I don't want to be trained by my senior sister!

Ning Qian reached out her hand and gently touched his wrist with her two slender fingers.

Clear your mind, calm your spirit, and guide your energy back to its origin.

Fang Xuan: "..."

...So that's how you "help".

He felt that his little bit of expectation had vanished like a burst bubble...

no.....

...his pants were all...

System, does this count as training? Does regulating qi and blood count as training?

......

Fang Xuan stared blankly at the leaping flames of the campfire.

It seems he really needs to punish his senior sister severely...

When I get back, I have to... well, I need to think of a way to make her realize that her junior brother not only needs to be fed, but also needs to be disciplined.

Thinking of this, his gaze fell back on the fragrant mushroom soup in the pot.

"Senior sister, is there any soup left?" he asked eagerly as he leaned closer.

Ning Qian glanced at him and, seeing that his complexion had returned to normal, nodded and served him another bowl.

Fang Xuan took it and gulped down the whole bowl of hot soup in just a few mouthfuls.

Ning Qian: "...?"

Didn't you just say the medicine was weak? Why are you still drinking so much?

"It's a bit cold, drink some more to warm up," Fang Xuan explained without changing his expression.

Unfortunately, I don't know if it's because my body has adapted.

After drinking the second bowl of soup, apart from feeling a little warm, there was nothing else unusual.

Fang Xuan was somewhat disappointed, but he could only give up...

......

As night deepened, the chill intensified.

Ning Qian arranged, "You take the first half of the night, and I'll take over for the second half."

"Although this place is safe for the time being, we must not let our guard down. I will set up a few simple early warning barriers."

"it is good."

Fang Xuan agreed. With his current nascent core, he could go without sleep for ten days or half a month without any problem, so he was perfect for keeping watch.

However, my senior sister is still in the Body Tempering Realm. She has maxed out her attack and skills, but her physique is very weak.

Therefore, we need to eat and sleep normally to rest.

He didn't plan to wake his senior sister; he would just stay and watch over her.

After Ning Qian set up the restriction, she walked to the other side of the campfire and lay down fully clothed.

Fang Xuan sat down cross-legged beside him, sending out a wisp of his divine sense to guard his surroundings while circulating his cultivation technique to absorb the rich spiritual energy in the secret realm.

Meanwhile, he didn't stop working either, taking out several array plates and setting up a simple concealment array around them.

Safety first.

.......

Time passed quietly.

The stars in the night sky were exceptionally bright, and the Milky Way stretched like a ribbon.

In the latter half of the night, Fang Xuan was immersed in comprehending the new cultivation technique when he suddenly felt a slight movement beside him.

He opened his eyes and saw that Ning Qian, who had been sleeping peacefully with her back to him, had turned over at some point.

Her cool brows furrowed slightly, as if she had encountered something unpleasant in her dream.

Then, she subconsciously moved, her little head slowly rubbing towards him.

Fang Xuan: "!!!"

He stood frozen in place, watching the little head finally press against his leg and rub against it.

Her furrowed brows seemed to relax slightly as she found a source of warmth, but her sleeping face was still not very peaceful.

Is this still the aloof and distant Senior Sister Ning he knew...?

After hesitating for a moment, I still reached out my hand.

His fingertips landed on her slightly furrowed brow, gently smoothing it out.

That's much better.

Ning Qian seemed to be awakened by him; her long eyelashes trembled, and she groggily opened her eyes a crack.

Eyes facing each other.

The campfire was dying down, its last rays casting a dim glow.

Fang Xuan could clearly see the hazy, watery light in her eyes as she awoke, and her reflection in them.

She looked at him, her eyes no longer holding the cold indifference of the day, but only a bewildered blankness.

She looked at him for a few seconds, seemingly confirming who it was, and then closed her eyes with relief.

Fang Xuan's hand was still suspended in mid-air.

He slowly withdrew his hand, looking at Ning Qian who had fallen asleep again. For some reason, the thought of severely punishing her in his heart... became more and more... to push her down.

Forget it, why bother arguing with such a... cute senior sister while she's asleep...

.......

The next morning, as dawn was breaking.

Ning Qiancai woke up.

She glanced at Fang Xuan, who was meditating beside her, and at the array that had been set up around them.

Why didn't you call me?

Fang Xuan also opened his eyes and stretched his muscles.

"I forgot... hahaha"

The two tacitly avoided mentioning the little incident from the previous night, extinguished the traces of the campfire, and continued on their way.

Destination—deep in the snow-capped mountains.

The higher we went up the mountain, the stronger the wind and snow became.

For cultivators, this ordinary cold would be negligible, but the wind and snow in the secret realm seemed to be mixed with some kind of extremely cold spiritual power.

Fang Xuan didn't care; his spiritual power was abundant, and his cultivation at the half-step Void Core stage was enough to support him.

However, Ning Qian is currently only at the Body Tempering Realm.

As Fang Xuan walked, he suddenly felt his hand being grasped by a slightly cool hand.

Ning Qian remained expressionless, staring at the mountain path blurred by the wind and snow ahead, her voice calm: "The wind and snow are too heavy, it's easy to get separated."

"Hmm... okay."

.......

Following the intuition of the Treasure Rat Senior Sister, the gains along the way were simply astonishing.

You can find something good almost every few steps.

The snow ginseng of astonishing age, the star-marked grass emitting a faint glow...

Although some of the items were not of the highest grade for Fang Xuan, their quantity and quality far exceeded those found in ordinary secret realm explorations.

"Senior sister, have you... been here before?"

Fang Xuan couldn't help but ask again.

This treasure-hunting efficiency is practically cheating!

Ning Qian didn't stop walking, and gently shook her head: "Never."

Around noon, they discovered a cave entrance partially obscured by thick ice floes beneath a massive, sheltered ice cliff.

A faint fluctuation of spiritual energy emanated from inside the cave, along with a refreshing and cool fragrance.

"Chalcedony." Ning Qian's eyes lit up slightly as she uttered the two words.

The two entered the cave.

The cave is not deep, but at the end, there is a naturally formed stone depression.

A shallow layer of white jade-colored liquid had accumulated in the depression.

An extremely rare and precious natural treasure—ten-thousand-year-old ice heart jade marrow! And judging from its concentration and spiritual light, its quality is frighteningly high.

This thing is considered an invaluable treasure for cultivators who practice ice-attribute techniques.

Even if the attributes don't match, its incredibly pure spiritual energy and its ability to cleanse the body and stabilize the soul are enough to drive any cultivator crazy.

This tiny depression is of immeasurable value.

Back home, let alone reaching the late stage of the Void Core realm, he could easily break through to the Golden Core realm directly.

Ning Qian was about to step forward to collect it when she suddenly stopped.

She raised her right hand and opened her palm.

Beneath the skin of his palm, a faint, almost invisible, blood-red line was now glowing slightly, emitting a burning pain.

A drop of bright red blood seeped uncontrollably from the center of the pattern and dripped onto the water rock.

"Tracking prohibited..."

Ning Qian's voice instantly turned cold.

It's Shen Chen.

Generally speaking, sect rules do not allow high-level cultivators such as elders and peak masters to enter the secret realm, so as to avoid disrupting the stability of the secret realm.

"What's wrong?" Fang Xuan asked.

"Let's go first." Ning Qian said, then pulled Fang Xuan away.

at this time.

A slightly hoarse, yet somewhat mocking, female voice drifted from the direction of the cave entrance:

"Tsk tsk tsk, chalcedony... it really is a good thing, it was worth all the effort I put in."

As the words were spoken, a woman whose features bore a slight resemblance to Shen Chen slowly emerged from behind the icicles at the cave entrance, blocking the only exit.

She exuded the spiritual energy fluctuations of the early stage of the Void Core realm, but her eyes, like those of a venomous snake, were firmly locked onto Ning Qian and Fang Xuan.

Ning Qian stopped and gently shielded Fang Xuan behind her, whispering, "Soul Transfer Technique..."

The Soul Transfer Technique is a sinister and secret art that can forcibly separate a part of one's own soul and entrust it to the body of another.

Although it can temporarily control actions and even exert some of its strength, it causes great damage to the body, resulting in a drop in cultivation level or even permanent damage to the soul.

It seems that Shen Chen is so desperate to kill them that he has even disregarded his own Dao foundation.

Fang Xuan frowned to the side. Soul Transfer Technique?

That doesn't sound like a good approach.

Ning Qian looked at the woman at the cave entrance with a solemn expression and explained, "A wisp of Shen Chen's soul has been temporarily residing in this vessel."

After listening, Fang Xuan looked at the woman's undisguised mockery and asked, "So, the woman outside... is Shen Chen?"

"That's one way to understand it. The strength he can unleash by using this body is probably close to a portion of his original strength, or at least... far surpasses that of an ordinary Void Core cultivator."

......

At the cave entrance, Shen Chen's female form grinned, her gaze sweeping back and forth between Fang Xuan and Ning Qian.

"Today, you and this chalcedony will rest here forever..."

.....