Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Legacy
"I am innocent!" Chu Fang's roar echoed through the damp, cold corridors of the Ogre Academy's underground dungeon.
The heavy iron door groaned on its hinges as the Disciplinary Squad shoved him into the darkness.
"I was framed! You have to believe me! That Elder lied! Damn it! Damn it all to hell!"
The door slammed shut with a final, metallic thud, leaving him in a suffocating gloom lit only by a flicker of a dying torch in the hallway.
Chu Fang slumped against the rough stone wall, his breath coming in ragged hitches.
The intoxicating high of his earlier victory had vanished, replaced by the bitter, cold reality of his powerlessness.
That Buo Li... just you wait, he hissed internally, his eyes burning with a vengeful light. I'll kill you. I'll slaughter you all. And that Elder—how dare you frame a regressor? Once I break out of here, I'll make every single one of you crawl through your own blood!
He began to frantically search his memory for the "Dungeon Escape" techniques he had trained as a soldier in his previous life.
He was a man who knew the future; surely, a mere cell couldn't hold a destined sovereign.
But then, the air in the cell began to warp, and Taro began to feel a suffocating kind of pressure.
A cold wind brushed by, and the torchlight flickered before dying, and a darkness more profound than night flooded the space, a vacuum so absolute that even the sound of his own breathing seemed to be swallowed.
Chu Fang's eyes widened as he scrambled to his feet, his back against the cold stone. "Who's there?! I am a disciple of the Ogre Academy! My master is the famous grandmaster! How dare you trespass here?!"
Of course, he was just bluffing. As someone from the future, Chu Fang never liked that arrogant but incompetent Grand Master, but he knew that his name still holds weight.
Just then, a ripple appeared in the center of the cell, and Qing'er stepped out of the void.
Her long black hair seemed to devour a light that shouldn't exist, and her eyes were like twin pools of blood frozen under the moonlight.
Chu Fang froze, his mouth hanging open.
Even in his two lives combined, he had never seen a woman of such ethereal, terrifying beauty.
For a fleeting second, the perverted instincts of the Kama Deva Sutra flared—a desire to possess such a creature.
But he never got the chance to speak as Qing'er's hand blurred, her slender fingers clamped onto his forehead with the force of a hydraulic press.
"Soul Search," she whispered.
"AAAAHHHH!" Chu Fang's scream was a guttical, soul-tearing sound that never left the room.
It felt as though a red-hot iron hook had been shoved into his mind, dragging his very essence out through his pores.
Every memory, every secret, every "future" event he had hoarded was stripped bare.
Just then, a golden orb, pulsing with the frantic energy of a dying consciousness, flew out of his forehead and hovered steadily above Qing'er's palm.
Qing'er stared at the orb, her expression one of cold, clinical detachment as she observed it.
She didn't peer into the memories, after all, as a perfect servant, she understood the boundaries of her position; the contents of this memories were for her young master alone, and what she needed to know is what her young master will tell her once he got this memories.
Thinking of that, she tightened her grip on the space around the orb, compressing it until it was no larger than a pearl and storing inside her Personal Space.
A Saint Realm expert can interfere with space, and can even create a pocket space for them to store things.
She then turned her gaze to what was left of Chu Fang.
He was still standing, but the light had left his eyes, his mouth was slack, a trail of drool escaping his lips.
The Soul Search had been a total mind breaker, destroying his personality, his memories, and even his cognitive functions had been incinerated.
He was a hollow vessel, a brain-dead husk.
This is the side effect of Soul Search, that's why this was normally only used to criminals.
With a flick of her wrist, the shadows at his feet rose like hungry serpents, and they coiled around him, dragging him down into the floor.
There was no blood, not even a struggle, he was simply swallowed whole, erased from the world as if he had never existed.
Qing'er adjusted her sleeve and vanished into the rippling air.
*
*
*
Back at the Royal Palace, the afternoon sun cast a warm, lazy glow over the royal garden.
The scent of blooming jasmine filled the air, and the distant sound of a fountain provided a soothing rhythm to the stillness.
Shen Haoran sat on a curved marble bench, leaning back comfortably.
He was fully clothed now in robes of ivory and gold, though his hair remained slightly disheveled.
In his lap lay Ning Xueli. She was draped in a light silk wrap, acting uncharacteristically spoiled as she lay with her eyes closed, using his thigh as a pillow.
Haoran's hand moved in a slow, rhythmic motion, caressing her dark hair.
He had indeed been "wild" with her earlier—showing a great display of dominance and passion that had left her physically spent.
Her skin still held a faint, glossy glow, and her breathing was the deep, heavy sigh of someone whose body had been pushed to its absolute limits.
Just then, the air shimmered, and Qing'er appeared, kneeling on the grass beside the bench.
She held her hand out, the golden orb of Chu Fang's life sparkling in the sunlight.
"Young Master," she said softly.
"Thank you, Qing'er." Haoran didn't stop caressing Xueli's hair, he merely waved a finger, and the orb floated into the air, drifting toward his brow.
And as it touched his skin, it dissolved, and the floodgates of a decade of "future" history opened in his mind.
Haoran's eyes remained open, but his pupils dilated as he processed the data.
He saw the rise of the Spirit Hall, the fall of kingdoms, the locations of ancient Emperor tombs, and the eventual stalemate of the Nirvana Rebirth experts.
He filtered through the dross—the perverted fantasies Chu Fang had about Xueli and Ziyan—and deleted them with a mental snort of disgust.
After a few seconds, he sat back, a genuine, amused smile playing on his lips.
"I can't believe that something truly interesting was actually hidden in this small, stagnant place," Haoran murmured.
His hand, which had been gently stroking Xueli's hair, stopped as he reached down and playfully poked her soft cheek. "Wake up, sleepyhead."
Xueli groaned, letting out a low, feline sound of protest as she turned over, burying her face into his stomach to block out the light. "Just five more minutes... you're the one who wouldn't let me sleep..."
"Do you want to be a Supreme?"
The words were spoken softly, but they had the effect of a thunderclap.
Xueli's eyes snapped wide open as she sat up so fast she nearly bumped her head against his chin.
Her hair was a mess, and her wrap slipped slightly, but she didn't care. "W-What? S-Supreme? As in... a Supreme Emperor?"
Haoran nodded, his golden eyes dancing with amusement. "Indeed. The path to the peak. Do you want it?"
To the people of the Eastern Region, a "Supreme" was a myth, a being of legend who could command the laws of the universe.
To Haoran, however, a Supreme legacy from a backwater region was merely a decent starter kit.
His own clan had living Supremes serving as guardians, completely hidden from the rest of the world.
This legacy of "Bright Silver Emperor" mentioned in Chu Fang's memories was a middle-tier power at best in the grand scale of the Central Region.
After all, there are different level of powers even amongst Supreme Emperors.
If this Bright Silver Emperor was truly powerful, he would've left legends in the central region, but he did not, and frankly, Haoran, who considered himself quite well versed in history, had never heard of him.
Still, it was the perfect "remodeling" tool for Xueli.
"I... I don't..." Xueli hesitated, her voice trembling. She looked at him, feeling a sudden, intense wave of imposter syndrome. "I don't think I'm worth that much, Haoran. I'm just a girl from a clan in a small region. To give me a Supreme Legacy just because... just because of what happened earlier... it's too much."
Haoran chuckled, reaching out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I am giving it to you, so you will take it. I don't like to repeat myself, Xueli. You are mine now, and I don't allow my people to be weak."
He leaned in, his voice turning more serious. "However, there is a catch. If you accept this legacy now, you will have to enter a state of deep meditative seclusion to integrate the Emperor's bloodline. You will have to miss the Regional Youth Tournament."
Xueli stared at him, her mind spinning. The tournament she had trained for her entire life, the glory she had sought for the Ogre Academy... she compared it to the promise of becoming a Supreme Emperor.
It was like comparing a copper coin to a sun.
She realized then that Haoran wasn't just being generous; he was testing her.
He wanted to see if she could let go of her "small pond" ambitions to grasp the ocean.
"The tournament..." she whispered, then a slow, resolute smile spread across her face. "Is a fight between kids more appetizing than the path to godhood? I'm not that stupid, Haoran."
She leaned forward, pressing her forehead against his. "Very well. Thank you... for everything. I'll take it."
Haoran smirked, satisfied. "Good. Qing'er, prepare the Profound Ark's cultivation chamber. We're going to give the Cao Yin Kingdom a Supreme Empress they never expected."
Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Worth
26
The Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range, located at the eastern most part of the Eastern Region, feared as one of the Seven Forbidden Lands of the Four Cardinal Regions.
It loomed like a jagged wall of obsidian against the horizon, its peaks perpetually shrouded in a thick, suffocating miasma.
This was the Eastern Region's ultimate frontier, a vertical graveyard that acted as the final barrier between the civilization of the Tian Yuan Empire and the unexplored, infinitely vast land of the Wild Lands.
Well, calling them unexplored is a bit off, since for the people of the Central Region, they knew that the Wild Lands has countless small kingdoms and independent city states, all away from the control of any empires.
However, the Empire really couldn't care less about those civilization; they don't have developed culture, economy, technology, and cultivation even compared to the Kingdoms in Eastern Regions.
The only reason why the Empire even knew about those civilization is because most Evil Cultivators used those civilization as their base of operations.
From time to time, the Empire would send their military to gain experience and eliminate tens of thousands of evil Cultivators.
Haoran himself has been into the Wild Lands more than once to gain experience and prestige.
This entire mountain range was actually man made, created by the First Tian Yuan Emperor to segregate the "barbarian" from the noble Tian Yuan Empire, now it serves as a domain where the laws of man were replaced by the laws of the fang and claw.
To most cultivators in the Eastern Region, venturing here was a death sentence.
Shen Haoran walked with an effortless stride, his golden-blonde hair a sharp contrast against the gloomy, vine-choked canopy.
Beside him, Ning Xueli stepped tentatively, her hand instinctively clutching the silk of her robes.
Every snap of a twig made her jump, her 8th Stage Qi Gathering aura flickering like a candle in a gale.
"A-Are you sure it's here?" Xueli whispered, her voice trembling. "Haoran, even the legends say a Saint once entered the depths and never returned. We are barely at the outskirts, and I can already feel eyes on us that shouldn't exist."
She was really afraid. As an 8th Stage Qi Gathering Realm Cultivator, her strength might be something in the Kingdom, but here? It was nothing.
It is said that the weakest beasts found here are 9th Stage Qi Gathering Demonic Beasts, and since Demonic Beasts are much stronger than human Cultivators at the same stage, those beasts could even threaten the life of a Core Formation realm Cultivator.
Haoran remained silent.
He was currently replaying the memories of the deceased Chu Fang.
In the "future" that had now been deleted, eight years from now, the Ogre Seven—then at the Core Formation stage—had retreated here, driven by the desperation of a lost war, searching for ways to increase their strength in hopes that they can contend against the power of Spirit Hall.
After all, from the legends, a Saint had once died here, so they thought to try their luck and see if that Saint had left an inheritance.
Turns out, what they discovered was far more impressive, the ruins of a tomb of a Supreme Emperor.
It was Tang Shan who had navigated these treacherous ravines, leading the Ogre Seven to that place.
Haoran's lip curled in a mix of disdain and genuine curiosity.
The "future" records claimed that within two years of finding this legacy, the group had jumped from Core Formation to Spirit Ascension, with Tang Shan reaching the Nirvana Rebirth Realm after receiving all the inheritance and legacy of the Bright Silver Emperor.
But to a scion of a Central Region Hegemon, this was statistically impossible.
No inheritance, no matter how potent, should be able to bypass the fundamental laws of time and soul-tempering, allowing a pitiful Core Formation realm kids to jump straight to Spirit Ascension and Nirvana Rebirth in just two years!
These "Anomalies" were literally being spoon-fed by the Heavens themselves!
'The favoritism of the universe is truly sickening,' Haoran thought. 'What are so special about these Anomalies anyway? Why are they so favored?'
He shook his head and glanced at Xueli. In Chu Fang's memories, she had also went with him to the Central Region, but since they didn't know about the Bright Silver Emperor Inheritance then, they didn't stay here for long.
He wondered if her path in that parallel timeline had been any easier? Hmm, maybe he should find a rebirth type Anomaly in the Central Region so he can gather some information.
Suddenly, the undergrowth exploded as a beast the size of a carriage lunged into the clearing, its fur a matted black that seemed to absorb the dim light.
Wisps of dark, violet flame licked at its paws, and its eyes burned with a malevolent, predatory intelligence.
"A Hell Tiger!" Xueli shrieked, stumbling back.
From its sheer presence, the beast was at the 9th Stage of Qi Gathering.
Despite its low-tier bloodline—capping at the Nascent Soul Realm—the Hell Tiger was a nightmare for local cultivators.
Its "Hellfire" was notorious for its soul-searing properties, capable of bothering even Spirit Ascension experts if they were careless.
Even among demonic beast of the same level, the Hell Tiger was superior!
In the Central Region, the strongest Nascent Soul Expert actually possessed a Hell Tiger Spirit!
The tiger let out a low, guttural roar that vibrated in Xueli's marrow.
It was a warning: Back off, or be consumed.
Haoran didn't even look at the beast. He turned his golden gaze toward Xueli, his expression as cold as the mountain stone.
"Fight it."
"Huh...?" Xueli's jaw dropped. She looked at the towering predator, then back at Haoran. "Haoran, you're joking, right? I'm a support-type cultivator! My spirit is designed for healing and auxiliary buffs. I can't even beat a 7th stage attacker in a fair duel, let alone a 9th stage beast!"
"Fight it," Haoran repeated, his voice dropping into a dangerous, icy register. "I don't like to repeat myself, Xueli."
"But... I'll die! It'll burn me to ash before I can even—"
"Xueli." Haoran stepped into her personal space, his aura pressing down on her with the weight of a planet. "I have no interest in keeping flowers that only look beautiful in a garden. If you can't even handle a simple beast, then tell me: what are you worth to me aside from your body? I don't keep useless trash."
He stared at Xueli. The reason why he was so interested in her in the first place was because of her spirit, that unyielding drive even against superior power, yet now...why did she become so timid?
Are you going to disappoint me, Xueli?
The words cut deeper than any claw, as Xueli bit her lip, the sting of humiliation and fear causing tears to prick at the corners of her eyes.
She felt small, discarded, and desperate.
She looked at the tiger, then back at the man who held her future in his hands.
"O-Okay..." she whispered, her voice breaking.
Haoran reached into his spatial ring and produced a weapon that seemed to capture all the light in the clearing.
It was a dagger, its blade forged from a crystalline material that shimmered in a kaleidoscopic spectrum of nine distinct colors.
"Take this," Haoran said, handing it to her. "The Nine-Colored Dagger. It is a Rank 2 Artifact. I forged it when I was a child during my Tier 2 Artificer Promotion Exam. It is a tool for beginners, but it should suffice for someone of your level. Pour your Qi into it to activate it."
Xueli took the weapon in a daze. The weight was perfect, and the hilt felt warm against her palm. "Y-You're an artificer?"
"I have mastered the foundations of all the great professions," Haoran said, stepping back and crossing his arms. "Now, enough talk. The tiger isn't going to wait for your biography. Fight."
Xueli took a deep breath, her fear being slowly replaced by a burning, frantic determination.
She didn't want to be "trash." She didn't want to be just a body. She wanted to be able to stand beside him with pride, her head held high!
She poured all her Qi into the dagger.
Immediately, the crystal blade erupted and a shimmering, prismatic aura surrounded her, weaving a kaleidoscope of lights into a protective and augmenting shroud.
Xueli felt her senses sharpen; her vision slowed the tiger's movements, and her strength felt as though it had tripled.
She stared at the Hell Tiger, and for the first time in her life, she didn't see a monster, but a stepping stone.
Confidence, fueled by the staggering quality of a Central Region artifact, bloomed in her heart.
Just like this, maybe she can win!
"I won't be your flower, Haoran," she hissed, her eyes glowing with the dagger's light. "I'll be your blade. So, watch me."
Haoran smirked, crossing his arms in recognition as he nodded, "Very well. Prove your worth to me, Xueli."
At that, Hell Tiger roared and lunged, but this time, Ning Xueli didn't scream.
She moved.
Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Reactions
At this moment, the gates of the Ogre Academy, usually a place of quiet focus, were currently buzzing with an anxious, vibrating energy.
The morning sun had climbed high, casting long shadows over the now fully recovered "Ogre Seven"—the group of youths destined to redefine the martial history of the Cao Yin Kingdom.
At the center stood Tang Shan, his expression calm but his eyes sharp.
He was the anchor of the team, the man who had turned a "trash" plant spirit like the Bright Silver Vine into a weapon of surgical precision.
Flanking him were the other legends-in-the-making: Tai Yuhao, whose White Tiger spirit roared silently within his soul; Xiao Ruo, her rabbit ears twitching at every passing breeze; Mu Xiaojun, his chest puffed out with the arrogance of his "Phoenix" flames; Zhu Ziyan, standing like a statue of ice; and Xiao Ao, the group's Gourmet Hunter, whose culinary talents provided the buffs that kept them in the fight.
But the circle was incomplete, as the seventh spot—belonging to the heiress of the richest clan in the Eastern Region—was empty.
"Where could she be?" Xiao Ao muttered, pacing back and forth.
His fingers fumbled with a spirit-sausage he had prepared for the journey. It was no secret among the Seven that his heart beat specifically for Ning Xueli, and her absence felt like a physical weight on his chest.
And he was incredibly worried why Ning Xueli wasn't here yet.
"She couldn't have overslept, could she?" Mu Xiaojun asked, crossing his arms as a flicker of fire escaped his nostrils. "I know Xueli used to be a bit lazy before the Grandmaster beat that attitude out of her, but missing the opening of the Regional Tournament? That's pushing it."
Grandmaster Yu stood several paces away, leaning on a cane despite the miraculous healing of his legs.
Though the golden pills from Shen Haoran had mended his bones, his mood remained foul, and his pride was still in tatters, and now, one of his students was actually late, which would surely make him look like a fool on the world stage.
"If she isn't here in ten minutes," the Grandmaster growled, his voice thick with suppressed irritation, "we leave without her. The tournament starts in an hour, and the championships waits for no one. She can just catch up later."
Just then, the sound of rhythmic, heavy footsteps drew their attention, and they saw a middle-aged man in robes of exquisite silver-threaded silk approached.
It was Ning Xiao, the Patriarch of the Ning Clan, and father of their comrade, Ning Xueli.
The group straightened up immediately, and even the Grandmaster offered a stiff, respectful nod.
"Patriarch Ning!" Xia Ruo called out, her voice high with concern. "Is Xueli okay? We were about to head to the arena!"
Ning Xiao stopped before them, his expression a complicated tapestry of guilt, awkwardness, and a hidden, frantic excitement that he was trying desperately to suppress.
In his mind, the memory of his daughter's message from that morning was still screaming: 'I have the chance to inherit the legacy of a Supreme Emperor.'
'A Supreme Emperor!' the Patriarch thought, his heart hammering. 'The tournament is a game for children! Even if Xueli begged to join them now, I would tie her to the Profound Ark myself!'
"Everyone," Ning Xiao began, clearing his throat and offering a shallow, apologetic bow. "I apologize most sincerely. My daughter, Ning Xueli... she will not be able to participate in the tournament. Not today, and maybe not for the remainder of the event."
"What!?" Xiao Ao's sausage fell into the dirt. He looked as though he had been struck by lightning. "Is she hurt? Is everything alright?!"
"She is perfectly fine," the Patriarch said, a helpless, almost giddy smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "But something... most important... has come up. It was a sudden development, one that even I was only informed of at the break of dawn. It is an opportunity that concerns the very foundation of her future."
"An opportunity?" Tang Shan repeated, his brow furrowing.
He looked at the Patriarch's eyes and saw a glint of something that didn't look like worry. It looked like triumph.
"Patriarch, we are the Ogre Seven. We have trained together for years. To leave us without a support-type cultivator an hour before the fight... is there no other way?"
"I am terribly sorry," Ning Xiao replied, his tone final. He cupped his hands toward the group, his eyes lingering for a second on the Grandmaster. "I truly wish you all the best of luck. You are the pride of our kingdom. But as for Xueli... her path has taken a different turn. She might even, say goodbye to you all."
"W-What!? Say g-goodbye!?" Xiao Ao exclaimed, "P-Patriarch Ning, w-what exactly happened?"
Ning Xiao shook his head, "Ah. Once she is done with her business, she leave for the Central Region."
The Ogre Seven froze in shock.
The Central Region?! At that, they immediately thought of that young man who became their nightmare.
They remembered that he had invited Ning Xueli for dinner back then... Could it be something had developed between the two of them?
"That's why, I'm terribly sorry. Please find another comrade to fight with you." With that, he turned on his heel and walked away, his stride noticeably lighter, leaving behind a group of confused geniuses and a Grandmaster whose face had turned a dark, volcanic shade of red.
"She's going to the Central Region?" Mu Xiaojun whispered into the stunned silence. "And not just that, she wouldn't even participate in the tournament we had worked so hard for!? Just like that? Does this mean we have to find a replacement from the junior classes?"
The Ogre Seven looked at each other, the unity they had spent years building suddenly feeling fragile.
Xiao Ao dropped to his knees, feeling incredibly powerless. Ah, heavens, why? Why are you doing this to me!?
*
*
*
"I did it..." Xueli breathed heavily, her chest heaving as she slumped to her knees before the massive, smoking corpse of the Hell Tiger.
The kaleidoscopic aura of the Nine-Colored Dagger slowly faded, leaving only the scent of scorched fur and iron in the air.
Her hands were trembling, her robes torn and stained with soot, but her eyes held a spark of disbelief. "I... I actually killed a Hell Tiger."
"Impressive."
Shen Haoran walked beside her, his footsteps silent on the charred grass.
He looked down at her not with the cold disdain from before, but with a flicker of clinical approval as he reached into his sleeve and handed her a small porcelain bottle. "Take this and rest. You have done well, Xueli."
Xueli smiled brightly at the praise, her heart soaring higher than it had during any victory at the Academy.
To her, a word of recognition from this man was worth more than a thousand cheers from the crowds of Cao Yin Kingdom.
She took the bottle, uncorked it, and swallowed one of the fragrant pills.
Almost instantly, a cool, refreshing energy began to weave through her torn muscles and depleted meridians, jump-starting the healing process.
She crossed her legs, closed her eyes, and began to meditate, allowing the medicinal efficacy to guide her Qi through its cycles.
Haoran stood silently on the side, his arms crossed, watching the perimeter with an indifference that suggested he feared nothing in these woods.
Just then, the shadows at his feet flickered and stretched, and Qing'er emerged as if rising from a pool of ink.
"Young Master..."
"Have you found it?" Haoran asked, his voice low.
"Yes, Young Master. Just continue heading east for five miles," Qing'er reported, her voice a shadow's whisper. "You will find a thousand-meter-tall waterfall cascading into a deep basin. There is a cave hidden behind the curtain of water. Inside it lie the ruins you are looking for."
"Hm, thank you for the hard work."
"It is my honor." Qing'er bowed deeply, her form dissolving into the darkness once more before she vanished back into his shadows.
Haoran turned his attention back to Xueli.
As she sat in her meditative trance, a sudden, violent ripple of energy erupted from her body.
The surrounding leaves swirled in a mini-cyclone of crimson light, and her 8th Stage Qi Gathering strength surged, shattering the bottleneck and breaking through to the 9th Stage!
Xueli's eyes snapped open, and she stood up in sheer surprise, checking her hands and the purity of the Qi flowing through her veins. "I broke through?! How?! I just broke through a month ago! I thought I'd be stuck at the 8th Stage for at least another half a year!"
Haoran stared at her, his expression unmoving. "Don't be surprised. Qi grows much faster in life-or-death situations; the pressure of survival forces your meridians to expand, and the adrenaline tempers your foundation. That is why those cultivators who break through during the heat of battle are always much stronger than those who spend their lives in secluded cultivation. Their Qi is sharp, whereas the others was stagnant."
Xueli blinked, processing the information. The Grandmaster had always taught that safety and slow progress were the keys to a stable foundation. "Is that how it is? So the danger itself is the catalyst?"
Haoran nodded. "If you reach a bottleneck in the future, don't lock yourself in a room to cultivate. That is for those who are afraid to take a risk. Simply go to the wilds and fight a couple of demonic beasts that are stronger than you. If you survive, the breakthrough will follow."
Xueli nodded, her perspective of the cultivation world shifting under his influence. "I see. I understand. The path of the strong is written in blood."
With that said, Haoran turned and continued walking deeper into the range. "Let's go. Qing'er already found the ruins. We are close to the inheritance."
Xueli hurried to catch up, her new 9th Stage strength making her movements light and agile.
She reached into her belt and offered the Nine-Colored Dagger back to him. "Um, here. Thank you for letting me borrow it. It... it saved my life."
Haoran stared at the kaleidoscopic blade for a moment before shaking his head. "I didn't lend it to you; I gave it to you. Keep it for yourself. That thing will be useless once you reach the Core Formation realm anyway—it can't handle the density of Qi from people at that level."
Xueli's heart gave a little skip. To him, a Rank 2 Artifact was a disposable toy, but to her, it was a priceless treasure and her first gift from him.
"I-I see... thank you. I will cherish this, I promise." She smiled brightly, tucking the dagger away with a sense of pride as they ventured toward the thunderous sound of the hidden waterfall.