At dusk beside the spiritual field, Li Yuechan listened to her brother’s words and immediately pursed her lips.
“Not keeping me company for dinner again…”
Li Muyang, who was standing up with the lunchbox, chuckled and said without any courtesy, “You have the Sect-provided Spirit Rice, why always think about mooching off my meal?”
“Go back and cook your own. You still have a long way to go if you want to eat my rice.”
Li Muyang hummed a cheerful tune softly, holding the food his younger sister had brought as he entered the tile-roofed house.
Watching his departing figure, Li Yuechan sighed.
“Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you’re stingy or generous…”
The girl shook her head and turned to leave.
Speaking of being stingy, he almost went broke saving her, spending all his Silver Coin on Spiritual Medicine.
But when it came to generosity, he wouldn’t even share a meal of Spirit Rice with her.
Silently sighing, the girl turned and walked down the mountain.
The last rays of the setting sun fell on her, and on the empty mountain path, she suddenly heard a mature woman’s voice.
“…your brother, he does bear some oddities.”
This voice emerged abruptly, without any forewarning.
Although the mountain path was clearly empty aside from Li Yuechan, this voice seemed as if whispered by an Evil God from beyond.
Yet, the girl who heard this voice was not scared at all; instead, her eyes lit up with joy.
“Senior!” Li Yuechan exclaimed in delight, “You woke up?”
The woman’s voice laughed gently, “Yes, I’ve finally woken up.”
“Having absorbed so much essence from the lower-level Demon Cultivators and after such a long rest, I have finally stabilized my spirit and woken up.”
Saying this, the woman sighed, “My girl, you’ve suffered during this time.”
“While I was asleep, I vaguely sensed your dire plight, but it was an important time for my recuperation, and I couldn’t be distracted. I had planned to help you fully clear the Demonic Qi from your body once I awoke…”
The woman whispered quietly.
The girl on the mountain path, however, smiled and shook her head, “Senior, don’t worry about it, my brother has already cured me. Although it cost a lot of money, I will definitely help him earn it back in the future.”
“As for you, Senior, the fact that you could mend your spirit is already a great joy; I won’t mind the rest.”
The girl cheerfully consoled the older woman.
In the void, the woman’s voice laughed gently, “What a broad-minded young girl you are, indeed I haven’t misjudged you.”
“If it were that unworthy disciple of mine from before, they might have already harbored resentment for my neglect.”
In the woman’s voice, there was a trace of bitterness.
It seemed to evoke some unpleasant memories.
Li Yuechan walked on the mountain path, glanced back at the distant tile-roofed house, and curiously said,
“By the way, Senior, you just mentioned there’s something odd about my brother… What kind of oddity?”
The girl actively changed the subject.
After a few seconds of silence, the woman’s voice then said, “This brother of yours, unassuming and inconspicuous, is more troublesome and dangerous than any manager in this outer Sect.”
“I can vaguely sense that he carries some kind of powerful Spirit Talisman, at least of the lower-grade level.”
“Meanwhile, the aura of that talisman is astonishingly lethal. Even though it has not been activated, it gives one the feeling of a thorn in the back, undoubtedly not the work of an ordinary Talisman Master, but more likely that of a Grandmaster of Talisman Arts.”
“Moreover, his breath is steady and long, not like that of a regular Qi Refining stage; from my observation, he is likely close to the Foundation Establishment Entry level already.”
The old woman judged as such, “With such a cultivation and such a talisman, even taking into account the entire outer section of the Refinement Demon Sect, there are hardly any who could clearly surpass your brother.”
The old woman’s eye was incredibly discerning, also being a grandmaster in the art of talismans and curse techniques, and exceptionally sensitive to the aura of talismans.
She recognized at first glance that the young man in front of her was extraordinary.
Upon hearing the old woman’s words, Li Yuechan blinked her eyes in surprise.
“My brother is close to reaching Foundation Establishment already?”
The girl looked back at the small tiled house, disbelief written all over her face. “Elder, could you have seen wrongly? My brother was just a mortal three months ago, and only reached the third level of Qi cultivation last month.”
“Even if his talent is exceptional and his aptitude surpasses others, wouldn’t he at most have reached the fourth level of Qi cultivation within a month?”
The girl instinctively disbelieved.
Yet the old woman’s voice said, “That’s why this old body mentioned your brother is a bit odd.”
“His cultivation progress is too rapid, eerily so. Even the descendants of the great families, who spare no expense in using various Spiritual Medicine and Spiritual Objects when they reach the age of cultivation, have a pace similar to his.”
“And here in the outer ranks of the Refinement Demon Sect, where cultivation resources are scarce, we only receive a small amount of low-quality Spirit Rice each month.”
“With such resources, it isn’t possible to cultivate that swiftly.”
“So I say there’s something strange about your brother. Not only does his cultivation progress rapidly, but he also possesses a top-tier Spirit Talisman imbued with a strikingly fearsome aura of slaughter.”
“All these signs are beyond what an ordinary person could possess.”
“Your brother must be hiding some kind of secret,” said the old woman with conviction.
The girl on the mountain path quietly pondered the old woman’s words.
After a while, she smiled and shook her head.
“If my brother has indeed attained a cultivation close to Foundation Establishment, then I am happy for him.”
“As for secrets… I, as his humble little sister, also have secrets I haven’t shared with him.”
“Besides, I know he’s my brother, the one who spent all his savings and spared no effort to save me.”
Saying this, the girl turned around to gaze at the small tiled house halfway up the mountain, sighing softly, yet her expression was incredibly resolute.
“As long as he’s my brother, that’s enough for me.”
The girl’s soft whisper dispersed into the forest.
The old woman’s voice chuckled and said,
“This old body wasn’t suggesting you harm your brother… Why such an intense reaction, little girl?”
“Right, if I remember correctly, he’s not your biological brother, right? No blood relation?”
“Since you’re so close, why not marry him? It would be perfect to share your secrets, and together as husband and wife, you can advance together, your future prospects limitless,” said the old woman with a chuckle.
At these words, the girl’s face turned bright red, and she became embarrassed.
“Elder!”
The girl stomped her foot shyly and trotted away, “What nonsense are you talking about!”
With cheeks burning, the girl walked briskly up the mountain path, while the laughter of the old woman echoed in her ears, clearly pleased with teasing the young girl.
However, there was one thing the old woman didn’t say because she wasn’t very sure about it.
But vaguely, she seemed to perceive traces of a certain ancient demonic technique on Li Muyang.
That technique, supposedly lost for many years, from Black Cloud Fort…
With this in mind, the old woman sighed deeply.
If the secret that Li Yuechan’s brother harbors is truly linked to Black Cloud Fort, then it was perilously dangerous.
But she couldn’t be certain if it was Black Cloud Fort’s demonic technique, perhaps it was just a similar trace. Logically, something from Black Cloud Fort shouldn’t reappear in the world.
That terrifying and mysterious fort, it would be best if it remained buried in the river of time, never to surface again.