These defensive magical artifacts came in various forms—some crafted as jade hairpins, bracelets, and earrings, which were acceptable as she could wear them. But armor? And in XXXL size? How could she possibly wear that?

Taking the armor was one thing, but that circular shield with patterns resembling a turtle shell? Sima Jiao must be trying to transform her into a mobile fortress.

Liao Tingyan watched as Sima Jiao picked up a heavy pair of nose rings, weighing them with apparent satisfaction. Heartbroken by his prematurely deceased aesthetic sense, she stepped forward and grabbed his hand. “Let’s forget about these nose rings. If I had to use them, my beautiful nose would probably fall off.”

Sima Jiao: “Hmm? These are nose rings?”

Liao Tingyan: “Yes, yes, these nose rings are probably meant for oxen. They’re too exaggerated. Let’s not take them, okay?”

Sima Jiao: “I think they’ll work.”

Liao Tingyan: …Ancestor! I cannot!

He moved past Liao Tingyan and picked up a shoulder plate—an enormous piece covered with crystalline spikes, probably designed for a hulking warrior with eighteen abdominal muscles. Judging by his expression, he seemed to like it and took the shoulder plate as well.

Liao Tingyan hadn’t expected his inner preferences to be so wild; she couldn’t control her facial expression. Walking ahead, Sima Jiao seemed to see her expression and displayed an amused smile.

Still unwilling to give up, Liao Tingyan made one more attempt, tugging at Sima Jiao’s robe: “Are all these for me to use?”

Sima Jiao replied languidly: “Of course, they’re all for you to use.”

Liao Tingyan had no choice but to deploy her coquettish skills: “But I don’t like them! Can we just forget about it?”

Sima Jiao’s lips curled upward. He heard Liao Tingyan cursing him in her mind—how fierce. He picked up a beautiful Ying Luo necklace and showed it to Liao Tingyan, asking: “Do you like this one?”

The Ying Luo necklace featured jade swallows and auspicious clouds with intricate filigree patterns, inlaid with red gemstones, and adorned with golden tassels. The necklace band itself had delicate openwork patterns, extraordinarily exquisite.

Liao Tingyan: “I love it! See how beautiful this one is!” The ancestor did have good taste when he was being normal.

Sima Jiao tossed the Ying Luo necklace aside with a clang. “Unfortunately, it’s not a defensive magical artifact, so we don’t need it.”

Damn it.

What was wrong with this man? Did he truly have feelings for her? What kind of plastic love was this?

Shi Yuxiang was the boss of her own Wind Flower City, with no one to control her. She was surrounded by attendants of low cultivation but sufficient aesthetic appeal—pretty boys. Since arriving here, Liao Tingyan enjoyed even more freedom than she had at the academy. After all, she no longer had classes, giving her a leisurely vacation feeling.

Shi Yuxiang’s residence was better than the academy, and even comparable to the White Deer Cliff Palace, showing just how exceptionally well-treated the Shi family members were. Since coming to this world, Liao Tingyan had seen so many magnificent palaces and treasures that she was beginning to view wealth as irrelevant.

Now she slept with the most irritable ancestor, lived in the most gorgeous rooms… and wore the ugliest defensive magical artifacts.

After returning, Liao Tingyan refused to put those items on her body. She flopped straight onto the soft bed, burying herself in the flower-patterned cloud quilt, remaining motionless in silent protest.

Sima Jiao ignored her, barely glancing her way, and took those items elsewhere. Liao Tingyan heard no movement from him, so she got up to look around but couldn’t find him.

Liao Tingyan thought: The ancestor must be up to something.

She felt that Sima Jiao had merely been teasing her earlier. Despite being hundreds of years old, he sometimes acted childishly as a kid. Calling him an elementary school chicken wasn’t wrong—her elementary school-aged nephew was more mature than him. Her nephew would give flowers to the little girl he liked and even brought her milk in the mornings.

Liao Tingyan pouted and found a comfortable terrace to sit on, then worriedly took out a bottle of medicinal pills and ate a couple. She had taken these from the treasure vault, initially attracted by the pretty bottle. When she picked it up to look, Sima Jiao glanced at it and remarked that these pills tasted decent and calmed the mind, so she brought them back.

For some reason, since waking from her fever, she had felt restless, unable to concentrate on anything. Treating these pills like cooling candies, she took two and indeed felt her mind clear.

Liao Tingyan thought: I even feel like chanting sutras and worshipping Buddha.

Sima Jiao found a quiet room to refine artifacts. Those defensive magical items were casually piled on one side as he dismantled them one by one, examining and studying them before melting them down to reform them into various beads and decorative elements.

Finally, he took out the Ying Luo necklace he had previously tossed aside in front of Liao Tingyan and merged those beads with this magical item.

…

Liao Tingyan awoke from her tranquil state to find herself pushed to one side. Sima Jiao had brazenly occupied her spacious throne, letting her lie on top of him.

She sat up and noticed an added weight on her chest. Looking down, she saw the Yingluo necklace.

The Ying Luo necklace was originally beautiful, but with the addition of small round beads and floral decorations, it became even more stunning. Liao Tingyan couldn’t bear to part with it, thinking to herself that the ancestor had pretended to throw it away earlier but had ultimately retrieved it. Upon closer inspection, she noticed something different.

Originally, the Ying Luo necklace functioned as a storage item, somewhat redundant for a Divine Transformation realm cultivator who already possessed spatial abilities. But now, it seemed to have become a defensive magical artifact with additional storage functionality.

She spent some time exploring its use, inwardly marveling at the transformation. She wondered what kind of extraordinary being Sima Jiao was—how did he also know artifact refinement?

Sima Jiao opened his eyes to look at her. Liao Tingyan held up the Ying Luo necklace. “You refined this yourself?”

Sima Jiao snorted in affirmation.

Liao Tingyan asked curiously: “Where did you learn artifact refinement?” Her previous lessons hadn’t been wasted; the teacher had covered the basics comprehensively. Artifact refinement was reportedly extremely difficult. Compared to other miscellaneous cultivation practices, it was like mathematics or physics in modern student curricula—incomprehensible without natural talent.

At least she couldn’t do it. After briefly looking at an introductory jade slip on artifact refinement, she promptly and sensibly gave up.

Where had this ancestor, previously confined to Three Saints Mountain, learned such skills?

Sima Jiao asked her in return: “Why would something so simple need to be learned?”

It truly was simple for him. Some books and techniques had been passed down at Three Saints Mountain. Though he hadn’t wanted to learn, the days were incredibly long and boring, so he had read some and understood with minimal contemplation. Moreover, he had an advantage over ordinary cultivators because he possessed spiritual fire.

Liao Tingyan thought: Blinded by this bastard’s dazzling aura of superiority.

“So I don’t need to wear those shoulder plates and armor anymore?” Liao Tingyan cradled the beautiful necklace the ancestor had given her, feeling she had dodged a disaster.

Sima Jiao: “A moment’s thought would tell you that I would never truly make you wear such things.”

Hmm… with Sima Jiao’s mysterious and unpredictable ways, that wasn’t necessarily true.

Liao Tingyan smiled at him: “Of course you wouldn’t! You’re the best.”

Sima Jiao: “That’s not what you’re thinking inside.”

Liao Tingyan: “My mind is very calm. You shouldn’t be able to hear what I’m thinking.”

Sima Jiao pressed a palm against her forehead, pushing her down beside him, his expression half-smiling: “I don’t need to hear it. I can guess.”

Well, he could guess if he wanted. Liao Tingyan wasn’t afraid of him at all and continued to examine the Ying Luo necklace carefully, counting how many defensive formations it contained. Besides incorporating existing defensive artifacts, he seemed to have created new defensive enchantments, utilizing the original storage function to miniaturize many defensive devices within it.

The more she looked, the harder it was to count them all.

Liao Tingyan lay down.

Sima Jiao: “Finished counting?”

Liao Tingyan: “I’m not counting anymore. There are so many, I doubt I’ll need them all.”

Sima Jiao gave a derisive laugh, “You’ll need them very soon.”

Liao Tingyan: “???”

She turned to look at Sima Jiao but saw that his eyes were closed. “You’ll know in a couple of days.”

He never liked to explain his actions. Only when he deemed it appropriate would he suddenly spring into action. Liao Tingyan had grown accustomed to his ways. That’s why he was called the ancestor—his difficulty level was truly ancestral.

If it were someone else, they might be driven mad by him, but Liao Tingyan’s curiosity lasted at most ten minutes, and her desire to explore anything was quite limited. So she didn’t bother asking more, preferring to cross that bridge when she came to it.

These past two days, she had felt unbearably uncomfortable, and restless without knowing why. She couldn’t even sleep well and had become irritable—a cranky salted fish. The usually ill-tempered Sima Jiao remained remarkably calm seeing her like this, occasionally observing her irritability with a strange look. Judging by his expression, he was just short of applauding and asking her to throw another tantrum for his entertainment.

Liao Tingyan thought: I want to drink some Madam’s Calming Oral Solution.

That night there was a heavy rain with thunderclaps. The thunder was particularly loud as if striking directly overhead. Liao Tingyan inexplicably felt a sense of awe and timidity. For the first time, she wasn’t woken in the middle of the night by Sima Jiao pushing her, but by the thunder.

What’s wrong with me? Have I done something wrong and now fear thunder? Liao Tingyan sat on the bed, utterly perplexed. With another clap of thunder, her heart raced uncontrollably, and she couldn’t help but shake Sima Jiao.

Sima Jiao wasn’t sleeping; he merely had his eyes closed. Liao Tingyan shook him for quite some time without him opening his eyes, though his lips kept curling upward.

After a moment of silence, Liao Tingyan pressed her hand against a certain part of his body.

Sima Jiao finally opened his eyes.

Liao Tingyan’s face was solemn: “Listening to the thunder makes me feel anxious. Why is that? I’ve never been like this before.”

Sima Jiao: “Remove your hand, or you’ll be struck by lightning immediately.”

Liao Tingyan glanced at that area: “Could you explain the cause-and-effect relationship here?” Surely that thing of yours doesn’t attract lightning? She deliberately shouted excitedly in her mind.

Sima Jiao turned over, laughing heartily. She had inadvertently hit his funny bone again.

After laughing enough, he hooked his hand behind Liao Tingyan’s head and pulled her onto himself. “You’re about to break through. Soon you’ll face the lightning tribulation, that’s why you feel this way.”

Liao Tingyan suddenly understood, remembering this matter.

Yes, she was indeed about to break through. It wasn’t her fault she lacked a sense of reality, given that she hadn’t cultivated step by step on her own. Previously, due to the Feng Mountain Blood Congealing Flower, she had broken through so many times without lightning tribulation, progressing smoothly without any experience. This would be her first time.

Her cultivation level had risen too quickly, and her recent dual cultivation with Sima Jiao had elevated it further. He implied that if they dual cultivated again now, she would likely break through on the spot and be struck by lightning right here.

Liao Tingyan took a deep breath and rubbed her fingers. That was a close call.

But why did the pre-breakthrough state feel so much like premature menopause?

And apparently, the ancestor had procured all those defensive armors to shield her from the lightning tribulation. She had thought he was stimulated by how she had been bullied earlier.

After pondering for a while, Liao Tingyan humbly asked: “I won’t be the first Divine Transformation cultivator to die because I couldn’t withstand the lightning tribulation, right?” Having taken shortcuts to reach this level, she felt somewhat insecure.

Sima Jiao continued his show of arrogance: “If I don’t let you die, you won’t die.”

Fine, fine, fine. You’re the most powerful.

The next day, Liao Tingyan discovered that the ancestor was truly formidable.

“Do you know why I chose Shi Yuxiang?” Sima Jiao held up the white rat that was Shi Yuxiang’s true form and said to Liao Tingyan: “Because she’s also a Divine Transformation realm cultivator about to break through.”

The Shi family members all received special treatment. When their family members needed to break through, they could go to a secret location in Gengchen Immortal Mansion called Thunder Roar Valley. There, natural barriers could block most of the lightning tribulation. Even the most incompetent Shi family disciple wouldn’t possibly be killed by lightning there.

Moreover, that place concealed a secret that could increase a cultivator’s level by another small realm within days after breaking through. As cultivation progressed, advancement became increasingly difficult. This small realm would normally require ordinary people to cultivate for decades or even a century.

Sima Jiao wanted Liao Tingyan to substitute for Shi Yuxiang and go to Thunder Roar Valley for her breakthrough.