Fairy, don't be afraid, I, Wang Daqi, am truly an honest man.

The ensuing battles were rather dull for most of the disciples.

Since the previous clashes between the top geniuses had already set the tone, the remaining battles mostly became a matter of superior cultivation levels overpowering the higher-level disciples.

The assessment concluded successfully.

Shen Ruyan lived up to expectations and achieved an excellent result, ranking eighth among the inner sect Qi Refining disciples!

According to the sect's rules, the top ten will all receive a substantial reward.

Shen Ruyan received a first-grade high-quality defensive magic weapon, the Azure Wave Armor, and a total of 1000 spirit stones.

This is a huge sum of money that would make any Qi Refining cultivator envious.

This Azure Wave Armor is a close-fitting garment; although it's called armor, it's actually a thin gauze as thin as a cicada's wing.

It doesn't seem like anything special under normal circumstances, but once attacked, it can defend itself and is impervious to water and fire!

…………

…………

…………

Night falls in Qingfeng Garden.

The martial arts arena, which had been bustling all day, finally quieted down, and Wang Daqi and Xu Yan could finally enjoy some peaceful time together tonight.

Inside the room, candlelight flickered.

Wang Daqi sat cross-legged on the bed, slowly circulating the "Azure Wave Qi Refining Technique" within his body.

As spiritual energy surged through his meridians like the tides, he was surprised to find that whenever water-based spiritual energy flowed through the acupoints near his eyes, his dormant blue-green eyes would become slightly warm, and the golden needle-like light would become more solid.

"It seems that this technique complements the pupil technique. It moisturizes the eyes and makes the eyes clear of illusions. If I can learn more advanced water-based techniques in the future, perhaps my pupil technique can be further improved."

He pondered to himself.

At the table, Xu Yan was intently reading "The True Explanation of Talismanic Arts" by the dim light of the fire.

These past few days, she took some spirit stones to the market and bought the cheapest talisman paper and demon beast blood ink, and is trying to sketch patterns on discarded straw paper.

"Daqi, look at the patterns on this 'cleansing talisman,' shouldn't it end here?" Xu Yan asked with great interest, pointing to the scrap paper.

Just as Wang Daqi was about to go over and take a look, there was a soft knock on the door outside the courtyard.

Pushing open the door, Shen Ruyan, dressed in white under the moonlight, looked as beautiful as snow. Although the day's battle had left her slightly tired, her eyes shone with an astonishing brightness.

"Senior Sister Ruyan? Please come in." Xu Yan quickly got up to greet the guest.

Shen Ruyan walked into the room and, without saying much, placed a heavy cloth bag on the table.

The bag was slightly open, revealing neatly stacked spirit stones inside, emitting a mesmerizing fluorescent glow.

A whole 500 yuan!!!

"Senior sister, what is this...?" Xu Yan was so shocked by the large sum of money that her palms were sweating.

As a low-level spirit farmer, she usually only sees fragmented spirits.

This was the first time in her life she had ever seen so many of these large blocks of spirit stones.

"Junior sister, you're amazing. I won this battle entirely thanks to your help these past few days."

Shen Ruyan's eyes were sincere. "So half of these 1000 spirit stones belong to you."

"How can this be!" Xu Yan waved her hand instinctively. "This is the reward you fought so hard to win, Senior Sister. How can we take so much???"

Wang Daqi frowned slightly: "Senior sister, we appreciate your kindness, but 500 spirit stones is indeed too expensive."

Shen Ruyan shook her head and smiled at the two of them: "You two are just too honest. Look at yourselves, you don't even have a decent storage bag. You carry a cloth bag all day long. Not to mention it will be inconvenient when you go down the mountain to do missions, it's not safe to keep your valuables at home. Take this amount of spirit stones. Go to the market tomorrow to buy two storage bags, and use the rest to buy some pills and materials. On the path of cultivation, external resources are also part of your strength."

Upon hearing the words "storage bag," Xu Yan's heart began to race.

In the world of cultivation, storage bags are a symbol of status; even the smallest one costs at least a hundred or two hundred spirit stones.

She had always wanted a storage bag.

This way, you won't need to carry a lot of luggage when you go out.

Even if you have a lot of beautiful clothes, you can take them out now.

She looked at Wang Daqi for help.

Seeing Shen Ruyan's resolute attitude, and remembering that he did indeed need a storage bag, Wang Daqi stopped being coy and smiled generously, "Since Senior Sister has said so, it would be awkward for us to refuse any longer. Thank you, Senior Sister!!!"

"Okay, I'll accept it." Shen Ruyan smiled slightly, chatted for a few more minutes, and then left.

…………

…………

Early the next morning.

Wang Daqi then took Xu Yan to the market at the foot of the mountain.

This place is a melting pot of all sorts of people, but it's also a good place to exchange supplies.

The two stopped in front of a shop called "Wanbaoge".

"Hey buddy, I need two low-grade first-tier storage bags." With spirit stones in hand, Wang Daqi's tone was much more assertive than usual.

Xu Yan originally didn't want it; she wanted Wang Daqi to buy one, and the rest of the spirit stones could be used to buy cultivation resources.

However, Wang Daqi still decided to buy one for her as well.

After all, she is his Daoist partner, and he cannot mistreat her.

And so, when they came out of Wanbaoge, each of them was carrying a brand new storage bag.

The storage bags can only hold about five cubic meters of items, but that's enough for them.

It cost a total of 240 spirit stones, which is quite expensive!

Many outer disciples could work their entire lives and still not afford one.

After receiving the storage bag, Xu Yan was overjoyed. Wang Daqi then accompanied her to buy two beautiful dresses and rouge before returning to the sect.

As soon as the two arrived at the entrance of Qingfeng Garden, they saw a beautiful figure standing quietly by the bamboo fence, as if she had been waiting for a long time.

The person who arrived was Jiang Xuerou.

Today, she had clearly dressed up deliberately, shedding her usual slightly heavy disciple's robes and putting on a light purple flowing silk long dress, over which she wore a white gauze robe as light as a cicada's wing.

The gauze dress is high and bulging, and is quite large.

"It's her!!"

Xu Yan paused, her tone inexplicably tinged with sourness.

Although she knew that Jiang Xuerou was now under Wang Daqi's control, as a woman, it was hard not to feel a little uncomfortable when she saw another outstanding female cultivator who was far superior to her in appearance, talent, and even figure come to her door.

"Your lover's here." Xu Yan snorted and whispered to Wang Daqi as she turned her head.

Without waiting for Wang Daqi's response or paying any attention to Jiang Xuerou, she pushed open the courtyard gate with a sullen face and quickly went into the house.

Jiang Xuerou stood there, awkwardly twisting her fingers, watching Wang Daqi approach, and asked in a low voice, "Your wife... doesn't seem to like me very much. Could it be that she knows about us?"

"That's good, but don't overthink it. She's straightforward; she'll be fine in a while."

Wang Daqi, however, remained calm. His gaze swept over Jiang Xuerou, noticing her breathing was much more stable than before, and he asked, "Did you come here for something?"

Jiang Xuerou took out a small purse from her sleeve and handed it to her with both hands, her beautiful eyes showing a hint of gratitude: "Yesterday at the martial arts arena, I was lucky and got 45th place in the Qi Refining group. This is 10 spirit stones as a reward from the sect, and I thought... I specially brought it to you. After all, I got this good ranking with your help..."

"You can stay here yourself."

Wang Daqi didn't even glance at the purse and simply waved his hand in refusal.

In the past, 10 spirit stones would have been a huge sum of money for him.

But now that he has several hundred spirit stones in his possession, his perspective is naturally different.

More importantly, he knew that the higher Jiang Xuerou's cultivation level, the stronger the "water affinity" talent she could give him in the future. This long-term investment was far more worthwhile than 10 spirit stones.

Therefore, he genuinely hoped that Jiang Xuerou would become stronger!

"But..." Jiang Xuerou still wanted to hand it over.

"Take it as you're told, and buy more pills to stabilize your cultivation level."

Wang Daqi's tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable air of authority: "Let's go inside."