Rabbit

Bing Ling sparred with Feng Wuhen for a while longer. Aside from gaining a slight advantage at the beginning, he was pressed down and beaten for the entire latter half, making Bing Ling regret his previous laziness.

Thinking that if he had cultivated properly before, he definitely would have been able to hold on longer today instead of being so quickly suppressed by his junior brother, he felt even more regretful.

At this moment, he truly took Chu Moqing's former words to heart. It was time for him to work hard; he could not rely on his good talent and refuse to make an effort.

If he kept lying flat like this, Feng Wuhen would surpass him before long. Then, forget about protecting Feng Wuhen—even managing not to hold him back would be good enough. With that thought, Bing Ling began striving to become stronger.

Feng Wuhen quickly noticed that Bing Ling had been appearing and disappearing like a ghost these past two days. Previously, the two of them had spent more than half of every day glued together.

But now, aside from unfailingly accompanying him every afternoon to familiarize himself with sword techniques and spar with him, Feng Wuhen did not see Bing Ling at any other time.

Even his three daily meals were delivered by miscellaneous disciples arranged by Chu Moqing. While Bing Ling accompanied him in sword practice, Feng Wuhen focused his senses and saw what he had been doing these past few days.

He saw that Bing Ling cultivated during the day and continued cultivating at night without sleeping, day after day.

Afraid that he would cultivate himself into madness, Feng Wuhen agreed outright when Qin Xiaoran sent them invitations to gather together.

After replying to him, Feng Wuhen took the invitation out of his cave dwelling and sat at the stone table outside Bing Ling's door. He took out a jade whistle from his storage ring and blew on it. Strangely, the whistle made no sound.

Yet very soon, a blue streak of light came racing from the rear mountain. Bing Ling appeared before Feng Wuhen and sat down on the stone bench beside him.

"Little Feng, why are you looking for me at this time? Are we practicing swordsmanship early?"

Feng Wuhen shook his head and showed him the invitation in his hand. "Senior Brother Qin sent an invitation, saying he wanted to thank us for saving him last time. He invited us to a small gathering at the main peak tomorrow. Senior Brother Shen and the others should have received invitations as well.

"I was thinking that we've been busy cultivating lately. Both our bodies and minds have been constantly stretched taut, and we've never had a proper rest. Since everyone will be there this time, we might as well go have some fun."

Thinking of how hard he had worked these past few days, Bing Ling did feel somewhat tired. Going out to relax sounded quite nice.

"Alright! The two of us will go together tomorrow. I'll bring you all a surprise then."

Bing Ling thought of what he had buried in the rear mountain and felt it was time to dig it out.

Seeing the amusement on his face, Feng Wuhen focused his senses on him for a few seconds and saw what he had buried in the rear mountain. He began looking forward to tomorrow's gathering.

After lunch the next day, Feng Wuhen and Bing Ling informed Chu Moqing before heading for the main peak. On the way, they ran into Shen Ziheng and Meng Hongying, who had also been invited.

Meng Hongying had only broken through to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer two days ago. Just as she was about to show off in front of Feng Wuhen, she discovered that he had already reached the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.

The pride on her face instantly dimmed. She lowered her head and gloomily kicked a stone by her foot. The stone flew into the grass nearby, striking something and producing a rustling sound.

Startled by the noise, Meng Hongying hid behind Shen Ziheng and nervously clutched his sleeve. Though she was clearly afraid, she could not help poking her head out to look.

Shen Ziheng shifted slightly to shield her. He picked up a dead branch from the ground and used it to part the grass.

Inside was a small rabbit, white and soft. Its adorable three-part mouth held several blades of grass, while its bright red eyes looked at them innocently.

Not far away lay an angular stone, clearly the one Meng Hongying had kicked over just now.

Seeing that the thing hiding in the grass was an adorable little rabbit, Meng Hongying stepped out from behind Shen Ziheng and gazed at it with delight written all over her face.

She walked over, crouched down, and gathered it into her arms, reaching out with eyes full of affection to stroke its soft, sleek fur.

"What an adorable little rabbit! I wonder whether it has an owner. If it doesn't, I want to take it back and raise it."

Feng Wuhen walked over, grabbed the rabbit by its ears, and yanked it out of Meng Hongying's arms. He lifted it before himself and stared into those bright red eyes.

When he saw that the rabbit did not dare meet his gaze, a meaningful smile curved Feng Wuhen's lips. "I was just thinking that we were visiting Senior Brother Qin this time without bringing a gift. Who would have thought our luck on the road would be so good that we'd come across such a rabbit?

"My skill at roasting rabbit happens to be quite good. Once we reach Senior Brother Qin's place, we can skin and roast this rabbit. It can count as an extra dish for the gathering."

Seeing that he actually wanted to kill such an adorable rabbit for its meat, Meng Hongying angrily shoved his shoulder. "How can you be so cruel? This little rabbit is so cute, yet you actually want to kill it and eat it!"

After saying that, Meng Hongying reached out to snatch the rabbit Feng Wuhen was holding. Feng Wuhen lightly tapped the ground with his foot and turned aside, avoiding her.

Then he heavily hurled the rabbit in his hand to one side. Before everyone's eyes, the rabbit flipped several times in the air before landing steadily in the grass.

The next second, the rabbit spoke. "You're such a bad person! You actually wanted to skin me and eat my meat. Just watch how I teach you a lesson."

A burst of white light flashed, and the little rabbit transformed into a young maiden. A strip of white silk flew from her sleeve and shot straight toward Feng Wuhen's face.

Feng Wuhen grabbed the white silk, twisting his wrist to wind it around his hand. Then he exerted force and pulled the rabbit spirit toward himself.

The rabbit spirit had not expected him to grab her white silk directly. Her footing slipped, and he dragged her several steps forward.

But she quickly recovered, abandoning the white silk in her hand and drawing a soft sword from her waist.

Green light flashed from Feng Wuhen's right hand, and the wooden sword he usually used for practice appeared in his grasp. The soft sword coiled around the wooden sword like a snake.

Feng Wuhen gripped the sword and dragged the rabbit spirit toward him. When she was close enough, he kicked her in the abdomen. The rabbit spirit was sent flying backward.

As a result, she loosened her grip on her sword. Feng Wuhen took the opportunity to seize the soft sword, then held a sword in each hand and looked toward the rabbit spirit sprawled on the ground, crying miserably after being kicked away.

"You don't even know how to use a sword, yet you used one against me. Isn't it perfectly normal that I beat you back? Besides, I only kicked you once. It's not like I meant to kill you. You're crying so miserably that it looks as if I really skinned you.

"Wasn't it you who first concealed your demonic aura and pretended to be an ordinary rabbit to deceive us?"

Meng Hongying had thought all along that it was merely an ordinary rabbit, only for it to put on a grand transformation right before her eyes.

Then it had fought Feng Wuhen. Though it was crushed in the end and even kicked flying.

Shen Ziheng found the person this rabbit had transformed into somewhat familiar. After thinking for a while, he remembered.

"You're the jade rabbit my master's wife keeps. I remember you're called Little Jade. But why are you hiding here? Were you trying to prank us?"

Shen Ziheng remembered Qin Xiaoran mentioning that his mother had a very mischievous rabbit companion. If he found a little rabbit near the main peak, Qin Xiaoran had told him to be careful and not let himself be pranked.

The reason he recognized Little Jade's human form was that he had once been asked to deliver something to Ruan Siyao and happened to see her then. That was why he could recognize her.

Seeing that her identity had been exposed, Little Jade jumped up from the ground, dusted off the dirt on her backside, and glared viciously at Feng Wuhen. "Hmph, you bad brat! I'll remember you!"

After throwing out her threat, Little Jade turned to flee. Before she could run away, however, her feet were frozen in place.