Proud Sword Soaring Clouds-Chapter 42 - 41: Bountiful Harvest

By the time Ling Xiao woke again, it was the evening of the next day. To him, it felt like he had only been unconscious for half a day. Just as he was about to move, a pleasant voice sounded by his ear, "Don’t move! You’re injured all over!"

Ye Wen Ni stood inside the tent, her head nearly brushing the top. A campfire burned outside—Ye Wen Ni’s handiwork, no doubt.

"How long... was I out?" Ling Xiao asked, frowning. Even without Ye Wen Ni’s reminder, he didn’t dare move. The slightest inclination to stir sent a searing pain through his body, as if he were being torn apart.

"You’ve been unconscious for a full day and night! I almost thought you weren’t going to wake up!" Ye Wen Ni said, sticking her tongue out playfully. "You sure are hard to kill. You fell from so high up and didn’t die. I have to say, your luck is really something else!"

A wry smile touched Ling Xiao’s lips. They twitched, and he let out a soft sigh. ’Yeah, not dying was certainly lucky.’ But as someone well-versed in medicine, Ling Xiao knew all too well that there was hardly an unbroken bone left in his body. He felt a wave of frustration. ’Even if Foundation Establishment is like being completely reborn, I’m still missing two key herbs. These injuries will take a very long time to heal completely. And this place... the main peak of Vendia Snow Mountain, the so-called Holy Mountain, is the absolute worst place to be recovering from an injury!’

’Who knows if some other Magical Beast will find out the Snow Mountain Lightning Falcon is dead and come looking to pick up the scraps.’

At this thought, Ling Xiao licked his chapped lips and asked, "The plant I brought back..."

"Ah... you mean this?" Ye Wen Ni picked up the Purple Blue Fruit from the ground. Though it had been removed from the soil, it was still thriving. Her eyes filled with curiosity. "Was this thing really worth you risking your life to get?"

Ling Xiao nodded. "It is. If you were to take this back to the Imperial Capital, you could immediately become the first Grand Duchess in the history of the Lanyue Empire. Heh, how about it? Want to give it a try?"

"Ling Xiao!" Ye Wen Ni’s anger flared. ’What kind of person does he think I am?’ She wanted to chew him out, but looking at his miserable state, her heart softened again. Still, her eyes were rimmed with red as she stared at him. "Is that how you see me? As someone that despicable? Greedy and opportunistic? A common thief?"

Ling Xiao was stunned. ’She still can’t take a joke, huh?’ He tried to laugh, but the movement pulled at his injuries, and his face contorted into a grimace. Ye Wen Ni rushed to his side, squatting in front of him with a worried expression. "Ling Xiao, are—are you all right? I don’t know anything about medicine, so please don’t scare me. If there’s anything you need, just... just tell me. It’s fine, I’m not mad at you anymore. I take it back."

Ling Xiao blinked, a smile touching his eyes, and gently shook his head. "I’m fine. I was just teasing you, don’t take it to heart. Besides, if you were really that kind of person, the two Tier Five Magical Beasts outside would have already made you rich. You wouldn’t have bothered with me. Speaking of which, did you get the Crystal Cores from those two beasts?"

"I... I only got the Crystal Core from the Snow Mountain Lightning Falcon. It’s right here!" Ye Wen Ni said, pulling a fist-sized, gray Crystal Core from her pocket. It looked like a pale gray, diamond-shaped crystal. Holding it, one could feel a surging power—an energy so palpable that even a normal person could sense it.

"This is a real treasure!" Ling Xiao said admiringly, then asked, "What about the one from the snake?"

"I..." Ye Wen Ni wanted to say that the snake was too terrifying and she was scared to go near it. But seeing the hopeful look in Ling Xiao’s eyes, she steeled herself and said, "I haven’t had the chance yet. I’ll do it tomorrow."

Ling Xiao nodded. "Do it as soon as you can. It’ll be dangerous if another Magical Beast discovers them."

A troubled expression crossed Ye Wen Ni’s face. The day before, she had witnessed the cataclysm on the summit—the ground shaking, rocks flying, an apocalyptic scene of utter devastation. She had been terribly worried about Ling Xiao. It was only when she heard two tremendous crashes not too far from her position that she ran over to investigate. To her horror, she found the two High-Tier Magical Beasts... and Ling Xiao, slumped over one of them.

At the time, Ye Wen Ni had been certain Ling Xiao was dead. After all, one glance up was enough to see the height of the mountain—a sheer drop of over a thousand meters. How could anyone possibly survive a fall like that?

But when she went closer to investigate, she discovered he was still breathing, his hand locked in a death grip around an herb that was obviously extraordinary. Looking at the two dead Magical Beasts and the barely-alive Ling Xiao, the thought of simply taking the High-Tier Crystal Cores and leaving flashed through her mind. But it was only a fleeting thought; she didn’t dwell on it.

She had to admit, she was more interested in Ling Xiao himself. This young man, who seemed a bit younger than her, possessed countless amazing skills that she found both fascinating and endearing. Furthermore, for many years, Ye Wen Ni had longed to escape the control of *that man*, and she had a feeling this young man in front of her could help.

And so, Ye Wen Ni rescued Ling Xiao.

This isn’t to say that Miss Ye Wen Ni possessed some supremely noble and great character. Rather, when a woman falls for a man, she will willingly risk everything for love. That is no exaggeration.

Ye Wen Ni prepared some dry rations, softening them with water before feeding them to Ling Xiao. He looked at her and said, "We have that big bird and the python right outside. You know, not everyone gets the chance to eat the meat of High-Tier Magical Beasts. Why not cook some of it?"

Ye Wen Ni finally lowered her head, blushing in embarrassment. "I... don’t know how."

"Er..." Ling Xiao couldn’t help but roll his eyes. ’She doesn’t even know how to do *that*? I’m starting to wonder how this girl ever managed to be a thief.’

Seeing the look on his face, Ye Wen Ni felt even more aggrieved. ’I’ve always worked in cities! A thief isn’t an Adventurer, so why would I be expected to know how to do this?’

However, it turned out that many skills are born of necessity. 「Three days later.」 Ye Wen Ni could already carve large chunks of meat from the White Jade Red-eyed Python with a deadpan expression, chop them up, and boil them in a small pot to make snake soup.

Though their conditions were crude and they lacked seasonings, they had to admit that all-natural food was the best. After Ling Xiao’s encouragement, even Ye Wen Ni, who had to pinch her nose to drink the soup the first two times, began to develop a taste for it.

Magical Beast meat was incredibly nourishing!

The days spent recovering were tedious. Fortunately, this area had always been the territory of the White Jade Red-eyed Python and the Snow Mountain Lightning Falcon. No other Magical Beasts dared to set foot within a radius of several dozen li.

To combat the boredom, Ling Xiao finally figured out how to use the Space Ring. It required a person’s Spiritual Power to operate, which was no difficult task for him. Ye Wen Ni, on the other hand, tried many times without success and became thoroughly frustrated.

The contents of the ring left Ling Xiao speechless. It also proved that the ring likely didn’t belong to Rock Shenke in the first place; it was either the property of the Madman Mercenary Corps or something he’d obtained by murdering a merchant. Inside, apart from some essential supplies for adventuring in the wild, was a massive amount of Gold Coins.

Ye Wen Ni had finally found her new favorite pastime—counting Gold Coins!

In total, there were over a hundred thousand Gold Coins, yet they occupied only a tiny corner of the high-capacity Space Ring.

After a few more days, Ling Xiao was able to get out of bed and move about. He stored the carcasses of the White Jade Red-eyed Python and the Snow Mountain Lightning Falcon in the Space Ring, nearly filling it to capacity. The massive python in particular had required a great deal of effort from Ye Wen Ni to coil up before it would fit.

Every part of these two Magical Beasts’ bodies was a treasure, so Ling Xiao couldn’t bear to discard even a single bone.

The two Tier Five Crystal Cores were now in Ling Xiao’s hands. Added to the Tier Four Lightning Frenzy Leopard Crystal Core he already possessed, he now had three High-Tier Crystal Cores. Ling Xiao had no intention of ever selling them. Although one needed to reach the cultivation level of a Demon Sword Master to absorb the energy within a Crystal Core, Ling Xiao never once doubted he would reach that realm. It was only a matter of time.

At the same time, Ling Xiao plucked all the Purple Blue Fruits from the plant and was shocked to find a total of fifteen!

’This number would be enough to drive any great family that understood the value of the Vantia Holy Fruit into a frenzy.’

’Although the Vantia Holy Fruit was only effective on those below the rank of Demon Sword Master, this meant it could create fifteen Demon Sword Masters at once! Forget the great families... even His Majesty the King himself would likely go mad for them.’

Naturally, Ling Xiao couldn’t remain completely impassive toward this girl who was secretly developing feelings for him. Taking advantage of his recovery time, he decided to teach her a set of sword skills perfect for a woman—the Jade Maiden Sword! 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

In truth, Ling Xiao wasn’t sure if the Jade Maiden Sword was a Heaven-tier skill, just as he couldn’t be sure if his own Nine Swords of Dugu was a God-tier one. Ling Xiao had always believed that techniques were static, but people were dynamic. Once a person reached the realm of a Grandmaster—that is, the level of a Sword Sect—no one would dare call them anything but an expert, even if they were using the most common of sword skills. Right?

However, if two practitioners were both at the Sword Sect level, the difference in the tiers of their sword skills would create a disparity in their power.

Ye Wen Ni was actually quite brilliant and understood things almost instantly. Nevertheless, Ling Xiao often called her a blockhead. No matter how well she grasped a concept, he rarely praised her, because he had been taught the same way when he was learning the sword.

It got to the point where a single word of praise from Ling Xiao would leave her excited for hours.

The two of them ended up living on the forbidden mountain peak for a full month! By the time Ling Xiao’s injuries had more or less healed, Ye Wen Ni had nearly mastered the Jade Maiden Sword Skill. Although she was still only a Tier Three Sword Master, Ling Xiao was confident that with this technique, she would have a fighting chance even against a Great Sword Master.

More importantly, after spending a month together from dawn till dusk, Ling Xiao had come to trust Ye Wen Ni completely. Although they hadn’t crossed any lines, the unspoken understanding between them had already surpassed that of mere friends, bordering on that of lovers.

Therefore, operating on the principle of treating his own people well, Ling Xiao decided to use one of the Vantia Holy Fruits to forge her into a supreme expert.

Of course, he wasn’t entirely without selfish motives. Until he could achieve Foundation Establishment and unblock his meridians, Ye Wen Ni would be his bodyguard. A beautiful one, at that!