Speaking of which, although that velvet ball is really hard for Jiang Ke’er to accept in terms of dignity, there are some undeniable perks.
For example, thanks to this cultivation method, she doesn’t need to spend much effort researching cultivation problems.
There are no bottlenecks, nor does she need to deliberately search for some Fengshui Treasure Land rich in spiritual energy.
She doesn’t even need to actively run her cultivation method to cultivate.
Her cultivation method runs automatically every moment—it’s a fully automatic cultivation mode.
She can absorb any kind of spiritual energy and make it her own, so she doesn’t need to take time to find a Fengshui Treasure Land matching her spiritual roots attribute for closed-door cultivation.
Compared to other cultivators, it’s like she has double the time and energy—and her cultivation speed is even faster than theirs, several dozen times faster.
That’s the most infuriating part.
The Ten-Billion cultivation method may come with the downside of losing her personal freedom, but in every other aspect, there’s really nothing to criticize.
Sigh, as expected, as long as you Soul-sell to the Devil, life really does become easy.
Jiang Ke’er was quite frustrated.
The devil’s face floated up in her mind again, making her thoughts grow more tangled.
She wanted to enter the System Training Space to explore, but realized that in order to drain the “Foundation Establishment Prize Pool” of the Initial Universe, she hadn’t even saved a single point—she used it all up, not even a fraction left… How coincidental.
She could only wait for tomorrow’s refresh.
Feeling stifled, Jiang Ke’er grabbed her little broken sword and headed out of the city, slipping into a small grove.
Seeing no one around, Jiang Ke’er began to dance with the wind.
Her graceful figure swayed, sword light flashing.
A few Xubeasts, sensing the commotion, roared and pounced at the shadow, only to be met by the sword light and perish instantly.
The remaining Xubeasts, fearless of death, continued their assault, only to be met head-on by the sword’s momentum.
In Jiang Ke’er’s eyes, all those Xubeasts had turned into Qiao Xiaoxian, each mocking her with a sneer, their mouths emitting bursts of demonic sounds—Jiang Ke’er, you can’t escape.
Don’t even think about it in this lifetime.
Be good and become my power bank.
“Muda muda muda muda!!!”
Suddenly, her swordplay went berserk, and the Xubeasts exploded in mid-air with a crackle, turning into neat, evenly-sized cubes of meat.
“Hoo—”
Jiang Ke’er let out a long breath.
Exercising really does make you feel better when you’re in a bad mood. Such a relief.
Not far away, in the woods, Qiao Xiaoxian’s Demonic Red Eyes glowed faintly in the darkness.
Jiang Ke’er noticed but merely snorted coldly and turned to leave.
Qiao Xiaoxian, that tailing ghost, would never let her out of sight—unless it was something really important, like searching for the Underworld Province Cauldron.
It was as if Qiao Xiaoxian could sense Jiang Ke’er’s every move.
The moment Jiang Ke’er left the Yanjia Courtyard, she sensed it and followed right behind her.
After witnessing Jiang Ke’er’s burst of violence, Qiao Xiaoxian said nothing, simply following her quietly back.
“Hey, why are you still following me?”
Jiang Ke’er glared angrily at Qiao Xiaoxian, who was blocking the door.
There were plenty of bedrooms in the Yanjia Bedroom.
Jiang Ke’er and Qiao Xiaoxian were supposed to stay in separate rooms, but Qiao Xiaoxian had followed her to her bedroom door.
Qiao Xiaoxian still didn’t answer.
She just barged into Jiang Ke’er’s bedroom, closed the door, and began undressing.
“Hey!” Jiang Ke’er’s face instantly turned bright red.
She’d seen this a few times before, and she’d already accepted her female identity, so she wasn’t fussed about the whole men-and-women-should-not-touch thing…
Still, this scene was a bit much for her.
“Relax. No dual cultivation.” Qiao Xiaoxian finally spoke.
After stripping off her own clothes, she started taking off Jiang Ke’er’s.
“You… What are you doing?!” Jiang Ke’er panicked and tried to draw her sword.
Qiao Xiaoxian swiftly stripped Jiang Ke’er, then suddenly scooped her up and lay down on the bed together.
Still no explanation, which made Jiang Ke’er even more anxious.
Suddenly, Qiao Xiaoxian spoke in a soft, emotionless voice.
“Tonight, I’m sleeping while holding you.”
“…Huh?”
Jiang Ke’er thought she’d misheard.
“Good night,” Qiao Xiaoxian replied.
With that, Qiao Xiaoxian closed her eyes and immediately entered a meditative state, completely defenseless.
Nestled in Qiao Xiaoxian’s arms, Jiang Ke’er was stunned.
In her mind, a voice was shouting madly—Now’s your chance to assassinate her! If not now, then when?
“Forget it.”
Jiang Ke’er gritted her teeth, forcing down her resistance, and pressed her face into Qiao Xiaoxian’s soft arm.
Next time.
She was too tired tonight.
Didn’t want to move.
At this time, more than three days had passed since the Hundred Sword Trials on Hanye Island, and the great fire on the island had long since burned out.
Right after Jiang Ke’er and Qiao Xiaoxian left the island, a large group of human cultivators arrived to investigate.
“Smells amazing,” was their first impression upon setting foot on the island.
“I feel strangely hungry for some reason. Weird, what smells so good… I can’t stand it, I’m starving, I need to go home and eat.”
In the end, they didn’t find any useful clues, nor did they find Jiang Ke’er or Qiao Xiaoxian, so they buried the dead cultivators on the spot and left, disappointed.
Not long after they departed, the island gradually quieted down.
Rustling noises began to sound.
No one noticed—something strange was happening on the island.
It started with the ants.
They had hidden deep underground, surviving the fire.
Once the surface cooled, they crawled out.
By instinct, the worker ants resumed their daily routines, scurrying around in search of food.
Despite the recent blaze, there was surprisingly plenty to eat.
The thoroughly cooked corpses of cultivators, roasted to perfection, gave off a tempting aroma of meat… Especially those few headless ones, whose heads had been cleanly sliced off by a long sword—their corpses were like lighthouses in the night, attracting every ant and bug nearby.
So fragrant!
Why did it smell so good?
“This is delicious!”
One worker ant couldn’t resist and ate a bit of the meat, bursting into happy tears and shouting aloud.
Wait a minute…
Did I just speak?
Oh my god!
I’ve awakened!
“This is just too tasty!”
Gradually, shrill cries from bugs rang out all around.
The worker ant looked at its companions and saw that those it used to work with were all moved to tears, showing human-like expressions of enlightenment!
It wasn’t just ants—various kinds of bugs appeared… Even some non-carnivorous ones rushed out, took a bite, and started dancing with excitement.
They began to develop their own consciousness and thoughts.
This feeling of awakening from chaos was so wondrous, it left them intoxicated, and they felt immense gratitude toward a certain presence in the dark.
They could vaguely sense a distant aura.
They knew—it was the benefactor who had given them wisdom and awakened them.
“For our benefactor!”