Two shichen—two whole shichen—passed before Zhong Shan recovered from his grievous injuries. Perhaps because he had used the Heavenly Devil Body Tempering Great Technique too often, he recovered far faster than an ordinary person. Although his strength had not returned, his injuries had basically stabilized.
He opened his eyes and happened to see Tian Ling'er blinking her big eyes at him.
"You're hungry, aren't you? Have something to eat." Zhong Shan smiled.
"Zhong Shan, I'm sorry about this time. From now on, I'll listen to you. I won't be willful anymore. I won't throw tantrums anymore." Tian Ling'er's face was full of regret.
"Huh? Haha, it's fine. At your age, this is exactly the time to throw tantrums. When you're old and become an old granny, throwing tantrums and acting willful will just make you ugly." Zhong Shan laughed heartily.
"Pah, pah, pah! I'm never going to grow old. I want to live forever, staying young and beautiful forever." Tian Ling'er's mood immediately improved.
"Haha, that's more like it. That's the Ling Er I know." Zhong Shan shook his head with a smile.
"Zhong Shan, over there are the corpses of Liu Ming, Wang Gui, and Zhong Di. They're so disgusting. Thank goodness I had you this time." Tian Ling'er pointed at the three corpses in the distance, her face full of disgust.
Zhong Shan glanced at the three corpses and frowned.
"You eat something first. I'll go take care of things."
After saying this, Zhong Shan walked toward Zhong Di's corpse.
Looking at Zhong Di's already mangled corpse, Zhong Shan drew a deep breath, shook his head, and let out a soft sigh.
He found his great saber nearby. Then, not far from Zhong Di, he quickly began digging. Before long, he had dug a large pit. Carrying the last trace of emotion in his heart, Zhong Shan lifted Zhong Di's corpse, along with several scattered parts, into it. Then, with a heavy heart, he buried him.
Tian Ling'er watched the entire time without interrupting. She stared blankly at Zhong Shan as he did something utterly incomprehensible. That man had tried to kill Zhong Shan, so why was Zhong Shan burying him?
With his great saber, Zhong Shan carved out a stone stele and planted it before the grave. He drew a deep breath, shook his head, and ultimately did not carve a single word onto it. It was an Empty Stele.
Only then did Zhong Shan turn his attention to the other two corpses, Liu Ming and Wang Gui.
He showed the two men no courtesy at all, searching their bodies from head to toe. Each had a long sword and a Storage Bracelet.
"Ling Er, can you open the Storage Bracelets? And these swords should have been fused with a Void Spirit Pearl. Can the metal inside be extracted?" Zhong Shan asked Tian Ling'er.
"Mm. Both the Storage Bracelets and the swords have Void Spirit Pearls. However, Void Spirit Pearls have a special characteristic: the moment they're destroyed, they disappear without a trace." Tian Ling'er explained.
"Oh?" Zhong Shan looked at Tian Ling'er strangely.
"I don't know why, either. You'll have to ask my father. Anyway, whenever a magical treasure is destroyed, the Void Spirit Pearl that originally bound the material is like a bubble—it bursts and vanishes. It's simply gone. As for the Storage Bracelets, they're made by filling the inside of a Void Spirit Pearl with Sumeru Stone. Once the Storage Bracelet is destroyed, the Sumeru Stone will appear, but everything that was originally inside the bracelet will be gone." Tian Ling'er shook her head.
"Gone? How could it be gone?" Zhong Shan frowned.
"I don't know. Ask my father. Anyway, it's just gone." Tian Ling'er replied.
After hearing Tian Ling'er, Zhong Shan could only feel helpless.
"All right. We'll each take one Storage Bracelet, and one sword each." Zhong Shan smiled.
"I don't need a Storage Bracelet. I already have one, and its inner space is quite large. You can keep both of these. As for the swords, their materials are too poor. Refining them would consume a great deal of my True Essence and mental energy. I'd rather not have them." Tian Ling'er was very direct.
"All right." Zhong Shan nodded.
He took out his great saber and swiftly hacked at the two Storage Bracelets. In an instant, the two white Storage Bracelets split apart, their faint luster abruptly fading until they became two dull, broken bracelet-shaped pieces.
From Tian Ling'er, he took the Void Spirit Pearl he had won from Tang Xiao You last time. As he had done the first time, he slowly refined it into the shape of a bracelet. Zhong Shan's bracelet was exceptionally smooth and slender. Unless one paid close attention, it was impossible to tell that it was a bracelet. He did not need it to be pretty; as long as it could store things, that was enough. The thinner it was, the less likely it would be to collide with anything in the future, and the harder it would be to break.
He put the Sumeru Stone inside and quickly filled the interior, forming a bracelet nearly the same color as his skin. At first glance, it really was impossible to notice.
Because the Void Spirit Pearl had been saturated with his blood, he only had to move his consciousness to see inside: a Small Space of roughly two cubic meters.
The space was not large, but Zhong Shan was already satisfied.
He took his belongings from Tian Ling'er and put them inside, then took them out and put them back in again. After trying it repeatedly, Zhong Shan finally let out a long breath, a carefree smile appearing on his face.
Storage Bracelets and Storage Bags—he had envied such miraculous things for decades. Today, he finally had one. He finally had a Storage Bracelet of his own.
"Fun, isn't it? When I first got my Storage Bracelet, I played with it all night before I was willing to sleep. The next day, my eyes were red, and my father gave me a good scolding." Tian Ling'er smiled.
Looking at Tian Ling'er, Zhong Shan shook his head with a smile. Tian Ling'er could never understand what he was feeling.
Looking at the two swords, Zhong Shan shook his head. Both were first-grade swords. With their masters dead, they could never advance further. As for their materials, according to Tian Ling'er, they were far too poor. Still, no matter how poor they were, they were better than ordinary iron. He put them away with a backhand motion and decided to deal with them later.
Tian Ling'er was injured and could not walk around much, so the two of them temporarily rested at the bottom of the valley. Zhong Shan spread out a blanket for Tian Ling'er to rest on, then continued circulating his cultivation to recuperate from his injuries.
Half reclining on the blanket, Tian Ling'er stared blankly at Zhong Shan, no one knowing what was on her mind. She gazed at him in a daze, and suddenly, as though she herself had not noticed it, a trace of a smile appeared at the corners of her lips.
The sky gradually darkened. Yet, with Tian Ling'er's eyesight, she could still clearly see Zhong Shan not far away beneath the moonlight. Zhong Shan was still meditating, evidently far too seriously injured.
No one knew how much time passed before Tian Ling'er suddenly knitted her brows, a troubled look flashing through her eyes. She glanced at Zhong Shan, her expression turning extremely unnatural. She opened her mouth as if to call him, but every time she was about to speak, she stopped, as though it were better that Zhong Shan was meditating now.
Looking at Zhong Shan, Tian Ling'er's face flushed scarlet. She carefully looked him over again and, after confirming that he truly would not wake, gently straightened herself and limped behind him. Keeping her distance, she stared across the bottom of the valley, growing increasingly anxious.
In the end, she even pressed herself against the rock wall.
She stood in the distance but could not find a single large stone, as though all the large stones in the valley had somehow gathered in front of Zhong Shan.
She secretly glanced at Zhong Shan in the distance, biting her pink lips, her expression filled with worry. But when nature called, she could not hold it in. She was still in the Innate Stage and could not yet refine the impurities in her body into waste gas and expel them like a Golden Core Stage expert.
After reaching the rock wall, Tian Ling'er glanced once more at Zhong Shan meditating with his eyes closed. Only then did she nervously undo her belt while keeping her eyes fixed on him the entire time, afraid he might turn his head.
Now that they were in the valley with danger unknown, Zhong Shan naturally could not devote himself entirely to meditation. Instead, he remained in a half-conscious state.
The moment Tian Ling'er left the blanket, Zhong Shan sensed it.
What is she trying to do? But Tian Ling'er did not call out to Zhong Shan. Instead, she awkwardly retreated behind him.
Zhong Shan had a habit of placing the safest area behind him. In this valley, that meant the safe rock wall was at his back, while the unknown valley passage lay ahead.
There was naturally no problem with Tian Ling'er going behind him. But what was she doing back there? Zhong Shan did not disturb her. Instead, he focused his mind and listened, extending his hearing to the limit.
He suddenly heard a faint rustling behind him.
Hearing those sounds, Zhong Shan slightly furrowed his brows. What was Tian Ling'er doing? He sat upright and listened carefully.
"Swish, swish, swish..."
Only when the sound of rushing water came from behind him did Zhong Shan suddenly feel his body stiffen. At last, he understood why Tian Ling'er had gone behind him.
An absurd feeling surged into Zhong Shan's heart. At that moment, his rigid body suddenly trembled. He immediately pretended not to notice and acted as though he had sunk deeper into meditation.
But Tian Ling'er was even more nervous than Zhong Shan—at least a hundred times more nervous. Her eyes were fixed tightly on him. When Zhong Shan's body trembled, Tian Ling'er's own body jerked violently as well, and the sound of flowing water abruptly stopped.
Did he notice? Did Zhong Shan wake up? Tian Ling'er's face grew so hot it could have boiled an egg.
But stopping halfway was unbearably uncomfortable. When she saw that Zhong Shan had stopped moving, Tian Ling'er finally could not hold it in and continued producing the sound of running water.
She kept her eyes on Zhong Shan until the very end.
The water stopped, followed by another rustling sound as she put her clothes back on.
Only then did Tian Ling'er limp back to the blanket where she had been resting. But at that moment, her mind was a complete muddle. Did Zhong Shan wake up? Did he hear me just now?
Lying on the blanket, Tian Ling'er's face felt as though it were on fire.
He didn't. Zhong Shan couldn't have woken up, or why didn't he turn around?
Tian Ling'er repeatedly comforted herself in her heart. After an entire shichen, she finally calmed down somewhat. Once her mind had settled, she thought of another problem: whether Zhong Shan had woken or not, she had done something shameful earlier. While relieving herself, she had been staring at a man the entire time.
How could this happen? How could I do this? How could I watch a man while I...
Tian Ling'er pressed her face against the blanket and used the pillow Zhong Shan had prepared to cover her head, as though hiding that face of hers that was practically smoking.
That night was destined to be a sleepless night.
Before you continue