You... Are That Chore Disciple?

Seeing the junior sister he had quietly watched over for years agree to another man's offer just like that left a bitter taste in Fang Yuan's mouth.

But he knew where he stood. What belonged to him would be his, and if something wasn't his, he needed enough self-awareness to accept it.

Still, as long as he clung tightly to this golden thigh, what kind of woman couldn't he get once his cultivation bore fruit?

With that thought, he instantly let it go.

The three soon reached the summit.

The moment Bai Jin'er stepped onto the stone stairs at the summit, she couldn't resist taking a deep breath of the rich spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy here was ten times denser than down below.

That meant cultivation here was ten times faster, too.

Without Chun Xiaobai bringing her here, a disciple at the fifth level of Qi Refining like her would never have been qualified to reach the summit.

This was a rule the Azure Cloud Sect had deliberately designed to push its disciples upward. If you wanted better cultivation resources than others and faster progress,

then you had to complete more missions and improve your strength before you could live in a better house and receive the best resources.

When they passed Fang Yuan's cave abode, he cupped his hands toward the two of them, then slunk into his own abode next door.

"Junior sister, here, help me activate the arrays."

As soon as they entered the courtyard, Chun Xiaobai handed the Formation Talisman to Bai Jin'er.

Bai Jin'er froze for a moment.

This jade talisman was equivalent to a house key. How could he hand it to someone else so casually?

And that wasn't even what puzzled her most. Senior Brother Chun could activate the arrays with a mere strand of divine sense. Why ask her to do it instead of doing it himself?

Still, she didn't dwell on it, assuming Pure Senior Brother wanted to show his trust in her.

Her ears reddened slightly. Then she gathered a strand of divine sense and carefully extended it into the Formation Talisman.

Hum!

The Formation Talisman released a mystical glow. The obscuring array, concealment array, and defensive array around the courtyard instantly activated, enveloping the entire little courtyard in a faint curtain of light.

"Mm!"

Seeing this, Chun Xiaobai snatched the Formation Talisman back.

Now this little girl wouldn't find it so easy to run away!

The look in his eyes struck Bai Jin'er as familiar.

What's going on?

Why do I feel like he's that Odd-Job Disciple again?

Chun Xiaobai took Bai Jin'er straight to the cultivation room. Turning his hand over, he produced a bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills and handed it to her.

"Here, junior sister. I can't finish all these pills, so they're yours."

"This...!" Embarrassed, Bai Jin'er raised her hand to refuse.

But when she knocked against the pill bottle, she somehow ended up catching it.

Oh no, when did I become so thick-skinned?

Her little face flushed crimson, and she glanced at Chun Xiaobai, a surge of gratitude welling up inside her.

She had never expected Senior Brother Chun to be so generous on top of possessing such profound cultivation.

Chun Xiaobai looked utterly unconcerned.

For bandits like him, nothing mattered more than loyalty.

Words spoken were like water spilled. If he said he was giving something away, he truly meant it.

Besides, he liked people who were greedy for little bargains best. In his eyes, they were kindred spirits.

Bai Jin'er opened the bottle and looked inside. There were fifty pills!

Spirit-Gathering Pills cost ten spirit stones apiece outside. Had Senior Brother Chun just given her five hundred spirit stones?

The life-threatening three-star missions she usually took only paid a hundred spirit stones!

"Thank you... thank you, Senior Brother Chun!" Deeply moved, Bai Jin'er thanked him repeatedly.

"No need, no need."

Chun Xiaobai waved a hand expansively, then took out the two bottles of Qi-Restoring Pills, containing over a hundred pills in all. Tilting his head back, he poured them into his mouth in one rattling gulp.

As though eating roasted beans, he crunched them a couple of times, swallowed, and even let out a burp.

Bai Jin'er stared, dumbfounded.

He... Senior Brother Chun really eats pills like food!

Isn't that outrageously extravagant?!

Wait!

She suddenly noticed the prominent words "Qi-Restoring Pills" on the bottles. Her expression changed, and she cried out.

"Oh no! Senior Brother Chun! How could you eat so many Qi-Restoring Pills?"

"Quick! Spit them out! Your body could burst and kill you!"

"Huh?"

Chun Xiaobai hurriedly checked how he felt. Apart from being a little too full, he sensed none of the surging blood or splitting meridians she seemed to expect.

"Relax!" He burped again, utterly unconcerned. "A few measly pills? Your senior brother is used to eating them. How could they make my body burst?"

"But... but!" Bai Jin'er panicked.

Qi-Restoring Pills were nothing like Spirit-Gathering Pills!

They contained extremely pure spiritual energy and were precious pills used to rapidly replenish a cultivator's spiritual power when it ran dry. They were worth even more than Spirit-Gathering Pills!

At her current cultivation of the fifth level of Qi Refining, one Qi-Restoring Pill could fully restore her spiritual power.

Yet Chun Xiaobai had just swallowed over a hundred in one go!

Even the sect's Golden Core elders would never dare act so recklessly with a dose like that!

But...

She stared blankly at Chun Xiaobai. His face wasn't flushed, his heart wasn't racing, and he seemed... genuinely fine.

How was that possible?

With a grave expression, she asked, "Senior Brother Chun, are... are you really all right?"

"I'm really fine." Chun Xiaobai looked as though that went without saying.

He had already polished off a bottle when he got up that morning. How could anything be wrong?

He suspected it was probably because he hadn't entered the Dao and couldn't sense spiritual energy, so he simply digested them as food and absorbed some of their medicinal effects.

Still, this had taught him a lesson.

He couldn't eat pills indiscriminately in the future. What if a pill had a respectable-sounding name but was actually a poison pill refined by someone from the righteous path, and he ate himself straight into the grave? These pills weren't produced by pharmaceutical factories.

"All right, junior sister, forget about that. Come, do your senior brother a favor."

Bai Jin'er examined Chun Xiaobai closely once more. Only after seeing that his breathing was steady and there wasn't even the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy around him did she suppress her shock, still half-doubtful.

"All right, Senior Brother Chun. What do you need me to help with?"

Whoosh!

Chun Xiaobai pulled the Azure Cloud Manual straight from his robe and said with utmost seriousness, "Teach me how to draw qi into my body."

"Okay!" Bai Jin'er nodded instinctively, only to realize a moment later that something was wrong.

Right!

Draw qi into his body?

Her eyes flew wide as she stared at Chun Xiaobai in disbelief.

Wasn't he already in late-stage Qi Refining?

Wasn't he ranked among the top hundred disciples on Green Bamboo Peak?

And yet... he hadn't even drawn qi into his body?!

How was that possible?!

A mortal who hadn't even started cultivating had defeated one of the Outer Sect's top ten sword prodigies with a single strike?

Wait...

Bai Jin'er suddenly felt as though her mind had turned into a tangled mess of paste.

Defeating Li Xuanfeng and taking his cave abode... defeating Zhao Wuyuan with one sword strike... he'd done all that before even starting to cultivate?

Huh???

Bai Jin'er looked at Chun Xiaobai as though she were looking at a monster.

This... this was absolutely impossible!

It defied every principle of cultivation!

A cultivator's power came from refining the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into their body, then circulating it through cultivation techniques to temper themselves and transcend the ordinary.

Their strength was based on their cultivation stage and the intensity of their spiritual power, supplemented by the corresponding spells and techniques.

Without spiritual power, no matter how strong someone's body was, they were merely a mortal martial artist. How could they contend with cultivators who had drawn qi into themselves and entered the Dao?

Yet however impossible it seemed, she had witnessed it herself today. That final sword strike had even required Elder Gu to intervene personally to save Zhao Wuyuan!

At that moment, she almost felt she might be dreaming.

Either that, or she really had encountered a monster!

Suddenly, something else occurred to her.

He hadn't entered the Dao... he was a newly admitted disciple... he looked exactly like that shifty-eyed Odd-Job Disciple from before... then wasn't he-!

The shock on her face instantly turned to terror. She pointed at Chun Xiaobai, her voice trembling.

"You... you... are that Odd-Job Disciple?!"