Jiang Yang smiled and replied:
"I'm happy to have earned your approval, Senior Bai."
Bai Tang waved a hand.
"All right, all right. Regulate your breathing for a while and stabilize your Qi Sea. I'll stand guard."
"All right. Sorry for the trouble, Senior Bai."
Jiang Yang agreed and settled into meditation beneath the tree without worry.
Bai Tang stood silently where she was. A battle had just taken place here, and the surrounding vegetation and puddles looked as though they had been plowed several times over.
The tremendous commotion had long since sent every intelligent living creature within several miles fleeing far away. For now, there was little fear of anything daring to approach.
With nothing to do, Bai Tang lowered her gaze to study the young man sitting quietly before her with his eyes closed. A few traces of blood remained on his handsome face. His sword-shaped brows were like ink-black blades cleaving pale snow, with fragments of dead wood still caught at their tips.
Sweat-soaked strands of hair clung to his forehead, tiny blood crystals hanging from their ends. He looked rather bedraggled, yet Bai Tang found the sight all the more pleasing.
She knew this was a road every cultivator had to travel. Though she worried about Jiang Yang's safety, she did not want him to become a flower sheltered in a greenhouse.
How could a Sword Cultivator develop superb swordsmanship without fighting a few battles, surviving a few brushes with death, spilling blood, and killing people?
After most of an hour had passed, Jiang Yang slowly opened his eyes.
After regulating his breathing for a while, he felt much better. His meridians still ached and throbbed unbearably, but at least the burning pain had faded.
That did not mean he was completely fine, however. Though