From Tail Creek.

A scholarly youth dressed in green stood amidst the misty rain outside the gate. This was a tiny sliver of Chen Xia's soul, no more than a ten thousandth part. As such, his cultivation level wasn't too high, only at the mid Gold Core realm.

The little paradise already had cultivators who had crossed the Yuanying threshold, and there were many Gold Cores too. Chen Xia's sliver of soul wasn't considered too strong among Gold Cores.

But no matter, if he couldn't beat someone he could always summon more power. And there shouldn't be anyone in this little paradise that he couldn't beat.

The combination of true dragon energy and insights into the Wheel of Reincarnation should allow him to prevail even against cultivators at the Yuanying realm.

This was normal. If he couldn't transcend realms and kill enemies even in a little paradise, his centuries of cultivation in the Sea of Swords and Sky would have been wasted.

Even if you brought a big yellow dog here, it could transcend realms and kill enemies in this little paradise!

He couldn't possibly be inferior to a dog, could he?

Chen Xia stretched lazily, then poked his head through the huge gate to look inside. Seeing no one there, he stepped through fully.

"Who goes there?" A shrill voice called out, like that of a boy whose voice had yet to break.

"I've come to pay respects to the master," Chen Xia replied, glancing in the direction of the voice. It came from a small wooden pavilion with a window, through which he could see the round head of a youth with a beauty mark on his forehead.

"To pay respects?" The youth looked Chen Xia up and down carefully, nodding his round head.

"Not bad, handsome looks, tall and slender figure. A fine specimen indeed. I'll register you here and give you a sect medallion, which will make you an official disciple."

"Great," Chen Xia wrote down his name and accepted the medallion, then immediately turned to head deeper inside.

"Wait a moment!" The youth's shrill voice called out to him again. Holding up the registry he asked,

"Where are you from? You didn't write down your origins."

Chen Xia waved a hand casually and laughed.

"I'm from Weixi Town."

The youth frowned, not recognizing the name of any town nearby. He lifted his round head and continued questioning,

"Which country is that in?"

"The Great Song Dynasty."

Nowadays the land was divided into many countries, constantly at war. A new dynasty could rise one year and fall the next.

But the youth truly hadn't heard of the Great Song. Perhaps his knowledge was lacking. Just as he lifted his head to ask more, Chen Xia had already disappeared from view.

"Humph, what's the hurry? You'll just end up as cultivation cauldron fodder for Mistress anyway!"

The youth deliberately emphasized the words "cauldron fodder," his expression twisted with jealousy.

The Mistress was looking for a cauldron to refine essence into elixirs, and needed strong, handsome men. He didn't qualify in either regard, so he could only stand guard outside as a youth attendant.

This caused the youth much resentment. He would often sit in his pavilion cursing the other disciples, hoping they would die quickly so he could move up in status and gain the Mistress's favor.

"Mistress, Mistress!" The youth muttered her name dreamily in his shrill voice, as if lost in fantasy. His round head slumped against the door frame.

White Floating Mountain wasn't very large, so Chen Xia reached the peak after just two leaps. Looking around and seeing no one, he headed straight for the top platform.

He had descended into this little paradise merely to watch the excitement, with no intentions of upholding justice or anything like that.

What exactly constituted justice anyway?

Yun Miao wanted to stop the Mistress's deviant actions and prevent White Floating Mountain from losing its way completely.

But objectively speaking, the Mistress hadn't really done anything wrong. Even taking two disciples as lovers only happened after her husband, Patriarch Yun Miao, had passed away.

And though she was using disciples as cultivation cauldrons now, she wasn't directly draining them dry, but recycling them in cycles.

If you really thought about it, neither side was truly in the wrong. They just had differing philosophies.

Chen Xia actually admired the Mistress's path quite a bit. This was a pure enchantress cultivation method! He'd already thought of a future daoist name for her.

The Juice Squeezer!

With these thoughts, Chen Xia ascended the high platform. Only now did he see two white-robed disciples guarding the highest tier of steps. They shouted at Chen Xia,

"The Mistress is in secluded cultivation! What are you doing here?"

What proper cultivation is this?

Chen Xia wanted to retort, but to avoid impacting the trajectory of this little paradise too much, he only replied "My apologies" and turned to head back down the steps.

But as he stepped down onto the last step, his figure suddenly vanished.

He reappeared outside the great hall atop the stairs, where disciples would come to venerate the Grand Celestial Venerable. But now, instead of silence, the sound of a woman's passionate moans could be heard, like the cries of an oriole.

Chen Xia's expression was a bit odd. He peeked through the window.

Oh. Well that's not too outrageous.

Just a man and woman grappling. Nothing worth gawking at really.

He was about to withdraw his gaze when it suddenly froze in place. He looked closer at the woman, and a hint of spirit light flashed in his eyes.

The woman had just arched her back and thrown her head back, her extremely flushed face covered in a dense layer of faint white energy, like aggregated fuzz sweeping across her skin.

A demonification technique!

The widely experienced Chen Xia recognized it instantly, and nodded, finding it quite interesting.

He had heard of demonification techniques in the little paradises before. They originated from a heretical offshoot of Taoism.

The theory was that if demons could take human form through cultivation, why couldn't humans cultivate a technique to take demon form?

Or even combine the traits of multiple demons to create a unique existence.

Chen Xia felt there was some logic to the idea, though he hadn't heard of anyone successfully cultivating it.

He didn't expect this woman to be practicing a demonification technique. Judging by the look of it, there was no telling what kind of demon she was becoming. Perhaps a chimera of some sort.

The woman's body suddenly convulsed as she let out a sharp cry. The flush on her face rapidly deepened. Just as she was about to grapple some more, her expression abruptly shifted and she shouted sharply,

"Who's there?"

Also at the Gold Core realm, she naturally sensed Chen Xia's presence.

The woman's Phoenix eyes flashed as spirit light glimmered.

The doors and windows directly exploded outwards, exposing Chen Xia standing outside.

For a moment, their eyes met.

Fortunately Chen Xia remembered one principle: if you're not embarrassed, the embarrassment falls on the other party.

So he waved a hand and laughed lightly. "No worries, I'm just here to watch the fight. Please continue."

The woman's eyes flashed rapidly as she saw the sect medallion at Chen Xia's waist. The caution and hostility on her face instantly vanished, replaced by a charming smile. Beckoning with her hand, she said,

"So you're a new disciple! Watching fights is boring. Come, let your Mistress instruct you properly."

"No need, thanks," Chen Xia declined. "I'm worried the Patriarch's corpse might stir."

"Hehe," the woman laughed behind her slender fingers. "Don't joke around. There is no Patriarch anymore. I'm your Patriarch now."

"Besides, what's there to fear? Just watching is boring, don't you find me alluring enough?"

She swayed her body enticingly and pointed to the large statue behind her. Smiling coquettishly she said,

"If the Grand Celestial Venerable could move, even he wouldn't be able to resist, hehehe."

The woman gazed longingly at the towering statue, her cheeks flushed as she murmured dreamily,

"Grand Celestial Venerable, did you hear what I just said?"