Inside the seventh-floor room.
Xia Xiaoqi cradled the languid Little White Bat, looking as though she could not bear to put it down.
The little fellow had just finished sneaking some "delicacies" and was digesting their energy.
Being disturbed immediately displeased it.
It flapped its wings furiously in her arms, trying to escape.
But the immense strength of a sixth-rank true force realm Martial Warrior held it firmly in place. Just as it was about to extend its bone spurs and teach this human a lesson...
A fist-sized porcelain bottle flew out of Xia Xiaoqi's waist pouch. An invisible force opened the lid, and a blood-red pill rolled out.
White Bat's little eyes instantly lit up, and its pointed nose twitched incessantly.
"Heehee..."
"This is a Blood Essence Pill I brought specially for you from the Beast Taming Sect. Good stuff, refined from the flesh and blood of Greater Demons."
"Drip..."
Little White Bat began drooling.
"Hahaha..."
The unfamiliarity of their long separation gradually faded.
Xia Xiaoqi returned to her role as his little sidekick.
She began recounting what she had gained over the past year.
In the sitting room, a shaft of warm sunlight streamed through the window.
The two sat facing each other, their eyes meeting.
"You said mighty Martial Saints are apprentice ninth rank. Then what comes above apprentice?"
Su Xinghe was stunned by the news Little Beggar had brought.
He had just broken through to Grandmaster and thought he was no longer far from the Martial Apex. Before he could even celebrate, a basin of cold water had been thrown in his face.
It turned out that fifth-rank core embrace was merely apprentice seventh rank in the eyes of truly powerful factions.
And even mighty Martial Saints were only apprentice ninth rank.
First rank was