Xianxia Online

After cultivating for several hours inside the World Pond, Xuan reached the Ninth-Layer of Flowing Qi stage while Yuxin reached the sixth. Naturally, their cultivation speeds differentiated, as Xuan had lots more experience and could absorb the abundant and rich World Qi of the small world directly into his body thanks to the Chaos Scripture.

Yuxin, on the other hand, had to cultivate like normal people—channel the Qi inside their own bodies, and slowly solidify it to become stronger. It was a painstakingly slow process, but she seemed to be quite talented at it, surprisingly enough. Xuan had already heard about her monstrous talent from Elder Shuang, but seeing her almost be able to keep up with him was still quite the sight.

Still, all good things came to an end, and Xuan decided that it was about time he left the small world. He debated whether or not to let Yuxin stay behind and continue cultivating, but ultimately chose not to since she needed to rest up properly for tomorrow, when the Flaming Sands Field would open.

Calmly, Xuan got out of his lilypad and tapped on Yuxin's shoulder.

"Cultivation time's up."

At this, the huntress's eyes opened steadily, and she turned her head to glare at Xuan.

"I'm not done yet."

"You're free to stay here if you like. But for the record, I own the Sealed World Pearl. Once I leave, I can't promise I'll let you out. Remember, the Flaming Sands Field opens tomorrow."

With that, he turned around and left, not bothering to turn back.

"You-!"

Yuxin gritted her teeth, but ultimately sighed in resignation and followed after him. "Alright, alright, I'm coming! Geez…"

*****

After leaving the Sealed World Pearl with a wave of his hand, Xuan arrived back in his room. Yuxin popped out of the portal behind him as well, though she didn't exactly look happy about it.

"Go find Zhi Ruo," Xuan instructed, sitting down on his bed. "She'll find a room for you to stay in for tonight. Rest well, and don't spend your time cultivating."

Ultimately, Xuan didn't care what she did—but since he accepted to teach her for a while, he'd at least give her some useful advice. Of course, he also just wanted her to leave him alone, since he had some matters of his own to take care of. Yuxin, realizing this, left the room without a word.

For a girl raised in the wilderness, she was pretty good at reading the mood.

Once she left, Xuan opened his System to check on his Director and see what was new. There was the Breakthrough Quest to the Nascent Soul stage, of course, but the requirements for that were… somewhat troublesome. It wasn't particularly difficult, but it would take some time to complete from where Xuan was right now. That's because it involved the collection of a special type of herb—a type of herb that could only be harvested directly from the wild. If a person tried to take it away, the plant would instantly wither and die.

To make matters worse, this particular herb was quite rare to find. Thankfully, Xuan knew thanks to his past life a good place to harvest them, but the location was quite distant from where he was right now. He figured it would be a while before he could reach the Nascent Soul stage, but that was fine—other cultivators would find themselves in the same situation.

What Xuan truly was interested in, were the other Quests. He was in need of Credits, so he needed to find some quick errands to go on to obtain such Credits. It was about time he began saving up for some good techniques from the System Shop—his current ones were beginning to run stale.

"Let's see… a village raided by goblins, a daughter whose gone missing… hm?"

As Xuan was browsing through the quests, he suddenly received a notification—a friend request. He'd been ignoring previous ones since they all came from random nobodies, but this one's portrait caught his eye.

"Fu Yao…?"

Fu Yao—Demon Queen of Tartarus, and also one of Xuan's wives. A beauty in every sense of the word, this succubus was quite the dangerous figure—thankfully, Xuan had managed to tame her in the past.

'So she's figured out how to use the System, huh…'

All around the world, cultivators were discovering the various uses of the System. Some did it on their own, while most helped each other out. But regardless of the means, it was working. After some thought, Xuan accepted the friend invitation—and instantly received a DM from her the moment after.

[Fu Yao: Mm… long time no talk, darling. How have you been?]

For some reason, Xuan felt a shiver run down his back from that sentence. If there was one thing in the world he was scared of, it was this woman.

[Zero: … Decent. And you?]

[Fu Yao: Oh, I'm quite fine. Missing a partner in bed, sure, but other than that, yes, I'm alright. But you do remember about my curse, right? I'm afraid I can't last much longer…]

"… This woman…"

[Zero: Alright. Look, I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can. In the meantime, do your best to suppress the curse. Due to certain reasons, my cultivation has been reset, and can't reach Tartarus just yet.]

[Fu Yao: Fufu, I'm just playing with you, darling. I have plenty of your… 'liquid' stored up still. I'll last. I do miss you regardless, but that's not why I messaged you today.]

[Zero: … Oh?]

[Fu Yao: While you were away, I attempted to breakthrough to Godhood. Unfortunately, the lightning tribulation ultimately overcame my strength, and ended up splitting a fragment of my Soul—and power. That then turned into a new, sentient being, whom I've adopted as our daughter. Her name is Fu Mei, and I've sent her to Lower Asphodel to look for you. She should be sending you a friend request soon, so keep an eye out for that, mkay?]

"… What?"

But before Xuan could type anything in response, his screen was filled with yet another friend request notification:

[Incoming Friend Request]

[Fu Mei - ID 094718236]

[Accept/Decline]

[The request will be automatically sent to your Inbox if not answered within 10 seconds.]

'… What timing,' Xuan thought in his head. 'Yao'er must be messaging her at the same time. I swear, that woman… she's always like this, dropping sudden surprises on my head.'

Xuan didn't hate it, however, and with a smile accompanied by a sigh, he accepted the friend request. Immediately, he was greeted by a message.

[Fu Mei: Greetings, father.]

"…"

Xuan paused for a moment, thinking about how to respond to such a statement. Then, after tons of deliberation, he decided to simply go with the procrastination strategy.

[Zero: Come to the Flaming Sands Field that opens tomorrow. We can speak in person.]

[Fu Mei: Understood.]

With this curt, polite response, Fu Mei did not type anything further, and Xuan closed his System. He couldn't help but notice how… 'uptight' she was. She seemed like more of a robot than a real, living person, but perhaps that was just because it was over text message. For her, obtaining a ticket into the Sands Field shouldn't be of any problem. A 'spawn' of the cunning woman known a Fu Yao could never be stupid, and she would manage to easily find a way to get in.

Sighing yet again, Xuan laid down on his bed, and stared up at the ceiling.

"How different this life is compared to my last one…"

Deep down, Xuan knew he couldn't stay like this. He was a lone wolf—always has been, and always will be. He will have his companions and friends, but his cultivation journey will be one he takes on alone.

He made up his mind—after the Flaming Sands Field, he'd leave the huntress behind, since he no longer had a need for her. Then, he'd send Zhi Ruo to Jade Commerce City as promised, and from there, he'd return to his old style—alone, through and through.