A Family of Hopeless Romantics, Except for the Evil Little Junior Brother

Chapter 74: A Warm-Hearted Passerby

“Gone? That fast?”

The female cultivator’s face flushed with anger, her eyes almost bulging.

She had just lost two precious herbs and even the spirit beast she had tamed.

Clenching her teeth, she held her aching chest.

“B*stard, you won’t die a good death.”

She cursed under her breath, turning to leave.

At that moment, a hand suddenly slipped silently out of the ground and snatched the silver hairpin magical artifact from her hair.

Her aura was immediately sealed.

Then came the small poison vials strapped to her waist.

“........”

Li Xuanxiao emerged again from the soil, appearing at a safe spot.

He quickly processed the spider.

Legs, eyes, fur... every part was a treasure.

He worked fast, done within half a stick of incense.

Li Xuanxiao activated the Fan Technique, summoning fire to reduce the body to ashes.

Then he used a small bottle to collect the ashes—also a valuable item.

This female cultivator had some real skill in poison techniques.

Li Xuanxiao studied her concocted poisons briefly.

To take her down, he sacrificed a Foundation Establishment Stage clone—worth it.

After all, the clone existed to take death in his place.

Li Xuanxiao believed in “do not offend unless offended.”

He tried to avoid killing unless absolutely necessary.

Taking lives brought karmic burden; who knew how much virtue the other person had?

Peace!!

Li Xuanxiao quickly cleaned up, erased all traces, and escaped swiftly.

In the days that followed, he didn’t encounter anyone else.

He mostly explored alone.

This time, his goal was to find some Essence Refining Stones.

To refine his life-bound magical artifact, the Crane-Beak Silver Needle.

But after all this time searching, there was still no sign of those stones.

The Xuantian Sword Sect’s Treasure Pavilion did sell Essence Refining Stones.

But buying them would leave a record.

It would reveal the grade of his life-bound magical artifact.

People could deduce its size from the quantity bought…

What if someone plotted against him?

Not to mention—it was expensive.

Suddenly, the dispersed Spirit Stones picked up a signal.

Essence Refining Stones!

And quite a lot.

Li Xuanxiao halted.

Something was off—the Divine Sense only detected the Essence Refining Stones.

But everything else nearby was blocked.

Moments later, a puppet squeezed through a stone crevice.

Inside the underground cave lay several corpses.

Either dead from poison or from fatal wounds.

The puppet scouted around and eventually found a hidden mechanism in the cave.

It must’ve been a trap left by a Mohist Mechanism Cultivator.

The puppet quickly destroyed the trap.

In the end, the puppet and the trap were destroyed together.

Two more Scorpion Puppets crawled in to double-check for anything missed.

Just then, a Snake Puppet launched a silent sneak attack on one of the Scorpion Puppets.

It was laced with potent poison, and Li Xuanxiao immediately lost another Scorpion Puppet.

Controlling his puppets, Li Xuanxiao frowned slightly and formed a hand seal.

He ordered the Scorpion Puppet to engage the Snake Puppet in combat.

It was a battle between Mohist Puppet Masters.

The opponent’s Snake Puppet was strong, but couldn’t hold out against Li Xuanxiao’s numbers.

He threw in three more at once.

For some reason, the opposing Puppet Master slipped up.

Li Xuanxiao seized the opportunity, and three Scorpion Puppets shredded the Snake Puppet.

........

“Swish swish swish!!”

A figure darted rapidly through the forest.

He held a magical artifact brick, the corners of his mouth curling into a smirk.

“Today, your Uncle Daoist will show you what a true Puppet Master is.”

Puppet vs. puppet? Why not just knock out the master directly?

Reverse tracking technique.

“Catch this brick from your Uncle Daoist.”

He already spotted the Puppet Master and almost shouted in excitement.

“Bang—!!”

A cloud of poison mist suddenly erupted underfoot.

The Puppet Master stiffened and collapsed straight to the ground.

“...n..no...”

When the Puppet Master came to, all he felt was cold.

He looked down.

Good news: The enemy spared his life!

Bad news: All he had left was a pair of underwear.

The Puppet Master tugged at them.

His puppets, storage ring, clothes, even the corpses in the cave—all the treasures, gone without a trace.

“...........”

Huh?

That aura... a Xuantian Sword Sect disciple?

Li Xuanxiao had a nose plug to block poison, a poison-proof robe draped on his body, a Detox Bead in his mouth, and anti-poison talismans stuck to his forehead and shoulders…

This was a Poison Forest.

The mist in the air was all toxic.

Whenever the outermost poison shield—i.e., the talisman—changed color,

it meant its effectiveness had dropped below ten percent.

He would immediately switch to another.

As he passed through the Poison Forest, Li Xuanxiao was surprised to detect the aura of a fellow Xuantian disciple.

He examined the person’s face, recalling the sect personnel records he had compiled himself.

Shang Linqing.

Female, ninety-three years old.

Peak Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator. Low threat level.

Average personality, average talent, average looks, average background.

In summary: average.

For some reason, the Xuantian disciples hadn’t participated in this Xiaohan Secret Realm.

This Shang Linqing had likely snuck in.

Foundation Establishment cultivators had a lifespan of two hundred years.

But once past a hundred, forming a Golden Core was nearly impossible.

She was probably trying to make a final push.

That was the reality for most cultivators.

Even within an immortal sect, there were tiers.

Li Xuanxiao carried her out of the Poison Forest.

She was a fellow disciple after all—he wouldn’t just leave her.

He placed her in a safe spot.

A while later, Li Xuanxiao circled back.

Kind-hearted as he was, he couldn’t quite let it go.

So he left behind a Twin Recording Stone on her.

The chance of the two meeting here was very small.

Which meant she might soon encounter some kind of fortuitous event.

Or maybe discover an evil cultivation method and rapidly advance...

All rare possibilities—but worth guarding against.

No harm in it.

Li Xuanxiao finally left with peace of mind.

Moments later, he returned again, placing a few extra treasures beside her.

......

Shang Linqing slowly woke up.

I… I’m still alive?

She looked around at where she was, then saw the materials beside her.

There was a message left on the ground:

Cultivation should not be rushed. Remember, only by nurturing great clumsiness can one become truly skillful. One must appear truly foolish to know true wisdom.

—A warm-hearted passerby.

P.S. Stick to the righteous path.