After brushing off the male cultivator beside her, Xiao Yunzhi's expression returned to normal.
The man thought nothing of it and nodded slightly. "If I'm not mistaken, that should be the restriction-breaking property of the legendary true spirit Vermilion Bird's evil-slaying spirit flame. To think someone could raise such a heaven-and-earth spirit bird! In terms of wondrous abilities, this bird is every bit the equal of your Blazing Sun Bird, Fellow Daoist Xiao, or Her Majesty the Sage Empress's Five-Color Sparrow."
"This man must have quite a background. Though his cultivation is only at the core formation middle stage, Deacon Yuan's death at his hands was hardly undeserved."
The male cultivator spoke with an air of lofty superiority, utterly unmoved by Deacon Yuan's death, as though a dog had died.
Xiao Yunzhi nodded without saying much.
Inwardly, however, she was already beaming with delight.
A hundred years ago, she had the misfortune of encountering Lu Old Devil in the Far North, where he had gone in search of the Three-Yin Soul-Slaying Sword. After a fierce battle, she had chosen to lure him toward Great Zhou for Brother Li's safety.
After arriving in Great Zhou, a series of chance encounters had allowed her to kill Lu Old Devil with outside help, avenging her ancestor.
But because of that same outside help, she had been unable to leave Great Zhou all this time.
Having gone a hundred years without seeing him, she had dearly missed Brother Li throughout.
At one point, she had even feared that Brother Li might fail to reach core formation and pass away at the end of his lifespan before she could finish dealing with matters in Great Zhou.
But now, she had seen Brother Li appear with the Desolate Fire Sparrow, his cultivation having reached the same