Xiao Dian, Xiao Hua and Su Qingcheng were a trio who decided to walk back to the Xiao clan residence. The mood was rather solemn and Xiao Dian looked rather sullen. However, he was thinking about what he saw earlier. Su Qingcheng’s battle lust had flared up and it seemed like she was a bloody flower blossoming in the middle of a violent brawl. However after that scene, Su Qingcheng had quickly returned to her usual calm state. He was mulling over it, but at the same time Yao Meiyue realized that perhaps this primordial awakening was more complex than just the awakening of a divine essence. The divine essence of battle was one of the rarer types of essence especially since it could not be compared in the same manner as the energy from nature, such as the yin-yang duality that existed in the land. The divine essence of battle seemed to endlessly course through Su Qingcheng’s body, yet at the same time it did not do anything aside from quietly temper her body as if undergoing an incredibly slow and passive evolution.

Yao Meiyue finally realized what was going on just as the three of them had returned to the Xiao clan residence. At this time, Xiao Dian also had his own impressions of what was going on, but as he was less experienced than Yao Meiyue, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Ultimately the both of them had the same kind of thoughts but the Xiao elder had a much more shallow view on it than Yao Meiyue. At last, Su Qingcheng stood before Xiao Dian and Xiao Hua back in one of the Xiao clan residence halls. Su Qingcheng bowed deeply. “I apologize for my impulsiveness,” Su Qingcheng sighed. “I was just overwhelmed with an intense sense of anger when those Li family fellows acted so impetuously against the both of you.”

Xiao Dian shook his head. “No, I should thank you for bringing us out of there the way you did. I know Li Fengtian, he’s not normally like that. I think he was convinced by somebody to set the affair up. That boy, Li Chen, had an abnormal enmity towards you even though I don’t think you did anything that would offend him. Anyway, let’s just forget about it. I promised you that I would give you the Soul-Stirring Grass and the Flower of the Cursed Dragon, so I will go ahead and fetch it for you. After that, I need to talk to you for a bit alone.”

Su Qingcheng nodded as Xiao Dian walked away, leaving Su Qingcheng and Xiao Hua to talk alone. Fei Yan was not present because she was still with her sick father. Xiao Hua remained quiet and didn’t seem to be interested in saying anything. Instead she kept up a rather bashful appearance.

“Sorry about earlier,” Su Qingcheng apologized. “I just thought…”

“No, it’s okay. Thank you.” Xiao Hua smiled and responded to Su Qingcheng politely. “Father doesn’t know about it, yet you can so discern my relationship with Fei Yan. Haii, sometimes I wish I were your sister instead of being part of this clan.”

“Master Xiao Dian treats you very well and dotes on you. I wouldn’t be dissatisfied with it either.”

“I don’t think he would approve of our relationship, even if Fei Yan is very strong, since she lacks a strong backing.”

“You don’t necessarily know this. Fei Yan is a mighty Tianqi Sage at her age, she must be, what, in her mid 20s? That’s just as fearsome as my mother was, I think?” Su Qingcheng complimented Fei Yan rather bluntly, even going so far as to compare her to Su Ran. Xiao Hua was shocked, not expecting such a comparison either. “Look, I just want you to chase your own happiness. I am walking my own path and look where that’s getting me? I am managing to get some priceless ingredients for my own cultivation. Look forward to the coming months, I will give that fella Xiao Tie a good show.”

“Xiao Tie… Yes, he deserves nothing more than to die without a corpse,” Xiao Hua looked down as she muttered vicious words that betrayed her demeanor. “You should be extra careful of him. Fei Yan told me she saw Xiao Tie practicing techniques from Demon Flame Sect.”

“What, the Demon Flame Sect?!”

“You know of it?”

“Yes, I do know of it, my mother had…”

Su Qingcheng, for some reason, felt a kindred bond with Xiao Hua, so she didn’t feel it was wrong to divulge some personal history of her mother. Anyway, what could Xiao Hua possibly do about it? Perhaps only Fei Yan was qualified to do anything about it in the entire Xiao clan. She began to explain the story of how one of Su Ran’s closest friends had been killed by a Demon Flame Sect core disciple, and she had exacted vengeance by exterminating the sect.

“But if Lady Su Ran had already destroyed the sect, how come Xiao Tie is being taught by a guy who knows the techniques?”

“That’s not important, but you have given me priceless intelligence if this is the truth. The Demon Flame Sect is tyrannical in nature and he will most likely use their techniques to try to kill me. I really will die unjustly if I don’t break through to Geomancer in this coming month!” Su Qingcheng gasped. She left out the bit where the Demon Flame Sect had been rebuilt in secret because she figured Xiao Hua was not the kind of person to involve herself in underground affairs. If she really cared that much she would most likely just ask Fei Yan.

Just as Xiao Hua wanted to probe further, Xiao Dian had arrived, causing their conversation to be cut rather short. Xiao Dian was carrying a bag containing the Soul-Stirring Grass and a wooden box that contained the Flower of the Cursed Dragon. Su Qingcheng graciously accepted them and stored them in her Dragon Hoard Ring, thanking Xiao Dian in an almost reverent tone.

“Please leave the two of us to speak alone, little Hua?” Xiao Dian kindly told his daughter to leave. She obeyed quietly and pitter-pattered off, giving Su Qingcheng a meaningful glance that spoke two words, “be careful.” Su Qingcheng knew she was in for it now if Xiao Tie was practicing Demon Flame Sect techniques. Yao Meiyue and Su Ran should help her to orient herself against those techniques anyway so she wasn’t actually very worried. However, this was under the pretext that she became a Terraformer successfully!

“Little Qingcheng, during the battle at the banquet, I noticed you manifested a rare phenomenon known as ‘Flower Blossoming in Battle,’ but this is rather peculiar, I don’t know the specifics, but where normally you would unlock the divine essence, your case is rather… different. Do you feel any changes in your body?”

“Yes, sir, I do sense my body becoming more in tune with close combat.”

“Then my initial misgivings were for naught; since you possess the Lightning Nascent Soul far in advance, you were able to give primordial energy an avenue to access your fleshly body. Do you remember the time you became crippled?”

“Yes, that was a freak accident. My mother was in the middle of trying to cultivate a thunder-based method, but made a mistake which caused me to be forcibly doused in heavenly lightning. Since I was very young and was foolish, the heavenly thunder destroyed my tianqi paths via overloading and burst them like fraying a piece of rope!” Su Qingcheng gnashed her teeth.

“Right. The heavy burst of heavenly thunder which crippled you was what allowed your fleshly body to open up the potential to evolve to a new constitution that hadn’t been seen in many years… Unfortunately, I don’t know too much about the specifics, but I only know that this is the Divine Battle Goddess Soul Constitution, which behaves like divine essence but is in fact not. The effects is a further heightened battle sense and a tougher fleshly body, which allows you to exert tianqi more ferociously and have extended battle vitality. You should treasure it and conduct some research into it.”

“But I don’t really feel anything substantial other than the second wind energy which I assume originates from unlocking the constitution through heated battle lust, vigor and extensive mental stress.” Su Qingcheng shrugged as she casually speculated the origin of the phenomena described to her.

“That’s because the power of the constitution is only opened up in battle. When you are out of combat, your body enters a dormant recovery state. Actually, this would be like a runner getting into the zone during a marathon but after it is done, they need to cool off and recover.” Xiao Dian said. “I don’t know much more than this, but you have to be careful if any experts find out your abnormal body is such a treasure, they’re sure to try and hatch a lot of schemes against you.”

“I’d like to see them try. You better start with that Xiao Tie scum first though, because I am pretty sure he is colluding with some very bad people. Trust in your daughter a bit more.” Su Qingcheng warned Xiao Dian with a smile as she turned to leave. “This Su Qingcheng will take her leave now. Thank you very much for your donation.”

As she left with a big grin on her face, Xiao Dian had a very pensive expression.