“Miscellaneous Disciple Xia Xia greets the Supreme Elder!”
Xia Xia bowed once more to Lord Tiansi.
Although she was only a servant, Xia Xia was quite perceptive.
In terms of hierarchy, a Supreme Elder outranked the Sect Master, who outranked the Peak Master.
Therefore, the Supreme Elder’s word was law at this moment.
Whatever the Supreme Elder said was final!
“Mm,” Lord Tiansi replied indifferently.
Thank heavens, she didn’t seem to have any intention of making things difficult.
That cold, beautiful appearance from before almost made Nan Xi think Lord Tiansi had been possessed by someone.
This lazy demeanor was much more like her.
Nan Xi breathed a secret sigh of relief and turned his gaze toward Xia Xia, wearing a “kind and approachable” expression.
“Are you ready?”
Seeing Nan Xi’s “kind” eyes, Xia Xia suddenly shivered. A sense of foreboding surged from her spine straight to the top of her head.
The poor girl curled her body and spoke cautiously, “I-I think I’m ready.”
“Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to eat you.”
“Eek—”
……
The location for their cultivation was chosen to be Nan Xi’s small courtyard.
As Nan Xi performed a hand seal, the surrounding wind and snow were instantly swept away, revealing a modest patch of open ground.
On one side of the clearing, Xia Xia was huddled inside her oversized snow robe, with only her small eyes peeking out at Nan Xi.
That cautious appearance made her look exactly like a startled snow rabbit.
Although becoming Nan Xi’s disciple made her incredibly excited, she couldn’t help but feel nervous now that it was actually time to practice.
On the other side, of course, was Nan Xi, who was currently carrying out his nefarious plan.
It wasn’t Xia Xia’s fault for being so afraid. If Nan Xi was a wicked scholar, then Xia Xia was the lab rat lying on the experimental table awaiting her trial.
He really looked like an old demon right now; all he was missing was a sinister cackle and the line, “You’ve finally fallen into my hands.”
Then, between the demon and the lab rat sat Lord Tiansi.
Today, Lord Tiansi seemed to have abandoned her usual lazy habits.
Not only was she not huddled by the stove for warmth, but she wasn’t reading her beloved picture books either.
The aloof girl had pulled over a grand armchair and sat in the middle of the snow.
She was still wearing the same light-blue thin silk dress she had worn when she first met Nan Xi, appearing not to feel the cold at all.
However, it seemed Lord Tiansi had no intention of interfering.
Since she liked being there, he would just let her be.
Nan Xi silently withdrew his gaze and stared at the girl opposite him.
“Name.”
“This disciple is here! My name is Xia Xia!” Xia Xia jolted, standing straight and bowing.
“Age.”
“I am 18 this year.”
18!?
Nan Xi looked Xia Xia up and down. Nan Xi wasn’t exceptionally tall, but compared to him, Xia Xia barely reached his shoulder.
With such a thin and frail frame, she was actually 18 years old?
“Master Nan Xi, what is it?” Xia Xia asked weakly.
“Ahem, it’s nothing,” Nan Xi cleared his throat. “In the future, just call me Master.”
“Now, the next item. Cultivation level.”
“Uh, the early stage of Qi Refining.”
The early stage of Qi Refining at 18.
Nan Xi smacked his forehead.
This talent was beyond saving. When he was 18, he had already been at the Golden Core stage for 2 years, yet this child was only at the early stage of Qi Refining.
But… this was exactly what he wanted!
With such trash talent, no matter how many pills he fed her, she wouldn’t turn into a monster. She was the perfect innate vessel for wasting resources.
“It’s fine. What about your cultivation technique?” Nan Xi gave Xia Xia a thumbs-up.
He was very satisfied with her level of talent.
However, when faced with this question, Xia Xia fell into a rare silence. The thin girl scratched her cheek and only spoke weakly after a long while.
“Actually, I don’t know what I’m practicing… I learned everything by eavesdropping outside the lecture halls. I just followed along with whatever they were teaching.”
Eavesdropping?
Nan Xi rubbed his chin.
Then it was most likely the Tianhe Mysterious Art, the general cultivation method used by the disciples of the Tianhe Sect.
As a mandatory course for every disciple, all the inheritances of the Tianhe Sect—whether they were sword cultivators, pill cultivators, or technique cultivators—were essentially derived from the Tianhe Mysterious Art.
But that wasn’t important.
Nan Xi quickly pushed that information to the back of his mind. After all, their task today wasn’t to temper her technique but to feed her pills.
“Sit cross-legged.”
“Oh, oh, okay, Master.” Xia Xia was very obedient and sat directly on the ground with her legs crossed.
“Swallow this pill.”
As he spoke, Nan Xi flipped his palm, and a solid emerald-green pill appeared in his hand.
It was the Jasper Pill he had previously asked Granny Ji to send over.
Immediately after, Nan Xi flicked his wrist, and the Jasper Pill landed directly in Xia Xia’s hand.
In the girl’s slender palm, the pill suddenly looked much larger.
“This is…”
Xia Xia’s emerald-green eyes widened slightly.
Although she didn’t know how to identify pills, she could tell from its appearance that it was definitely not something an ordinary disciple could obtain.
“T-this must be very precious.”
Xia Xia hesitated. She had never seen such a precious pill in her life, let alone consumed one.
“Eat it.”
“But…”
“I told you to eat it, so eat it.”
In the blink of an eye, Nan Xi’s figure blurred and appeared in front of Xia Xia.
He grasped her slender hand, tilted it back, and sent the Jasper Pill directly into her mouth.
“Don’t question my decisions in the future. Do you understand?”
Nan Xi leaned down, meeting Xia Xia’s eyes while gently tapping her small head with his fingertip.
“I am your Master. You must obey your Master’s decisions.”
“Mph, mph…”
Xia Xia blinked her large, transparent green eyes, but since her throat was already filled by the Jasper Pill, she could only make a few muffled sounds before nodding obediently.
‘Xia Xia understands!’
“That’s a good girl.”
A faint smile played on the corners of Nan Xi’s lips as he stood up and moved back from her.
“Calm your mind and feel the effects of the pill with your heart.”
He gave one final instruction.
This pill was one Nan Xi had carefully selected.
Although it was a Heaven-grade pill, its main effect when used on Xia Xia would be to cleanse her marrow and meridians.
It wouldn’t produce any major side effects on her body.
Even though Nan Xi wanted to waste pills on Xia Xia, if he accidentally blew her up all at once, where else would he find such a perfect trash bin for high-grade pills?
In front of Nan Xi, Xia Xia swallowed hard, slowly sending the Jasper Pill into her stomach.
As the pill entered her body, a wave of warmth radiated from her, melting much of the residual snow around her.
No… it didn’t seem that simple.
“M-Master, what kind of pill did you give me? It’s so hot…”
The girl’s cherry lips panted slightly as she exhaled hot air, and a flush of crimson spread across her cold-nipped little face.
It didn’t even stop there.
As Xia Xia’s body temperature rose, she involuntarily shed her oversized snow robe, leaving only a close-fitting base layer.
When she was covered by the snow robe, it wasn’t obvious, but now that she had taken it off, her figure was even thinner and smaller than imagined.
Was she really 18?
Nan Xi sighed helplessly.
“Focus your mind.”
After saying that, he performed a hand seal, and a Calming Incantation struck Xia Xia’s body.
As the technique took effect, Xia Xia’s restlessness seemed to slowly subside.
She gradually closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
It seemed that everything was proceeding smoothly.
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