Thirty-One Frames

Pei Ling had not been joking when he said he would help Qiao Ranran. He meant what he said, and he saw it through, supervising her cultivation every step of the way.

At first, Qiao Ranran thought Pei Ling only intended to keep an eye on her. She could tell he disapproved of how much time she spent refining pills and practicing Spell Arts. He disapproved even more of how slowly her cultivation improved despite all the time she put into it.

But she was a Medicine Cultivator! That was how she had seen herself from the start, and it had never changed. Surely refining pills and practicing Spell Arts was the right path for her! What gave Pei Ling the right to look down on her?

Did he expect her to be like him, entering seclusion on a whim and emerging at a higher stage? Impossible. Absolutely impossible. Top students would never understand the pain of struggling students, and at least she was a hardworking one!

Pei Ling watched Qiao Ranran meditate for an entire day. She did work hard, circulating the Spiritual Power within her without a moment's pause. She even sliced off another sliver of Blood Jade Nectar and skillfully ground it down to absorb it. From the look of it, she did this often.

Yet after a whole day, her cultivation had improved by a barely perceptible trace. Forget the Foundation Establishment Stage; she had not even reached the threshold of the Qi Refining Fifth Layer. He had never known there could be such a vast gap within the Qi Refining Stage. Somehow, she had made that modest stage as difficult to cultivate through as the Golden Core Stage or the Deity Transformation Stage.

And Qiao Ranran looked as though this were perfectly natural. She even