I tamed beasts and achieved immortality in the world of cultivation.

Chen Qing's expression hardened, and he looked up at the sky.

The sky was cloudless and clear, and a white shadow hovered high in the sky, so small that it was almost invisible. It was Dan Yu.

Dan Yu flew extremely high, with a wide field of vision, and no blade of grass or tree on the ground could escape her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Chunan asked, noticing Chen Qing's unusual expression.

"Danyu said there are several cultivators about thirty miles to the northeast, who seem to be Tribulation cultivators trying to ambush us." Chen Qing withdrew his gaze. "That direction is already within the territory of Zhenyuan County."

Xiao Chunan nodded, a cold glint in his eyes: "Zhenyuan County is my territory. Since we've run into each other, there's no reason for us to ignore it."

……

Thirty miles away, in a dense forest.

A man and a woman lay on the ground, dressed in the coarse clothes of ordinary people, but there were faint fluctuations of spiritual power on their bodies, clearly indicating that they were rogue cultivators.

The man was already lifeless, blood still gushing from a hole in his chest, his eyes wide open, dying with unresolved grievances.

The woman was still alive, slumped on the ground, her face ashen, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, her eyes fixed on the two black-robed cultivators before her, filled with fear and despair.

Both black-robed cultivators wore blood-red Daoist robes with vengeful ghost patterns embroidered on their lapels, which was the symbol of the Blood Soul Sect.

One was burly, wielding a large, ghost-headed sword with faint black energy swirling around its blade; the other was slender, with hooked fingers that glowed with a ghostly green light.

"Hehe, this young lady is quite pretty." The burly cultivator licked his lips, his gaze sweeping over the woman. "Don't kill her yet, take her back and play with her slowly."

The gaunt cultivator said expressionlessly, "Hurry up, we're not far from the main road. It would be troublesome if we attracted the Lingyun Sect."

"What's there to be afraid of?" The burly cultivator nonchalantly waved his ghost-head saber. "This godforsaken place is a dead-end street. What chance do those useless Lingyun Sect members have—"

Before he could finish speaking...

A sword light flew in from the sky, as fast as lightning, its cold light dazzling.

The burly monk's voice abruptly stopped.

His head flew high into the air, his expression frozen in the smugness and arrogance of the previous second. It seemed that he hadn't realized what had happened until his death. The headless corpse stood for a moment before collapsing to the ground with a thud, blood gushing out.

"Who goes there?!"

The gaunt cultivator was terrified and retreated rapidly, holding a blood-red longsword horizontally in front of him, his eyes scanning in horror towards the source of the sword light.

In the forest, a young man dressed in a blue Taoist robe slowly walked out, his right hand clenched, a three-foot-long green sword hanging at his side, its blade shimmering with spiritual light and spotless.

"Xiao Chunan, the garrison commander of Zhenyuan County!"

The gaunt cultivator's pupils contracted, and he hurriedly took out a talisman from his storage bag at his waist and slapped it onto his legs. A burst of spiritual light flashed, and he transformed into a blood shadow, rushing towards the direction of the Blood Spirit Abyss in the north.

"Trying to run away?"

Xiao Chunan snorted coldly and was about to urge his flying sword to give chase when a clear crane cry suddenly came from the sky. A white figure swooped down from the sky, its body as fast as an arrow, and passed by the blood-red figure.

"ah--!"

A scream rang out.

The gaunt cultivator's legs were severed at the knees, blood spurting out. He tumbled and fell to the ground, his blood-red longsword flying out of his hand and embedding itself in the soil several feet away, vibrating with a buzzing sound.

Dan Yu gracefully folded her wings and landed on a distant branch. She lowered her head and carefully preened the feathers on her wings with her long beak, as if the bloody scene just now had nothing to do with her.

The gaunt monk stopped screaming and struggled to get up, but his legs were broken, so he could only lie on the ground, his face covered in blood and his eyes filled with terror.

At that moment, two figures appeared from the dense forest.

One in front of the other, both wearing the blue disciple robes of the Lingyun Sect, were Chen Qing and Xiao Chunan.

The female cultivator, who had collapsed to the ground, was stunned when she saw the Taoist robes worn by the two men. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she knelt down, crying, "Thank you so much, two immortal masters of the Lingyun Sect, for saving my life! Thank you so much, two immortal masters!"

She looked at the male corpse beside her, rushed over and hugged it, crying loudly, "Brother! Brother, wake up! Don't leave me alone..."

Chen Qing and Xiao Chunan exchanged a glance but ignored each other.

Such things happen frequently in Yunzhou. After seeing them so often, people become hardened-hearted.

The two walked past the female cultivator and headed straight for the gaunt cultivator screaming in agony in the distance. Xiao Chunan paused, then looked up at the white figure in the distance and asked in confusion, "Has Dan Yu gotten stronger?"

Chen Qing continued walking, his expression unchanged: "Really? Maybe I've been feeding him too many Blazing Essence Pills lately."

Xiao Chunan thought about it for a moment, but didn't pay much attention. The pills refined by Danxia Peak were indeed quite good.

As the two were talking, they walked up to the thin monk.

Xiao Chunan stepped forward, kicked open the storage bag at his waist, casually placed the flying sword against his neck, and looked down at him.

"From the Qian Kingdom?"

The cultivator raised his head, gave Xiao Chunan a venomous look, and his lips moved slightly.

Xiao Chunan frowned, about to ask another question, when a violent surge of spiritual energy suddenly erupted from the cultivator's body.

"not good!"

Xiao Chunan leaped away.

The next second, the cultivator's body trembled violently, blood spilled from his seven orifices, the light in his eyes quickly faded, his head lolled to the side, and he was lifeless.

Chen Qing glanced silently at the corpse on the ground, his face darkening. He was about to ask about some information from the Qian Kingdom!

Demonic cultivators are indeed ruthless; they can even harm themselves.

Chen Qing raised his hand and conjured three ice spikes. With three "puff puff puff" sounds, he pierced three holes in the cultivator's chest, ensuring that the man was dead beyond any doubt.

After scanning the area with his spiritual sense and confirming that there were no remnants of souls or fluctuations of spiritual energy, Chen Qing bent down to take the cultivator's storage bag and put away the blood-red longsword.

Chen Qingling probed the two storage bags with his spiritual sense and raised an eyebrow slightly.

There weren't many items: a little over a hundred low-grade spirit stones, a few bottles of pills imbued with blood energy, a few talismans, and a few pieces of dark, unremarkable ore.

The combined wealth of the two cultivators from the Qian Kingdom was less than a fraction of Yang Ming's.

"Poor wretch."

Chen Qing muttered something and handed one to Xiao Chunan.

Xiao Chunan silently accepted the gift, then casually cast two fireballs, instantly burning the two corpses to ashes, leaving only two charred marks on the ground.

The female cultivator was still crying, clutching her brother's corpse. Her voice was hoarse, and her tears were almost all gone. Chen Qing glanced at her, took out a talisman from his storage bag, and stuck it on the male corpse. With a flash of light, the corpse was absorbed into the talisman.

He handed over the talisman and said casually, "Find a place to bury it."

The female cultivator took the talisman, stood up trembling, bowed deeply to the two of them, and after a long pause, managed to utter only two words: "Thank you."

Chen Qing waved his hand without saying anything more.

Xiao Chunan had already mounted her horse and waved to Chen Qing: "Let's go."

Chen Qing nodded, glanced at Dan Yu disappearing into the clouds, and headed east along the official road towards Lin Yuan County, leaving only the female cultivator behind him holding the talisman, kneeling on the spot for a long time without getting up.