Pei Ziao’s dagger had accurately struck her heart, and Jin Fei’er’s death would have been inevitable were it not for the life-saving high-grade pill she possessed.

When Yun Ruoyan had injured Wang Kuang to the point of death, Jin Fei’er had been very conflicted over whether or not to save him. Wang Kuang had perished during her indecision, and Jin Fei’er was, at this moment, unimaginably glad that she had hesitated.

“Brother! Please, save me… I’m the eldest miss of the Jin family in the Yue kingdom… if you save me, the Jins will surely reward you.”

Although Jin Fei’er was still alive, even a top-grade pill couldn’t fully heal such a life-threatening wound.

After confirming that this girl clawing to life really wouldn’t hurt him, Dou Yao squatted by her side and looked at her with interest. “The eldest miss of the Jin family? That merchant family whose businesses span the four kingdoms?”

“Right, right, that Jin family!” Jin Fei’er looked at Dou Yao as if he were her only hope. “We’re really rich, and if you save me, I can satisfy your every whim!”

His every whim! These words were of particular appeal to Dou Yao. The Dou family was only a middling family in the Li kingdom, and Dou Yao’s position in this middling family was also quite middling.

He was a child that the head of the Dou family, Dou Yi, had had at an advanced age, likely the last of his children, and he had originally been a big favorite. Dou Yi had spent no small amount of effort in grooming him, but his character was disappointing: he spent all day at brothels, gambling dens, and horse racing, and despite all his family’s effort, he was only a third-rank blademaster at sixteen.

The only reason he’d been permitted to enter the expedition was because he’d finally broken through to fourth rank a day or two before the tria. Despite Dou Yi’s reservations with his youngest child, he finally gave him the nomination that would allow him to enter the expedition with his brothers.

Unable to disobey their father’s orders, his older brothers could only keep the misbehaving youth with them, but they would harshly criticize him when he made a mistake.

Naturally, the rebellious Dou Yao ran away while his brothers weren’t paying attention, which had ultimately landed him in this situation.

Dou Yao’s lecherous gaze swept over Jin Fei’er’s prone body, his intent clear.

Jin Fei’er was wearing a scarlet robe, which had been torn in places to reveal snowy-white flesh beneath. The flesh seemed to shine under the moonlight, making Dou Yao’s heart and hands itch.

A young man of sixteen was considered an adult on the Chenyuan continent. Dou Yao had had relations at a brothel before, but never one that could compare with this eldest miss of the Jin family.

She looked to be a little smaller than he was, but had developed in all the right areas, with a slender waist and firm, round buttocks. Because Jin Fei’er was in a crawling posture, he couldn’t see her chest, but the other parts of her body made him think that her breasts wouldn’t be small.

Dou Yao wiped at his drool.

He didn’t hide his lecherous intent, and Jin Fei’er was worldly enough to understand what he was thinking, but this eccentric man who looked like a spindly monkey with barely any hair was her only hope for survival. All she could do was grit her teeth and bear it, then claim revenge when she was fully recovered.

“Brother, I’m heavily wounded, and if you don’t save me, I probably won’t live till daylight.” Her tone was one of despair and desperation.

Dou Yao, who always treated the fairer sex well, immediately replied chivalrously, “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you with me around!” As he said this, he lifted Jin Fei’er up and pinched her butt to ease his feelings.

But when he began to treat her wound, he found that her injuries really were quite severe. There was a three-inch long gash by her heart that continued to seep blood. Equal parts trying to save and take advantage of her, Dou Yao helped dress the wound by Jin Fei’er’s breast.

“Honestly, you must be really lucky not to die even with a wound like this!” Dou Yao muttered as he sprinkled some antibacterial powder on her wound.

Jin Fei’er shut her eyes and inclined her head, bearing with the pain and the wretched, vulgar glances he shot her way.

In her heart, she was picturing dicing up Pei Ziao, Yun Ruoyan, and the others’ bodies into small chunks.

“Yun Ruoyan, Pei Ziao, the Yuns, the Peis, the Lins… once I, Jin Fei’er, leave this accursed place, I’ll destroy all of you!!!”

Yun Ruoyan spent one whole day and night within her bracelet’s pocket dimension. Because she had informed her maids about this beforehand, no one bothered her during this period.

“Qiu!” Qiuqiu happily called out in Yun Ruoyan’s mind. Yun Ruoyan was equally excited at her own progress, and she clenched her fists tightly in order to let herself calm down.

“Congratulations, Mistress, for breaking through three ranks in a row! Now you’re an early seventh-rank blademaster!”

After the poison that had been restricting her cultivation was finally purged, Yun Ruoyan’s cultivation had skyrocketed. In the past, when she had meditated, it felt as if her body seemed to be almost impermeable to such energies. She would spend half a day just to absorb a paltry amount of spiritual energy, and this little amount would often evaporate all by itself.

But now, it felt as in all her pores had opened up and were greedily sucking in energy from the air. If she even pushed a little, the spiritual energy from the heavens would come gushing into her body.

Initially, because the rate of absorption was so rapid, Yun Ruoyan even felt a little uncomfortable, as if her body would be overwhelmed by such large quantities of spiritual energy.

But Qiuqiu told her to continue, that her current situation was akin to dry, arid land encountering spring rains for the first time in months, that her body would know its limits.

And then Qiuqiu imparted to Yun Ruoyan a top-grade cultivation technique for condensing the spiritual energy from the heavens and storing it in her spirit vortex for her future use.

Armed with this technique and Qiuqiu’s guidance from the side, Yun Ruoyan actually managed to accomplish a near-impossible feat: breaking through three ranks in a single day and night!

Even she herself couldn’t believe that she was now a seventh-rank blademaster!

She stretched out her hand and activated her spiritual energy, and it flowed out from her core into her finger. As soon as she injected this energy into her weapon, she would be able to unleash a tremendous attack.

Yun Ruoyan raised her fingers one by one, before slowly clenching her fist. “Qiuqiu, if I use the bracelet’s power now, will I be able to have a cultivation beyond ninth-rank…?”

According to Qiuqiu, the bracelet’s power would be sufficient to double one’s spiritual energy, but Yun Ruoyan wasn’t certain how much more that would net her at the higher ranks.

“Based on what your spiritual vortex and body can sustain, the peak of seventh-rank is probably as far as you can go. If you forcefully try to draw in more power from the bracelet, it’s very possible that your body wouldn’t be able to take it, and you might literally explode.”

Yun Ruoyan’s hopes crashed and burned, but she supposed it was asking for too much to become a true expert in a matter of days.

“Alright, thanks for letting me know.” She was quite inured to these highs and lows, having experienced so much in her two lives. Furthermore, relative to the other scions of the Yun family, being a seventh-rank blademaster at her age was no mean feat.

“Qiu! Mistress, there’s someone by the back of the house!” Qiuqiu suddenly exclaimed.

As soon as it spoke, Yun Ruoyan saw that the window was slightly ajar.

“Who is it?!” She yelled out, wanting to get off the bed to prevent the mysterious stranger from entering, but it was too late.

That man’s actions were surprisingly rapid, and she merely saw a black blur before the man was standing in front of her bed.

Yun Ruoyan moved equally swiftly; as soon as she saw the man’s face, she turned her head around and lowered the drapes on her bed.

“Eh? Why’re you so shy today?” Li Qianhan was dressed in black, as if wanting to meld into the dark of night, but his skin was so fair that it made his face stand out instead.

Instead of leaving, he simply sat on a stool in her room and poured himself a cup of tea. His gold-tipped fan was in one hand, a teacup in the other, and he lay one foot on his knee as he casually glanced at Yun Ruoyan behind the screen.

“Why are you here again?!” Yun Ruoyan called out directly. “Didn’t I tell you not to ever come find me again?” Her tone was impolite, but Li Qianhan didn’t much mind.

Instead of answering her question, he simply sipped the tea that had long since cooled while tapping his fan against the table. “Answer my question first, and then I’ll answer yours. Why are you scared of letting me see your face? Then I’ll tell you why I’m here again.”

Speechless at his childish antics, she could only answer, “I was wounded right where my birthmark was, and the wound refuses to heal. I’m afraid of scaring you with all the pus that’s been leaking out of it.” If I can’t chase you away, I’ll at least make you disgusted!

“Yuck.” Li Qianhan wrinkled his nose. “Alright, well, I was just tasked to see whether you were doing well, and now I have no intention of looking at you at all.”

Yun Ruoyan couldn’t help sneaking a laugh or two behind the screen at having tricked this strange young man, and her tone even turned a little humorous.

“Except for this face, I’m perfectly fine, so don’t let whoever that is worry. Alright, you can leave now.”

“Perfectly fine, even with a face like that?!” Li Qianhan’s nose wrinkled even further. “You’re a strange woman, but that man’s also equally strange, so you’d make a good pair.”

“Strange? In what way?”