Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Ning Yin’s stiff hand trembled slightly.

She recalled the countless direct and indirect descriptions of the Cangming Ring in the novel. Whether it was its pleasing appearance or its boundless capacity to contain all things, each time it sparked a bloody and fierce battle for possession.

Shi Yunzhao had a Golden Core cultivation, with the protagonist who had Nascent Soul cultivation by his side to escort him, along with the protagonist group’s strategists. Even with such a powerful lineup surrounded by the protagonist’s aura, the Cangming Ring still fell into grave danger several times, barely escaping death by a hair.

And she—a villain, barely stepping into Foundation Establishment cultivation, with only two companions who were once big shots but now merely boastful cripples unable to cultivate, two low-level cultivators who should have been safely lying low in the novice village—had obtained the peerless treasure coveted by the entire cultivation world: the Cangming Ring.

An innocent man is blamed for possessing a jade.

She did not dare imagine what kind of bloody storm would erupt once she stepped out of the Lingyun Sect’s forbidden grounds.

Perhaps she wouldn’t even have to wait for the future protagonist’s sword to strike her; the moment she dared cross the Lingyun Sect’s gate, covetous cultivators would sever her with a blade.

This was no peerless treasure—it was a death warrant!

“I told you I didn’t want it, yet you forced it on me!” Ning Yin snapped.

Yan Hanzhou looked at her calmly. “You like it, don’t you?”

“Well, I like the stars, the moon, eating, sleeping, and achieving success without effort. I like many things—but can you give me all of them?”

Ning Yin took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “Who wouldn’t like a peerless treasure like the Cangming Ring? But liking it and reality are two different things. Master, get a grip! This is Jiuzhou Continent. No matter how high your cultivation was before, you’re now a cripple with a wasted spiritual root, unable to cultivate. I have average talent, stuck at Foundation Establishment—a semi-cripple. Do you think the two of us, a pair of hidden dragons and crouching phoenixes, can guard the Cangming Ring? Unless we become cowardly turtles hiding inside the Lingyun Sect, the moment we step out, we’ll both be beheaded.”

Blood surged violently inside Yan Hanzhou, and he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Startled, Ning Yin noticed his face was deathly pale, completely drained of color. “Why are you coughing up blood? Are you okay?”

Yan Hanzhou wiped the blood from his mouth, struggling to stabilize the turbulent blood within.

The overwhelming, vast power of the divine soul had fully poured into his body, but this vessel was far too weak. If not for the fusion of his remnant soul with the divine soul from a thousand years ago, he would have exploded and died long ago.

“I’m fine,” he suppressed the surging qi and blood. “This body is too weak; the divine soul’s power is still unstable inside. If you sayI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.