After that thunderous strike intimidated their enemies, Li Ling and the Ninth Princess finally enjoyed a peaceful New Year.
From then on, Li Ling no longer needed to hide anything. He openly revealed his cultivation affairs to the Ninth Princess and discussed with her how to use their Spirit Materials and secret treasures to strengthen themselves.
This undoubtedly made handling things much more efficient.
They examined the items confiscated from the rogue cultivators and found that only the magical sword transformed from a wooden hairpin deserved any attention.
But Li Ling was not accustomed to using such weapons, and refining it would be troublesome, so he simply sold the whole lot to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion.
They did keep the cloud canopy formed from that mass of mirage cloud, though not because he intended to refine it for himself. Rather, the Ninth Princess had taken an interest in it.
She wanted to follow its example, conjuring clouds into a tower and refining her own cloud fiend into something similar.
The Skycloud Sect excelled at the various arts of Cloud Escape. As a formal inner court disciple, she had ample opportunities to study and cultivate them, making this a good choice.
"That would be good, too. If you can refine this, you can turn it into a Magic Treasure even after reaching Foundation Establishment, using it to bewilder and trap enemies."
"Together with the Golden Scissors the Old Ancestor gave you, you'll finally have some ability to protect yourself. You won't have to worry about cutting wide of the mark like last time."
At their residence, Li Ling strolled with the Ninth Princess through the waterside corridors of the Inner Garden, speaking to her with a smile.
The Ninth Princess protested, "Husband, you're teasing me again. Last time really was just