Qin Jianglan’s smile froze on his face. That mood-killing nickname “Old Dog Qin” had emerged from her mouth again.

His smile had been strained to begin with. Maintaining Tianya caused excruciating pain to his primordial spirit, but hearing her speak – even when she called him Old Dog Qin – felt intimate to him, as if the pain would lessen.

Qin Jianglan thought for a moment and said, “In a few days, I’ll call Little Skull over again.” He wanted to verify his speculation, but calling Little Skull over required collecting sufficient array materials. Those materials were real, but he would need to buy them in cultivation towns, which meant inevitably dealing with those strange beings here-or rather, undead spirits.

Qin Jianglan’s subconscious instinct was that the less contact the better, which was why he had chosen this barren desert lacking even spiritual energy. But with scarce spiritual energy, his cultivation speed would also decrease. This created a vicious cycle. So, before his cultivation broke through and he gained the strength to transcend boundaries, he wanted to call Little Skull over to verify his theory.

When he mentioned coming over, Su Zhuyi’s smile also stiffened. She sat up, holding the jade disc and said, “Qin Jianglan, the things you brought last time – except for the jade hairpin you made with your own hands, which was intact – everything else was severely damaged, as if thousands or tens of thousands of years had passed. They were almost turning to ash.”

“The green ribbon was also fine, but why did you tie a green ribbon on your head?” Since Little Skull had wrapped it around the skull at the time, Su Zhuyi thought Qin Jianglan had used that green silk ribbon as a headband, tying it around his forehead.

Su Zhuyi didn’t dwell too much on this issue, but said with a serious expression, “I have a guess…”

She paused, “Could you be inside the Liuguang Mirror now?”

“If it’s true, would you be in danger?” Su Zhuyi didn’t even realize that her voice carried a trace of tension. “Also, the things were badly broken, as if it wasn’t just array compression, but had a sense of damage from the passage of time, like antiques from tens of thousands of years ago.” Qin Jianglan surely didn’t know this himself, otherwise, he wouldn’t have prepared so many gifts to bring over, even including meat bones for Yellow Dog. He hadn’t expected them to be ruined like that!

The more she spoke, the more alarmed she became.

Qin Jianglan’s brow furrowed slightly. His current thoughts coincided with Su Zhuyi’s, but her words still made his heart sink. However, he didn’t want to tell her about this tension and predicament.

“Are you worried about me?” He didn’t answer, but asked in return.

His primordial spirit hurt more and more, his head feeling like it was about to explode. His hand gripping the jade disc tightened, veins bulging on the back of his hand. But his voice was gentle and clear, traveling across vast distances, through that azure sky, crossing rivers of time to reach her ears, making it sound even more ethereal and soft.

“Tch.” Su Zhuyi scoffed, neither admitting nor denying it.

“I’m very happy.” He didn’t know what Su Zhuyi’s feelings toward him were. Discovering now that she seemed very worried about him was enough to make him happy-happy enough to ignore the pain. Though his head was covered in sweat, he was completely unaware. After a pause, he explained briefly, “If it’s inside the Liuguang Mirror, then things breaking would be quite understandable. It shouldn’t be anything serious. Next time, I’ll refine new things to bring over.”

He was indeed very happy, but more worried about his current predicament.

Could this True Spirit Realm be the True Spirit Realm from tens of thousands of years ago? Perhaps it had suddenly encountered something, time frozen and crystallized, all living beings losing their life force. Only when he entered and approached would time briefly flow in the area centered around him, allowing those people and things to move as if alive. This was also why the items he bought showed severe damage when taken out, while the things he made himself, because they were re-refined and gained new life through his hands, not those old objects from before, had time synchronized with his?

Everything was just speculation that he needed to verify one by one.

His thoughts turned briefly, then his attention focused on the jade disc again. He heard Su Zhuyi’s soft laughter, that voice carrying mockery, reminding him of her face as beautiful as peach blossoms, her enchanting figure, her seductive gaze, her cunning smile…

Such a bewitching demoness…

Indeed, she was.

“Mm, if you can’t get out yourself…”

Su Zhuyi grinned, “I can’t sense the Liuguang Mirror now, but I think once my cultivation improves, I’ll be able to feel it. Then I’ll communicate with the weapon spirit, confirm whether you’re inside, and fish you out.” Speaking of this, she giggled twice, her voice the same as before, though her smile was somewhat forced. “Old Dog Qin, you have times when you need me to save you. If I do rescue you, how do you plan to thank me?”

He thought: Would pledging myself to you be enough?

But these words remained unspoken. Qin Jianglan could no longer hold on and passed out.

Su Zhuyi waited for a while, but there was no more sound from the other side. She saw the jade disc gradually lose its luster and carefully put it away. For some reason, she felt somewhat worried. If he were inside the mirror, would his condition be similar to Luo Ying’s?

Body weakening, gradually being devoured by the mirror?

But Little Skull had spent time with Qin Jianglan and said little uncle was very powerful, becoming more powerful each day.

Su Zhuyi couldn’t figure it out for the moment. She was still determined to first heal her injuries well, then cultivate diligently, striving to break through to the Nascent Soul stage as soon as possible, communicate with the Liuguang Mirror, and fish Qin Jianglan out.

Su Zhuyi was inherently ruthless. In her previous life, she cultivated as if she didn’t care about her life. Now that she was serious, it was still quite shocking.

When she cultivated mental techniques, she would only stop when her divine sense was completely exhausted, her sea of consciousness dried up, her head was in excruciating pain, and she was completely drained. But stopping didn’t mean resting – instead, she would cultivate sword techniques. When no one was around, she would hold the Broken Sword and practice the Tianxuan Nine Swords. She could execute the sword moves, but her sword intent had never appeared – having the form but not the spirit. However, she didn’t mind. The most important thing now was improving her cultivation realm. Sword intent was secondary. She practiced swordsmanship for Luo Ying and Qinghe, but compared to Qin Jianglan, their positions were much lower.

She had intended to live for herself, freely and unrestrained, yet ended up working hard for others. But she no longer seemed to reject this, instead finding it quite motivating.

Three years passed in the blink of an eye. Su Zhuyi’s cultivation reached the fifth layer of the Golden Core stage. Such speed was beyond even what her previous life’s self could match.

Such speed, even searching the entire cultivation world, you couldn’t find a second person. Of course, except for monsters like Qinghe, who suddenly became the Longquan Sword.

Luo Ying, forming her Nascent Soul at four hundred years old, was already a miracle in the current cultivation world. In her previous life, Qin Jianglan formed his Nascent Soul at three hundred eighty years old, surpassing Luo Ying and becoming the world’s number one sword cultivator. Su Zhuyi felt that with her current development trend, the possibility of forming her Nascent Soul within a hundred years was very high. By then, she too could become famous throughout the world, right?

In these three years, Su Zhuyi was busy cultivating every day. Little Skull took over offering incense to the stone tablet. Knowing big sister was busy cultivating, he didn’t disturb her much and also worked hard at cultivation, wanting to become strong and grow flesh all over his body. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much effect. With a child’s nature, he didn’t cultivate for very long each day – about five hours for cultivation, spending the rest of the time picking flowers, chasing butterflies, sewing clothes, and playing with spirit beasts. His days were quite pleasant.

Little Skull’s relationship with Silky grew closer and closer. Learning that he wanted to grow chubby, Silky even helped him out.

She spun lots of silk thread to wrap around Little Skull’s bones, making it look like he had grown lots of flesh. Now, when Little Skull wore clothes, he was no longer a skeleton frame floating around inside the garments. He looked plump and fleshy, his body no different from an ordinary child’s.

Except his face wasn’t wrapped in silk – it was still a skull head.

This day, after Su Zhuyi exhausted her divine sense and came out of her room to practice swordsmanship, Little Skull came over holding a pile of clothes. “Big sister, why hasn’t little uncle called me over yet?”

For these three years, Su Zhuyi had kept the jade disc close to her body, but it had never lit up again. She had tried injecting spiritual energy and divine sense to communicate, but once the spiritual energy and divine sense entered the jade disc, it was like stones sinking into the sea with no effect whatsoever.

Hearing Little Skull’s inquiry now, her heart sank slightly.

“I’ve finished making the clothes.” Holding a stack of garments, “Is little uncle really that tall? Are the measurements suitable?”

Little Skull’s needlework was getting better and better. Wanting to give little uncle a gift he made himself, he happily and secretly observed Qinghe’s clothes, planning to sew according to what Qinghe wore. The fabric was obtained by big sister from Hidden Peak, but all the sewing was done by Little Skull himself. For two whole years, he secretly observed Qinghe countless times, even sneaking over to measure many times, finally completing it.

But little uncle kept not calling him, so he started embroidering flowers on the clothes. First, he embroidered flowers and grass, then little people. He embroidered big sister, himself, and finished embroidering Xiaoxiao. Who knew little uncle still didn’t call him, so the clothes ended up with Luo Ying added, and finally, Sect Master uncle and Qinghe were added too…

Probably Yi Lian and Golden Sparrow would be added next.

The men and women were all very simple designs, but the men were embroidered in azure, while the women were in red and white. Several men surrounded the big sister embroidered in red thread. Who knew what Qin Jianglan would think when he saw it?

He had been embroidering clothes every day until they got dirty. Now he had washed them clean with spiritual energy and hung them on trees to dry in the sun. They even smelled of flowers and sunshine. The gift was ready, but little uncle had never called for him.

“The measurements are suitable.” Su Zhuyi said. Having lived together with him for so many years, how could she not know what size clothes and pants he wore?

Having once measured everything with her hands, how could she not be clear?

“Soon,” she said. But unexpectedly, as soon as the words fell, Little Skull exclaimed, “Little uncle is calling me!”