Sunlight spilled across the platform at the cave entrance, making the two people sitting on the stones look all the more well-matched.
Looking at the young woman before him, Pei Yuanxiu did not dwell on the previous topic. Instead, he asked, “Miss Xia, what shall we eat later? Do I need to go hunting?”
Xia Ruxi stood up and waved a hand. “No need. This place is quite high up, and you probably won’t find it easy to climb down. I’ll go hunt instead.”
Dusting off her clothes where no dust existed, she prepared to leap down by grabbing a nearby tree. At that moment, Pei Yuanxiu caught her arm and said, “You’re underestimating me. How about a race to see who reaches the base of the cliff first?”
Before his voice had even faded, Xia Ruxi was already swinging down through the tree branches, with Pei Yuanxiu following closely behind. Their mismatched outfits contrasted with their perfectly synchronized, agile movements as they darted back and forth through the woods.
Xia Ruxi leaped ahead and landed first on the ground. “I win! You lost. You’re spearing the fish later.”
Walking toward the stream with her hands clasped behind her back, her hem swayed as if mirroring the joy in her heart.
Pei Yuanxiu shook his head with an involuntary smile, unaware that a doting curve always lingered at the corner of his lips nowadays. He simply found this woman immensely fascinating and was amazed that her agility was by no means inferior to his own.
Yet he did not realize that a different kind of feeling was quietly taking root in his heart out of pure curiosity. When he finally noticed it, he would surely be startled.
Pei Yuanxiu lifted his feet to follow, and before long, they reached the stream. “Here, take this. I made this fish-spearing pole myself. It works great—try and see if you can catch a fish,” Xia Ruxi said, handing the newly crafted pole to him.
“Because of that rain and mist, animals are starting to grow smarter. The impact of this change is already radiating fully across all bases. I suspect the natural world will become fiercely aggressive in the future, and the world order might just undergo a complete reshuffle.”
As Pei Yuanxiu spoke, he walked toward the center of the stream, his sharp eyes searching for targets while holding the pole in ready position.
“Your guess has some merit. That rain and mist targeted humans, while plants and animals actually benefited from it. Who knows, they might end up turning the tables and becoming masters one day,” Xia Ruxi remarked as she sat on a nearby stone, adopting an attitude of detached indifference.
In truth, Xia Ruxi held her own private theories. This place didn’t resemble an ordinary mortal realm; rather, it felt more like a primordial world of cultivation just beginning to gestate.
Flora and fauna were starting to gain spiritual awareness. Although she hadn’t witnessed the rain and mist firsthand, Xia Ruxi could be certain it contained mottled spiritual energy—only plants and animals knew how to absorb the beneficial parts, whereas humans suffered mutations due to physical incompatibilities.
Undoubtedly, a portion of humans had also benefited and gained a spiritual mansion, though it required time to awaken. Pei Yuanxiu, on the other hand, had awakened early thanks to the Divine Spirit Liquid she gave him.
He probably didn’t even realize he had awakened a spiritual mansion yet. Should I drop a hint or two for him? As Xia Ruxi was lost in her own thoughts, she saw Pei Yuanxiu walking back toward her with two fresh, plump fish. “Let’s head back, all done,” he said, giving the fish a slight shake.
Remaining seated, Xia Ruxi asked, “Have you noticed anything unusual about your body since you woke up?”
Pondering for a moment, Pei Yuanxiu checked his body again. In truth, he had already examined himself the night before; apart from the new injuries, even old hidden ailments from the past had healed completely.
Alongside his shock, he had also noticed some kind of presence lingering in his chest and abdomen, though since it posed no harm to him, he hadn’t pursued it further.
Now that Xia Ruxi brought it up, he immediately made the connection. “You must be asking about the extra thing in my chest and abdomen, right? Though I don’t know what it is, it should be completely harmless to me, and perhaps even beneficial.”
Sharing his speculation, Pei Yuanxiu waited for her response.
“Go on back to the cave first. I need to go find something and will be right back. Make sure you clean the fish properly and wait for me to grill them,” Xia Ruxi instructed after a brief pause for thought.
Though Pei Yuanxiu had no idea what she planned to do, their recent interactions led him to trust her abilities. Without asking further, he walked back toward the cave while Xia Ruxi bolted deeper into the forest.
Once they parted ways, Xia Ruxi sprinted toward the lush, verdant forest in the southwest.
Her bright, graceful figure darted rapidly through the trees. As she swung effortlessly from branch to branch, she pondered where she might find the spiritual herbs she needed.
“Theoretically, this world is quite similar to my former realm of cultivation. I wonder if Qi-Breaking Grass exists here.”
In Xia Ruxi’s original world, Qi-Breaking Grass was a spiritual herb used to break through into the Qi-Refining stage. While not ubiquitous, it was relatively easy to find.
After searching the thicket for a while, she couldn’t help muttering, “As expected, this world is still in the embryonic stage of forming spiritual energy. It looks like I’m going to have to put in some effort.”
Suddenly, an unexpected disturbance arose from the ground. A vine as thick as an adult’s arm whipped through the air straight toward Xia Ruxi.
Reacting swiftly, Xia Ruxi swung herself from her branch to a grassy patch further away, executed a smooth roll on the ground, and drew her dagger to prepare for battle.
Seeing that she had evaded its sneak attack, the vine launched a second assault. The dark green, soil-stained vine split into multiple branches, attempting to encircle Xia Ruxi from both sides.
Noticing this, Xia Ruxi dashed toward the thinner vine, leaped into the air, brought her hands together, and slashed downward. Screeech—the sound of the vine being sliced open echoed out, while the thicker vine, sensing it was outmatched, immediately tried to flee.
Xia Ruxi wasn’t about to let it escape. With a single bound, she grabbed the vine with her left hand and drove her dagger down fiercely with her right.
Green sap immediately spurted from the vine—a surprisingly fresh-looking color.
Giving the vine no time to react, Xia Ruxi severed it with two or three swift slashes. The vine collapsed limply, its roots twitching continuously as if in extreme pain.
“A mere blade of grass wants to assassinate your aunt-grandma? Watch me strip you and turn you into stir-fried greens.”
Squatting down, Xia Ruxi began examining the vine closely. Its shape and color closely resembled the Cleaving Vine of her home world. “Let me taste its sap and see if it really is Cleaving Vine. If it is, I’ve struck gold!”
Because her physical body was impervious to all poisons and possessed the indestructible Vajra physique of the Great Completion Stage of Body Refining, she dared to taste it directly.
“It really is! My eyes didn’t deceive me. Not bad at all. I’ll take these sections back—this is not only a spiritual herb for treating external wounds, but also an adjuvant ingredient for the spiritual liquid I use to repair spiritual mansions.”
With some difficulty, Xia Ruxi channeled a tiny wisp of spiritual energy to store the bulk of the Cleaving Vine into the secondary storage space of her storage ring.
Her storage ring was divided into two parts: one was a ten-story pagoda system she had neatly organized and categorized, while the other half was a vast blank area belonging to unclassified items.
Normally, heavenly treasures collected by Xia Ruxi were placed first into the blank area before being sorted into her ten-story pagoda based on rarity. Opening each higher floor required corresponding spiritual energy, and the more precious the item retrieved, the more spiritual energy it consumed.
Items in the blank area were no exception; while unclassified, retrieving them still cost the exact same baseline wisp of spiritual energy. This was a minor flaw of the infinite-space storage ring back when she forged it.
Thinking of her ring’s limitations, Xia Ruxi shook her head helplessly. “As expected, the Heavenly Dao has its flaws; nothing in existence is truly perfect. To be overfilled is to suffer loss.”
Pushing aside her fleeting regret, she resumed her search for the Qi-Breaking Grass.
“I even managed to find Cleaving Vine—surely a little Qi-Breaking Grass won’t hide from me! Once I track you down, I’m going to pluck every single one of you clean.” Mumbling to herself as she searched, her expressive face completely shattered her usual aloof aura.
That was simply the kind of person Xia Ruxi was. Though she wore the appearance of someone untouched by worldly affairs, she was actually a very down-to-earth, goofy jokester at heart.
She rarely displayed this side of herself to outsiders, however; to anyone else, she always projected an unfathomable, profound demeanor.
Yet because Pei Yuanxiu had saved her—or rather, because she had saved him and mentally adopted him into her inner circle, especially with her ambition to take him as a disciple—she was willing to go out of her way to forage for Qi-Breaking Grass.
Finally, her persistence paid off. Among a patch of strangely shaped weeds, Xia Ruxi discovered a generous cluster of Qi-Breaking Grass, interspersed with several seasoned spiritual herbs suitable for seasoning.
She harvested the entire patch. “Time to head back. I’ve wandered quite far. I wonder if that guy finished processing the fish? I brought all the seasonings back with me—if he hasn’t done it right, he doesn’t get to eat.”
With that, Xia Ruxi hurried back toward the cave at full speed.