Xia Wantang blinked, wearing a mysterious expression.
"Call me big sister and I'll tell you."
Lin Xi:...
"Hmph, I won't fall for that."
With that, it turned its back to her once again.
Xia Wantang had serious business to attend to now and didn't rush to pet the fur, diving straight into refining the Spirit Root Advancement Pill.
Roughly half a minute later, the refinement was complete.
Congratulations to the host! The Ice Spirit Root has advanced to the seventh tier of the immortal grade, and can now fuse with the Water Spirit Root! Spirit roots with interconnected origins fuse very quickly, and the entire process is painless. Host, give it a try quickly.
The system's excited electronic voice infected Xia Wantang too, and she immediately began fusing her ice and water spirit roots.
Just as the system had said, within two minutes, the two spirit roots were completely fused.
In her sea of consciousness, she could clearly see a water-blue force merging with an ice-blue force, the spiritual power of both colors intertwining to become denser and sturdier than before.
Once the fusion finished, Xia Wantang stretched out her finger, alternately invoking the ice and water spiritual powers, as well as the blended power of the two.
No matter which one it was, the retrieval speed was extremely precise and fast—the moment her mind stirred, a reaction followed.
Seeing this, she was quite satisfied:
Whether it was speed, precision, or release effect, it was more than twice as good as before. Truly, one plus one was greater than two!
Thus, she immediately went on to refine the lightning spirit root, then fused the lightning and fire spirit roots.
Although Lin Xi had its back to Xia Wantang, it had actually been paying attention to her movements all along.
What on earth was she tinkering with, and why did fluctuations of spiritual power keep rolling off her in waves?
So it turned around, just in time to see Xia Wantang withdraw her spiritual power:
"Bad woman, what are you doing? Why is there spiritual power of so many different attributes coming from you?"
Xia Wantang smiled all over her face:
"Call me big sister and I'll tell you."
Lin Xi:...Is this hurdle never going away, seriously??
Fine, it conceded defeat.
So, with an extremely reluctant expression and a pout, it said:
"Big sister."
Xia Wantang responded cheerfully before saying:
"This is a secret of big sister's. First swear an oath that you will absolutely never tell anyone, not even demon beasts."
Swearing oaths in the cultivation world was not just a casual remark; it carried restrictive effects.
If the person making the oath violated the agreement, there would be corresponding punishments.
Believing its conduct was upright and its actions proper, Lin Xi certainly wouldn't casually leak other people's privacy, and it made the oath without a moment's hesitation:
"I, Lin Xi, swear here that I will never reveal Xia Wantang's secret to any human or demon beast, or else I'll be struck by lightning and die a horrible death!"
Hearing Lin Xi make the oath, Xia Wantang finally parted her lips to speak:
"Because big sister has four attributed spirit roots, but publicly declared that I only have an ice attribute spirit root."
"Little Lin Xi, you must guard this secret well for me. I don't tell just anyone~"
Hearing this, Lin Xi widened its eyes:
"You have so many spirit roots? How did you manage that?"
"Even I only know water and earth spells!"
Xia Wantang blinked:
"Little brother, that question comes with a separate price tag."
Lin Xi:...An evil, wicked woman!
Forget it, it wasn't curious anymore anyway.
So it hummed and hawed, turning its back once more while Xia Wantang smiled and continued helping it smooth its fur.
Quietly and silently, her favorability increased yet again:
Xia Wantang gained 5 favorability points with Lin Xi, bringing her current favorability to 35, which could be exchanged for 50 faith points.
Over the next few days, Xia Wantang kept traveling while carrying Lin Xi along.
During moments of leisure and rest, she would carve out time every night to study the encyclopedia of formations and the encyclopedia of spiritual talismans.
As for alchemy and weapon crafting, she didn't have many materials on hand right now and it wasn't very convenient, so she planned to wait until she returned to the Azure Cloud Palace.
Just like that, a few days passed, and Xia Wantang finally returned to the vicinity of Azure Cloud City.
Standing outside the city gates, Lin Xi nested in her embrace, poking its head out to look around:
"Big sister, didn't you say you were going back to the Azure Cloud Palace? Why are we stopping right now?"
Lin Xi was just a young beast after all, and through the past few days of getting along, it had been thoroughly subdued and tamed by Xia Wantang.
At first it had been resistant, but now it was cheerfully calling her big sister at every turn.
Her favorability value had even shot straight up to 40.
"The Azure Cloud Palace doesn't allow privately raising demon beasts. I'm still a Saintess, so there's no way I can brazenly bring you up there. I have to think of a way to hide you."
Hearing this, Lin Xi's little brain spun at top speed:
"Big sister, wouldn't it work if you just put me in a spirit beast pouch?"
Xia Wantang was somewhat surprised:
"You're willing to be my spirit pet??"
Lin Xi put on a proud expression:
"I certainly won't sign a master-servant contract, but we can sign an equal contract!"
"You're so weak; when I'm by your side, I can protect you too."
Upon hearing these words, Xia Wantang pondered it seriously:
An equal contract? That really did sound quite suitable.
Unlike a master-servant contract, an equal contract didn't place heavy restrictions on either demon beasts or human cultivators. Aside from not being able to harm each other, both parties were very free. If the demon beast ran off to a very distant place, they could still maintain contact through the contract.
If either party died, the contract would automatically become void, eliminating the notion that the other party had to be buried with them.
One could say that an equal contract lacked any master-servant commanding dynamics, and everyone remained free.
Moreover, if they signed an equal contract, as long as Xia Wantang didn't actively expose herself, Lin Xi would definitely never discover the secret of her single soul and dual bodies.
Thinking of this, she agreed right away:
"Alright, let's sign an equal contract then. Good for you, good for me, good for everyone."
On the contrary, Lin Xi was somewhat surprised:
Really, for real? Don't you humans all like to sign master-servant contracts??
Xia Wantang certainly wouldn't mind, but she wanted even less to expose the secret of her single soul and dual bodies.
The Supreme Yin Demonic Physique possessing the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox Bloodline was her ultimate trump card. Aside from the system, she didn't trust any living creature for the time being.
Wuwuwu, Host, the system is so moved, ying~
Xia Wantang: It would be even better if you weren't quite so chattering.
"I just happen to prefer equal contracts. Besides, you probably don't want to be controlled by others either, right?"
Lin Xi blinked:
It seemed big sister really hadn't intended to make it sign a master-servant contract.
Could it be that big sister was truly a kind-hearted human?
Had it misjudged her before??
Guessing what it was thinking inside, Xia Wantang chuckled under her breath:
"Alright, I won't go back on my word."
"You understand my personality—my word is final."
"Once we finish buying things, we'll head back to the Azure Cloud Palace."
"Saintess, good day."
"Hello, Saintess."
Returning to the Azure Cloud Palace, disciples greeted Xia Wantang without stopping the entire way.
She smiled and nodded at everyone, and even after walking far away, she could still hear the enthusiastic discussions of her fanboys and fangirls:
"I haven't seen her for a while, but it feels like the Saintess is even more graceful and charming!"
"Did you guys feel it? The aura on the Saintess is even stronger than before she left!"
"The Saintess is so strong. It's said that when she just left a month ago, her cultivation was already at the great circle of the Mystic Martial Realm. Has she broken through again now??"
"How on earth does she cultivate? Comparing people to people just makes you want to die of frustration."
"Not only beautiful and strong, but also approachable and kind. The Saintess is just too perfect!"
Hearing these discussions, Xia Wantang felt wonderful inside:
Heh heh, since your big sister is this charming, what else could she be if not a heart arsonist?
Before you continue