Chapter 18: Generous Benefits, Food and Lodging Included

Ling Qingli wandered aimlessly through the alleys, the jade vial that once held the Purple Mushroom Healing Pill long since traded at the black market.
Surprisingly, the vial itself was valuable. The merchant offered low-grade spirit stones, but Ling Qingli insisted on silver.
The merchant didn’t understand but, respecting her choice, complied. She walked away with a hefty sum, stored in a storage pouch that looked like a small coin purse from the outside—a gift for a loyal customer.

“Baihe City’s done for. I need to leave.”
Ling Qingli was resolute, the storage pouch giving her confidence. But this was her lifelong home; in her dozen years, she’d barely left its walls.
The thought of leaving her familiar world filled her with reluctance and confusion.

“Where should I go? Maybe… try cultivating?”
The idea sprouted and quickly took root in her heart.
“Yes, cultivation. I’ll show her I can survive without her!”

The image of that white-robed woman’s indifference fueled her determination.
Looking up, she saw that after the hateful man’s intervention, the two warring factions had paused, giving the crumbling Baihe City a moment to breathe.
“Why’d they stop?”

Unsure of what happened above, she knew one thing: leaving now was the right move.
Guided by memory, she used the alleys’ cover to hurry toward the city gate.
Gradually, the empty lanes filled with others moving parallel, carrying bundles of varying sizes, clearly sharing her intent.

The sudden encounter made them wary, but no one spoke up, though small groups were forming fast.
“Recruiting laborers! Sect’s hiring laborers! Any child under sixteen, regardless of talent, can apply. Selected families get fifty taels of silver!”

The shout halted the entire group. The words “sect” and “silver” were like magic.
A starving, skeletal beggar stumbled forward, barely ten, his eyes glued to steaming buns on a table.
“Is… is it true? No matter the talent, you join and get silver? This, all of this, is real?!”

The recruiter, clad in a sharp spiritual robe, smiled warmly, handing over a bun:
“Of course it’s true. You’re hungry, right? Eat a bun to fill your stomach.”

The beggar didn’t care if it was safe, snatching the bun and devouring it.
“There’s more than buns here. There’s silver too.”
The man stepped aside, revealing a dazzling pile of silver.

The gleaming mound stopped the group in their tracks.
“Immortal, if you’re recruiting, why not do it on the main street instead of this narrow alley?”
An old man stepped forward, eyes locked on the silver, his tone respectful.

“Because this is the only way to draw in expendables like you.”
“What?!”
Boom—

A red light erupted from the ground. Ling Qingli’s instincts screamed danger, but trapped in the crowd, she couldn’t move.
As the red light swept over, a wave of drowsiness hit like a tide…

“…”

Ling Qingli curled up in a cold corner, the air thick with blood and an indescribable rot.
Her hands and feet were bound with rough hemp rope, and she was tossed into a dim hall. She recognized it—the former city lord’s mansion.
Dark red array patterns, drawn in an unknown liquid, pulsed with a chilling glow.

At the array’s center, a richly dressed girl was pinned down, her face pale, eyes vacant—the city lord’s daughter.
Beside her, a gaunt old man muttered incantations, his hands weaving spells.
“We lost a puppet, but here, we’ve found new treasure… willingly offered… with blood kin as the catalyst, the puppet is complete… heh heh heh…”

Unnoticed by the old man, a girl was surveying her surroundings, the ropes binding her slowly slipping off as his eerie laughter echoed.
The city lord stood nearby, eyes bloodshot, face streaked with desperate tears. His body was restrained, unable to even end his life, forced to watch his daughter’s life force merge with the array, her eyes’ light fading to deathly stillness.

“Blood Soul Sect elder! Aren’t you afraid of the Great Han’s retribution?!”
The city lord roared. The old man glanced over, his eyes dripping with mockery.
“Great Han? Hah, a joke, just bones in Shu. Rest assured, I’ll refine your daughter into the perfect puppet! Oh, almost forgot—your wife was quite pleasing. I enjoyed her, and my disciples did too.”

“You! You beast!”
The city lord’s eyes bulged, a strange “willing sacrifice” aura forcibly extracted from their despair by the array.

Ling Qingli’s stomach churned.
She saw a dozen other children her age around her, all gaunt and numb, including the boy who’d grabbed the bun.
One by one, they were dragged to the array’s edge. When the array dimmed, they were pushed in.

Brief, piercing screams cut off abruptly.
As soon as the children touched the dark red patterns, their bodies melted, their flesh absorbed by the array, flowing into the city lord’s daughter at the center.
No wonder they wanted kids under sixteen…

Ling Qingli’s heart pounded. She was next.
At this life-or-death moment, her racing heart signaled danger, yet her mind was strangely calm.
As a black hand reached to drag her into the life-devouring array—

Buzz—
An invisible barrier shattered before her eyes.
Not a real sound, but a shift deep in her pupils, splitting into two, black turning purple.

Her vision transformed, the world taking on a new form.
The complex array became clear, flowing energy lines with fragile nodes.
She could see the guards’ spiritual energy paths and even predict their next moves.

“Huh?”
The disciple about to toss her into the array let out a startled cry. His grip slipped, and the frail girl darted several meters away, leaving only strands of rope behind.
“Stop her!”

The Blood Soul Sect elder at the array’s center snapped his eyes open, gleaming with ecstatic surprise.
He’d only planned to refine quality expendables and a special “puppet,” but never imagined a treasure like this among the “materials.”
Double pupils! The legendary double pupils!

If he could capture her, refine her into himself, or craft her into a top-tier soul puppet…
The Great Dao was within reach!
Abandoning the array, he lunged at the fleeing figure, cloaked in a torrent of bloodthirsty aura.

Ling Qingli’s scalp tingled, the terrifying pressure nearly suffocating her.
She didn’t dare look back, pouring every ounce of her restored strength into her legs.
The elder’s sinister laughter closed in:
“Little treasure, don’t run… Come to me, and I’ll grant you supreme fortune!”

A sharp blood-red claw wind grazed her back, shattering a wall ahead into dust.
Flying debris cut her cheeks and arms, burning with pain.
Seizing the chance, she fled the mansion, sprinting onto the main street.

The elder pursued relentlessly, about to overtake her…
Suddenly, at an empty tea stall, she glimpsed a white figure…