“Looks like it's finally dead! ” Ling said while staring in the direction in which the beast was blasted away. Then he slowly started to walk towards its corpse.

Xia Caihyi was still in a daze and all of a sudden she blurted out , “Wait….who..who exactly are you? ”.

Ling turned around and replied in a dull voice, “Didn't I tell you just now? I am Shin Ling. ”

“No…no…that's not what I mean…what I mean to say..is…uhh...” looking at Caihyi who was at a loss of words Ling gave a sigh and said, “Didn't you just say that beast stole something from you as well? Then come with me and retrieve that from its corpse. But I will be clear, I need the beast's spirit core for my task. It was my quest to kill this beast and I need it's spirit core as a proof. ”. Then he started moving again.

Xia Caihyi looked flustered as she was unable to say anything and in the end she started following behind him. After a few breaths, they finally stood right before its corpse. The beast's upper body was ruthlessly shattered and reddish golden blood stained it's dark green fur. 

“So…what do you need? ” Ling asked Xia Caihyi who was looking at the beast's corpse with discomfort. She had never seen such a horrible way to murder something.

Finally she took a breath and maintained her composure and said, “You see, my client is a famous doctor and his wife went missing into this forest a few days ago. So my client hired me to find her, no matter if she was dead or alive. And I finally found out that she was dead and this beast was the one which killed her. ”

Listening to her, Ling thought, ‘So you were that female disciple who came here for the quest.’. 

But then Ling frowned a little as he asked calmly, “And how did you find that out? ”. 

The girl took out a small diamond shaped crystal which was glowing with a faint white light. Then she brought it near the beast's corpse and the dim light suddenly started to shine brighter. After that she said, “His wife wore a ring which had a energy kind of connection with this crystal. He gave me this to find his wife and told me even if she was dead I must return her corpse to him. And even if there was no corpse, I had to find her ring. And it seems like the ring is inside this beast's belly. ”

Ling gave a understanding nod and then he cut open the beast's body. Then he extracted the spirit core and he also found the ring which Caihyi was talking about and gave it to her.

After that Ling slowly moved around and then he said, “Well it was nice meeting you senior sister Xia Caihyi. Hopefully we will meet again, now if you will excuse me. ”

But then Xia Caihyi who stored the ring inside her storage ring hurriedly turned to looked at him and said nervously, “Wait! Umm....you  are returning to Earthwin town right…then will it be okay if I travel with you? I mean.... I also need to go there. ”

Ling thought for a brief moment before saying casually, “Yeah…sure. ”. Then he started moving and didn't say anything anymore. Xia Caihyi felt happy inside and also went behind him.

……….

It had been thirty minutes since they started to head back to the Town. They were moving at a fast pace so that they could get to the Town before the sun set. Town in the  Ling was silent and calm as usual but Xia Caihyi who was right behind looked a little flustered and nervous. She would look at him sometimes but then she would instantly avert her gaze.

“So…why did you agree to travel together with this girl? Hmph! Don't Tell me you have fallen for her. Just so you know, you can't lose your virgin vital yang yet so you better give up on your perverted thoughts! ” Vanisha said coldly and she looked annoyed and pissed. 

“It's not like that.… You know I don't have a sparring partner right? So if I can become friends with her then I will have a training partner with me. And also you know…my reputation in outer sect right now is…not that good. So if an inner disciple actually spars with me then my pride and dignity might just increase as well. ”

Although Ling gave an explanation, Vanisha still looked at him with doubtful eyes and felt a little irritated. But Ling had actually thought this through and it was true that if he could gain the favor of an inner disciple, he would be able to get many benefits from it.

But then suddenly Ling realised something and blurted out urgently, “Wait…what do you mean…I can't lose my..virginity?”

“Hmph! You all men are dumbheaded perverts who only care about that! Well since you don't have someone special yet then you need not know! Don't disturb me any further, I need to check my medicinal stock. ” Vanisha abused Ling with harsh and cold words.

Ling looked confused and dumbfounded as he didn't even know what he had done to deserve all this.

Xia Caihyi was still struggling to say any word but finally she broke the silence and said, “Junior brother Ling....you are this much powerful yet I have never heard of you and you are also an outer desciple. Why is that? Don't you have enough respect points yet? ”

“I just joined the sect three months ago….so I think most people do not know my name….and I have never done anything promising or heroic that others will remember my name. ” Ling replied with a difficult smile as he remembered his ‘famous’ reputation in the outer sect.

But behind him, Caihyi was shocked as her jaw almost hit the ground. She quiveringly muttered in a low voice that could only be heard by her, “Just..just joined the sect? Why…why have I never heard of the family name Shin which had a genius like him?  ”.

“Did you say something? ” Ling asked as he was unable to hear it clearly.

“No…no….junior brother Ling...what were you doing all these years without joining a sect? With talent like yours…it's really a waste! ” Xia Caihyi said.

But Ling didn't give an answer immediately. A lot of memories of his past flooded his mind and his heart would become heavy every time he reminded them. Seeing that he was silent, Xia Caihyi thought that she had asked something that shouldn't have and became a little sad and panicked as she said, “I am sorry if I asked something wrong. ”

But then Ling said with a fake smile, “No no…I was just remembering my journey of the previous ten years. Actually….I was inspired by an Independent Martial Artist I met at my hometown and left my home a long time ago and since then I was cultivating on my own. I also met my master on my journey and she was the one who guided me all these years. But then she had an important thing to do and so she told me to join a sect for the time she will be absent. ”. Ling decided to tell her a lie as he couldn't have said he was from one of the top ten sects of the continent. That would just seem absurd and ridiculous and he also didn't want to reveal his past just to anybody. In the end he couldn't whole heatedly trust someone he just met. 

Xia Caihyi finally let out a sigh and said, “I see…your master must have been great that she could raise a disciple like you. ”

This time a genuine smile appeared on Ling's face as he said every word from the depths of his soul, “Of course she is! She is the one who changed my life and gave me a new world to live! ”. Although it seemed like Vanisha didn't realize it or rather she didn't want to believe it but Ling was actually talking about her.  

So even though she heard every word, she was unmoved as she only thought he was a natural at lying and acting.

At this time suddenly Ling and Caihyi felt a strong aura was rushing towards them from the north and behind that aura there were four people chasing it.

Ling and Caihyi stopped and looked in the direction. As the forest was not much dense as bright sunlight could easily reach its blackish ground, they were able to saw a dot like figure sprinting towards them and behind him were four people who looked like they were chasing him.

After a few moments when they got closer, both Ling and Caihyi's eyes slightly widened as they saw the four people who were chasing the man actually wore the robes of Starlight Imperial sect. But only one of them was that of a inner disciple and the other three were surprisingly the clothes of royalty.

As Ling and Caihyi could see them, the four people also saw them and their clothes and one of them shouted out, “You two…. Catch that man…he is a bandit!! ”.

Ling and Caihyi both looked at each other but then Caihyi instantly dashed at the approaching man and Ling still didn't move. The man had suffered small injuries and one could easily see he was running away to save his life. When they all came near two hundred meters, he was finally able to see their faces. It was none other than the squad he had seen before at the day of the selection exam Kaminari Shun, Yuan Tianying, Yuan Meng and Yuan Sao. But what made him surprised was that all of them had wounds and injuries on their bodies. Then he looked at the man and saw that he was only at third stage of Crimson Star Cultivation.

The man started to slow down a bit when Caihyi rushed at him from front. Seeing that, the other four behind him sped up to their maximum limits. 

But when the man was only thirty meters away from Caihyi who was rushing at him with a sword, the man suddenly brought out a tailsman and activated it. 

Boom!

Instantly black smoke covered up the area causing Caihyi to become blinded. And the other four who were following him also lost track of him. The man came out of the smoke and saw Ling and thought he was only at Yellow Star realm.

A grin crossed his face as he dashed at Ling to hold him as a hostage. After two breaths the smoke subsided and the others gaze also fell on him as they saw the man who was at third stage of Crimson Star realm was only a few meters away from him. 

“Oh no! Step aside…dodge it! ” Yuan Tianying shouted worriedly as he understood the bandit's motive.

But Ling remained unmoved. His gaze was calm and his face didn't lose its composure at all. Seeing that he had no intention to evade, the bandit who was coming at him stretched out his hand to grab his throat as he said maliciously, “Heh! How could they even think a Yellow Star realm would be able to avoid my attack? Now be obedient and do not resist!”.

Right at this moment, Ling took a breath and muttered, ‘Basic Style: Shijian Quan’. He felt everything around him slowed down as his five senses clearly opened. Then his body flashed and appeared right above the bandit. He moved so fast and smoothly that it looked like he actually used some kind of movement skill. 

In a flash he grabbed the man's head with his right hand and muttered again, ‘Basic Style: Skull Crusher’ and immediately smashed his head into the ground.

Doom!

With a explosion of energy, a small dust storm swiftly covered the area around him as rubbles and stones scattered everywhere. Then everything finally became normal again after two breaths.

Ling let the bandit's head go out of his grasp which was completely crushed as bones and blood made a red watery pool beneath it. One of his eyes bulged out of its socket due to the heavy pressure.

The four of them along with Caihyi stood silent in a daze as their pupils were shaking and mouth were wide open. They couldn't understand what just happened and even the bandit who was dead probably didn't even know how he was killed. It was so fast that anyone could even barely react!

Ling was silently standing at the same spot as blood stained his clothes and hands. If the man was a little careful then even Ling wouldn't have been able to kill him like this. But the man underestimated him and didn't even think that he would be able to avoid his attack much less counter him. And Ling took that opportunity to take him down by surprise.

Then he turned around and looked at them with the same calm and indifferent look. It looked like he didn't feel anything at all. For him, he just crushed a bug who couldn't be of any more importance to him.

SoulBlaze

Next chapter on 22/07/2020. I hope you liked this chapter.