Ye Qingyi shook her head, her voice dropping even lower.
“No.”
Her father already had it hard enough.
Those clan members kept using her situation to mock him, saying he failed to teach his daughter properly, that he was wasting family resources on a useless person.
If she went to ask him for spirit stones now, wouldn’t that just be adding to his troubles?
Ye Chu was silent for a moment.
“That’s true. The clan has already lost patience with you, and your father has a lot of trouble to deal with. Even more so, you can’t say you’ve found a solution, since you still don’t know who poisoned you.”
Where there are people, there is conflict.
Even if Ye Qingyi didn’t mention these family entanglements, Ye Chu could guess some of it.
An eighteen-year-old genius girl fell from grace overnight, and her father was the clan leader.
The difficulties involved were easy to imagine.
He changed the subject.
“Then how about this—I’ll help you raise your strength first. It just depends on whether you can endure the hardship.”
Ye Qingyi looked up, a glimmer of hope in her eyes, mixed with a trace of suspicion.
“How will you help? Teach me a technique? Guide my cultivation? I can’t accumulate spiritual energy right now.”
She paused, tilting her head.
“Have you ever taught anyone before? Taken on disciples?”
It wasn’t that she was uneasy; she was just curious.
Ye Chu’s tone turned a bit exasperated.
“You’ve seen ‘fighting spirit turns into a horse’ and you still ask that kind of question!”
He cleared his throat, and his voice became serious.
“Listen. Even though I’m just a soul right now, in my past life I was a cultivator who had reached the Mahayana stage—rich in combat experience and proficient in artifact refining. I was only one step away from ascension.”
He began to promote himself enthusiastically.
“I can teach you combat skills, guide your cultivation, help you avoid pitfalls… In short, I’m your portable old grandpa, your golden finger in the cultivation world. Get it?”
Ye Qingyi fell silent.
She stared at the doll on the table for a full half a cup of tea’s time before finally speaking, her voice hesitant.
“Even though we’re fellow townsfolk, and asking now might be a bit late—I still need to ask: what price do I have to pay?”
Ye Chu laughed, his voice very relaxed.
“Smart question. For now, nothing. We’re in the same boat. If you grow strong, I’ll have a chance to be reborn.”
He paused.
“Of course, if the opportunity arises in the future… I hope you can find me a suitable body.”
Ye Qingyi blinked.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Ye Qingyi was silent for another moment, then suddenly asked.
“How did you die ten thousand years ago?”
Ye Chu froze, as if he hadn’t expected the question.
After a moment, he answered in a flat tone.
“On the way to the Dark Sea. I was hunted down by enemies and ran into a powerful mist beast. I couldn’t win, and I couldn’t escape…”
Ye Qingyi frowned.
“Huh? … Even the Mahayana stage couldn’t handle it? Then do I even stand a chance?”
If even a Mahayana cultivator couldn’t survive, what could she, a small fry at the third layer of Qi Refining, do?
Wasn’t this just pushing her into a fire pit?
“I was alone back then, and being chased,” Ye Chu explained.
“Now with you added in—if we stay friendly and develop quietly, our odds are greatly improved.”
It didn’t sound very reliable.
Ye Qingyi pressed on.
“Could your enemies have lived for ten thousand years?”
“Probably not,” Ye Chu said confidently.
“Second, I doubt the grudge would last ten thousand years—after all, they saw me die right in front of them.”
Ye Qingyi narrowed her eyes.
“So… it’s possible?”
Ye Chu was a bit helpless at her persistence, his tone taking on a teasing edge.
“Relax. Even without me, if you ever ran into my enemies, you wouldn’t be able to escape anyway—because they’re absolute villains.”
He paused, his tone turning meaningful.
“Meeting a beauty like you? Rape and murder would just be the minimum.”
Ye Qingyi’s face flushed bright red, a mix of shame and anger.
This guy had no filter!
Even though he complimented her beauty…
She swung a fist at the air.
“Hey!”
“Why are you so full of questions!”
Ye Chu was getting impatient.
“You can do without me. I’ll just quietly stay on you. When a suitable opportunity comes, I’ll find my own way home.”
Ye Qingyi instantly wilted.
She sat back down on the stone stool, clasped her hands on her knees, and her voice dropped to a mosquito’s hum.
“Don’t—I just wanted to ask clearly first. I’m really scared too.”
Her voice trembled on the last few words.
Ye Chu sighed, adhering to the principle of not arguing with women, especially pretty ones, and decided to let it go.
Ye Qingyi took a deep breath, straightened up, and her expression turned serious.
“From today on, I accept your guidance. But I have three conditions: first, without my permission, you cannot pry into my privacy; second, you cannot force me to do anything I don’t want to do; third, if you ever decide to leave in the future, you must tell me in advance.”
After saying this, she waited quietly for Ye Chu’s answer.
Ye Chu answered without hesitation.
“Deal.”
His tone was very relaxed.
Since they had agreed on terms, Ye Chu was ready to get down to business: the Beautiful Girl Idol’s Strength-Up Plan.
‘Young lady, my training is extremely strict. Are you ready?’
“There are many paths in cultivation. Right now, you’re walking the way of the mage. I can teach you body refinement.”
Ye Qingyi looked blank.
“Body refinement?”
“The Dispersion Powder causes the spiritual energy a cultivator has painstakingly gathered to quietly dissipate, but this dissipation is a process,” Ye Chu explained.
“That means the spiritual energy remains inside the body for a certain period before it fully disappears. Why not use that time to temper your physical body with the spiritual energy that’s about to fade? The spiritual energy will vanish, but the body’s strength tempered by it will not decline.”
Ye Qingyi’s expression was subtly conflicted, as if choosing her words, then spoke after a long moment.
“I know you can also train the body in cultivation. There are quite a few people in Qingyun City who walk the path of body refinement.”
She paused, her face showing an expression that said she thought it was unreliable.
“But most of them can’t beat mages of the same realm.”
She sucked in a sharp breath, her tone unwilling.
“And their methods for body refinement involve training in harsh, extreme environments—jumping off waterfalls, rolling on nail boards, carrying giant boulders… Do I have to train like that too?”
Ye Chu chuckled, a light sound, but Ye Qingyi clearly sensed the scorn in it.
“That’s because their talent for body refinement is too poor, the techniques they cultivate are poor, and the guidance they receive is poor. Poor on top of poor on top of poor—of course they can’t beat mages of the same realm.”
“Body refinement requires talent and guidance from a master, even more so than mage cultivation. Now I can tell you for sure—I was the strongest body refinement genius ten thousand years ago, and I possess the strongest body refinement technique.”
He paused, his tone smug.
“Now, that strongest body refinement genius from ten thousand years ago tells you that you are a body refinement genius second only to him, and you will receive his full guidance.”