In Demon Sword City, the snow drifted down.
The Inner Sect Disciples, clad in white robes wandering the city, were unaware that the mysterious killer who had once wreaked havoc in Yunxiao City now had his gaze fixed on them.
Inside the secret realm, Li Muyang, who was believed by everyone to be dead, had just finished eating roasted bamboo shoots and promptly lay back, curling up.
“Going to sleep, goodnight Elder Yan,” he said.
After having his fill, Li Muyang simply lay down where he was.
This was his temporary abode in the bamboo forest, where a giant rock conveniently provided shelter from wind and rain above his head.
The fire burned on, emitting a warm aura.
Although with the physique of a ninth-layer Qi cultivation realm, even if stripped of his cultivation, Li Muyang would not freeze to death in the snow.
But having a fire to warm himself was indeed very pleasant.
Across from Li Muyang, the woman who had finished her roasted bamboo shoots and still seemed to crave more furrowed her brows.
Yan Xiaoru looked at the Outer Sect Disciple in front of her, who acted with such unrestrained ease around her, seemingly wanting to say something.
But in the end, she just put down the bamboo skewer in her hand and with an expressionless face, softly uttered a “Hmm” in response.
Their first formal conversation in the secret realm thus came to an end in such fashion.
Li Muyang’s life also returned to its original routine.
Each day, he played games and practiced the Startling Swan Sword Technique rigorously, then he would get some bamboo shoots to eat, eat them and continue playing games, and then sleep.
There wasn’t much food in the secret realm, and the bamboo shoots in the forest tasted the best.
Li Muyang’s staple food was mostly roasted bamboo shoots.
It was a pity there were no animals in the secret realm, otherwise, with such a vast bamboo forest, having a few bamboo rats to eat would definitely be great.
Since her failed suicide attempt on New Year’s Eve, Yan Xiaoru had not tried to take her life again.
She returned to the grassland outside the bamboo forest and sat every day about ten paces from the grave of Fairy Jade, attempting to tame the Startling Swan Immortal Sword.
Such attempts were doomed to end in futility.
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However, whenever mealtime came and smoke rose from the bamboo forest, Yan Xiaoru would come uninvited, rudely helping herself to the roasted bamboo shoots without any hesitation.
These bamboo shoots nourished by Spiritual Energy indeed had an exceptional taste.
Li Muyang soon observed that aside from eating these bamboo shoots, Yan Xiaoru did not eat anything else.
Apparently, she had finished off all the snacks and pastries in the Qiankun Ring… tsk tsk…
This woman couldn’t possibly have decided to commit suicide only after eating all the snacks, could she?
Li Muyang found the thought amusing.
Who would have thought that an Elder of the Refinement Demon Sect, with such a cold and lofty appearance, would be a thorough foodie at heart?
Fortunately, the supply of bamboo shoots in the forest was inexhaustible. Li Muyang roasted a large number of bamboo shoots daily to fill up the foodie, Yan Xiaoru, hoping she wouldn’t rush to seek death.
As days passed, Li Muyang became more proficient in the Startling Swan Sword Technique.
The relationship between him and Yan Xiaoru seemed to have grown closer through these shared meals and drinks.
Perhaps it was Li Muyang’s carefree and unrestrained behavior, lying down whenever he felt like it without a care in the world, that influenced her. In Li Muyang’s presence, Yan Xiaoru gradually let go of the airs of being a Demon Sect Elder.
Their conversations no longer bore the disdainful superiority and seemed much more relaxed and natural.
Although she still spoke little and remained aloof, that was just the foodie woman’s nature.
While sitting around the fire roasting bamboo shoots, Yan Xiaoru slowly began to initiate conversations, bringing up topics related to food.
The pastries of Yunxiao City, the grilled fish of Sea Rock City, the oranges of Green Rock Ridge, the roasted lamb of Wushi Mountain… Yan Xiaoru spoke of delicacies as if they were treasures.
The poison inside her grew more severe, but her conversations with Li Muyang increased day by day.
When her complexion had often turned dark purple and her breath had become extremely weak, she suddenly began to talk about the past, about her hometown, her parents, and her former master.
It was then that Li Muyang learned that the usually aloof Elder Yan was actually only 29 years old!
At such a young age, she had reached the Spirit Travel Realm, indicating a future that was virtually limitless.
But Yan Xiaoru, a 29-year-old genius at the Spirit Travel Realm, was now showing clear signs of impending death.
The poison had spread throughout her body and penetrated her bone marrow.
Her face was often purplish-blue and greenish, the veins on her body turned into an eerie pale black, and her palms were filled with thick black energy.
She talked more and more, and her symptoms grew increasingly severe.
In the end, she wouldn’t even leave the bamboo forest.
Even when Li Muyang pretended to sleep or played games, the woman would sit not far from him, chattering on, speaking her disordered and nonsensical thoughts.
Some were about her past life experiences, some were about her cultivation insights, and she even haltingly mentioned some of her past thoughts.
These were secrets that shouldn’t be easily divulged, yet she unreservedly told everything to Li Muyang.
However, Li Muyang was busy playing games, and most of the time, he could only pretend to sleep and ignore what she said.
As Yan Xiaoru’s condition worsened, Li Muyang also couldn’t help but feel anxious.
The woman was already showing signs of confusion, and if they continued to delay, she wouldn’t really die in this secret realm, would she?
Li Muyang became even more eager in the game, relentlessly training in the Startling Swan Sword Technique and carrying the heads of Human Puppet Masters as he continuously slaughtered monsters.
His aptitude was too ordinary; to learn the supreme heart-controlling Startling Swan Sword Technique, even with the system’s help, he still had to work hard enough.
And at this moment, Li Muyang dared not slack off in the slightest.
He poured all his time into the game, even reducing his time for eating and sleeping to the extent possible, trying to accelerate his cultivation progress.
As Li Muyang cut back on eating and resting, the time he spent talking and being with Yan Xiaoru also decreased more and more.
There shouldn’t be any issues with this after all, although they were both in the secret realm, the gap in their status was too wide.
One was an Elder of the Demon Sect, and the other was a nobody from the Outer Sect; although they could talk because of the crisis, at the end of the day, a nobody was still a nobody and shouldn’t get too carried away.
Li Muyang was always clear about his own status.
He didn’t want to get too overconfident now and then be settled with by Yan Xiaoru later on.
But this kind of ignoring seemed to make the dying woman’s eyes grow dimmer and dimmer.
Finally, one night, after Li Muyang habitually roasted the bamboo shoot and quickly ate his share, he lay down, ready to pretend to sleep.
But at that moment, the woman who had been silent for a long time by the fire suddenly spoke.
“Li Muyang…”
The woman’s voice was extremely weak, with her usual cold tone.
But she rarely called out Li Muyang’s name directly, her gaze quietly fixed on him.
Seeing Li Muyang open his eyes and sit up, the woman looked into his eyes and asked seriously, pausing between each word,
“Are you tired of me?”
The woman’s voice was weak and feeble, yet she asked very earnestly.
Startled by the question, Li Muyang blinked, “Huh?”
What the hell… Where is this coming from?
Li Muyang was baffled.
But he saw the woman by the fire looking at him, speaking quietly and deliberately,
“From now on I will no longer speak idle words; I want to impart to you my cultivation of the ‘Ghostly Demon Technique.’ Do you wish to learn it?”