In a dense forest filled with thick and tall trees. One could see the figure of a woman running at an incredible speed, weaving around trees with the grace of a deer and bounding over the tree roots and rocks with the finesse of a squirrel.

Several more people - all distinctly male and clothed to conceal their identities - followed in pursuit like a group of bulldozers, trampling the shrubs and bushes, crashing straight through everything that stood in their way - bar the trees. They chased after the woman with all their might, trying their best to catch up to her. Unfortunately for them, it was evident that the woman was incredibly adept at navigating the forest and the distance between them only increased.

After a quarter of an hour, they completely lost track of the woman.

Bang! 

A tall and muscular man slammed his fist into a nearby tree, causing it to shake violently. Several birds nesting on the branches were startled into motion, flying away from the branches of the tree in fear. 

“Dammit! She escaped!” His voice was deep and rough - reminding one of crumbling rocks. “That bitch sure as hell knows her way around here!”

His teeth ground together harshly.

Just as he was about to vent more of his anger on the tree, another burly man stumbled up to him panting. Slightly breathless, the man held up a piece of cloth. “C-Captain, I found this piece of cloth. It was stuck on one of the branches-”

Before he could even continue, the bear-like man had already snatched it from his hands and brought it up to his nose, sniffing lightly. Then, his eyes lit up! “Haha! This piece of cloth is indeed from that bitch’s robes.” He looked at the burly man and patted his shoulder heavily, “Well done! You’ve done a great job. I will report this contribution to the Deputy Chief as soon as we capture that woman!

“You’ll get priority for the next batch of Blood Qi Awakening Pills.”

“It’s my duty, Captain!”

“Haha! Good, good, good! You’re a promising young fellow!” The Captain patted the man once again, almost causing him to cry out in pain. 

‘Damn! Are you trying to hammer me into the ground? Can you be a bit more gentle?!’ The man squeezed out a smile while raging inwardly. ‘See how I “pat” you once I break through to the Blood Qi Awakening Stage!’

The Captain walked away briskly pointing at one of the men, “Oi, you! Get off your lazy ass and get moving! I want the Blood-seeking Hounds here within half an hour!”

“Yessir!”

Under his mask, the Captain frowned slightly, ‘I need to catch that woman as soon as possible. As a Martial Arts Family that once had a Flesh Tempering Martial Artist among their ranks, the Yun Family’s foundation in Xing Luo City is not one to be trifled with. 

‘Moreover, I keep getting the feeling there is something wrong with that woman Yun Hua, an ordinary late-stage Body-refining Martial Artist like her should not be able to escape as easily as she did even if they know their way around the Xing Luo Forest…’

His eyes narrowed.

‘There is definitely more to her. I can’t allow any variables to exist! Especially now that the Gang Leader is finally about to break through!’

***

On the branch of a tree some distance away from the group of men, Yun Hua looked towards them solemnly. 

The woman’s brows furrowed. Her eyes flickered slightly before calming down as if she had figured something out. ‘The Ferocious Bear Gang is one of the top 3 factions in the city. The leader is said to be at the peak of Blood Qi Awakening and only a step away from reaching the Flesh Tempering Stage. 

‘Neither my Yun Hai Pavilion nor the Yun Family has ever had any conflicts with them. So, why would they attack us for no reason? It doesn’t make sense.’

She could not figure it out at all. However, recalling how her convoy, containing precious materials, had been attacked, killing or severely injuring several of her loyal subordinates, a cold fury rose within her. 

Her eyes flashed with a chilly light as her fingers dug into the trunk of the tree. Blood Qi surged through her veins like a raging river, almost boiling over! Her face contorted into a ferocious scowl, ‘However, since you’ve dared to target my Yun Family, you had better be ready for the consequences!’

She did not care why they had targeted her, attacking her convoy, and killing her loyal subordinates. Even now, she wished to rush over, ripping these bastards to shreds with her bare hands - however, she knew she wasn’t a match for these people. She gritted her teeth and turned around. With graceful bounds, she jumped from one tree to another, swiftly making her way into the depths of the forest.

Her path led swiftly through the familiar Xing Luo Forest, heading towards a concealed secret shelter the Yun Family had left deep inside it. 

This ‘shelter’ was actually an escape route for the Yun Family - it was to be used when the Family was in danger of being annihilated facing an overwhelming enemy. Yun Hua intended to use this to run back to the Family as soon as possible and inform the Family Head! 

Just as she reached a tall cliff face, somewhere a few dozen metres away, a small pure-black bubble appeared out of nowhere and spat out something before quickly disappearing.

Thud!

Instinctively, Yun Hua sprung back, quickly widening the distance between herself and the source of the sound.

‘Shit! Did those bastards from Ferocious Bear Gang catch up?!’ Panic surged through her body. She clenched her unsheathed short swords, her knuckles white from how hard she was gripping them. Her entire body tensed like a spring, ready to explode into action at the slightest indication. Even though she was quite strong at the early Blood Qi Awakening stage, she was no match for the opponent’s leader who was at the mid-stage of Blood Qi Awakening.

But even after several moments of staring, nothing seemed to have happened. She slowly inched towards the ‘something’ lying on the ground, heart pounding against her chest.

‘Huh?’ She stared at the ‘something’ carefully, only to realise it wasn’t a ‘something’.

It was a woman.

To be exact, it was an extraordinarily beautiful young woman. Her flawless pale skin radiated an almost ethereal luminescence of vitality, contrasting against the few strands of long, raven black hair that lay across her face. She was so beautiful that Yun Hua felt as if the Heavens themselves created her, sculpting her features to divine perfection. The loose, black Daoist robes she wore did little to hide her enchanting yet delicate figure. The entire world seemed to slowly dim and lose colour as Yun Hua stared, her jaws slackening. 

Unbidden, a thought sprung into her mind. “A fairy fallen from the Heavens!”

For a second, she even doubted her own orientation before quickly snapping back, bewildered. 

Yun Hua's bewildered expression changed as her eyes trailed down the woman's form. Her eyes flickered strangely as she stared down at the young woman’s completely exposed legs. The seemingly ‘conservative’ loose Daoist robes ended abruptly before they even reached her upper thigh! 

‘... Her robes are so short that they don’t cover her legs at all! Any shorter and… H-How indecent!’ Her cheeks flushed slightly. ‘I-Is this some bizarre new fad among those wealthy young ladies in big cities? I heard their fashion choices are really strange - baring large amounts of skin for no reason! 

‘If they all dress like this, they are not very different from those harlots in cheap brothels, are they?’ 

If not for her noticing that, despite being quite damaged, the material of the Daoist robes seemed to be of very high quality, she would have directly labelled this lady a courtesan! 

Observing closer still, Yun Hua noticed several cuts and tears on her Daoist robes and the entire right sleeve of the Daoist robe was missing. 

She frowned slightly, as she discovered that there were several splotches of blood all over the Daoist robes, yet the young lady’s skin remained completely flawless - hinting at the fact that it might be someone else’s blood. Someone who might have dropped her here in front of Yun Hua in hopes that she would help. Or perhaps, they wanted to get rid of the burdensome lady to facilitate their own escape. 

Yun Hua was quite sure that this lady did not practise Martial Arts - she wouldn’t be so unnecessarily pretty otherwise. One needed to spend a great amount of time under the scorching sun or else, their bones and muscles would weaken. Moreover, they needed to suffer lots of beatings. It was hard to maintain such flawless skin under such circumstances.

‘Was she also attacked by the Ferocious Bear Gang?

‘If it was, then, are they up to something and the attack wasn’t targeted at us, but everyone?’ Her eyes widened slightly as she realised that there might be far more to the attack. ‘I need to inform the Family Head as soon as possible!’

Quickly, she turned around and ran up to the cliff face. After some quick searching, she pressed her hand against a particular stone. A muffled rumble echoed as a hidden mechanism whirred to life. A large boulder groaned as it rolled to the side, revealing a dark tunnel that disappeared far away. 

Then, she turned to the beautiful young lady. She hesitated, her father's words about caution and avoiding unnecessary entanglements echoed in her mind. But a fierce scowl suddenly appeared on her face. She gritted her teeth, ‘But, if I leave her alone here and those disgusting thugs from the Ferocious Bear Gang discover her… I can’t allow such a thing!’ 

So, Yun Hua swiftly scooped up the young woman - who was abnormally heavy, some part of her mind silently noted - and ran into the tunnel.

***

“Hugh!” Xiao Hong lurched awake, a sharp gasp escaping her lips. She shot upright, hands scrambling for her legs in blind panic. Her hands flew around erratically, desperately grabbing her legs everywhere from thigh to foot before she realised that her limbs were just fine.

“Oh, thank Heavens. That was only a nightmare.” A shuddering sigh of relief escaped her. A horrendous shiver went down her spine when she recalled the terrifying feeling of having her limbs ripped from her body.  She shook her head, trying to shake off the clinging dread. 

Wiping the cold sweat from her forehead, she focused her attention on her surroundings.

Immediately, she felt something was off. Head snapping up, Xiao Hong sprang to her feet and looked around frantically, only to notice a completely unfamiliar room. ‘Huh? Where is this? Where am I? Should I not be on the Immortal Ship back to the Sect?’ 

This was definitely not a room on the Immortal Ship - it looked far too… mundane. There was nothing related to an Immortal Cultivator in the entire room; walls of polished jade replaced with ordinary brick, mosquito-repellent coils taking the place of the incense burners and the Spirit Gathering Formations were nowhere to be seen. 

In fact, it was as bare-bones and utilitarian as an ordinary mortal's room, utterly devoid of any trace of a Cultivator.

Xiao Hong’s heart, which had barely calmed down, started to pound once again, harder than before. Her body tensed. Her Qi thrummed with every beat of her heart gaining more and more momentum, ready to explode at a moment's notice.

Just as she was about to instinctively activate her Divine Sense, she suppressed the urge. If she was - assuming the worst - in an enemy camp, she would be done for if there was a high-level Cultivator lurking around and sensed her. Instead, she decided to rely on her other senses.

Straining her ears, she carefully listened to every sound that made its way to her, trying to parse as much information as possible and figure out where she was and what was going on.

Soon though, her expression became strange. Because she heard a pair of footsteps making their way towards her room, conversing.

“- really?! Is that really true, Granduncle?” A young woman’s excited voice reached Xiao Hong’s ears.

“Haha! Indeed! I’m not lying. Your cousin has already been in the Flesh Tempering Stage for a year now! Our Yun Family has a Flesh Tempering Stage Martial Artist once again!” A deep baritone replied to the young woman. “It’s just that your cousin wanted to gain some expertise in the Flesh Tempering Stage before truly putting our plans into motion. Do you now understand why I don’t care about those Ferocious Bear Gang trash’s plans?”

“A thirty-year-old Flesh Tempering Martial Artist… What a monstrous genius!” The young woman’s voice was high, filled with awe and veneration. She completely ignored her granduncle's other statements in favour of admiring her cousin's talents.

“Don’t worry, Hua’er. You are just as talented as your Cousin - if not more. With the resources we gain with your cousin’s influence, your path to the Flesh Tempering Stage will be smooth sailing.”

“Hehe! I will definitely work hard to meet your expectations, Granduncle!” Hua’er seemed extremely motivated!

Meanwhile, Xiao Hong who was eavesdropping on their conversation had an utterly bewildered look on her face.

‘... Flesh Tempering? The Martial Artist’s Flesh Tempering Stage that is equivalent to the Earthen Origin of Immortal Cultivation? At 30?

‘Moreover, these people have the gall to call such trash talented??

‘Even I, who has - quite possibly - the shittiest talent in the history of the Purple Spirit Sect, am an unparalleled Heavenly Super-duper Genius compared to that!’

Xiao Hong’s eyes widened slightly as a thought struck her mind, ‘No way, right…?

She closed her eyes and extended her Divine Sense, enveloping the room, trying to sense the surrounding Spiritual Energy. Immediately, a violent twitch appeared at the corner of her eyes and her expression turned dark.

‘Fuck! Why is the Spiritual Energy here so thin?! Where the hell am I?! Which protagonist’s beginner’s village is this?!’