The Dowry Harvester

"You!"

Lin Qingxue's willow eyebrows stood on end, her silver teeth clenched tight.

"This is a high-grade Yellow-tier spirit sword, and you broke it before it even had five hundred words of screen time?"

"And it was clearly you who took it and smashed it against my Earth-tier spirit sword!" Lin Qingxue's small face flushed red with anger, wishing she could rush up and give Ye Shu two punches.

"You are clearly just extorting me! Naked extortion!"

Hearing this, Ye Shu gently shook his head.

"You are mistaken, Miss Lin. You gave me such a broken sword, how am I supposed to fight you?"

"To do a good job, an artisan needs the best tools."

"You!..."

Lin Qingxue's eyes widened, completely defeated by his shamelessness.

Immediately, she raised her hand again.

With a clang, another completely silver-white longsword appeared.

"Take it, the mid-grade Black-tier Shadow Snow Sword."

Lin Qingxue practically spoke through gritted teeth, "Is this one good enough?"

Ye Shu picked up the sword and slashed with it again.

Ding!

This time, the longsword let out a crisp sound, but it snapped right on cue. The break was as smooth as a mirror, leaving only half the blade in his hand.

Lin Qingxue: "..."

Xiaobai: "Wow..."

Danxia: "...(Facepalms)"

"It seems the quality is still lacking." Ye Shu sighed while holding the broken sword, shaking his head in disappointment. "Could it be that the eldest miss of the Lin family doesn't have a single decent weapon in her hands? It seems the Qingxuan Sect is nothing more than this."

Provoked by him, Lin Qingxue instantly blew her top.

"What nonsense are you spouting, you bastard?!" She glared with raised eyebrows and scolded, "How could I not have a good sword? It's just... just that compared to the Female Mandarin Duck Sword in my hand..."

She didn't finish her sentence, looking somewhat conflicted.

The high-grade Earth-tier Female Mandarin Duck Sword in her hand was the female counterpart, which naturally meant there was a male counterpart. It was sitting in her storage ring right now—they were a pair of Mandarin Duck Swords.

They were originally a token of love left to her by her parents.

Which also meant... her dowry.

In her previous life, she had handed this sword over after surviving multiple dangers in the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Once, when they were trapped in a desperate situation and supported each other, she secretly gave him her heart and solemnly presented the male sword to him, symbolizing entrusting her life to him.

But in this life...

How could she possibly give such an important thing to this heartless man whom she had sworn to stay away from, or even kill?

But if she didn't give it to him...

Lin Qingxue looked at the broken sword fragments at Ye Shu's feet, her heart momentarily caught in a fierce internal struggle.

Right at that moment, Ye Shu spoke up.

He raised the broken sword, his tone calm yet carrying a faint hint of threat. "Eldest Miss, surely you don't wish to... stay with me forever in this godforsaken place, right?"

Hearing this, Lin Qingxue's delicate body trembled.

Of course she didn't want to stay here forever, but that sword was her dowry...

Whatever.

She had already given it to this guy in her previous life anyway.

In this life, she would just consider it as feeding it to a dog.

Lin Qingxue took a deep breath and raised her right hand again. A green light flashed in her hand, and a longsword appeared. It glowed with a warm, jade-like green light, its ancient and elegant design similar to the longsword she was holding, but slightly larger.

Green light flowed across the blade, clearly showing it was extraordinary.

"Take it." She closed her eyes, enduring the heartache as she handed the sword over, her voice trembling. "High-grade Earth-tier, the Male Mandarin Duck Sword. I am only... only lending it to you. You have to return it later."

She said this, but she knew in her heart.

Once this sword was handed over, there probably wouldn't be a day when it returned to her side.

Seeing her like this, Ye Shu took it somewhat solemnly.

As soon as the sword entered his hand, man and sword became one.

Spiritual energy seemed to automatically circulate through his meridians, echoing the flow of this sword and resonating faintly with him.

Ye Shu suddenly swung his hand to the right.

Crack!

Bang bang bang bang bang!

A dazzling sword light flashed across, and a hard, half-man-tall bluestone by the riverbank split perfectly into two halves, the cut as smooth as a mirror. Even more astonishingly, the residual sword energy did not dissipate; it continuously chopped down seven or eight bowl-thick trees behind it before slowly fading away.

"Good sword!"

Ye Shu could not help but praise.

This sword was actually so compatible with him? Just upon taking hold of it, it felt like an extension of his own body, moving exactly as he willed.

"Of course it is."

Xiaobai, who was squatting to the side, explained, "Because this was originally an early-stage divine weapon tailor-made for you! Only you can unleash its true power."

Seeing the Male Mandarin Duck Sword so perfectly matched with Ye Shu, Lin Qingxue could not help but bite her lip gently, her heart filled with mixed feelings.

She had to admit, this sword was forged for him.

It was just a pity... that it was given to the wrong person.

"Alright, I've given you the sword, I've given you the spirit stones, I've given you everything. Are you satisfied now?" Lin Qingxue's voice carried a grievance that even she had not noticed.

Floating in mid-air, Danxia clicked her tongue in amazement. This time, her little disciple had really bullied the girl too harshly; she was so wronged she was about to cry.

Having taken advantage of her, he had to at least give her a smile.

Ye Shu sheathed the longsword, cupped his hands toward Lin Qingxue, and smiled. "Having fought with me for so many days, Miss Lin hasn't had a proper rest, has she? We won't fight today. You can get some good rest. Feel free to use the bed in the cabin, or if you want to hunt some wild game, I can help cook it for you."

Lin Qingxue froze for a moment, but ultimately went nowhere.

She just slowly walked over to a large rock by the river and sat down, hugging her knees, silently staring at the distant scenery in a daze.

"Tsk, seems I bullied her too hard."

Ye Shu shook his head.

But this couldn't be helped. Who asked for such a hellish starting scenario?

Besides, they were in opposing factions to begin with.

So there was nothing much to say.

Roar!!!!!

Boom!!!!

Just as he was preparing to further familiarize himself with the Male Mandarin Duck Sword, a fierce beast's roar suddenly echoed from the distant mountain forest, followed by a violent explosion.

"What's going on?"

Ye Shu looked up, frowning instinctively.

This beast's roar was quite familiar. It was the overlord-level creature of this region, the Amethyst Lion King!

A Rank Five demonic beast, comparable to a Soul Formation cultivator.

An absolute overlord-level creature. Thanks to it, Ye Shu had been able to stay here in peace, without other high-level magical beasts coming to bother him.

Logically speaking, such a creature shouldn't be this enraged.

"Could it be that some other high-level magical beast is trying to expand its territory and accidentally bumped into the Amethyst Lion King?"

Ye Shu frowned, muttering in a low voice.

Just as he was puzzled, he noticed that Xiaobai's expression next to him was off. The moment this little one heard the noise, her small face suddenly turned pale and her eyes darted around shiftily. It was obvious she was hiding something.

"Xiaobai, do you know something?"

Ye Shu looked at Xiaobai suspiciously.

Called out by him, Xiaobai immediately squeezed her legs together, her small hands clutching her little white dress. Her eyes darted around as she stammered, "H-how could I... Do you think I would tell you..."

"Actually, I forgot to tell you again..."

"In this Magical Beast Mountain Range story arc, there are two female leads."