Chapter 3: A Perilous Predicament

Chu Sang’s eyes lit up. Black Wind Forest? A beast tide? This truly was a prime spot for selling talismans!

“Thanks, brother. Here’s a talisman for you. If you find it useful, feel free to come back for more!”

She handed him a talisman along with her business card, then swiftly packed up her stall. The slim, frail girl, burdened with a package half her height, vanished in the blink of an eye.

“……” The passerby couldn’t help but twitch his mouth, thinking he’d encountered something bizarre today. He unconsciously pocketed the Swift movement talisman and hurried on his way.

Black Wind Forest was indeed chaotic. Trees lay toppled, debris scattered everywhere, and the ground trembled slightly. Beastly roars echoed from deep within, sending chills down one’s spine.

Many cultivators came and went. Assessing her current frail condition, Chu Sang found a relatively safe corner on the outskirts and set up her stall again.

Before long, a young man in green flew towards her. He looked about sixteen or seventeen, not much older than her. His attire was ordinary, made of coarse cloth, with narrow sleeves and legs that made him appear lean and tall. His hair was loosely tied in a simple ponytail, with some strands falling behind, giving him a dashing, youthful appearance.

The young man, standing on a black iron sword, flew clumsily through the forest. Clearly, he had just reached Foundation Establishment and wasn’t yet proficient in sword flight.

“Ahhh—Move, get out of the way!”

He was heading straight for her!

Chu Sang paled, throwing up her hands. “What the—Don’t come near me!”

“Run quickly! I can’t control it!”

Chu Sang acted swiftly, slapping a swift movement talisman on herself. She packed up in a flash and darted tens of meters away.

The young man was about to crash into the mountain—

Although Foundation Establishment cultivators were tough, they could still lose limbs and need months to recover from such an impact.

Without thinking, Chu Sang, a model youth raised under the red flag for two decades, pulled out a binding talisman and stuck it on the youth’s iron sword just as he was about to create a human-shaped crater in the mountain wall.

“Slap!”

Man and sword fell to the ground.

Finally, silence.

The young man was clearly terrified. He flipped off the sword and sat on the ground, still in shock. He scratched his messy hair, “That nearly scared me to death!”

He immediately turned to Chu Sang, his slightly downturned puppy eyes bright with gratitude, as if looking at a savior. He cupped his hands in a martial salute, “Thank you, miss, for your timely help. I nearly lost my life there!”

“It was nothing, no need to thank me.”

Chu Sang looked up at him and froze.

She saw a string of virtual characters floating above the youth’s head.

[Corruption Value: 13]

Chu Sang: ???

What was this?

The youth was still chattering, “Ah, that was really dangerous. If I had known, I wouldn’t have accepted this mission. It’s not easy earning a few spirit stones… Oh, by the way, my name is Tantai Ming. I don’t know your name yet. We seem to have a fateful encounter, why don’t we become friends?”

Tantai Ming?

Chu Sang snapped back to reality, her mouth twitching involuntarily. This name was familiar—wasn’t he one of the tragic male supporting characters in that dog-blood harem novel?

Chu Sang had liked this character when reading the original story. He was a carefree, simple-minded fellow, a sunny and cheerful boy who knew nothing of love. But after being injured and saved by Qin Xixue in a secret realm, he fell deeply in love, dedicating everything to the female lead. Unfortunately, as a supporting character, he ended up with nothing and even fell into demonic cultivation later, truly a tragic fate.

Damn, was she destined to cross paths with the female lead’s admirers in this life too?

A simple-minded fellow might be cute, but she valued her life more.

Chu Sang wanted to flee.

[Congratulations, host has unlocked one of the target villains. The Good Person System upholds the ideal of world peace, with the ultimate goal of reforming villains who could cause dimensional collapse.]

[Please strive to eliminate the Corruption Value of the various villains from the original story.]

[For every “1” Corruption Value eliminated from a villain, you will receive an equal “1” random attribute point to enhance your own attributes.]

Chu Sang paused, then retracted her foot that was about to step out. She sat back down, looking at Tantai Ming, who was casting a cleaning spell on himself, with a complex gaze.

The boy looked happy and simple-minded, not seeming to be troubled by love… She guessed that at this point in time, Tantai Ming probably hadn’t met the female lead yet, hence his low Corruption Value.

Hmm! Good potential for reformation.

“Boom!”

As she was deep in thought, the ground suddenly trembled slightly. Something terrifying seemed to be approaching from afar. Tantai Ming leapt up, “Not good, it’s beast tide. Those beasts are coming after us again!”

“Beast tide?”

Chu Sang turned to look. Sure enough, a vast, dark mass like a black cloud pressing down on the city was thundering towards them at a terrifying speed, shaking the earth.

Both exclaimed “Sh*t!” in perfect unison, then took off running.

The beasts behind them pursued relentlessly, like they’d lost their mothers.

How could two legs outrun four?

Seeing that they were about to be caught and trampled into meat paste by the beast tide behind them, Tantai Ming lamented his imminent doom. Then his eyes lit up, and he urgently asked Chu Sang, “If I’m not mistaken, you used a swift movement talisman earlier? How many do you have left? I’ll buy them all!”

As he spoke, he tossed her a bag of spirit stones. It was heavy. Even while fleeing for her life, Chu Sang had the presence of mind to send a strand of divine sense into the spatial bag to count them one by one. There were over a hundred spirit stones, and they were medium-grade.

In the cultivation world’s currency exchange, the most common currency for ordinary low-level cultivators was spirit pearls. A thousand spirit pearls could be exchanged for one low-grade spirit stone, a hundred low-grade spirit stones for one medium-grade spirit stone, and a hundred medium-grade spirit stones for one high-grade spirit stone.

Chu Sang had worked diligently at the Tianyan Sect for ten years and only saved up a dozen or so low-grade spirit stones. Yet this young man casually handed over more than a hundred medium-grade spirit stones. Clearly… he was a rich sucker!

She liked it!

Only then did Chu Sang notice that he seemed to be wearing a Daoist robe, with two auspicious clouds encircling a spirit pearl embroidered on the sleeves—the emblem of a sect. So he was from an established sect.

With the Swift movement talismans attached, their speed increased greatly. After circling Black Wind Forest dozens of times, they finally shook off the relentlessly pursuing beasts.

The two collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath, utterly exhausted.

Tantai Ming wiped the cold sweat from his brow and pulled out an egg the size of a head, snow-white and cute, from his spatial bag. He grinned, “Luckily, this young master is clever. While those beasts were lured out, I successfully snatched this beast egg!”

He raised an eyebrow, looking smug, “Aren’t I smart?”

“You… you’re really something!” Chu Sang’s blood ran cold at the sight of the egg.

So that’s why the beasts had been so relentlessly pursuing them—he had stolen their egg!

Damn it, why did you have to go and steal their egg??

Indeed, he had a villain’s black heart, capable of such reckless actions!

Chu Sang’s expression immediately changed. She coldly sneered, “Quickly throw away that egg, or we’ll both be finished today!”

As soon as she finished speaking, the ground beneath their feet shook violently again, nearly knocking her over.

The previously clear and cloudless day suddenly turned dark as night. A foul-smelling cold wind whistled, blowing their hair. Chu Sang’s heart seemed to stop for a moment as she saw a beast nearly a hundred meters tall, like a small mountain.

When it appeared, it blotted out the sky, seeming to freeze the very air around them.

Each step it took was like the sky falling and the earth splitting.

“Despicable human cultivators, how dare you sneak in and steal my egg while I was away. Return my child immediately, or I’ll ensure you die a horrible death!”

Good heavens!

It could even speak.

This was a Nascent Soul stage beast. Brother, you’ve stirred up big trouble. This wasn’t just any beast egg, but likely the Beast King’s egg, right??

Chu Sang’s mind could only form two words: It’s over.

—She should have checked her horoscope before going out today, to avoid meeting such a troublemaker.

The ground cracked, and they fell into an abyss. This was her last thought before losing consciousness.