Nine Heavens Martial Emperor

Wu Sipei shuddered, a look of fear flashing through her eyes.

The aura radiating from Lin Hao was so menacing she didn’t dare question his words.

"You can’t kill me... If you harm me, the Lin family will be finished..." Wu Sipei’s voice trembled.

Lin Hao sneered. "And if I don’t kill you? Knowing you, would you really let the Lin family off the hook?"

"I would! I definitely would! I can even get you into the Zhengyang Sect. The wonders of a sect are beyond your imagination." Wu Sipei nodded frantically.

’What good are wonders if you’re dead?’

’If I really went to the Zhengyang Sect with her, I’d probably die a miserable death. This foolish woman must think I’m as dumb as she is.’

Lin Hao’s eyes glinted, and a strange smirk curled his lips.

"I’ve got it. I happen to be a bit short on cash. You’re passable looking... in a brothel, you’d at least be a headliner! You can spend a month there. After I’m done with my business, I’ll take you and offer you as a tribute to that poor mother and daughter."

Wu Sipei’s eyes widened in utter terror.

’If Lin Hao really sold her to a brothel, her life would be worse than death.’

"I was wrong! I was really wrong! Please, spare me! I’ll be your slave... WAH..." Wu Sipei sobbed, tears streaming down her face, a truly pitiful sight.

Lin Hao struck out abruptly, hitting a pressure point that silenced her. He pursed his lips and muttered, "You talk too much."

Ignoring Wu Sipei, Lin Hao searched the three Zhengyang Sect Disciples. Before long, he had found three vials of pills, a thick stack of silver banknotes, and surprisingly, a handwritten manual for a martial technique.

Yellow Level Top Grade martial technique—the Silent Extinction Finger!

Lin Hao’s eyes lit up.

’This is a real find.’

’Although his mind was filled with countless martial techniques, his current cultivation level was too low to use any of them. A usable martial technique was exactly what he needed most right now.’

After a quick read-through, Lin Hao flexed his hand, and the manual disintegrated into dust.

After absorbing the technique, Lin Hao sighed to himself.

’The Lin family had precious few Yellow Level Top Grade martial techniques; each one was treated as a priceless treasure. Yet any random Sect Disciple carried one. The gap between a family and a sect was truly immense.’

’If he couldn’t get into the Heaven-Stepping Sect, the Lin family would be in grave danger the moment another sect came calling.’

Grabbing Wu Sipei, Lin Hao moved through the forest with incredible speed. Before long, he had emerged from the woods and reached the outskirts of Sky-Severing Mountain.

Lin Hao’s gaze suddenly focused. A man was standing beside three magnificent, exotic beasts.

The man was handsome and well-built; it was none other than his third uncle, Lin Tianxiao.

"Third Uncle, why are you here?" Lin Hao was greatly surprised.

Lin Tianxiao didn’t answer. He looked Lin Hao up and down before bursting into laughter. "Hao’Er, you’ve really impressed your third uncle this time!"

After the two Lin family elders returned, Lin Tianxiao had agreed with their assessment, but he couldn’t shake a feeling of unease, so he had left the city.

When he saw the dead exotic beast on the main road, most of his anxiety subsided. Then, upon seeing signs of a barbecue on the outskirts of Sky-Severing Mountain, he was even more delighted.

That was why he hadn’t entered the forest, choosing to wait here instead.

’Sect Disciples are arrogant and look down on everyone as if they were ants. After being played by Lin Hao like that, they were bound to suffer a huge loss.’

’His original plan had been to wait for the helpless Sect Disciples to emerge and then kill them himself. But now, it seemed he needn’t have come at all.’

But for Lin Hao to appear before him like this... Lin Tianxiao was astonished.

’Lin Hao was here, safe and sound, carrying a captive. That could only mean he had killed the other three!’

’This was something he never would have imagined.’

"Third Uncle, perfect timing. I won’t be heading back. I have a mount now, so I’ll leave immediately. She’s Wu Tianli’s daughter; I’m taking her with me. If the Zhengyang Sect shows up within the month and the Wu family tries anything, just tell them I have her. He’ll be forced to hesitate!"

As he spoke, Lin Hao stripped off Wu Sipei’s outer robe and handed it to Lin Tianxiao. After all, he needed proof.

Lin Tianxiao accepted it with a wry smile. ’This nephew of mine is really something else,’ he thought, ’making me hold a young woman’s outer robe. What is this nonsense?’

"Third Uncle, I’m off. I’ll be sure to return for the Martial Competition." Lin Hao tossed Wu Sipei onto the back of the snow-white exotic beast, vaulted up behind her, and with a squeeze of his legs, galloped away with flair.

"The future of the Lin family rests on your journey to the Heaven-Stepping Sect!" Lin Tianxiao murmured as Lin Hao’s figure vanished from sight.

Then, leading the other two exotic beasts, he departed.

Aboard the snow-white exotic beast, Lin Hao silently circulated his Cultivation Technique.

He’d been injured pretty badly in the fight with Sun Xiao when he had to halt his momentum abruptly.

Luckily, his Cultivation Technique was miraculous. Before long, the tightness in his chest had already vanished.

"CHIRP CHIRP..." The snow-white exotic beast was galloping at full speed when two clear chirps suddenly sounded out. A small head poked out from behind the beast’s huge ear—it was Wu Sipei’s Spiritual Jade Fox.

"Well, little guy, you’re certainly loyal. But a master like her isn’t worth following. You should just go." Lin Hao spoke to the fox, not caring whether it could understand him.

"CHIRP CHIRP..." The Spiritual Jade Fox cried out, darted over, and latched onto the front of Lin Hao’s robes with its tiny paws, dangling from his chest as it nuzzled its head against him.

"Are you thanking me for sparing your life?"

"CHIRP CHIRP..."

"Forget it. You don’t understand anyway. Go on, get out of here!" Lin Hao said, grabbing the Jade Fox and tossing it away with a flick of his wrist.

The Spiritual Jade Fox was adorable, with its snow-white fur and clear, lively eyes. But the thought that it had belonged to Wu Sipei left a bad taste in Lin Hao’s mouth.

"CHIRP CHIRP..."

But the Spiritual Jade Fox was surprisingly fast. A moment after being thrown, it had already caught up to the magnificent exotic beast and leaped onto its back once more.

Lin Hao was surprised. From the Carefree Divine Monarch’s memories, he knew that Spiritual Jade Foxes were extremely rare even in the Divine Demon Destruction Domain. While agile, there was no way it should have been able to outrun this exotic beast on its four little legs.

On the beast’s back, the silenced Wu Sipei was being jolted so hard her insides felt like they were churning. When she saw this, her face turned livid with rage.

’The Spiritual Jade Fox was an absolute rarity on the Celestial Yang Continent. She had gotten it from a secret realm in the Zhengyang Sect that only opened once a decade, and she had fed it countless Spirit Stones just to get it to begrudgingly follow her. And now it had betrayed her! For a bastard who had nearly killed it, no less!’

’And to top it off, that bastard was trying to shoo it away!’

Unable to speak, Wu Sipei could only watch helplessly as Lin Hao tossed it away again.

By the side of the main road, the Spiritual Jade Fox watched the exotic beast recede into the distance, a surprisingly human-like look of grievance in its eyes. Then, it began to hop along, once again chasing in the direction the beast had gone, though much more slowly this time...

Lin Hao traveled without rest for two days and two nights before finally stopping in a small village.

’He was only a day’s journey from the Heaven-Stepping Sect. He couldn’t very well keep Wu Sipei with him.’

After tethering the exotic beast, Lin Hao carried Wu Sipei into the small village.

The village was small, with only a few families, and it didn’t take long for Lin Hao to find what he was looking for.

Lin Hao left Wu Sipei in the care of an honest-looking old couple, giving them special instructions to ignore her completely, aside from providing three meals a day.

Leaving behind a stack of silver banknotes, Lin Hao departed, his mind at ease.

Hateful as Wu Sipei was, Lin Hao had never actually intended to sell her to a brothel. His words on Sky-Severing Mountain had just been a threat, meant to make her feel the same despair and helplessness she inflicted on others.

...

The red sun rose in the east, its morning rays stretching across the sky.

Lin Hao emerged from a patch of dense forest.

He wasn’t far from the Heaven-Stepping Sect now, and today was the day it was recruiting new disciples.

Last night, Lin Hao had rested and recuperated, bringing his body to its peak condition.

’He had already released the snow-white exotic beast. If it couldn’t even outrun a Jade Fox, what was the point in keeping it?’

Just as he was about to set off, Lin Hao suddenly frowned. He thought he heard a woman’s terrified scream.

He listened intently for a moment but heard nothing out of the ordinary. Just as he was about to move on, the cry came again, only to be swiftly drowned out by the roar of a Devil Beast.

"Someone’s in trouble!" Without a second thought, Lin Hao sprinted toward the sound.

Before long, Lin Hao saw a young girl running for her life.

The girl was young, no more than thirteen or fourteen, but with her robes fluttering in the wind, she moved with the grace of a celestial fairy.

Lin Hao was momentarily stunned.

’It wasn’t that he’d never seen beauties before—Wenren Yuxin and Lu Dieyi were both stunning—but this girl was somehow even more breathtaking.’

At the moment, however, the gorgeous girl was in a rather sorry state.

Less than a meter behind her, a massive Devil Beast was in hot pursuit.

The girl was extremely nimble, weaving between the trees to evade her pursuer.

The Devil Beast only knew how to charge in a straight line, but it snapped every tree in its path, creating a terrifying scene as it rapidly closed the distance to the girl.

Lin Hao was taken aback when he saw the Devil Beast.

The Devil Beast was powerfully built and covered in Scale Armor. It had short, thick limbs, a long head with small ears, and protruding canines that formed menacing tusks. It was a Tier One Devil Beast: a Celestial Demon Pig.

’The reason Lin Hao was taken aback was that, while Celestial Demon Pigs were Devil Beasts, they didn’t usually attack humans. Domesticated dogs were their favorite prey.’

Celestial Demon Dogs were the offspring of a Celestial Demon Pig and a domestic dog.

But right now, the Celestial Demon Pig’s Scale Armor was bristling. It was clearly enraged.

Lin Hao had no time to wonder why. He strode forward and threw a punch.

If he didn’t intervene, the beautiful girl would meet a tragic end.

BANG!

Lin Hao’s fist struck the Celestial Demon Pig squarely on the head, sending it stumbling back several steps with a grunt.

"Wow, you’re amazing!" The girl, now hiding behind Lin Hao, seemed to have forgotten the recent danger and began to cheer.

Lin Hao wasn’t nearly as optimistic. The Celestial Demon Pig’s defense was freakishly tough.

A Celestial Demon Pig’s entire body is covered in Scale Armor to ward off the cold. In the summer, however, this armor becomes a nightmare. To cool down, they raise their scales and spend their time in swamps.

This inevitably leads to insect bites. To relieve the itching, they rub against resinous pine trees. Over time, the sap coats their armor, making it so tough that even sharp weapons can barely scratch it.

And he had left his silver spear back with the Lin family.

’Lin Hao knew that, despite the astonishing power behind his punch, it had probably done little more than scratch an itch.’

"How did you provoke it?"

The girl’s answer nearly made Lin Hao keel over in shock...