"Pfft—"
After fleeing a hundred li from the Shen family, Shen Manyi could no longer hold on.
A sweet taste rose in her throat, and her figure swayed before she plummeted straight down from her flying sword.
The aftereffects of overexerting her spiritual energy had caught up with her—her head felt like it was splitting apart, and her entire body ached terribly.
"Little girl, you played way too dangerously this time."
Tangyuan wriggled out from her embrace and nimbly hopped onto her shoulder.
Its fluffy little paw clutched at her collar, its tone filled with barely concealed fear.
"So close! Just a tiny bit more, and the two of us would have been locked onto by that old geezer's spiritual pressure."
Shen Manyi leaned against an ancient tree, gasping for breath, yet a hint of delighted satisfaction curled at the corner of her lips.
"Cough, cough… Don't you think it was thrilling?"
"Thrilling? We nearly went straight to meet the King of Hell from all that thrill!"
Tangyuan's words were full of disdain, but the moment it thought of the mountain of spirit stones and treasures piled up in the space, it couldn't help covering its mouth with its paw, letting out a string of stifled giggles.
"But well… considering all those treasures,
this Divine Beast will reluctantly admit—it was indeed a tiny bit thrilling."
"Congratulations. By contracting with this Divine Beast, you are now the richest pauper in all the three thousand worlds."
Shen Manyi chuckled softly, took out a bottle of medicinal pills from the space, and swallowed one, followed by some spirit spring water.
Instantly, a gentle warmth surged through her limbs and bones, rapidly repairing her damaged meridians and spiritual energy.
The explosive headache finally eased somewhat,
and a hint of color returned to her deathly pale face.
"This spirit spring is truly a treasure," Shen Manyi remarked.
Hearing this, Tangyuan raised its chin proudly.
"Obviously! Do you think this Divine Beast's divine artifact space is some roadside stall?"
"This is a divine spring! A spring that can cleanse inner demons and reshape spiritual roots!"
"If it weren't for the fact that you were about to die, I wouldn't have been willing to let you drink it!"
It paused, then its tone turned serious.
"Enough, stop marveling. You need to regulate your breathing now."
"We might have shaken them off for now, but those lackeys the Shen family keeps aren't pushovers either."
Shen Manyi nodded, sat down cross-legged, and began circulating her cultivation method.
But the moment she entered a meditative state, a terrifying aura began spreading rapidly from deep within the snow-capped mountains not far away.
The aura was filled with violence and bloodlust, carrying the momentum of one who wished to destroy everything in its path.
"Oh heavens! What in the world is that?!"
Tangyuan's fur stood on end, its voice turning shrill and distorted.
"Run! Run now! This is definitely a cultivator at the Soul Transformation Stage or above!
And judging by this aura…
Damn it, it seems he's fallen into qi deviation!"
Soul Transformation Stage!
Shen Manyi's heart shook violently. That was a legendary realm—a level of existence she wouldn't even dare to imagine.
Forget about him being in qi deviation—even in a clear state of mind, a single breath from such a being could kill her a hundred times over.
She didn't dare waste another moment. She immediately ceased her cultivation and leaped to her feet.
Summoning her flying sword, she desperately fled in the opposite direction.
However, that terrifying aura instantly enveloped the entire area for a hundred li in every direction.
The air grew thick and viscous, and even the circulation of spiritual power became suppressed.
Shen Manyi's flying sword had barely traveled ten zhang before the spiritual light on its blade rapidly dimmed.
Finally, it let out a mournful cry and plummeted straight from the sky.
Shen Manyi fell along with it from midair, helplessly dragged toward the source of that terrifying aura.
She tried to enter the space, but it was as if it had been sealed shut—no matter what she did, she couldn't get in.
"It's over, it's over! This Divine Beast just awakened, and now I have to die here with you, little girl!"
Tangyuan let out a despairing wail from within her embrace,
its two little paws covering its eyes, looking like it couldn't bear to witness its own demise.
Piercing through layers of swirling wind and snow, she finally saw what lay below.
On an endless expanse of snow-covered ground,
a man in a black robe knelt on one knee, an ancient longsword thrust into the snow beside him.
The man's black hair cascaded like a waterfall, spilling across the snow.
The baleful aura radiating from his body was almost condensed into solid form, staining the white snow around him with a faint tinge of blood.
The baleful aura rushed toward her face, scraping her cheeks with pain—as if countless invisible blades were slicing across her skin.
"Tangyuan, Tangyuan, think of something—quick!" Shen Manyi screamed inwardly.
"I'm just a Divine Beast in my juvenile stage right now—what can I possibly do?!"
Tangyuan let out a mournful roar, then moved its little paws aside to take a look below.
Its eyes rolled for a moment, and it hesitated before saying, "How about you try the seduction tactic when you get down there?"
Shen Manyi wanted to cry. What kind of ridiculous idea was that?
"Wahhh—but I don't know how!"
Perhaps sensing the presence of a living person, the man slowly raised his head.
It was an extraordinarily handsome yet ice-cold face.
His eyes were fathomless, churning with a madness that sought to destroy everything.
This man was Xiao Mo.
The peerless genius that Guiyuan Jianzong hadn't seen in ten thousand years—the Supreme Sword Venerable.
At this moment, this legendary figure was in the midst of his once-in-a-century Inner Demon Tribulation.
His consciousness had long been devoured by the inner demon, leaving behind nothing but the purest instinct to kill.
Any living being that approached him would be torn to shreds by the Baleful Aura imbued with his Sword Intent.
Xiao Mo saw Shen Manyi descending from the sky, and the murderous intent in his eyes surged violently.
However, just as he was about to raise his hand and end this uninvited guest with a single sword strike,
Shen Manyi made a move that he never expected.
The moment she landed, she threw herself at him with all her strength, crashing headfirst into his embrace.
"Brother!"
A cry tinged with tears, filled with grievance and surprise, rang out clearly across the deathly silent mountain peak.
Shen Manyi was so frightened by that terrifying killing aura that her soul nearly flew away.
She instinctively assumed that whoever could emit such an aura must be a legendary Demonic Cultivator.
And she happened to have a biological brother who had run away from home and was rumored to have taken up demonic cultivation—Shen Jue!
Her overwhelming survival instinct drove her to make the most direct choice.
Claim kinship!
Cling to the powerful one!
"Brother! I finally found you!"
Shen Manyi hugged Xiao Mo tightly around the waist, burying her face in his ice-cold robes, smearing tears and snot all over him.
"They all said you were dead! I didn't believe it! I searched for you for so long!"
"Brother! Look, I even stole all the family fortune! From now on, I'll take care of you!"
She babbled incoherently while trembling with fear.
Yet her hands clung desperately to Xiao Mo's black robes.
Xiao Mo's body froze.
The hand that had been about to rise, gathering destructive power, also stopped mid-air.
What was this warm, soft little bundle in his arms?
The faint scent of grass and wood on her, and the threads of pure Spiritual Power emanating from her body,
actually caused the rampaging Spiritual Power and surging Xinmo within him to calm slightly.
Especially those tearful cries of—brother.
They brought a moment of clarity to his Sea of Consciousness, which had been flooded with the desire to kill.
Even more, they stirred ripples in his heart-lake that had remained unchanged for ten thousand years.
How interesting.
The madness and brutality in Xiao Mo's eyes slowly receded,
replaced by the mischievous curiosity of someone looking at a novel new toy.
The hand still suspended in mid-air hesitated for a moment,
then finally descended slowly onto Shen Manyi's head, pressing down gently in imitation of some vague fragments in his memory.
Then, in a hoarse voice, he went along with it and responded.
"…Alright, you take care of me."