Faced with the fiery woman's questioning, Ren Yi had no way to respond. He was nothing but a stinking homeless beggar wandering the streets.
Rather than being looked down on, he chose to play deaf and dumb, putting on an unshakable demeanor—at the very least, he couldn't lose in momentum.
The fiery woman couldn't figure out his true strength and didn't dare to attack. She could only glare fiercely at the archer beside her and shout angrily: "Are you blind? How dare you act recklessly in front of an elder!"
"I..."
The archer was choked by her words, trembling with anger. If he weren't certain he couldn't defeat her, he would have shot an arrow through her heart on the spot.
"What 'I'? Hurry up and apologize to the elder, then get lost quickly!"
"I..." The archer took several deep breaths before gritting his teeth and saying: "I'll apologize then!"
He was quite polite. With a sincere expression, he stepped forward to bow: "Elder, this junior was just hunting a monster and inadvertently offended you. Please be magnanimous and forgive my offense."
"Uh... I won't make things difficult for you. Be on your way!" Ren Yi put on a stiff air to chase them away.
Fortunately, his face was covered in dirt and his hair was messy, so no one noticed his unease.
The two Five Spirits Sect disciples had appeared suddenly and left just as quickly, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Ren Yi let out a soft sigh of relief: "Phew... That was close! I almost got hunted down!"
"Fundamentally, you're just not good enough. A small fry like that scared you out of your wits! Hehe..." Lan Ling covered her mouth, snickering with obvious schadenfreude.
"Uh... I want to become stronger too. C-can you teach me? I can kowtow to you as my master!"
Ren Yi made to kneel down to perform the master-apprentice ceremony, but Lan Ling stopped him: "Hey! What are you doing? I can't afford to accept a loser like you as my disciple!"
"I..." Being called a loser again, Ren Yi's heart ached as if cut by a knife. He muttered dejectedly: "Sorry, I overreached!"
He picked up Ren Xiong and strode through the forest in silence, never mentioning the idea of becoming her disciple again.
Once he passed this place, he would reach the next city—Purple Gold City.
He had heard that it was the best place for physical cultivators, where one could learn real external martial arts. After graduating from the sect, the occupations available were all profitable. However, there was an age restriction for entry—one must be an adult over 18 years old. That was why he had wandered for so many years and only set out now.
He was almost 18. Every day, he counted down the days eagerly. He yearned for adulthood, for strength, for power.
He was not afraid of hardship. Since being driven out by his family, he had already endured the greatest sufferings in the world—what else couldn't he bear?
Because of the competition for the Purple Gold Token, this journey was destined to be turbulent. Ren Yi had lost count of how many monster carcasses he had seen—all skinned and dismembered, lying in bloody heaps, extremely disgusting.
Having eaten raw meat before, Ren Yi could barely tolerate it. Surprisingly, Lan Ling, who claimed to have lived for ten thousand years, vomited many times along the way, cursing the culprit fiercely each time:
"Damn it! If I find out who did this, I'll skin them alive and tear them to pieces. Ugh~~~"
"Inhumane, heartless! Ugh~~~"
"Bastard, beast! Ugh~~~"
...
"Could you just not look at it!"
Lan Ling chattered like a sparrow. Annoyed beyond endurance, Ren Yi couldn't help retorting.
She clearly couldn't stand it, yet she insisted on staring at the bloody remains—wasn't she asking for trouble?
Enduring her discomfort, Lan Ling stood up and flicked his forehead: "Hmph! What do you think I'm looking at? I'm trying to find food for you! Some of these monsters are edible and good for your health, strengthening your body. Others are poisonous, like the one you ate last night. If you hadn't met me, you'd be long dead!"
If this stinking man died because of a meal, she would be so angry she'd spit blood. The two of them were now a community of interests, tightly bound together—she didn't want to die with him.
Along the way, besides monster carcasses, there were also many cultivator corpses, all robbed clean and left naked in the snow. It truly fulfilled the saying: "You come into the world with nothing, and you leave with nothing." They had arrived naked and departed the same way.
Feeling a twinge of compassion, Ren Yi took out his dagger and began digging a hole, planning to bury the bodies properly.
Lan Ling sat bored on a tree branch, swinging her legs and making sarcastic remarks: "Who are you to them? Who will thank you for this? I think you have too much free time on your hands."
"I'll thank myself."
Ren Yi waved his arms relentlessly. It was freezing cold, and after all this hard work, sweat broke out on his forehead.
Just as he was getting into it, a panicked rabbit darted out of nowhere, running blindly before tragically falling into the hole he was digging.
In his panic, Ren Yi stabbed down with his dagger, almost piercing the rabbit through the heart.
"Whoa! So the story of 'waiting by the stump for a hare' actually happens! Hahaha... I'm dying of laughter!"
"Truly, fools have fool's luck!"
Lan Ling laughed uncontrollably on the tree branch, almost falling off.
"Poor rabbit. Lucky for you, I'm full. Hurry home—outside is dangerous!"
Ren Yi rolled his eyes at her, stroked the rabbit's warm fur, lifted it out of the hole, and then continued his work.
The rabbit looked back in confusion before hopping away as fast as it could.
Lan Ling tilted her head, confused: "Are you being stupid again? You're pushing away a ready-made meal. Aren't you afraid you'll starve if you don't find food next time?"
"If there's no food, there's no food. Even if I starve to death, I won't eat rabbits."
Ren Yi looked affectionately at the fleeing rabbit, his eyes filled with an indescribable warm glow—as if he were looking at a person, not a rabbit.
"Why? Isn't rabbit meat delicious?"
Lan Ling's curiosity was fully aroused.
A beggar who was always hungry was telling her he wouldn't eat rabbit meat—it was ridiculous. When his life was almost over, what was he holding on to?
"No matter how delicious it is—even if it tastes like dragon meat—I won't eat it. There's no reason!" Ren Yi evaded the question, not saying anything more.
"Hmph! I think you've eaten too much and gone stupid. I never should have let you roast that monster meat earlier."
Lan Ling felt excluded and grew a little uncomfortable.
Ren Yi ignored her, working diligently for a long time before suddenly looking up: "Huh? Wait, where's my dog?"
It had been lying by the hole the whole time, but now it was gone.
"You mean that little mangy dog named 'Brother Ren'? So what if it's gone—it's no big deal." Lan Ling said indifferently.
"It's not 'Brother Ren'! Its name is Ren Xiong—same surname as me! Don't get it wrong!"
Ren Yi nimbly jumped out of the hole and chased after the rabbit's footprints.
Lan Ling followed slowly behind him, strolling leisurely: "Ha! You and the dog are family. As the old saying goes, 'Birds of a feather flock together.' You're really something—choosing to be related to a dog instead of acting like a proper human. I'm dying of laughter! Hahaha..."
Ren Yi's face darkened: "Uh... Girls should laugh without showing their teeth. If you keep acting like this, who will want you in the future!"
"Ha! I already have my master. As for... losers like you—I wouldn't look twice!"
Ren Yi ignored Lan Ling. He vaguely heard Ren Xiong's barking, which sounded quite fierce, but he wasn't sure where it was coming from.
"Sigh... How depressing. Your 'Brother Ren' is on your left, behind the rock one zhang away." Lan Ling reluctantly pointed it out.
If she didn't tell him, she'd have to wander aimlessly behind him—how tiring that would be!