Another Supreme-Grade Law Artifact
When Lin Ying saw Qin Nanyue swallow the Beauty-Preserving Pill without hesitation, she hurriedly popped her own into her mouth.
The pill melted on her tongue, and its cool, sweet medicinal power slid down her throat and into her stomach. It then turned into countless fine streams of warmth that surged through her limbs and bones, as though a pair of invisible hands were gently smoothing every inch of her skin and every strand of her meridians.
She looked up at Lu Yang, her voice tinged with shyness and gratitude. "Junior Brother Lu, this Beauty-Preserving Pill..."
Lu Yang waved a hand and looked at her tenderly, a faint smile on his lips. "Senior Sister Lin, you're so beautiful. If your beauty were to fade with age, my heart would ache."
Lin Ying felt utterly dizzy, her mind a complete blank.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but no words came out.
The heart in her chest pounded so fast and hard that the vibrations made her whole body tingle.
Beside her, Qin Nanyue raised an eyebrow at Lu Yang's words. She folded her arms and looked at him with a half-smile. "What about me, then? Do you feel the same way about me, Junior Brother Lu?"
Lu Yang glanced at her sidelong and said with an air of complete indifference, "You? You were just thrown in as an extra."
Qin Nanyue's expression abruptly froze. A huffy look appeared on her pretty, spirited face, and she gave a soft snort. "You really don't know how to talk."
Her tone held a trace of petulance, but her gaze involuntarily flicked toward Lin Ying beside her.
Yingying's pretty face was flushed, her eyes soft as water. She looked like a flower drenched in spring rain.
A faint trace of envy quietly stirred in Qin Nanyue's heart.
Junior Brother Lu really is a good man—handsome, generous, and measured in what he says and does. He's especially attentive to Yingying.
If I met someone like that someday, perhaps my heart would flutter too?
That girl Yingying really struck it lucky.
She shook her head, chasing those stray thoughts away, and stood up. "All right, all right, let's go. We've eaten and drunk our fill. Time to go back and cultivate."
Lu Yang naturally had no objection.
After entering the outer sect, the sharp sword of the entrance assessment no longer hung over their heads, but the yearly outer sect assessments and mandatory sect tasks remained a burden on every outer sect disciple.
He had only just learned that the top ten outer sect disciples could exchange contribution points directly for a supreme-grade Profound-rank Cultivation Method, and he could hardly contain his desire to improve his strength as quickly as possible.
As for the things still in his system inventory that he hadn't given away, Lu Yang had no intention of taking them out today.
He planned to give Lin Ying the Black Silkworm Silk Stockings once they had formally become dao companions. They could add a touch of romance then.
The Crimson Cloud Pill-Heart Furnace was a supreme-grade Spirit Artifact, far too precious.
He planned to give it to Lin Ying once her affection reached one hundred points, when they would truly stay together through life and death.
There was plenty of time ahead, anyway. Getting her affection to this point in a single meeting today had already made the trip well worth it.
After returning to the sect, Lu Yang parted ways with the two women at a fork in the mountain path.
Lin Ying kept looking back as she left, while Qin Nanyue waved without turning her head, her departing figure spirited and brisk.
Lu Yang followed the mountain path back to house number sixty-four in the southern district of Profound Metal Peak. He shut the door behind him, strode into the cultivation room, and sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion.
He took a deep breath and eagerly opened the faintly glowing treasure chest on his panel.
It was the reward for reaching 60 affection with Qin Nanyue.
[Beauty Qin Nanyue's affection has reached 60 points. The host has received: Low-Level Rebate Card ×1, Law Technique experience +1000, Cinnabar Sword-Binding Silk ×1]
Lu Yang couldn't help grinning.
Another Rebate Card!
He already had a Mid-Level Rebate Card. With this Low-Level Rebate Card as well, he could use them for two rounds in succession.
The sect auction was only a few days away. When the time came, he would spend lavishly, then use the Rebate Cards to recoup several times what he spent!
Just imagining the scene made him feel wonderful all over.
Aside from the Rebate Card, this reward also included experience.
Unlike the Cultivation Method experience he had received for reaching sixty affection with Lin Ying, this time he had received Law Technique experience.
Lu Yang had a vague feeling that the contents of the affection rewards seemed to be matched to his and the beauty's current needs.
His Cultivation Method was already at maximum level, and Law Technique experience was exactly what he lacked, so the system had supplied it directly.
Last was the Cinnabar Sword-Binding Silk.
When Lu Yang saw the name, his heart skipped a beat. He had a bad feeling about it.
He took it out of the system inventory, and a flash of brilliant red met his eyes.
It was a red silk sash, woven entirely from the silk of some unknown spirit silkworm. It felt cool and smooth to the touch.
Intricate, subtle patterns were embroidered across the silk, and under the light, a faint dark-gold shimmer flowed along their lines. It was exceedingly gorgeous.
It certainly was beautiful.
But the problem was, no matter how he looked at it, this was something for a female cultivator!
He was a grown man. No matter how he pictured himself wearing a red silk sash around his waist, the image felt awkward.
Sure enough, it was just as he had guessed.
Lu Yang had already considered the possibility that affection rewards always seemed to include a Law Treasure suited to the beauty in question.
That had been the case with Lin Ying's Purple Cloud Pill-Nurturing Robe, and now it was the same with Qin Nanyue's red silk sash.
He opened the system description, and several lines of text appeared before him.
[Cinnabar Sword-Binding Silk (supreme-grade Law Artifact)]: Wearing this red silk sash increases the power of sword Dao Law Techniques and the intensity of Sword Qi.
Sure enough, another supreme-grade Law Artifact!
And it was a sword Dao Law Artifact, matching Qin Nanyue's Dao.
During their earlier conversation, Lu Yang had heard Qin Nanyue mention it.
She followed the path of a pure sword cultivator and planned to enter Seven Kills Peak in the future.
Lu Yang looked at the red silk sash in his hand, lost in thought.
Should I give this to Qin Nanyue?
He had just given her a Beauty-Preserving Pill today. If he immediately followed it up with a supreme-grade Law Artifact in the form of a red silk sash, he was genuinely afraid Qin Nanyue would suspect he was trying to pursue her.
Though he did indeed have that thought.
But I haven't won over Senior Sister Lin Ying yet...
I'd better wait and find a more natural opportunity.
He shook his head and put the Cinnabar Sword-Binding Silk into the system inventory, placing it alongside the Black Silkworm Silk Stockings and Crimson Cloud Pill-Heart Furnace he had set aside earlier.
They were all things he would give to beauties later.
Though he hadn't managed to get a single supreme-grade Law Artifact he could use himself, the Rebate Card and Law Technique experience were no less valuable to Lu Yang at present than one.
The Rebate Card meant tens of thousands of Spirit Stones, or even more.
And the experience points could save Lu Yang a great deal of time spent gaining insights.
He gathered his thoughts and fixed his gaze on the full thousand points of Law Technique experience.
System, allocate points!
With a thought, Lu Yang invested all the Law Technique experience into the Heavy Sword Technique.
The experience bar climbed visibly, and a wealth of profound insights into the Heavy Sword Technique flooded into his sea of consciousness like a tide.
It was as though he stood in a void beyond time and space, a heavy sword in his hand, slashing again and again as he honed the Law Technique day after day.