Deep in the woods near the Great Mountain, a small battle was being held by two different groups. There were little differences between both groups but the third group watching didn’t care enough to differentiate them. All they saw were easy prey. The two groups were locked in a life or death battle over a glowing blade floating in the air. A certain someone thought it was a pointless battle as there was only one blade that only one person could use. All these lives lost over a single sword, it would’ve been more meaningful to have a chosen member of their group to duel the other and the winner would take the blade. 

  The first group of cultivators stumbled upon the blade first. Their leader tried to take the blade for himself but just as he was about to grasp the handle, he was knocked out of the way by the second group’s leader. Neither sides looked as if they were part of a faction and were just a group of cultivators that decided to team up to take on the Treasured Plains together. This was a regular occurrence within the Treasured Plains for cultivators with no reputable background, the untalented, and those with no friends to rely on. 

  Jing watched this fight play out while hiding in the bushes with the Wolfeng Gang. The Wolfeng Gang was the third group watching this fight and intended on snatching the valuables of everyone here along with the glowing spirit weapon. The winner of this skirmish didn’t even know what was about to hit them. Wenling was a lot more intelligent than Jing thought she was. 

  Letting your enemies battle to the death and then killing the victor to take all the riches is a smart plan. Jing had to give her praise, she knew how to use her head. She did have some issues with this plan though. The rewards to be gained from this won’t be as good as these two groups are filled with lackluster cultivators. But then again, if they do this enough time, the amount of resources taken will eventually stack, increasing their power even more. 

“Let’s go get our goods boys.” Wenling whispered to her ranks. 

  The first group successfully killed their opposing enemies but with heavy costs. Out of the 20 cultivators on the first side, 10 were killed in this battle. The second group was completely wiped out. The remaining ten survivors allowed the strongest in the group to take the blade. Jing was honestly surprised that the survivors didn’t all turn on each other and start stabbing themselves in the back for the sword. Knowing the cultivators in her sect, she wouldn’t have been surprised in the least. 

  The dangers of the Treasured Plains must be greater than their greed if they’re willing to pass up on a sword like that. And in a way, they were right in their choice here. It was just too bad they weren’t aware of their surroundings. Jing threw a talisman towards the leader and it stuck to his back. It was a spell that caused a bright and intense light to shine, blinding anyone staring at it. 

“I CAN’T SEE!!!” 

“We’re under attack!” 

“Damn it! Seriously?! Just one fucking thing after the other in these damned Plains.” 

“Cowards! Reveal yourselves!” 

  The Wolfeng Gang shielded their eyes before charging in. They kept their eyes to the ground where they could tell when the talisman was done shining and when it was, they looked up and got ready to kill. Wenling observed from the back as everyone else attacked. None of the cultivators here were at the 9th stage so there was no need for her to join in. Her second-in-command, Ears, took on the leader of the first group. They were both 8th staged Qi Gatherers. 

  Since they had the advantage after blinding the cultivators, Ears managed to slice off the hand of the leader with his dagger. The blood spray that sprayed on his body from the wound didn’t bother Ears in the least. The horrified screams of the leader were silenced with a casual stab to the throat as he fell down gurgling on his own blood. The rest of the gang were taking care of the other nine cultivators. 

  Jing did not take part in the bloodshed despite being an important factor in aiding it. She took it upon herself to capture the spirit weapon for the group. With a sealing spell slapped onto the sword, it couldn’t resist being captured by Jing. Its abilities were sealed as long as this sealing talisman was wrapped around it. She grabbed the sword in her arms and quickly ran towards Wenling while the rest were finishing up the cultivators and pooling together their belongings. 

“Nice job my protégé.” Wenling complimented, causing a small blush to appear on Jing’s face. 

“It wasn’t too hard...” Jing softly responded. She then gave the sword to Wenling. 

“What was that first spell you used?” She asked. 

“It’s called flash. It’s a supportive type spell...” 

“Good choice picking that one. Thanks to that, none of my men got injured and we got a good haul from these groups.” She rubbed Jing’s hair. 

“Thanks...” Jing hid her face and stared at the ground. 

  It was at this time Ears walked up to the two. Everyone else was piling together the loot from the dead bodies while casual joking and playing around the corpses. He gave a dismissive look at Jing before looking at Wenling with a love-struck expression. Jing wasn’t pleased to be disliked again just because she caught the attention of someone else. Shang and his fans were enough. 

“This haul was small but not negligible. No injuries are present and everyone mostly contributed equally in the ambush. Once we take inventory of all the loot, we will distribute them to everyone.” He relayed. 

“Good work Vice Commander. Since, I didn’t participate make sure to leave none for me. Remember to also reward yourself for taking the head of the strongest cultivator.” Wenling told him. 

“Yes Commander.” A foolishly wide smile showed up on his face from her words as he turned and left. 

  Wenling then looked at her and motioned with her hands to go over there too. 

“I don’t think I’m worthy to receive a share... I didn’t do much in the battle...” Jing quietly spoke. 

“If you didn’t deserve a share of the loot, then I would’ve said so. Ears knows how much you contributed to this ambush, he’ll give you what you earned. Now get on over there with everyone else.” She told Jing. 

  Jing did as she said. Everyone lined up for their share of the rewards off the dead bodies. Jing was near last in line. During her time waiting in line, she managed to see that most of the group were gifted qi pills, recovery pills, spirit stones, weapons, or weak spirit tools. One of them was actually gifted the glowing sword that the two groups were fighting over. 

  The young man in question cheered loudly and was congratulated by the others. Once he pulled off the sealing slip wrapped around the blade, it sparked with lightning zipping all over the body of the blade. It was a lightning blade! He could feed his qi into the blade and increase the amount of power held within the blade. The others figured it was definitely an earth-ranked spirit weapon for sure but Ears corrected them in an instant. It was just a stellar-ranked spirit weapon, which was still impressive for the average cultivator to get. Something like that could be considered a family heirloom for the average cultivator clan or family. The young man was named Du Zihao. 

  When it was her turn to receive her share, she was met with another look by Ears. She didn’t know if Ears was his actual name but that is what everyone referred to him as other than Vice Commander. 

  He handed her the most loot out of everyone, garnering some angry reactions from those who watched. She was gifted 10 qi and recovery pills, 20 spirit stones, a good quality sword, and a one-time amulet that would shield her from any attack in the 1st cultivation realm. Jing was honestly surprised he didn’t try to give her less than what she deserved. She expected him to give her only a few recovery pills or something similar to that but it looks like he has a better nature than she thought. 

“Hey, what the hell? Why does she get that much when all she did was run around?” 

“Yeah, Ears are you sure your eyes haven’t gone bad? I didn’t see her kill a single person.” 

  Ears glared at them all, shutting them up with his stronger cultivation and fierce aura. 

“When did you sorry bastards get the balls to question my decisions? If it wasn’t for her talisman, you little bastards would’ve had a harder time. She made the ambush as easy as it was and because of that she gets what she deserves. Just like the rest of you. And if you still have complaints, come on over here and prove just how big your balls are.” Ears said, his bloody dagger shining particularly bright. 

  Everyone else was forced to be silent at his words. Some of them may not have accepted this decision in their hearts but they had no choice but to reign their attitudes or get beaten up by the Vice Commander. They normally would hold a grudge against Jing but seeing her close relationship with the Commander made them get rid of that thought in a heartbeat. Only an idiot seeking death would try and make enemies with Jing after seeing their Commander being so kind to her. 

“Let’s get moving then. We still got some time before night comes. Let’s try and find another group.” 

CaptainBoyHole

Alright everyone, we'll be with our Apprentice Spellmaster Jing as she hangs out with a bunch of bandits for a few chapters! I've been seeing a lot of comments about people wondering where the hell Jing was and here she is. I feel that you guys will be very satisfied in reading these upcoming chaps with her. I had a lot of fun writing them and usually when i have fun writing about a particular chapter(s) you guys too. Except with Hu Tao. I think he might be the most disliked character of the group by the readers, but that's just my opinion.

Comment/Review on the story readers and give me ideas on possible xianxia things you want to see! No guarantees that I will add what you want. But it helps to have ideas out there. Please point out any mistakes you notice or anything you're not clear about. I'll try to answer them and fix them to the best of my abilities.