Chapter 2: Let Go of the Cub, I’ll Handle It

“…Give it back!” Yin Li snarled, lying on the ground, his black hair disheveled and his long, narrow eyes glinting with a cold, eerie light.

His pale skin had the stillness and bleakness of a corpse.

Jiang Niannian snapped out of her daze.

The man leading the group should be Xi Fan, the senior disciple of the True Monarch Nanhua, known for his arrogance and bullying.

“I heard the sect master send this trash some spiritual pills every month. Seems like it’s true,” Xi Fan said, weighing the ornate pearwood box in his hand.

“Oh, it’s quite heavy. Your spiritual root has long been destroyed, so these top-grade pills are wasted on you!”

With that, he aimed a kick at Yin Li’s head.

Damn it, bullying my cub? This is intolerable!

But Jiang Niannian was shocked to find that she couldn’t move her body.

“System, what’s going on?”

【It might be because you just transmigrated and haven’t fully merged with this body yet. The system data hasn’t finished loading, causing a temporary movement failure. Try again later.】

Punches rained down on the frail boy, who curled up, numb, with a lifeless look in his eyes that seemed bottomless.

Yin Li was indifferent to their taunts, staring at the ground with a blank expression as if nothing they did mattered.

“Bah! Even a dog would at least bark when it’s beaten, but this trash doesn’t even bark when he is beaten. How boring,” Xi Fan sneered, towering over him.

Then, with a dark look on his face, he stomped hard on the boy’s back, grinding his heel into him.

Yin Li’s eyes turned bloodshot, veins bulging on his forehead, yet he bit his lip and remained silent.

In the book, this was where Xi Fan broke Yin Li’s spine!

“Stop!” Jiang Niannian suddenly pushed him away.

Xi Fan was surprised that she intervened, showing a rare look of astonishment.

Standing protectively in front of Yin Li, Jiang Niannian angrily said, “Ganging up on the weak—this is what you so-called righteous sect members are all about?”

“He deserves it!” Xi Fan sneered and was about to leave, flaunting his arrogance.

Jiang Niannian was furious.

Yin Li’s spiritual roots had been destroyed and never properly repaired.

With his monthly bloodletting ritual, his body was extremely weak, and the pills in that box were keeping him alive!

In the book, after Xi Fan stole the box, Yin Li endured excruciating pain daily, nearly dying during the next bloodletting ritual.

Her current cultivation level was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, while Xi Fan was at the Golden Core stage—a significant gap.

A direct confrontation would lead to certain defeat, so to retrieve the pills, she had to rely on the system’s power.

“Lord System,” Jiang Niannian called out in her mind.

【Yes, I’m here dear~】

“Use the beginner’s gift pack.”

【Sure! Points: 500.】

Whoa, the system is pretty generous, giving 500 points right off the bat.

Instantly, Jiang Niannian saw three tabs: “Affection Level,” “Points,” and “Shop.”

Excited, she clicked on the shop but was quickly dismayed.

With the shop’s prices, 500 points were still too little.

She quickly decided to purchase a Thunderbolt Talisman for 450 points and used the remaining 50 points to buy some blank talisman papers.

As soon as she made her selection, the items appeared on her sleeve, and she coldly spoke, “Stop.”

Xi Fan paused, turning to face her, and met her gaze.

“Give it back to him.”

Xi Fan looked her up and down in disbelief, noting that her features were decent but her skin was sallow, and her figure was average.

Losing interest, he scoffed, “I won’t give it back. What can you do about it? With your Foundation Establishment cultivation? How laughable.”

His fellow disciples joined in, mocking Jiang Niannian’s overestimation of herself.

“Yes, I might be weaker, but I have talismans.”

Jiang Niannian pulled out the Thunderbolt Talisman from her sleeve, waving it in front of them.

“I’m warning you one last time—return the items, or don’t blame me for being rude!”

“Where did you get a Thunderbolt Talisman?”

Xi Fan’s eyes widened in surprise, and the disciples behind him looked at her in disbelief, whispering among themselves.

“That Thunderbolt Talisman seems real. We should return the pills to them.”

“How could she possibly know such an advanced talisman? She must be bluffing.”

After all, only Nascent Soul stage cultivators could craft Thunderbolt Talismans, and just a bit of spiritual energy could trigger a massive explosion.

How could a novice like Jiang Niannian, who followed this trashy master and had no connections, possess such a talisman?

Thinking this, Xi Fan sneered at her, “Ha, trying to bluff me? This Thunderbolt Talisman is fake, isn’t it? Let me tell you, this little trick might fool others, but not me.”

He drew his sword and, with a swift movement, lunged at Jiang Niannian.

Jiang Niannian’s pupils shrank, and she braced herself, infusing spiritual energy into the talisman, then threw it at them with all her might.

“Boom!”

A loud explosion echoed as the talisman detonated mid-air, releasing a massive burst of spiritual energy that sliced through the surrounding bamboo like blades. The disciples quickly formed protective barriers but were still knocked to the ground by the shockwave.

Jiang Niannian stepped back in shock.

Wow, the Thunderbolt Talisman is insanely powerful.

No wonder it’s so expensive.

Cries of pain filled the air.

Xi Fan, leaning on his sword, wobbled to his feet, his face dark and his gaze venomous as it locked onto Jiang Niannian.

He gritted his teeth, “You’re asking for death!”

Jiang Niannian wasn’t angry at all.

Instead, her eyes, full of emotion, even showed a hint of a smile.

“I really envy your skin—it’s so thick, stealing someone’s things and acting so righteous. You’re truly a piece of garbage.”

With that, she pulled out a stack of talisman papers from her sleeve.

She deliberately covered the fronts to hide that they were blank.

“Tell me, if I threw all thirty of these Thunderbolt Talismans at you, what kind of fireworks would we see?”

“You!” Xi Fan was furious but also wary, not daring to make any rash moves.

“Get lost!” Jiang Niannian threatened, pretending to throw the talismans at him.

Xi Fan stumbled back, realizing he was in the wrong.

This trash was still the Sect Master’s son.

If this woman really caused a scene, he wouldn’t get away with it.

He snorted coldly and threw the pearwood box back to her.

“Let’s go!”

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

Watching them leave, Jiang Niannian finally collapsed, her legs trembling.

When Xi Fan had lunged at her earlier, she was truly terrified.

Luckily, he thought she had more Thunderbolt Talismans; otherwise, she would have been in big trouble.

Looking at Yin Li, covered in mud and blood, Jiang Niannian sighed, gently reaching out to help him up.

“Let’s get you cleaned up first.”

Yin Li lowered his eyelashes, his red eyes glinting with a sharp, icy light, as distant and unfamiliar as a dagger.

At this point, he was terrifyingly cold toward everyone, even the one who had just helped him.

He snatched the pearwood box and roughly shoved Jiang Niannian’s hand away, struggling to stand on his own.

But after just a few steps, he stumbled and fell to the ground again.

(T/N: in cultivation genre novels, age usually can be overlooked in terms of love and romance because cultivators live for a long time and can retain their youth after they reach the golden core stage..)