Flabbergasted, Baihe didn’t know how to respond for a second, until a deep rumble of laughter thundered through her, shaking her shoulders so hard to the point that tears had gathered at the corner of her eyes. She was seasoned from head-to-toe in some adhesive green goo; and out of this whole shit feast, the bird only cared about his feathers?

Sometimes, this fellow is kinda adorable!

Noticing how she was laughing at his expense, Qian barked: “Get that monkey ass off the ground and start training! At your pace, I’ll still be rotting away inside this guqin when you hit the death bed!”

Immediately, the laughter ceased in the air and the temperature around them dropped several degrees. This brat was cursing her to an early death already? Baihe took multiple deep breaths, reminding herself not to bicker with a bird.

Adorable my ass!

A vague snort was heard inside her mind, which she promptly ignored. Baihe reached for the two manuals and began to diligently peruse the contents within. For once, Qian remained quiet as she studied the materials and absorbed the information in the books.

This world followed the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest; the strong prevailed and the weak perished. Strength was measured by the level of cultivation in spiritual energy and proficiency in qi. One’s progress highly depended on their innate talent and stamina of their mental mind.

The meridians were the most important network of vessels, channeling the flow of life-energy known as qi and guiding the circulation of spiritual essence in the body. In total, there were eight ranks of cultivation in the moral realm, with each rank having five stages.

The eight ranks were Early Dao, Mid Dao, Late Dao, Peak Dao, Martial Sovereign, Nascent Soul, Houtian, and finally Xiantian; all ranked in ascending order from weakest to strongest. For example, one must reach Early Dao stage 5, before advancing to Mid Dao stage 1.

Excited, Baihe adjusted her posture and sat down cross-legged, concentrating her mind to feel the spiritual essence around her. The first step was to establish her foundation core, only then could she start the real training. In her meditation state, with her eyes closed, she could feel something swimming in the air around her.

Then, the transparent little particles began to take shape and form. Little green dots, glowing with vitality and life were everywhere. These particles acted like they were an entity that existed since the beginning of time, as old as the birth of the world. It was so beautiful and breathtaking that she couldn’t help but be slightly surprised. It felt like she was walking together with the stars, dancing among them.

She suddenly felt pity for the people of her old world and those who couldn’t cultivate; they would never be able to experience this marvelous feeling or witness such a wondrous sight. Slowly, she coaxed the energy to enter her body. At first, they didn’t respond, only hovering over her skin like they were observing her, smelling her out.

Baihe didn’t rush them, giving them ample time to learn more about her. Finally, as if they had come to a consensus, one by one, they slowly entered. As the spiritual energy flowed through her meridians, she felt it cleansing the impurities within her body. It was gentle and soothing like it was trying to heal all her internal wounds.

Carefully, she guided them toward her dantian, located slightly below the navel. The dantian, also known as the elixir field, was where the qi was most concentrated in a person’s body. The spiritual essence nestled deep inside her, diving straight into the lake that existed within. Almost as if finding the lake extremely compatible with itself, more spiritual particles plunged into her body; each one fighting with the other for a spot.

The water in the lake became clearer as if it too had great affinity with the spiritual essence swimming in its body. The water converged in the middle, spinning with high velocity, generating a whirlpool that improved the speed of spiritual energy absorption at an astonishing rate.

As they circulated through her meridians, she could feel all of her other senses developing to a new level. The air she breathed tasted richer; the quiet forest seemed louder; the nasty green goo on her smelled more disgusting; the wind she touched felt colder; and her detection of foreign presence felt sharper. The experience was exhilarating like she had mended together with mother earth and became one with the planet.

Soon, a crystallized sphere emerged from the middle of the lake, floating in the air. The corner of her mouth raised, her face shone with triumph and self-satisfaction. Baihe had not only successfully established her foundation core, but she also had a breakthrough to Early Dao stage 3.

She stood up, the fatigue from the battle before was gone. In its place, was a thirsty ambition to get stronger, much, much stronger. Just as she was about to turn around and leave the cave, a piercing scream erupted in the air.

Xiao Bao stood by the cave entrance, her jaw gaping widely and her eyes were bulging out of their sockets as she stared at the corpse of the fallen black widow spider. Then, she turned around and saw Baihe’s face; an even more ear-piercing scream exploded in the air and her jaw nearly dropped to the ground. The parcels in her hands landed with a loud thump on the cold surface of the cave.

With a shaky hand, she pointed her finger at Baihe; her voice trembling as she asked: “Wh—wh—who are you? Wh—why are you wearing my Eldest Miss’ clothes? What have you done to her?”

Stunned, Baihe stared at her maid. Her reaction was as if they were meeting for the first time. Strange…after Qian released the seal blocking her cultivation, he also gave a weird reaction after seeing her face. With large strides, she headed toward the river outside the cave; the maid followed closely behind, prattling endlessly with questions.

Peering into the water, her eyes widened in shock. This…this was not her predecessor’s face! The original Huang Baihe was sickly and ugly, with a bad complexion, but the reflection of the woman staring back at her was clearly beautiful; even with all the slimy goo substances attached to her, she possessed a face that could topple nations and cause the downfall of countries.

Heavens! She turned from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan! No wonder not even the maid who had followed Huang Baihe for 18 years since her birth could recognize her. It appeared someone hated her enough to not only place a seal that blocked her cultivation, turning her into a trash, but also sealed away her true appearance with a face changing technique.

What a formidable, impressive 2-in-1 seal!

Baihe raised a hand to stop Xiao Bao’s barrage of questions she been throwing at her ever since. “Stop! — It’s me, Baihe, your Eldest Miss…”

The hostility in Xiao Bao’s eyes disappeared and she turned oddly silent. Although she did not recognize the face of the beautiful woman in front of her, how could she not recognize the voice of her Eldest Miss? Especially when she had been by her side for so many years. This woman…was really her Eldest Miss, Huang Baihe!