The Emperor's Domineering Favor, the Evil Consort's Unparalleled Reign

Early the next morning after the auction, Ying Li got up, went downstairs to eat and pay the bill, and left Linshui City with the two newly acquired Spirit Gathering Grasses.

Last night was filled with commotion because of the news that the young lady in brocade from the Linshui First Pawnshop had been assassinated. The streets and alleys were filled with assassins hired by the pawnshop overnight to hunt down Yi Bicheng.

Most people only reach the spiritual cultivation stage before they die, but Jin Yi, a young genius who had already reached the seventh level of divine cultivation, will inevitably cause panic throughout the entire Linshui city-state with her demise. Coupled with the potentially powerful family behind her, it seems these people won't stop their pursuit until they find Yi Bicheng's body.

Because she possessed two Spirit Gathering Grasses, Ying Li dared not refine them directly in the inn amidst the chaos of the city-state. As an outsider, it was best to leave this place quickly before the pawnshop staff questioned her, lest she cause unnecessary trouble.

Everything went smoothly. Ying Li checked out of the house, shouldered her bundle, and left the city, arriving at a nearby hill. She had heard that this was a desolate mountain, teeming with birds and beasts, especially ferocious beasts, and that ordinary people rarely came here. After refining one of the Spirit Gathering Grasses, she would find some other medicinal herbs for making pills and put them into the furnace to make a tonic for her grandfather. Considering that it would take a while to gather all the herbs, and that her grandfather was being looked after by her third uncle, she decided to give him the purest pills she could refine next month when he entered the official registration office.

Ying Li closed her eyes to sense her surroundings. Because she had absorbed the spiritual energy from the Devouring Spirit Python's inner core, her perception was now significantly enhanced. She would never again experience the situation she had encountered while posing as a spiritual cultivator on the mountain. Ying Li glanced at the withered bone ring, and seeing that the alluring man was relatively well-behaved, she plunged into the deep mountains, found an uninhabited cave, constructed a barrier with her spiritual energy, and then focused on her cultivation.

For a full five hours, Ying Li finally felt the sensation of breaking through to the fifth stage of Soul Cultivation. She opened her eyes, looked at the somewhat dim sky outside, and examined her hands carefully. There were specks of blue spiritual energy shining on them. With a forceful pull, a gust of wind blew around her.

Sure enough, they broke through.

Ying Li was overjoyed. There were still more than twenty days before the Bixia Palace opened its registration hall. If she could break through one more level, she would have a 10% chance of winning.

"Not bad. To break through to the fifth stage of Soul Cultivation in such a short time, there are probably only a handful of people in the entire Spirit Realm Continent." The alluring man appeared at the right time, and his expression warmed as he looked at the spiritual energy surrounding Ying Li.

“But Dongfang Lin is no ordinary person. His soul cultivation is top-notch. If we want to fight head-on, following the rules like this is not the way to go. We should go to Bixia Palace to lay a solid foundation. Now, if we want to fight, we must win!” The bewitching man’s expression was solemn. A few streaks of blood appeared on the crescent-shaped scar on his forehead, but disappeared in an instant.

Ying Li rubbed his eyes, the bloodshot color disappearing as if it had never appeared. Could he have seen wrong? Anyway, these masters have too many martial arts techniques, even if some are special.

Thinking of this, Ying Li said, "Is there any way to achieve immediate results? Dongfang Lin is the eldest son of the Dongfang family, and his cultivation techniques must be superior to mine. It is unlikely that we can defeat him by surprise."

The alluring man stared into Ying Li's clear and bright eyes, then opened his hand. A flash of blue light appeared, and an ancient mahogany box materialized in front of Ying Li. "This is Deep Eyes. If you master this technique, you can defeat not only Dongfang Lin, but even spiritual cultivation experts."

Deep Eyes—she seemed to recognize the name. It appeared to come from a forbidden book her grandfather had shown her when she was young. But she was too young then, and the techniques in that forbidden book were practically unusable, so her grandfather hadn't paid much attention. He had only given Ying Li a brief explanation to lay a theoretical foundation, and then stopped discussing it further. Now, hearing the words "Deep Eyes" again, Ying Li suddenly felt as if she had been transported to another world.

A few wisps of cold air emanated from the mahogany box, its surface emitting a faint reddish glow, as if deliberately drawing Ying Li to take it. However, a more pronounced smell of blood appeared at the opportune moment. Ying Li stared at the mahogany box, her brows furrowed. After a long while, she slowly took the box and used her index finger to pry open the gilded lock on it. However, she only opened a small crack before a fiery red light shot towards her eyes!

"Ugh!"

Before Ying Li could dodge, the fiery red light suddenly slammed into her eye sockets, and the impact knocked the woman down. Ying Li fell heavily to the ground, her bones hitting the ground with strange sounds. She trembled and knelt up, but the next moment she could no longer move!

In an instant, her eye sockets burned with a searing pain. Ying Li slumped to the ground, the mahogany box thrown aside. She reached out her hands to cover her eyes, but before her fingers could even touch her forehead, a sharp pain shot through her fingertips, and her hands were jolted back.

"What's going on?!" Ying Li trembled all over, her voice hoarse.

The alluring man stood before Ying Li, observing his pained expression, and calmly said, "Deep Eyes grants you absolute eye power, allowing you to control the flow of your opponent's spiritual energy and physical strength. If you wish to kill someone, all you need is your eye power; in the blink of an eye, they will be reduced to blood and gore! However, this eye power is exceptionally fierce. It doesn't rely on internal spiritual energy for cultivation; instead, it utilizes the energy of heaven and earth through the Deep Eyes to kill enemies. During cultivation, the cultivator must endure an equal amount of pain. Although there are other methods of spiritual cultivation, with the competition imminent, hunting spirit beasts, seizing inner cores, and refining spirit herbs are all time-consuming and laborious. Only Deep Eyes can be mastered in just seven days. If you fail, you too will only have seven days to live!"

The alluring man's expression was solemn. To become strong, one must endure pain far beyond what ordinary people can bear. Ying Li's life was destined to be unstable; she was the owner of the Bone Ring, a born warrior, destined to live a life of loneliness and despair. If she did not become strong, she would ultimately be trampled into bloody mud by others, never to rise again!

It has to be this way!

It has to be this way!

"If the pain is unbearable, take some calming pills." Although the alluring man hoped that Ying Li would become stronger, he knew the hardship and pain of the process. So, his heart softened and he took out the calming pills he had prepared over the past few days and handed them to Ying Li.

The woman did not accept it. Instead, the pain on her face gradually faded. She sat cross-legged, calmed her mind, and circulated her spiritual energy to alleviate her pain. She used her inner eye to see the Deep Pupil Technique attached to her pupils.

As darkness fell, cold sweat beaded on Ying Li's face. Her pain lessened slightly, but the next moment, she gasped for breath. Her lips were bitten so hard they bled, large drops of blood falling onto her light blue skirt. Her brow furrowed, she threatened to faint in agony, her spiritual energy surged, and her meridians seemed to reverse…

She didn't know how much time had passed before she finally opened her eyes.

Her expression grew increasingly cold and desolate, her beautiful eyes flashing with a chilling, sharp light. Looking at her, Ying Li was dressed in tattered clothes; her once intact garments were now torn to shreds from days of agonizing training, and her entire body was covered in bruises and welts, a truly gruesome sight.

Seven days have passed, and the eye power has been successfully cultivated.

"Let me go, let me go! You lecherous thief, let me go!" A weak voice rang out from outside the cave. Ying Li's expression changed, and he looked towards the cave entrance.

"You little slut, what are you hiding for? Now that you're in these deep mountains, don't even think about going back! Serve us four brothers well, and after we've had our fun, we might spare your life!" the man sneered in a hoarse voice, his eyes constantly darting between a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl. "Trying to run?! Hmph, not so easy!"

They went up the mountain to hunt wild animals for a few coins to make a living, but they happened to encounter a young girl gathering herbs alone. They were consumed by lust and wanted to have their way with her. With the deed in hand, how could they not take advantage of this desolate wilderness, this lonely thicket? Thus, they became even more unrestrained, groping her indiscriminately.

"Get out! Get out! Let me go! My brother is right behind me, you... get out of here right now, my brother's coming soon and he'll teach you a lesson! Get out!" The little girl trembled all over, terrified, her legs kicking and flailing wildly. She had only intended to gather some herbs on the mountainside, but she hadn't expected to encounter these people so soon after reaching the mountainside; it was too late to escape...

"Hey, this little bitch can brag! Brothers, tie her up and let her brother watch how she enjoys this wonderful time!" The man stared at the little girl with a wicked look, his fingers tugging at her clothes hatefully, his eyes sharp as if he were dissecting her.

The little girl kept backing away, but the remaining three suddenly lunged at her. "Ah!" In the chaos, the pebbles tripped her, and she fell heavily to the ground, her bones creaking. The girl's face contorted in pain, her arms and legs tightly bound by the four men, unable to move an inch! "You...you! Let go! You bastards, let go!"

The hemp clothing she was wearing was already flimsy, and now, with the four men tearing at it slightly, the pieces of hemp clothing fluttered down. The girl lay on the ground, twisting and turning, her fair collarbone exposed beneath the torn clothes, her chest bobbing up and down. The wicked man's heart stirred, and he stuck out his tongue, leaning down to bite her tender skin, leaving a circle of red marks.

"what!"

The girl cried hysterically, feeling both disgust and fear. She hardened her heart, her face hardened, and her teeth were tightly clenched. If they dared to move again, she would rather die than suffer this humiliation!

She used all her strength to bite her tongue, but before her teeth could even touch the tip, the four men on top of her suddenly stiffened and collapsed to the ground, unable to move. The whole process took no more than three seconds. The four men, who had been so rough and unrestrained just moments before, were now lying on her like boneless flesh, completely still.

The girl frantically pushed the four men away. Looking again, she saw they were all dead, their faces ashen, blood streaming from their orifices. A deep fear gripped her as she looked around the desolate mountain. Unexpectedly, as she turned, she saw a similarly ragged woman at the entrance of a cave. Her eyes were fiery red, bloodshot and filled with a resolute and murderous intent. Her face showed no hesitation or weakness.

"Who are you?" the girl asked in surprise, but when she looked again in the blink of an eye, there was nothing at the entrance of the cave, and the woman had vanished without a trace.

The moonlight was bright, but the cold wind was biting...