Senior brother, what's mine is yours

Xiao Qinghe watched the scene and gave a soft snort.

Xie Jun belongs to the female lead. If you all set your hearts on her, you're bound to fall for the wrong person.

Despite that thought, he still felt inexplicably uncomfortable. He simply rolled over, refused to look again, and closed his eyes to sleep.

To hell with all those women!

Bai Liuli looked at Xie Jun thoughtfully. "Is the person you mentioned your senior brother?"

Mu Yingying tilted her head, the picture of innocence. "Senior sister Bai, how did you know? Have you met her senior brother?"

Bai Liuli's expression instantly turned awkward.

Seeing this, Xie Jun snorted. Then, ignoring everyone's puzzled looks, she walked straight into the dense forest.

Half asleep, Xiao Qinghe was roused by a delicious aroma. He opened his eyes to find a large, golden roasted fish right in front of him.

He lifted his gaze and met Xie Jun's stunning face.

Moonlight spilled over her face like water, coating it in silver. Her faintly smiling eyes and brows actually held a trace of tenderness.

Xiao Qinghe's heart skipped a beat. This temptress is getting better and better at this. No wonder all those young female disciples have fallen for her.

Even a grown man like him could barely withstand it.

"Senior brother, weren't you hungry?" Xie Jun handed him the roasted fish and sat down beside him.

The century-old tree had thick, sturdy branches, but fitting two people on one was still a squeeze. Xie Jun pressed close to Xiao Qinghe.

Seeing that Xiao Qinghe was focused on eating the fish and didn't move away, she smiled softly.

Xiao Qinghe glanced at her. "How did you know I was here?"

"I heard your stomach growling."

"..."

"And I smelled your scent."

"???"

Xiao Qinghe raised his arm to his nose, sniffed, then looked at her in disbelief.

Do you have a dog's nose?

What scent?

Xie Jun suddenly leaned closer, pressing her entire upper body toward him until their breaths almost mingled.

Xiao Qinghe's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively leaned back.

But the tree trunk was behind him. He had nowhere to retreat.

At that movement, Xie Jun's eyes dimmed. Her voice was very soft, as though she feared frightening something. "You have a unique scent, senior brother. If I pay close attention, I can smell it."

Xiao Qinghe didn't believe her.

Xie Jun chuckled. Rather than dwell on the matter of his scent, she took a brocade pouch from inside her robes.

It bulged with something.

One look revealed that it was filled with Spirit Pills-thirty or forty of them.

Holy shit!

No wonder his Spirit Pills count had always shown zero. He had secretly kept them on him instead of putting them into his Jade Gourd. Since the Jade Gourd couldn't detect and count them, his ranking naturally couldn't rise.

But why had she done that?

To hide her strength and mislead her opponents?

He was about to ask when Xie Jun suddenly poured the entire pouch of Spirit Pills into his Jade Gourd.

Xiao Qinghe: "!!!"

At the foot of Deer-Cry Mountain, the rankings updated in real time.

The Azure Cloud Sect master's most prized senior disciple, Wen Changgeng, had been toyed with by Xiao Qinghe and robbed of all his Spirit Pills. The sect master was so stifled with frustration that he had nearly suffered internal injuries. Now he sat with a hand to his forehead and his eyes closed, shutting out the world.

Beside him, the sect master of Spirit Sword Mountain leisurely sipped his tea. Noticing everyone's stunned expressions, he lifted his eyes toward the rankings, and his hand paused.

After staring blankly for a full two seconds, he set down his cup and nudged the Azure Cloud Sect master with his elbow. "Don't you want to know what young immortal master Xiao, who toyed with your most prized senior disciple, has done now?"

The Azure Cloud Sect master looked up and spat out a mouthful of blood.

A critical hit!

Ten thousand points of critical damage!

On the rankings, Xiao Qinghe had broken through the crowd and leaped into first place. His Spirit Pills count plainly displayed thirty-nine!

That was almost twice the number held by Yan Yunhe, who had been pushed down to second place!

Everyone was stunned.

"The younger generation truly is formidable."

"Last year, young immortal master Wen didn't reach that Spirit Pills count until the second day, did he? Yet this young immortal master Xiao has already done it just after nightfall on the first day. Admirable!"

With his senior disciple repeatedly dragged out for fresh humiliation, the Azure Cloud Sect master shut down on the spot.

The sect master of Spirit Sword Mountain gently waved his folding fan and looked at Bai Yuqing, a glint in his eyes. "I've heard that immortal master Bai has two disciples. This young immortal master Xiao has stunned everyone, while the other seems rather unremarkable. Does immortal master Bai find that reasonable?"

He seemed to have guessed something.

It wasn't difficult to guess.

Small groups banding together and handing all their Spirit Pills to one person so that person's ranking would rise into the Top Hundred was a common sight at past Heroes' Conferences.

Small sects in particular would even plan from the outset to band together and rob lone cultivators of their Spirit Pills, then give every pill to one person to help that person stand out, all to secure one more place in the Top Hundred.

They were nothing more than petty tricks unworthy of mention.

Xiao Qinghe had fought alone earlier, and the rankings of the Demon-Slaying Sect's recognizable rising talents hadn't fluctuated drastically. Clearly, his Spirit Pills hadn't come from them.

Meanwhile, the Spirit Pills count of Bai Yuqing's other disciple had remained at zero.

That made things very interesting.

Unfortunately, night had fallen, and Xiao Qinghe was deep in the forest, perched among the branches of a tree. Layers of foliage blocked the view, leaving the Tracking Bird unable to capture any footage of him. Naturally, no one knew what had really happened with the Spirit Pills.

Bai Yuqing remained expressionless and gave no answer, merely looking at Xie Jun's entry at the bottom of the rankings and letting out a quiet scoff.

Deep in the forest.

The system interface before Xiao Qinghe displayed his leap into first place in real time.

Holy shit!

Xie Jun taking first place is how the plot is supposed to go. What the hell am I doing up there?

"Junior sister, stop messing around!" Xiao Qinghe moved to take out the Spirit Pills and return them.

"I said I would let everyone know you aren't useless, senior brother." Xie Jun's expression was solemn. The Spirit Pills that represented supreme honor to others were no different from ordinary stones in her eyes. "If you don't want them, throw them away."

Xiao Qinghe pressed a hand to his forehead. "How can you take other people's jokes seriously? If you give me all your Spirit Pills, what will you do?"

"What's mine is yours, senior brother, and what's yours is mine." Xie Jun's lips moved.

Her voice was too quiet for Xiao Qinghe to catch. He unconsciously leaned closer. "Junior sister? What did you say?"

A familiar scent washed over her.

It was the scent she had breathed in countless times during those dozens of nights of dual cultivation, when she had crept closer after Xiao Qinghe fell asleep.

Xie Jun's heart skipped a beat, and she awkwardly averted her gaze. "Nothing."

Then, seeing Xiao Qinghe huddle in on himself, she hurriedly removed her outer robe and wrapped it around him. After a moment's hesitation, she moved closer, her voice as gentle as the night. "Senior brother, I run warm. Come closer to me."

The Demon Clan's body temperature really is outrageous.

Being sensitive to the cold, Xiao Qinghe was envious. Anyway, this wasn't his first time using the Xie Jun-brand human heater. The more he used her, the more accustomed he became.

So he edged closer to her, then closer still.

Feeling the steady stream of warmth flow into him, Xiao Qinghe was perfectly content. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

His refined, handsome face lay half veiled in the moonlight, exuding an alluring air.

Xie Jun lowered her eyes and gazed at him, her throat growing dry. Unbidden, memories surfaced of those nights of dual cultivation and the things she had done in the dead of night.

As if under a spell, she slowly lowered her head toward those familiar lips.