"A jade bracelet?"
Xiao Long rubbed the jade bracelet in his hand. He had only been joking at first, never expecting Xiao Yi Xian to actually give it to him.
Looking at the jade bracelet in Xiao Long's hand, Xiao Yi Xian's eyes flickered with nostalgia. "My mother left this to me when I was five. She told me to take it with me when I married."
"This..."
Xiao Long hadn't expected it to be something her mother had left her. He asked quietly, "Wouldn't it be wrong for me to take it, then?"
"With my constitution, I might never be able to marry. You can have it."
Xiao Yi Xian offered a faint, carefully measured smile. Besides, in her heart, Xiao Long was the only man she had ever accepted.
She didn't know who else she could give it to.
Hearing the melancholy in her voice, Xiao Long's expression shifted slightly. He took two steps closer, and the sudden proximity of his masculine presence brought a blush to Xiao Yi Xian's cheeks.
Suddenly, she found herself enveloped in an embrace, and Xiao Long's voice came from above her head.
"Don't worry. This is just a problem with your constitution, not a terminal illness! I promise I'll help you fix it!"
Leaning against Xiao Long's chest, Xiao Yi Xian nodded.
A moment later, Xiao Yi Xian finally came to her senses. She hurriedly pushed him away and glared at him. "You're taking advantage of me!"
"I'm not!"
"Then where was your hand just now?"
"Uh, that's a man's instinct."
"You! I'm not talking to you anymore!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! So this is what flying through the air feels like!"
"How can you fly?"
"It's my special ability. Don't tell anyone. You're the only person I've told. It's our secret."
Suspended beside the cliff, Xiao Yi Xian, who had just declared she wouldn't speak to Xiao Long anymore, held his hand as they walked through the air. Her face was full of wonder.
Although she had a companion of her own, a flying magical beast, riding on its back was quite different from standing in midair herself.
She could feel a force supporting her.
Earlier, she had wondered how Xiao Long intended to reach this cliffside spot. She hadn't expected him to simply lead her down through the air.
Looking at Xiao Yi Xian's eyes, bright with a little girl's excitement, Xiao Long knew he had made the right choice.
With girls, you had to show them a world they had never seen before.
If he tried this on an elite beauty born into wealth like Xiao Xun'er, or a mature woman like Yun Yun, who had long since flown to her heart's content...
It wouldn't work at all.
The result was plain to see.
The pink tint on the jade bracelet hanging from the Bittersweet Tree had increased by a full third.
Although it couldn't compare to Xun'er's jade pendant, which was nearly seventy percent pink, it was now close to halfway.
This was another function of the Bittersweet Tree that Xiao Long had discovered: whenever their feelings suddenly deepened, the progress of the Renewal Token increased.
It made him feel as though he were playing a dating sim.
As for how they were flying, that was naturally thanks to the Chicken Talisman. The Chicken Talisman could make other objects fly as well.
Without the Rabbit Talisman, however, it was more accurate to call it floating than flying.
But they were only walking down from the clifftop, so they had no need for actual flight.
"Right there."
Xiao Yi Xian pointed at a cave in the cliff. They landed inside its entrance and headed in, soon reaching the stone door. A measly obstacle meant for Dou Shi? Take my Dragon-
Scratch that Dragon Blast.
Forget it. They were inside a mountain, and he was worried that too much power would shatter the surrounding rock. He would rely purely on his body, enhanced by the Ox Talisman.
Bang!
His fist slammed into the stone door, silencing Xiao Yi Xian just as she was about to offer to try opening it.
The stone door shattered outright. Fragments sprayed in every direction, only to be stopped by Xiao Long's Dou Qi.
"Hey, buddy!"
Xiao Long looked into the stone chamber, which was lit by Moonlight Stones embedded in its walls.
At the center stood a chair, and seated upon it was a skeleton with deeply sunken eye sockets.
But between Xiao Long, who had slaughtered countless people, and Xiao Yi Xian, a healer, they had seen more corpses than they could count.
Naturally, neither felt much of anything.
Xiao Long even greeted it.
Before the chair stood a fairly broad, long bluestone platform, with three locked stone boxes neatly arranged on top.
In three corners of the chamber, piles of glittering gold coins and other precious valuables lay heaped up. There had to be several hundred thousand gold coins at least.
"Oh, there's quite a bit of money here!"
Xiao Long was rather fond of gold and silver, but his Storage Ring was too small. Of course, he could use the Chicken Talisman to float it all back.
But flying around with a massive heap of gold coins would make him look like a nouveau riche.
"These medicinal herbs are what's really valuable," Xiao Yi Xian said, seeing his eyes light up at the money.
"You know how to handle them. You're the expert. Once we've taken everything back, see which ones you want."
Although Xiao Long had inherited Tou She Ancient God's method of refining pills using flames alone, he had yet to attempt any pill refinement.
He wasn't particularly hungry for medicinal herbs yet.
"All right. If you need anything later, just tell me." Xiao Yi Xian nodded obediently. Xiao Long walked over to the skeleton and spotted a scroll inside one of its arm bones.
He pulled the arm bone off and took out the scroll inside.
"Hey, what are you doing? Show some respect for the dead!"
"I didn't expect another treasure to be hidden here." This should be the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame Fragment Map.
Still, it was something of a chicken rib to him-hardly worth keeping, yet a pity to throw away. Although he knew where the other fragments came from, there was too much chance involved.
Almost all of them appeared at auctions.
And who knew when an auction would turn up?
"Ah, that was hidden so well!" Xiao Yi Xian had already finished tending to the medicinal herbs and was surrounded by bottles and jars. Resigned, Xiao Long helped her put them into his Storage Ring.
"Hehe."
Xiao Yi Xian didn't ask what the scroll was, but Xiao Long explained anyway. "This seems to record something, but it's incomplete. Who knows whether I'll ever have the chance to gather all the pieces?"
"Incomplete? Then it isn't worth much."
Xiao Yi Xian didn't think much of it, but hearing Xiao Long explain it to her still filled her heart with delight.
It meant he cared about her.
Xiao Long opened the three stone boxes. Inside were Eagle Wings, the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture, and Mad Lion's Roar.
"This Mad Lion's Roar is pretty good. Sonic Dou Techniques are worth more than ordinary ones. The same goes for this Flying Dou Technique. Looks like this skeleton was no ordinary person in life."
Xiao Long handed the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture to Xiao Yi Xian. "This should be a Poison Scripture. You should like it."
Xiao Yi Xian took it and flipped through it, nodding repeatedly. "Some of the poisons in here can even harm a Dou Shi."
Then her expression dimmed. After all, her dream was to become an alchemist. Neither poison masters nor healers counted as true alchemists.
Xiao Long glanced at her. "Having both fire and wood attributes isn't the only way to become an alchemist. As far as I know, there's a Heavenly Flame called the Netherworld Poison Flame."
"It turns poison into flame. Once I help you resolve the problem with your constitution, controlling the Netherworld Poison Flame with that constitution shouldn't be an issue."
"Then you'll be able to become an alchemist!"
Before you continue