Luo Ningning held her breath, moving with astonishing speed, precision, and ruthlessness. Her guiding principle was: wherever it was dirty, wipe it there. If I can’t be clean, don’t think you’ll stay clean either.
The giant wolf was probably shocked by her sudden transformation into a crazed rabbit. It froze for a moment before finally pulling its leg out of Luo Ningning’s embrace as she clung to it and scrubbed her shoes against it, then leaping two steps away.
Disbelief filled the giant wolf’s ice-blue beast eyes. “What are you rubbing against me for?!”
Luo Ningning clearly saw that the giant wolf’s lustrous white fur, smooth as satin, had been stained again—one patch black, another gray. The anger in her chest finally eased. With her hair in disarray, she calmly straightened her clothes. “I suddenly remembered that I’m ill. I forgot to inform you earlier. I’m truly sorry.”
The giant wolf was momentarily rendered speechless. “…What illness?”
After tidying her clothes and smoothing her long black hair, Luo Ningning began spouting nonsense without hesitation. “Fluff obsession. The symptoms are that whenever I see clean, beautiful fur, I can’t help pouncing on it, rolling around, and rubbing myself all over it.”
The giant wolf: “…”
Wolf Lord clearly did not believe her, but he probably felt it would be beneath him to argue with Luo Ningning, who was apologizing so sincerely. It glared at her and, after holding back its fury for quite a while, finally forced out, “Are you going to wash or not?”
Luo Ningning drew a deep breath and cast three cleansing spells on herself in succession. “I’m not washing anymore. I suddenly remembered that today’s almanac says it’s an inauspicious day for bathing. I’ll choose another day.”
Since she did not wash, the giant wolf did not wash either. Luo Ningning did not know whether her “fluff obsession” had traumatized Wolf Lord psychologically, but when she looked at the dirt on the white wolf’s lower back and hind legs, she secretly felt vindicated.
That good mood did not last long, however. There was no way Luo Ningning could sleep in such a desolate wilderness. She would rather meditate through the night until dawn. But there was something strange about the desert at night. Not only did the temperature drop sharply, but waves of icy coldness also rose from the ground. As the night deepened, that damp chill became increasingly distinct.
Luo Ningning moved her hands and feet, but the clammy cold still clung to her like a shadow. This was suffering for Luo Ningning. Her five senses had been excessively sensitive since childhood. Although she had later reached Foundation Establishment, her delicate, soft constitution had not improved. Instead, as her senses grew sharper year by year, she became even more particular and pampered. Discomfort that ordinary cultivators could ignore was unbearable to her.
Under a tree not far away, the giant wolf lay curled up, its fluffy fur covering half of its black nose as it slept soundly with its eyes closed. The patches of fur she had deliberately rubbed dirty still stood out, but they had also become enviable. As a veteran of fluff obsession, Luo Ningning could tell how warm, soft, dry, and comfortable they were…
Luo Ningning pressed her lips together. Then she suddenly stood up and crept toward the giant wolf.
Once she reached its side, she quietly squatted down, intending to lie beside it without being noticed…
A familiar, enormous wolf paw suddenly rose to block her path. The giant wolf lifted its eyelids, its eyes perfectly clear. “What is it?”
…She had been caught red-handed.
Luo Ningning gave a light cough. “Did I wake you?”
She spoke softly, with exceptional gentleness. “It’s too damp and cold here at night, and I’m uncomfortable. I want to sleep beside you. Wolf Lord, would that be all right?”
The giant wolf lowered its eyes to look at the girl half-crouching beneath its paws and rejected her without mercy. “No.”
Luo Ningning looked pitiful. “But it’s so damp and cold. If you don’t take care of me, I’ll get sick. If I get sick, I won’t be able to transfer spiritual energy to you. I only need to sleep beside you…”
“You can get sick from this?” The giant wolf looked her up and down, then lifted its chin. “Then go crouch in the tree. It’s windy and dry up there.”
…Was she a monkey? Why did it have to use the word “crouch”?!
Luo Ningning knew rationally that she ought to give up, yet she could not bring herself to turn around and leave. The giant wolf before her was no longer the god of slaughter she had first encountered, nor the inscrutable ancient fiendbeast. It had become a warm stove, a soft self-heating carpet…
She was probably just the sort of picky, pampered person who could not endure hardship and refused to make do, unwilling to wrong herself even a little.
Luo Ningning steeled her heart and sat down beside the giant wolf!
But before she could touch that fluffy fur, something lifted her up and tossed her into a nearby pile of grass.
Luo Ningning landed hard on her butt and let out a soft cry of pain. When she turned her head, she saw the giant wolf retracting its paw and closing its eyes. “Don’t come over. Be careful, or my demonic energy may run wild and stab you to death.”
Luo Ningning: “…”
Stupid dog, so stingy!
There was truly no way to get through a single second of this life!
And yet, she got through three whole days like this.
During that time, Luo Ningning successfully found a new water source and took a bath. She learned how to withdraw her natal magical artifact, Changqin, from her body and use it as a stool and a bed. She even discovered that the Qi Condensation Pill had three distinct flavors…
But the repair of the Qiankun Bag made no progress whatsoever.
The day when the male protagonist would enter the inheritance grounds was drawing closer, while Wolf Lord showed no intention of letting her leave. Over the past few days, it had moved between several oases, never once forgetting to carry Luo Ningning away in its jaws.
This level of strict guarding had gone beyond whether she could take advantage of the male protagonist’s inheritance. This was an ancient fiendbeast, rejected by the Heavenly Dao and inherently unable to leave the inheritance grounds. Judging from the severity of the demonic energy entwined around it, it was beyond saving, and she could not cure it either.
What if it wanted to keep her around forever to supply it with spiritual energy?
She did not want to spend the rest of her life stuck in this wretched place with it!
Luo Ningning was becoming anxious and overheated with worry. Without the Qiankun Bag or any life-saving magical artifacts, she had to think of a way to escape from the wolf’s side.
She had already realized that the wolf was hiding from people—or, more accurately, from demons—and was most likely hiding from ancient fiendbeasts as powerful as itself. That was why it had refused to let her play the qin to heal its wounds: it feared the music would attract enemies. That was why it had urged her to transfer spiritual energy to it. That was why it often lay around lazily recuperating. And that was why it kept bringing her from one resting place to another.
The wolf was very likely seriously wounded and nowhere near as unharmed as it appeared. But even if it was heavily injured, it was still not something a Foundation Establishment music cultivator like Luo Ningning could handle.
After thinking it over, Luo Ningning decided to test the waters first.
Thus, that night, Luo Ningning sat on Changqin and opened the conversation. “Wolf Lord, do you know why I came to this secret realm?”
Over the past few days, most of the interaction between the human and beast had consisted of Wolf Lord provoking her, commenting on her pampered behavior, or Luo Ningning making requests and trying every possible way to achieve her goals.
This was the first time Luo Ningning had initiated a casual conversation about herself.
The giant wolf was indeed interested. It raised its body slightly. “Why?”
It quickly concluded, “People enter secret realms for nothing more than rare treasures and secret manuals. What other reason could there be?”
Luo Ningning spoke solemnly. “No. I didn’t come here seeking opportunities. I came to find someone. There’s something very important I must resolve by finding that person.”
With a sincere expression, she began brazenly lying through her teeth. “Wolf Lord, your injuries are already mostly healed. You should probably recover completely in a few days, and when that happens, I plan to leave. I’m deeply grateful for the care you’ve given me these past days. Ruan Nuan will remember it. We were fated to meet here, and we’ve spent several happy days together. From now on, we can consider ourselves friends. Don’t worry. After I leave, I won’t reveal your whereabouts.”
Ruan Nuan was Luo Ningning’s name in her previous life. She had already decided to use that name in the secret realm, so when the giant wolf asked her name, she had given it.
The giant wolf’s ears twitched. Then it suddenly bared a grin full of gleaming white teeth. “When I was young, a beautiful female demon lived in my territory. Do you know what happened to the male demons who believed her words?”
Luo Ningning developed a bad feeling. “…What happened to them?”
The giant wolf sighed with great solemnity. “The male demons who believed her and followed her inside were nothing but shriveled corpses the next day.”
It looked Luo Ningning up and down. “That was when I learned that no matter how beautiful, delicate, and seemingly defenseless an opponent looks, one must never let down one’s guard.”
Luo Ningning, who was beautiful, delicate, and seemingly defenseless: “…”
Luo Ningning pretended not to understand and played dumb. “What kind of terrifying fiendbeast was that? How sinister!”
The giant wolf agreed. “I heard she was a female demon who practiced Hehuan demonic arts and used male demons as cultivation furnaces to drain their essence. I thought it was sinister too. From then on, I decided that whenever I encountered this kind of evil cultivator, I would kill her immediately and never give her a chance to speak, lest I accidentally fall into her trap.”
Luo Ningning: “??!!”
The words “What nonsense” nearly escaped Luo Ningning’s mouth, but when she heard what came next, she swallowed them back in fright.
The giant wolf continued spreading rumors. “These evil cultivators are easy to distinguish. I heard that practitioners of those sinister arts naturally develop a strange fragrance on their bodies.” It paused. “Just like you.”
Luo Ningning jolted and nearly fell off Changqin!
Not everyone who practiced the Hehuan Sect’s cultivation method naturally developed a strange fragrance, but a small portion of them did indeed cultivate a distinctive body scent. By sheer coincidence, she was one of them. Her cultivation was still shallow, so the fragrance was very faint. She had not expected this wolf to detect it anyway.
Luo Ningning steadied herself. “Wolf Lord, you don’t suspect that I’m one of those evil cultivators, do you? Just yesterday, you laughed at me for being someone who ate immortal pills and drank dew. Isn’t it normal for me to smell a little fragrant?”
The giant wolf looked her up and down, then actually let out a scoff. “You, an evil cultivator? If evil cultivators were as pampered as you, they’d die crying before they could drain anyone dry.”
Luo Ningning: “…”
She dug her fingernails into Changqin, furious enough to itch with rage, yet unable to argue.
Only then did the giant wolf return to the main point. In an unhurried tone, it said, “You say you won’t reveal my whereabouts. Why should I believe you? Since you’ve realized that I’m hiding from enemies, you should understand that I won’t take the risk of letting you leave. At least, not before I’ve fully recovered.”
“Actually, you don’t need to be in such a hurry to leave, and you don’t need to painstakingly invent reasons to deceive me. In any case, I won’t treat you unfairly.”
It swished its tail and raised its head slightly. “My identity is beyond anything you can imagine. For now, focus on helping me recover. As for rare treasures and secret manuals later on, this lord will certainly give you some.”
Luo Ningning was practically speechless from exasperation!
What did she care about its identity? Was it the leader of the wolf clan in the inheritance grounds? Did she look like she cared?!
And besides, setting aside whether this stupid dog could recover at all, look at its impoverished state. It had no pills or spiritual dew and could only eat fiendbeasts and drink water from lakes. It had no cave dwelling and could only sleep beneath the open sky. Yet it was promising her rare treasures and secret manuals?
What a moving empty promise from the cultivation world.
Luo Ningning forced a smile through clenched teeth. “Wolf Lord, what are you saying? We’re friends. If you need me, of course I’ll stay with you to the end.”
Two hours after making that chest-thumping promise, at midnight that very night, Luo Ningning used the excuse of needing to relieve herself and secretly escaped.
From testing the giant wolf’s intentions, she had received the worst possible result: the wolf truly intended to let her leave only after it had recovered. The problem was that it was fundamentally impossible for it to recover.
She had to escape, and she had to do so while the wolf was still seriously injured.
The Qiankun Bag was still broken, but several of the other magical artifacts she carried had already been repaired. Luo Ningning concealed her aura as thoroughly as she could. Her earring transformed into a small flying boat, and she fled toward the horizon at full speed.
Half an hour passed as the magical artifact flew, yet there was still no movement behind her. Luo Ningning’s heart finally settled.
She assumed that she had endured and behaved obediently over the past few days, causing the giant wolf to lower its guard after being deceived by her. That had given her this opportunity to escape.
Now she only needed to find an oasis and hide there for a while. Once the male protagonist came to the inheritance grounds, she would be safe.
But where was an oasis?
Beneath the night sky, the vast desert was like an endless ocean, making it impossible to tell which direction she was traveling in. Luo Ningning also had no idea how the wolf found oases. Perhaps its black nose, which loved to snort, was sensitive enough to detect moisture in the air.
No matter how sharp Luo Ningning’s five senses were, she could not do that. With no other choice, she could only use the stupidest method: fly in one direction continuously. She would eventually run into an oasis, right?
She flew for another quarter of an hour. Sure enough, she saw a small black dot on the horizon, and her spirits lifted.
An oasis!
Judging from the distance, she would probably reach it after another time it took to burn a stick of incense.
Luo Ningning powered the flying artifact to its fullest. As she drew closer, the black dot rapidly grew larger, as though it too were making every effort to approach her.
Confused, Luo Ningning slowed the flying artifact. Only then did she realize that it was not her imagination.
That thing was not an oasis at all.
It was a gigantic black crow!
Luo Ningning cursed inwardly.
It was not that she had never considered encountering other fiendbeasts after escaping. But the giant wolf’s strength was already at the highest level, so no matter what fiendbeast she encountered, the situation could not possibly become worse.
And yet she had run into an avian fiendbeast the moment she left.
How unlucky could she be?!
The flying artifact had lost its advantage. Fortunately, the crow appeared to be around the same cultivation level as her. The enormous bird flapped toward her, moving even faster than she did, its pitch-black eyes filled with the delight of discovering food.
Since she could not escape, she could only fight.
Luo Ningning summoned her natal magical artifact. Spiritual energy transformed into vermilion-red strings across the body of the qin. The fingertips resting upon them were slender, pale, and soft, yet the notes they produced rang out with metallic force.
Music wrapped in spiritual energy shot straight toward the crow!
The crow failed to evade that invisible killing intent. Its body slowed, and it shrieked in pain in midair.
The battle was unexpectedly going smoothly, yet an inexplicable chill ran through Luo Ningning’s heart.
She abruptly lowered her head and looked at the sand below.
At some point, a colossal serpent had appeared among the stretching dunes!
Its triangular head was held high, and it was flicking its tongue at her.
Its ambush discovered, the enormous serpent launched its attack. Its body suddenly reared upright!
Luo Ningning awkwardly dodged the gaping maw, but her arm could not avoid being cut by the sharp wind generated by the spiritual energy. The small boat shot rapidly upward, but the crow came chasing after her again.
Only then did Luo Ningning realize that she was being surrounded.
The crow and the giant serpent were working together!
The crow drew her attention in the air while the giant serpent took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack…
Luo Ningning had little practical combat experience, yet she had encountered two seasoned hunters.
The situation was difficult. Luo Ningning knew she would not be able to withdraw safely today. Her wrist turned, and she was about to throw out an offensive magical artifact.
A black shadow suddenly flashed before her!
Another black giant serpent shot into the sky, piercing straight through the crow’s body!
The black bird struggled as it fell, stirring up a cloud of sand and dust.
Beneath the pale moonlight, Luo Ningning saw a familiar white giant wolf.
The giant serpent that had been fiercely flicking its tongue moments ago was left with only half its tail. The giant wolf had it pinned beneath its paw, while dark red blood gushed out and soaked into the gray-brown sand.
The giant wolf lifted its head. Its ice-blue eyes regarded Luo Ningning arrogantly, while its streamlined body still radiated the explosive strength left over from its attack. The fur along its body rippled in the night wind, gleaming like satin…
It was like an undefeated king.
Then the king opened its mouth.
“You traveled this far just to relieve yourself?”
That black nose snorted again, followed by a mocking laugh. “Didn’t you find a latrine you liked anywhere along the way?”
Luo Ningning: “…”
She had been caught escaping.
Luo Ningning ought to have been frightened and embarrassed, but the battle just now had left her body weak. She did not even have the strength to deal with this wolf, which had helped her but still had a foul mouth.
The flying boat landed. Luo Ningning knelt weakly upon it and began to notice the piercing pain coming from the wound on her forearm.
She had not been injured in a very long time.
Ever since discovering that her five senses were excessively sensitive and that her perception of pain had also been magnified, she had never gone anywhere without defensive robes or magical artifacts. Under normal circumstances, it was impossible for her to be injured.
Perhaps because of that, the unfamiliar pain was even more unbearable.
Luo Ningning’s body trembled. She bit her lip and endured it again and again, but in the end she could not hold back. Turning her head to the side, she whimpered.
The faint sound of sobbing drifted over on the night wind.
The giant wolf froze. It slowly took one step back, then another. Bending its back and lowering its head, it looked at Luo Ningning.
In that brief moment, the girl’s eyes had not only reddened; the tips of her ears and nose had also turned pink, while tears covered her damp cheeks. Her usually faint, sweet fragrance suddenly grew rich. Paired with her slightly trembling body, she looked like a flower in full bloom, unable to withstand the ravages of wind and rain.
The giant wolf paced irritably from side to side, baring a mouthful of gleaming white teeth. “Hey, what are you crying for? I didn’t even do anything.”
She was already crying, and she had already lost face, so Luo Ningning no longer bothered to hold it in and wrong herself further.
She covered her arm and wiped away her tears, repeating without pause, “It hurts so much. It hurts…”
The giant wolf hesitated for a moment, then walked back over and leaned its head closer to inspect her wound.
Her defensive robe had been cut open, revealing a slender strip of red flesh on her pale forearm.
The giant wolf raised its head, disbelief filling its eyes. “It’s just this tiny little wound, and it hurts?”
It seemed to have its understanding of the world overturned by Luo Ningning once again. It stood there in shock. “No, wait. You’re a cultivator. Aren’t cultivators supposed to bleed without shedding tears…”
Luo Ningning sobbed even louder. “I’m pampered, all right?!”
The giant wolf was rendered speechless by her completely unapologetic declaration. “…What’s the use of telling me it hurts?! I don’t even know where to find medicinal herbs in this wretched place…”
Luo Ningning had not been telling it anything in particular. She simply felt that saying it aloud might lessen the pain a little.
She did not want to deal with the wolf anymore. Taking out a handkerchief, she steeled herself and prepared to clean the wound.
The fabric had stuck to her flesh. Luo Ningning trembled for a long time, but still could not bring herself to pull it away. Tears streamed down her face as though they cost nothing. Through her blurred vision, she raised her head and looked at the giant wolf.
That look did not actually mean anything. It was merely a vacant glance cast about in the midst of pain and suffering.
But the giant wolf tensed up again. It retreated one step and said fiercely, “Then I’ll lick it for you, all right?!”