without hesitation. “Alright.”
“Great. I’ll contact my friend then. In three days, when the yin energy dissipates, the spider will be at its weakest. We’ll strike then.”
After sending Lin Yizhi off, Bai Ying took out the jade pendant that Ruan Xinyou had tried to steal. She had received it long ago after giving a bowl of rice to an old beggar. The pendant was rough and dull, not even worth anything in the mortal world. Bai Ying hadn’t thought much of it and had just stored it away in a box.
But now, it was clear this jade pendant had some kind of hidden mystery.
Bai Ying held it tightly in her hand, trying to sense something from it, but gained nothing. It seemed this pendant required a special environment to reveal its secrets.
She didn’t rush it. She put the pendant away and instead brought out her censer.
This censer was a replica of her treasure artifact from her past life, the Profound Heaven Furnace. Though the materials this time were inferior, it was still something. Now that she had Mystic Crystal Stones and the Azure Flood Dragon’s horns, it could be enhanced further.
She carefully lit the spirit fire, gently placing the censer above it. The Mystic Crystal Stones in her hand burned fiercely, melting into a liquid that slowly flowed into the censer. The censer hovered in the air, spinning continuously, absorbing the essence bit by bit.
Bai Ying focused entirely on the process, not daring to relax for even a second. Then she brought out the Azure Flood Dragon’s horns and refined them the same way.
No one knew how much time passed.
Eventually, the censer’s surface began to emit a deep, mysterious glow, as if touched by divine power.
Bai Ying let out a breath of relief. Five Mystic Crystal Stones and a pair of Azure Flood Dragon horns had only raised the censer’s grade by one level. Although it looked like just a mid-grade treasure artifact on the surface, it had been tempered with spirit fire, making it stronger than most high-grade ones. Follow the newest chapters on NovelPing.
Since selling beast materials at the auction house would take too long, Bai Ying sold some of her refined artifacts for spirit stones instead, to use as activation catalysts for the censer. When the time came, she and Lin Yizhi went to the designated meeting spot.
When they arrived, four people were already waiting.
These people trusted Lin Yizhi’s recommendation and had assumed he’d bring someone powerful—at least a late-stage Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.
But the moment they saw Bai Ying, they were all stunned.
She was only at the early stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. She wasn’t wearing any spiritual armor, and the only treasure artifact on her was a mid-grade censer.
One of them had even seen her recently in the mortal market, selling low-grade artifacts. He had thought she was just some small-time peddler.
They all looked at Lin Yizhi with speechless expressions. He was unreliable, but this was just too much. After waiting so long for the perfect time to hunt the Nether Spider—an opportunity that only came once—this was what he brought?
The four of them cursed their luck inwardly.
Their leader was clearly reluctant to give up on the mission. “When the time comes, just follow my lead,” he said, planning to keep Lin Yizhi’s friend out of the way.
But Lin Yizhi cut in proudly, “No need. When the time comes, just follow my boss’s instructions.”
Bai Ying spoke in a low voice, “Just summon your treasure artifacts and attack directly.”
The four of them were even more stunned.
How was that any different from having no plan at all?
What kind of nonsense was this?