I Cultivate the Dao of Pure Hatred - Chapter 4

Elders from the immortal sects and the Demon Realm guarded the sanctuary’s exit.

The moment they saw my true form, they reacted as if a great enemy had descended. Artifacts and talismans flew at me from every direction.

I saw no reason to be polite. I opened my storage pouch and collected everything I could. Whatever couldn’t be collected, I destroyed. I certainly wasn’t going to leave it for someone else.

If you pulled something out while fighting me, you did not get it back. Those were the rules.

“What’s going on? How can there be a heaven-grade dragon in a mystic sanctuary?”

The crowd dissolved into panic. Then someone spotted Yue Jingqing dangling from my tail, swaying from side to side.

“Wait. Isn’t that Yue Jingqing of the Lingxiao Sect?”

“Why isn’t the black dragon attacking him? It’s even shielding him from the talismans!”

I swung my tail, gently set Yue Jingqing on the ground, and took human form. Perched on a boulder, I studied the cultivators gathering around us, then prodded Yue Jingqing with my tail.

“My dear pure-hate partner, which of these small fry belong to your sect?”

He suppressed his shock with visible effort.

“The group in white to the west. They are from the Lingxiao Sect. The people at the front are my elders. Do not hurt them.”

I nodded and pulled him toward them.

I recognized the elder in front. In our previous lives, Xie Yunzhou often called him a useless old fossil whose only redeeming quality was his eye for disciples.

Every time Xie Yunzhou lost to Yue Jingqing, he cursed Yue Jingqing’s ancestors behind his back. After five hundred years of listening, even I knew Yue Jingqing’s master and grandmasters by heart.

Holding Yue Jingqing’s sleeve, I stopped before his master and greeted him respectfully.

“Hello, Old Fossil Chen Jing.”

Elder Chen Jing: “…”

Yue Jingqing: “…”

“Master, she does not understand human etiquette. Please don’t take offense.”

Yue Jingqing shot me a warning look.

“No matter. Ferocious beasts cannot be expected to understand how humans address one another.”

Elder Chen Jing stroked his beard and smiled at me kindly.

“Little one, what is your name?”

“I’m A-Xiong. The *xiong* that means very, very fierce.”

I looked down at my small, childish hands and fell briefly into thought.

Ever since Yue Jingqing and I had begun sharing cultivation, my body had reverted to its juvenile form. The same thing had happened in my previous life.

Back then, however, I had been busy conquering the Demon Realm with Xie Yunzhou. I spent most of my time as a black dragon, and on the rare occasions I took human form, my overwhelming strength kept anyone from underestimating me.

Now that I had abruptly become a pretty little girl, the Lingxiao cultivators kept casting affectionate glances my way. They had clearly decided that Yue Jingqing had tricked an innocent child into signing a life-sharing contract.

Yue Jingqing, who knew exactly how innocent I was: “…”

The sanctuary would remain open for another three days. Elder Chen Jing and the others had to wait for the rest of their disciples, so I made Yue Jingqing ask permission for us to travel alone.

Elder Chen Jing looked at the hostile cultivators surrounding us, many of whom were mourning artifacts I had stolen. He nodded heavily and began warning us to be careful.

Before he could finish, I turned into a dragon, wrapped Yue Jingqing in my tail, and vanished into the sky.

A dragon flew fast. In less than an hour, we reached the monster market, a city populated mainly by beast cultivators.

I had come for one reason: the food at the restaurants was delicious.

Beasts loved worldly pleasures. Cultivation might free them from the need to eat, but never from the desire.

“Waiter! Twenty plates of spicy rabbit heads, thirty of braised chicken wings, forty of pickled bullfrog, fifty whole roast lambs, sixty plates of roast squab, seventy of chopped-pepper fish heads, eighty of vermicelli scallops, ninety of sliced beef…”

The moment we sat down, I reeled off my order with practiced ease.

The waiter wrote everything down, then eyed the long list uneasily.

“Forgive me for asking, honored guest, but did you bring enough money? At the House of Delicacies, anyone who eats and runs gets cooked into a spirit-beast banquet.”

“Of course.”

I waved a hand and pulled a bulging purse from my storage pouch. When I opened it, the flawless pearls inside nearly blinded him.

“I-I’ll send your order to the kitchen at once! Please forget I said anything!”

The dishes soon arrived, covering the enormous table. I happily crunched my way through plate after plate of spicy rabbit heads.

When Yue Jingqing didn’t touch his chopsticks, I placed a whole plate in front of him.

“Don’t worry. Eat as much as you like. My treat.”

He looked as though he wanted to say something.

I slapped a rabbit head as realization dawned.

“Oh, right. Some humans can’t handle spicy food. Crunch, crunch.”

I summoned the waiter and ordered ten servings of every non-spicy dish on the menu.

“I would never mistreat my pure-hate partner. Crunch. I’m a beast with morals.”

Yue Jingqing: “…”

The black mist around him grew denser. I inhaled with satisfaction, and the rabbit head in my hand seemed even tastier.

A shadow settled over his face.

“Where did you get the pearls in that purse?”

Still chewing, I answered calmly, “My pet merman cries them. He cries a lot. The pearls just pour out.”

Thinking Yue Jingqing liked them, I opened the purse wider.

“Look, this is only one week’s worth. My storage pouch is full of them. If you want these, they’re yours.”

In our previous lives, Xie Yunzhou had once drunkenly complained that Yue Jingqing’s parents were ordinary pearl divers. They spent their lives gathering shellfish and sold their pearls to send their son to an immortal sect.

When Yue Jingqing first arrived, he had been so poor he couldn’t afford even the simplest spiritual sword. His parents dove day after day until a hundred decent pearls bought him one.

They died to bandits before their son could succeed and bring them home to enjoy their old age. That was why Yue Jingqing despised robbers.

Remembering this, I was overcome with regret.

I had spoken too soon. If I had claimed the pearls were stolen, I could have farmed another wave of hatred.

Yue Jingqing picked one up and examined it. After confirming the spiritual energy belonged to the merfolk, he looked at me.

“You keep a merman?”

“Yes.” I swept every dish that would no longer fit on the table into my storage pouch. “Would you like to see my domain?”