"Thank you, Senior Sister." Lei Dong quickly drove away his wandering thoughts and gratefully accepted the bottle of Sha-dispelling Pills.
"You're welcome. If anyone should be thanking someone, it should be me, for that Upper Grade Law Shield." Seeing Lei Dong accept it readily, Ding Wanyan felt a little relieved. Then, as if she'd remembered something, she raised a brow and chuckled. "But now that you mention it, Junior Brother Lei, you had me take the blame for you. It's only right that I get a share of the spoils. Still, isn't this a little too small? That Ghost Fiend Young Master had far more than this to his name."
Lei Dong was speechless. Was his Ancestor a gossiping old woman? How else could even such a closely guarded secret have reached Ding Wanyan? He felt a pang of frustration. It wasn't that he didn't trust Ding Wanyan, but the matter was too serious; he couldn't afford even the slightest mishap. He absolutely couldn't admit to it, though, so he could only smile wryly and shake his head. "Senior Sister, with my paltry strength at Qi Refining Level Six, how could I possibly be a match for the Ghost Fiend's son? Please don't accuse me unjustly."
As if she'd seen right through Lei Dong's thoughts, a hint of mischief surfaced in Ding Wanyan's clear eyes. "Just as I suspected. I wondered why the Ancestor had given me an Upper Grade Law Shield for no reason, then reminded me to count the favor as one owed by you, Junior Brother Lei. When I got back, I thought it over and remembered how you kept playing dumb and protesting too much when the Ghost Fiend came that day. I began to suspect you might have been behind it. I tested you, and sure enough, you gave yourself away. Go on, keep pretending. You know, if you put on an act in front of the Ghost Fiend, he'll think you're weak. But don't bother trying it on the Ancestor or me. Everyone knows your true strength has already surpassed Junior Brother Zuo's. You wouldn't be much weaker than me, either. If you had a clear conscience, why go to such lengths to make yourself look so pitiful?"
Only then did Lei Dong understand. He'd always wondered why the Ancestor had been so certain he was the culprit. So that was the reason. Ding Wanyan was right: he'd overdone the act. No wonder the Ancestor and Ding Wanyan, who knew he was both strong and levelheaded, had seen through him.
Fortunately, it wasn't hard to fool the unfamiliar Ghost Fiend. He didn't even consider Lei Dong a suspect anymore. Senior Sister Ding and the famous Dongfang Fu were drawing most of the scrutiny instead.
Rarely had Ding Wanyan seen Lei Dong looking so astonished and embarrassed. She couldn't help finding this audacious junior brother amusing. She remembered that when he was still very young, he'd killed a Personal Disciple of the Extreme Yin Cave. After returning, he'd pretended to complain to her about how badly they'd been bullied. She'd been so fired up that she'd wanted to draw her sword and help him get even. Who would have thought that under Junior Brother Lei's direction, he'd already avenged himself, robbed them clean, and fed their corpses and Living Souls to Ghost Soldiers? And she'd actually been worried about him.
"Uh, haha. Senior Sister, you're brilliant and sharp-eyed. How could my paltry little tricks possibly fool those discerning eyes of yours?" Lei Dong chuckled awkwardly and flattered her, looking utterly pitiful and ingratiating. "But please help me keep this quiet. Otherwise, someone as insignificant and frail as me won't be able to stand up to that domineering old Ghost Fiend."
Seeing him act so pitiful and shower her with flattery again, Ding Wanyan couldn't help smiling. She gave him a sidelong glance and snorted. "If you know what's good for you, I might keep your secret. Otherwise, I might as well sell you to that old Ghost Fiend and earn myself a hefty pile of Spirit Stones."
"How could you?" Lei Dong suddenly thumped his chest, righteous as could be. "You've looked after me since I was little, Senior Sister. Even if you hadn't brought this up or taken the blame for me, I'd still have wanted to show my gratitude. Here, if there's anything I have that you could use, just take it. I won't bat an eye."
"Easy to say. Why don't you show me the spoils from the Ghost Fiend's son?" Ding Wanyan pursed her crystalline lips and kept snorting.
"All right, all right. I'll take them out..." Seeing that jokes and banter wouldn't get him out of this, Lei Dong resigned himself to taking a painful loss. His heart would definitely ache, though.
Just as he was about to bring them out, Ding Wanyan stopped him at once. With a faint, satisfied smile and a sidelong glance, she said, "Never mind. How could I, your senior sister, really covet the spoils you risked your life to win? I was only teasing you. Look at how pained you are—you're hopeless!"
"No, I mean it. You've looked after me all these years, Senior Sister. If I get something good, I'm happy to share it with you." Lei Dong's expression turned solemn, and he spoke with complete sincerity. "But you know this matter is too serious for me to be careless."
"At least you have a heart." Ding Wanyan nodded lightly, then grew serious again as she warned him, "Junior Brother, I'm not nagging because I want to. You were far too reckless. The Ghost Fiend's son had so many Upper Grade Magic Items that even I wasn't confident I could take him down. Yet you went and killed him without a word. If anything had gone wrong, would you even be alive now? Don't be so impulsive again. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Senior Sister. I'll remember." Lei Dong was a little moved. He had to admit that Senior Sister truly cared about him.
"Here. The Ancestor spent quite a bit of effort reforging this shield. Even if the Ghost Fiend saw it, he wouldn't recognize it." Ding Wanyan lifted her hand, and a fine shield wreathed in misty spiritual light hovered above it, ethereal and otherworldly. "I named it the Spirit Mist Shield. Take it and refine it as soon as you can, so you can get used to it."
Lei Dong was puzzled. It was one thing for Senior Sister Ding to refuse the other spoils. But the Ancestor had personally taken this shield and given it to her, and Lei Dong had given it to her willingly. Why was she returning it to him? Any Upper Grade Magic Item was hard to come by. The Ancestor had been accumulating treasures for years, yet even his vault held only a few dozen Upper Grade Magic Items. That showed just how rare they were.
Only Personal Disciples like Lei Dong had a chance of obtaining an Upper Grade Magic Item. Rogue Cultivators without any backing outside the sect would fight tooth and nail just to get their hands on a decent Lower Grade Magic Item.
"Senior Sister, this..." Lei Dong felt awkward. "I gave you this shield willingly. Please don't make things difficult for me."
"Then consider it something your senior sister is lending you." Ding Wanyan seemed to have made up her mind to return the shield to Lei Dong. She simply pressed it into his hands, then drifted away. With a hand seal, her figure grew hazy and vanished into the gloomy, Killing Intent-laden air. Her voice floated back to him: "I don't much like fighting, anyway. You're the one who enjoys stirring up trouble outside. You might as well keep it to protect yourself."
The Yin Sha Escape was truly wondrous. Especially in this place, where Killing Intent swirled through the air, Ding Wanyan had vanished from Lei Dong's sight and spiritual sense in the blink of an eye. He called after her several times, but received no answer.
Lei Dong looked at the shield floating in his hand. No matter how he looked at it, it no longer seemed like the original shield, wreathed in Black Qi and covered with carvings of ferocious ghosts and demons. He couldn't see even a trace of the old shield in it. He shook his head with a wry smile. Did Senior Sister Ding really think he was that easy to fool? This clearly wasn't the original shield at all. Though its quality was no worse than that black shield's, even if the Ancestor had been bored out of his mind, he wouldn't have gone to such trouble to remake the shield until it looked completely different.
With a quiet sigh, he pushed all his stray thoughts aside and swallowed a Sha-dispelling Pill. Then he steadied his breathing and entered a meditative Qi Refining state. The true qi inside him slowly circulated, becoming purer with each passing moment of refinement. Time flowed on. The only sound at his ears was the shriek of the Yin Sha as it swept past, like the wailing of vengeful ghosts. The loneliness grew ever deeper. But Lei Dong's heart was as firm as a rock, unmoved. If he couldn't endure a little loneliness, how could he hope to defy the heavens and cultivate immortality?
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