After dozens more laps of footwork practice, Luo Qingyan spun around and, like a phantom, suddenly appeared right in front of Mo Chenxue—her nose nearly bumping into the man’s chest.
Startled, Luo Qingyan shrieked, “Holy crap!!”
Why would Mo Chenxue suddenly pop out of nowhere in this perfectly normal forest?
Could this freak be out here in the dead of night practicing his killing skills?
Mo Chenxue: “…”
Ever since she jumped into the lake and woke up, her personality had completely changed. Every time she saw him, she looked like she’d just laid eyes on a demon or ghost.
Mo Chenxue frowned. “What did you just say? Holy crap?”
Luo Qingyan raised her hand and pointed at the night sky, swaying her head as she recited: “Holy! The sun and moon rise and set within it. The Milky Way sparkles, born from its depths.”
Mo Chenxue: “…”
Luo Qingyan struck a refined pose and sighed dramatically: “How fortunate! Let me sing of my aspirations!”
Mo Chenxue: “…Little Junior Sister truly has a way with words.”
“Flattery, flattery,” Luo Qingyan said, finishing her poem before flashing a bright smile and waving her little hand at Mo Chenxue. “Hi, Senior Brother Chenxue, good morning, good afternoon, good midnight!”
“…”
Mo Chenxue’s gaze darkened.
This little girl was clearly putting on an act in front of him. Could it be that she’d stumbled upon some opportunity that allowed her to see through his true nature?
Mo Chenxue stepped forward, closing the distance, and suddenly reached out to grab her wrist, checking her pulse.
Then he raised an eyebrow.
“Oh? Already advanced to the second level of Qi Refining?”
Luo Qingyan nodded eagerly. “All thanks to the Spirit Supplementing Pill you gifted me, Senior Brother. It finally let me break through from the first level to the second.”
Mo Chenxue narrowed his eyes.
So the box of pills hadn’t been wasted after all.
And even so, she still didn’t know to thank him properly?
Just then, Luo Qingyan said cheerfully, “Thank you, Senior Brother! Your great kindness, I will never forget for all my days!”
Hearing this, Mo Chenxue focused his mind and summoned the system.
[Favorability: -100%]
Mo Chenxue: “…”
She says thank you with her mouth, but her favorability hasn’t budged at all!?
For a moment, Mo Chenxue was so irritated he almost laughed.
He slowly released the girl’s wrist. Though her favorability hadn’t increased, at least his concerns were put to rest.
—Her cultivation showed no abnormalities. A little girl at the second level of Qi Refining—how could she possibly peer into his inner thoughts, let alone know his secrets?
Luo Qingyan looked at him with an innocent, guileless smile. “Senior Brother, it’s the middle of the night and you’re not asleep. What are you doing at Joyful Peak?”
Mo Chenxue smiled and said, “I came to check if you were slacking off.”
“Your cultivation is truly worrying, little girl. The trial is coming up, and I originally planned to come supervise you. But to my surprise, you’ve taken the initiative to work hard on your own.”
His voice was as gentle as a feather, every word dripping with affection. Listening to him was practically a pleasure, enough to make anyone lose themselves in moments.
Luo Qingyan stared at him, frozen for a brief second.
Then it hit her: Oh, so this is how the sick freak fooled everyone—with sugar-coated bullets like these!
Mo Chenxue asked again, “That movement technique you were practicing just now—what was it?”
“That?” Luo Qingyan said. “It’s called the Divine Escape Steps.”
“Divine Escape Steps?”
“Yes, it’s a technique our Joyful Peak created ourselves. After all, with our level of skill, defeating others is pretty much out of the question. Learning how to escape is far more practical.”
“…”
Mo Chenxue narrowed his eyes. “The Divine Escape Steps are profound in form and should be extremely difficult to master. Yet you’ve managed to practice it quite skillfully.”
“That’s because I truly need it,” Luo Qingyan sighed. “I desperately need to learn how to escape. When a person truly understands that they need a certain skill, they stop agonizing over whether it’s hard or not. Because hard or not, you must master it anyway. In that state, it no longer feels difficult.”
“Oh?” Mo Chenxue looked thoughtful.
Luo Qingyan wore a look of profound wisdom: “True need gives birth to unwavering conviction, and that conviction allows a person to enter a state of absolute focus, absolute selflessness, and peak efficiency. It’s called ‘flow.’ Once you enter flow, cultivation feels divinely aided, and your progress races a thousand miles a day…”
“When I was learning the Divine Escape Steps, I entered that state of flow.” Luo Qingyan spoke with a world-weary tone: “Ah well, I won’t say more—you wouldn’t understand anyway, since you’re a genius who’s had everything go smoothly. Many truths can only be understood by someone like me, a washed-up waste who’s weathered countless storms.”
Mo Chenxue: “…”
That said, what she was saying did seem worth pondering.
After finishing her philosophical musings, Luo Qingyan began showing him the door: “Senior Brother, if there’s nothing else, please return—”
Mo Chenxue snapped back to the present and cut her off with a smile: “Didn’t you just say you wanted to repay your senior brother for your breakthrough in cultivation?”
Luo Qingyan: “…?”
I only said I was grateful for your pills. Very grateful.
I never said I’d repay you, okay?
But under the man’s gaze, Luo Qingyan had no choice but to swallow her pride and force a smile: “Ah, hehehe, right, I do want to express my gratitude… Senior Brother, follow me!”
Luo Qingyan led Mo Chenxue deep into the forest.
Mo Chenxue followed behind her, wondering what she could possibly be planning.
Then he saw Luo Qingyan dig a few roasted sweet potatoes out of the ashes and start a fire to warm them up.
“Senior Brother, thank you! Let me treat you to some roasted sweet potatoes!”
As she spoke, the sweet potatoes were already heated through.
“Here, have a taste!”
Luo Qingyan handed one to him.
Faced with such a perfunctory display of gratitude, Mo Chenxue wasn’t the least bit annoyed. Instead, he sat down by the fire with keen interest.
He had long since reached Bigu fasting and hadn’t eaten mortal food in ages. Now, taking the sweet potato the girl offered, he took a bite.
A flicker of surprise passed through his eyes. “This is… a sweet potato?”
Luo Qingyan nodded. “Yeah! What’s wrong?”
Mo Chenxue furrowed his brow and muttered to himself, “It’s very sweet… seems much tastier than the ones from Mystic Sword Peak…”
Luo Qingyan laughed heartily. “The sweet potatoes from Mystic Sword Peak may contain Spiritual Power, but that also means they’re force-ripened. A sweet potato isn’t a Spirit Fruit, yet they insist on turning it into one—that ruins its natural properties. How could that compare to our pure, all-natural, pollution-free ones?”
Vegetables grown with chemical fertilizers and pesticides can never taste as good as naturally grown ones!
Mo Chenxue smiled and said, “I see.”
A distant memory was awakened by the taste.
The sweet potatoes from his hometown had once tasted just as good as those from Joyful Peak. Unfortunately, a single decision by the Ask-Immortal Sect’s Sect Master back then had left the entire village littered with corpses overnight, and his parents and relatives had all died because of it…
Luo Qingyan watched Mo Chenxue.
The latter took an elegant bite of the sweet potato, and in his eyes, illuminated by the firelight, there was clearly a flash of emotion, almost like tears glistening.
Luo Qingyan was stunned.
No way?
She just gave him a roasted sweet potato, and he was moved to tears?
Seeing genuine emotion in the eyes of a supposed villain, Luo Qingyan felt a complicated mix of feelings.
There are no absolutely good people in this world, nor absolutely evil ones.
This guy was clearly a prodigy, yet half his life had been consumed by hatred. If his fate had been different, perhaps he wouldn’t have become a devil stained with blood…
After all, he too had once possessed a soft heart!
[Affinity +1]
Mo Chenxue, who was eating the sweet potato, felt a sudden jolt in his gaze.
Hmm?
His affinity actually went up?
Mo Chenxue almost thought he was hallucinating, but upon focused inspection, it had indeed increased.
From -100% to -99%.
Mo Chenxue looked up at Luo Qingyan, finding this girl truly peculiar.
Why did her affinity suddenly rise…
Could it be because he ate a sweet potato?
Puzzled, Mo Chenxue finished the sweet potato and tested the waters. “It’s delicious. Could I have another?”
“Sure!”
Luo Qingyan nodded and handed him another one.
At least he knows what’s good—you’ve got taste.
[Affinity +1]
Mo Chenxue’s expression turned subtle as he took the roasted sweet potato and silently finished it.
“Junior Sister, could you give me one more?”
“Easy!”
Luo Qingyan roasted another for him, finding it amusing.
[Affinity +1]
Mo Chenxue’s gaze paused for a moment. This time, he was certain.
—So that’s it: eating sweet potatoes increases affinity!
—Each one eaten raises it by 1%!
Mo Chenxue curled his lips in satisfaction.
Excellent, he’d finally found the key!
And so, the handsome senior brother who charmed countless maidens across the Immortal Sect began eating sweet potatoes one after another.
[Affinity +1]
[Affinity +1]
[Affinity +1]
…
Luo Qingyan watched from the side, gradually dumbfounded.
Even when she’d watched mukbang streams in her past life, she’d never been this shocked.
The original novel had never mentioned that the Imperial Consort was a big eater, so what was this—was he possessed?
After finishing the tenth one, Mo Chenxue’s affinity had risen to -90%.
He smiled with quiet satisfaction.
“Junior Sister, your senior brother would like some more.”
“…”
Luo Qingyan’s expression was complicated as she asked cautiously:
“Um, Senior Brother, are… are you alright?”
“Hmm?”
“Senior Brother, you’ve already eaten ten. Don’t you feel full?”
“No.”
Mo Chenxue smiled serenely.
“Your senior brother can still eat a hundred and ninety more.”