Xiao Qi stretched his waist and jumped off the bamboo bed, then slowly walked towards the array’s boundary. The spirit stones Meng Qi placed in it weren’t that bright, but the whole room was illuminated by the light from the array’s initiation.

Seven spirit stones that shone the brightest were connected into a Big Dipper constellation. Xiao Qi slowly moved his fluffy claws and lightly touched the outermost part of the array. He seemed to be curious and came to see what Meng Qi was doing.

Meng Qi glanced at him and said: “Xiao Qi, be careful not to touch it.”

She then took a deep breath and slowly stepped into the array. A massive amount of spiritual aura instantly engulfed her body. In Three Thousand Worlds, the spiritual aura in a single eight-grade spirit stone was almost equal to a cultivator who had just broken through into the Great Ascension stage. However, cultivators couldn’t use the aura inside spirit stones directly.

People have tried it in the past. However, they were disappointed to find out that even after successfully releasing spiritual aura from a spirit stone, the aura quickly dissipated and couldn’t be absorbed into cultivators’ body. No one could explain this phenomenon. The only plausible hypothesis was that the aura inside spirit stones was different from the aura needed to cultivate.

Cultivators in Three Thousand Worlds relied on breathing techniques and meditation to absorb spiritual aura from the surrounding environment and incorporated it into their body to be tempered. The accumulated spiritual aura gradually changed from quantitative to qualitative, which enabled them to break through to the next cultivation realm.

People with high cultivation talent could easily absorb the surrounding aura for their own use, getting twice the result with half the effort. Meng Qi wasn’t particularly stupid, but her talent wasn’t high either.

Meng Qi closed her eyes and sat cross-legged in the center of the array. Her master disdained her slow cultivation progress, so he specially designed an array that enabled her to incorporate spiritual aura in the spirit stones for her cultivation.

Thanks to that, in her previous life, Meng Qi finally entered the Golden Core stage, which enabled her medical cultivation to break through into the fourth rank. Finally, her medical cultivation didn’t have to suffer a bottleneck because of her slow cultivation speed.

The little white tiger quietly watched the girl being surrounded by spiritual aura. Faint light flashed on her body, making her skin looked even fairer. Her long eyelashes quivered slightly, and beads of sweat slowly rolled from her forehead.

Xiao Qi’s eyes flickered, and the Big Dipper that usually was hidden once again became visible inside his blue eyes. Stars rose and fell, and a faint trace seemed to connect the stars together. Looking more closely, it was very similar to the array Meng Qi drew. If there was any difference, it was that Meng Qi’s array was much rougher. However, the essence was identical. Seven gleaming spirit stones seemed to reflect the shape of the Big Dipper inside the little tiger’s eyes.

Xiao Qi kept watching in silence. The cultivation technique used by demons was different than the one used by humans in Three Thousand Worlds. Humans cultivated against heaven by robbing the essence of Dao that existed between earth and heaven. Because of this, human cultivators had to walk steadily step by step. As their cultivation realm improved, the spiritual sea inside their body would also expand naturally, enabling them to store even more aura for the next breakthrough.

Demon cultivators, on the other hand, were absorbing spiritual aura with their every breath. Ordinary demon cultivators also had a certain star shadow projected on their bodies. With the star shadow’s help, they could absorb the spiritual aura between heaven and earth. Celestial demon carried a constellation of stars, and they could use all different kinds of aura for cultivation. What restricted the demon’s cultivation speed was their spiritual sea’s growth rate, which was far slower than the rate of which the spiritual aura was accumulating. So in many cases, the aura that entered a demon cultivator’s body was wasted.

Because of that, neither human nor demon had an absolute advantage towards the other, which maintained a delicate balance between the races and realms.

Xiao Qi’s gaze gradually regained its calmness, and the Big Dipper shadow inside his eyes disappeared. He once again examined the array before him. This array was still very rough. If used for cultivation, at best, it would only help Meng Qi to break through the Golden Core stage. To break through from Golden Core to Nascent Soul, she would need a stronger and more complete array.

However, no matter how rough this array was, it was a fact that Meng Qi was now using the demon clan’s cultivation method to improve her own cultivation. And this was obviously a significant threat.

Xiao Qi slowly lifted his fluffy front paw. He looked at Meng Qi’s slender profile, surrounded by the light from the array. This girl seemed to trust him very much. She always let him stayed by her side and never hid anything.

Xiao Qi knew very well the threat that would emerge if this array was leaked to other human cultivators. The greatest obstacle in human cultivation would be cleared away, and humans would be able to incorporate any kind of spiritual aura for their cultivation. The great sects of Three Thousand Worlds could utilize their sect’s power to assist their most talented members cultivating at least five times faster than they were now. If things went on like this, the delicate balance between the three realms would inevitably break, and the consequences would be terrible.

Compared with devil realms inhabitants such as devil cultivators or devil beasts, the demon race was naturally smarter—especially celestial demons, whose intelligence wouldn’t lose even to the wisest humans of Three Thousand Worlds. Even so, taking account of the whole population, on average, humans of Three Thousand Worlds had higher intelligence than devils and demons.

Xiao Qi’s front paw was raised higher. He was very proficient in array. With just one brush of his claw, he has hundreds of ways to instantly…

However….

A light flashed slightly through the pair of azure eyes. In the end, his little paw didn’t fall on the array. Xiao Qi recalled his first encounter with Meng Qi in that valley. Although the girl was extremely rude, she genuinely wanted to save him. Meng Qi was just a weak Qi Condensation cultivator, and she wasn’t rich. Previously, the things inside her storage space were all of the lowest grades. However, to cure his injuries, she has never been stingy with spirit stones.

Xiao Qi was hesitating.

“Uh…” Meng Qi groaned, her body trembled slightly. The speed of the aura pouring into her body was too fast, making the absorption process painful.

The array suddenly made a buzzing sound.

“Xiao Qi, be careful!” Meng Qi suddenly opened her eyes. The abundant aura she absorbed swept throughout her body in an instant, expanding her spiritual sea and raising her cultivation from the Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment. At the same time, the aura inside the array began to lose control, quickly rushing towards all directions with Meng Qi as the center.

Without a second thought, Meng Qi rushed forward and hugged Xiao Qi. Her body leaned over protectively, covering the little white tiger’s soft body inside her arms.

“Ugh——” Meng Qi groaned again. Cultivating was an act against heaven. When a Qi Condensation cultivator broke through into the Foundation Establishment, they wouldn’t have to undergo a tribulation. However, the surrounding aura would rampage into a spiritual storm.

Meng Qi, who had just broken through into the Foundation Establishment stage, wasn’t much impacted. The aura inside her automatically rushed outside, enveloping her body with a layer of protection. Even if she was struck by the chaotic spiritual storm, apart from severe pain, it didn’t do her any harm. It was the moment of eruption that made Meng Qi’s face turned pale.

The room gradually became calm again. Meng Qi finally sighed in relief and let go of Xiao Qi. She carefully examined the little guy’s body, especially the wound on his front paw.

“Are you okay?” Meng Qi asked. She reached out to touch Xiao Qi: “Didn’t I tell you to not come over?” She rubbed his fluffy fur and squeezed his small, semicircular ears. “What if you get injured again?”

Xiao Qi didn’t move. He stared at Meng Qi dazedly. It was merely a breakthrough from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment. Even if his injury was ten times heavier than now, such a small spiritual storm wouldn’t be able to harm him in the slightest.

“What’s wrong?” Meng Qi squeezed Xiao Qi’s ear again. The little guy suddenly reacted. He realized that he was still lying in Meng Qi’s arms, the girl’s soft body protecting him carefully. A light medicinal fragrance surrounded his nostrils, unfamiliar yet soothing.

Xiao Qi suddenly turned around, his small body struggling desperately in Meng Qi’s arms.

“Eh?” Meng Qi was startled. As if fleeing from her, Xiao Qi jumped to the ground and quickly ran back to the bamboo bed.

From a safe distance, the little tiger stared at Meng Qi in shock. This feeling was similar to that time at that valley when Meng Qi did such unspeakable action at the heavily injured him. However, she obviously didn’t do anything this time, yet he still felt a shudder swept through his back.

——This kind of feeling, he never had it even when facing the most terrible enemy.

Meng Qi tilted her head in confusion, but didn’t take it too seriously. She once again sat cross-legged, diving into her spiritual consciousness. Compared to before the breakthrough, her spiritual sea has expanded three times larger and now was full of aura, as if going to overflow at any time.

——She successfully entered the Foundation Establishment stage.

Meng Qi slowly sighed in relief and opened her eyes. She was in a good mood and started cleaning up while humming a song. She carefully erased the array’s trace from the floor and put back the remaining materials and other personal items in the room into her new storage space.

After she finished, Meng Qi looked around. She has lived in this room for more than half a year in this life, plus another half year in the previous life. In fact, in cultivators’ long life, one year was merely a short time.

But Meng Qi has gone from life to death, then from death to life. When she thought her life was over, she opened her eyes to see this familiar yet unfamiliar room. That kind of mood couldn’t be described by words.

“Xiao Qi.” Meng Qi walked towards the little guy. She took out the beast house and placed it on the bamboo bed, then reached out to rub the little tiger’s fluffy head: “We are leaving now.”

Xiao Qi stared at the beast house, then dazedly turned his gaze at Meng Qi. Every breath he inhaled was filled with a faint medicinal smell from the girl’s body. It was as if his own body was going to be filled with the same scent.

“Let’s go.” Meng Qi picked Xiao Qi up and put him into the beast house. She then put the house into the storage space and looked around the room for the last time. Afterward, she turned around and walked to the door.

With a small creak, the door opened. The sun hit her face instantly, showering her body with a soft and warm light.

Not far away, Qin Xiumo and Chu Tianfeng were chatting in a low voice. Hearing the door creaked open, they instantly turned their head.

“Are you leaving now?” Qin Xiumo asked with his lazy, somewhat casual tone. Meng Qi even almost had a wrong impression: as if she and he were old friends who had known each other for many years and was just exchanging casual greetings.

“Yeah.” After a momentary daze, she nodded.

“Let’s go.” Qin Xiumo handed Meng Qi a small brocade bag. She took it and looked at its content. Inside, there was a huge amount of cold sky herb and several medicinal plants that grew around Qingfeng Valley.

Qin Xiumo raised his jaw, “Just in case. It might be useful.”

Those were the things the injured Qingfeng Valley disciples had picked under his command. The water inside the cold pond was so cold. Even disciples in Foundation Establishment stage almost couldn’t bear it. After they jumped in for a while and came up again, their lips became white with cold, their teeth chattered uncontrollably, and they were shivering so hard that they couldn’t speak.

Qin Xiumo coldly supervised their work. Although the disciples had agreed to pick up the herb to pay for the five elements blue crane’s blood. However, the hardship was higher than they expected. Especially the three female disciples, after diving twice, they cried and refused to go into the water again. The male disciples were actually equally miserable, but they all volunteered to do the work in the girls’ stead and begged Qin Xiumo to let the girls go.

Qin Xiumo didn’t say anything. He stood indifferently by the edge of the cold lake. His mind wandered to Meng Qi, who didn’t hesitate to dive into the icy water time and time again to pick the cold sky herb for his treatment.

Thinking about it now, Qin Xiumo couldn’t help but sigh. Children who cry would get candy. But Meng Qi, she always looked calm and composed, even cold, and rarely speak for herself. She was truly…

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T/N:

Poor Xiao Qi is certainly traumatized by their first meeting…. now I’m starting to worry about Chu Tianfeng’s safety. Y’know, he is the only ‘witness’ of that day lol. If Xiao Qi regained his power, Chu Tianfeng might get silenced…..

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Qin Xiumo stared at Meng Qi.

She is truly…

Qin Xiumo suddenly raised the corner of his lips. A trace of softness flashed through his eyes. “Let’s go.” He said, “I owed you a lot of spirit stones. I should start working earlier and pay off earlier, else I cannot be at ease.”

Meng Qi shrugged. She quickly made a calculation, then put the brocade bag into her storage space: “Although the number is high, they all are low-grade herbs. Very common and cheap.”

“No problem.” Qin Xiumo shrugged indifferently. “Even a little bit count. Just keep it.”

“Okay.” Meng Qi didn’t refuse. These herbs were useless to Qin Xiumo anyway.

“You really won’t go with us?” Chu Tianfeng looked at Meng Qi and Qin Xiumo.

He regrets!

He really regrets it!

Why is his skin not thick enough, so he can pretend to be poor and not pay the debt?!

“No.” Meng Qi shook her head, “Young palace master Chu, take care.” She cupped her hands towards Chu Tianfeng and walked away side by side with Qin Xiumo.

“I’m going to the library pavilion.” Elder Yan Mingfeng should have returned. Meng Qi must say a proper farewell before departing.

Part of Qingfeng Valley’s disciples had left the sect and gone down the mountain. Some people wanted to follow Fentian Palace to Fentian City and now was assembling.

All the way to the library pavilion, Meng Qi and Qin Xiumo didn’t even meet a single disciple. The sect that once lively was now very desolate.

Outside the library pavilion was equally deserted. Standing outside the door, Meng Qi respectfully stated: “Disciple Meng Qi, come to bid farewell to Elder Yan.”

“Come in.” A mellow and gentle voice came from inside.

Meng Qi gestured to Qin Xiumo to wait outside, then opened the door and walked in.

Yan Mingfeng sat cross-legged on a chair on the library’s first floor. Still in his usual simple blue robe, he looked the same as before. As if nothing unusual has happened to the sect in these short days.

“Elder Yan.” Meng Qi bowed respectfully. “This disciple is about to leave Qingfeng Valley.”

“I see.” Yan Mingfeng nodded, “It’s good.” After a paused, he asked suddenly: “Meng Qi, if they had no spirit stones, didn’t regret their actions and still hostilely suspect you, treating you as traitor….will you still save them or let them die?”

Meng Qi was startled.

Without waiting for her answer, Yan Mingfeng asked again: “If Lu Qingran was also injured, would you save her?”

Yan Mingfeng’s originally half-closed eyes opened, and a sharp gaze swept upon Meng Qi. Without giving her a chance to think, he raised his voice slightly and urged: “Answer me.”

“If this disciple can save them, this disciple will.” Meng Qi said.

A smile flashed through the elder’s eyes. “Can you tell me the cure for immortal devouring vine?”

“Of course.” Meng Qi took out a bamboo slip from her storage space, held it with both hands, and respectfully gave the bamboo slip to Elder Yan. “This disciple took a risk, using the roughest and crudest method to cure the immortal devouring vine.”

She did not lie. When meeting Su Junmo in her previous life, Meng Qi was still in the Foundation Establishment stage. The number of spells and techniques she could use wasn’t much different than now. Among medical cultivators in Three Thousand Worlds, she was simply an ant.

In fact, whether it is Su Junmo, Chu Tianfeng, or Qin Xiumo, Meng Qi cured them without using any particularly high-grade medicine or spell. In her previous life, even before meeting her master, Meng Qi had faintly noticed that, in fact, there was no distinction between higher and lower grades. Every kind of injuries, poisons, and illness has something similar to each other. Sometimes, when one looked at a particularly severe injury or poison, they would find out that it was actually treatable using the most basic technique.

After Meng Qi restarted her life, this belief was firmed. That’s why she deliberately trained all the low-grade spells she knew until the highest realms possible.

“As long as the patient can be saved, there is no such thing as a rough technique or not.” Yan Mingfeng took the bamboo slip from Meng Qi and waved his hand. Three bamboo slips flew out of his storage bag and slowly fell into Meng Qi’s hands. Yan Mingfeng explained: “This is the record of everything I hear, see, think and gain during my travels in Eastern Realm these years. I’m using it to exchange for your method of curing the immortal devouring vine.” He looked at Meng Qi again and said: “I will also depart soon. If we have a fate, we may meet again.”

“Go.” Afterward, Yan Mingfeng closed his eyes again, resuming his meditation. His body was full of aura. His cultivation obviously raised one realm during his last seclusion.

Meng Qi respectfully saluted for the last time. Holding the three bamboo slips, she turned around and left the library pavilion. She lowered her head to look at the still-warm bamboo slips in her palms, sending spiritual aura into them.

The bamboo slips’ contents immediately flew into her mind. Elder Yan Mingfeng traveled all year round and saved countless lives. The knowledge he gained during his journeys was naturally extensive, even far better than Meng Qi before her rebirth. Elder Yan said that the three bamboo slips were used to exchange Meng Qi’s method of curing the immortal devouring vine. However, Meng Qi only needed to read a few lines to know how valuable these bamboo slips were. Anyone who wanted to walk far in the medical path would be willing to pay a great price in exchange for this knowledge.

Meng Qi couldn’t help but look back at the library pavilion. The door of the building has been closed again. With Qingfeng Valley’s precarious situation, no disciples were in the mood to come here.