Zu An was taken aback. “You’re awake?”

“If I don’t wake up now, are you going to give all of my possessions away to other women?” sneered Mi Li.

Zu An scratched his head sheepishly, feeling awkward at having been caught in the act. He immediately put his expert level skill of changing the topic into play and asked, “How did you manage to speak inside my head? Are you able to hear my thoughts?”

“The Life-and-Death Contract we’ve sealed previously, in some ways, tied our souls together. Naturally, this means that we can communicate via our souls. As for listening to your thoughts…” Mi Li paused for a moment to let out a sneer, “… you need not worry about that. I have no interest in those filthy thoughts in your mind.”

“It’s one thing for you not to be able to listen, but another for you not to listen!” Zu An immediately felt nervous. It felt like he had been stripped bare of his clothes before another person.

“Anything involving souls and thoughts tend to be extremely cryptic. Unless one uses the Soul Searching Art, it won’t be that easy to listen to another person’s thoughts. In fact, even with the Soul Searching Art, one can only listen to bits and pieces of his mind, and it would inflict irrecoverable damage on the target too,” explained Mi Li coldly. “If you still feel worried about it, why don’t you try listening to my thoughts then?”

Needless to say, there was no way Zu An would feel safe at the possibility of having his mind read. He immediately tried to listen to Mi Li’s thoughts through his willpower, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t heart anything at all.

“Could this woman be lying to me?” Zu An wondered. After all, he lacked common sense regarding this world, and it was obvious that Mi Li was an extremely knowledgeable person who was well-versed in many skills. Perhaps, the art of reading another person’s mind might be a skill requiring some sort of special technique.

An idea popped into Zu An’s mind, and he immediately visualized the image of Mi Li kneeling on the floor calling him ‘master’…

Pah!

The Tai’e Sword suddenly leaped up and slapped his face before slotting back into its sheath. It was so fast that Zu An didn’t have time to react at all.

“Didn’t you say that you can’t read my mind?!” roared Zu An angrily.

“There’s something amiss with your gaze,” replied Mi Li nonchalantly.

“…” Zu An.

Please, you’re hiding in the Tai’e Sword, and the sword is right behind me. How in the world are you able to see my gaze?

“Alright, I’ll be heading back to sleep now.” Mi Li harrumphed. “You aren’t allowed to give my stuff away to anyone, or else I’ll kill anyone whom I see is in possession of my items. As a man, don’t you feel embarrassed to use another woman’s items to flirt around? Have some pride, you scumbag!”

Mi Li made sure to thoroughly put down Zu An before falling back into hibernation.

Zu An was rendered speechless. She said earlier that she’ll be going into deep sleep in order to repair her soul, but she leaped out as soon as I took out her stuff… Is she really sleeping or feigning it?

“What are you doing muttering to yourself?” Qiao Xueying eyed Zu An doubtfully as she noticed how his face was flickering with many emotions, as if he was deep in thought. “Also, what’s wrong with that sword of yours? Why is it moving on its own accord?”

Zu An and Mi Li did exchange quite a few words via their telepathic communication, but hardly a second had passed in realtime throughout the process, so Qiao Xueying didn’t sense anything amiss.

“It’s nothing much,” replied Zu An. “I just thought of a new sword art, so I tried simulating it a little.”

“Your new sword art involves smacking your own face with it?” Qiao Xueying was unconvinced of the excuse Zu An thought up of.

“Of course not. That’s why it’s a failed simulation,” replied Zu An. He mustn’t allow others to think that he had some weird masochistic tendency.

Qiao Xueying finally snapped out of her daze and remembered her primary intention. With a huff, she demanded, “Wait a moment, why are you thinking about some other sword art when I’m asking you to give me a present? Forget it! Since it’s that difficult for you, I don’t want it anymore.”

Just the thought that Ji Xiaoxi had received a ki stone larger than hers made her incredibly displeased, and from Zu An’s expression, it seemed like he didn’t have anything larger either. After all, he couldn’t possibly take back what he had already given to Ji Xiaoxi, right?

It was one thing to understand his difficulties rationally, but emotions simply didn’t conform to logic. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +333 Rage!

Zu An also felt his head hurting after seeing her Rage points. Mi Li had already made her stance clear—he couldn’t give away any of her items to other women. But of course, he couldn’t possibly let Qiao Xueying walk away without anything at all after all she had done for him…

What else do I have then? I left the underground palace in a hurry, so I didn’t manage to get anything good at all.

Zu An searched his body, and all of a sudden, he thought of something—the Marrow Cleansing Pill!

He quickly took a look at his Rage points and saw that he had managed to earn 33,595 of it within such a short period of time.

Oh my, I’m really a prodigy! I really have to thank those cute classmates of mine for their generous contribution.

He quickly bought a Marrow Cleansing Pill with 10,000 Rage points, only to remember how he had remarked previously that only a fool would waste so much Rage points to buy this…

Damn it, I really should stop raising flags!

Upon taking out the Marrow Cleansing Pill, he suddenly noticed a flicker in the price of the Marrow Cleansing Pill. He quickly took a closer look. At first glimpse, nothing seemed to be off, but upon careful inspection, he realized that there was an additional '0’ behind.

The price had jumped to a whopping 100,000 Rage points!

What the hell!

Zu An leaped up in fury. The price would actually inflate?! It used to be 10,000 previously, and now it’s 100,000? Doesn’t that mean that it’ll leap up to 1,000,000 the next time?

His complexion turned incredibly awful. He was still planning to give one of it to everyone around him, but it seemed like he couldn’t afford that anymore.

On second thought, it did make sense too. Items that could raise one’s aptitude were precious and rare in this world. He thought that 10,000 Rage points was expensive in the past, but upon learning how important a cultivator’s aptitude was, it was actually a pretty good deal.

It’s understandable why the Keyboard would gradually increase its price. I guess I should exchange for it only when I really need it. Otherwise, if its price leap to 10,000,000 or something, that would definitely be far out of my reach.

Zu An gently placed Ji Xiaoxi against the tree before walking over to Qiao Xueying’s side. He handed the Marrow Cleansing Pill to her and said, “I don’t have any other heaven grade ki stone anymore, so I’ll give you something more precious.”

Looking at the inelegant pill presented to her, Qiao Xueying scoffed in disbelief, “What else could possibly be more valuable than a heaven grade ki stone?”

“Try eating it then.” Zu An delivered the pill to her mouth.

“What is this?” Qiao Xueying instinctively leaned backward to avoid the medicine as she eyed him warily. “It can’t be aphrodisiac, can it?”

“…” Zu An.

Am I that kind of person in your mind?

“Yes, it is. Are you going to eat it or not?” Zu An’s patience was gradually hitting its limits.

Qiao Xueying’s face reddened a little. She smelled the fragrance coming from the pill, and somehow, there was something in the depths of her soul that seemed to crave for it, inducing her to gulp down her saliva. “I reckon that you wouldn’t have the guts to feed me aphrodisiac!”

So, she opened her mouth and swallowed the pill whole.

When her tongue accidentally slicked across Zu An’s finger, the latter’s body shuddered a little. Even her mouth feels soft as well.

On the other hand, Qiao Xueying found her heart skipping a beat as an unnatural look appeared on her face. She quickly changed the topic and asked, “What does your pill do?”

“It can raise a person’s aptitude by a level,” replied Zu An.

“How could there be such a convenient pill in the world?” asked Qiao Xueying with a frown, refusing to believe his words.

“You’ll know it soon enough.” Zu An couldn’t be bothered to explain it.

Qiao Xueying was just about to say something else when she suddenly felt a heat spreading throughout her body, gushing through her veins. Every pore on her body seemed to be tingling in delight.

Astonished, she quickly focused her attention on assimilating the medicinal energy.

Some time later, she slowly opened her eyes. Her pupils looked brighter than before, and the surrounding air smelled sweeter and fresher than ever. She could clearly see the fluttering wings of a dragonfly in the distance, as well as the rhythmic swaying of the grass. It was the same changes Zu An experienced when he consumed the Marrow Cleansing Pill back then.

“T-this… It really can raise a person’s aptitude!” exclaimed Qiao Xueying in disbelief.

Zu An rolled his eyes. “You didn’t believe it when I told you earlier. Do I look like the kind of person to give out empty promises?”

Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes. How am I to know whether you’re lying or not when you keep boasting all day long?

That being said, she was currently still fully immersed in her shock and delight that she ended up apologizing, “I’m sorry.”

Zu An was taken aback. “Why are you apologizing to me?”

Qiao Xueying had a complicated look on her face. “A medicine that increases one’s aptitude is completely unheard of. This is indubitably one of the most precious medicine in the world. If others were to know of it, it would surely cause a huge flurry. If I hadn’t pressured you for a present, you wouldn’t have to waste such a precious pill on me.”

“How could this be called a waste?” replied Zu An with a smile. “Besides, nothing else is more valuable than your Half Life’s Fate. We’re comrades who have braved through death together. You’re being too formal by saying those words.”

“Comrades…” Qiao Xueying felt a tingle in her heart when she heard those words. She suddenly lowered her head, making it impossible to see her expression. There were many words that lingered in her heart, but they eventually coalesced into two simple words, “Thank you.”

“Compared to that, I think that you should be more concerned about is your hygiene. You don’t smell too good at the moment,” Zu An fanned his hands before his nose as he remarked teasingly.

Qiao Xueying froze up for a moment before she noticed the layer of filth on the surface of her skin. It seemed to be the impurities that had just been forced out of her body under the effects of the Marrow Cleansing Pill.

Women tended to put great emphasis on their appearances, so she glared at Zu An in a mixture of anger and embarrassment as she exclaimed, “Why didn’t you say that earlier?”

This fellow really is a bastard! It was just a moment ago that I was so moved by him, but in the next moment, he starts infuriating me once more!

You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +250 Rage!

Zu An tried his best to stifle his laughter as he said, “There’s a river over there. You can change your clothes there.”

He noticed that the male students had run in that direction to wash their eyes earlier.

“Do you need to borrow a set of spare clothes from Xiaoxi?”

“There’s no need for that!”

Qiao Xueying struggled to sat upright before taking out a clean set of clothes from the ring on her finger.

Zu An was surprised to see that she had a storage ring. He couldn’t help but remark, “How selfish. I was in such an awkward dress-up earlier, but you didn’t offer me any change of clothes.”

“Oh? Are you sure that you wish to try on woman clothes?”

Qiao Xueying slowly got to her feet. In the first place, elves tended to recover fast from their injuries during to their great life force, and she had consumed Divine Physician Ji’s pills and the Marrow Cleansing Pill earlier on. While she wasn’t fully recovered yet, she was well enough to barely move around.

“No thanks!” Just the thought of being known as a cross-dresser in the academy made Zu An shudder in horror. He quickly shook his head. “You seem to still have difficulties moving around. Do you need me to wash your body?”

“Scram!” replied Qiao Xueying sharply before heading all alone to the river.

Zu An subconsciously glanced at the Keyboard, only to shake his head in frustration. Where’s the Rage points?

It was then that Qiao Xueying suddenly halted her footsteps and beckoned for him with her hands.

Zu An’s eyebrows shot up. “Why? Have you thoughts things through and decided to have me wash your body for you? You should know that I used to be known as a master scrubber!”

Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes and said, “I need you to stand guard for me lest someone comes by.”

“But what if I were to see your body?” asked Zu An.

“Then I’ll dig out your eyes!” Qiao Xueying harrumphed before walking away. There was a visible hint of redness crawling up her neck.