After hearing he came from a well-off family yet she was still so decisive about parting ways with him, Jun Shu couldn’t help but feel his favorable impression of Qin Wanwan multiply.

“Miss, there’s no need to be so polite.” Jun Shu smiled. In the past, this smile would have been refined and elegant, but now it appeared especially kind. He looked at Qin Wanwan gently: “Miss, you saved me—this kindness is as heavy as a mountain. Nameless is not an ungrateful person. Thanks are deserved.”

“So who are your enemies?”

Jian Xingzhi saw Jun Shu’s eyes glued to Qin Wanwan and quickly moved a rock to sit between the two of them, blocking Jun Shu’s gaze. He propped up his chin and looked at Jun Shu: “This friend, I observe your meridians throughout your body—you should have had cultivation before. Your current appearance is like this, I’m afraid it’s because someone forcibly absorbed your cultivation, right?”

Hearing this, Jun Shu quickly denied: “No, I made a mistake in my own cultivation and had no choice but to self-disperse all my cultivation.”

If Jian Xingzhi could see he once had cultivation, deducing his past cultivation level wouldn’t be difficult. If Jian Xingzhi and the others knew his enemy was at the Tribulation Crossing stage, they probably wouldn’t shelter him.

Jun Shu calculated in his mind and coughed lightly: “I was also taken advantage of by these petty scoundrels during my cultivation process. If not for this, how could those trash not even at Golden Core hurt me?”

“I see.” Jian Xingzhi nodded. “Then what sect or faction do you belong to, friend?”

“I’m the legitimate son of a wealthy merchant from Joyful City territory.” Jun Shu, being interrogated by Jian Xingzhi, began fabricating a story. “If it’s convenient, why don’t you all give me a message bird so I can send word? When my family comes to get me, I’ll leave immediately and won’t drag you all down. Moreover, though my family are just merchants, we have considerable wealth…”

“Stop the nonsense.” Cuilu raised her hand and tossed a message bird to Jun Shu. “Have your family hurry up and come get you to scram.”

Jun Shu heard the impatience in Cuilu’s tone. He endured it and caught the message bird, bowing like an ordinary mortal: “Thank you, Nujun.”

“This friend is severely injured. It’s best to rest early.”

Xie Gutang saw that Cuilu had an issue with Jun Shu and quickly spoke to ease the situation. Cuilu snorted coldly. Qin Wanwan gave Nanfeng a look. Nanfeng put down the chicken wings and quickly stood up: “Old grandfather, I’ll take you over.”

Old grandfather!

Hearing this term, Jun Shu felt his blood boiling. He couldn’t help but harbor more resentment toward Shen Zhiming, who had absorbed his spiritual energy.

He suppressed his emotions and followed Nanfeng into the tent next door.

After Jun Shu left, everyone saw there was no more excitement to watch and scattered back to their respective tents to rest.

Qin Wanwan dragged her exhausted body into her tent and had just fallen onto the bed when she felt someone sitting cross-legged beside her. She shrank to the side in fright before seeing clearly that it was Jian Xingzhi sitting there.

“Master?”

Qin Wanwan was confused: “What are you sitting here for?”

“To conspire with you on important matters.”

Jian Xingzhi spoke seriously. Qin Wanwan was startled by the words “important matters” and immediately sat up straight: “Master, please speak?”

“Tonight, this one,” Jian Xingzhi deliberated, “when he recovers his cultivation, he’ll probably look…”

“No need.”

Qin Wanwan immediately raised her hand, cutting off Jian Xingzhi’s words: “In my heart, his image is already set.”

Their first meeting was of a centenarian old man. Qin Wanwan felt she truly had difficulty falling in love with this man.

“Is there really no chance at all?” Jian Xingzhi wanted to fight for it a bit more. Qin Wanwan quickly shook her head.

She thought about it: “Not only is there no chance on my end, but taking a step back, even if there were no problem on my side, on his side, I’m afraid there’s no chance either.”

“How so?”

“Think about it—who are the enemies he spoke of today that he wants to grind into dust?”

Qin Wanwan reminded him. Jian Xingzhi immediately reacted. Qin Wanwan gave him an analogy: “Let me give you an example. Right now, the relationship between us and Nameless is like… you’re Jian Xingzhi, I’m Nujun of Solitary Mountain, and we’re both here.”

Hearing this, Jian Xingzhi’s eyes widened as a suffocating feeling rushed over him. Qin Wanwan spoke seriously: “Suppose we don’t know each other’s identities and spend time together for a while. Do you think Nujun of Solitary Mountain could fall in love with you, or you could fall in love with Nujun of Solitary Mountain?”

“Absolutely impossible!”

“Exactly.” Qin Wanwan nodded. “Being able to be friends would already be magnanimous. To also fall in love—how easy would that be?”

This analogy gave Jian Xingzhi a very immersive feeling. He nodded: “What you say is extremely correct. It seems we must give up on this route. Then let’s just escort him back. At least there are still 500 points.”

“We can only watch for now. But Master,” Qin Wanwan remembered, “did he really self-disperse his cultivation?”

“Nonsense,” Jian Xingzhi scoffed. “Is there anyone who self-disperses to become like this? Unheard of.”

“Then what was his previous cultivation level?”

“Nascent Soul.”

“Then what kind of person could absorb a Nascent Soul cultivator this cleanly?”

Qin Wanwan frowned. Jian Xingzhi pondered: “Two situations. One is the other party caught him off guard—any kind of person is possible in that case. The other is that their cultivation far exceeds his. To be able to absorb a Nascent Soul cultivator who’s resisting with all their might, one would need at least Divine Transformation or above.”

“Then escorting him…”

Qin Wanwan hesitated, feeling somewhat worried. But thinking about how this was no longer just about completing tasks, that this world was closely related to her mother, and these system tasks seemed to be some kind of guidance, she didn’t dare refuse.

Seeing her worry, Jian Xingzhi patted her shoulder: “Don’t worry. Even if it’s Tribulation Crossing, Master can fight them.”

“Master,” Qin Wanwan smiled bitterly, “with that consciousness sea of yours, you’d better not use your divine sense anymore. Just cultivate properly.”

“Are you looking down on me?”

Jian Xingzhi looked shocked: “Let me tell you, back when I was in the Immortal Realm…”

Before he finished speaking, footsteps came from outside. Jian Xingzhi instinctively shut his mouth and lay down, holding his breath, though it wasn’t clear what he was hiding from.

“Wanwan.”

Xie Gutang’s voice came from outside. Qin Wanwan and Jian Xingzhi exchanged a glance. Jian Xingzhi gestured with his chin toward the outside. Qin Wanwan quickly stood up and left the tent: “Elder Brother Xie?”

As she spoke, she saw Xie Gutang standing at the entrance, holding a food box.

“You didn’t eat much tonight and were busy the whole time.” As Xie Gutang spoke, he handed her the food box. “I roasted some wild rabbit and made porridge. Eat something before you sleep.”

Qin Wanwan hadn’t expected Xie Gutang to come bring her food. She was stunned for a moment before reacting and hurriedly accepting the porridge Xie Gutang handed over while thanking him: “Elder Brother Xie, you’ve gone to such trouble. Thank you.”

“You’ve always liked to eat. Keeping some for you is only right. I gave some to Nanfeng too.”

“What about Master…”

“I just went to Senior’s place.” Xie Gutang frowned. “He wasn’t in his tent. Perhaps he went to practice.”

“Mm,” Qin Wanwan nodded. “You don’t need to worry about him. Go rest quickly. He doesn’t like eating these things.”

“I see.”

Xie Gutang smiled: “Then I’ll go rest first.”

With that, Xie Gutang surprisingly didn’t ask anything and directly took his leave. Qin Wanwan watched him leave, then looked down at the food box and couldn’t help calling out to him: “Elder Brother Xie.”

Hearing this, Xie Gutang stopped and turned back to look at her: “What is it?”

“You…” Qin Wanwan hesitated. “Don’t you have anything you want to say?”

“Mm?”

Hearing this, Xie Gutang seemed puzzled. He thought about it and smiled, earnestly praising: “The dance tonight was well done.”

Xie Gutang didn’t smile often. He was usually indifferent. This sudden smile was extremely sincere.

Qin Wanwan suddenly became somewhat constrained and didn’t quite dare look at Xie Gutang, stammering: “I… I didn’t mean that. It’s just that after doing so much tonight, you don’t even ask what we were doing…”

“Was it something bad?”

Xie Gutang understood what she wanted to ask and directly interrupted her. Hearing this, Qin Wanwan quickly shook her head: “No, we wouldn’t do bad things.”

“Then why would I need to ask?”

Xie Gutang asked back. His gentle eyes looked at Qin Wanwan: “I was willing to come down the mountain to escort you two because I trust your character. Since we’re friends, if you find it inconvenient to say more, I also won’t ask more. If you need help, I’ll just help.”

“But I…” Hearing Xie Gutang’s words, Qin Wanwan felt somewhat guilty. “I can’t help you with anything. It seems like I’m always having you help me…”

“You have helped.”

Xie Gutang spoke. Qin Wanwan didn’t understand. Xie Gutang looked at her seriously: “Inside the secret realm, Miss disregarded her own prospects to help with all your strength. Gutang is grateful in his heart.”

“Ah,” Qin Wanwan remembered, quite embarrassed. “That was just a small matter.”

“I cultivate the Inquiry Heart Sword.” Xie Gutang’s face also carried some awkwardness. “In the past, I had no friends. This is the first time associating with someone. If there’s anything offensive…”

“There’s nothing offensive.” Qin Wanwan waved her hand. “Daojun Xie is very good, extremely good.”

Xie Gutang was stunned. After a moment, he smiled and turned to look at the bright moon: “It’s already late. The food should be eaten while hot. I’ll go rest first.”

With that, Xie Gutang bowed in farewell. Qin Wanwan stood at the entrance watching him walk away until Jian Xingzhi lifted the curtain and poked his head out to call her: “Still watching? Are you going to eat or not?”

Qin Wanwan came back to her senses, nodded, and brought the food box into the tent. Jian Xingzhi quickly beckoned to her: “Hurry and open the box. Let’s split it. I want to eat too.”

With that, Jian Xingzhi took the food box himself, opened it, and began sharing the food with Qin Wanwan.

As he ate, he seemed to mention casually to Qin Wanwan: “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Today when you danced, Xie Gutang’s favorability increased by one point. I gained ten points.”

“Really… really?”

Qin Wanwan was surprised. Jian Xingzhi glanced at her sideways: “Have a bit more confidence in yourself. That Nameless today—with just one look at you, his favorability reached forty.”

“That high?”

Qin Wanwan was shocked. Jian Xingzhi nodded while gnawing on a rabbit leg: “This face of yours is very good-looking, and your temperament is also good. Everyone likes you.”

Qin Wanwan smiled at the compliment. Jian Xingzhi lowered his head to get a bowl and poured half a bowl of porridge, then urged Qin Wanwan: “You should confirm someone you like early on and see who can be developed. I think Xie Gutang is quite good—upright character, and he’s also a sword cultivator. We sword cultivators may not guarantee other things, but we’re definitely strong enough. His sword intent is pure. Future ascension is promising.”

“Oh.” Qin Wanwan nodded carefully. “Master, you think Xie Gutang is good?”

Jian Xingzhi’s motion of holding the bowl paused. He responded sullenly: “Mm, but the most important thing is still what you like. Finding someone you like yourself is more important than anything.”

After speaking, Jian Xingzhi put down the bowl: “Forget it. Your tent is too small. It’s stuffy. I’m going out to meditate.”

With that, Jian Xingzhi flashed out of the tent. But he didn’t go far either—he just sat at the entrance of Qin Wanwan’s tent like a door guardian.

With Jian Xingzhi keeping watch, Qin Wanwan felt extremely secure. She sat cross-legged in the tent and thought about it, feeling that what Jian Xingzhi said was also right. She needed to figure things out early, confirm a target, quickly obtain all the points from the romance route, and let Jian Xingzhi quickly gain power to help.

Qin Wanwan thought about it and recalled a cultivation method from Solitary Mountain.

This cultivation method was originally used to train one’s state of mind. One could see their own distracting thoughts in their mental state, such as…

The person they liked.

This cultivation method had been useless to her in the past. Her mind had always been empty and blank. But now it was just right to try it out.

Qin Wanwan acted as soon as she thought of it. She sat cross-legged and began circulating the cultivation method.

She closed her eyes, entered her consciousness sea, and after activating the circulation of the cultivation method, she saw that the surroundings seemed the same as before—still white fog everywhere, empty as if there was nothing.

She kept thinking about “the person I like” and began searching everywhere in the fog. She didn’t know how long she walked. Vaguely, she finally saw a shadow.

Seeing that shadow, Qin Wanwan was overjoyed and quickly chased after it.

That shadow was unclear in the thick fog. Vaguely, she could only make out a back figure—or perhaps it wasn’t a back figure. The person’s form was slender, carrying a long sword in hand, wide sleeves rolling as wind made them fly.

Qin Wanwan ran quickly toward that figure. The surrounding mist grew thicker and thicker. She chased with all her might. Just as she was getting close, she heard a light call: “Beicheng.”

Qin Wanwan’s eyes snapped open to see Jian Xingzhi frowning: “What are you doing? What cultivation method is this you’re circulating? Your consciousness sea is shaking like this—don’t you feel it?”

“Oh,” Qin Wanwan hadn’t yet recovered from the figure in her consciousness sea. She desperately recalled the details, somewhat dazed as she reassured Jian Xingzhi: “I’m fine.”

“Good that you’re fine.” Jian Xingzhi nodded. Then he became a bit happy: “I’ll tell you some good news.”

“Mm?” Qin Wanwan was curious.

Jian Xingzhi spoke mysteriously: “Just now the system went crazy and suddenly gave me 100 points.”

“There’s actually such a good thing?” Qin Wanwan was shocked. Jian Xingzhi nodded.

“I just asked it, and it won’t talk to me at all. I think it might have malfunctioned.”

Jian Xingzhi speculated seriously. Qin Wanwan quickly told him: “Then don’t say anything more about it. What if the system suddenly comes online and takes the points back?”

Jian Xingzhi was frightened by Qin Wanwan’s speculation and nodded, no longer mentioning this matter: “Let’s go. We should hurry toward Desolate City. This Nameless is probably a troublemaker. It’s not good to linger too long on the road.”

Qin Wanwan acknowledged. Jian Xingzhi quickly helped her wash her face and rinse her mouth. After obtaining the basic daily points, he brought Qin Wanwan out.

Seeing that Jian Xingzhi had completely stopped mentioning these 100 points, 666 breathed a sigh of relief and finally relaxed.

Good thing Jian Xingzhi stopped asking. Otherwise, it didn’t even know how to explain to Jian Xingzhi why exactly these 100 points were given to him.

—

**Author’s Note:**

[Mini Theater]

Jian Xingzhi: “So what exactly are these 100 points for?”

666: “Gifts from fate always come with a price tag.”

Jian Xingzhi: “Speak human language.”

666: “Have you been feeling chest tightness, shortness of breath, and irritability lately?”

Jian Xingzhi: “A bit.”

666: “Medical expenses. Go see a doctor.”

Jian Xingzhi: “So completing tasks can even reimburse medical expenses? Your system has pretty good benefits.”

666: “You… you just be happy.”