Chapter 31: The Earth Dragon Turns Over

Don't say that—there was quite a lot of rice, flour, grain, and oil in the kitchen; just these alone would be enough to feed her family for a long time.

The kitchen was as large as three rooms, with twenty to thirty jars of wine lined up against the wall.

Vegetables, fruits, meat, cooking oil, milk, honey, and dried nuts were nothing special, but Xin Nian's discovery of dozens of small, sealed storage jars of salt and sugar made her truly happy.

A Commandery Princess wouldn't be using coarse salt or crude sugar; it would all be fine, high-quality goods.

In any era, salt and sugar are strategic resources, indispensable.

These dozens of small jars would last a good while, solving her most pressing problem.

After securing those, Xin Nian didn't even bother to reject the opened jars of oil, salt, sugar, and various seasonings on the stove—she swept them all up too.

By the time she finished this round of looting, it was already past the Hour of the Rat.

She had originally intended to find time to take a bath at the Princess's place, but looking at the time, that was out of the question.

She neatly arranged the sixteen corpses from the Ningzhu Graveyard in the front courtyard.

Xin Nian happily headed toward the woodshed, first collecting all the split firewood, as she would likely need it when the weather turned cold.

Then, she turned to the small dark room next door where the farmers were detained, picked the lock, and tossed a large handful of gold and silver trinkets at the door.

Time was running out; opportunities were given to them, but whether they could seize them depended on the individual.

When she reappeared floating in the fragrant boudoir of the Commandery Princess, Xiao Jiuni was still struggling desperately to crawl out of the bathtub.

Xin Nian gave a giggle and, without a word, stepped forward, grabbed the Princess's long hair, and began dragging her out.

After tossing her by the door, she proceeded to scavenge the contents of the boudoir.

Since they were all being exiled, no one should look down on anyone else. Xin Nian didn't mind the exquisite clothes in the wardrobe at all; she even took the wardrobe itself.

After all, they were much better than the stinking prisoner rags her family was wearing.

She took all the bedding, both thick and thin, including the bed that looked like it had barely been used.

Anything placed in the Commandery Princess's private villa was bound to be good stuff—stools, tables, fragrant wood shelves, and even that gold-inlaid, colorful flowering wood screen. Hehe, it all belonged to Nian Nian now.

Having happily stripped the side room bare, Xin Nian walked out of the room, tilted her head, and smiled at the tumbling, crawling Xiao Jiuni on the ground.

"Let's go."

Xin Nian picked up Xiao Jiuni like a little chick, and with a flicker of her figure, they appeared at the main gate of the villa.

With a swing of a Spatial Blade, the plaque of the Yunlin Villa hanging at the gate was sliced clean in two.

Level Three—she could finally use her basic skill, Spatial Blade.

The spatial skill allowed her to regain some intuition regarding the use of her abilities. Xin Nian understood that if she ascended further, recovery might not be this fast.

After all, the higher the level, the stronger and purer the energy required for absorption and circulation.

But she was easygoing; even if she wasn't as she once was, her current state was sufficient for the present situation.

Many things cannot be rushed; with a good mindset, one can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

"Hey, you, come over." Xin Nian couldn't remember the name of the Thread-Pulling Puppet, so she just called out randomly.

The dark-faced man appeared three meters away from her, silently cracking his stiff neck.

Xin Nian casually tossed him two flour pancakes. "I'll call you Number One from now on. Follow me, but don't get too close, and don't let anyone discover your tracks."

She vanished on the spot, carrying Xiao Jiuni.

The dark-faced man sniffed the scent in the air and chased in that direction.

Since ascending to Level Three, Xin Nian could feel that all her physical indicators had improved significantly.

Her spatial teleportation distance had increased.

From a maximum of ten meters, it had risen to fifty meters.

Instantaneous teleportation and faster consecutive activations made her very satisfied.

She carried the person directly to a small grove not far from the exile camp, tossed her by a ditch, and smiled at Xiao Jiuni with sparkling eyes.

Xiao Jiuni had been dragged out of the bathtub wearing nothing but an inner garment.

Now, with disheveled hair and thrown into a completely strange place, there wasn't a trace of malice or cruelty left in her eyes; there was only fear and pleas for mercy.

Xin Nian smeared a face full of mud over the woman's face—which was missing a small portion of her nose—and then took out a pair of small scissors, hacking her beautiful long hair into a jagged, uneven mess.

Only then did she nod with great satisfaction.

"Princess, you look nothing like the high-spirited, disdainful person you were yesterday." She tilted her head with a grin, watching her like a spectator at a show. "I wonder how long you can survive in this apocalyptic disaster without your beautiful clothes and your status as a Princess."

"I'm so looking forward to it~" As the young girl spoke, her eyes twinkled with excitement.

Xiao Jiuni shook her head violently, biting her lip and looking up at that grinning monster with a face full of pleading.

Fear and terror were like sharp blades, incessantly cutting through her broken heart.

"Bye-bye, good luck~"

Xin Nian vanished with a smile, leaving behind Commandery Princess Jiuni, who could only scream silently, unable to move or call for help.

After an unknown amount of time, two slender figures appeared at the edge of the small grove.

"Your Highness, it... it's like this. The Princess isn't dead, but her tendons have been severed..." Even though Zhu Yan was brave and skilled, his face turned slightly pale at this moment.

He had already secretly scouted the villa. Many of the rooms were empty; everything had vanished into thin air.

That little demon who killed as easily as taking something from a pocket was not only ruthless but even possessed the great divine power to store items in a void!

"What are you panicking for? Leaving her here is too close; a random search might reveal something unusual. Go, dump her in the mountain valley near Shantiao Village. Whether she lives or dies is entirely up to luck."

Zhu Yan dared not say or ask anything; he gave an affirmative response and moved to pick up Commandery Princess Jiuni.

"Have someone burn that villa. A place that harbors such filth is disgusting to look at." The man pulled an iron plaque from his robe and flicked it to Zhu Yan. "Leave this at the scene."

"Yes."

*

Xin Nian did not rejoin the group immediately. Seeing the dark mass of people at the camp all sleeping soundly, she happily continued picking fruits and mushrooms on this hillside.

She hadn't picked much in her haste earlier, and since she still had some time, she continued.

After picking enough mushrooms, wild berries, and wild pears to last several days, Xin Nian suddenly felt the ground shake.

At first, she thought it was an illusion, but she immediately realized that a nearby rock was tilting.

She thought to herself, *Oh no.*

This couldn't be an earthquake, could it?

Xin Nian quickly packed her harvest and rushed toward the camp.

An earthquake would surely wake everyone up; she had to slip in amidst the chaos to avoid being noticed.

Ancient people called earthquakes "the turning of the Earth Dragon," because they believed earthquakes were related to the dragon; every so often, the dragon beneath the earth would turn over, causing the ground to shake.

Ancient people were quite devout when encountering the turning of the Earth Dragon, much like right now...

Many exiles, once awakened, were in a state of total chaos, screaming and throwing themselves to the ground, kneeling and kowtowing toward the slightly pale eastern horizon, muttering incessantly.

Xin Nian: "..."

The Xie couple hadn't slept at all. Ever since their daughter had left, the two had been calculating the time, waiting with burning anxiety.

When the earthquake struck suddenly, Su Wenyuan was the first to throw his young son onto his back and spring upward.