LAVW – Chapter 74 The Devil Cult Protector

Shi Qian returned to Cuilong Mountain and resumed his favorite activity—eating while lying down.

Long Ye wasn’t completely heartless. Maybe because he could tell Shi Qian was about to finish his retreat, he’d already prepared plenty of good food in advance.

Seeing Brother Qian’s mouth busy munching away, Long Ye said, “Brother Qian, I’m heading out for a bit. I’ll bring Xu Miao here to roast lamb for you.”

“Ooo—”

Okay!

Shi Qian was too busy chewing to speak. He nodded while also tossing a few bites toward the black sword.

Just as Long Ye was about to walk out the door, he turned back and tossed Shi Qian a storage pouch: “Almost forgot—this is for you too. It’s also food.”

Shi Qian: “?”

So good.

When he opened it, he found the contents inside to be a mess of all sorts of items. But they resembled the feeding prescriptions Youfang used to put together—mostly things that could strengthen a beast’s bloodline and body.

Shi Qian glanced at it, stored it away, but didn’t eat any of it just yet.

Who still wanted to keep cultivating? Right now, Shi Qian just wanted to lie down for a while.

In the Tranquil Heart Valley, the spiritual energy was thick, and there were plenty of flowers, grass, and trees. But strangely enough, there wasn’t a single fruit growing anywhere.

Shi Qian munched on a spirit fruit, not caring that juice was dripping onto his fur.

After all, he planned to take Master Long to the lake later for a soak.

The black sword gave a shake and spat out a lump of soulless fruit flesh and a pit.

Clang—

It’s still better outside.

Shi Qian: “Squeak Squeak.”

Of course it’s better outside—this is the feeling of freedom!

After gnawing on two spirit fruits to fill his stomach a bit, Shi Qian forced himself to suppress the urge to binge.

There was a feast waiting later—he had to save room.

Now that his spiritual energy had become more refined, not only was he stronger, but he also burned through it faster. He was definitely going to be able to eat more than before.

With his cravings satisfied, Shi Qian began wandering curiously around the house.

Let’s see if Long Ye had made any changes at home during all this time.

Just now, when he looked at the courtyard, it seemed mostly the same. Only the vegetation was more lush, crawling up the walls and blooming clusters of tiny purple flowers.

Shi Qian ran back to his room first and found that it hadn’t changed at all.

“Squeak Squeak.”

It was still pretty clean.

At the very least, the cleaning spell—Long Ye must be casting it regularly.

Where to next? Shi Qian bounced off toward the study.

The study had changed more noticeably. Books and jade slips were scattered messily across the desk, not quite like Long Ye’s usual tidy style.

But upon closer inspection of the shelves on both sides, it was clear they were still fairly organized. It was probably just that they’d been flipped through too often lately, and one long desk just wasn’t enough anymore.

In the air, there was even a faint scent of something good.

Following the smell, Shi Qian pawed through piles of open books and scattered papers. This had to be Long Ye’s habit—he liked using pen and paper.

At the bottom, he found a jade box.

Shi Qian lifted a paw and nudged it. The box actually opened with a push.

Inside was a translucent red ball, like a jelly dessert. It looked very bouncy.

He reached out to poke it with a paw. The red jelly not only emitted an enticing fragrance but also wobbled twice.

“Squeak Squeak.”

Kinda cute.

It must be for me. One glance at the surrounding books and Shi Qian saw that they were all about how to enhance the bloodline of demon and spirit beasts. The only one who needed that recently was clearly himself.

Shi Qian guessed this “jelly” was probably some kind of spiritual medicine.

To someone like Shi Qian who had eaten way too many delicacies, “spiritual medicine” was more or less equivalent to a snack. It was all edible anyway—no difference to him.

Thinking it was small and wouldn’t take up much stomach space, Shi Qian opened his mouth and bit down.

It melted instantly, and seemed to disperse as well.

Shi Qian quickly inhaled, sucking the entire red jelly into his mouth.

The taste was sweet—kinda cloying.

Conclusion: Looks good, doesn’t taste good. A scam based on appearances.

Also, the jelly was packed with spiritual energy, and his previously empty stomach instantly felt full.

Just after eating, Shi Qian heard movement outside. He immediately leapt out the study window to greet his personal chef.

Xu Miao followed behind Long Ye, leading two fluffy little sheep with innocent eyes.

Shi Qian ran out and leapt into Xu Miao’s arms in two hops.

Shi Qian: “Miao Miao!”

Xu Miao’s name was quite convenient—it was the only human name lazy Shi Qian could remember. Even though it was just a homophone, it sounded close enough.

Actually, once Shi Qian’s cultivation reached the Nascent Soul stage, he could try learning to speak human language.

Give it a year or so of effort, and he’d definitely manage. And compared to Youfang, Shi Qian had way better starting conditions.

But since he carried a personal translator everywhere, Shi Qian couldn’t be bothered to mess with Chinchilla’s vocal cords.

Xu Miao hugged Brother Qian tightly: “Brother Qian, congrats on finishing your seclusion! I learned a new recipe from Master—I’ll roast it for you with the new method, okay?”

“Squeak Squeak.”

Master?

Long Ye explained: “It’s the elder who gave you the little sheep. He accepted Xu Miao as a disciple this year. If you want food in the future, just go bum meals from him.”

Shi Qian: “!”

After cultivating in the valley for a while, all the masters he’d been eyeing had ended up with Xu Miao.

But as long as there was food, it didn’t matter who the master was given to.

Shi Qian climbed onto Xu Miao’s shoulder and patted him: “Squeak Squeak.”

Miao Miao, don’t forget me when there’s good food, okay?

Long Ye chuckled and helped translate for Brother Qian. Suddenly, he noticed the energy around Brother Qian was fluctuating again.

Long Ye asked, “Brother Qian, how much did you eat just now? Do you feel anything strange?”

“Squeak Squeak.”

Just two spirit fruits.

But with the reminder, Shi Qian finally noticed the pressure building in his meridians from the excess spiritual energy. It was just that during his recent cultivation, he’d been in this state often, so both his body and mind had gotten used to ignoring it.

Then Shi Qian remembered something and pointed toward the study: “Squeak Squeak.”

Also ate that red spiritual medicine in the jade box inside.

Long Ye: …

Seeing Long Ye’s expression—like he wanted to speak but didn’t—Shi Qian panicked a bit: “Squeak Squeak?”

Brother Ye, was I not supposed to eat it?

Shi Qian touched his throat with a paw, thinking, I’m doomed, I don’t think I can throw it back up.

“You can eat it—it was prepared for you. But it’s not an ordinary spiritual medicine, it’s a Heaven-grade pill.”

In other words, that thing was an intense tonic. Now that Shi Qian had eaten it, he had to burn off the medicinal power and massive spiritual energy through cultivation—otherwise, it might overstuff him.

Shi Qian: ……

“Squeak Squeak.”

Brother Ye, that’s a Heaven-grade pill—why didn’t you put it away properly?

Heaven-grade pills were extremely rare in the cultivation world. First, their ingredients were demanding; second, the person refining them needed to be at least at the Nascent Soul stage and a specialist in alchemy.

The most skilled alchemists were even rumored to raise intelligent Heaven-grade pills as medicinal pets. After a long time, these pets could even take on human form.

Long Ye said, “My cultivation increased a bit following yours. I figured you were almost ready to come out, so—” I thought I’d come check on you first.

Xu Miao patted Brother Qian on the head. Seeing the serious atmosphere between man and beast, he asked, “What’s going on? I don’t quite understand.”

Long Ye provided the answer: “Brother Qian accidentally ate the pill, so now he has to go cultivate.”

He didn’t even say “might” — and Shi Qian’s heart shattered.

“Squeak Squeak.”

Let me finish this meal first.

Long Ye picked Brother Qian up and sighed. “I was originally planning to let you rest for a while.”

But who knew—just the moment he looked away, Brother Qian had swallowed the pill on his own.

Shi Qian quickly used his spiritual energy to cover Long Ye’s mouth. “Squeak Squeak.”

Stop talking!

If you keep going, I’m going to die of frustration! That stupid pill didn’t even taste good and totally ruined his mealtime.

Knowing this was his “last good meal,” Xu Miao laughed and went off to slaughter a sheep.

Long Ye helped out while comforting the gloomy Brother Qian: “It’s okay. You can still enjoy delicious food while cultivating. You can absorb the pill’s energy at your own pace and stop whenever you want.”

“Besides, the pill was refined to be very gentle. Its medicinal power is very balanced. It won’t make you suffer too much.”

After refining this Heaven-grade pill, the alchemists of Sword Sect had all improved. Using a dragon as the base—even if it was only a flood dragon—the ingredients were still incredibly rare.

“Squeak Squeak.”

It’s not about whether there’s food.

The problem is the nonstop cultivating. Shi Qian was mentally exhausted.

He came to the cultivation world as a Chinchilla, not to become some overachiever. He just wanted to lie flat and enjoy life.

But now that he’d already eaten the pill, there was really no alternative. He couldn’t just let himself “burst” from it.

He only had himself to blame—itchy hands. If he hadn’t touched it, he wouldn’t have been tempted. If he hadn’t been tempted, he wouldn’t now be stuck in seamless cultivation.

When others heard that Shi Qian had come out of seclusion and learned about this tragic incident, they all burst into laughter and didn’t even have the heart to fight him for the lamb legs.

Faced with their shameless laughter, Shi Qian wolfed down two lamb legs and stuffed another two into his storage pouch—for both immediate enjoyment and takeaway.

Then, reluctantly giving up on his plans for a bath, he picked a good spot to resume cultivating and refining the pill’s energy.

The next day, a disciple of the Tenth Peak rode on a senior brother’s flying sword, and when he saw the peak from afar, he could already see—their Senior Brother was diligently cultivating again.

So early the following morning, Wang Xingzhi was surprised to see a huge number of disciples suddenly show up on the Tenth Peak to practice swordsmanship.

After a year of mandatory training, Sword Sect no longer forced its disciples to practice swordplay daily. They were encouraged to develop their own interests.

It had been ages since there were so many people training, and even Wang Xingzhi—who only occasionally visited the peak—was surprised.

After lingering for a bit, he realized they were once again inspired by their Senior Brother.

Wang Xingzhi: …Might as well stay silent.

Besides, Brother Qian really had been working hard lately.

Ascending the Immortal Path was no easy task.

Just among those he knew, several late Nascent Soul senior brothers and sisters were going into frenzied seclusion, trying to break through to Soul Formation and seize their chance at ascension.

Further away, Taiyi Dao Sect’s young sect master Shi Hao was also pushing himself to the limit in cultivation. Over in Shenhua Valley, the saintess—along with her spirit beast general (Brother Qian’s older brother)—was reportedly training in a life-and-death secret realm exclusive to the Valley.

As for Wang Xingzhi, his cultivation was so far off that he didn’t even have the hope of taking a gamble.

Meanwhile, at Green Dragon Mountain—

Shi Qian didn’t want to work hard at all, but Long Ye and the alchemist elders of the Sword Sect were just too considerate.

The medicinal energy was released in steady waves, never enough to make him want to die on the spot—but just enough to make his meridians swell painfully so that he couldn’t sleep well or enjoy his food.

Shi Qian could only adopt a method of intense cultivation followed by secret slacking to cope.

After absorbing three days’ worth of medicinal energy, he could afford half a day to stroll, eat, and relax.

After repeating this process two or three times, Shi Qian even began to feel it was better than staying in the Quiet Heart Valley.

At least this way, he could walk around and sightsee.

After another five days of cultivation, Shi Qian stretched lazily and dragged the cultivation-crazed Long Ye to go take a bath.

After enjoying it, he left Master Long behind and flew off on his sword to roam other peaks.

Long Ye had no time to follow anyway—he’d recently become obsessed with cultivation and loved sitting beside Shi Qian to compete with him, so much so that Shi Qian was starting to feel irritated by that previously handsome face.

Wandering over to Hundred Classes Peak, Shi Qian felt nostalgic for the old days when he used to nap during lectures.

Back then, his naps were so sweet.

The sun was just right, so Shi Qian picked a familiar rooftop, listened to the “hypnosis lecture,” and quickly drifted into loud, snoring slumber. He slept like a baby.

The formation spirit below: …

Using spiritual energy, he shifted the skylight tile and pulled the little spirit beast—sleeping like a dead pig—off the roof.

Shi Qian was still in dreamland. There was no threatening smell to wake him, so his tail flicked twice and his head nudged toward the formation spirit’s hand. He sprawled out in a comfy pose and continued sleeping like a log.

The newly rotated group of disciples below: …He’s definitely going to get beaten.

But the formation ancestor just casually tossed down a sleep-assisting formation and continued the class—resuming the mutual frustration and disdain with his dumb disciples.

Shi Qian kept sleeping until his meridians started to ache. He yawned, opened his eyes, and realized—it was almost dark.

“Squeak Squeak.”

That was a good nap!

Shi Qian got up and went over to the formation spirit and the grand elder, and even tricked them into giving him a drink of spiritual wine.

The grand elder didn’t like eating much, but he did enjoy a drink now and then.

Seeing the little spirit beast blatantly stealing wine, the formation spirit couldn’t help but remark, “Don’t you think your spiritual energy’s already abundant enough? I thought you didn’t like cultivating.”

Chang Youcai chuckled and said, “Spiritual wine is different. You just don’t understand.”

Shi Qian nodded. “Squeak Squeak.”

Exactly, exactly.

The array spirit said, “Little drunkard.”

Shi Qian didn’t take that as a criticism. He leaned over and helped the array spirit finish the spirit wine in his cup.

Then he asked curiously, “Squeak Squeak?”

Master Ancestor, why don’t you all take the Immortal Ascension Path?

Those above Nascent Soul—meaning Nascent Soul and Tribulation Crossing cultivators—should be eligible. The Grand Elder was in the Nascent Soul stage. The array spirit’s aura was unclear, but Shi Qian felt it definitely wasn’t weaker than a Tribulation Crossing cultivator.

Especially the array master ancestor—Shi Qian thought he seemed quite eager to ascend, maybe wanting to reunite with old friends from the past.

If so, why hadn’t they taken action?

The array spirit replied, “What would a bunch of old fogies like us do up there? Better to stay in the sect and guard our home.”

“I’m not old,” said Grand Elder Chang Youcai. He had drunk a bit and his face was slightly flushed.

He stroked his white beard and explained to the little beast, “This Immortal Ascension Path is likely just a giant trap released by the demonic cultivators.”

“At our level, progress is extremely difficult. To say we don’t want to try the Immortal Path would be lying.”

“But we have our sect behind us—we must set an example and absolutely cannot go. If too many rush toward it, and if the demonic cultivators have some method like what they used on the Secret Realm Exhibition Hall—sending the Immortal Ascension Path into the void—then half the cultivation world would be in danger. Someone has to stay and protect this world.”

“This time, only a few especially eager and outstanding young cultivators from major sects will be allowed to venture out.”

“As for those scattered Nascent Soul cultivators, those with sharp instincts and not extraordinary skills won’t dare to take the risk. It’s mostly the rogue Tribulation Crossing powerhouses who’ve already gone—your array master ancestor is quite envious,” Chang Youcai added teasingly, clearly aware of the array spirit’s thoughts.

“Stop talking nonsense.”

The array spirit handed over the wine jug to Chang Youcai. “As long as the sect exists, I will never leave it.”

Since the moment he gained sentience, he had never stepped out of the sect.

He was the sect’s protective array—how could he leave? No matter how unreliable he might seem, he would always remember this, because it was the very purpose of his creation.

Shi Qian sighed too. He didn’t want to go—but he had to.

“Squeak Squeak.”

Then when I go, I’ll come back and tell you whether it’s fun or not.

The array spirit generously said, “When you return, don’t forget to bring something back for the Grand Elder.”

Chang Youcai didn’t know about the triple “wages,” and was a bit puzzled at the array spirit’s uncharacteristically good mood.

Shi Qian nodded.

No problem—even if he couldn’t find spirit stones, he could still bring back a few regular rocks as offerings to the thrifty, household-managing Grand Elder.

Seeing that the wine was gone and there was nothing left to drink, Shi Qian said, “Squeak Squeak—”

I can’t drink any more spirit wine. Time to return to Cuilong Mountain.

Shi Qian called out to Dahei, who had followed him voluntarily, and flew his sword back to Cuilong Mountain.

Back on his own mountain, he found Long Ye still cultivating, just as expected.

Shi Qian snuck closer and realized his own cultivation level had risen slightly again.

Oh, right—he forgot to mention that Long Ye’s recent cultivation goal was to break through in his own level and thereby help Shi Qian trigger his Nascent Soul tribulation.

Since this process would take a while, Long Ye was trying to time it so Shi Qian had absorbed all the medicinal power beforehand.

Shi Qian let out a wine-scented burp. “Squeak Squeak.”

Brother Ye, I’m really grateful for your hard work.

Then, with aching meridians, Shi Qian obediently sat down and cultivated along with the king of diligence.

Though forty-nine days wasn’t nearly enough to refine a Heavenly Grade pill, it was enough for a hardworking and talented chinchilla to fully absorb all the pill’s medicinal effects.

Shi Qian: “Squeak——!”

Freedom!

Just as Long Ye finished suppressing his cultivation level, he heard his brother’s triumphant cry.

He opened his eyes and asked quietly, “Brother Qian, do you want to rest for two days… or three?”

Shi Qian was stunned: “?”

“Squeak Squeak.”

Is that even something a human would say?

“I’m joking. You can rest at least five days,” Long Ye said, holding out five fingers toward his pitiful-looking brother.

Although he could’ve told Shi Qian from the start that he’d get five days of rest, clearly Long Ye had learned the art of phrasing things—making it easier for Shi Qian to accept.

“Squeak Squeak,” Shi Qian drooped his head.

Alright, fine. Five days it is.

“Strike while the iron is hot, hesitate and the will falters”—Shi Qian used an old saying to comfort himself. Besides, refining the pill hadn’t taken that long anyway.

Hopefully he could succeed in one go and break through directly.

Other people undergoing the Six-Nine Tribulation might get struck for two or three months. But since he was pretty much “cheating” with heavenly favor, one month should be enough.

Once he completed the Nascent Soul tribulation, surely Long Ye wouldn’t still want to push him into becoming a Tribulation Crossing cultivator?

Shi Qian firmly believed that Long Ye wouldn’t be that delusional or cruel.

By then, he could just cling to Long Ye’s thigh and coast through life.

Long Ye reached out and scratched Brother Qian’s little chin, thinking to himself: This little guy looks so pitiful… kinda makes you want to bully him.

Over the next five days, Shi Qian didn’t slack off. He ate and drank to strengthen his bloodline and body.

The black sword joined in on the feasting too—eating its way from a flat brick shape to a perfect cube. It would need to help Shi Qian during the tribulation.

Once everything was ready, Long Ye swallowed a pill and began breaking through his own level. He was in the late Nascent Soul stage, advancing a minor tier.

For Shi Qian, who was already at the threshold, this push—combined with the other spiritual medicines prepared by the Sword Sect—was enough to forcefully break through the bottleneck.

After all, he was a spiritual beast, not a human cultivator. He wasn’t held to such strict standards of enlightenment. Some beasts with strong bloodlines could ascend to Nascent Soul—or even Tribulation Crossing—just like that.

The tribulation site was set at Cuilong Mountain.

From a distant peak, Wang Xingzhi and the disciples of the Tenth Peak had come to observe.

Hearing the other disciples gush about how “Senior Brother One and Senior Brother Two helped each other improve their cultivation,” they all started clamoring to go make spirit sword or spirit beast contracts of their own.

Wang Xingzhi couldn’t help but advise, “Don’t be reckless. Most people can’t even manage to raise a single spirit sword, and now you want to raise a spirit beast like Brother Qian? You can barely feed yourselves as it is.”

He knew exactly how many resources the Sword Sect had poured into Brother Qian’s promotion this time. Even Long Ye and Shi Qian had emptied out most of their private stashes.

Right now, under Emerald Dragon Mountain, who knew how many spirit stones were buried? They’d even moved two spirit veins over just for this.

Wang Xingzhi thought, this kind of treatment was already on par with their little ancestral master.

And the sheer concentration of resources was terrifying—Tranquil Mind Valley was opened, Heaven-grade pills were used, and countless heavenly and earthly treasures were thrown in…

Under the watchful eyes of Wang Xingzhi and his companions, thunderclouds gathered—Shi Qian’s third tribulation in the cultivation world had arrived.

This one was far more intense than the previous two.

Shi Qian even caught the scent of a warning omen in the air, signaling that this lightning tribulation was no mere formality.

The higher your cultivation, the more resources you consume, and the harsher the Heavenly Dao becomes toward you. This is reflected in increasingly brutal tribulations.

Otherwise, everyone would be lining up to ascend. The entire cultivation world couldn’t possibly sustain that kind of consumption—it would’ve been drained dry long ago.

Shi Qian was mentally prepared—but he hadn’t expected the tribulation to be even more brutal than he’d imagined.

The black sword could only swallow half of it; the rest, Shi Qian had to endure with his own spiritual power.

When the pure spiritual energy in his body collided with the power of thunder, only then did he realize how necessary Long Ye’s pressure had been.

Had he not gone through the intense training before, he might’ve really been struck to death.

But even now, not dying didn’t mean it didn’t hurt—every inch of his body felt like it was being torn apart under the thunder’s onslaught.

Did the Heavenly Dao just not want people to live? Was it deliberately trying to kill them?

Shi Qian truly couldn’t imagine how other cultivators survived even fiercer and more terrifying tribulations.

He hadn’t seen Long Ye’s last tribulation and still wondered if he’d been fried into a charred dragon.

After surviving the first wave of lightning, Shi Qian knew the rest would be just as tough. He obediently took his pills to recover quickly—more diligent now than during his bitter cultivation days.

Back then, bitter cultivation didn’t cost him his life—it was just boring, and he had the idle black sword to chat with.

But a lightning tribulation could really kill a chinchilla.

Second wave, third wave…

As the tribulation strikes accumulated, Shi Qian felt like his internal organs had been rebuilt several times over.

Everything felt like it had been shattered and remade—his spiritual energy emerging again to patch him up.

Earlier, he’d taken a pill made from the flood dragon as the main ingredient. The remaining medicinal power kept getting activated during the tribulation, continuously enhancing his bloodline—and causing him to grow. Not by much, but he was indeed growing.

After another month and five days, Shi Qian finally passed the final wave of tribulation, under the envious gazes of other observing Nascent Soul cultivators.

Seeing their envy, Shi Qian could only think: not even a dog would want to live in this cultivation world.

The fact that getting struck by lightning for a month and five days was seen as enviable just proved how messed up this world was.

But from today on, it was all over.

Shi Qian exhaled deeply, waiting for the blessings from the heavens to descend upon him.

The black sword rolled over. “Zheng—”

I’m exhausted.

“Zheng zheng—”

Please don’t go through another tribulation. I can’t take it.

Shi Qian: “Squeak Squeaki~”

Don’t worry. There won’t be a next time.

Long Ye, who had come closer and overheard the conversation: …

Forget it. He wouldn’t tell Brother Qian that his dream was to watch Brother Qian go through a tribulation one day.

Actually, becoming a Soul Transformation cultivator should be quite impressive already, right? That should be enough.

Long Ye’s thoughts began to waver. In the end, he decided to go suffer through it himself first. If the tribulation was too painful, then they’d drop the idea.

After Shi Qian absorbed all the heavenly blessings, his cultivation stabilized at the early Soul Transformation stage. He had grown another size—now nearly as big as a football. Though still oval and completely covered in white fluff.

Compared to being struck by lightning, absorbing blessings was a much more pleasant experience. Shi Qian’s mood greatly improved, and he started to feel pretty awesome again.

Soul Transformation stage! That made him a major figure in the cultivation world!

When Long Ye picked him up, Shi Qian started showing off and asked, “Squeak Squeaki~?”

Now that I’ve reached Soul Transformation, can I be an elder?

Long Ye laughed. “Of course. When we return, we’ll ask the Grand Elder to make you one.”

“Squeak Squeak~?”

The first spirit beast elder of the Sword Sect?

“Not quite,” Long Ye couldn’t lie to Brother Qian. “But definitely the youngest elder ever. Brother Qian, you’re still young—a genius youth.”

Shi Qian curled his paw and did some quick math—an elder at seventeen or eighteen years old? That kind of setup was practically a male lead!

I really am awesome.

In fact, among all the current Nascent Soul cultivators aiming for Soul Transformation, aside from those with deep foundations and years of experience, Shi Qian truly was the first.

Shi Hao had just reached the late Nascent Soul stage, still far from breaking through. The Saintess of the Divine Flower Valley, Hua Qing, hadn’t appeared, which meant Brother Mouse was still struggling. As for the rest, their path was even harder—none had access to the kind of resources Shi Qian had.

After a small internal celebration—and stealing his master’s wine twice—the Sword Sect’s ascension team was ready to depart.

On departure day, Shi Qian looked over at the black-haired, blindfolded beauty next to Mo Sanchi and was once again stunned.

Not gonna lie—there were more pretty older sisters in the cultivation world than there were tribulations.

The blindfolded beauty Shi Qian was staring at—Mo Sanchi’s master, and the Sword Sect’s Supreme Elder, Elder Yuheng—noticed the direct gaze and swept her divine sense toward him.

Yuheng’s voice was soft and gentle. “Little treasure-seeking mouse? Your nose is even keener than mine. I’ll be counting on you.”

Shi Qian: “Squeak Squeak~”

Okay!

He did feel a bit guilty—it wasn’t like he was a real treasure-seeking mouse. But that was fine. Now the football-sized Shi Qian climbed onto Long Ye’s head and took a couple sniffs to steal some of his protagonist aura.

Long Ye: …“Brother Qian, you’re not that small anymore.”

Can you imagine a person’s head with another head-sized furball on top of it?

Shi Qian: “Squeak Squeak——”

Brother Ye, be honest—do you have another mouse out there?

“No.” After being tormented for days by this unreasonable “do you have another mouse” question, Long Ye wisely chose to give up resisting. “Brother Qian, if you want to lie there, then lie there. Just be careful not to fall.”

“Squeak Squeak.”

I’m a Nascent Soul elder, don’t worry.

And so, Long Ye dashingly carried the Chinchilla on his head and stepped onto the Ascension Path.

After stepping onto the Ascension Path, Shi Qian seemed to catch a faint, dangerous scent in the air—it was aimed at Long Ye. But it lasted only a split second before vanishing completely.

Shi Qian mentioned it to Long Ye.

Once the group from Sword Sect ascended, the demonic path’s old ancestor, now in disguise, followed a small group of Nascent Soul rogue cultivators onto the Ascension Path.

They were finally on their way. The demonic old ancestor had waited so long she was practically zen by now.

But from this point on, she’d have to be extra careful—to make sure that this so-called “child of destiny” didn’t end up dying in the jaws of an old dragon before even growing up.

Having cultivated for many years, the old ancestor had long come to understand the principle of destiny and its opposing forces.

She had just always assumed her own fate was tied to misfortune—never expecting there could be an entirely opposite possibility.

And yet now, here she was, a demonic path old ancestor, secretly sneaking around trying to protect the righteous path’s child of destiny. How utterly ridiculous.

“Heh.” The old ancestor let out a mocking chuckle, separated from the others, and stepped onto the tracking path alone.