Chapter 49: Secret Love

I, an ordinary girl who only knows how to steal chickens and sneak around, actually have a day when the three Great Saint Sects compete over me? My goodness, could this be the protagonist treatment meant for me?

Hua Jian felt like she was in a dream, as if everything around her was unreal.

The years of poverty had already made her face reality—things like male pride and the confidence of a transmigrator were all lies in the face of spirit stones.

She had already resigned herself to her fate, so why now was the protagonist treatment suddenly given to her?

Look at the things that had happened to her these past few days: the little Dragon Girl of Yaoci walking alongside her, the gentle Senior Sister from Penglai caring for her, the clumsy Junior Sister from Wanling wanting to take her back to their sect.

This had to be protagonist treatment! If she were still a hot-blooded youth, Hua Jian wouldn’t even dare imagine how great this would feel.

Unfortunately, she was no longer a youth. She was now a delicate young girl who could be easily overwhelmed. If she were truly taken back, who would be benefiting from whom was anyone’s guess.

“Hua Jian, you have to be careful. The Wanling Sect people are bad—they love to kidnap people wherever they go,” Su Xiaoxiao warned seriously on their way back, telling Hua Jian not to be fooled by Wanling Sect.

“They’re a mess inside. Each peak looks down on the others. Rather than one sect, they’re more like a group of independent factions banded together for mutual support.”

Wanling Sect had two large divisions: one for nurturing Lingcao and another for raising Spirit Beasts. Each large division was further subdivided into many smaller sections.

For example, in the Lingcao division, some cultivated medicinal Lingcao, some battle Lingcao, and others like Lingcaifeng grew ornamental Lingcao.

It was the same with the Spirit Beast division—there were countless classifications, a complete mess.

Unlike Penglai and Yaoci, which, despite having various Elder Peaks, still operated as a tightly united whole.

“Oh!” Hua Jian obediently nodded. She hadn’t yet decided whether to join a Saint Sect, so now definitely wasn’t the time to make a choice.

Besides… if she really had to choose a Saint Sect, she actually leaned more toward another sect that hadn’t been so prominent lately.

The hometown of the little Dragon Girl Linglong, the hidden leader of the righteous path in the cultivation world—the Yaoci Holy Sect!

…

Putting aside Hua Jian’s secret affection for Yaoci, the next morning after finishing her cultivation and opening the door, she nearly had a heart attack seeing that little Butterfly girl from yesterday standing right outside her door.

How did this little ancestor end up here?

Next to Butterfly was a Senior Sister from Wanling Sect. Seeing Hua Jian’s suddenly stiff expression, the Senior Sister gave an apologetic smile and then took a small pouch from her Storage Pouch to hand over.

“Butterfly insisted on coming to play with you. We just couldn’t say no…”

As she spoke, the Senior Sister shoved the pouch into Hua Jian’s hand.

“This is Mulinghua Essence cultivated by our Lingcaifeng. Consider it our apology for showing up uninvited.”

Hua Jian took the small pouch and weighed it in her hand, realizing it contained quite a lot.

Her intuition told her this essence would be very useful.

Well, mischievous kids were annoying, but as long as there were enough spirit stones, Hua Jian didn’t mind being a kindergarten teacher.

“There’s nothing much fun here on my side either,” Hua Jian said after accepting the pouch, stepping aside to let Butterfly and the Senior Sister into her small courtyard.

This was the guest courtyard Penglai used to entertain visitors; she had no reason to feel embarrassed.

Once inside, Butterfly’s eyes lit up as she looked at the Senior Sister who had come with her.

“Can I let Little Butterfly and Little Bee out now?”

Little Butterfly and Little Bee were the small Spirit Beasts that had flown around her yesterday.

Though the child was currently cared for by the outer disciples of Lingcaifeng, the Peak Lord Elder who brought her back specialized in raising Spirit Beasts.

The bees and butterflies were quite compatible with Lingcaifeng, so these Senior Sisters didn’t mind taking care of a pure child like Butterfly.

The Senior Sister glanced at Hua Jian for permission since this was her residence and she couldn’t act on her own.

Having just received a big gift, Hua Jian naturally didn’t refuse.

After learning that those bees and butterflies were Spirit Beasts Butterfly raised herself, Hua Jian was less afraid of them.

Spirit Beasts raised by someone wouldn’t suddenly sting her, right?

With Hua Jian’s approval, Butterfly happily released her Spirit Beasts.

The little creatures immediately flew to Hua Jian’s side; the braver ones even landed on her shoulder and in her hair.

Hua Jian couldn’t help but feel that these Spirit Beasts liked her more than Butterfly did.

Oh no, Butterfly’s behavior was pretty much the same as the bees and butterflies. If the Senior Sister hadn’t held her back, she probably would have come over to Hua Jian like the little Spirit Beasts, drawn to her floral scent.

“By the way, these Spirit Beasts look kind of fragile. Can Butterfly really have strong combat power with these?” Hua Jian let a little butterfly rest on her fingertip, feeling that these tiny creatures seemed weak.

Contracting Spirit Beasts to be one’s battle partners was not uncommon, but cultivators generally preferred large, powerful Spirit Beasts, like a Purpleflame Black Tiger.

Someone like Butterfly, who raised bees and butterflies, was truly rare.

“Little Sister Hua Jian, don’t underestimate these little fellows,” the Wanling Senior Sister chuckled and explained.

“They might not be as strong in direct combat as those giant Spirit Beasts, but their lethality is in no way inferior.”

“Poison liquid, poison powder, these are the specialties of these little guys…”

The Senior Sister described many ingenious uses of these small insect Spirit Beasts, and Hua Jian nodded, understanding a little.

The gist was that the big bulky Spirit Beasts were like shields and warriors, while these tiny bugs were invisible assassins.

In terms of damage, these little guys were actually much more terrifying than the big ones.

Just one sting or bite could make a cultivator suffer unbearable pain and lose their ability to fight.

More importantly, they were extremely stealthy.

Hey, that sounded a bit like Hua Jian’s own tactical style—never fighting head-on but hitting from the side.

“Impressive…” Hua Jian played along with an exaggerated tone of praise.

The Senior Sister could tell Hua Jian was just humoring her, but Butterfly couldn’t tell the difference.

Hearing the praise, the child immediately showed a proud expression.

“Little Butterfly and Little Bee are amazing! One bite from them can poison all the bad guys and knock them out!”

“But Master said the poison I use is too strong, so now I can only use paralyzing poison…”

Hua Jian’s brow twitched hearing this, and suddenly the little cuties on her shoulder didn’t seem quite so cute anymore.