A month had passed.
A family of three, looking weary from travel, would reach Xi'an City just before sunset, the closest city to the Tianxu Sect.
Originally, with Xie Shen, a Foundation Establishment protector, as long as they didn't court death, they could have enjoyed the scenery and traveled with ease.
But they could hardly cope with their daughter's troublesome antics.
Standing at the prow of the Little Flying Boat, wind blowing through her hair, Xie Jiujiu stood with a string of Storage Bags around her waist, her small face set with ambitious determination as she looked toward the distant city.
Tianxu Sect, here I come!
Xie Jiujiu, once a poor little wretch, had, after a series of underhanded shenanigans, achieved financial freedom within a year.
Clang, clank!
The sound of swords clashing could be faintly heard.
A fight in the small woods ahead?
Xie Shen and Mo Lan reflexively looked at their daughter, seeing excitement and eagerness on her small face.
The couple exchanged a helpless look.
Was their well-behaved, tender, and adorable daughter truly gone beyond return?
Xie Jiujiu was the first to go check it out.
Cautious and careful.
In the woods, three male Qi Cultivation practitioners were ganging up on a young maiden.
The young girl mainly fought by throwing Spirit Talismans and smashing Magic Artifacts. She had less combat experience than the three men, but she held her own in the fight by spending freely.
The girl looked about fifteen or sixteen, slightly plump with almond-shaped eyes and rosy cheeks. Dressed in opulence, she looked like a rich, nouveau riche farmer's naive daughter.
In reality, she was an old acquaintance of Xie Jiujiu, surnamed Song, named Baobao, the second daughter of the Song Family of the Rongsheng Trading Company in the Northern Region, and in a previous life, she firmly held the title of Lin Wangchen's most loyal fawning follower.
Ever since Xie Jiujiu married Lin Wangchen, she had been subjected to Song Baobao's hostility and targeting.
For example, there was one incident in her previous life that nettled Xie Jiujiu for over a hundred years.
The Song Family built their reputation on manufacturing large Flying Boats. Their creations were renowned for high defense and speed in the Cultivation World. Moreover, what really bolstered the Song Family's fame was their costly establishment of secure flight routes between key cities across different regions; normally it would take a year to travel from the Northern to the Eastern Region, but with a Song Family Flying Boat, it only took a month.
In a past life, Song Baobao issued an order prohibiting Xie Jiujiu from using the Song Family's Flying Boats.
Xie Jiujiu, who was always cultivating at the Sect and not lacking in resources, was not significantly affected, but Song Baobao's actions were particularly vexing...
The battle ahead was nearing its end.
Song Baobao, after throwing all her Spirit Talismans and detonating a dozen or so Magic Artifacts, finally managed to kill two of her attackers and forced the injured third to flee before she ran out of strength.
"Whew, finally done," Song Baobao said, panting heavily and drenched in sweat.
She had survived the ordeal!
Just as Song Baobao crouched beside a corpse, about to collect a Storage Bag from the ground.
Thud!
She was hit on the back of her head.
Song Baobao collapsed to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust.
With a cold laugh, Xie Jiujiu stood holding a thick wooden stick, collectedly putting it away.
A successful sneak attack!
Xie Shen and Mo Lan, having just approached, were dumbfounded.
Their daughter, previously keen on taking advantage of others' conflicts, usually acted when others harbored ill intentions first. But this time she took the initiative to strike first?
Could their daughter have a grudge against the woman on the ground?
The couple thought of the most likely possibility—that the woman was not a good person.
Xie Jiujiu stripped Song Baobao of everything, leaving her only in an undergarment and trousers, even taking her belt, vestment robe, and shoes.
As Xie Jiujiu began to fiddle with the collar of the woman's garment, Xie Shen twitched, "Daughter, when committing theft, leave a line; it'll make future dealings easier."
Xie Jiujiu, "..."
Dad, are you enjoying your little joke?
Alright then, she was a good girl and listened to her father the most, letting go of the collar she had been pulling at and instead took out a rope, tying up Song Baobao and suspending her from a large tree.
Dusting off her small hands.
Xie Jiujiu said calmly, "Mom and Dad, just preserve the scene of the fight and erase our traces."
The couple shifted their gaze.
They began to work together tacitly on the finishing touches.
Xie Shen erased their footprints while Mo Lan scattered some powder to confuse the scents.
Soon, the three of them left.
Xie Jiujiu suggested that they settle down beside a stone stream a few miles outside the city before entering it, immediately setting up a formation.
The whole family hid inside the formation.
The exciting moment had arrived!
Xie Jiujiu rubbed her little hands together, grinning as she handed a Storage Ring to Xie Shen, which was a spoil of war from Song Baobao, "Daddy, you do the honor of opening the blind box."
"Of course, my dear daughter." Xie Shen wiped off the Divine Sense from the Storage Ring and peeked into the space within, unable to suppress his exclamation, "My goodness, my goodness, truly immense blessings!"
Xie Jiujiu's eyes lit up.
Song Baobao was but a foolish young lady from a landlord's family, and her escape from home wasn't long ago...
As expected, the space contained a huge amount of cultivation resources suitable for Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment.
Setting aside the pills, artifacts, talismans, formations, and such, just the sight of the ten-meter tall and wide shelves brimming with Spiritual Wine, Spiritual Liquid, Spirit Rice, and fruits and vegetables was an enormous surprise.
With these resources, Mo Lan's attempt at Foundation Establishment was bound to be stable!
Furthermore, in the corner lay a pile of more than a hundred large wooden boxes filled with Spirit Stones.
One box held ten thousand.
Could it be upward of a million?!
Xie Jiujiu broke into a wide grin, "We've struck it rich! We've made a huge fortune! More than we could earn in a month of hard work."
"With such wealth, her origin can't be ordinary. There might be trouble down the line," Xie Shen and Mo Lan were somewhat anxious.
A little mischief could be managed, but provoking a behemoth, even the Xie Family couldn't withstand it.
Xie Jiujiu had a plan in mind already, "Mom and Dad, don't worry. We'll dispose of anything potentially dangerous, including this Storage Ring. As long as there's no evidence, who would suspect us?"
What they threw away was very valuable.
Just this Storage Ring, with a hundred cubic meters of space, could sell for several million Spirit Stones.
But, if one wanted to live a long life, one couldn't be greedy.
They selected the items posing hidden risks and threw them all into the Storage Ring.
Mo Lan reluctantly said, "Shen, it's quite a pity to just throw these away."
Xie Shen thought of his own father, "How about taking them back to Yunmu City? Let father disguise them…"
"Stop right there!"
Xie Jiujiu didn't want to complicate matters further, "Let's bury them! Today, they must be buried. If Dad has ideas, just hide them more cleverly, and we'll talk when things have calmed down."
Mo Lan turned to ask, "Jiujiu, do you know the background of that woman?"
Xie Jiujiu replied honestly, "She's from the Song Family of the Northern Region, the Rongsheng Trading Company's Song Family. I heard the family boasts two Divinity Transformation cultivators. The items I told you to throw away all bear the Song Family's insignia."
Xie Shen and Mo Lan fell silent.
Now they really had stirred up a hornet's nest!
"The Song Family is in the Northern Region, how did this young lady end up here?" Mo Lan asked apprehensively, "Could there be any of her Protectors nearby?"
Xie Shen had been keeping an eye on their surroundings, "I haven't detected any danger."
Xie Jiujiu dismissed the concern, "Relax, there's none. If there were, would we still be sitting here comfortably? The Protectors that big families assign to their juniors are at least at the Golden Core level."
The Song Family had intended for Song Baobao to join the Sword Sect, but she detested the hardships of being a Sword Cultivator. In her previous life, she snuck onto her family's Flying Boat and escaped from the Northern Region to the Eastern Region. Only after she had joined the Tianxu Sect did the Song Family find her.
Convinced by their daughter's reasoning, the couple no longer fretted. Xie Shen went out on his own and came back after having hidden the Storage Ring well, also bringing with him two wild rabbits and a pheasant.
Mo Lan started a fire.
Xie Jiujiu eagerly helped out.
Cultivators had Fasting Pills and didn't need to eat, but Xie Jiujiu was simply greedy, munching on food while insisting her father keep an eye on Song Baobao.
If there's no danger, they wouldn't bother with her.
A Foundation Establishment Cultivator's Divine Sense could reach up to ten miles, and the stone stream was only a few miles away from the small forest. If Xie Shen wanted to check, he could do so at any time.
"Eh?"
Xie Shen paused while biting into the rabbit meat.
Xie Jiujiu and Mo Lan looked up at him, eyes filled with questions.
Xie Shen explained, "That woman has woken up, but she's also in danger now."
"What?" Xie Jiujiu was surprised.
Mo Lan also doubted, "There are no Demonic Beasts in the woods, right? She's still a Cultivator, and the rope my daughter tied her with was a cheap one made of Spirit Pearls, which would break with a slight vibration of Spiritual Power."
Xie Shen chuckled and shook his head, "She's a bit unlucky, who would've expected that the male Cultivator who escaped before would circle back."
This wasn't a bit of bad luck.
It was hugely unlucky!
Song Baobao must be regretting coming to the Eastern Region by now.