Cai Xiaonuo was counting the loot while Li Ze discovered, from a third-party perspective, how she truly looked.
Her face was doll-like and porcelain-white, while her eyes were large and innocent.
She gave off a languid, almost dim-witted impression.
Her pink lips were slightly parted as her left hand held a pile of small bags, and her right index finger pointed at the items on the ground.
The girl before him was unexpectedly petite and adorable.
‘How did I never notice this before?’
‘No wonder everyone always looked so incredulous when I used this body to kill.’
Who would believe this dorky girl could be a murderer?
People would rather believe she would use her own hands to help herself go to the bathroom when she was constipated than believe she could kill anyone.
The sound of counting stopped.
She looked up at the dazed Li Ze.
“Senior, we have a huge haul this time!” she chirped.
“Three low-grade mid-tier longswords, two low-grade high-tier longswords, and…” she paused.
“Oh, right, Senior, there is also a short blade here. I cannot tell what grade it is.”
Li Ze took the dagger Cai Xiaonuo handed him.
It was a small, black blade.
He swept his divine sense over the weapon and found it had no attributes.
Furthermore, it was forged from Skyfall Iron.
Li Ze knew from his memories that Skyfall Iron was an incredibly hard material.
However, its disadvantage was its lack of spirituality.
It could not be bound by blood, it could not produce a weapon spirit, and it could not become a soul-bound artifact.
‘This must be an incompletely forged dagger. It is useless to an ordinary cultivator.’
Cai Xiaonuo watched him curiously.
“Did you find anything, Senior?”
“It is an incredibly hard piece of…” Li Ze paused.
“Uh… scrap metal!”
“Ah… scrap metal?” Cai Xiaonuo deflated slightly.
“Well, okay. I thought it was some kind of peerless treasure, haha!”
Li Ze also took stock of his own gains: a Green Lotus, pills to help one advance to the Dao Realm, a clear-white mid-tier sharp sword, more pills, and talismans.
“Senior, there are so many things. We should split them up.”
Cai Xiaonuo took Li Ze’s hand and sat cross-legged on the flat grass.
She handed a black storage bag to Li Ze.
“This one is yours~” Then, she placed a red one in front of herself.
“This one is mine.”
“And this longsword is yours~ and this one is mine…”
Cai Xiaonuo looked at the items in her arms, seriously distributing the spoils of war between them.
Li Ze pinched her chubby cheek, his tone generous.
“Fine. We will split the pills and talismans evenly, and you can have everything else!”
He added, “I will take this dagger as well.”
Cai Xiaonuo did not even look up from the mountain of good things in her lap.
“Take it, Senior. I still have plenty here, and it is useless to me anyway.”
Thus far, they had only obtained the Green Lotus within the secret realm; they had yet to find the true treasures.
Li Ze looked at the sky.
It was already dusk.
The secret realm followed the same cycle of day and night as the outside world.
Li Ze was currently at the peak of the Spirit Realm.
After refining the souls of the five guards, his own soul had mostly recovered.
Since demonic beasts came out at night, they needed to find a place to stay so he could break through to the Dao Realm tonight.
“Let’s go. We need to find a place for the night. I am going to break through to the Dao Realm.”
“You got it, Senior!”
Cai Xiaonuo rose up on her flying formation, while Li Ze suspended his longsword just above the ground.
He stepped onto the flying sword, the evening wind whipping the corners of his clothes.
Cai Xiaonuo looked up at Li Ze.
Under the glow of the setting sun, she felt a strange, indescribable sensation.
Suddenly, she felt like her flying formation was not so great anymore.
“Senior, I want to ride a sword, too.”
“Get on!”
Li Ze took the girl’s hand and pulled her onto the flying sword.
The sword took flight!
“We will find a place to spend the night first. I will teach you later.”
As the flying sword soared, Cai Xiaonuo saw various glowing plants and strange creatures below them.
Occasionally, she spotted other disciples.
Li Ze’s eyes scanned the area quickly.
Finally, as they flew over a high mountain valley, he spotted a stone cave on a cliffside.
“There!”
By then, the sun had set, and darkness had fallen.
After Cai Xiaonuo gave the cave a simple cleaning, it glowed with the yellow light of a candle.
She spread a soft, fluffy blanket over the flat stone floor, making it feel like a cozy little home.
‘She really is a domestic…’ Li Ze shook the thought away.
‘No, she is a virtuous girl.’
“Senior, I have tidied things up a bit.”
She pointed at the blankets.
“This one is yours, and this one is mine.”
She announced firmly, “Tonight, I shall protect you while you advance to the Dao Realm!”
Li Ze looked at her confident expression, sat cross-legged, and slowly closed his eyes.
It was not that he fully trusted her, but he had already set up a barrier at the cave entrance.
Ordinary demonic beasts would not be able to break in.
Li Ze swallowed the Green Lotus.
A moment later, its medicinal effects took hold.
A sweet, cool energy instantly surged through his limbs and bones, followed by a wave of intense pain that swept through his entire body.
Li Ze’s jaw clamped shut, his face contorted in agony as he broke into a heavy sweat.
The Green Lotus’s power was completely reshaping his body, allowing him to leap to a higher level of existence.
Cai Xiaonuo sat 10 yards away, holding her breath.
Her small hands gripped the hem of her clothes tightly, her wide eyes reflecting the radiance flowing around Li Ze in the candlelight.
“Senior, you have to succeed!”
By the early hours of the morning…
A beam of golden light shot upward, and Li Ze slowly opened his eyes.
His voice was low and slightly raspy.
“It is done!”
Inside his body, his spiritual energy began to liquefy, and a jade-green halo radiated from him.
As the halo faded, Li Ze felt the impurities being expelled from his body.
His meridians were cleared, and his entire body felt light, refreshed, and comfortable.
Even Li Ze could not help but marvel at how effective the Green Lotus had been.
He had now moved beyond the scope of a mortal.
With a 200-year lifespan, he had officially taken the first real step into cultivation.
He sat on the soft blanket atop the stone floor, watching the faint morning light outside the cave and listening to the birds chirping.
He felt an unusual sense of peace.
Beside him, the girl had fallen asleep leaning against him.
Li Ze gently laid her down on the blanket and used his own blanket to cover her.
He then walked outside and sat before the cliff, meditating to consolidate his new realm.
Cai Xiaonuo rolled over.
She felt much warmer than before and, feeling uncomfortable, instinctively kicked the blanket aside.
The midday sun shone into the stone cave, landing right on her backside.
She scratched herself and continued to snore.
After sleeping a while longer, she felt her bottom getting hotter and hotter until she suddenly bolted upright.
The sunlight was so bright she could barely open her eyes.
“Senior…?” she mumbled dizzily.
She blinked.
‘Where is Senior?!’
She began to call out anxiously, “Senior! Senior!”
Cai Xiaonuo ran out of the cave and saw Li Ze sitting quietly on the ground.
“Senior!”
“You’re awake,” he said.
“Mm-hmm! Oh! Senior, did you make it?”
“I succeeded.”
She skipped over joyfully like a little bird.
“Yay! From now on, all the treasures in the Desolate Mountain Secret Realm belong to me!”