"You?"
Ning Xinyao looked Ye Zhiqiu up and down, a barely perceptible trace of contempt in her eyes.
She asked Ning Xi, "What do you think?"
Ye Zhiqiu hurriedly introduced himself. "I possess the seven-aperture exquisite body and have achieved hundred-day foundation establishment. My strength is no less than Senior Brother Qin's, either. Besides, I'm only acting as a shield, not going out to kill anyone. I believe I can handle it."
"Fine, then." Ning Xi tossed Ye Zhiqiu a storage ring. "There's a small spirit vein inside. That's your payment."
Ye Zhiqiu and everyone else were stunned.
Not high-grade spirit stones, not supreme-grade spirit stones-she had handed over a spirit vein right off the bat.
Was this how elite descendants of an Ancient Immortal Lineage threw their wealth around?!
A spirit vein was far better than spirit stones.
It could boost both cultivation and breakthroughs.
The spirit vein itself would even produce spirit stones continuously, making it exceedingly precious.
"But let's get this straight first. I have a bad temper, and you'd better be mentally prepared to fight my suitors."
"Rest assured!" Ye Zhiqiu patted his chest and solemnly promised, "I won't let any petty scoundrels bother you."
He understood this whole acting-as-a-shield business all too well.
Shielding her was merely an excuse to display his abilities. It would send Ning Xi's imagination running wild and draw her into a fascination with him.
And once a woman grew curious about a man, she had already begun to fall for him.
Especially when he thought of all the chances to show off and slap faces later-just imagining them made him tremble with excitement.
[Ding! Successfully bound Ning Xi as a conquest target! Current conquest progress: 0%]
Ning Xinyao returned to the Crane-Cry Peak group, leaving Ning Xi here.
Ye Zhiqiu abandoned his five senior sisters and sidled up to Ning Xi, fussing over her comfort.
But Ning Xi had little interest and barely acknowledged Ye Zhiqiu.
"Stop bothering me! You're only a shield. How are you even more annoying than those suitors? When I don't need you, just keep your mouth shut."
Annoyed, Ning Xi snapped at him.
Ye Zhiqiu froze.
He had never expected that his outstanding looks would fail to raise her conquest progress by even 1%. Instead, it had now dropped below zero.
He immediately changed his approach. Rather than pestering Ning Xi, he put in extra hours elsewhere, striving to grind Jiang Qingci's and He Lu's progress to 100% as soon as possible.
In his view, Ning Xi was surely a lofty, heaven-favored prodigy who had no shortage of people fawning over her.
What he ought to do was act cold, treat her as nothing special, and do things that defied her expectations.
Women are all lowly at heart. You can't spoil them!
Yet even as he thought that...
Before long, he saw Ning Xi approach Qin Feng of her own accord.
"Senior Brother Qin, that female sword cultivator from the Green Lotus Sword Sect with the immaculate sword heart has both beauty and talent. Senior Brother Li from our Crane-Cry Peak has no chance with her, but you're both the Qin Household's young master and the beloved disciple of the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect's sect master. You're absolutely worthy of her. Why not ask the sect master to propose the match?"
Ning Xi's expression shifted from utter impatience to eager enthusiasm, as though she cared deeply about what Qin Feng thought.
Ye Zhiqiu's eyes widened.
Why was this nothing like what he had imagined?!
Wasn't Ning Xi supposed to be a lofty young lady who waited for everyone to grovel at her feet?
Why was she being so forward with Qin Feng?!
The real Qin Feng was equally baffled.
Ning Xi was a genuine core descendant of the Ning Lineage, with countless suitors, and she had received Ning Qingfeng's true teachings.
Though the Qin Household had a Tribulation Transcendence ancestor, it was only on the level of a major sect, far beneath an Ancient Immortal Lineage like the Ning Lineage.
Why couldn't he remember ever having anything to do with her?
But what left everyone even more wide-eyed and dumbfounded was-
"None of your damn business."
Li Yang cracked one eye halfway open, his tone utterly blunt.
Everyone had expected Ning Xi to fly into a rage.
Yet Ning Xi acted as though nothing had happened.
She seemed accustomed to Qin Feng's rude behavior and manner of speaking.
"Oh, come on~ I was only curious~" Ning Xi slipped naturally into a wheedling tone.
Then she leaned mysteriously toward Li Yang's ear. "Could it be that you know Yan Zhaoxi's secret, Senior Brother?"
Li Yang frowned slightly.
Since it concerned him, he was indeed curious why his master had gone to such lengths to turn down this marriage.
He certainly didn't believe Lu Feng genuinely thought he was unworthy of her.
"No."
Ning Xi spoke breezily:
"Of course you don't~ But I do!"
She didn't keep him in suspense. "I hear Yan Zhaoxi cultivates the ruthless sword Dao. With her immaculate sword heart as its foundation, she's progressing at astonishing speed. But I heard... of course, this is only something I heard, just something the ancestor mentioned in passing-
"To cultivate ruthlessness, one must first enter into love and know the suffering of all living beings;
"Then affirm that love and understand the principles of cause and effect;
"Finally, sever that love and cleave heaven and earth into emptiness;
"But the orthodox inheritance of the ruthless Dao has yet to emerge. What people cultivate in this world mostly falls into two kinds-
"One is the ruthless Dao practiced by demon cultivators-the extreme path of killing one's husband or wife to prove one's Dao. The Dao Alliance doesn't recognize it, and it's also called the severance Dao.
"The other severs the threads of karma, cutting away everything from the first flutter of attraction to the fulfillment of the relationship. It can also be considered an alternative branch of the Three-Corpse Severance Ancient Method.
"But neither is kind to one's partner.
"The former severs the person; the latter severs the heart."
Li Yang understood.
No wonder his master had refused so decisively. This ruthless Dao really was disgusting.
She wanted to use him to enter into love, then sever that love.
So he would just be a tool.
I haven't even been in love once, and you already want to toy with my feelings? Dream on!
"I cleared up your confusion. Aren't you going to thank me?" Ning Xi smiled sweetly.
"Thank you." Li Yang nodded slightly, his tone softening a little.
He wasn't the shield anyway, so there was no harm in chatting.
Ning Xi secretly transmitted her voice. "Ninth Senior Brother, I want to follow you~ The way this Ye Zhiqiu looks at me is so sleazy. I don't like him."
"Don't. It won't do you any good. You'll die." Li Yang refused outright.
"No~" Ning Xi was stubborn. "The ancestor said you're very interesting. She told me to follow you and broaden my horizons, to experience a different kind of cultivation journey. It'll help perfect my Dao heart.
"She also said, 'You killed my mortalized body. Not only did I spare your life, I even helped your flesh undergo rebirth. You owe her an enormous favor. You have to take me along!'
"That's what she said~"
"I don't believe you." Li Yang narrowed his eyes. "You definitely made that up yourself."
"Then shall I ask her to come over and say hello? Kunyuan Immortal City isn't that far from our Ning Lineage, anyway." Ning Xi looked utterly unconcerned.
"Don't. You win."
Li Yang had no recourse.
He really did owe that favor.
Without his body's rebirth, reaching core formation would probably have taken him a century.
A heaven-defying opportunity that transformed his aptitude like this was an enormous favor.
"Then follow me. But you can still make use of Ye Zhiqiu. That fellow has rotten character. His death would be no loss."
Li Yang disliked trouble, and he disliked babysitting even more.
But if Ye Zhiqiu drew all the trouble away, he would happily watch the show from behind.
"What? Is she that frightening?" Ning Xi's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, a dangerous glint of displeasure surfacing in them.
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