Chapter 011: Is She His Reserve Food Supply?

The Sect Master of the Xuantian Sect was not surprised by such a response. He coughed awkwardly and said, "Then it will depend on your own efforts, young lady. I will pour the last of my spiritual power into the seal, so that when you have the ability to break it, I can lend you a helping hand!"

Yan Shu let out a bitter laugh. "Then let me thank you in advance."

The Sect Master touched his nose in embarrassment, then returned to the seal to rest, awaiting the next time Yan Shu attempted to break it so he could assist her.

Lying on her bed, Yan Shu felt utterly defeated by life.

Her cultivation was sealed below the Nascent Soul stage, which meant she would have to retrace the original host’s entire path from the Golden Core to the Divine Transformation stage.

It wasn’t a short journey—several decades at the very least.

And that was with her innate Dao body and mutated spiritual root. If she were an ordinary single-root cultivator, it would take two or three centuries at minimum!

Now she finally understood why, in the original novel, Xiao Jihan had been able to kill the original host after breaking through the Golden Core. It wasn’t just because the host was plagued by inner demons, but also because of this seal.

Xiao Jihan was now at the late Golden Core stage, as was she.

Thankfully, she was a peace-loving soul. After realizing her predicament, the first thing that came to mind wasn’t to strike first and kill Xiao Jihan. Otherwise, she would have been a corpse by yesterday.

Yan Shu wiped the sweat from her forehead. No, she needed to think this through carefully.

At present, there were only two ways to save her life. The first was to stick to the original plan and increase Xiao Jihan’s favorability, so that within three months, he’d lose any murderous intent toward her.

But that was easier said than done. She had gone to great lengths, putting in effort and resources, yet after an entire day, his favorability had only increased by a few points. Those few points were lost the moment he glanced at her with disdain!

The other option was to do as the Sect Master suggested: find someone above the Divine Transformation stage to dual cultivate with and break the seal.

That way, she could recover her Divine Transformation-level cultivation. No matter how powerful Xiao Jihan was, he wouldn’t be able to kill her so easily, and she could eke out a little more time.

Then, during that time, she could work on raising his favorability—much better than being doomed to only three months.

But the problem was, aside from a few senior brothers in Xuantian Sect, there were fewer than thirty cultivators in the entire cultivation world above the Divine Transformation stage, and fewer than twenty of them were men.

Eliminate those who were off-limits or already had partners, and there were fewer than five eligible men in the entire cultivation world who could meet the requirements for dual cultivation with her.

The original host was a recluse with no connections to any of them. Moreover, those who’d reached Divine Transformation at such a young age were all heaven’s chosen. If she ran up to one of them and blurted out, "Ah, let’s dual cultivate," they’d surely think she was insane!

Yan Shu sighed. She’d better stick to the honest approach of raising Xiao Jihan’s favorability. It was difficult, but at least there was some progress, wasn’t there?

At this, Yan Shu suddenly remembered something.

She had left Supreme Peak today, but hadn’t been struck by lightning! She’d gone out to deliver things to Xiao Jihan, even avenged him, and her character had collapsed long ago—yet still, no lightning!

Did this mean she could leave now?

Yan Shu immediately rolled off the bed and strode outside.

But as she stepped out of the main hall, she ran headlong into Xiao Jihan, who had just returned.

For a moment, their eyes met. Xiao Jihan’s phoenix eyes flashed coldly, but he quickly lowered his gaze and greeted her, "Master."

Seeing the coldness in his eyes, Yan Shu’s heart quivered. She responded with a hum, then, feeling she’d been too distant, added, "You’re back?"

Xiao Jihan looked up at her and replied, "Yes."

Conversation dead on arrival.

The two stood where they were. Since he seemed in no hurry to leave, Yan Shu coughed lightly and asked, "What are you planning to do next?"

Surprised by the question, Xiao Jihan nonetheless answered truthfully, "Alchemy."

"Alchemy? Haha, that’s good, that’s good." Yan Shu forced a laugh and waved her hand. "Off you go, then."

Xiao Jihan gave her a look. This malicious woman seemed a bit odd, as though she couldn’t wait to send him away.

Without betraying any emotion, he acknowledged her and turned to leave.

Only when his figure had vanished did Yan Shu finally breathe a sigh of relief. She crept to the edge of a cliff on Supreme Peak and tentatively stretched out her foot.

Excellent. No lightning.

Her courage surged. She summoned her flying sword, stepped on it, and carefully soared upward.

One meter, two meters, three meters… ten meters!

Glancing at the clear sky, Yan Shu was overjoyed and immediately guided her sword towards the sect’s exit.

Just as she was about to exclaim her freedom, the wind suddenly howled. Yan Shu looked up to see two dark clouds forming in the formerly cloudless sky. Purple lightning twisted within, leering at her as if mocking her foolish hopes.

Not good, she thought, spinning her sword around and racing back toward Supreme Peak.

But it was too late…

Boom!

A bolt of purple lightning struck, sending both her and her sword tumbling through the air.

Thunder still rolled overhead as Yan Shu fought through the stabbing pain and numbness left by the lightning, hurtling back to Supreme Peak.

Boom!

Another bolt crashed down. Yan Shu could take no more. She pointed skyward and shouted, "Have you no decency?! I’ve already come back! I’ve landed! Why strike me again?!"

With every word, a wisp of black smoke escaped her lips. The only answers were the slowly dispersing thunderclouds and a breeze that seemed to laugh at her.

From the shadows, Xiao Jihan watched as Yan Shu, charred on the outside and tender within, sat on the ground with a face as black as coal. His phoenix eyes were cold and sharp.

The malicious woman had taken two bolts in a row. Now half her body was numb, her arms limp, and she was slumped on the ground, unable even to retrieve her sword.

It was a perfect opportunity to end her!

A top-grade flying sword instantly appeared in Xiao Jihan’s hand, its blade shimmering.

His eyes were wintry, fixed on the disheveled Yan Shu, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Kill her!

Every part of Xiao Jihan screamed for her death.

If he killed her, he would no longer have to endure the monthly agony. If he killed her, he’d be free of her shackles, and even wandering the world as a rogue cultivator would be better than this!

The sword in his hand seemed to sense his murderous intent, letting out a faint hum. Xiao Jihan hesitated for a moment, then finally stepped out from the shadows.

Yan Shu sat on the ground, dejected. Now she understood: she could break character and ignore the plot, but she could not leave Supreme Peak—or rather, she couldn’t leave Xiao Jihan!

Because she was the nourishment for his spiritual root’s transformation. In the original story, Xiao Jihan’s first transformation came from refining her spiritual root.

In other words, she was Xiao Jihan’s reserve ration!

Ha!

What utter nonsense!

Frustrated, Yan Shu tugged at her frizzy hair and was just about to stand when she suddenly sensed a murderous intent.

Yes, unmistakably—killing intent!