by Dragon King
The cultivators of her generation were either from families of elders or generals while she stayed with Elder Xingyue the entire time as an orphan.
Elder Xingyue cared a lot about Su Han, but she was very strict when it came to cultivation.
Su Han was always covered in wounds when she was young, and Elder Xingyue would always toss her a bottle of healing ointment with a stern face.
Su Han had a pair of large shining eyes, but she never cried or threw a tantrum. Before anyone noticed, she had already become a stunning beauty who was even stronger than her master Elder Xingyue. Whenever she thought of her childhood, Su Han was still very grateful toward her master.
“You can keep this bottle of ointment because you will need this a lot in the future,” Su Han said before Hao Ren passed the bottle back to her.
“Ok…” Hao Ren took his hand back.
Su Han made it very clear; today was only a warmup, and there would be more days like this ahead of him! With Su Han’s strength, she could break Hao Ren’s skin and cut into his flesh every single day…
Since Su Han was still standing there, Hao Ren thought about it and opened his shirt up. Then, he started to apply the white ointment on the bruises on his shoulders.
Su Han was stupefied as she didn’t expect Hao Ren to take his clothes off suddenly. She thought he was going to apply the ointment in the bathroom…
Hao Ren’s exercising method was different from Su Han’s. He took a more intensive path, and the fundamental boxing techniques he had been practicing lately bulged his muscles and made them look symmetrical.
Su Han had great strength, but she had never seen a man’s ‘naked body’. Her head buzzed as she had a feeling of being defeated.
Hao Ren didn’t think about it much since he was used to playing cards on the balcony half naked with his roommates when it was hot, and the female dorm building was just a few dozen meters across from them; no one seemed to have cared…
Hao Ren took turns with both hands and applied the ointment on his shoulders.
Then, he looked at Su Han who was still standing there and looked as calm as a dead pool of water. He handed the bottle to her and said in embarrassment, “Um… could you help me put some on my back, please? I can’t reach it…”
Su Han’s eyes slowly opened wider as the cold expression stayed on her face.
She took a deep breath and clenched her fists all of a sudden.
“Sorry for the trouble…” Hao Ren turned his back to her.
Su Han felt like she was struck by lightning, and the White Jade Sword instantly appeared in her hand.
“Just…a little bit,” Hao Ren said in embarrassment with his back facing Su Han.
“Ka…Ka…” Su Han gritted her teeth.
She breathed out deeply after a few seconds of hesitation. Then, she put back the White Jade Sword and squeezed out some ointment.
She picked up a piece of cloth from the table and covered her hand with it before she rubbed it on Hao Ren’s wound.
“Thanks a lot!” Hao Ren felt the chill on his back. He then turned over, put his shredded coat on, and smiled at Su Han.
“Humph!” she threw the bottle back at him and headed toward her bedroom.
“Su Han?” Hao Ren suddenly stopped her.
“What?” Su Han squinted her eyes and looked at Hao Ren.
“Are there… any new clothes I can wear?” Hao Ren twisted his ripped coat and asked.
Cold, intense light rays shot out of Su Han’s eyes, and she said word by word, “What Do You Think?”
“Um…” Hao Ren sensed a tremendous amount of pressure pouring toward him. He immediately waved to let her know that it was not necessary anymore.
Su Han had never let any man into her apartment. How on earth would there be men’s clothes in here?
She slowly walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind her roughly.
Hao Ren looked at the two-thirds full ointment bottle in his hand. He thought for a bit and threw it into his necklace.
There was another room next to Su Han’s bedroom, but Hao Ren didn’t plan to sleep in there. He curled up on the couch and fell asleep as he circulated the nature essence according to the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll.
It slowly turned bright outside.
Fifth Heaven also turned bright.
Xie Yujia had quietly cultivated in her cave abode for an entire night. She slowly breathed out and looked outside at the valley. The spiritual herbs were thriving in the five sections.
A string of heavy golden-brown fruits hung under the thick light-yellow leaves of a thousand years old Pi Ma Grass; they seemed to be almost ripe.
The Yuan Bao Grass grew a few more leaves in a night, and it looked extremely green.
A Hong Xiang Vine grew out of the water in the paddy field. Since it had obtained sufficient nature essence and was in a proper environment, it looked particularly bright and fresh in the morning mist… Xie Yujia was delighted to see the spiritual herbs growing up luxuriant. Nature essence swam throughout her body along with some slight comprehension. She suddenly leveled up from level 9 to level 10 Qi Refinement Realm!
She was only one step away from the Foundation Establishment Realm!
Zhao Yanzi flew out of the cave abode next to her on her sword.
Little White was sleeping at the entrance, and it was awoken by a slight pain when Zhao Yanzi pulled some of its white hair off. It flew out after her immediately.
“First sword technique of the Big Dipper Constellation Scroll. Tianshu, up!”
Zhao Yanzi slightly hopped up as the Purple Green Treasure Sword underneath her suddenly dashed ahead.
The upside-down longsword suddenly drew out a tremendous ray as if it was an upside-down waterfall, and Little White hastily backed up and tripped embarrassingly in the middle of the air.
“Hahaha…” Zhao Yanzi laughed happily. The longsword circled in the air and went back under Zhao Yanzi’s feet.
Little White growled; it felt wronged and was a little mad.
“Alright, Little White. I won’t tease you anymore” Zhao Yanzi got closer to it on her sword and hopped onto its back. “Let’s take a look outside! It’s still early!”
Little White’s black eyes shone immediately when it heard this. It wanted to play around on Fifth Heaven, but it had to stay in the valley when Hao Ren cultivated there. It got very bored.
“Zi!” Xie Yujia saw Zhao Yanzi heading outside of the valley on Little White and shouted out.
However, she didn’t know how to ride a sword, and Zhao Yanzi took Little White with her. So, she was left grinding her teeth and worrying.
The dawn on Fifth Heaven was very quiet; one could see endless mountains and rivers.
Zhao Yanzi flew around the three sects near Ethereal Summit on Little White, and she headed to a further place to look around.
“Slow down, Little White!” Zhao Yanzi grasped its ear and said. Little White was going very fast in excitement, and the scenery around them disappeared rapidly beside them.
“Wu…” Little White made a small sound in its throat as it slowed down the speed of the sword. It was proudest of its speed, yet Zhao Yanzi wouldn’t let it show off.
“Are you alone, little girl?” a mid-aged man suddenly got near them on a sword.
“Ya!” Zhao Yanzi blinked and nodded immediately.
“Your spirit beast is very pretty. Are you the disciple of the Sky Mountain Sect?” The guy asked Zhao Yanzi.
“Yup, I’m running an errand for my master,” Zhao Yanzi answered.
“You are so young, and it seems like you are not even at the Foundation Establishment Realm. Your master let you come out?” The man continued.
“My master says our Sky Mountain Sect is a well-known sect, and ordinary cultivators wouldn’t dare to bully us.” She pouted her mouth.
“Hehehe…” the man faked a few laughs, “This spirit beast is pretty decent. I’ll take it! The Sky Mountain Sect really thinks it
is the biggest sect in the world. They would even let a disciple under the Foundation Establishment Realm out of the mountain!”
He flipped five beads out of his hand and blocked all five of Zhao Yanzi’s directions.
“Don’t rush, Little White. I’m on it!” Zhao Yanzi wasn’t scared of the situation. On the other hand, she got a bit excited. She whipped her Purple Green Treasured Sword out and yelled, “Tianshu, up!”
A ray of bright white light whipped ahead and blocked the two beads in front of her. They exploded immediately before they even started functioning.
“Top-tier dharma treasure!” the mid-aged man was genuinely astonished to see Zhao Yanzi’s longsword.
He suddenly realized that although she looked very young, she was of the Foundation Establishment Realm instead of the Qi Refinement Realm!
In general, one had to be at least 20 or 30 years old to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm. How could a little girl like Zhao Yanzi be on the Foundation Establishment Realm?
“Tianshu, up again!” Zhao Yanzi wanted to see how powerful her technique was, and this unlucky guy knocked on her door. She was pleased about it.
A 15-meter wide light waterfall dashed toward this mid-aged man.
He didn’t even get a chance to block it before the power of the Purple Green Treasure Sword and the power of the Big Dipper Constellation Scroll hit him. It threw his entire body over ten meters away onto a mountain, knocking a dozen trees down.
“How… how can you…” the mid-aged man looked at Zhao Yanzi with wounds all over him. His clothes were ripped into pieces.
Zhao Yanzi patted Little White’s bum and landed beside the man. “Hand over all your valuables, and I will spare you a life!”
The man shivered and handed his storage bag to her hastily.
He was a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator after all, but he couldn’t even handle Zhao Yanzi’s single attack!
Zhao Yanzi opened the brown storage bag up and saw a few materials, several spiritual stones, and two techniques inside. She nodded in satisfaction and tied it onto her waist.
“You thought you could trick me, huh? I hang out in a big city! Humph!” She patted Little White’s bum. Shoo…they flew away.
“What kind of sect is a big city…” the mid-aged man sat on the ground and looked at Zhao Yanzi as she left, astonished. He couldn’t handle the power of the Big Dipper Constellation Scroll at last and passed out on the ground.
396 Zhao Yanzi’s Ambition…
Zhao Yanzi returned to the Ethereal Summit on Little White, satisfied.
Xie Yujia was watering the spiritual herbs in the valley; she was relieved when she looked up and saw Zhao Yanzi and Little White coming back. Although Zhao Yanzi was mean to her, she didn’t want anything to happen to her.
Zhao Yanzi ignored Xie Yujia and flew directly into her own cave abode.
Upon returning, she took the four storage bags off her waist and poured a whole bunch of stuff out.
All kinds of spirit stones, techniques, flying swords, and dharma notes were piled up together.
She and Little White ‘robbed’ four passing by cultivators from dawn till now, and they obtained four storage bags in total.
Of course, the cultivators who came to her weren’t so upright themselves. They saw how young Zhao Yanzi seemed and thought she was at the Qi Refinement Realm. They wanted to rob her because they thought she sneaked out with the spirit beast due to her master’s absolute protection, but to their surprise, Zhao Yanzi ‘practiced’ her sword technique and robbed them instead.
The smaller versioned Little White hopped up and down in excitement when it saw the ground covered with shiny objects. Obviously, Little White fell in love with it ‘promising robbing career’ because of hearing what Zhen Congming said and experiencing it first hand with Zhao Yanzi.
“106 low-tier spirit stones, four mid-tier spirit stones, three techniques, two flying swords, six dharma notes, three bottles of elixirs…” Zhao Yanzi looked through her trophies as she mumbled, “They don’t even have top-tier spirit stones. They are so poor!”
She didn’t know how rare those spirit stones were on Fifth Heaven. Only a high-status cultivator could own top-tier spirit stones.
Her cave abode wasn’t big, and those things took up a lot of space. However, they were all her trophies, so she didn’t want to throw them away. Zhao Yanzi thought for a bit and said to herself, “I’ll ask Hao Ren to open up another cave for these treasures when he comes up to Fifth Heaven next time.”
She turned to Little White, “What do you think, Little White?”
“Um…um…” It murmured and continued to nod as it wagged its tail.
“I’m not sure about these elixirs and techniques though. I’ll ask Zhen Congming to evaluate them when he comes here next time.”
She had it all planned. She and Little White would be the robbing gang that would rob evil people, Zhen Congming would be the adviser. Hao Ren would be the gang leader, and as for Xie Yujia… Um… she could be the support worker for the time being…
It had always been her dream to be a heroine who had a strong sense of justice and ready to help the weak. She wished to start a sect in the valley and take the mountain for her own.
Fifth Heaven now seemed to be an excellent place for her!
“We should head back, Zi!” Xie Yujia shouted as she stood in the valley.
“I know! I know!” Zhao Yanzi put everything in the corner and answered loudly.
Shoo! She flew out of the cave abode on Little White.
Xie Yujia looked at Zhao Yanzi standing in the valley and shrugged.
Little White landed in the valley and carried Xie Yujia on it back steadily. It liked Zhao Yanzi but didn’t want to mistreat the Big Zhumu. Therefore, it was well-behaved in front of Xie Yujia.
Shoo…Little White carried the two of them out of Fifth Heaven.
“Hao Ren is not in Fifth Heaven, so you shouldn’t mess around. We wouldn’t even have time to save you if something goes wrong,” Xie Yujia couldn’t hold back anymore and said.
“I know! I was just wandering around and didn’t do anything bad. Plus, Little White is really strong now, and no one can catch us!” Zhao Yanzi answered.
“Ah…” Xie Yujia knew she couldn’t win this argument, so she simply zipped her mouth.
Sitting in the front, Zhao Yanzi pouted. She knew that Xie Yujia was worried about her. She also knew that she would be scared in the valley last night if it weren’t for Xie Yujia. However, she acted like she didn’t want to hear what Xie Yujia had to say.
The two of them went back to First Heaven, and Xie Yujia dropped Zhao Yanzi off at her home.
Zhao Hongyu got up early and was in the kitchen when Zhao Yanzi pressed the doorbell. She opened the door and asked, “How come you didn’t come back all night, Zi!”
Zhao Yanzi didn’t say anything because she didn’t know how to explain herself. Xie Yujia smiled and covered up. “Auntie, Zi came to my place to review her schoolwork last night, and I kept her in my dorm for the night because it was pretty late.”
“So, where are your studying materials?” Zhao Hongyu looked down at Zhao Yanzi’s empty hands.
“They are in my dorm. I didn’t let her bring them back because she will be coming to my place to study every day,” Xie Yujia added.
“I couldn’t even reach you on your cell phone…” Zhao Hongyu complained, but then she smiled happily at Xie Yujia. “Thank you so much, Yujia. You are tutoring Zi even though your finals are coming soon as well. Plus, you dropped her off so early in the morning. Come in and have some breakfast!”
“It’s ok, Auntie. I need to go back to school soon,” Xie Yujia said politely.
“A meal won’t take up much of your time. I’ll drive you to school afterward.” Zhao Hongyu pulled Xie Yujia into the room in full spirit.
Zhao Jiayi pouted as she looked at Xie Yujia in dissatisfaction. But she then thought of how Xie Yujia covered for her and how
she needed her excuses to go cultivate on Fifth Heaven over the next few days, so she had to pretend that she was close with Xie Yujia.
“Speaking of this, how come Ren didn’t tutor Zi?” Zhao Hongyu asked.
“He has been a bit busy, so I’m doing it for him,” Xie Yujia said with a smile.
Zhao Hongyu nodded slightly. She thought back to the big event that all dragon cultivators were closely paying attention to and knew why Hao Ren was busy.
It would be good for the East Ocean Dragon Palace if Hao Ren could become an official inspector now.
The influence of the Dragon God Shrine had been increasing during these years since there were more and more Qian-level masters joining them. It had slowly become a strong power, and it would even rival against the four ocean dragon palaces that had been accumulating power for ages.
For example, the Dragon God Shrine played a role in the war between East Ocean and West Ocean.
If Hao Ren could have a say in the Dragon God Shrine, it would offer the East Ocean Dragon Clan more control.
Even if Hao Ren couldn’t become an inspector, it wouldn’t hurt to have some practice. All the young dragon cultivators saw participating in the exams in the Dragon God Shrine as an honor, and it would be something to show off about if they could get a place in the top 200. That meant they were the top cultivators among hundreds of thousands of younger dragon cultivators.
Commanding General was a powerful yet somewhat chill position. Hao Ren had nothing to worry about as long as he didn’t need to lead the army to fight a war.
Hao Ren didn’t have any military merits, and his strength had never been shown. Some elders were secretly against this appointment.
But if Hao Ren could get a ranking in the Dragon God Shrine’s exams, it could turn some of the opposing voices in the dragon palace down as the Dragon God Shrine’s third-party assessment was very convincing.
Therefore, from this angle, Zhao Hongyu also wanted Hao Ren to attend the Dragon God Shrine’s exams and get a good rank.
“Since Ren has been busy lately, we will have to bother Yujia to tutor Zi,” Zhao Hongyu smiled gently and said to Xie Yujia.