Little Junior Sister, We Can’t Handle This Grind Anymore - Chapter 28

Not far away, someone shouted with a trembling voice, “He… he’s at the Nascent Soul stage! Everyone, move aside! Go get the guard team!”

“How is that possible? Judging by his bone structure, he’s only in his twenties. How could he possibly be at the Nascent Soul stage?”

“Don’t joke around—a Nascent Soul cultivator in their twenties is absolutely impossible!”

“He’s already mingling with demonic cultivators. What isn’t possible? He must have practiced some shady technique to forcibly raise his cultivation to the Nascent Soul level.”

…

Upon hearing the crowd’s words, Su Yanran felt as if thunder had exploded in her ears. Cold sweat drenched her body.

Realizing that Murong Hong could end her life with little more than a nod, she no longer had the mind to dwell on the jade bracelet.

Su Yanran stared warily at Murong Hong and cautiously retreated step by step.

With a swift chop to Feng Qingran’s neck, Murong Hong rendered her unconscious. She slumped into his arms.

He lifted Feng Qingran, and a sword flew from his sleeve, landing beneath his feet. The sword enlarged several times and soared into the air.

Holding Feng Qingran, he stood on the sword, his robes fluttering gracefully, exuding an aura of supreme nobility.

Murong Hong looked down at Su Yanran, his obsidian-like eyes gleaming with an icy chill. “Live well. She will surely come for your life herself.”

“What have I ever done to offend you? Why are you treating me like this?” Su Yanran demanded.

Even if she had dreamed that Feng Qingran’s jade bracelet should have been hers, she hadn’t tried to steal it—she had wanted to buy it with spirit stones.

On the contrary, it was Feng Qingran who had been hostile to her from their very first meeting!

Shouldn’t all of this be Feng Qingran’s fault? Why should she be the one to suffer?

Seeing Su Yanran’s furious expression, Murong Hong’s lips curled into a mocking smile.

Ignorance was no excuse!

The Heavenly Emperor truly had formidable methods!

“Perhaps it’s the sins and debts from your past lives,” Murong Hong said, his voice cold and detached, echoing in Su Yanran’s ears.

As soon as he finished speaking, the clouds above began to shift, dark masses gathering toward him.

The rolling clouds hid terrifying bolts of lightning, lying in wait.

Su Yanran’s face turned pale, her entire body trembling so violently she nearly collapsed. What did he mean by that?

Debts from past lives? Past lives?

Could he possibly remember his previous lives?

How was that possible!

Once one embarked on the path of cultivation, reincarnation was no longer an option.

——————————

People at the city gate pointed at the dark clouds in the sky. “Look! Heavenly Tribulation! He must be a demonic cultivator—even the heavens can’t stand him anymore!”

“Heavenly Dao, please help us eliminate the demonic cultivator!”

“Eliminate the demonic cultivator!”

“Eliminate the demonic cultivator!”

…

The crowd’s shouts grew louder, but Murong Hong paid them no mind. Holding Feng Qingran, he flew toward the horizon.

Su Yanran stared venomously at their retreating figures, her face dark with resentment. She had to find a way to eliminate both of them.

High in the sky.

Murong Hong looked up at the gathering clouds and sneered, “Hah! A mere Veiling Eye thinks it can replace the true Heavenly Dao? Wishful thinking.”

He raised his palm, and a thick purple lightning bolt shot from his hand into the clouds.

Instantly, the sky erupted with flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder as purple and silver bolts intertwined, devouring each other.

Within moments, the silver lightning vanished entirely, and the dark clouds dispersed.

The purple lightning returned to Murong Hong, swelling to the size of a basin.

Yet his devastatingly handsome face showed no surprise. With a flick of his wrist, the purple lightning disappeared.

Murong Hong glanced at the unconscious Feng Qingran, feeling a twinge of guilt.

If he hadn’t interfered and sent her to the black market, she might not have encountered Su Yanran so soon.

No matter.

They would return to the sect first—a place beyond the surveillance of the Veiling Eye.

——————————

Outside Forging City, the guard team arrived just as Murong Hong was leaving.

The captain, Zhou Jiran, did not order pursuit. He could sense that Murong Hong’s cultivation level surpassed his own. Sending his men after him would be tantamount to sending them to their deaths.

The crowd swarmed around the guard team, eagerly recounting what had happened.

“How did you, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, know that person was at the Nascent Soul stage?” Captain Zhou Jiran asked.

The man looked proud. “I am the eldest grandson of the Hu family. My elders gave me a jade pendant to check others’ cultivation levels, fearing I might encounter danger. Captain, you should be at the Golden Core peak stage, so the pendant glows yellowish-brown.”

One of the guards asked curiously, “There are so many people here. How do you know that color only represents the captain?”

“That’s naturally… something I can’t tell you. It’s a secret technique of our Hu family,” the man replied, covering the pendant as he realized he might have been too boastful.

Another guard asked, “Are you certain that person was only in his twenties?”

“I swear by this pendant—he’s no older than twenty-five!” Several people around him nodded in agreement.

They might not be able to discern cultivation levels, but they were certain about age.

Vice-captain Zhang Bing looked incredulous. “Captain, a Nascent Soul cultivator in their twenties? How is that possible?”

Take the most exceptionally talented cultivators as an example:

It takes at least ten years just to guide Qi into the body and break through the twelve levels of Qi Refining.

After that, progressing from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core requires more spiritual energy, and cultivation speed slows down significantly—often taking several decades.

Beyond the Golden Core stage, cultivation becomes increasingly difficult. Each breakthrough brings earth-shaking changes in power, so some people need over a decade to advance just one level.

The vast majority of cultivators never progress beyond the Golden Core stage in their entire lives.