Chapter 171

Chapter 171: He Only Saves Those He Cares About

[Third Lady Luo’s child is actually a girl; the first draft said boy, but it was changed in the end, and that chapter wasn’t updated accordingly. Apologies! It’s been corrected now.

Thanks for the reminders, esteemed reader patrons.]

If the opponent were at the Nascent Soul Stage, then he would definitely need to think twice.

But if they’re only at the Golden Core Realm, well, they’re not impossible to kill.

The last time in the Lava Heart Cave, Ming clashed with one of the Black God Sect’s branch leaders, gaining a fairly clear understanding of his own strength.

Now, with himself at the Heroic Soul Realm plus the Cavern Realm, killing cultivators of the same realm was incredibly easy. Most cultivators of the same level wouldn’t last a single round against him.

Cultivators at the Sea Observing Realm could put up slightly more of a fight, but even they wouldn’t last many rounds under his hands.

Cultivators at the Dragon Gate Realm were about evenly matched with him, but even so, eliminating most of them wouldn’t be difficult.

Against those at the Golden Core Realm, it was a fifty-fifty chance.

To be honest, Ming himself was somewhat startled by his own power.

For a cultivator, under normal circumstances, the maximum they could achieve was leaping two realms to slay an enemy, and that too only in extremely talented cases, often aided by rare treasures.

Yet here he was, relying solely on an inner sect sword technique from the Ten Thousand Sword Sect, using nothing but his bare fists without any treasure support, capable of leaping three realms to kill enemies—this was indeed outrageous.

It was mainly due to the system-given attribute points being extraordinarily effective.

Of course, it also helped that below the Nascent Soul Stage, the gap between each realm wasn’t as vast as the difference between the Cavern Realm and the Furnace Building Realm.

Once he entered the upper five realms and faced opponents of the upper five realms, even a single-realm difference would likely prove very challenging.

“The upper five realms…”

Ming softly murmured these three words in his mind, smiling inwardly.

The upper five realms…

They were still far too distant. We’ll see later.

After bidding farewell and leaving, Ming headed back toward Third Lady Luo’s residence.

Sure enough, when Ming arrived at Third Lady Luo’s door, he saw the village’s burly men incessantly knocking.

“Third Lady Luo, open the door! Keeping the door closed won’t help, Third Lady!”

This burly man looked somewhat reluctant.

Another villager muttered, “Third Lady Luo only has one daughter; if she loses her daughter, wouldn’t that be too pitiful?”

Then this villager got a glare from someone else who said, “Should we let your daughter take her place?”

And the villager immediately shut up, too scared to speak.

“Third Lady Luo, if you don’t come out, we will kick the door down!”

The burly man doing the knocking warned finally.

But there was still no response from inside the courtyard.

The several burly men exchanged glances and nodded.

“Clang.”

Third Lady Luo’s wooden gate was knocked down.

“I’ll see who dares touch my daughter!”

“Third Lady Luo, calm down!”

“Third Lady Luo, please put the knife down first!”

As everyone rushed into the courtyard, Third Lady Luo was already facing them with a kitchen knife in hand.

No one dared to take another step forward, fearing what Third Lady Luo might do.

“I know life is hard for everyone, and I know this year it’s our turn!” Third Lady Luo tightly gripped the handle of the knife. “But I only have this one daughter left! If you want to take her away, you’ll have to step over my dead body!”

“Third Lady… you…” The village chief didn’t know what to do.

Knowing this woman’s temperament, she really would do it.

Just as Third Lady Luo and the villagers were confronting each other,

Ming walked into the courtyard, approaching Third Lady Luo.

Third Lady Luo’s attention was drawn to Ming, her eyes blinking involuntarily.

“Didn’t this guest leave? Why has he returned?” Third Lady Luo wondered silently.

She worried that Ming might be colluding with them, stepping back a couple of paces, unsure what Ming intended to do.

Ming stepped between the villagers and Third Lady Luo, turned around, bowed respectfully to the villagers, and directly cut to the chase without beating around the bush: “If all of you trust me, I can help you deal with the Yellow Sand River Dragon King. From now on, there will be no need to offer any more children to that so-called dragon king.”

As soon as Ming finished speaking, everyone fell silent, as if momentarily unable to react.

“What did he say?”

“He said he can kill that evil dragon?”

“How could that be possible? That’s a dragon.”

“If he succeeds, that would be great, but if he fails, that dragon gets angry, and our entire village will be wiped out.”

Soon, everyone began discussing and questioning what Ming had said.

“Quiet!”

The village chief shouted, and everyone gradually quieted down.

The chief stepped forward, frowning deeply as he looked at Ming: “Good sir, we appreciate your intentions, but good sir, the Yellow Sand River Dragon King possesses great magical powers. How do you plan to kill it?

If you fail, not only will you die in vain, but the Yellow Sand River Dragon King will surely hold a grudge against us.

At that time, we will all perish.”

“I understand, Chief. Your concerns are valid,” Ming nodded.

“So, this is something you need to consider.

There’s no such thing as a perfect solution in this world.

I will do everything within my power to help you, but you will certainly bear corresponding risks.

If you trust me, cooperate with me, and my chances of success will be greater.

If you don’t trust me, I won’t interfere, and your village will continue as it has been.

However, Third Lady Luo gave me shelter for a night, which I consider a bond. You offering other villagers’ children for sacrifice, I have no objections, but this little girl, you must not touch.

I will take Third Lady Luo and her daughter away.”

“You…”

The chief was momentarily speechless, unsure what to say.

You could say this righteous hero was noble, risking his life to eliminate the Yellow Sand River Dragon King.

But if you called this hero hypocritical, he only saved Third Lady Luo’s daughter and cared nothing for the others.

What kind of “goodness” was this?

Or, to put it another way…

He only saved those he cared about.

When Ming’s words landed, the other villagers became tense.

This man claimed he could kill the Yellow Sand River Dragon King, implying he was among the divine beings. If this divine being wanted to protect Third Lady Luo’s daughter, what could they do?

That meant Third Lady Luo’s daughter was definitely off-limits, so they would have to select another little girl from another family.

But who would willingly send their daughter to her death?

Ming looked at everyone calmly: “I will stay here until noon. If you’ve decided, tell me. After noon, I will take Third Lady Luo and her daughter away.”