Ya Fei's Little Moves

[Ding! Your disciple Medusa is cultivating. Current cultivation speed: Dou Qi increases by 100 per hour. Returning...]

[Ding! Host's Dou Qi increased by 100,000...]

[Ding! Dou Qi is full. The Heavenly Derivation Saint Physique is automatically condensing a Dou Qi Vortex.]

[Ding! Dou Qi Vortex successfully condensed...]

[Ding! Detecting... Dou Qi attributes: Fire... Wood (weak)...]

[No cultivation technique currently learned. Please choose a technique and begin cultivating within 24 hours to convert your Dou Qi... Otherwise, the Dou Qi in your body will dissipate.]

Huh?

Zhang Nian was stunned. Dissipate? After condensing a Dou Qi Vortex, he could examine the state of his body from within. He hadn't known what to expect, but the sight shocked him. As time passed, the Dou Qi in his body continued to accumulate. If he had to describe it, it was like a granary packed to the brim. His meridians were even still expanding, but fortunately, his constitution had undergone a transformation. He'd never heard of the Heavenly Derivation Saint Physique, but seeing it now, it was truly remarkable. No wonder it came with a thousandfold return. If it were a ten-thousandfold return, wouldn't he ascend on the spot and break through the passage between the Dou Qi Continent and the upper realm?

But speaking of which, he wondered how Ya Fei was getting along with her arrangements. There was something else amusing about his Dou Qi attributes. He felt both exasperated and amused. He was actually cut out to be an alchemist?

Fire Attribute Dou Qi plus Wood Attribute Dou Qi...

By his reckoning, Yao Chen of Starfall Pavilion in the Central Plains should still be alive, right? How about it...

Yes, after learning that his Dou Qi had the Fire Attribute, Zhang Nian couldn't help coveting the Flame Mantra in Yao Lao's possession. It was a Low Yellow Tier technique with limitless potential. What was more, he had the Return System. If he got his hands on it and gave it to Medusa to trigger a chain of returns, perhaps it would turn into something even more incredible.

As if it had detected Zhang Nian's thoughts, the system immediately issued a warning.

[Ding! Reminder to the host: An item can only be returned if it is suitable for the disciple and can bring her benefits. Under this system's supervision, all shameless attempts by the host to trigger chains of returns are forbidden.]

Uh...

Zhang Nian was at a loss for words. More troubling still, where was he supposed to find a disciple with Fire Attribute Dou Qi who had just condensed a Dou Qi Vortex? Besides, once a disciple was bound to the system, she could never be unbound. Not only would she take up one of his slots for nothing, she'd be freeloading off him! He could accept that if she was beautiful, but if she were ugly, Zhang Nian absolutely couldn't. If he couldn't collect Heavenly Flames, he could always use them to trigger a chain of returns for Medusa, then upgrade the Flame Mantra!

Hmph. My plan is perfectly reasonable, right? Besides, the Nine-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python was a Fire Attribute magical beast. She loved things like Heavenly Flames, though he'd need to restrain her first. He vaguely remembered that when Medusa had still been a Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python, she'd been injured by the Green Lotus Core Flame, ranked nineteenth.

At the thought, Zhang Nian decided to take action. But before that, he had to make some preparations. Facing Yao Chen would take more than strength alone.

"Mm, I'll go check on Medusa in a bit and give her the Fallen Heart Flame. I'll see if I can get a new flame through the chain of returns first. If the system won't let me do that, then getting the Flame Mantra will have been a waste."

After sorting out the order of things, Zhang Nian sat down cross-legged to meditate. Medusa's condition had yet to stabilize, so there was no harm in waiting a while. He only needed to accomplish this within twenty-four hours.

Outside Medusa's room, two maids had been drawn by the sounds inside. They peered through a gap at the edge of the window, eyes wide and on tiptoe.

"Pat, pat." A jade-white arm reached out of nowhere and gently tapped their shoulders. A puzzled voice came from behind them. "What are you looking at?"

"Ah!"

"Miss..."

The two lowered their heads, knowing they'd done wrong. They knelt on the ground, ready to accept whatever punishment came.

Ya Fei waved a hand. "There's no 'Miss' here anymore. From now on, just call me Steward. You've barely left the residence, and you've already forgotten the rules?" She folded her arms over her chest. A trace of frost crept across her pretty face as she stared coldly at the two. Such behavior was strictly forbidden in the Mittel Family, let alone here at the Saint's Mountain Gate, where it was even less acceptable.

"We know we were wrong..." Their voices grew weaker as they spoke. They regretted giving in to their curiosity. They'd thought there was no one else around, and so had dared to act recklessly. One careless mistake, and they'd ruined everything.

"Don't let it happen again. At least I was the one who caught you. If it had been someone else, you might have... We're all people with hard lives. All right, get up."

"Thank you, Steward! Thank you, Steward!"

Ya Fei waved for them to rise. With only a few words, she'd found their weak spot and left them deeply grateful to her.

"All right, I came to find you two for something else."

When the two tried to thank her again, Ya Fei quickly cut them off. Time was short, and there was much to do. Most importantly, no one else could hear what she was about to say.

She glanced into the room. Just like the two maids had done, Ya Fei peered through the crack in the door and saw Medusa inside a cocoon of white energy. She felt a little more at ease. Medusa probably couldn't hear their conversation in that state.

To be safe, Ya Fei led the two maids to another quiet room. In the dark, three pairs of eyes exchanged glances.

"Steward, what are you...?"

"Shh, don't talk..."

Ya Fei stood and checked through the crack in the door to make sure no one was outside. Only then did she confide in them. "Have you noticed that our Saint is especially good to her disciple?" Her deliberately mysterious tone, combined with the dim surroundings, made the moment feel even more secretive.

"Isn't it only natural to be good to your own disciple?"

"Exactly. What's so special about that?"

Clearly, neither maid understood the deeper meaning hidden in Ya Fei's words.

"No!" One of the maids suddenly seemed to remember something. "I recall that the Saint has two disciples. When I first came up, I saw one of them. She had purple hair and looked like a porcelain doll. She was so adorable."

Though this was the first Ya Fei had heard of it, she latched onto the key point: the other disciple looked like a porcelain doll, and so hadn't received such favorable treatment!

"Look, putting that together with what I just said, don't you understand?"

"It means the Saint has taken a liking to her eldest disciple! Otherwise, why would she grant her such an opportunity?"

"Huh?!" The two maids were dumbfounded by Ya Fei's shocking claim. They covered their mouths with both hands, then cautiously glanced toward the door. They lowered their voices and asked, "Steward... isn't that a little...?"

They ultimately couldn't bring themselves to say that it went against all propriety. Ya Fei understood, and a glint flashed in her beautiful eyes. As long as those two started thinking in that direction, everything would be under her control.