The taste of Mu Gui lingered. In the ruined temple, the two people and one cat ate and drank their fill, then silently circulated their arts to refine their true qi.
Good as it was, unfortunately, there was only half of it.
More unfortunately, that half had been divided into three portions.
Cao Jinxing was already at the Tongyou Seventh Layer. After eating, apart from an increase in true qi and a sense of refreshed clarity, he felt little difference.
Bai Yunxiu had only recently broken through to the Tongyou Sixth Layer. Her reserves were insufficient, so she could not break through either.
Only Fourteen underwent a tremendous change-he had visibly grown a size larger, and the fire qi around him had grown more concentrated.
Now, he lay lazily curled beside Cao Jinxing like a little stove, adding a touch of heat to the cool summer night.
Amid the silence, a jumble of footsteps approached.
Cao Jinxing looked up and saw that Lu Kunlun and Yue Yang had returned.
They held a stack of papers covered in densely packed writing.
Their expressions were decidedly strange, a mixture of shock and admiration. They looked at Cao Jinxing as though he were some sort of monster.
"What's wrong?"
Puzzled, Cao Jinxing looked himself over. He was properly dressed; nothing was wrong... so why were they looking at him as though he were a man dressed as a woman?
"Old Cao, I found out a few things... quite a surprise, I have to say."
Lu Kunlun hurried inside, waved the papers in his hand, and plopped onto a stool. "There are a few things I'm very curious about. I wanted to ask you."
Without any pleasantries, he got straight to the point. "First, I heard you obtained Patriarch Lü's legacy on Mount Hua