“The guy you brought back is still a bit stubborn. Are you going to handle it yourself, or do you want us to help?”
“I’ll handle it myself. If I can’t crack him, I’ll let you all help.” Holding a crystal-clear fruit in her hand, Hua Jian examined it against the sunlight as she replied softly.
The girl with fox ears and a fox tail slowly walked to her side, also studying the crystal-clear fruit alongside her.
The more she looked, the harder it became to suppress the admiration in her eyes.
As the saying goes, appearance is fighting power. This beautiful fruit was clearly an extremely precious spirit item.
And when she thought about the process of how this fruit came to be, Huaxinhu didn’t even dare to imagine its value.
“Stop staring. This fruit is just pretty to look at; the power within it isn’t something you could utilize anyway.” Sensing Huaxinhu’s eager gaze, Hua Jian shot her good elder sister a helpless glare.
It’s not your thing, so why are you looking?
“Little sister Hua Jian, are you underestimating me? I might not be your match, but I was once the number one candidate for Wanhua Saintess!” Huaxinhu refused to believe it. When it came to being a saintess, she had received plenty of training back in the day.
If Hua Jian hadn’t butted in, the current Wanhua Saintess would have been her, Huaxinhu.
And even compared to the current Hua Jian, Huaxinhu far surpassed her in many aspects—knowledge, strength, and even social grace. Huaxinhu was a far more seasoned fox than Hua Jian.
Being looked down upon like this by Hua Jian genuinely stung a little.
“I’m not underestimating you. It’s just that this fruit was born from me. It contains all the energy of a shattered secret realm. Even I wouldn’t dare touch it carelessly or take a bite.”
Hua Jian carefully returned the fruit to her storage pouch, explaining that she wasn’t belittling Huaxinhu—this fruit was simply that difficult to handle.
Back when she devoured the secret realm from the Ascension Gathering, the fruit born from her branch had been a massive sacred fruit.
This time, the secret realm was considerably smaller than the Ascension Gathering’s, so the fruit naturally couldn’t reach the Sage rank. But calling it Venerable-level was still solid.
The entire secret realm had been condensed into this fruit. How could its scale possibly be lower than a Venerable?
Generally speaking, any place used as a secret realm, no matter how small, contained power that could rival a Venerable.
Even if there was unavoidable energy loss when Hua Jian devoured and absorbed the secret realm, the sheer scale was still there.
It simply wasn’t something lower-ranked cultivators could easily touch.
After hearing Hua Jian explain the fruit’s peculiarities, Huaxinhu let out a soft tsk. By that logic, she really might not be able to use this fruit.
Her vast knowledge was limited to the Linghuang Jing realm. When it came to knowledge from higher tiers, she only knew scraps.
Many things could only be fully understood after reaching that level of cultivation.
Trying to touch higher-level knowledge with lower-level strength was extremely dangerous.
One slight misstep could lead to demonic possession and the loss of all progress.
“So what are you planning to do with this fruit? It’s the only real gain we got from this operation.”
“Aren’t there still spirit stones and spirit tools?” Hua Jian’s eyes widened.
What did she mean “the only real gain”? What about those spirit stones and spirit tools? There was a whole pile of them!
The storage pouches left behind by those cultivators who died in the secret realm were also a considerable fortune. Combined together, that was a huge haul!
Huaxinhu let out a sigh. Those things did count as gains, but they had to be split with the Qian Family, and they were all Ling Wang realm items.
Even combined, they couldn’t compare to the fruit in Hua Jian’s hand.
Although Wanhuagu hadn’t really had any plans to develop or use that secret realm, there were still some dissenting voices within the sect about Hua Jian just squandering it like that.
“But the fruit in your hand right now should be enough to shut those people up.”
“What, do you want me to hand the fruit over?” Hua Jian immediately put on a pitiful expression that screamed ‘how could you do this to me.’
This was the fruit she had born!
In other words, this was her daughter!
She, Hua Jian, was definitely not the kind of person who would sell out her own daughter for personal gain!
“The Valley Master has your back. Who would dare snatch your things? I’m just giving you an excuse to shut those people up.” Huaxinhu’s mouth twitched. Hua Jian’s miserly behavior really left her speechless.
You’re the Wanhua Saintess. Could you at least act a little more dignified and high-class?
Don’t turn into a little girl about to have her toy stolen just because of what I said.
“Trading a useless secret realm for a Venerable-grade spirit fruit, plus all those extra spirit stones and spirit tools—this deal is undoubtedly a very good one.”
Originally, Wanhuagu was going to take a pure loss—giving up a secret realm and only getting the chance to work with Yaochi and the Qian Family against Tianmomen in return.
But now that Hua Jian had stirred things up, Tianmomen got dealt with, and the secret realm that was going to be wasted on feeding dogs had been converted into a tangible project.
If Wanhuagu could make this trade ten thousand times, they’d do it happily every single time.
The lower-ranked cultivators involved could get a share of spirit stones, while the higher-ranked ones could bask in a bit of the Venerable-grade spirit fruit’s glory and receive some rewards. It was a result that satisfied everyone across the board.
“I’m not handing the fruit over. I might not even stay in Wanhuagu!”
“You sure dare to say something like that right to my face.” Huaxinhu’s ears twitched, and her fox tail curled around, pulling Hua Jian right up next to her. “Stop pretending. I know you’ve already decided to stay.”
“How would I know that?!”
This time, Hua Jian was genuinely confused. She hadn’t even made up her own mind yet. How could Huaxinhu be so certain she’d stay?
It couldn’t just be intuition, right?
“I actually had some doubts about your position as saintess before, but now it seems you really are thriving in that role. I underestimated you, Saintess Daren.”
Huaxinhu didn’t explain. Instead, she praised Hua Jian with an appreciative tone.
This vixen definitely has ulterior motives! Hua Jian swallowed hard, alarm bells ringing in her head.
She hadn’t even been this alert when fighting Youye and Tianmomen in the secret realm!
“Why don’t you just say what you mean more directly?”
“You, you’re not suited for the righteous saint sects. That’s just your nature.” Huaxinhu giggled and raised one finger.
“Capturing a Heavenly Talent disciple from Tianmomen and brainwashing them—in the eyes of the righteous path, that’s a huge taboo.”
“Scheming to slaughter every cultivator in an entire secret realm and then absorbing the secret realm itself along with the results—that also doesn’t seem like something the righteous path would let you do.” That was the second finger.
“And also…”
“Stop! Then as long as I don’t do these things after going to the righteous path, it should be fine, right?” Hua Jian interrupted Huaxinhu, sweat starting to form.
Those things really didn’t mesh well with righteous path methods.
If she actually went to the righteous path, she definitely wouldn’t be able to do these things so recklessly, because the righteous path cared about face.
Things she could do as the Wanhua Saintess, she couldn’t do as an ordinary Saint Sect disciple.
The best outcome would be getting confined, or even expelled from the sect.
The righteous path operated on being upright and having solid justification. The ‘I don’t eat beef’ attitude definitely wouldn’t fly.
Look at the Tiandao Sect. Overall, they didn’t do anything wrong, but they got dragged through the mud because of all kinds of small details.
If it were the things Hua Jian did, they’d be doomed immediately!
“You? You can really hold back?”
“How do you know I can’t hold back?!”
“Mmm… intuition. I don’t think you’re the type to enjoy holding back.” Huaxinhu chuckled twice.
Based on the methods Hua Jian had displayed these past few days, anyone with eyes could see she wasn’t cut from the same cloth as the righteous path.
Since their paths differed, there was no need to force it. What was so bad about staying in Wanhuagu as the revered saintess? Wanhuagu wouldn’t shortchange Hua Jian.
“In Wanhuagu, you can do whatever you want… well, not literally anything, but it’s still far freer than at the saint sects.”
“Besides, you know the relationship between Wanhuagu and the righteous path. They say the righteous and demonic paths can’t coexist, but we’re a bit different.”
With that, Huaxinhu gave Hua Jian a charming look.
Everything was understood without words.
“You can even flirt with the Saintess of Yaochi, no problem. If you two actually get together, Wanhuagu would definitely set off a couple of firecrackers in celebration.”
After all, Wanhuagu was a fence-sitter. It could lean toward the righteous path or the demonic path, and it wasn’t a particularly hostile faction to either side.
“But all this is for you to decide yourself. I do hope you’ll stay though.” Huaxinhu tucked her hands into her sleeves, her playful tone replaced by sincerity.
“Won’t me staying affect your position?” Hua Jian was confused. Her relationship with Huaxinhu shouldn’t be this good.
She had taken away Huaxinhu’s saintess position, turning the once-prominent Huaxinhu into the invisible person she was now.
By all logic, Huaxinhu should be jealous of her, driven by anger to cause trouble for her, and finally get defeated and slapped down. That was the standard story flow.
But why wasn’t that the case?
Not only did Huaxinhu not want to drive her away, she actually wanted her to stay. Wanhuagu couldn’t really be one big happy family, could it?
Just saying that out loud made Hua Jian want to laugh.
“It won’t affect anything. Our development paths don’t overlap. You’re the Wanhua Saintess—maybe you’ll be the saintess for your entire life. But even if I became the Wanhua Saintess, I’d eventually step down from that position to compete for the Valley Master’s seat.”
Huaxinhu shook her head, indicating that Hua Jian had misunderstood. There wasn’t much competitive relationship between them.
Her path was to defeat all other competitors in Wanhuagu and become the next Valley Master of Wanhua. Hua Jian wouldn’t take that path.
Hua Jian’s role in Wanhuagu was more like an honored elder, someone who wouldn’t interfere much with the sect’s day-to-day affairs.
“You’re pretty confident. What if I decide to fight you for power?”
“If you were going to fight, you’d have started already. With your status, gathering a group of followers would be simple, right? But instead, you only took in two subordinates, and one of them isn’t even from Wanhuagu.”
Huaxinhu was quite confident in her ability to read people. She could tell Hua Jian didn’t enjoy power struggles.
This girl had a simple personality—simply mischievous. As long as you kept her happy, she’d gladly help out.
“That’s how I see you, but others won’t. They all see you as a thorn in their side, a splinter in their flesh, wishing you’d vanish from the face of the earth.” Huaxinhu’s tail swayed back and forth.
The implication being that everyone else was the bad guy, and only she was the good one.
The credibility of that statement was obvious to anyone. Hua Jian wouldn’t take Huaxinhu’s word at face value.
Just because you say they’re bad, they’re bad? Maybe those people are perfectly upstanding citizens too?
“I can’t tell if you’re lying to me. And even if you’re not, I don’t want to get involved in any of this, and I definitely won’t help you.”
“Oh dear, sister here isn’t trying to get you to back me up. I’m just trying to do my part for the future of Wanhuagu.”
Huaxinhu laughed so hard her whole body shook. Hua Jian’s words basically meant she’d stay in Wanhuagu but wouldn’t participate in its power struggles, right?
That was enough.
What Huaxinhu wanted was simple—Hua Jian being willing to stay.
“Ooh, your little girlfriend is here. I won’t interrupt your romantic rendezvous then.”
Releasing her tail from around Hua Jian, Huaxinhu smiled and was about to make her exit when Hua Jian, who had been motionless until now, suddenly reached out and yanked at her tail.
The pull was pretty forceful, directly tearing out a small clump of fox fur.
“Borrowing this to make a doll.”
“You little brat…” A vein bulged on Huaxinhu’s forehead. But Linglong had already walked over at this point, so she could only take a deep breath and silently note this grudge against Hua Jian.
Next time, she’d pull out a few strands of Hua Jian’s hair to show her how much getting fur pulled hurt!
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