“Good person… I can’t take credit for being a good person.”
The girl’s eyes held a trace of self-mockery.
“Sister helped us dress our wounds and saved many lives. Of course, she’s a good person!”
Jiang Li looked at those on the ground who had been treated by the girl. Though all were just mortal methods, they truly saved everyone.
Jiang Li glanced down at the herbal bandages wrapped around his own body. Those must have been the girl’s handiwork as well.
“Is that so?”
Hearing the other’s innocent, childlike words, the girl couldn’t help but smile softly. “Since Young Lord says so, then I must be a good person.”
“By the way, sister, you’re so beautiful, but what’s wrong with your eyes?”
Jiang Li had noticed from the beginning. The girl in front of him wasn’t blind—she just didn’t like opening her eyes.
Could this be the “slit eyes” Master Brother mentioned?
Master Brother said all slit eyes were monsters, so Jiang Li had firmly decided not to provoke them.
Thus, Jiang Li carefully remembered Master Brother’s advice: when encountering powerful figures, saying something nice first never hurts, especially if the praise is reasonable.
These big shots love hearing such words.
“Young Lord’s words are pleasing to hear. My slender willow-like body wouldn’t be considered beautiful among my own people.”
The girl still didn’t open her eyes but touched them lightly and said, “My eyes have been like this since birth. Young Lord, no need to worry.”
So it was congenital. It seemed she wasn’t one of those people Master Brother said who would become especially strong once they opened their eyes.
Jiang Li breathed a sigh of relief inwardly, though his face still showed some pity for the girl’s plight.
The girl seemed to sense the emotion of the thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy and couldn’t help but laugh.
“Young Lord, you’re quite carefree. You’re about to be taken to the execution grounds soon, aren’t you afraid?”
“Of course I’m afraid.”
Jiang Li scratched his head and said, “But being afraid won’t help. I’m already trying to think of a way, but I have no clue. So it’s better to chat with a beautiful sister.”
“Hm? What would you like to talk about?”
The girl’s mood lifted as she lowered her voice, “How about I help you escape?”
Jiang Li twitched at the corner of his mouth. Was this topic advancing so quickly? And how could a mortal help him?
“I’d better not. I don’t want you to put yourself in danger, sister.”
“Yes, I want to. I want to.”
The girl’s smile remained, even a bit eager, as she whispered, “Besides, I’ve long disliked them.”
A mortal, displeased with cultivators?
Jiang Li’s expression stiffened. Although he hadn’t seen much of the world and didn’t have Master Brother’s broad knowledge, he still understood the huge gap between mortals and cultivators.
Normal mortals wouldn’t even think of opposing cultivators, let alone feel resentment. But this beautiful lady was different—she even seemed ready to put her displeasure into action.
Master Brother was right: slit eyes truly were monsters.
“…So, big sister, what do you want to do?”
***
Four Sages Academy Camp
Inside a tent hastily set up by Chun’er, a spirit-gathering array with a diameter of only three meters appeared on the ground.
Outside the spirit-gathering array was a Void Array that blocked information between inside and outside, ensuring that nothing outside disturbed Beichen Yue, nor would any disturbance from Beichen Yue affect the Four Sages Academy camp.
Of course, this formation wasn’t created by Beichen Yue or Chun’er—they knew nothing about formation techniques.
They only used a needle plate engraved with the formation and activated it with their spiritual energy.
This type of Array Plate was itself a spiritual artifact, not only extremely expensive but required a formation master to engrave the formation to guarantee that once enough spirit stones or energy was input, it would function smoothly.
By Dongfang Xiaotian’s standards, its value was three thousand spirit stones.
Beichen Yue pondered every word Dongfang Xiaotian said before leaving.
Dongfang Xiaotian had once reached late Foundation Establishment stage.
As the famous Azure Dragon Sword Immortal, he naturally cultivated the Dao of the Sword to the Foundation Establishment stage, fusing his sword intent into his Dao foundation.
Therefore, Beichen Yue had no doubt that these sword intents held no secrets.
“Enemy slaying, Spell Breaking, Evil Extermination…”
Though having more sword intents wasn’t always better—sometimes purer was stronger—she had to admit these three complemented each other well.
She indeed sensed a faint resonance with these sword intents in the depths of her being.
Soon, she swallowed five Foundation Establishment pills, followed by several others that ensured no side effects if Foundation Establishment failed and some that quickly stabilized the Dao foundation.
She looked exactly like a heavily invested player.
Turn.
After preparing everything, Beichen Yue began fusing the sword intents into her Dao foundation, completing her own Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.
Success or failure depended on this moment!
Chun’er watched her lady about to reach Foundation Establishment and hurriedly threw all her spirit stones into the spirit-gathering array to ensure the formation’s stability.
Sitting on a small wooden stool inside the tent, Chun’er gritted her teeth against the pain as she guarded her lady.
She sighed inwardly, “Why must Foundation Establishment happen in such a godforsaken place? Wouldn’t it be better to cultivate inside the sect’s Linghai?”
Though the spirit energy concentration in this miasma forest wasn’t low, it was mostly mixed with poisonous miasma.
Plus, the formation partially blocked the spirit energy. The quality and concentration were terribly low.
How could it compare to the Linghai above the sect or clan?
What frustrated Chun’er the most was that Dongfang Xiaotian, that idiot, knew her lady was about to establish her foundation but had already tricked all her spirit stones away—there wasn’t a single low-grade spirit stone left.
But perhaps that was for the best.
The shortsighted guy only saw those few spirit stones and didn’t realize how much benefit he lost by not letting Chun’er teach sword intents to help her lady break through Foundation Establishment.
Her lady had the bearing of a Great Emperor—this was a favor from a Future Empress!
Throughout the world, there were only seven Great Emperors of the Human and Demon Race, a testament to her lady’s talent.
Chun’er couldn’t wait for Dongfang Xiaotian to return and learn what he had done—wasting the favor of a Future Empress for a few hundred spirit stones!
She couldn’t imagine what his reaction would be!
On the other hand, her loyalty to her lady was absolute, and she wouldn’t be shortchanged when the time came!
Heh heh heh, she was eager to see the regret on Dongfang Xiaotian’s face.
Of course, he did help a bit during the previous incident, so if he begged her, she might speak well of him to her lady.
After all, although Dongfang Xiaotian was greedy, the fact he could have escaped alone but chose to stay and risk it with them showed he was better than those bottom-feeders who were endlessly grasping.
So after Dongfang Xiaotian entered the Ice Ling Immortal Palace with them, Chun’er wasn’t unwilling to associate with him.
Naturally, that was on the condition that he straightened out his attitude—no more fantasizing about taking her lady’s place or hiding behind her constantly.
Just as Chun’er was lost in these random thoughts, a sharp sword clang pierced her eardrums, causing her to clutch her head in pain.
After the sharp clang, a massive surge of spiritual energy flooded in, only barely stopping after fifteen minutes.
In that instant, a Foundation Establishment aura radiated from the tent behind Chun’er!
She was overjoyed—without a doubt, her lady had succeeded in Foundation Establishment!
And that sharp sword clang was clearly a heavenly phenomenon produced by Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment!
“Chun’er, come in.”
Hearing her lady’s call, Chun’er immediately entered the tent and, feeling the sword-tinged spiritual energy, congratulated, “Congratulations, Lady, on breaking through Foundation Establishment! Once you return to the sect, the Ice Ling Immortal Palace will definitely regard you more highly!”
“All right, Chun’er, thank you for guarding me.”
Beichen Yue’s lips curved slightly as she waved her hand.
“You probably didn’t have time to treat your wounds properly. Let me help.”
“T-That would be a bother, Lady!”
Despite her words, Chun’er obediently loosened her robe. Underneath was fair skin, and after removing everything except her undergarments, she stopped.
Chun’er was slightly younger than Beichen Yue by a few months, but her chest was somewhat fuller. Her skin wasn’t as flawless as Beichen Yue’s creamy complexion, but she was still a beauty.
However, more worrying to Beichen Yue than the exposed flesh was the simple bleeding wounds scattered across her—many forcibly stopped by spiritual energy, bloodstains left uncleaned.
Beichen Yue guessed her personal maid had only changed clothes simply before guarding her.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Beichen Yue sighed softly and took out a basin of clean water to start washing Chun’er’s bloodstains.
“This time, we owe everything to Young Lord Dongfang. Without him, we wouldn’t have survived.”
“What does he have to do with it?”
Chun’er was in the middle of washing her lady’s wounds, quite absorbed, and was somewhat displeased that her lady mentioned that fellow.
“Hmph. It was Young Lord Xiao from the Xiao Sect who saved us… though only because of his face.”
Saying this, Chun’er’s tone faltered.
Though not very smart, Chun’er wasn’t foolish either. She saw that Xiao Yuanqing had watched the fight for so long without intervening likely because he didn’t want to meddle.
Such things couldn’t be forced. After all, this world was full of strange treasures, and injury or death in battle was always possible.
Even her lady could single-handedly fight ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators. Cultivation level wasn’t everything.
Moreover, Xiao Yuanqing owed a favor to Dongfang Xiaotian, not to her lady. Whether he chose not to act was uncertain.
If Dongfang Xiaotian hadn’t called for help, Chun’er guessed Xiao Yuanqing would have left after seeing Dongfang Xiaotian use a Ground Walking Talisman to escape.
Then, the one who would have died was either her or her lady.
“That’s right.”
Beichen Yue wiped the blood from Chun’er and said, “In the end, we survived only thanks to Young Lord Dongfang’s face. We owe him even more now.”
“Yes, Lady.” Chun’er could only grunt in agreement.
Beichen Yue pulled out a packet of powder from her spatial ring. “It’ll sting a bit. Bear with it.”
Chun’er nodded but winced as her lady wrapped the powdered medicine with gauze and pressed it directly on her chest wound.
Beichen Yue practiced with a Heart of the Dao of Passionlessness, showing no mercy as she continued dressing the wounds, then asked, “Chun’er, be honest, what kind of person do you think Young Lord Dongfang is?”
“Ah, him? Greedy, lustful, and afraid of trouble, right?”
Chun’er answered without hesitation but then thought a moment and continued, “But he’s still loyal. Though he always talks nonsense and twisted reasoning, when it comes to doing things, he doesn’t mess around…”
Chun’er suddenly realized that without involving her lady, the man wasn’t bad at all.
Beichen Yue smiled and said, “I also think he would make a good husband.”
Chun’er: ???
No! Dongfang Xiaotian! What exactly did you fuse into my lady’s Dao foundation!