Chapter 2
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Chapter 2: The Woman in White
"Spare me!" Ming He’s voice trembled as she obediently stepped out from behind the broken stone, exposing herself to the gaze of the few people in the valley.
This was not a cunning scheme; she genuinely felt fear and anxiety.
The person behind her, pressing against her vital point, had appeared silently, their presence long and light, clearly demonstrating a level of cultivation far beyond her imagination.
Her life truly hung by a thread, swayed by another’s will!
The previous encounter had been similar, but the sense of oppression was completely different, weighted more by this latter intimidation.
Ming He disliked this feeling immensely, yet at the moment, she had no way to change it.
In the moment when her vital point was threatened, countless thoughts swirled in her mind, but in the end, they all proved useless.
Power breaks myriad laws!
Ming He silently repeated this phrase, often seen in various cultivation novels, and let out a bitter smile. Strength, indeed!
In the face of power, no amount of strategy mattered.
If she were fortunate enough to survive this time, she would certainly avoid recklessness in the future!
Imagining the many dangers that should exist in the cultivation world, Ming He resolutely raised her gaze toward the valley.
Just as she had seen from behind the stone, an ancient flag hung in mid-air, and on it was a… spiritual artifact?
Ming He had never seen one before because she was not of this world, and the original owner’s memories had nothing of the sort.
Of course, it was reasonable for someone with the original owner’s low level of cultivation to have such shallow insight.
The design on the flag looked incredibly intricate, alternating in black and white, with the strokes growing more complex as they spiraled inward.
After glancing at it a few times, Ming He felt her consciousness grow dizzy, realizing once again it was due to her insufficient power.
Lacking the strength, even a simple design was too much for her to see clearly.
The girl in blue, well-versed in the many schemes of the cultivation world, pouted and shifted her gaze down to the few individuals beneath the ancient flag.
Standing according to some kind of order were men and women of all ages, each remarkable in their own right, possessing a grace that ordinary people could not match, undoubtedly with significant backgrounds.
However, the most striking was the Woman in White at the center, visible to Ming He at a glance.
She stood among them like a bright moon surrounded by stars, with cascading black hair and exceptional features, her clear dark eyes emanating a nobility and elegance that Ming He had never seen before.
At this moment, she stared at Ming He with an examining gaze, her mere turn of the head radiating an intrinsic chill, aloof and distant.
What a cold beauty! Ming He marveled at her bearing and looks, as well as the unfathomable depth of her cultivation.
"Young Master, this person hid behind the stone and acted like evil forces. Should we deal with her?" The person pressing against Ming He’s vital point confidently walked out from behind her and respectfully inquired of the Woman in White.
Ming He watched this person, a Young Man with an attractive appearance. His voice was as hoarse and low as before, and the cold long sword he held was the source of her terror, the mastermind behind her fear.
Was this using a sledgehammer to crack a nut? Was a sword necessary to handle a small cultivator like her, at the fifth level of Qi Refining? Ming He silently complained and quickly spoke up after the Young Man.
"Young Master, may I say I was merely passing through. Do you believe me?" Ming He tried hard to steady her voice, suppressing her tremors to appear calm.
It would be a lie to say she was not afraid; the Young Man had directly asked if they should deal with her, indicating this was not the first time such things had happened.
For the Young Master of a powerful faction, deciding life and death was likely as simple as playing; they had surely seen their fair share of begging for mercy.
"I don’t believe you." The Woman in White blinked as she replied, her gaze still fixated on Ming He. Her red lips parted to utter these three words, continuing to watch Ming He with an air of leisure, seemingly waiting for her to provide another explanation.
Ming He exhaled softly, feeling a wave of relief wash over her. She knew she was likely safe for the day.
The Woman in White had responded to her, which indicated she harbored no murderous intent. Without that intent, everything would be much simpler.
"Young Master, truly… I was merely passing by," Ming He reiterated her initial explanation, embellishing it slightly. "I noticed a flag suspended in the air and was curious, and then…"
"And then what?" The Woman in White inquired patiently, sensing Ming He’s deliberate pause and choosing to indulge her.
"And then, Young Master, your beauty is so extraordinary that I couldn’t tear my eyes away," Ming He concluded, feeling a bit awkward at her own words. But as a woman herself, she figured it wasn’t too out of place.
She observed the Woman in White’s calm, indifferent expression with satisfaction. This had been her goal all along.
The young master of a powerful faction, with such striking beauty and formidable cultivation, would have been showered with praise and compliments her entire life.
Ming He’s response was typical and predictable. The Woman in White had heard such flattery countless times before and would likely lose interest, allowing Ming He to make her exit.
Delaying any longer could invite trouble. Ming He had no desire to prolong the feeling of her life hanging in the balance.
As expected, the Woman in White pursed her lips, her interest waning. "Very well, you may leave."
"But, Young Master…" The Young Man who had apprehended Ming He earlier spoke up, reluctant to let her go. However, a cold glance from the Woman in White silenced him immediately.
"Thank you, Young Master," Ming He said with a respectful bow, then slowly retreated from the valley, moving at a pace befitting her cultivation level.
Once she was well beyond the valley and certain she was out of the group’s detection range, the girl in blue darted away, ignoring the pain in her body and pushing herself to move as swiftly as possible. Her figure flitted like a dragonfly skimming the surface of water, barely touching the treetops.
Who knew if they might change their minds? She only had one life, and it was best to put as much distance between herself and them as possible.
Inside the valley.
"Young Master, why not just deal with her?" The Young Man couldn’t suppress his curiosity any longer.
Their Young Master possessed a special identity and an unusual physique. Traveling such a great distance for her was beneath her status.
The spiritual energy here was thin and impure. If not for the search for that object, why would the Young Master have come personally?
That object was of utmost importance to her, and the fewer people who knew about it, the better.
Yet, that small cultivator had seen the flag and the Young Master.
From his perspective, it would have been better to eliminate the problem swiftly.
"Duan Wu, cultivators train to control their own destinies. She has done nothing wrong and poses no threat to us. Why take a life needlessly?" The Woman in White’s voice remained icy.
"But she saw the flag and you, Young Master," Duan Wu pressed, still hoping to sway her.
The small cultivator couldn’t have gone far. He could easily capture her again or end her life at any moment.
"So what if she saw the flag’s design? She knows nothing, and she doesn’t recognize me. What is there to fear?" The Woman in White understood their concern, but she also knew that being overly protected would only hinder her growth.
What good was being unmatched among her peers if, in a life-and-death struggle, she might not even measure up to that small cultivator?
"With the alien race looming, why should the human race weaken itself? Perhaps in the future, on the battlefield of the heavens, she might fight for humanity and slay many aliens," the Woman in White mused, her thoughts racing as she recalled the small cultivator’s feigned composure.
"Ha!" Duan Wu couldn’t help but laugh. "She’s barely a teenager, still at the Qi Refining stage.
Not in this lifetime, nor even in ten more, would she ever be fit to step onto the battlefield of the heavens!"
His tone dripped with disdain; it was clear he held Ming He in low regard.
"What if?" A flicker of uncertainty crossed the Woman in White’s eyes. "At least she has a sliver of possibility, unlike me—" She lowered her gaze, masking the emotions that stirred within her.
"Young Master—" Duan Wu felt a mix of reluctance and sadness.
"Let’s not dwell on that. Let’s head to Liu Yun Sect," the Woman in White said, masking her emotions with a faint smile.
In that instant, the chill in the air dissipated like melting snow.
On the outskirts of the Liu Yun Mountains,
Ming He had been running for a full half hour, from the inner mountains to the outskirts. Once she confirmed there were no pursuers and no traces of the boy in gray and his group, she sighed in relief. It felt like she had been dancing on the edge of a blade all day.
But thankfully, she hadn’t danced herself to death—something worth celebrating!
The girl in blue glanced at the gradually visible outline of Liu Yun Sect and then at the bloodstains on her body and the nearby stream, deciding to clean herself up first.
After the day’s events, according to the usual patterns of the cultivation world, nothing more should happen.
She crouched down, scooping a handful of clear water to splash on her face. Instantly, she felt more awake, and the tension from her near escapes began to fade.
Next, Ming He dipped her almost entirely blood-stained hand into the stream, belatedly realizing she had… killed someone today.
However, just a few hours later, the image of the Scar-faced Man in her mind had blurred. The panic and confusion from taking a life still lingered, but the fear lessened after the shocking experience in the valley.
It had been three months since she arrived here!
Ming He stared at her reflection in the stream, which looked both familiar and strange. That face wasn’t her original one.
She had heard that those who crossed over typically had the same name and appearance as the original owner to help them blend in better.
Yet, her name was half the same as the original, while her appearance was completely different.
The face in the water was delicate and beautiful, quite attractive in her original world, but considered just average in the beauty-filled cultivation realm.
Ming He made silent comparisons, and the image of the Woman in White naturally surfaced in her mind. The words "peerless beauty, heavenly figure" fit her perfectly.
Her previous words weren’t entirely made up; at least the Woman in White was indeed very beautiful.
If she were a man, it would also be hard to look away, willingly treating her like the brightest moon in his heart.
Ming He blinked, realizing the original owner’s most outstanding feature was likely those peach blossom eyes.
Her dark eyes seemed to hide peach blossoms, long and deep, shaped like the petals of peach flowers. At that moment, they held a semblance of a smile, adding charm to her already stunning visage.
Ming He smiled a little at the gazing figure in the water, who looked so full of emotion, and felt somewhat uncomfortable.
Having lived two lives, she had always been single; what use were such deep and affectionate eyes? It was more important to improve her strength and secure her own life.
The girl in blue set her face sternly, driving the warmth from her peach blossom eyes away, and tightly pressed her lips together as she stood up.
Having been in this world for three months, she had only improved her cultivation by two levels; she needed to work hard and not slack off.
Ming He didn’t feel proud that the original owner took seventeen years to reach the third level of Qi Refining while she had broken through two levels in such a short time. The Woman in White earlier looked only a few years older than her yet emitted a presence that felt like an inner sect elder in the early stages of the Dust Dispersal Realm.
The journey was long, and the girl had a heavy burden ahead; she needed to strive diligently! With a determined gaze, Ming He headed straight toward Liu Yun Sect.
Once she entered the sect, Ming He didn’t bother looking at the magnificent buildings soaring toward the sky within Liu Yun Sect. Instead, she directly made her way to the task hall.
After turning in her previous outer sect task, she earned five contribution points. Then, she exchanged the beast materials from her storage pouch and the blood-stained dagger for five spirit stones.
Adding to what the original owner had left behind, Ming He now had a total of twenty contribution points and thirty spirit stones.
She was desperately poor! In both of her lives, this was the unavoidable flaw.
Ming He forced a smile, then reignited her fierce determination.
One day, she would earn a lot of spirit stones.
By then, she wanted to sleep on a pile of spirit stones.
Oh, it seemed spirit stones were divided into low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, supreme, and the legendary exceptional grade.
Hmm… Let’s set a small goal to have a pile of supreme spirit stones. I can’t be too greedy.
Though right now, she only possessed low-grade stones.
The girl in blue waved her hand, grabbing the spirit stones and shoving them into her storage pouch under the confused gaze of the exchange clerk. She then went to the weapon rack on the right to find a disciple to register her information and receive a sword.
Outer sect disciples could collect one sword each month, of course, the most ordinary kind. That was why Ming He had been so careless about throwing it away earlier.
After registering her information, Ming He carried her new sword toward the outer sect disciples’ living quarters, preparing to sort through the experiences and gains she had from the mountains over the past two months.
"Su Ming He." She was called to a halt near her small courtyard by someone.
The girl in blue instinctively thought of running. Yet, the next moment, she realized that she was in the sect, feeling a bit awkward as she stopped to look at the newcomer.
It was a girl around her age, whose looks were sweet and lively, skipping towards her. She seemed confused by Ming He’s reaction, but upon remembering what she wanted to say, her excitement returned.
"Do you know? Our sect’s chief brother, Brother Yun, was defeated by someone with a single move a few days ago!"
