Xiaoxiao’s cheeks grew slightly warm under Wei Jie’s unrestrained gaze, and she couldn’t help asking: “Why are you staring at me like that?”

Even caught red-handed, Wei Jie remained calm and unhurried, leisurely crouching on the cart’s edge, then deliberately leaning closer: “Master, your face… is dirty. Do you want me to wipe it for you?”

Hmm, this shameless deflection when caught peeking was indeed personally taught by Xiaoxiao—the unscrupulous disciple had learned her ways perfectly.

Xiaoxiao was rendered speechless by his retort and could only viciously stuff a sour fruit into his laughing mouth to see if she could shut him up!

Yu Ling’er stretched her neck from the back of the cart, watching this playful banter between master and disciple, thinking that Xiaoxiao was far too frivolous as a master!

She snorted disdainfully again, then took out the jade pendant from her bosom, pressed it tightly against her face, gazed at the floating clouds in the sky, and continued silently grieving.

This was the love token Young Master Qin had given her—she wondered when she could escape this indecent Talismonger Sect and go to Lingyun Pavilion to find him…

With the cart’s assistance, the group finally neared their destination.

Luoyi City was the territory of His Majesty’s most beloved brother, Lord Can, and being a major transportation hub connecting north and south, carriages and horses flowed endlessly whenever the city gates opened each day.

But when they approached a grove near the city gate, they discovered a pair of identical girls standing by the roadside, staring directly at Wei Jie.

Xiaoxiao recognized this pair of twins as the two daughters of the Wei family head, also Wei Jie’s cousins.

It turned out that the pair of girls had come to deliver a family letter to Wei Jie.

The Wei family’s old grandmother had been constantly worried about her grandson and had the two granddaughters bring some things to Wei Jie.

As for how they knew Wei Jie was here, that had some sophistication—supposedly the Wei family matriarch had divined that they would come to Luoyi City.

So the two girls had arrived early, just not expecting Wei Jie’s group to come so late.

Besides the family letter, the old grandmother had the two granddaughters bring Wei Jie a whip and a small box.

This whip was what Wei Jie had originally used to restrain the Corpse-eating Beast, but now the whip’s body seemed to have silver thread woven in, flashing with silver light under the sunlight.

On the whip’s long handle was embedded the Wei family’s demon-subduing talisman seal.

Originally an ordinary whip, with this talisman seal’s enhancement, it was no longer simple—this carried the blessing of the Wei family ancestors.

However, to possess such a demon-subduing talisman seal required being a Wei family member who had passed the trials.

Someone like Wei Jie, who had run away from home early and privately changed his surname, shouldn’t have qualified for such an honor.

But somehow, the Wei family’s leaders had changed their minds and sent such an enhanced whip to Wei Jie.

The older of the twins explained: “Grandmother said that since cousin could capture the Corpse-eating Beast, that’s equivalent to passing the Wei family’s demon-subduing trials, so naturally you can receive the talisman seal’s blessing.”

But Wei Jie didn’t want the Wei family’s recognition. He frowned tightly at the whip, reluctant to accept it.

Seeing this, Xiaoxiao couldn’t help pinching Wei Jie’s lower back, then smiled and whispered in his ear: “Be good, Jie’er. If you don’t accept it, your grandmother will surely suspect I, your master, am inciting you to be estranged from her. One coffin nail is enough—don’t make your grandmother angry and send another one…”

What a joke—if he didn’t accept it, wouldn’t the Wei family suspect her, the master with a demon pearl in her body?

The coffin nail that the Wei family grandmother had given Wei Jie to nail her coffin shut was still in the large wooden box with their luggage in the cart!

Besides, how could they refuse an old person’s heartfelt intention? If he didn’t like this whip, he simply didn’t have to use it later!

Wei Jie looked down at the winking and gesturing Xiaoxiao, thought silently for a while, and finally stopped being stubborn and accepted the whip.

As for the box, it seemed to contain a personal letter from the Wei family grandmother.

Xiaoxiao didn’t like prying into others’ family privacy, and seeing that Wei Jie hadn’t fallen out with his cousins, she tactfully walked away.

After completing the grandmother’s instructions, the twin girls mounted their horses and left together.

Wei Jie stood alone in the grove, reading the letter for a long time before emerging.

Xiaoxiao noticed his expression wasn’t very good and asked quietly: “What’s wrong?”

Wei Jie nonchalantly tucked away the letter, then said heavily: “Nothing… let’s enter the city.”

But when entering the city, everyone else went in while he still stood at the city gate in a daze.

Xiaoxiao looked back at him and fell silent for a moment. Though she didn’t understand what he was hesitating about, she knew this city was somewhat… too heavy for Wei Jie’s future.

She even absentmindedly thought that if he suddenly changed his mind and didn’t want to enter the city… then so be it…

But while she was lost in thought, Wei Jie had already walked to her side and naturally pushed her slender shoulders: “Come on, let’s enter the city!”

Once in the city, the little fox Yu Ling’er, who had barely left the mountains, couldn’t look at everything fast enough. She pulled Tang Youshu around, constantly looking east and west, wanting to buy whatever she saw.

But Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie both seemed somewhat listless, with no intention of shopping. Wei Jie found a teahouse and brought the injured Xiaoxiao to drink a few cups of tea.

When Yu Ling’er returned excitedly with an armload of copper pots, tangram puzzles, and other trinkets, Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie had also eaten a plate of pastries at the teahouse.

While drinking tea earlier, Xiaoxiao noticed Wei Jie had become unusually quiet, drinking tea while lost in thought.

She guessed his distraction was related to the letter from the Wei family, but when she probed, he snapped back to attention and casually discussed the pastries, deflecting the topic.

In Wei Jie’s previous trajectory, he hadn’t returned to the Wei family for meals, much less helped Uncle Wei Jingfeng capture the Corpse-eating Beast.

Back then, having stolen golden cores from the four great sects, his reputation was ruined, and he had no contact with the Wei family.

Though this time it was the grandmother’s instruction for the twins to deliver the letter, without Father Wei Jingfeng’s approval, those twin sisters probably wouldn’t dare come.

This showed that somehow, Wei Jie’s relationship with the Wei family head had inexplicably improved considerably.

Xiaoxiao didn’t know what the letter said to make him so mentally disturbed, but it seemed Wei Jie didn’t intend to tell her.

Just then, the two shoppers returned. As soon as Tang Youshu entered with large and small packages, Wei Jie signaled his disciple to settle the tea bill.

Tang Youshu rummaged through his cloth pouch and told his master with a bitter face: “This disciple is incompetent—all the silver was spent by that Yu Ling’er…”

Before joining the Talismonger Sect, Tang Youshu had been quite well-off financially, but after entering the sect, he began supporting the entire household.

Buying the cart had already cost most of their travel money, and now, encountering a fox woman who wanted everything without having enough, Tang Youshu had spent his last copper coin.

Wei Jie laughed coldly: “You listened to her—have you switched allegiance to the fox clan?”

Tang Youshu said helplessly, “If I didn’t buy it, she’d just take it and leave, causing people to chase and scold us. I had no choice!”

Hearing Tang Youshu’s explanation, Xiaoxiao immediately came to his defense: “How can you blame Young Master Tang? He’s the most kind-hearted person who won’t refuse others… Besides, why should his hard-earned silver be spent by you? It’s good we have no money—we can earn it ourselves.”

Wei Jie raised an eyebrow: “How do we earn it?”

Xiaoxiao had thought this through before entering the city. She didn’t want to keep spending Master’s money, so she pointed to a space at the street corner: “Our Talismonger Sect is full of talent—what’s difficult about street performances?”

So to pay the tea bill, three generations of the Talismonger Sect plus one fox woman prepared to set up street performances on Luoyi’s bustling street.

The teahouse owner, fearing these people would dine and dash, specifically sent a waiter to watch them at the street corner.

Wei Jie seemed to find it embarrassing and refused to come forward. First, he went to a nearby money exchange and came back, then sat grandly with arms crossed on a bench dragged from the teahouse, watching his master’s street performance along with the crowd.

Xiaoxiao banged a bronze gong borrowed from a nearby monkey performer, shouting: “Ancestral magic tricks! Making people vanish! Everyone, come watch!”

Tang Youshu followed his grandmaster’s instructions, holding a rice bowl and waiting to collect copper coins.

Cui Xiaoxiao pulled Yu Ling’er to stand in the performance area. Two beautiful young women were more effective than the bronze gong, quickly attracting a large crowd of men, women, and children.

Yu Ling’er was not only afraid of the dark but also got dizzy around people. Seeing so many people watching her, she felt timid, and her fox tail almost dropped to the ground.

Xiaoxiao was quick-eyed and quick-handed, pinching hard at her waist to make the fox woman hold her breath.

She smiled and whispered in Yu Ling’er’s ear: “Young Master Tang’s silver was all spent by you. Whether we eat fish and meat tonight or stewed fox depends entirely on your performance! Remember what I told you—don’t mess this up!”

Yu Ling’er, bound by the poisonous oath to her mother, couldn’t escape Cui Xiaoxiao’s clutches and could only nod with her palm-sized face drooping pitifully.

Next, Xiaoxiao brought down the large luggage box from the cart.

Yu Ling’er danced a fancy fox dance with a bitter face, swaying her waist, then jumped into the box.

Then Xiaoxiao closed the lid, solemnly recited incantations, and knocked three times on the wooden box.

When she opened the box again, everyone saw that the charming woman had disappeared, replaced by a snow-white fox poking its fluffy head out of the box. The fox’s eyes were wet, looking quite adorable, causing a group of children to squeal excitedly.

When Xiaoxiao closed the box and knocked three times again, opening it revealed the fox was gone, and the girl sat red-eyed in the box.

People immediately applauded and cheered, with several ruffians heckling and expressing that they wanted to see the girl twist her hips and dance again.

Seeing the crowd’s enthusiastic response, Xiaoxiao quickly signaled Tang Youshu to collect money with his bowl.

Unfortunately, Luoyi’s citizens were all shrewd—they crowded three layers deep to watch the performance, but when it came time to pay, the crowd scattered like birds and beasts, with hardly anyone giving money.

Cui Xiaoxiao looked at the pitiful few copper coins in the bowl, momentarily speechless.

Just then, Wei Jie said lazily: “Seems your street performance idea isn’t very reliable. In my opinion, we should ask which nearby villages lack rain, then your two water-summoning talismans could earn bags of incense money.”

Seeing him not contributing effort yet making sarcastic remarks, Xiaoxiao smiled without warmth: “Great idea! But distant water can’t quench immediate thirst. Why don’t you figure out this tea money?”

Wei Jie nodded, pulled out a substantial silver ingot from his bosom, turned and tossed it to the teahouse waiter who had been following him closely, even generously saying not to bother with change—the rest was a tip.

After the shop assistant bowed and thanked him, Xiaoxiao walked over and asked in amazement: “Did you pickpocket someone? Where did you get the silver?”

Wei Jie chuckled: “I already had silver—why would I need to steal?”

It turned out that besides the letter, the brocade box brought by the two cousins also contained over a dozen banknotes from the Wei family grandmother.

The Wei family guarded the underworld, and while the boundary between yin and yang was full of silver mines that no one else could approach, the Wei family could be said to be incredibly wealthy.

Earlier, Wei Jie had gone to the nearby money exchange to cash a bank note, and besides the small silver ingot, he also exchanged three gold bars for convenient spending.

Hearing his explanation, Xiaoxiao realized her disciple was incredibly wealthy!

She angrily pursed her lips: “Since you have money, why didn’t you say so earlier? You’ve been spending your disciple’s money all along, and now that you have money, you don’t help him—don’t you feel guilty?”

Wei Jie blinked his light purple eyes, smiling handsomely: “You never asked me! Besides, I thought if you spent your disciple’s money, you’d feel guilty, so I didn’t take it out…”

Hmm… very logical. Xiaoxiao rarely lost in verbal sparring but was once again left speechless by Wei Jie’s retort.

Being cursed with the gold-consuming curse, she indeed lacked confidence when it came to spending money.

After all, she was the one eating off both her grand-disciple and disciple—a true freeloader.

So Xiaoxiao immediately accepted the lesson and shut up, respectfully cupping her hands to Wei Jie: “Fine, I failed to recognize the God of Wealth. I’ll buy you incense later and set up a shrine for you!”

Wei Jie was again amused by Xiaoxiao’s adaptability. The God of Wealth waved his hand grandly and, pockets full of gold and silver, took the entire Talismonger Sect to experience the city’s prosperity.

In this prosperous capital, having money was always good.

At least the group didn’t have to sleep outdoors at night, instead booking three guest rooms at the city’s largest inn.

Since being chained to Wei Jie, Xiaoxiao hadn’t had a proper bath.

Later, though they separated, her injured arm couldn’t get wet.

Now at the inn, because Wei Jie was generous with money, the shop assistant was lavish with hot water.

When the large wooden tub was filled with warm water, Xiaoxiao suspended her injured arm outside the tub and could finally enjoy a comfortable bath.

Yu Ling’er, following her mother’s instructions to serve as Xiaoxiao’s attendant, used a loofah to scrub Xiaoxiao’s neck and back.

But Yu Ling’er was curious about why Wei Jie had his separate room, finding it strange. He was ambiguously involved with Cui Xiaoxiao—wasn’t sleeping in separate rooms, trying to cover up?

The little fox was simple-minded and asked whatever came to mind, making Xiaoxiao want to wash her ears: “Bah! What nonsense! Wei Jie and I are perfectly innocent—where have we had any romantic involvement?”

When Xiaoxiao pressed further, she finally understood that Qin Lingxiao had poured a huge basin of filthy water on her reputation.

She angrily splashed water at the little fox: “You believe everything Qin Lingxiao says? I was having a poison attack then, and Wei Jie was afraid I’d hurt myself, so he held me down tightly. Our master-disciple relationship is perfectly pure!”

Yu Ling’er was impressed by Xiaoxiao’s sect leader aura, wiping the water droplets from her face and shrinking her neck slightly, still reluctantly defending her benefactor: “You two looked that way—anyone would misunderstand. How can you blame Young Master Qin?”

Xiaoxiao knew Yu Ling’er’s heart was full of her benefactor—if she spoke ill of Qin Lingxiao behind his back, it would probably backfire.

Thinking of Qin Lingxiao’s cold demeanor when beautiful female cultivators followed him, but he showed them no favor, the little fox’s infatuation would probably come to nothing.

But Xiaoxiao was more curious about the previous trajectory, where this delicate fox clan princess had followed Wei Jie down the mountain.

Looking at how Wei Jie now constantly threatened Yu Ling’er about skinning her alive, Xiaoxiao really couldn’t imagine how Yu Ling’er would lovingly warm his bed and serve him humbly.

At night, Tang Youshu and Wei Jie each had their guest rooms, while Cui Xiaoxiao and Yu Ling’er shared one.

It wasn’t that Wei Jie was stingy and wouldn’t give the fox woman her room, but Yu Ling’er had experienced worldly hardships for the first time—being forced to perform on the street during the day had finally taught her the truth that even a penny can defeat a hero.

Afraid Xiaoxiao would force her to perform again, Yu Ling’er now didn’t dare spend a single coin of these people’s money and refused to let Wei Jie get her another room.

Xiaoxiao, having been forced to be chained to Wei Jie for so long, especially treasured the beautiful time of sleeping alone and tactfully told Ling’er she wasn’t used to sharing a bed.

Yu Ling’er hugged a chair cushion and said very understandingly: “I don’t need to sleep on the bed.”

After speaking, she placed the chair cushion in the corner opposite the bed, then transformed into fox form, curled into a white ball, and prepared to sleep on the cushion.

That pitiful appearance looked just like an unwanted little creature.

Xiaoxiao felt somewhat sorry for her and said: “How about… You sleep on the bed with me after all…”

Yu Ling’er shook her head with dignity, then buried her pointed fox snout in her fluffy big tail, closed her eyes, and fell asleep defenseless within moments.

Xiaoxiao admired the fox woman’s excellent sleep quality.

This truly was a fox clan princess raised with everyone’s adoration—where was there even half a bit of wariness? She was as naive as a child!

But she didn’t have the fox woman’s carefree nature. In a new place, she always tossed and turned for a long time before barely falling asleep.

Since she couldn’t sleep, she simply got up and began meditating.

Since drinking the spiritual spring, her dantian was full, automatically condensing into a mass. But to refine this mass of qi into a core required high concentration and a strong foundation-building base.

Xiaoxiao initially didn’t grasp the essentials, but during leisure time, Wei Jie had carefully explained his insights and understanding.

Hearing such wisdom was better than reading ten years of books.

Enlightened by her disciple’s guidance, Master Xiaoxiao immediately grasped the knack of condensing qi into cores, and her meditation progress these past days could be called miraculous.

But it was precisely because of Wei Jie’s words that Xiaoxiao suspected what stage his cultivation had reached.

After all, someone with such extraordinary comprehension—a heaven-sent genius—couldn’t be measured by ordinary standards.

When her qi condensed during practice, the ancient treasure sword hanging at the bedhead also hummed in response with her breathing, seemingly resonating with its master and emitting a faint glow.

The sword qi was too strong, making demons and monsters give way.

Even the little fox in her dreams was disturbed by the sword light and felt uncomfortable.

Finally, the little fox drowsily got up, dragged her cushion under the bed in one motion, and continued sleeping soundly after avoiding the sword light.

Xiaoxiao also discovered that her breath could resonate with this treasure sword. This feeling was extremely similar to the sword sect’s principle of unity between person and sword.

Though she couldn’t condense qi into swords like the sword sects, wasn’t this divine sword forged by heavenly punishment more useful than those qi swords?

Just at the critical moment of concentrating on qi cultivation, melodious string and woodwind music drifted from the street not far from the inn.

When it should have been deep in the night’s quiet, in a prosperous city like Luoyi, the singing and dancing revelry was just beginning.

Xiaoxiao’s room faced the street. Though she was meditating quietly, the music disturbed her ears and prevented calm concentration.

Finally, Xiaoxiao simply got up, opened her door, and looked out at the street through the corridor window.

It turned out that not far from the inn stood a tall wine house, and below the wine house, an elaborately decorated carriage was slowly approaching.

When it reached the wine house with upturned flying eaves, four or five beautifully dressed servant girls alighted from the carriage, followed by a woman wearing a long gauze veil hat and an embroidered flowing silk dress, who slowly descended with the servant girls’ support.

From afar, Xiaoxiao saw that the woman’s long train was like a phoenix’s tail, sweeping the ground magnificently!

Xiaoxiao had originally just glanced casually, but seeing the woman sway her waist gracefully and walk elegantly, she was deeply attracted by the long-dressed woman’s silhouette.

Though she couldn’t see her face, just her enchanting posture while walking was so captivating and graceful—what kind of absolute beauty could support such splendor?

The men surrounding the carriage were also attracted by the woman, crowding three layers deep, each showing infatuated expressions. Some drunkards even wailed and cried about their lovesickness in unclear voices.

But soon these people were driven away by armed guards who emerged from the wine house. The lead guard sternly shouted at the drunkards: “Lord Can is drinking here—idle people must not approach!”

The gorgeously dressed woman was then escorted into the wine house like stars surrounding the moon…

Soon, the elegant music in the wine house seemed to change repertoire, and melodious singing drifted out from within.

By the time the song reached the inn, the sound wasn’t loud—just some lingering echoes.

But since condensing qi in her dantian, Xiaoxiao’s hearing had also improved beyond normal people. The faint singing reached her ears with crystal clarity, word by word.

After hearing just two lines, Xiaoxiao felt her mind floating, unable to control herself, wanting only to quickly enter the wine house to listen more closely.

In her momentary distraction, she leaped up, planning to jump directly from the window.

But just as she left the windowsill, her wrist was firmly grasped, and a force pulled her back.

Xiaoxiao’s injured arm hurt, and she became much more alert.

Looking up, she saw that the one who had pulled her back was Wei Jie, who should have been sleeping.