"Sh-shouting?" Medusa put on a painfully unconvincing act. "No. Is there anyone else nearby?"
Bai Suzhen slowly stood and looked around.
"Is there really no one here? Perhaps I misheard." She shook her head, then cupped her hands toward Medusa. "Fellow cultivator, I was rude earlier. I truly owe you my thanks this time. Without you, I would surely have been beaten back into my original form."
"Commoner, you needn't be so polite." Medusa waved a hand. "I told you I was your younger sister. I came here to help you."
Bai Suzhen simply couldn't understand. The woman before her kept calling herself her "younger sister," yet instead of calling Bai Suzhen her "older sister," she called her "commoner."
"Never mind... whatever the case, you saved my life..." Bai Suzhen slowly stepped forward and offered the pills in her hand. "Now that I've survived the tribulation, these pills should be returned to their rightful owner."
"No need." Medusa shook her head. "Those pills no longer do anything for me. They're yours."
"Y-you're giving them to me?" Bai Suzhen froze. "What exactly do you mean, fellow cultivator? These pills are worth at least a million spirit stones. Why would you simply give them to me?"
"Spirit stones? What sort of stones are those?" Medusa said disdainfully. "I have no shortage of stones. Stones cannot represent glory. Where I live, there are human-shaped stones everywhere."
By now, Bai Suzhen was completely certain that Medusa came from an illustrious family. She was probably a wealthy young lady out to "experience ordinary life." With no one in this world to rely on, Bai Suzhen naturally welcomed the chance to befriend her.
"Um... little sister, what did you say your name was?"
"I'm Me... I'm Xiao Qing," Medusa said. "From now on, I'll stay with