The unfamiliar wooden dome came into view, exuding the distinctive scent of dry pine.
Lu Qiancha rubbed her temples, which felt as if they had been hammered, and dizzily sat up from the hard bed. The terrifying and overwhelming Xianren
aura from before still lingered, causing her Sea of Consciousness to tremble as if caught in a raging storm.
She took out a Condensing Mind Pill and swallowed it. The cool medicinal power spread through her limbs and bones, allowing her to catch her breath.
Looking around, the entire wooden cabin contained only two benches, a wooden table, and the bed she was on. The place looked rather shabby.
“Awake?”
With a creak, the wooden door was pushed open, and a wolf clan woman dressed in a gray beast-hide cloak, her aura deep and unfathomable like an abyss, stepped inside.
Her silver-gray eyes swept over Lu Qiancha, her voice flat and emotionless, as if merely passing by.
“Who are you? Why did you capture me? Where is the person who came with me?”
Lu Qiancha practically bounced upright, every nerve on edge. Her vigilant gaze stabbed at the woman as she fired off questions like a barrage.
The wolf woman frowned slightly, raising a hand impatiently to stop her line of questioning: “Before demanding others’ names, shouldn’t you first introduce yourself? Such rudeness, little one.”
“…!” Lu Qiancha’s breath hitched. Suppressing her frustration, she forced her voice to sound steady and imbued with invisible intimidation.
“I was impolite. My name is Lu Qiancha, a disciple under the Tianyuan Sect. This time, I came here with senior sect members for experience. If there was any offense… please forgive me.”
She deliberately emphasized the words “senior sect members,” implying clearly—there are powerful figures behind me, don’t mess around!
“Lu Qiancha, huh? Quite a fresh and elegant name.”
Wan Shuang’s lips curved into a faint smile. “I am Wan Shuang, leader of the White Wolf Tribe.”
“Let’s get to the point. You captured someone from the Tianyuan Sect—what exactly is your purpose?”
Lu Qiancha fixed her eyes on those silver-gray pupils, her words heavy with accusation.
“What’s your scheme in capturing them?”
The playful expression on Wan Shuang’s face vanished instantly, replaced by a frozen, glacial chill. Crossing her arms, her imposing aura suddenly surged forth, an invisible pressure enveloping the cabin:
“Speaking of which, I was about to ask you, little one—what crime do you deserve for colluding with the Rénzú to steal the precious medicine painstakingly cultivated by my tribe?!”
“Stealing medicine?!” Lu Qiancha stiffened, and the image of those few blood-red fruits flashed through her mind. “Could it be… the Essence-Returning Fruit?!”
Mentioning that name, the fierce posture she had forced up deflated like a popped balloon with a “pfft,” her gaze flickering, no longer daring to look directly into Wan Shuang’s all-seeing silver-gray eyes.
It was over—caught red-handed by the aggrieved party!
“What else could it be?!”
Wan Shuang snorted coldly, her gaze like invisible chains tightly binding Lu Qiancha’s wavering eyes, pressing her step by step:
“Stealing the medicine is the first crime! Colluding with the Rénzú is the second! Both crimes must be punished!”
“Considering you haven’t yet caused serious consequences… hand over the Essence-Returning Fruit and accept the Return-to-Origin Fruit Punishment of eight hundred strikes, and this matter will be considered settled!”
“Wait! Wait!”
Lu Qiancha quickly raised her head, clawed hands flailing wildly, her speech speeding up:
“Eight hundred strikes it is! I accept! But… but could you not take the Essence-Returning Fruit? I can buy it with Ling Stones! Or trade with other Mofa Fabao!”
***
After all, a few hundred strikes weren’t much; for someone at the Spirit Severing stage like her, it was nothing compared to taking a few thunder strikes at Thunder Cliff.
But the Essence-Returning Fruit… since she had already found it, there was no way she would let it go so easily.
“Trade with Ling Stones?” Wan Shuang eyed her desperate little expression and felt a strange amusement. How many Ling Stones did this little one think she could produce?
Wan Shuang deliberately put on a stern face and casually named an exorbitant price: “One thousand high-grade Ling Stones! If you can come up with that, those few fruits will be yours.”
Five Essence-Returning Fruits of a thousand-year age, their market price was actually about three hundred high-grade Ling Stones, so Wan Shuang’s quote was a blatant rip-off.
“One thousand high-grade Ling Stones?!”
Lu Qiancha’s face instantly twisted into a painful frown, her large blue eyes swimming with agony. She bit her lip and counted all the Ling Stones in her storage pouch.
In the end, she still wore a forlorn expression as she pulled out a stuffed Ring of Storage and handed it to Wan Shuang.
“Here… here you go!” Her voice trembled slightly, and she turned her head away, unwilling to look.
Wan Shuang raised a hand and caught the ring steadily, curiously sending out a sliver of her immortal awareness into it.
Five hundred and sixteen lustrous high-grade Ling Stones, over three thousand middle-grade Ling Stones of lesser spiritual quality, a mountain of low-grade Ling Stones; plus some well-preserved Lingcao and several shimmering Mofa Fabao…
Hmph.
This little one had scraped together nearly a thousand high-grade Ling Stones?
A flicker of barely noticeable surprise crossed Wan Shuang’s eyes. This tiny creature was actually so wealthy? Could it be that she had stolen from the Royal Cub’s treasure trove?
But there had been no news lately about any Royal Cub treasure being robbed.
“Xiao Qiancha—”
Wan Shuang suddenly dragged out the tone.
“What?!” Lu Qiancha whipped her head back, her furry ears perked high, blue eyes wide and instantly on full alert.
“…You’re not going to go back on your word, are you?!”
A bad feeling wrapped around Lu Qiancha’s heart!
Seeing her flustered, cat-like reaction, Wan Shuang couldn’t hold back a burst of laughter. The smile that spread across her usually cold face somehow seemed warm.
She suddenly wanted to tease Lu Qiancha and said, “I really did change my mind.”
“—!!!” Lu Qiancha instantly bristled, her little face flushed with anger as she almost stomped her feet. “Untrustworthy! Breaking your word! I’ll fight you!!!”
Grievance, anger, and despair ignited within her. Without hesitation, she summoned the Scheming Rubik. Amid the swirling colors, a fierce spear materialized in her claws.
Whether she could win or not, today she had to take a bite out of this old fox!
But the next second…
A vast and terrifying aura like the boundless sky and starry sea, as invisible as the deep ocean, instantly swallowed the rebellious little wolf cub!
The familiar, desperate Xianren aura returned. Lu Qiancha stiffened on the spot like a kitten caught by the scruff of the neck.
Forget moving; even lifting a finger was almost impossible. The anger she had just kindled was doused like a splash of snow water with a sharp hiss.
Resist? Resist what nonsense!
Better to think about where to reincarnate eighteen years from now…
The little wolf cub’s eyes instantly lost their sparkle, her entire being dimmed. Her claws loosened, and the spear reverted back to the Scheming Rubik in her palm.
Her ears drooped, and her tail hung limply behind her, looking utterly dispirited.
Shut down, give up, just destroy everything already.
“Pfft…” Wan Shuang watched her shift so quickly from snarling to utterly defeated and couldn’t help but laugh.
She withdrew her pressure, looking at the listless little one with a gentle voice: “Alright, alright, just teasing you. Here, take back the Ring of Storage, and the Essence-Returning Fruit is yours too.”
With that, she flicked her finger, and the ring flew steadily back into Lu Qiancha’s hand.
“Huh?!” The sudden reversal caught Lu Qiancha completely off guard. Her dark eyes brightened instantly, and she quickly scooped up the reclaimed treasure.
She looked at Wan Shuang in confusion, unable to understand this twist of events. “Bu… but… why?”
Wan Shuang looked at the confused, youthful face filled with questions, her smile deepening. “There aren’t that many ‘whys’ in this world. If I had to find a reason…”
She tilted her head slightly, her silver-gray eyes full of mischief. “Maybe it’s because… you getting all flustered was just too cute to refuse?”
Cu…cute?!
Lu Qiancha’s body stiffened, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. Those two words circled like a spell on her sensitive nerves. Immediately, she harshly replaced “cute” with “handsome” in her mind.
At the same time, she couldn’t help but sigh: being good-looking really could get you far in this damn face-driven world.
However, Wan Shuang’s next words struck like silent thunder, exploding unexpectedly in her ears: “By the way, Xiao Qiancha… your mother… is her name… Xun Xue?”