After lunch, Ye Fan leisurely strolled towards Jingming Lake with his fishing gear.
It was a perfect day with a gentle breeze and clear skies, ideal for fishing.
As Ye Fan passed by, disciples in the sect cast curious glances at him.
They harbored a lot of unspoken grievances regarding the Sect Master's personal disciple.
Two months prior, the Sect Master had brought this young man back and announced he was taking him as a personal disciple.
The entire sect was in an uproar.
It was well known that the Sect Master, True Master Ziyun, rarely accepted disciples, and her only three personal disciples were all female.
Now, she was accepting a twenty-something year old with no cultivation as a personal disciple, and he was a man?
However, after the Sect Master declared Ye Fan to possess the Innate Dao Body, everyone fell silent.
The Innate Dao Body, a physique long extinct, was rumored to be a bug created specifically for cultivation.
Initially, people had no objections to Ye Fan occupying Immortal Jade Peak, one of the ten spirit peaks, with his Innate Dao Body. But later, they discovered that Ye Fan had not cultivated even once in the two months since he joined the sect!
This made people extremely unbalanced!
No matter how monstrous your physique, it was useless if you didn't cultivate, right?
We don't care if you waste your talent, but it's unfair to occupy Immortal Jade Peak if you don't cultivate!
...
With a sense of resentment, the disciples watched Ye Fan leave and then returned to their tasks.
"Something big has happened!" Just then, a disciple rushed over in a panic. "The people from Wenxiang Sect are attacking!"
Ziyun Sect, Main Gate Square.
"What do you think this place is, that you can just barge in whenever you please?" Ziyan held her sword, confronting the people from Wenxiang Sect.
"Our spirit beast just ran into your sect, we are merely retrieving our spirit beast, not searching," an elder from Wenxiang Sect stepped forward and said.
"This matter can be discussed after my master emerges from seclusion," Ziyan said without retreating, "Until then, you shall not step foot into Ziyun Sect!"
The people from Wenxiang Sect became anxious.
They had accidentally discovered a descendant of the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox earlier, and in their pursuit, they had ended up at Ziyun Sect.
The Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox was a mythical treasure, and it was self-evident how beneficial it would be for a cultivator to possess one.
If they waited for True Master Ziyun to emerge from seclusion, the descendant of the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox might have already been captured by the Ziyun Sect members.
Once such a treasure fell into someone else's hands, it would never be relinquished!
The elder from Wenxiang Sect gritted his teeth and said, "Attack!"
The two sides quickly engaged in a fierce battle.
Although the Wenxiang Sect had fewer people, they were all high-end fighters, including elders and core disciples.
The elders of the Ziyun Sect were still on their way, so they were at a disadvantage due to the timing.
However, what no one noticed was that a figure, taking advantage of the chaos, was quietly slipping into the interior of the Ziyun Sect…
As time passed, only Ziyan was struggling to hold on for the Ziyun Sect.
Her condition was extremely poor.
The cultivation technique she practiced was very special, based on refining the demonic energy of monster beasts.
An accident six months ago had caused problems with the demonic energy within her body.
Her condition had already been precarious recently, and now, forcibly activating her cultivation technique had led to an even more severe backlash.
"The Wenxiang Sect is getting bolder and bolder. Do they think our Ziyun Sect has no one?" Just as Ziyan was about to be defeated, several powerful auras rapidly flew towards them.
"Master," Ziyan weakly called out, and then fainted to the ground.
Jingming Lake.
Ye Fan sat by the lake, leisurely fishing.
The bucket beside him was empty, clearly indicating no catch.
However, Ye Fan was here to enjoy the process, so the outcome was unimportant.
[Detected a comatose superior spirit beast, a descendant of the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox, nearby. Highly recommend host to capture it!]
Ye Fan shifted into a more comfortable sitting position, unmoved.
[The Pet Contract Pill has been issued. Host only needs to feed it to the comatose Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox to form a contract.]
As soon as the system finished speaking, a round pill appeared at Ye Fan's feet.
"Finally, a catch!" Ye Fan happily reeled in his fishing rod, pulling out a large fish about a foot long.
[...]
[System assisting host to complete pet contract… Congratulations… Host has obtained a superior spirit pet… a Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox.]
[System crash, rebooting…]
Ye Fan contentedly placed the fish in the bucket and cast his line again.
Just then, a figure crept up behind Ye Fan.
Approaching stealthily, he raised his right hand.
Da Shi was very excited.
Relying on his unique talent, he had sensed that the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox was hiding in the woods by the lake.
As long as he eliminated this troublesome guy, he could escape with the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox!
[Warning! Warning! Host is about to suffer a devastating blow! Please evacuate immediately!]
A blue spell attack flew from Da Shi's right hand, shooting directly towards the back of Ye Fan's head.
Ye Fan ignored it.
[Warning! Warning! Host is about to… Congratulations to the host for obtaining a perfect-grade, hundredfold damage reflection, once!]
Seeing his spell accurately hit the back of Ye Fan's head, Da Shi immediately prepared to turn and capture the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox.
In his eyes, the opponent had no cultivation whatsoever, and this attack was more than enough to kill him countless times over.
But the next moment, he was horrified to discover that his spell had reflected back, and the aura it carried was countless times stronger than before!
Then.
There was no then…
Ye Fan remained seated, completely ignoring the 'plop' sound behind him.
"Beep beep beep." Just then, Ye Fan's communication jade lit up.
The message was from his master, with only one sentence.
"Something's happened, come quickly!"
Ye Fan quickly got up, not even bothering to collect his fishing gear.
As he passed by Da Shi's corpse, Ye Fan didn't even glance at it.
He wasn't stupid or deaf; he had naturally heard the commotion just now.
But what could be done about it?
This was clearly a trap set by that dog system!
The dog system first arranged for someone to sneak attack him, then intervened at the critical moment to help him solve it, thereby inducing him to become its slave, and finally, like in the previous 99 lives, he would end up with a tragic death!
This pattern?
Who did it think it was looking down on?
Pah!
…
Half an hour later, Ye Fan arrived at his master's residence.
At this moment, True Master Ziyun was holding Ziyan's hand and sitting by the bedside.
"Your third senior sister is on the verge of death…" True Master Ziyun said sadly as Ye Fan entered. "You… take a look at her…"
Ye Fan walked closer and looked at the bed. He saw his third senior sister, Ziyan, lying there with her eyes closed.
Her face was as pale as paper, looking terrifyingly white, and her expression was one of extreme agony.
"Master, Senior Sister Ziyan, she…?" Ye Fan asked, confused.