Bai Suzhen, I really need to punish you properly.

After today's court hearing, I finally had a rare moment of peace and quiet.

When Wang Xuan heard that Bai Suzhen had not gone out today, he went straight to her residence.

The door was open.

Wang Xuan strode in and closed the door behind him.

Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing were chatting quietly, smiling gently.

Hearing footsteps, the two of them looked up at the same time.

Bai Suzhen's eyes softened as she gently called out, "Young Master."

"Miss Bai, I've come to ask for your help. The cold, yin energy within you can just help alleviate the internal fire that's accumulated in my cultivation due to my rapid progress."

Upon hearing this, Xiaoqing frowned slightly, a hint of disdain on her pretty face: "Hey, you're only in the late stage of Refining Essence into Qi, how can your progress be fast?"

"I have been practicing for less than a month."

Upon hearing this, Xiaoqing's mouth opened slightly, her face full of astonishment.

Even Bai Suzhen showed a surprised expression.

Nowadays, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is becoming increasingly scarce. Apart from innate beings and reincarnated immortals, it is truly unbelievable that someone can cultivate so quickly.

After a brief moment of surprise, Bai Suzhen asked softly, "How can I help you?"

"Just turn back into your original form, shrink a little, and wrap yourself around my shoulder."

Xiaoqing crossed her arms and teased, "Weren't you afraid I'd reveal my true form? Why aren't you afraid when it comes to me, sister?"

Wang Xuan calmly replied, "I'm mentally prepared now, so of course it's different."

After a moment's thought, Bai Suzhen nodded gently and replied, "I promised to help you with your cultivation, so this is no big deal."

As soon as she finished speaking, a flash of white light appeared, and she instantly transformed into a small, translucent white snake, about the thickness of two fingers, as white as snow and as smooth as jade, with a delicate and gentle figure and a pair of big, bright, and adorable eyes.

Wang Xuan felt that he was probably sick, because even a snake looked beautiful to him.

The little white snake nimbly climbed up Wang Xuan's clothes and gently coiled around his shoulder, its cool, chilling aura spreading slowly.

Wang Xuan cast aside all distracting thoughts, sat cross-legged to meditate, and circulated his spiritual energy.

The realm of refining essence into qi is the process of refining the essence and blood of the physical body and transforming it into innate true qi in the dantian, which circulates between the Ren and Du meridians.

At this moment, his true energy was almost saturated, and a faint milky white mist rose from his body, swirling around him without any wind.

Xiaoqing watched from the side, her eyes wide with surprise: "He's about to break through so quickly?"

When Wang Xuan finished his cultivation and opened his eyes, it was already dark outside.

Bai Suzhen regained her graceful human form, her eyes smiling: "Congratulations on your successful breakthrough, young master."

"I'm still far behind you guys."

Wang Xuan gently shook his head, feeling his internal energy refreshed and flowing smoothly.

Although he spoke modestly, he looked quite happy.

Refining Qi into Spirit involves using the perfect true Qi of the Dantian to nourish the soul and spirit, refining the acquired mortal soul into the innate Yang spirit.

Upon reaching this level, he will also be able to use some basic spells recorded in the "True Scripture of the Sun".

He then ordered a table of dinner to be set out, and summoned Rouge. The four of them gathered together to celebrate.

Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing usually live in the mountains and have never learned how to eat at a human table, so their movements with chopsticks are a little clumsy and awkward.

Rouge smiled as she taught them.

Wang Xuan nodded slightly. He felt that this was an important social etiquette and it was indeed necessary to teach them.

He couldn't accept the way Big White and Little Green ate wild animals, swallowing them whole.

How could their little mouths swallow those things!

……

These past few days, Xu Xian has been unable to eat or drink, and is preoccupied with many worries.

Even when working at the pharmacy, he could never muster the slightest enthusiasm.

He could never stop thinking about Bai Suzhen.

Bai Suzhen's beauty was breathtaking, pure and otherworldly. He had never seen such a beautiful woman in his entire life.

But Wang Xuan's reminder kept echoing in his ears, constantly extinguishing the faint hope in his heart.

Even though I'm just an ordinary apprentice at a pharmacy, why would anyone take a liking to me?

What truly chilled him to the bone was the strange incident that had occurred the day before.

The pie he received from Xiaoqing that day, adhering to the principle of not wasting anything, was placed in a bowl and soaked in hot water. However, in the blink of an eye, the pie disappeared into thin air, leaving only a copper coin at the bottom of the bowl.

This was incredibly strange, and he dared not tell his sister and brother-in-law, lest they think he was talking nonsense.

In the evening, Li Gongfu finished his shift and went home.

Xu Jiaorong called out, "Hanwen, come out for dinner, your brother-in-law is back."

Seeing Xu Xian's dejected appearance, Li Gongfu couldn't help but ask, "Hanwen, what's wrong with you these past two days? You seem completely out of it."

"Brother-in-law, do you know Wang Xuan? He said he also works at the county government."

"Wang Xuan? Isn't that the county magistrate? How do you know him?"

"We bumped into each other at West Lake a few days ago. When he heard my name, he specifically asked me if my brother-in-law's name was Li Gongfu."

"I never expected that Magistrate Wang not only knew me, but also knew about my family background."

Xu Xian didn't pay much attention to that, and hesitantly asked, "Sister, brother-in-law, do you think it's possible that a beautiful young lady from a wealthy family would take a liking to me?"

The couple exchanged a glance and quickly pressed for answers.

Under their persistent questioning, Xu Xian finally recounted in detail how he had met them the day before in the rain at West Lake and how they had gotten to know each other by borrowing an umbrella.

"It's like this, that day..."

Seeing her younger brother's anxious and uncertain expression, Xu Jiaorong comforted him, "Then go and see them. You're just going to get an umbrella anyway."

Li Gongfu advised, "In short, you should be more careful."

The next day.

Xu Xian asked the pharmacy for leave and mustered up his courage to go to the "Bai Mansion".

He was unaware that Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing were already living in Wang Xuan's residence.

He finally found Shuangbo Lane, but there was no grand and elegant vermilion mansion in front of him. Instead, there was only a dilapidated house that had been abandoned for a long time, with mottled walls and a desolate atmosphere.

Xu Xian stood outside the door and tentatively called out twice, "Miss Bai? Miss Bai?"

No one answered.

Xu Xian gritted his teeth and went inside.

The courtyard was covered in dust, cobwebs tangled in the corners, and in one corner, there were even scattered pale, withered bones.

In an instant, a chill ran straight up to my head.

Xu Xian was so frightened that he screamed and scrambled out of the house.

This is hardly a place where people can live.

He would never believe that those two girls would dare to live in a place like that.

This is absolutely a den of evil that harms people!

……

Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing entered the study together.

Bai Suzhen asked, "Young master, do you... know where Xu Xian makes his living?"

Xiaoqing has recovered quite well in the past few days, and she plans to find Xu Xian to repay the kindness she once owed him.

"So you came to Xu Xian to repay a debt of gratitude," Wang Xuan remarked, readily agreeing, "That's easy."

Seeing Wang Xuan agree so readily, Bai Suzhen's eyebrows relaxed and a faint smile appeared on her face.

Wang Xuan immediately sent someone to summon Li Gongfu.

Before long, Li Gongfu hurriedly entered and paid his respects.

"grown ups."

Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing listened from behind the curtain.

Wang Xuan cut to the chase: "Your brother-in-law, Xu Xian, is a good friend of mine. I plan to visit him when I have some free time. Where is he working now?"

"Reporting to Your Excellency, he is an apprentice at Qingyutang."

"Okay, I understand."

After Li Gongfu withdrew, Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing emerged from behind the curtain. She sincerely thanked him, saying, "Thank you, young master."

"It's nothing, just remember to come back soon and keep wrapping your arms around my shoulders to help me with my cultivation."

At that moment, Wang Xuan felt like an incompetent husband.

But he really had to help with this small favor.

However, he was certain that, given his hints to Xu Xian and Bai Suzhen, the two could not possibly get together so quickly.

Xiaoqing asked defiantly, "Hey, I'm a snake too, why do you only want my sister to help you?"

Wang Xuan said irritably, "Do you know how much psychological trauma you've caused me? Those few seconds might take me a lifetime to heal."

"Didn't you stick your tongue out at me first?"

Wang Xuan was speechless. Thinking back to the scene, she knew that the woman was just trying to scare her, but anyone who didn't know better would have thought she was about to eat.

He reached out and covered her mouth, physically muting her: "Please stop talking, my dead memories are attacking me."

Bai Suzhen stood aside, watching the two bicker, smiled gently, and walked out of the study first.

Xiaoqing playfully stuck out her tongue and gently licked his palm.

Wang Xuan casually raised his hand and smeared the saliva on his palm onto Xiao Qing's cheek.

Xiaoqing instantly looked disgusted and quickly dodged away, saying, "You're disgusting."

"This is your own, what's there to complain about?"

Xiaoqing looked around, then suddenly asked mysteriously in a low voice, "Aren't you afraid Rouge will bite you?"

Wang Xuan: ? ? ?

He said with a serious expression, "What nonsense are you talking about? I don't understand."

"I'm just curious."

"Stop being so curious about these trivial things. Do you want to grab the microphone?"

"What is that?"

"Your sister has gone far away, aren't you going to go after her?"

"Tch, fine, don't tell me then."

Xiaoqing pouted, gave Wang Xuan a disgruntled look, and quickly caught up with her sister who was leaving the house.