Chun Xiaobai was not surprised that the young girl had figured out his identity.
Even if she had not recognized him today, he had intended to tell her himself.
That would keep her from giving in to her curiosity and asking around, drawing other people's attention.
Besides, his identity was currently his biggest vulnerability. Unless he dealt with it, he could never quite feel at ease.
Especially when he was going about his business, he was always on tenterhooks.
"That's right! I, the Great King, am the very same Odd-Job Disciple you brought up the mountain!" Chun Xiaobai put on a ferocious expression, his bandit swagger bursting forth in an instant.
"Ah!" Bai Jin'er shuddered in fright, her eyes instantly reddening.
"But let the Great King warn you." Chun Xiaobai stepped closer, shook a fist the size of a clay pot in front of her eyes, then delivered his warning.
"If you dare reveal the Great King's identity, you... will go down with me!"
Bai Jin'er panicked again, her slender body trembling.
Was he... was he going to kill her to silence her?
Chun Xiaobai slowly curled his lips again, revealing a mouthful of white teeth in a sinister smile.
"Relax. The Great King won't kill you to silence you."
"Because that Foundation Establishment Pill you took was one the Great King just stole."
"Everyone saw you take the Great King's Foundation Establishment Pill. If the Great King gets caught by the Disciplinary Hall, the fact that you brought me up the mountain and took that pill—none of it will stay hidden."
"You!"
Only now did Bai Jin'er realize why this fellow had been so generous.
So... so he had stolen all those pills!
That was why giving them away hadn't hurt him at all!
"Boo-hoo..."
At the thought that she had become a bandit's accomplice, Bai Jin'er felt increasingly wronged and frightened. Despite herself, tears began to fall.
"Seriously? How did I end up scaring you into tears?"
Chun Xiaobai scratched his head. Nothing in his life annoyed him more than a crying woman, and nothing frightened him more, either.
He slammed the table and roared, "Shut your mouth! The Great King is speaking!"
"All you have to do is keep it secret! What are you bawling for?"
"Boo-hoo..." At his roar, Bai Jin'er hurriedly covered her mouth, desperately suppressing her sobs until only little hiccups remained.
"You... as long as I keep it secret, you really... won't report me?"
"Huh?"
Chun Xiaobai froze.
That wasn't right!
Shouldn't the Great King be the one worried about her reporting me?
How had it turned the other way around?
Still, he could not be bothered to ask.
Chun Xiaobai immediately thumped his chest and promised, "As long as you don't expose the Great King's identity, the Great King won't give you up either. We're grasshoppers tied to the same string now!"
Bai Jin'er breathed a small sigh of relief.
The main reason she was so frightened was that she had personally brought Chun Xiaobai, this "impostor disciple," up the mountain.
If the Disciplinary Hall found out, she would also be charged with failing to judge someone's character properly.
After all, recruiting Odd-Job Disciples required rigorous screening.
That day had been her first time taking on a disciple recruitment assignment. Because she lacked experience, the disciples with mixed spiritual roots had all been picked up by other sects.
With time running out, she had skipped the strict screening and given those Odd-Job Disciples with no chance of embarking on the immortal path an opportunity.
Who could have known... that she would recruit a thief?
And such a...
She suddenly remembered that this "thief" before her was someone who could defeat one of the Outer Sect's top hundred talents with a single sword strike.
Was this really an Odd-Job Disciple?
Never mind an Odd-Job Disciple—even Senior Brother Fang Yuan, at the seventh level of Qi Refining, could not do that.
Her thoughts tangled again, leaving her utterly confused.
"All right, all right."
Chun Xiaobai waved impatiently. "It's not like I eat people. What's with all this sniveling?"
"Relax. Stick with me from now on, and whenever I've got meat to eat, I won't leave you with nothing but broth!"
As he spoke, he pulled the dazed Bai Jin'er over and pressed her down onto the meditation cushion opposite him.
"Come on. First, explain properly how to draw spiritual energy into the Great King's body."
Pressed onto the cushion opposite him, Bai Jin'er sniffled. Knowing she had already boarded the pirate ship, she could only go along with his demands.
Still, she was very curious.
"Y-you really are a mountain bandit!"
What kind of question was that?
Chun Xiaobai rolled his eyes and simply stood up. "What? Don't I look like one?"
"N-no!" She hurriedly picked up the Azure Cloud Manual.
This fellow certainly looked like a mountain bandit. She just could not understand how a bandit from the mortal world could possess such formidable swordsmanship.
She suppressed her tangled thoughts, took a deep breath, and began explaining. "Drawing spiritual energy into your body is the first step toward immortal cultivation."
She sniffled, her voice still trembling slightly. "Empty your mind, let your heart and intent connect..."
Her explanation did give Chun Xiaobai some insight. He immediately took out two spirit stones, gripped them in his palms, and sat cross-legged with a convincing air before closing his eyes.
A moment later.
His head tilted, the spirit stones rolled in his hands, and he nearly pitched headfirst onto the floor. He had almost fallen asleep.
"Seriously! Why do I keep getting sleepy halfway through this meditation?"
Chun Xiaobai rubbed his eyes, looking thoroughly frustrated.
The sight nearly made Bai Jin'er, who had been scared half to death moments earlier, laugh aloud.
She hurriedly stifled her laughter and reminded him, "Senior Brother Chun, you can't just empty your mind. You have to focus all your thoughts on the point between your eyebrows..."
"So that's it. Let's try again!"
Chun Xiaobai immediately followed her instructions, picking up the spirit stones and concentrating once more.
Watching his serious expression, Bai Jin'er quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Although this fellow positively reeked of banditry, he did not seem to be a bad person.
Secretly attacking fellow disciples and seizing their resources was nothing new within the sect. It happened almost every day.
Even if he had stolen that Foundation Establishment Pill and those Spirit-Gathering Pills, he still had to be willing to give them away.
When it came to Foundation Establishment Pills, even Dao companions rarely refrained from drawing swords against each other, let alone gave them away!
In her three years in the sect, apart from fellows who coveted her beauty and feigned goodwill, no one had ever sincerely given her any pills.
Yet he had given away a Foundation Establishment Pill without even blinking.
Thud!
Suddenly, a dull impact from in front of her interrupted her thoughts.
She looked up and discovered that Chun Xiaobai's head had knocked against the wooden table before him. He was actually... snoring.
Black lines instantly creased her forehead.
This... this...
It was her first time seeing someone fall asleep while trying to enter the Dao and perform Qi Sensing.
No, she had never even heard of such a thing!
Should she... should she call him an extraordinary character?
She hurried over and shook Chun Xiaobai's shoulder. "Senior Brother Chun, Senior Brother Chun, wake up!"
"Stop bothering me. Let the Great King sleep a little longer..."
"Seriously!"
Chun Xiaobai abruptly sat bolt upright, rubbed his eyes, and asked in utter bewilderment, "I... I fell asleep again?"
"Yes!" Bai Jin'er did not laugh this time. She simply found it inconceivable.
While performing Qi Sensing, one's mind was immersed in the cultivation method, and one's spiritual awareness should remain perfectly clear. Drowsiness should have been impossible.
After all, those elders spent months or even years sitting in meditation during secluded cultivation. If they could fall asleep so easily, how could they sit for so long?
Chun Xiaobai snatched up the Azure Cloud Manual, flipped through it back and forth, and asked with a suspicious look.
"Um... Junior Sister, are you sure you're teaching the Great King a method for drawing spiritual energy into my body, and not some hypnosis technique?"
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