Volume One, Chapter 18: Where Is Everyone?!

Seeing the boy's tearful, defeated expression, Jiang Moli tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"Any objections?"

"How would I dare have any objections to Senior Sister Jiang?" Ji Die immediately denied.

"Is it that you dare not, or that you simply don’t have any?" she pressed, her eyes glinting with a half-smile that made cold sweat bead on Ji Die’s back.

"Neither do I dare, nor do I have any!" he blurted out, utterly sincere.

"Really? Why do I find that hard to believe?" Jiang Moli’s lips curled, and a coil of fire twined around her fingertip.

"Heaven and earth as my witness, the sun and moon to attest, every word I say to Senior Sister Jiang comes straight from my heart!" Ji Die vowed solemnly.

Her expression turned odd at his words, but she couldn’t be bothered to expose him. With a thought, she dismissed the fire snake and drifted away.

"Take good care of my Blackwater Snake. I’ll come check on it when I have time—don’t let me catch you mistreating it again."

"Rest assured, Senior Sister Jiang! I will look after it with the utmost care!" Ji Die promised at once.

Without another word, Jiang Moli vanished, her exit as silent as ever. She said nothing more about his prior mistreatment of the snake—the matter, it seemed, had been put to rest.

“At last, I’ve gotten rid of that woman,” Ji Die breathed inwardly, his spirits lifting as he glanced at the black snake. In a rare good mood, he rewarded it with a Spirit-Enhancing Fruit on the spot, then left the beast shed humming a little tune.

"Senior Brother Ji, why did Senior Sister Jiang come again? Don’t tell me she’s interested in you?" Wu Han sidled up, winking in a sleazy manner.

"Don’t talk nonsense!" Ji Die coughed dryly, but then grinned. "Still, I have to admit, you have sharp eyes. Just keep it to yourself!"

"I understand, I understand!" Wu Han’s face was all suggestive knowingness. "Senior Sister Jiang is the famous unattainable beauty of our South Bank—she has scores of admirers. If they found out she was interested in you, Senior Brother, you’d be in for some trouble. Don’t worry, I won’t breathe a word."

He thumped his chest, as if vowing to take this secret to his grave.

"Good," Ji Die chuckled, giving him a friendly kick. But he wasn't in the mood to keep bantering and changed the subject. "How long have you been at Seven Mysteries Sect to know so much?"

"Seven years," Wu Han admitted, a little embarrassed.

"Seven years… Then do you know Zhang Feng?" Ji Die asked. Jiang Moli had earlier called Jiang Feng a traitor, and he was curious about the story—not out of any desire for revenge.

"Never heard of him…" Wu Han shook his head, equally puzzled. "I don’t think there’s anyone by that name on the South Bank. Do you know him, Senior Brother Ji?"

"Not really. Just something I heard—thought I’d ask," Ji Die replied, seeing Wu Han was genuinely clueless. They exchanged farewells, and Ji Die returned to his quarters to cultivate, leaving Wu Han to sigh at his retreating figure.

"Senior Brother Ji’s so diligent with his cultivation—no wonder he’s accomplished so much at such a young age. I’m not jealous at all."

Ji Die didn’t hear this, having already closed his door and immersed himself in training until nightfall. Then he slipped out quietly to the spot he’d found the day before, placed the fruit into the bronze furnace to enhance it, and began his cultivation anew.

As his cultivation advanced, his speed at refining Spirit-Enhancing Fruits increased as well. That night, he refined thirty-one fruits—several more than the previous evening.

His progress toward the fifth layer of Qi Training was drawing ever closer.

"Come to think of it, tomorrow it’s time to clean up after that beast again. Hope it doesn’t make trouble this time…" The next morning, after feeding the black snake, Ji Die left the beast shed, his gaze thoughtful.

Without realizing it, he’d already been at Seven Mysteries Sect for nearly half a month.

In this short span, his progress had been remarkable.

Even when he was practicing artifact control and stabilizing his foundation, his cultivation advanced steadily every day.

Now, he was nearly at the peak of the fourth layer of Qi Training.

While he was musing on this, a pockmarked young man approached and bumped into his shoulder, making Ji Die frown slightly.

The pockmarked youth noticed his displeasure and hurriedly apologized, "Sorry, sorry, Senior Brother Ji, I wasn’t watching where I was going!"

"It’s fine," Ji Die replied, letting it go, but he narrowed his eyes and watched the other’s retreating back.

He Qiang.

This was the very He Qiang who had been lurking outside his room yesterday—very likely him.

Ji Die gave him a few more glances, quietly taking note, but did not pursue the matter. He returned to his room to cultivate until afternoon, then headed to the nearby orchard.

Buzzing—several bees circled around him, one even landing on his body.

"I’m not a flower, you know!" Ji Die laughed, giving a jolt of spiritual energy that sent them fleeing. He then went to the beast stables, dumped out a basket of fruit, and returned to his quarters.

When night fell, he slipped out again to his usual spot.

Buzzing!

A faint hum sounded near his ears, surrounding him, making Ji Die frown in surprise as he looked around.

"Mosquitoes, this time of year?" But he soon realized they weren’t mosquitoes at all. With his keen cultivator’s eyesight, he could see clearly—they were bees!

"Bees again!" Ji Die muttered, frowning. He recognized these as grass bees, which were typically active from sunrise to sunset.

Yet here it was, nighttime, and they were still out foraging.

After a moment’s thought, Ji Die shrugged it off and continued toward his destination from the previous night. But peculiarly, the bees kept following him.

At last, Ji Die sensed something was amiss and stopped in his tracks.

"There must be some scent on me that attracts them," he mused, eyeing the bees circling him. Suddenly, he recalled being bumped by He Qiang earlier that day—and after he’d gone to the orchard, bees had started following him!

"If the other party really did something to me, what is he after? Unless…!" Ji Die's eyes narrowed, and a memory flashed of that vicious woman in Wenhe Village, who had a bug that could track by scent!

His heart pounded with alarm.

At that moment, several hundred yards away, a figure was quietly closing in.

"So he’s run all the way out here—chose a pretty nice grave for himself," sneered the horse-faced man. A bug, looking like some kind of bee, hovered before him, evidently with tracking abilities.

"This place is well away from the beast stables. The kid sneaking out here in the middle of the night—he’s definitely up to something."

The horse-faced man followed the insect, steadily closing the distance with Ji Die, more certain than ever that the boy was hiding a secret.

Suddenly, the bug halted and darted into his sleeve.

"So he’s nearby…" The man scanned the area and soon spotted a large boulder ahead.

"Hiding behind the rock, are you? Everything on you will be mine!" Greed blazed in his eyes. He moved without a sound, creeping toward the boulder.

A night breeze rustled the trees; the only sound was the whisper of leaves. The horse-faced man’s steps were feather-light, bringing him ever closer to the stone. He could already picture Ji Die’s look of despair when he was discovered.

But when he finally reached the rock, he found the spot empty—only a piece of clothing remained.

"Where is he?"

As confusion dawned, a thin fist suddenly shot out at him from the side.