Spirit Cultivation

Despite all the recent chaotic events happening in the Capital, Earth Realm could still be considered one of the calmest and easier to live in. If one compared it with the Heaven Realm, the difference was like a friendly exchange at the backyard with your cousin and a full-blown Battlefield where everything tried to kill you. 

Entering the Heaven Realm with as little preparation as Jiao had, she experienced the exact brutality on her own skin. 

Drip.

Drip. 

Drip. 

Blood streamed down from Jiao's shoulder before spilling on the ground, leaving a trail as she staggered towards her enemy who crawled away from her on the sandy ground. Her legs were already trembling so she popped a few pills in her mouth, wanting to stop the bleeding. 

"P-please, have mercy! I will do anything! I can even be your slave!" The man on the ground began to beg, knowing very well he couldn't escape anymore when his feet suddenly covered in ice, stuck to the ground. 

He was in a much worse state than she was, his body full of cuts and blood. His eyes showed a genuine fear like a person who didn't want to die. 

Jiao found his pleading hilarious but she didn't laugh, not really in the mood. 

The man's body slowly covered in ice until his screams died down when his head froze as well. Jiao finally reached him and smashed her foot on his head, turning his body into thousands of small pieces. 

Thud. 

Her legs finally gave up and she fell to the ground, both mentally and physically exhausted. It was her third battle since she entered the Heaven Realm and she still didn't have time to fully recovered, constantly being attacked by a new group of bandits. 

Even though she wanted to rest, Jiao gathered her leftover strength and pulled out a dagger that was stuck in her shoulder, leaving a gaping hole. She couldn't help but flinch, her face grimacing in pain yet she didn't let out any sound. 

It wasn't time to show any weakness. 

Earlier she only consumed some weak pills but that obviously wasn't enough to stop her bleeding. The dagger was poisoned and she could already feel it spread throughout her body, slowly paralyzing it.

Thankfully, her body was already hardened by the constant cold she was exposed for many years so the spread of the poison was slowed down. 

He pulled out her strongest, Rank 9 Healing Pill that her sister Lisa prepared for her and immediately felt the relief. The wound began to close with a blink of an eye and in a few seconds, she was fully healed with all her cuts gone as well. 

"I love you, Lisa…" Jiao muttered, really glad her sister was an Alchemist. 

She gazed at her surroundings as she stood up and smiled. Almost everything within the radius of fifty meters was covered in ice. Although there was barely any greenery in the area, she managed to catch one dead tree which was now all crystal. 

She didn't bother with it, knowing she didn't have time to revert it back to normal and instead walked to the dead bandits she killed, collecting all of their rings. Jiao didn't even check their contents as she needed to leave immediately before some other bandit groups discover her or even worse, trafficking sects. 

When she saw multiple girls being handcuffed and locked inside the cages as they traveled nearby her hideout, she only wanted to curse. Not only human women but other races like Beastmen and Fae were included too.

Unfortunately, even if she wanted to help them, it was impossible. Their forces were too much for her to handle by herself. 

"One day I will track those bastards and rescue those girls…" Jiao vowed to herself as she flew away, wanting to find a new hideout to recover her strength. Bandits always had friends who could do anything to avenge you so she had to leave as soon as possible. 

The only plus to be in Heaven Realm was the abundance of Elemental Qi in the air so she didn't need to worry about resources for now. The thing that troubled her though were rogue cultivators who constantly scanned this area in search of new victims. 

Being only in a God Stage, she couldn't really avoid their Spirit Awareness, getting caught every time. Almost everyone who left the safety of the Guarded Cities was either a God Realm or higher. The only reason she was winning was her Ice Domain and her battle skills that proved to be the most important in cultivation with the stage being secondary. 

Jiao flew in low altitude, hoping to avoid any contact with others and pulled out the map she got from the bandits. She was heading towards the nearest Guarded City yet she still had a long distance to cross. 

"Damn, why did I have to spawn in the middle of the desert with nothing but sand, rocks, and mountains…" Jiao lamented, already hating the biome she first spawned into. 

Looking at the map, she knew the Heaven Realm was split into nine different biomes, each element dominating one part of the realm. She must have been a bad person in her past life as she got sent to one of the harshest biomes which were dominated by Earth Element. 

She was heading towards the nearby mountain, hoping to make herself a cave where she could cultivate when her body got surrounded by multiple Spirit Awareness. 

"Fuck," Jiao cursed and immediately launched forward, running away while trying to suck in as much Water Qi she could. 

After her last fight, she completely exhausted her reserves, making it impossible to win any more fights, especially unfair ones versus multiple opponents. 

"Catch her! She killed our brothers!" 

She heard a loud yell behind her and quickly realized she wouldn't be able to run away. Jiao extended her Spirit Awareness to check the strength of her enemies and as she expected, it was blocked immediately. 

The mountain was still a few tens of kilometers away so she had nowhere to hide, having only one option left. 

Fight! 

Jiao turned around and didn't run away anymore, pulling out her sword to face them. She thought she can at least take some of them down but she underestimated their strength. 

Argh!

Jiao screamed as her body got pinned down to the ground with a hard knee pressing her painfully on the back and her wrists quickly handcuffed. She didn't even last a few seconds before they overwhelmed her with numbers. 

Without her domain, she didn't stand a chance.

With the handcuffs on, she suddenly felt weak, unable to use her Qi at all. 

One of the men covered in black cloak lifted her face up by pulling on her hair and cursed, "Bitch! Did you really think you will get away with killing my men? If only you paid up nicely you wouldn't end up like this. Now I don't have a choice but to let you earn back the money I lost." 

Jiao didn't show any fear and instead smirked, replying confidently, "Do it if you dare. Do you think my Clan won't avenge me? They know my location at all times and are coming to pick me up. You will be dead by tomorrow if you do anything to me." 

She was a Sect Master for many years. How could she not know how to keep a straight face?

The man paused, staring at her as if to check if she was lying when one of his men proposed, "Boss, how about we have fun with her and then kill her? This way her Clan won't know who did it. If what she says is true, they will come after us even if we let her go." 

The boss glared at her and nodded, "Fine, do with her what you want and then kill her. I'm giving you one hour. Don't leave any trails and come straight to the hideout." 

"Boss doesn't want to have a taste first?" 

"I'm leaving, it's too risky," the boss replied and only took her ring before flying away. 

The rest wasn't in a hurry and immediately laid their hands on her. 

"Fuck off!" Jiao yelled as she struggled, kicking and biting yet she was quickly immobilized while her mouth got gagged with a thick cloth. 

"Hehe, so fierce! Those kinds are the best! Too bad we can't use her mouth else she will bite." 

"Hahahaha." 

They all laughed, ripping her dress apart until only her underwear was left, displayed for all of them to see. 

"Holy shit! We found a gem! I'm going in fir—" The man called out but his speech got cut off by a sudden whistle. 

Swoosh!

"What the—" the other got alarmed when multiple whistles resounded in the air. 

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! 

The next thing she heard was many thuds as if their bodies fell to the ground. 

Jiao lifted her head only to see all the man laying on the ground, lifeless. Their necks were severed, bleeding out as if someone cut them with a dagger. She slowly lifted herself, sitting up when multiple people appeared around her out of nowhere. 

To her surprise, all of them were female, wearing aggressive leather gear. One of them with a painted scar on the eye walked up to her and covered her shoulders with a cloth, assuring her, "Don't worry sister, you are safe now. We came at the right time."

Click. 

The woman reached down to her wrists and unlocked the handcuffs for her as well. 

"Thank you…" Jiao replied in gratitude. "Do you maybe have some spare clothes? Almost all my belongings were stolen by their boss. He ran away just a moment ago." 

"Here, you can wear this," the woman passed her some leather gear and suggested, "How about we help you get back your stuff? We have only one condition."

"What condition?"

"Join us. Our White Lotus Sect accepts all strong females who love to battle and kill. We will treat you well."