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When Qiao Ranran gave someone a gift, it was never anything less than excellent. Even though Sword Venerable Jinglin had braced himself, his pupils still contracted the instant he opened the box. He snapped it shut again faster than lightning.

He did not need to say a word. Everyone could read the look on his face: Far too precious. What treasure could make Sword Venerable Jinglin react like that?

The disciples watching had no idea, but the senior figures behind Sword Venerable Jinglin had seen clearly, and their expressions turned complicated. Sword Venerable Jinglin regretted opening the box here. Inside the Jade Box lay a sprig of Heaven-Heart Wood of the Dao.

It was only the size of a thumb, but it was unmistakably a living sprig of Heaven-Heart Wood of the Dao.

Yan Qingsui had gone out of his way to prepare an Azure Nether Fruit for Sword Venerable Jinglin and had treated it like a treasure. Qiao Ranran had guessed that something had probably gone wrong with the sword venerable's cultivation. The sprig of Heaven-Heart Wood of the Dao was little more than a fragment she had picked up in the God-Demon Battlefield Ruins. She had kept it because it was valuable, and when she met Sword Venerable Jinglin just now, she had thought it would suit him perfectly.

"Please, Senior, don't refuse it, for the sake of my friendship with Little Yan." Qiao Ranran shot Yan Qingsui a smiling glance. At her words, the boy looked so smug his tail might as well have been sticking straight up.

She's my friend. My friend's giving the old man a present because of me! He could hardly have been prouder.

"Come on, old man, just take it. What, are you going to turn your nose up at it?"

"I