The remaining steamed buns in Ren Yi's arms still wafted with steam, their savory aroma drifting far enough to make the transparent girl's mouth water uncontrollably.
She swallowed hard, held up two fingers, and wagged them suggestively—her longing was plain as day in her eyes.
Ren Yi rolled his eyes, pulled out the brown paper bag, and handed it over in one go. Did he look like someone who'd hog all the food to himself?
The transparent girl bounded forward in delight to grab it, only to brush against Ren Yi's cold, grubby hand instead of the buns. She let out an immediate wail.
"Waaaaah! I can't touch them! Why can't I touch them? I want to eat… Waaaaaah!"
Ren Yi was thrown into a panic. How was he supposed to comfort a crying girl?
He fumbled in a fluster, trying to stuff a bun into her hands. After struggling for ages, the bun nearly slipped onto the ground—but she still couldn't get a hold of it.
Her sobs grew even louder. "Waaaaaah! The buns…"
The little bun thief watched the scene with a creeping sense of unease. Just moments ago, this beggar had seemed perfectly sane and lucid. Now, he was waving buns around at thin air.
Weird. Extremely weird.
The bun shop owner was no fool, though. Ren Yi had traded a silk pouch for those buns—they weren't stolen goods. Now watching Ren Yi's bizarre antics, it was crystal clear the man was simple-minded.
A fool like this—even if you gave him a hundred brains, he still wouldn't have the smarts to steal anything!
"Hey! Don't you dare frame an innocent man, you little thief! Whether you ate it or lost it, cough up the money!"
The shop owner held out his plump hand, demanding payment with unshakable resolve.
Seeing he couldn't weasel his way out of this, the thief's eyes darted, and a plan clicked into place. Without any noticeable movement, he just waved a hand in front of Ren Yi—and the paper bag was suddenly in his grasp.
"Here!"
He unceremoniously pulled out a bun and tossed it over. The shop owner scrambled to catch it, silently thanking his lucky stars that it hadn't landed in the mud.
"Hmph! You little thief—lucky for you, I'll let you off this time. But if you dare steal from me again, I'll break your arms and legs and haul you off to the authorities!"
The shop owner threw down the threat, then turned and left triumphantly with his bun.
The thief took another bun, stuffed it into his mouth, then—showing no greed—tossed the paper bag back to Ren Yi. "Thanks! I'll repay you a hundredfold someday!"
With that, he darted into the crowd like a gust of wind and vanished without a trace.
Ren Yi stared blankly at the buns in his hand. In the blink of an eye, three out of five were gone, and a pang of regret tugged at his heart. The gnawing hunger, coupled with the injuries he'd sustained earlier, made him sway weakly on his feet.
Still, he didn't take a bite right away. Instead, he just stood there watching the crying transparent girl, choosing to stay with her in silence.
After a long while, the girl cried herself out. She wiped her tears and snot, then looked at the silly-looking Ren Yi—and burst out laughing.
"You big dummy, you're actually kind of cute!"
Ren Yi scratched his head awkwardly. This was the first time in his life anyone had called him cute. He felt utterly flustered and embarrassed.
Seeing that she was all right, he made a gesture of farewell and hurried off. He still had a long journey ahead—to visit another sect and continue his quest to become a disciple.
Even though everyone at the Divine Spirit Sect had said he was an Aura-Less Body, destined never to awaken his spiritual sense and become a cultivator.
But he refused to believe it. Just because the Divine Spirit Sect had no way to help him didn't mean other sects would be the same. He wouldn't give up until he'd tried every last one.
The road leading out of the city was strangely empty—not a single soul in sight.
Ren Yi instinctively chalked it up to the bitter cold. He frowned in confusion for a moment, then left Lingbo City under the disdainful stares of the gate guards.
"Arrgh… Damn you! You hurt my disciples—I'll make you pay with your life!"
A familiar voice suddenly rang out from the official road.
Ren Yi looked up—and there stood Chu Hanyang, the top dog of the Divine Spirit Sect who'd crashed into him earlier.
At this moment, Chu Hanyang was covered head to toe in blood. Several Divine Spirit Sect disciples lay sprawled haphazardly on the ground around him, clearly having been ambushed by a formidable opponent.
"Hahaha… So this is the so-called number one sect of Lingyin Continent? Pathetic! You lot dare to hunt down this Daoist Master? You must be tired of living!"
The speaker was a short, stocky Daoist priest with thick eyebrows. He wore a grayish-blue Daoist robe, and at his waist hung an outrageously flashy red silk pouch embroidered with gold thread—an eye-catching eyesore.
"You filthy Daoist! Trash like you isn't even worth my time. I, Chu Hanyang, will be more than enough to take your life!"
Chu Hanyang was no mere pretty face. To earn the title of top dog at the Divine Spirit Sect, his strength was by no means trivial.
He raised his right hand slightly, chanting under his breath as if reciting an incantation. The sword in his hand—without any visible support—suddenly levitated in mid-air. As his fingers twirled, the sword spun along with them at a dizzying speed.
"Sword Control! I didn't expect you'd already reached this level!"
The short, stocky Daoist priest's expression changed instantly. He gripped his thick, black Daoist whip tightly, tensing up for battle.
This young man, barely in his prime, had already attained the rank of Mid-Rank Cultivator—a fact that made the priest sigh inwardly at how formidable the younger generation could be.
Lingyin Continent was a small world lacking in spiritual energy. Here, cultivators mostly focused on body-tempering, a form of external cultivation. True internal cultivation, which drew on spiritual energy like Chu Hanyang did, was extremely rare.
After all, opportunities for ordinary people to obtain heavenly materials and earthly treasures were few and far between. Such scarce resources were all controlled by the continent's powerful overlords. Without connections, no ordinary person could ever hope to get their hands on them.
The fact that Chu Hanyang had been able to cultivate so quickly to his current level meant that the resources backing him surpassed ninety percent of all cultivators on this continent.
A pang of bitterness welled up in the short Daoist priest's heart. He felt an overwhelming urge to fling a handful of sour lemons right at Chu Hanyang's face.
He'd left his sect as a young man to wander the various continents. For over a hundred years, he'd traveled far and wide, all in pursuit of a powerful cultivation technique and rare treasures to strengthen himself.
Yet some people were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, effortlessly given everything he'd spent his entire life chasing.
Heaven was unfair. But at the same time, it was also perfectly fair. Now that their paths had crossed, he had no qualms about throwing a few obstacles in this youngster's path to greatness.
"Come then! Let me see what you youngsters are truly capable of!"
The short Daoist priest struck first, his whip lashing out like a living serpent. Wherever it passed, visible shockwaves rippled through the air, sweeping up the snow from the ground and hurtling it straight at Chu Hanyang's spinning sword.
"Boom… Boom-boom… Boom-boom-boom…"
In the blink of an eye, a flurry of collision sounds erupted, like firecrackers exploding right next to one's ear. Ren Yi, hiding far away, felt a sharp pain in his ears—he lost his hearing for a split second.
Suddenly, a pair of cold, small hands covered his ears. He jumped in shock and spun around—it was the transparent little girl.
This mysterious transparent girl had been following him this whole time. What did she want?
He swatted her hands away in a fluster, looking at her with a silent question in his eyes.
"You big dummy, hurry up and cover your ears! Otherwise, you'll go deaf and mute in no time!"
The transparent girl gestured anxiously at her own ears, hoping Ren Yi would understand.
Ren Yi could tell she was worried about him, and his wariness toward her faded a little.
He poked at his ears—they were still ringing with a dull hum, and he couldn't hear a word the girl was saying. But he could understand her simple gestures.
Hastily following her hint, he tore two strips from the tattered hem of his ragged clothes and stuffed them into his ear canals.
The transparent girl nodded in approval, then pulled him into hiding and whispered urgently, "Don't make a sound later! If they find you, you'll be dead for sure—got it?"
At that moment, Ren Yi was completely absorbed in watching the duel in the distance. Even if his ears weren't blocked, he wouldn't have had the time to respond.
The battle unfolding not far away was absolutely spectacular!
He'd heard countless legends about cultivators—how they could walk on air and traverse land and sea with ease, how sword flight was child's play, how they could stir rivers and overturn seas to show their true power.
What he was seeing now proved every word of those legends true.
His longing to become a cultivator burned even more fiercely in his heart. He clenched his fists tightly, a surge of unyielding determination radiating from him—and washing over the transparent girl beside him.
She looked at him in surprise. "You big dummy, what's wrong with you? What are you getting so worked up about?"