Battle Through the Heavens: Starting with Cao Ying as an apprentice

Without hesitation, Zi Yan threw the pill into her mouth. A gentle yet powerful energy instantly melted in her mouth and flowed down her throat.

This energy wasn't as domineering as ordinary pills; instead, it gently enveloped her meridians, and the warm feeling made her squint her eyes comfortably.

"It's so delicious!" Zi Yan's face lit up with a happy smile, her purple eyes curving into crescent moons.

"Is it tasty?"

A cheerful voice suddenly came from the doorway.

Zi Yan froze, and almost instinctively activated her innate spatial ability, turning around and crashing into the wall behind her—this was her usual way of escaping whenever she was caught.

"Boom!"

A muffled thud echoed in the room.

Zi Yan collapsed to the ground, clutching her forehead, tears welling in her eyes from the pain: "Ouch, it hurts so much!"

She then remembered that Elder Su's residence was protected by special restrictions, making it impossible for her to use her spatial abilities there.

A large bump quickly swelled up on her forehead, and her purple hair was scattered and stuck to her forehead, making her look disheveled and pitiful.

Su Baichen leaned against the door frame and couldn't help but laugh as he watched this scene.

He wore a plain white robe with a jade belt around his waist. His long, dark hair was casually tied up with a wooden hairpin. He looked refined and gentle, but his deep eyes shone with an all-knowing light.

"Hey, what's up with the little tyrant of our academy coming here to bang his head against the wall?"

Su Baichen walked slowly into the room, his voice full of teasing: "If you want to replace my wall, you can just say so! You don't need to bang your head against the wall, it hurts just watching you do it!"

Two women followed behind him. The one on the left wore a long dress with colorful scales, her face was stunningly beautiful, and her brows carried an innate majesty; the one on the right wore a light purple gauze dress, her temperament was gentle and graceful, and her eyebrows and eyes were seven-tenths similar to the woman on the left. They were the sisters, Cai Lin and Cai Die.

The two sisters were also bewildered by Ziyan's "heroic act of banging her head against the wall." Caidie subconsciously covered her mouth and whispered, "Did this child sleep so hard last night that she went to find a wall to bang her head against?"

"You, you're bullying me!" Seeing that there was no way to escape, Zi Yan simply gave up and sat on the ground, rubbing her eyes and pretending to cry.

"Bullying a child!"

She did indeed look pitiful—her small body was curled up on the carpet, her long purple hair was messily scattered over her shoulders, and a few tears were actually squeezed out of the corners of her eyes. If the three people present hadn't known her true identity, they probably would have been fooled by her acting skills.

“A child? Ha!” Su Baichen walked to the table and sat down, slowly pouring himself a cup of tea.

"I don't think so. More like a giant baby."

He took a sip of tea and glanced at Zi Yan: "Don't think I can't see your situation. If we're really talking about age, you're much older than Cao Ying and the others. You're probably about the same age as me."

Upon hearing this, Zi Yan immediately stopped faking her tears and scratched the back of her head somewhat awkwardly.

She then realized that her trick of feigning helplessness, which had always worked in front of ordinary elders, was completely ineffective in front of Elder Su.

Upon hearing this, Cai Lin and Cai Die exchanged a glance, both of them filled with doubt.

Cai Lin walked to Zi Yan's side and carefully examined the girl who looked only twelve or thirteen years old. She could sense an extremely powerful energy fluctuation hidden within Zi Yan's body, something that no human child could possess.

“Bai Chen, do you mean…” Cai Lin turned to Su Bai Chen, her brows furrowing slightly.

"It is a top-tier magical beast." Su Baichen put down his teacup and explained calmly, "Normally, magical beasts need to reach the seventh rank in strength to transform into human form, but there is a shortcut—the Transformation Pill."

"And this is its current situation."

He pointed at Zi Yan and continued to explain, "It's probably just a coincidence that she ate a Transformation Grass. Although the Transformation Grass can allow magical beasts to transform into human form earlier, it's still not as good as a real Transformation Pill. In addition, her own cultivation level wasn't strong enough at that time, so she transformed into this little girl."

Upon hearing this, Cai Lin and Cai Die suddenly understood. Cai Lin, in particular, keenly grasped the key word in Su Baichen's words—"top-tier"!

In the world of Warcraft, the word "top" represents the supreme status of bloodline, and only those legendary races are worthy of this title: Ancient Void Dragon (a branch of the Dragon Emperor's bloodline), Heavenly Demon Phoenix (a degeneration of the Ancient Heavenly Phoenix), Nine Nether Earth Python (a degeneration of the Ancient Heavenly Serpent), and Nine-Striped Demon Dragon Bear.

She herself possesses the bloodline of the Eight-Colored Sky-Swallowing Python. If she can evolve into the Nine-Colored Sky-Swallowing Python, she can also join the ranks of the top.

Cai Lin carefully sensed Zi Yan's aura but found none of the chilling aura characteristic of the snake race. Therefore, this little girl was likely one of the other top-tier magical beasts.

Thinking of this, a complex emotion welled up in Cai Lin's heart. They, the snake people, were also half-demonic beasts, and she knew all too well how difficult it was to survive in the human world.

She walked to Zi Yan's side and gently stroked Zi Yan's head. Her long purple hair slid through her fingers, soft and warm.

"Little Ziyan, do you want to take the pill?" Cai Lin's voice was unusually gentle, completely different from his usual sternness.

Chapter 184 Zi Yan's Suicide Attempt

Zi Yan looked up at Cai Lin's gentle eyes, and that warmth flowed into her heart through her gaze.

It was a long-lost warmth of family, a warmth she had only felt with Elder Su Qian, who had brought her back to the academy from the deep mountains.

For Ziyan, who was abandoned in the deep mountains at a young age, this warmth was all too precious.

Almost instinctively, she lunged forward, burying her small body directly into Cai Lin's arms, nuzzling against him like a little animal seeking warmth.

When Cai Die saw this, her eyes widened in surprise.

【W-wh-why is my sister suddenly being so gentle?】Cai Die felt a mix of emotions.

Even I, her own sister, rarely see her like this. Who's really your sister anyway?

Watching Ziyan snuggle against her sister, she couldn't help but feel a pang of envy—although she knew her sister was very kind to her, this kind of unreserved tenderness was something she had never seen before.

Su Baichen's expression, however, was quite different. His lips twitched slightly, and a dangerous glint flashed in his eyes.

[Damn it, what are you doing, you little brat!] Alarm bells rang in Su Baichen's mind.

That's my woman, is that a place for you to be? That's my private spot!

He tried to maintain a calm exterior, but his clenched fists betrayed the turmoil within him.

"Hey, little brat, have you had enough of rubbing against me? If you have, get off me now!" Su Baichen's voice was calm but carried an undeniable sense of pressure.

His gaze was as sharp as a knife as he stared at Zi Yan, and the atmosphere in the room instantly plummeted to freezing point.

Upon hearing this, Zi Yan snapped back to reality from her warm reverie. She looked around to confirm that she was safe for the time being—Elder Su didn't seem to intend to pursue the matter of her sneaking in last night.

But she still remembers the grudge of being hung from the tree last night!

Thinking of this, Zi Yan smiled slyly, deliberately snuggling closer to Cai Lin and finding a comfortable spot on his shoulder, a look of bliss on her face.

"It's so warm and comfortable." Zi Yan deliberately dragged out her words and turned to wink at Su Baichen.

Are you very angry?

Seeing the throbbing veins on Su Baichen's forehead, she became even more smug: "Go ahead and hit me! Go ahead and hit me! Go ahead and hit me!"

Hearing this, Cai Lin, who was holding Zi Yan, looked down in shock at the ignorant little one in her arms. She could clearly feel Su Baichen's breathing becoming unstable behind her.

Cai Die stood aside, keenly sensing that the "killing aura" around her was rising wildly, almost reaching the critical point of explosion.

She subconsciously took half a step back, looking at Zi Yan, who was still courting death, with pity.

Su Baichen took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and silently recited a self-comforting mantra.

"She's still a child, she's still a child," he kept telling himself.

She has a childlike heart, you have an adult heart, don't get angry...

The veins on his forehead throbbed even more violently.

Seeing Su Baichen's barely suppressed anger, Zi Yan was secretly delighted.

[Haha, just as I thought! He wouldn't dare hit me!] Zi Yan thought smugly.

With Sister Cailin around, what can he do to me?

Thinking of this, Zi Yan raised her head and stared intently at Cai Lin with her purple eyes.

At that moment, she felt like she had found a strong yet gentle support, and her back straightened unconsciously.

"Can you be my older sister?" Zi Yan's voice suddenly became very soft, filled with cautious anticipation.

Those eyes were so pure, like a little animal afraid of being abandoned again.

Cai Lin's heart softened as she thought of the hardships this top-tier magical beast cub endured alone in the human world, and her lonely situation...

Cai Lin nodded helplessly: "Okay."

With just a simple word, Zi Yan felt as if she had gained the whole world.

She jumped up from Cai Lin's arms in an instant, cheered, and then turned to Su Baichen with a victor's "smile"—a smile full of smugness and provocation.

Cai Die, who was originally worried about losing her position in her sister's heart, couldn't help but burst out laughing when she saw this smile.

[Sigh, why do people love to court death so much?] Butterfly sighed inwardly.

"If you don't do stupid things, you won't die..."

Upon seeing Zi Yan's smile, Su Baichen suddenly calmed down.

It was an extremely unnatural calm, like the deathly stillness before a storm. His aura was completely suppressed, which only made people more uneasy.

Cai Lin keenly noticed Su Baichen's change and quickly patted Zi Yan in her arms, signaling with her eyes to stop her from courting death.

This is her newly adopted sister! Cai Lin was anxious.

Are we really going to let her die young?

However, Zi Yan, immersed in the joy of victory, completely failed to understand Cai Lin's reminder and instead made a face at Su Baichen with even more smugness.

Seeing this, Cai Lin could only sigh helplessly and silently pray for Zi Yan.

Su Baichen slowly walked towards Zi Yan, his steps steady and devoid of any emotion.

He reached out and grabbed Zi Yan by the back of her collar, lifting her out of Cai Lin's arms like a kitten.

"Little brat, you've gotten so cocky just because you've found a sister!" Su Baichen's voice was low and cold, each word seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth.

Startled by the sound, Zi Yan finally snapped out of her suicidal state. The feeling of weightlessness as her feet left the ground made her instinctively struggle.

"What...what are you going to do!" Zi Yan's voice trembled slightly.

"Let me tell you, I'm Cai Lin's newly adopted younger sister! If you dare to bully me, Cai Lin won't let you get away with it!"

As she spoke, she looked at Cai Lin pleadingly, her purple eyes filled with expectation—this was the new backer she had just recognized!

Looking at Zi Yan's expectant eyes and then at Su Baichen's frighteningly calm expression, Cai Lin finally said helplessly, "In this family... he's the head of the household."

Upon hearing this, Zi Yan was struck dumb, frozen in mid-air as if by lightning.

He's the head of the household!

"He's in charge!"

"he……"