After a round of warm greetings, Dongfang Xiaotian finally began asking Little Junior Brother about what happened after he was captured, and how those demonic cultivators ended up unconscious.
“I’m not entirely sure either,” Jiang Li recalled with a slight headache.
“I remember I was in the cage with a particularly beautiful Blind Elder Sister. She was the one who bandaged all our wounds.”
“Later, she asked me if I wanted to escape the Demonic Faction. Of course, I couldn’t let that beautiful sister risk herself, so I planned to find a way on my own.”
“Then, that sister still insisted on helping, but before she could explain the situation in detail, a man wearing a mask dragged her away.”
“After that, one by one, those demonic cultivators collapsed. My head was spinning, and when I woke up, I saw you, Senior Brother.”
Dongfang Xiaotian listened quietly to Little Junior Brother’s account and instantly grasped the general outline of events.
It seemed this time the plot wasn’t about being chased into a dangerous secret realm for forced secluded cultivation, but rather the introduction of a new female lead.
Curious, Little Junior Brother asked, “Senior Brother, when you came to rescue me, did you see that Squinty-Eyed Elder Sister?”
“Squinty-Eyed Elder Sister?”
Little Junior Brother nodded and said, “She was very beautiful but blind, and her legs were weak. When she was dragged away, it was obvious she couldn’t use her feet properly.”
The moment Dongfang Xiaotian heard “legs were weak,” he immediately knew he hadn’t seen her.
After all, by the time he arrived, those who could still move had already returned—none of them were limping or struggling with their legs.
Among the demonic cultivators, there wasn’t even a single woman, and Dongfang Xiaotian had personally finished them off.
Clearly, the beautiful blind elder sister Little Junior Brother was looking for wasn’t among them.
“Looks like you encountered a master.”
Dongfang Xiaotian thought seriously for a moment, secretly marveling at what they called the Protagonist’s Aura.
Hmph, this was unbelievable. Though there was no cliff-jumping breakthrough, he had actually run into a suspected female lead who helped solve his troubles and even helped Little Junior Brother level up.
Just by sleeping, he jumped from Qi Refining stage eight to nine. Dongfang Xiaotian felt a twinge of jealousy.
Although Dongfang Xiaotian himself hadn’t ever been stuck at a cultivation stage, that didn’t mean leveling up was that easy. Even he had to diligently cultivate his method and take pills to advance.
Indeed, compared to the protagonist’s lucky streak, so-called geniuses were nothing but trash.
But this kind of clichéd plot, where the protagonist is stranded in the enemy faction, then saved by a pure-hearted girl who turns out to be the daughter of a high-ranking enemy, was just too much.
Blindness, weak legs, kind heart, but trapped in the Demonic Faction—this Bad End buff was maxed out!
Dongfang Xiaotian felt a stomach ache just thinking about it, but it was still better than the protagonist suddenly jumping off a cliff to cultivate in seclusion.
At least then, Dongfang Xiaotian wouldn’t have to babysit the fate-unknown Little Junior Brother, which was boring.
“You’ll have the chance to meet her later, don’t worry.”
Dongfang Xiaotian rubbed Jiang Li’s head and then began taking Little Junior Brother’s pulse.
Unlike before, Little Junior Brother had now successfully broken through to Qi Refining stage nine, and his injuries were healing at a rate even Dongfang Xiaotian found surprising.
No wonder one of the female leads had given him some miraculous elixir—the generosity was impressive.
Dongfang Xiaotian took out a bottle of pills and placed it in Little Junior Brother’s hand.
“This is a Second Tier Foundation Cultivation Pill. It will help consolidate your foundation and stabilize your cultivation. Let’s stabilize your stage first.”
“When your cultivation is sufficient, you’ll naturally be able to meet her if you want.”
Indeed, these stomach-aching problems were best left for the protagonist to deal with. Dongfang Xiaotian just needed to be the Background Board who silently supported him from behind.
“Thank you for the pill, Senior Brother!”
Little Junior Brother obediently nodded, took the second-grade Foundation Cultivation Pill, and immediately popped it into his mouth to begin cultivation.
“Good, this is exactly the kind of disciplined protagonist I like.”
“Hey, is he really a boy?”
***
Elsewhere, two girls, after realizing their arguments couldn’t affect Dongfang Xiaotian’s concern for Little Junior Brother, quietly gave up bickering.
After all, one was a Saint Forget Love disciple and the other was sane; knowing that quarrels wouldn’t get what they wanted, they calmly sat down to chat.
Beichen Yue’s first question was to doubt Little Junior Brother’s gender.
“Yes, of course he is.”
Tushan Bingxian nodded decisively. “Senior Brother said they bathed together. Definitely has a male organ.”
“But he looks so pretty, with flawless skin, long eyelashes, and big eyes… Is he really not a girl?”
Beichen Yue looked at Little Junior Brother’s adorable face; no matter how she looked, he resembled a delicate thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl, as exquisite as a doll.
For a moment, Beichen Yue even suspected that Dongfang Gongzi’s usual coldness and occasional disdainful glances toward her might be because of this youth!
She actually lost to a boy?
Such a ridiculous thought barely appeared before Beichen Yue crushed it.
Why did she have to win anyway? She didn’t want to!
Tushan Bingxian let out a light laugh, looking at this Saint Forget Love disciple who was obviously thinking about Little Junior Brother. She knew exactly what was on her mind.
Tushan Bingxian had pondered a similar question herself and asked Dongfang Xiaotian about it. He gave her some weird answers like:
“Painting a girl and insisting it’s a boy.”
“Cute must be a boy!”
“Xiuji, it must be Xiuji!”
Tushan Bingxian didn’t understand a word of it.
Meanwhile, Dongfang Xiaotian ignored the two girls’ noise and watched Little Junior Brother cultivate. He took out a rocking chair from his spatial artifact, lay down, and began to catch up on his sleep.
Speaking of Little Junior Brother, Dongfang Xiaotian didn’t just randomly pick him to be his future protagonist’s main support.
Such matters required caution—if he chose wrong, all resources and effort would go to waste.
But Little Junior Brother’s protagonist template was too glaring. Dongfang Xiaotian felt he’d be betraying his own nine clans if he didn’t cultivate a good relationship with him.
About half a year ago, Dongfang Xiaotian had a fierce battle with a Little Mother Dragon. After being severely injured and his spirit sea damaged, he used a precious Protective Talisman to teleport to a town.
At that time, Dongfang Xiaotian almost lost his life. Luckily, Little Junior Brother found him and took him back to his shabby thatched cottage to nurse him until he gradually recovered.
After waking up, Dongfang Xiaotian stayed temporarily at Jiang Li’s house, who wasn’t yet his Little Junior Brother.
He discovered that the town had several prominent families. The Jiang Family was a distant relative of a powerful clan, and Jiang Li had been sent there to live as a foster child.
The reason was obvious: Jiang Li’s spirit vein was completely useless; he couldn’t cultivate.
Therefore, even at this distant relative’s home, he was treated coldly and without any respect one would expect for a guest.
He could only survive by doing odd jobs every day and was constantly bullied and called a waste.
Of course, not everything was bad—his benefactor Jiang Li possessed a Seven Orifices Exquisite Heart, learning quickly and gifted with exceptional talent.
Hmph~
That was the real deal!
If only there had been a Three-Year Promise, Dongfang Xiaotian felt he would have sworn brotherhood with this little brother!
And guess what? He actually had a marriage pact, though at thirteen, he was nowhere near old enough to marry.
The moment Dongfang Xiaotian heard about Jiang Li’s marriage pact, he was overjoyed, feeling like “I, the Daoist, have made it!”
All that Azure Dragon Sword Immortal nonsense, the Number One Below Golden Core stuff—Dongfang Xiaotian paid no attention.
His eyes were on his idol Haibodong’s successful investment example, and the ideal of “more money, less work, close to home, high position with light responsibility!”
He had never been more clear about himself.
Without hesitation, Dongfang Xiaotian emptied his wealth and used his Azure Dragon Bloodline to repair Jiang Li’s spirit vein, allowing him to restart cultivation.
Later, the Four Sages Academy came recruiting in town, selecting the few strongest young talents.
***
After riding far ahead with Little Junior Brother, they naturally became outer disciples of the Four Sages Academy.
Little Junior Brother lived up to expectations—in just half a year, he went from a useless cripple to Qi Refining stage eight, cultivating at a pace faster than Dongfang Xiaotian himself.
Most of this was due to Dongfang Xiaotian feeding him his resources bit by bit. It was costly, almost draining Dongfang Xiaotian’s entire fortune just to keep up with the bottomless pit.
This had Dongfang Xiaotian busy painting spirit talismans all night yesterday, leaving no time for proper rest.
Thinking of all this, Dongfang Xiaotian’s consciousness slowly sank into darkness.
“He’s already asleep?”
Chun’er, who had been watching the scene for a long time, finally found a chance to speak and immediately reminded the lady, “You promised us…”
Chun’er hadn’t forgotten their purpose for heading south, nor that if they helped Dongfang Xiaotian find his senior siblings, he would accept compensation and hand over the marriage pact and Family Treasury Key.
Now, with their young lady breaking through Foundation Establishment and Dongfang Xiaotian finding his people, all that remained was the marriage pact and key in Dongfang Xiaotian’s hands.
But before Chun’er could continue, Dongfang Xiaotian simply lay down and fell asleep, even snoring softly. His health was remarkable.
“Shh!”
Beichen Yue immediately covered Chun’er’s mouth and glanced at the still sleeping Dongfang Xiaotian before finally relaxing a little.
“If Young Master is tired, let him rest. He’s been yawning and busy all along the way. Let him rest; we’re not in a rush.”
Chun’er wanted to say more but recalled the lady’s previous words that Dongfang Xiaotian, as a third-tier formation master, deserved more respect.
“All right, Chun’er, your injuries have only been stopped, not fully healed. You should sit and absorb the medicinal power.”
Saying so, Beichen Yue tossed a pill bottle to Chun’er to absorb on her own. She added, “I just broke through myself and need to stabilize my cultivation too, so my spirit power doesn’t get unstable.”
“Oh.” Chun’er took the pill bottle with both hands, found a corner, and began meditating to restore her injuries.
Until now, she had only been suppressing her wounds with pills. After their lady’s breakthrough, Chun’er, as her protector, had no time to meditate for recovery.
Even though the lady applied some powder to control the external wounds, internal injuries remained and required meditation.
In short, cultivators could use spirit power to prolong life beyond normal limits, but this was only a temporary measure.
Wounds were wounds. Without treatment, once spirit power slackened, injuries could flare up and kill Chun’er instantly.
So Chun’er did not slack off and immediately absorbed the pill’s power to recover.
Seeing Chun’er obedient, Beichen Yue glanced at the peacefully sleeping Dongfang Xiaotian and couldn’t help but think how handsome the quiet young master was…
No, she had to cultivate Saint Forget Love! No attachments!
“Forget love, forget love! The sage forgets emotions, and the lowest is not to care about feelings. The heart’s focus is on us…”
Beichen Yue muttered the highest level of Forget Love cultivation mantra.
Naturally, she picked a spot beside Dongfang Xiaotian, took out a meditation mat, and sat down to begin cultivation on the spot.
“Hey! Don’t you have your own tents?”
Tushan Bingxian looked at the two sitting as if at home, cultivating, and felt the urge to complain.
But seeing they were already in cultivation, she didn’t want to disturb them and risk their spirit power getting messed up.
Still, seeing Beichen Yue sit so naturally beside Senior Brother annoyed her a little.
“A top-tier Saint Forget Love disciple, but so many little tricks.”
Tushan Bingxian sneered and immediately transformed into a White Fox, lightly leaping onto Dongfang Xiaotian’s lower abdomen, without affecting his sleep quality.
The white fox glanced at the Beichen Yue girl sitting smugly beside Senior Brother and smirked. “I’ve lived with Senior Brother for so long; why should a newcomer win?”
Curling up on Dongfang Xiaotian’s belly, the White Fox also began cultivating her own method.
For a while, all five in the tent began cultivating.
Yes, five people, including the supposedly non-cultivating Dongfang Xiaotian, who had long since tried countless times to cultivate.
The cultivation method he practiced was called: Da Meng Heart Sutra.