Mo Aotian cursed, “Snitch!”
Yun Miao smiled sweetly, “Thanks for the compliment.”
“You’re even thicker-skinned than Old Niu. I bet not even the Three-flavored True Fire can burn through your thick face.”
Mo Aotian cursed again, then arrogantly said, “The Disciplinary Hall’s punishment orders me to dig out at least ten thousand pieces of Low-Grade Xinxin Kuang within a year.”
“With my ability, completing this punishment is easy, so I have plenty of time to come out and play.”
Yun Miao looked at his smug expression and feigned shock, “You can actually cultivate Three-flavored True Fire?”
Mo Aotian jumped up in anger. “You really think I’m illiterate? I’m a dragon with inherited memories, just unfamiliar with human knowledge!”
Then he grabbed Niu Rao and headed toward the nearby orchard. After only a few steps, he glared back sharply. “What are you doing?”
Yun Miao blinked innocently. “Just wandering.”
Mo Aotian warned, “Don’t follow me.”
Thinking Mo Aotian had urgent business, Niu Rao advised Yun Miao to go back first. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Alright. I’ll wait here for Little Black.”
Yun Miao obediently stopped and sat back on the ridge.
Mo Aotian breathed a secret sigh of relief and then quickened his pace, dragging Niu Rao with him.
***
A moment later, in the orchard.
Mo Aotian said, “Old Niu, let’s dig a tunnel and escape the Xuantian Sect together!”
Niu Rao sighed, “Mo Aotian, you still haven’t given up?”
“How could I? The Xuantian Sect is a human sect. What are we? We’re demons. Humans and demons have never coexisted. Staying here is just self-degradation!”
“Look at the Beast Peak’s Beast Garden and Aviary—those bloated, stupid beasts who don’t even know how to bury their own waste and need help bathing.”
“Although they’re demons who can’t take human form, at least they have some intelligence. But they have no ambition, just eat and sleep all day like lapdogs, waiting for humans to command them.”
“And that White Deer, not only acknowledging a human master but bathing every day, cleaner than humans even—how is that a demon? A demon should be like me and never bathe!”
Niu Rao: “You’re always soaking in water, so you don’t need to bathe.”
Mo Aotian’s face turned stern. “Anyway, the beasts and demon cultivators of Beast Peak are all corrupted. The vast Xuantian Sect has only a few demons not fully tamed.”
“So we must find a way to escape quickly, or next, the one to abandon pride and roll over for humans will be us! Old Niu, do you want to end up like that?”
Niu Rao glanced toward the Medicine Hut and hung his head in disappointment. “If just rolling over and whining could make the Peak Master accept me as a disciple, I’d be all for it.”
Mo Aotian choked, then coldly said, “If you actually did that, Tian Laokou would surely kick you flying in fright.”
“Call him Peak Master!”
Niu Rao glared and once again firmly refused Mo Aotian’s escape plan for the one hundred fifty-sixth time.
“Demons have their own will. I understand you don’t want to stay in the sect, but I definitely won’t leave Dan Peak. The Peak Master saved my mother and me; I owe him my life. Staying here to repay that is only right.”
Mo Aotian frowned. “But you’ve been on Dan Peak for eight hundred years. You’re a peak Nascent Soul Stage demon at pinnacle ninth layer—are you really content to plow fields till you die?”
“I heard from Old Turtle that your lifespan is near its end. If you don’t breakthrough to Out-of-Body Stage soon… Though Tian Laokou said he never intended to keep you trapped on Dan Peak…”
“CALL HIM PEAK MASTER!”
Niu Rao blackened his face and punched Mo Aotian in the abdomen, sending him flying. Luckily, the punch was just a warning without much force. The Jindan cultivator flipped midair and landed steadily.
As Mo Aotian frowned, ready to retort, Niu Rao turned and walked away, saying calmly, “I’m a plow ox, born to plow fields.”
“The Peak Master bought me for that. He saved my mother and me twice. By that logic, I owe him two lives. Only plowing for him my whole life is my gain.”
Mo Aotian chased after him. “Why are you so stubborn?”
Niu Rao laughed heartily as if hearing a joke again. “Heh, stubborn ox, stubborn ox. What else would a cow be if not stubborn?”
Mo Aotian: “Not even a little room for negotiation?”
Niu Rao: “You’ve asked me that one hundred fifty-six times.”
Mo Aotian angrily struck a Water Peach Tree. “You’re just as annoying as humans!”
Niu Rao casually blocked the blow, then sadly touched the bark damaged by the palm wind. “Mo Aotian, I advise you to stop wasting time on me.”
“I don’t know what mistake you made to deserve such a heavy punishment, but digging ten thousand Xinxin Kuang in a year is no joke. Are you sure you can do it?”
Mo Aotian stiffened as if hit in a sore spot, then slumped and admitted honestly, “Isn’t that obvious? If I could, would I come to you? I can’t finish it, so I have to escape before the year’s up.”
Niu Rao was stunned. “But you just said…”
Mo Aotian’s voice dropped. “That was just bluffing. I can’t lose face in front of a little human girl, right?”
Niu Rao: “As a bull, borrowing Senior Sister Ning’s words, I think bluffing is impolite.”
Yun Miao nodded, “Right, lying is shameful; honesty is a virtue.”
Mo Aotian looked embarrassed, about to say something, but suddenly sensed something was wrong.
He turned in shock to see a familiar little face peeking from behind a low, thick Water Peach Tree, those sharp black-and-white apricot eyes staring unblinkingly at him and Niu Rao.
His handsome face flushed red with a mix of shame and anger, tongue tied. “You… you’re here? When did you arrive? How much did you hear?”
“Hehe, I heard it all.”
Yun Miao smirked provocatively, stepping out from behind the tree. A translucent jade-green orb spun rapidly above her head, its light subdued compared to before, causing Yun Miao’s aura to weaken nearly to invisibility.
Again with that magic treasure… no, wait…
Mo Aotian’s divine sense swept over her, instantly recognizing the issue. Human cultivators were physically weak and liked to rely on magical treasures.
Although he didn’t know exactly what this treasure was, he could tell it was a rare high-level artifact.
The stronger the treasure, the harder it was to control. Weak cultivators couldn’t fully master it and often barely controlled it.
Two days ago, this human couldn’t even use it offensively, relying only on its automatic defense to survive inside his strong, tough belly.
But now, after just two days… who could explain—
“You’re only a Qi Refining cultivator, so how do you have a divine sense comparable to Foundation Establishment strength?”
Now it was Yun Miao’s turn to boast. “Ah, it’s nothing much. Just that my talent’s too good and I couldn’t hold back, accidentally breaking through the Purple Mansion barrier.”
“Yesterday, I happened to ask Tian Laokou, the Old Peak Master, how to avoid being detected by others’ divine senses, and accidentally learned a couple of tricks.”
Though Tian Laokou had looked at her with disdain, calling the Dengtianti in her hands a waste in the making, he still pinched his nose and taught her how to use divine sense to activate the Dengtianti.
Because of her cultivation limit, if the Dengtianti’s abilities were divided into ten layers, Yun Miao’s weak realm could only activate half a layer—and that was only with the aid of a Foundation Establishment-level divine sense.
There were two unlocked functions: Attack—using divine sense to drive the Dengtianti flying at an enemy with speed, the attack range depending on the user’s divine sense scope.
Support—generating a protective shield from internal spiritual power with special effects, like boosting defense to withstand the full force of a Foundation Establishment peak cultivator’s strike, or gathering spirit, avoiding water or fire, etc.
What Yun Miao was using now was the aura isolation function, which, according to Tian Laokou, was quite effective against cultivators below Foundation Establishment stage, but only 70% effective against Jindan cultivators.
Mo Aotian only knew she was Qi Refining, not that her divine sense was Foundation Establishment level, so he let his guard down. That 70% chance became 100%.
The auxiliary functions alone revealed how powerful the Dengtianti itself was.
So when Tian Laokou found out Yun Miao only used it for remote attacks, he was heartbroken, beating his chest and lamenting it was like handing the Imperial Jade Seal to a three-year-old to crack walnuts with—and she couldn’t even aim properly!
Good news: learned two tricks.
Bad news: that’s all she knows.
Mo Aotian, unaware of the rough reality behind Yun Miao’s polished surface, was genuinely taken aback.
Niu Rao laughed and praised her talent, feeling inferior.
Mo Aotian still half-heartedly resented, “Alright, you’re strong this time! You can listen to all that, but I warn you, no tattling. Otherwise… don’t blame me for being harsh!”
His head suddenly morphed into a fierce dragon’s, mouth wide open revealing sharp teeth.
Niu Rao immediately stood in front of Yun Miao, eyes blazing, fists clenched. “What do you mean by ‘being harsh’?”
Mo Aotian, feeling threatened, reverted to his human form and whined, “Old Niu, aren’t you on my side? Didn’t you realize she was eavesdropping all along?”
Niu Rao loosened his fists and smiled awkwardly without saying anything.
Yun Miao peeked from behind him, smug. “Harsh? What do you want to do to me?”
Then she deliberately shaded her eyes and looked left and right. “By the way, where’s that triumphant general?”
“I saw him go into the woods with Senior Brother Niu, but now he’s gone. Instead, there’s a cowardly general trying to back out here, threatening me?”
Mo Aotian’s handsome face flushed red again, faint black scales appearing on his smooth neck. “Alright, alright. Since you say that, if I don’t teach you a lesson, wouldn’t that really make me a coward?”
Niu Rao quickly spread his arms, stepping between them. He glanced back at Yun Miao, telling her to watch her tongue, then urged Mo Aotian to calm down.
If Mo Aotian dared to bully the smaller one, he wouldn’t hesitate to beat a dragon.
Ignoring Niu Rao, Mo Aotian’s eyes shifted from normal black pupils to vertical black slits, revealing some ferocity. He stared intently at Yun Miao behind Niu Rao.
“I know you’re injured, and I won’t bully you. I’ll suppress my strength to Qi Refining Seventh Layer, you can use your treasure however you want.”
“I’ll only use one hand and one foot—no other treasures or pills. Let’s have a real fight on the Qi Refining stage arena.”
“If you lose, you have to promise not to tattletale and stand on that ridge you just were on, shouting ‘I am a coward!’ ten times a day for a whole month! Do you dare?”