The Young Lady Bodyguard

"Huh? Wait..."

"That brat took three high-grade, superior-quality mystic crystals from me;"

"Yet I didn't get a single word out of him about his identity or the origins of his 'Blood Dragon Mark'!"

Xia Nuoyi stamped her feet in anger. "Hmph, I'll pry your mouth open sooner or later!"

Seeing Bu Wuchen return, Wan Xiaoyao happily ran off to heat up the food.

A short while later, at the dining table.

Bu Wuchen couldn't help asking curiously, "I was busy all last night and didn't come back, but you two weren't nearly as worried as I imagined."

"That's all thanks to the senior vice dean."

"She sent someone with a message saying you were refining pills in seclusion at the Song Clan Pill Workshop, Young Master, and told us not to worry."

As she spoke, Wan Xiaoyao gazed at her young master, her eyes shining with admiration. "Young Master, when did you become a pill refiner? I had no idea~"

Bu Wuchen smugly tidied his hair. "Heh, your young master has plenty more impressive skills!"

"It's just that circumstances were special before, so it wasn't convenient to show them."

"Wow~ I knew you were the best, Young Master!"

Little stars practically sparkled in Wan Xiaoyao's eyes.

Wan Xiaoyao had always been utterly loyal to the Bu Lineage's young master;

after the reborn Bu Wuchen rose to prominence with overwhelming strength and defeated the Lin brothers, her impression of him became even better!

Later, Bu Wuchen awakened the [Spirit of First Impressions], sending Wan Xiaoyao's already high affection for her young master soaring to a new peak!

The weathered face of the old servant A Chun also brimmed with uncontainable excitement. "Young Master, you... you really know how to refine pills?"

"Of course. Look at this!"

Bu Wuchen flashed his identity token.

"Pill Hall... First-Class Special-Talent Student?!"

The old servant A Chun's eyes instantly widened.

Although Blood Dragon City Academy fell far short of the Imperial Capital Institute;

earning the status of a "First-Class Special-Talent Student" was enough to prove that Bu Wuchen possessed exceptionally outstanding talent in the Dao of Pills!

"Young Master... you've made something of yourself!"

A Chun couldn't help choking up.

Over all these years, A Chun had practically raised Bu Wuchen from diapers, and deep down, he had long considered him half his own son or grandson.

Seeing his "son or grandson" not only remain unbowed after a great calamity, but undergo such a gratifying transformation instead, he felt more delighted than words could say!

"This is only the beginning!"

Bu Wuchen grinned. "Once my pill-refining skills improve a little more, it won't be impossible for me to refine mystic pills that can repair your dantians and meridians!"

"Ah, just knowing you have that intention moves this old servant to grateful tears, Young Master. I could die without regrets!"

"Pah, pah, pah! What's all this talk of dying?"

"Hehehe, I believe in you, Young Master~"

Wan Xiaoyao's smile grew even brighter.

Back in the imperial capital, following Bu Wuchen, the military family's only grandson, Wan Xiaoyao had met quite a few pill refiners serving as Attendants in wealthy, powerful households.

Every one of them commanded immense prestige and was held in great esteem!

Even Old General Bu had to show a measure of deference to certain highly accomplished masters of the Dao of Pills!

Thinking that her own young master had become a mystic pill refiner;

and that, despite his youth, Blood Dragon City Academy had already designated him a "First-Class Special-Talent Student" of the Pill Hall!

Given time, his accomplishments might even surpass those titans of the Dao of Pills in the imperial capital, and the pretty little maid felt a sense of pride in sharing his glory.

"Oh, right. Take these gold coins to spend."

Bu Wuchen reached out and handed A Chun and Wan Xiaoyao several banknotes each.

"Gasp! They're all worth five hundred gold apiece?"

Wan Xiaoyao and the old servant A Chun both jumped in fright. "Young Master, we haven't even finished spending what you gave us last time, and now..."

"If I tell you to spend it, spend it. Why stand on ceremony with me?"

Bu Wuchen pressed the banknotes into their hands, brooking no refusal. "Properly nourish your bodies and make up for the deficiencies left after your mystic cultivation was crippled."

"Otherwise, if I finally have time one day to refine mystic pills to repair your dantians and meridians, or even restore your cultivation, only to discover your bodies are too weak to withstand their medicinal potency, wouldn't all that work be wasted?"

"But compared with us, Young Master, you need vast amounts of cultivation resources for both pill refinement and martial cultivation. How could we..."

Before Wan Xiaoyao could finish, Bu Wuchen took out the two banknotes worth a hundred thousand gold each and waved them before their eyes.

At that moment, both of them stared blankly!

Even back in the imperial capital, as Bu Wuchen's trusted confidants, they had never seen banknotes in such enormous denominations.

After all, the Bu Lineage had strict household rules. Aside from the cultivation resources regularly allotted to him, Bu Wuchen's access to money had been tightly controlled...

"What I've given you is just a hair off nine oxen. Spend it freely, and don't begrudge the money!"

"Spend these gold coins to equip yourselves;"

"the stronger you become, the more help you'll be to me, right?"

Only then did the two accept the banknotes with easy hearts.

After they enjoyed a comfortable dinner, several unfamiliar voices suddenly rang out outside-

"Ah! Spare us, heroine!"

"Hmph, skulking around the alley like that, you're clearly up to no good!"

"It's a misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding!"

"We're fellow students of Senior Bu Wuchen. We came to ask him for help."

"If that's the case, why didn't you knock at the front gate? Why did you look ready to climb over the wall instead?"

"That's because we've come about something of great importance. The fewer people who know, the better, so..."

"I can't be bothered listening to your squawking. Tell Bu Wuchen yourselves!"

As those words fell, Bu Wuchen saw a blur before his eyes;

five strangers appeared in the courtyard.

Three men and one woman were deathly pale, clearly frightened.

All of them wore badges on their right arms identifying them as "Blood Dragon City Academy advanced-class students."

Apart from them, there was a tall young woman in brown leather clothing with delicate features.

Judging by her appearance, she was only seventeen or eighteen.

At that moment, she held her left hand in the air, all five fingers spread;

four threads of ice as fine as spider silk shot from her fingertips, binding the four students' hands behind their backs.

Bu Wuchen stared in a daze.

Although this young woman wasn't as earth-shatteringly beautiful as "Fairy Sister" Xia Nuoyi, she still possessed beauty that could topple cities and kingdoms.

Her temperament, as cold as an iceberg, made her all the more stunning...

"Bodyguard Sister?"

Wan Xiaoyao cried out in delighted surprise.

Then she hurriedly rose and introduced her. "Young Master, this is Bodyguard Sister."

"After your wagered duel with Lin Zhuxian, Bodyguard Sister drove off the villains who came to harass us, time and time again~"

Only then did Bu Wuchen understand. He nodded slightly. "Bodyguard? That's... quite a distinctive name!"

"Ah, n-no, that's not it."

Wan Xiaoyao's pretty face reddened, and she hurriedly explained, "I asked for her honored name, but she said she'd only come to serve as a 'temporary bodyguard,' so there was no need to mention her name."

"S-so Yao'er just..."