Whoever stood in her way, she would kill.
This was the only principle Li Li had lived by across two lifetimes. In her previous life, no one in her family dared to provoke her—their designated heir—simply because she was a psychopath with an extremely unstable temperament. Furthermore, her innate high intelligence allowed her to execute the perfect crime with ease.
Li Li shoved Yousong to the ground. Her slender silhouette flickered in and out of the dappled light cast by the trees. She stepped over the struggling Yousong, leaving a trail of bloody footprints as she walked toward the other disciples. Due to the influence of the foul qi, these young disciples from the Law Enforcement Hall were unable to muster even a quarter of their cultivation. Seeing such a gruesome scene, their first instinct was, surprisingly, to return to the sect to summon reinforcements.
"Lü Ning, stop them."
A tinkling sound rang out, bringing a splash of color to the gloom. Several immobilization talismans shot forward, freezing the six disciples in place.
Lü Ning crouched on the ground, eyeing the weapon in Li Li's hand with curious fascination. "Sister, what kind of magic artifact is this? It’s so aggressive."
Li Li retracted the gun into her Card Drawing Space. As she rummaged through Yousong’s belongings for spiritual items, she explained nonchalantly, "It’s not a magic artifact. It’s a type of thermal weapon created by the mortals of this world."
She had only learned this two years after transmigrating: the setting of this world, found within a book, differed significantly from ordinary cultivation realms. Here, the world was divided into three realms: the Human Realm, the Qintian Realm, and the White Bone Tomb.
The Human Realm, as the name implied, was the territory of mortals who lacked a Spiritual Root and had no hope of pursuing the path of immortality. The White Bone Tomb was a no-man's-land infested with foul qi; any mortal or cultivator who entered was certain to die.
The Qintian Realm consisted of three major sects, five pavilions, and eighteen cities, along with countless smaller sects and cultivation families. The Dichen Sect, where Li Li resided, was the greatest sect in the world. What surprised Li Li most was the Human Realm. While cultivators evolved and ascended through the currents of time, mortals had not stood still. Not only did they constantly wage wars to seize territory, but they also had to defend themselves against the contempt and oppression of the powerful. Lessons learned in blood and tears had driven this resilient race into the machine age. Sophisticated and powerful weapons supported the Human Realm as one of the three pillars of the world.
Li Li had merely provided a mechanical engineer with the disassembly drawings of a gun from her memory, and the clever humans had grasped the principles and manufactured the weapon themselves. Arrogant and self-important cultivators had always looked down on mortals, disdaining to learn about the current progress of the Human Race.
Li Li patted Yousong’s face. "So, Senior Brother, you lost to your own arrogance. Your Dao heart is unstable; you need to start over from scratch." She paused, then added, "Oh, I almost forgot. A thing like you can barely be called human anymore, so naturally, you have no Dao heart to speak of."
Yousong glared at Li Li with bitter hatred from the ground. Upon hearing her words, he began to twitch violently, his eyes shifting freakishly from the front of his face to the back of his head, staring unblinkingly at the Law Enforcement Hall disciples who had overheard the secret.
Having achieved her goal, Li Li stood up and looked toward the distance. Bugui Chen and the elders would surely come to investigate once they saw Yousong’s soul lamp dim.
"Lü Ning, let's go."
Lü Ning nodded and pulled a stack of teleportation talismans from her bosom. The sound of whistling wind rose in their ears. As long as they remained within the range of the Dichen Sect ancestors' Divine Sense, they would never be truly safe. Just a second before crossing the border of the Dichen Sect, Li Li used her remaining sliver of spiritual power to transmit a secret message to the ancestors in seclusion.
Lü Ning had used almost all of her teleportation, invisibility, and tracking-disruption talismans. She bit her lip nervously as they stopped. "Sister, have we escaped? I don't feel any Divine Sense tracking us."
The wounds from the lightning punishment still marred Li Li, and tiny beads of blood seeped from various parts of her body with every movement. Hearing Lü Ning’s question, she smiled, her eyes crinkling with pleasure.
"Because they don't have the time," Li Li blinked happily. "Right now, they should be watching Yousong as he murders his fellow disciples."
She lacked the cultivation to kill Yousong herself, but causing trouble for him was easy enough. Hearing this, Lü Ning let out a sigh of relief and began rummaging through her mustard-seed space to find good items for Li Li. Before Li Li reached the Foundation Establishment stage, the cards she summoned could only stay in this realm for a quarter of an hour. For every level she advanced, she would earn one card-drawing opportunity.
The quarter-hour was up; Lü Ning’s body was gradually turning transparent. "I was only summoned here as a fragment of Divine Sense. Until you reach Foundation Establishment, I can only wait for you in the Card Pool. Sister, take these talismans."
"You are severely injured, so you must be careful. It is a pity that there are no talismans in this world to repair a damaged spiritual foundation."
Amidst her chattering, Li Li stroked her furry head, her voice soothing. "It's fine. Just wait for me in the Card Pool; we will see each other again soon."
Lü Ning smiled, revealing her small fangs, and then vanished.
Li Li organized all the talismans into her Card Drawing Space and changed into a clean set of clothes. She couldn't help but sigh; it had been a long time since she had met someone so full of life. It felt as though her decaying soul had warmed up a little.
She was standing at the intersection of the two realms. Looking north, she could see the blurry silhouettes of human architecture. The Fifteenth Peak was already at the edge of the Dichen Sect, acting as the border between the Human Realm and the Qintian Realm. Too many people in the Qintian Realm knew Li Li’s face, and she currently lacked the ability to change her appearance or aura. Therefore, she decided to head to a place where humans and cultivators coexisted, the most chaotic and diverse place of all—Xietan.
For the rest of the journey, Li Li did not use any more talismans. Her spiritual meridians were damaged, and with no spiritual pills to heal them, the prospect of leveling up was distant. She had to keep some cards up her sleeve.
The further north she traveled, the louder the unfamiliar roaring sounds became—the clanking noise of heavy gears grinding and turning. As the distance closed, the previously blurry outlines of buildings became clear. Since transmigrating, Li Li had only heard rumors of the Human Realm; she had never set foot in it.
She stared in shock at the behemoths ahead. A massive, ancient mechanical structure stood at the very center of the city. Under the sunlight, it shimmered with the cold luster of metal. It was a long-standing clock tower, its clock face driven by hundreds of brass gears, with thick, white steam threading through them. Every building bowed beneath it, and every inch of space on the streets was filled with the whispers of machinery and steam.
The spine of the city consisted of exposed steam pipes, coiled like giant snakes around the brick-red exterior walls of the buildings. These pipes would emit a low rumble every half hour, followed by puffs of white steam that shrouded the streets. A profound sense of history rushed toward Li Li.
Just as she stood there, stunned, a small airship pulled up in front of her. The precision-designed craft was composed of tens of thousands of parts, large and small, dizzying to behold. Its rear propeller was driven by a steam engine, and its chimney puffed coal smoke into the air.
"Miss, are you looking to head into the city? This is the last line for today. If you miss this, you'll have to take the land transport."