Simulation Ends, Xun'er's Dream!

"Miss, how do you intend to deal with him?"

Seeing Xiao Yan fall silent, Ling Ying turned to look at Xiao Chen, deferring the decision to him.

Xiao Chen pondered for a moment before speaking: "Hand him over to the Clan Head of the Xiao Clan. How he educates his son is his own business!"

"However... sneaking into a young girl's room in the middle of the night with lecherous intent—the Xiao Clan Head's way of raising his son is truly lacking!"

These words were harsh indeed; had anyone else dared to say such a thing, Xiao Yan would likely have exploded in rage.

But as the one in the wrong, even if he wanted to argue, he had no defense and could only endure it in silence.

Receiving the order from his young mistress, Ling Ying breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly vanished into the night with Xiao Yan.

After the two left, Xiao Chen did not return to his room. Instead, he watched the direction in which Ling Ying had disappeared, lost in thought.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for altering the life trajectory of Gu Xun'er. Reward: Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame (Gold), Dou Power Stage Five (White)!]

As the system prompt sounded, the world before Xiao Chen's eyes began to blur. By the time his vision cleared, he was back in his room, lying on his bed.

"The fourth-ranked Heavenly Flame, the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame, is mine just like that?"

Looking at the system's reward interface, Xiao Chen truly felt how exhilarating it was to have a cheat.

This was a Heavenly Flame! Countless alchemists went mad for such things, spending their entire lives without finding even one, yet he possessed it so easily—and it was the fourth-ranked Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame at that.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't excited. Taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart, Xiao Chen communicated with the system again: "System, can I withstand this Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame?"

[Rest assured, Host. Products from the system are of the highest quality; there are absolutely no side effects!]

"That's good!"

With the system's guarantee, Xiao Chen no longer worried. He tapped the system panel and accepted the reward.

The next second, wisps of Dou Qi surged from his Dantian. Feeling the Dou Qi in his body constantly strengthening, Xiao Chen laughed out loud: "Hahaha, I can finally cultivate!"

At the same time, an incredibly domineering golden flame began to wander through Xiao Chen's meridians before finally pouring into his Dantian.

If anyone else had allowed a Heavenly Flame to roam their meridians like this, they would have been reduced to ash long ago. Yet, far from feeling any pain, Xiao Chen actually let out a comfortable moan.

After refining the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame, Xiao Chen couldn't wait to summon it.

Watching the flames wrap around his palm and dye it gold, Xiao Chen couldn't help but marvel: "So this is a Heavenly Flame. Truly as beautiful as it is dangerous!"

Feeling the violent energy contained within the flames, Xiao Chen was certain that even a single wisp of this could easily kill a Dou Wang.

Of course, that was assuming the Dou Wang didn't have their defenses up; otherwise, Xiao Chen would likely be slapped to death before he could even make a move.

There was no helping that—the gap in cultivation was too great, and his reaction speed couldn't keep up. By the time he raised his hand, the Dou Wang would have already vanished. How could he kill them in a second?

After admiring the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame for a while, Xiao Chen seemed to think of something. He retracted it into his body and asked the system, puzzled: "System, I remember that refining a Heavenly Flame usually comes with a feedback boost? Why don't I feel any?"

[Host, are you dreaming? That feedback only comes from wild Heavenly Flames. This one is pure, farm-raised; where would the energy come from to feed back to you?]

PS: Wild Heavenly Flames contain extremely powerful energy. Once refined, they lose their feedback effect upon subsequent refinements. Refer to Sea Heart Flame!

"Uh... alright, I guess I overthought it!"

Xiao Chen shrugged, not taking it to heart. He had only asked out of curiosity; whether or not it provided a boost didn't really matter to him.

Rather than dwelling on that, he decided to sleep. As the night deepened and drowsiness set in, Xiao Chen felt his eyelids growing heavy. He stopped fighting it and let the sleepiness wash over him.

Meanwhile, Gu Xun'er felt no sleepiness at all. She seemed to have just had a dream—a dream where, every day, she did nothing but cultivate, consume medicinal pills, and soak in medicinal baths. This life continued until she arrived at the Xiao Family and met Xiao Chen.

After that, Xiao Chen would take her to watch the sunset and sunrise every day, and they would go to the back mountain to catch butterflies and dragonflies together.

Occasionally, he would take her to Wutan City to shop. Every time they went, Xiao Chen would buy her exquisite gifts. The Gu Xun'er in the dream was very happy and even hoped to live like that forever.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but the dream shattered the moment the Xiao Clan Head's son tried to break into her room and was discovered.

Waking up, Gu Xun'er felt a bit lost. The dream had been so vivid that, for a moment, she couldn't tell if it was just a dream or a real experience.

"Elder Ling!"

Gu Xun'er called out softly. As her voice fell, Ling Ying's figure appeared outside her door, asking in a low voice: "Miss, what are your orders?"

"How long... have we been at the Xiao Family?"

Gu Xun'er felt a bit foolish asking this. She remembered clearly that they had only arrived today.

But the dream was so real that she couldn't distinguish between the two, so she had to call Ling Ying to confirm.

"Ah? This... Miss, we only arrived at the Xiao Family today. Is something wrong?"

Ling Ying was confused, not knowing what had happened, but he answered the question truthfully.

Hearing Ling Ying's reply, Gu Xun'er looked somewhat disappointed. She had actually hoped that the events in the dream were real.

After all, she had been much happier in the dream than in reality. Naturally, she couldn't tell Ling Ying this, so she made up a flimsy excuse: "It's nothing, Elder Ling. I was just missing my father!"

Ling Ying scratched his head vigorously, almost thinking he was getting old and his ears were failing him.

What was that? The Miss said she missed her father? That sounded a bit too fake, didn't it?

As the guard who had watched Gu Xun'er grow up, how could he not know his young mistress's personality?

I'm not bragging, but the chance of her missing Gu Yuan is probably lower than the chance of her missing that little brat named Xiao Chen she just met today, Ling Ying muttered to himself.

But since Gu Xun'er had said so, what could he do? Expose her?

Left with no choice, he could only play dumb and reply, "If Miss misses the Patriarch, you could send a message via jade slip!"

"Forget it, Father is busy with a thousand tasks a day; it is better not to disturb him."

Gu Xun'er felt a bit awkward at this moment, seemingly realizing that her excuse was too far-fetched. However, since things had reached this point, she could only bite the bullet and continue making it up; in any case, Ling Ying would certainly not expose her.

"Miss speaks with reason. If there are no other important matters, this subordinate will take his leave!"

Ling Ying only wanted to leave as quickly as possible; acting alongside his own Miss was truly too awkward.