The Passerby Female Supporting Character – Chapter 70

A Value of Forty Taels

[Refresher: Cultivation Levels: Qi Refining > Foundation Establishment > Golden Core > Nascent Soul > Divine Transformation > Void Refining > Great Ascension > Tribulation Transcendence]

Her mind was a complete muddle, and her consciousness was hazy. Song Linlin didn’t know how long she had been unconscious. Her temples throbbed with a stabbing pain, as if needles were pricking them. She forced her eyes open, but the dim environment made it impossible to tell if it was day or night.

            

She moved her stiff neck. With just that slight movement, Song Linlin realized her whole body ached as if her bones had fallen apart. The pain made her suck in a sharp breath of cold air; she seriously suspected she might have fallen from a great height, shattering her entire skeleton.

She managed to move her fingers, wanting to prop herself up. After several attempts, she finally succeeded. Song Linlin found herself lying on a small bed. The room was unlit, and the windows were shut tight. Only a few faint rays of light seeped through the cracks in the door and windows, illuminating a small part of the room’s contents.

The furniture in this room was pitifully scarce, and the windows weren’t even open in broad daylight. Ordinary households wouldn’t do this. Song Linlin felt that something was very wrong.

            

Song Linlin tried hard to recall what had happened before she lost consciousness, but no matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t remember anything.

She had no choice but to focus on her current reality. She turned her head to survey her surroundings, confirming that she was the only one there. The door was tightly closed, and she didn’t know if it was locked.

Song Linlin propped herself up and moved towards the edge of the bed. She had no idea about her current situation and couldn’t just lie there passively. She decided to get out of bed and see if there was anyone else outside.

            

Putting on her shoes, Song Linlin stood up, trembling. She had to lean on the bed to barely keep her footing on the ground. Her whole body ached terribly. Song Linlin wasn’t sure if she had any broken bones. She felt like a machine on the verge of falling apart, with parts that could break off at any moment.

“It’s a struggle, but at least I can stand. My leg bones shouldn’t be broken, right…”

Song Linlin wanted to walk out and see, but after leaving the support of the bed, there was nothing for her to hold onto. In her current state, without support, she probably couldn’t even make it to the door.

            

But having managed to stand up with such difficulty, Song Linlin was unwilling to just lie back down. She could only stand there, at an impasse.

Just then, though she saw no one, Song Linlin keenly heard the sound of footsteps approaching from outside. It seemed someone was coming closer.

The footsteps drew nearer. The woman standing outside took out a key, unlocked the door, and then pushed it open. Bright light from outside instantly flooded the dim room, illuminating everything.

            

The woman looked up, only to be astonished to find that Song Linlin, who should have been lying on the bed, was standing up, now at the edge of the bed, looking right at her.

This gave her quite a fright. The woman immediately retreated several steps, clutching the doorknob, at a loss, staring at Song Linlin in panic.

Song Linlin, however, looked at the other person with pleasant surprise. It was rare for her to encounter someone she could communicate with, and judging by the other’s expression, she knew this person was timid and looked easy to deal with.

            

She wanted to speak to the woman outside, but the woman didn’t dare say a word, turned around, and ran away screaming.

“Hey! Don’t run!” Song Linlin desperately wanted to chase her, but her body simply couldn’t run. She couldn’t even walk to the doorway right now.

Song Linlin’s shouts didn’t stop the other person at all. Instead, the woman ran even faster, disappearing from Song Linlin’s sight without a backward glance, leaving Song Linlin alone, standing there anxiously, yet helpless.

            

“No way? Do I look that scary?” Song Linlin couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

Carefully recalling the appearance of the person just now, Song Linlin didn’t recognize the woman at all. The woman wore drab, gray clothes and seemed timid and cautious, much like a servant. She had probably gone to call for others now.

Song Linlin had no choice but to continue waiting in the room.

            

Meanwhile, outside, the woman who had just run off in a panic crossed a courtyard and ran into another building. Inside, there were several coarse-featured, fierce-looking men. These men, at a glance, were clearly not good people.

Several of them were drinking when they saw a woman run in, flustered. One of them immediately looked at her with displeasure and said, “What’s with all the racket? What happened?”

“That… that person we picked up, she’s awake.”

            

“Awake already? This isn’t the right time.”

One man put down his wine bowl, stood up, and said, “I’ll go take care of her.”

Song Linlin didn’t have to wait long before footsteps were heard outside again. This time, it was clearly two people. One of them was naturally the woman who had run off earlier, while the other, a man, walked in aggressively, holding a thick wooden club.

            

The man entered the room and, brandishing his weapon, walked towards Song Linlin. This time, it was Song Linlin’s turn to panic. She couldn’t even dodge if she wanted to. The next moment, the man swung the wooden club down, striking Song Linlin directly on the back of her head.

Suffering this heavy blow, Song Linlin, whose head was already fuzzy, unsurprisingly fainted again. Her body went limp, and she collapsed onto the bed.

---

A basin of icy liquid was splashed onto her face, drenching her hair and part of her clothes. The chilling sensation jolted Song Linlin’s eyes open.

            

She opened her eyes and instinctively tried to move her arms, only to find her hands tied with hemp rope. Two people were propping up her body beside her.

The people before her were no longer the previous two. Instead, it was a middle-aged woman dressed in flashy, gaudy clothes. Even from a distance, Song Linlin could smell the strong scent of cosmetics on her.

Song Linlin, having just woken up, still didn’t understand the current situation. Her physical condition was truly terrible. She had been forcibly knocked out during the day, and the man who did it hadn’t held back. Song Linlin had a lump on the back of her head that still throbbed with pain.

            

The middle-aged woman approached Song Linlin, reached out, and lifted her chin, her eyes scrutinizing. Song Linlin’s head was spinning, so she just stared blankly at the other person.

Seeing Song Linlin’s dazed look, the middle-aged woman frowned and said with dissatisfaction, “Jin Ji​¹, this isn’t some simple-minded girl, is she? You bring this kind of person to fool me?”

The man called Jin Ji immediately said, “How could she be a fool? She must have just woken up and isn’t fully conscious yet!”

            

Song Linlin was more or less awake now. Hearing these two evaluate her like this, her face immediately darkened.

What the heck?! Do I look that dazed?

Seeing the liveliness return to Song Linlin’s eyes, the middle-aged woman confirmed that Song Linlin wasn’t mentally deficient. She then released her fingers from Song Linlin’s chin and turned to Jin Ji, saying, “Thirty taels of silver.”

            

“Thirty taels?” Jin Ji was somewhat dissatisfied. This was too far from his expected price. So he said, “That’s too low, at least fifty taels!”

“No way. Forty taels at most. If you don’t accept, then scram.”

“Alright!!!” Jin Ji agreed in one breath, as if afraid the other party would go back on her word.

            

The middle-aged woman waved her hand, and a maidservant beside her immediately opened a money box, took out forty taels of white silver, and handed it to Jin Ji.

Jin Ji chuckled as he accepted the silver. The woman they sold was one they had picked up; now it was like getting forty taels for free.

Song Linlin, watching from the side, now understood no matter how muddled she was. This group of people had sold her!

            

And looking at the middle-aged woman’s gaudily dressed appearance, it was obvious she wasn’t sold to any decent place…

Song Linlin couldn’t bear it. Did this group of people even ask for her opinion before selling her for forty taels of silver? She vaguely remembered that she was, at the very least, a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.

Everyone here now were all mortals. How dare they sell a cultivator stronger than themselves? This was too outrageous!

            

“I say, you just sold me like this, did you ask for my opinion?”

As soon as Song Linlin said this, everyone else in the room looked at her, but clearly, no one took her seriously.

The Madam​² had seen plenty of girls who vowed to die rather than submit after being sold. She could still leisurely sit on the soft chair, pick up a long pipe, and calmly order, “Ah Niu​³, give her a taste of hardship.”

            

For these disobedient ones, a beating would naturally make them compliant. If one beating didn’t work, she had plenty of ways to properly discipline unruly girls; she wasn’t afraid they wouldn’t submit.

“Yes!” Ah Niu, standing nearby, immediately responded. He was at least two meters tall; just standing in the corner could exert immense pressure on ordinary people. Now that he stepped forward, he was even more conspicuous, like a small giant.

Ah Niu slowly walked out from the corner. The people around were already used to this. Generally, these newly sold girls would definitely struggle a bit, but most of them would immediately become frightened and compromise upon seeing Ah Niu’s appearance.

            

Although Song Linlin was also a bit flustered, she was a cultivator! A Qi Refining stage cultivator might still be dealt with by a powerful martial artist mortal, but once Foundation Establishment was completed, a cultivator could kill mortals as easily as killing chickens. One could fight a whole group without fear!

Song Linlin easily snapped the hemp rope binding her hands. She also broke free from the control of the two servants holding her with a mere exertion of force.

She didn’t have her sword now and couldn’t use her full strength, but even bare-handed, dealing with these small fry was as easy as pie.

            

Within a second, Song Linlin had snapped the hemp rope and broken free. She flexed her numb arms; her body was still a bit unsteady.

But now, Ah Niu had already walked into her attack range. Song Linlin raised her hand and sent out a simple palm strike, not even using much spiritual energy.

The next moment, the two-meter-tall little giant Ah Niu was sent flying backward, spitting blood. He crashed through a slew of furniture along the way and finally collapsed on the ground, clearly heavily injured.

            

The others hadn’t reacted at all before Ah Niu was already spitting blood and sent flying. The Madam’s hand, holding the pipe, trembled, and the pipe fell to the ground. Jin Ji was also startled, and the silver in his arms likewise scattered on the floor.

The maidservant’s reaction was the most exaggerated. Ah Niu lay not far from her. When had she ever seen such a terrifying scene? She immediately screamed loudly and, holding the money box, tried to flee.

The Madam also retreated fearfully towards the doorway, cursing Jin Ji loudly in her heart:

            

Damn it! That idiot Jin Ji, he actually kidnapped a cultivator! Is he trying to get us all killed?!

At this moment, Jin Ji’s legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the ground. As someone who had scraped by at the bottom rungs of society for years, he had seen a few cultivators. For example, the leader of the Black Dog Gang; he had seen him from afar a few times – that was a mid-Foundation Establishment stage expert who controlled most of the southern street area of Yishui City​⁴.

But this woman now, her aura was even stronger than the Black Dog Gang leader’s. He exclaimed in disbelief, “Golden Core stage! You’re actually a Golden Core stage expert!”

            

The Madam now felt like killing Jin Ji. If this woman was at the Qi Refining stage, she could still find a Qi Refining expert to deal with her. For a Foundation Establishment stage, she could grit her teeth and hire one. But the other party was actually at the Golden Core stage!

Within the entire Yishui City, Golden Core stage cultivators were all major experts. Only the heads of a few families in the city were at the Golden Core stage, and these people certainly wouldn’t give face to a brothel Madam like her.

The few of them had been audacious enough to capture a Golden Core stage cultivator and even sell her. Now, even if the other party slaughtered her Lianxiang Brothel​⁵, the authorities would definitely not trouble her for it!

            

Song Linlin was also somewhat bewildered. I’m Golden Core stage? Wasn’t I Foundation Establishment stage?

She quickly sensed her cultivation level. Indeed, a perfectly round Golden Core was condensed within her Dantian​⁶. This was the standard for the Golden Core stage; it couldn’t be faked.

Holy sh%t?! How did I reach the Golden Core stage?

            

Song Linlin was shocked!

The people still alive at the scene, knowing Song Linlin was a Golden Core stage cultivator, stopped running. They all knelt on the ground, kowtowing and begging for mercy.

“High Immortal​⁷, you are magnanimous, please spare us! I was momentarily bewitched and truly didn’t know you were a Golden Core stage cultivator!” Jin Ji kowtowed more fervently than anyone else.

            

“High Immortal, this has nothing to do with me! It’s all Jin Ji’s doing, he’s the one who kidnapped you! I was dragged into this, if you want to kill someone, kill Jin Ji!” the Madam also said, trembling.

Hearing the Madam say this about him, Jin Ji cursed inwardly:

Damn it! She’s trying to push me to my death!

            

He immediately, not to be outdone, started begging for mercy while also speaking ill of the Madam.

The two of them pushed responsibility onto each other, arguing until Song Linlin’s head ached. She pulled over the soft chair the Madam had been sitting on and sat down. Even taking a deep breath made her chest ache in waves, not to mention the knife wound on her stomach.

She frowned at the two loudest voices and said with some impatience, “Enough, stop arguing.”

            

Jin Ji and the Madam immediately shut their mouths, afraid of displeasing Song Linlin and getting themselves both killed, which would truly be a loss that outweighs the gain.

Song Linlin leaned back against the soft chair. There were still some things she didn’t understand, such as why she was here.

Judging from her last awakening, she was probably captured by Jin Ji’s group, and these people chose to sell her to a brothel for money.

            

But the key was, she was now a Golden Core cultivator. How could she possibly be captured by a few mortals? And she was even seriously injured. Song Linlin estimated she would need at least one or two months of recuperation to get her body back in shape.

Song Linlin suspected her head had been damaged by that man’s club earlier, or perhaps she had suffered a heavy blow even before that. She only remembered now that she should have transmigrated into a book, and was on an experiential training mission down the mountain with the protagonist. Song Linlin had just been about to escape when, upon opening her eyes, she found herself in this state.

As for what exactly happened to cause Song Linlin to be stabbed, she couldn’t remember at all.

            

Song Linlin had no choice but to turn her gaze to Jin Ji. This fellow was the one who had tied her up and brought her to the brothel; he very likely knew something.

So Song Linlin forced herself to put on a fierce expression and said to Jin Ji, “I ask, you answer. If you dare to lie, you know the consequences!”

“Yes, yes, yes! This humble one​⁸ will definitely tell you everything I know!” Jin Ji was a life-cherishing fellow; he could even kneel and kowtow to beg for forgiveness, so naturally, he nodded in agreement immediately.

            

“How did you capture me?” Song Linlin asked.

Jin Ji immediately waved his hands, saying in terror, “No, no, High Immortal, how could we have the ability to capture you!”

Jin Ji, afraid she would suspect he was responsible for her injuries, explained, “My four brothers and I were returning to Yishui City by boat. It was Old Fourth who had sharp eyes and spotted someone floating on the lake surface. We fished the person out and found you were still alive, so we brought you back to Yishui City together. Later, we also had Xiao Lian​⁹ take care of you.”

            

“On the lake?” Song Linlin was a bit confused; she didn’t remember being near any lake.

“Yes!”

Jin Ji nodded and added, “It was Yunshui Lake​¹⁰. It’s a large lake that connects several towns. We had to pass through there to return to Yishui City, and that’s where we found you on the lake surface.”

            

Song Linlin fell into deep thought. Did she accidentally fall into the lake, or was she stabbed and then deliberately thrown into the lake to dispose of the body?

She couldn’t figure it out, so she simply stopped pondering it. “Last question, how far is the Xuanyun Sect from this Yishui City?”

Song Linlin was a disciple of the sect. Although she had run away during her experiential training, which was indeed not very ethical, she could still go back if she wanted to.

            

The outside world was so dangerous; she had been inexplicably stabbed. It was better to return to the sect as soon as she recovered.

Now that she was so heavily injured, the sect would surely not blame her for suddenly disappearing during her training.

“Xuanyun Sect?”

            

Jin Ji was startled. This was a major cultivation sect, and one of the most famous ones at that. He quickly figured it out: the woman opposite him was already at the Golden Core stage at such a young age. In a place like theirs, a Golden Core stage cultivator could become the head of a family. She was very likely a disciple of the Xuanyun Sect.

Knowing he had provoked someone with such a powerful background, Jin Ji became even more frightened. He lowered his head humbly and said, “The Xuanyun Sect is about a month’s journey from Yishui City. If you travel by waterway with a favorable wind, it might be faster.”

“That far…”

            

Song Linlin, whose body couldn’t even stand steadily right now, definitely couldn’t endure such a long journey’s jolting. What if she encountered enemies along the way?

She couldn’t even stand properly; wouldn’t she be at anyone’s mercy?

Song Linlin sighed. It seemed she could only focus on recuperating her body first, and then return to the sect.

            

And there was another very practical problem: Song Linlin had no money!

The clothes she was wearing were even those of that Xiao Lian; she couldn’t even find half a copper coin on her. And to return to the Xuanyun Sect, chartering a carriage or a boat would all require money.

She was penniless now. Let alone not knowing the way, just with her current physical condition, trying to walk back was wishful thinking. Song Linlin couldn’t help but sigh deeply again.

            

In any case, she should focus on healing her injuries first!

“Arrange a clean room for me, a quiet one where no one goes,” Song Linlin ordered the Madam.

Since she needed to recuperate, the first thing was naturally to find a place to stay. Song Linlin had already seen Jin Ji’s place; the environment of that house was too poor, gloomy and lacking even furniture. It definitely wouldn’t be as comfortable as a room here in the brothel.

            

The choice was already obvious. It was just that it wouldn’t sound good if word got out, but no one knew her in this place, so Song Linlin didn’t need to worry at all. She could leave once her injuries healed.

“Ah?” The Madam still hadn’t quite reacted, unsure if this was being said to her.

Song Linlin looked at her and said fiercely, “What are you staring blankly for? I’m talking to you!”

            

“Yes, yes! There’s an empty room in the backyard. Usually, no one goes there, it’s very quiet. I’ll have someone go tidy it up right now!” The Madam had no choice but to nod and agree.

The Madam quickly arranged everything. She was very flustered at first; a Golden Core stage expert wanting to stay at their place, the pressure was too great.

But then she thought about it again and felt that this might not be a bad thing. Their Lianxiang Brothel had no cultivators. Now that a Golden Core stage expert was moving in, if someone dared to cause trouble and disturbed this expert, perhaps she would even help them sort it out.

            

This matter had its pros and cons. Plus, the Madam simply didn’t have the strength to refuse, so she could only obediently let Song Linlin stay in the room in the backyard.

Of course, the forty taels of silver that the Madam had given Jin Ji were also confiscated by Song Linlin. This bunch of people had actually sold her for a mere forty taels of silver; it was truly detestable.

---

Demon Realm​¹¹, Wenxin Cult.

            

Blood, corpses. As far as the eye could see, the world was a sea of red.

A sword, thickly stained with gore, lay dropped on the ground. Tan Hai​¹², covered in blood, dragged his overburdened body a few meters in front of a woman in white. His eyes were filled with red blood vessels, his spirit on the verge of collapse.

“I’ve killed them. Can you let me go now?”

            

This was the leader of the Wenxin Cult, usually unrivaled in prominence. But now, he was in such a wretched state, almost unrecognizable as Tan Hai.

Tan Hai was drenched in blood, almost a blood-man. However, the blood on him was not his own; most of it belonged to his subordinates, his children, his wives and concubines.

He looked at the woman before him. Just moments ago, Tan Hai had killed his last child. First, it was those subordinates who had gone through life and death with him, then his wives and concubines, and finally, those children – all had died at Tan Hai’s hands.

            

Tan Hai had killed everyone currently in the Wenxin Cult, because if he didn’t kill these people, he would die.

He couldn’t describe his current feelings. Those eyes, almost completely filled with blood vessels, stared at the person before him, full of fear, showing not a trace of anger. Yet, deep within, he couldn’t suppress the overwhelming hatred.

He hated this person before him. His entire life’s work had been destroyed by this woman. Everyone related to him had also been killed by his own hand. Tan Hai swore in his heart:

            

In the future, he would definitely tear this woman to a million pieces!

Even that wouldn’t be enough to relieve the hatred in his heart.

But the other party’s next words left Tan Hai at a complete loss.

            

“When did I ever say I would let you go?”

Tan Hai’s eyes widened, no longer able to suppress his anger. “What do you mean? Hong Ye, you clearly promised me this yourself! Are you going back on your word?!”

“Is that so?” Chi Qianning sneered, looking at Tan Hai as if at a dead man. “Unfortunately, I never keep my word.”

            

“Why?!”

Tan Hai roared, venting his resentment. “We have no grievance, no enmity! You even killed one of my daughters, and I didn’t even go looking for trouble with you, yet you want to exterminate my entire Wenxin Cult?!”

“Your daughter was too noisy. Death was too good for her.”

            

Chi Qianning, holding her sword, walked towards Tan Hai step by step. “And as for exterminating your entire cult, it’s because disciples of your Wenxin Cult killed a batch of Xuanyun Sect disciples.”

The next moment, a sharp sword pierced his heart. Tan Hai couldn’t dodge it at all. Even at the moment of death, he couldn’t understand why the other party would wipe out his Wenxin Cult for such a trivial matter.

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LP: Song Linlin, you lazy dog! How’d you forgot you’re a Golden Core cultivator?!

            

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