Chapter 11 First published on Jinjiang Literature City: I serve you as my master, and will be your servant for life (Part 1)...

Yao Sisi escorted the young master to a spot not far from the city gate, without asking him why he was dressed in black or what his relationship was with the previous group, since that matter had nothing to do with her anyway.

Gong Yichen, on the other hand, clearly noticed that she lacked a lot of common sense.

"Where did you live before? How come you don't know anything about it?"

Yao Sisi remained silent. Even Qi Mu hadn't noticed, yet he had discovered it so quickly. It was all his fault for chattering incessantly the whole way, which gave her away.

"I've been cultivating all along!"

Gong Yichen: "Where do you cultivate? In the deep mountains? It's like you've never been to the mortal world."

Yao Sisi: "Young master, please don't pry into my private affairs."

Gong Yichen muttered to himself, "I think you're just feeling guilty."

Yao Sisi: "..."

She flicked his forehead with her finger, and seeing him wince in pain, she snorted and said, "Do you still remember that Gale Wolf?"

Gong Yichen gently rubbed his forehead: "What's wrong?"

Yao Sisi: "It passed away peacefully."

Gong Yichen: "..."

This woman is threatening him again!

Yao Sisi finally managed to get him to a safe area, then turned around and plunged back into the jungle. Gong Yichen stood outside the city watching her, but she didn't even turn her head back, disappearing very quickly.

He turned around and realized someone was watching the direction she had left in. He thought to himself, "This is bad, someone is definitely after her!"

Yao Sisi ventured deeper into the jungle. She hadn't expected the young master to be so unaware of prices; second-tier Gale Wolves weren't actually that expensive.

After a quick estimate, I realized that with my money plus what I'd extorted from him, I had more than enough to buy the knife.

Logically speaking, she had achieved her goal of going out this time, but she did not return to the city. Firstly, she liked the feeling of fighting in the jungle, and secondly, she wanted to break through to the third level of Qi Refining outside before going back.

The deep-rooted, lush, and mysterious forest stirred Yao Sisi's excited nerves. She cautiously walked deeper into the forest, her feet treading on the thick layer of leaves.

"Spirit of the artifact, are there any mystical beasts nearby?"

The spirit said, "Master, we haven't found any mystical beasts yet, but there is a low-level spiritual plant not far away."

Yao Sisi: "Okay, point me in the direction, I'll go collect it."

The spirit's range of perception is limited, meaning she cannot project her divine sense outwards. Once she enters the Foundation Establishment stage, her body will shed its mortal form, at which point her divine sense will be able to replace her eyes to observe the surrounding environment.

She wandered through the forest for two days, picking spiritual herbs and killing mystical beasts. Her combat awareness grew stronger and stronger. She also noticed that there were often strange people searching for something in the forest. She quietly avoided them to avoid causing any trouble. Sometimes she would even hide in her spatial dimension and wait for them to leave.

After several days of suspense and danger, she found a den of mystical beasts. She studied it outside for a while and drew several talismans in her spatial dimension before finally destroying the den.

She had been out for seven or eight days now. Yao Sisi looked at her haul and thought, "Hmm, it's about time to head back."

She made a quick gesture with her fingers and cast a cleaning talisman. The lair of the mystical beast was instantly spotless, and the mystical energy in the place was quite abundant. She planned to break through here before returning.

Yao Sisi rummaged through her storage bag, took out a piece of Xuan Beast meat, carefully spread the sauce on it with a small brush, and then lit a tinderbox to start grilling the meat. Now that she had been surviving outside for so long, she was much more adept at grilling meat than before.

After she had eaten and drunk her fill, she washed her hands by the river. In the blink of an eye, she noticed that there seemed to be a person lying in the grass by the river. She cursed her bad luck and immediately began to cultivate. Who wouldn't be annoyed to see such a dead body?

She had no interest in touching the corpse and was about to leave when she heard a soft groan.

Yao Sisi turned around in confusion: "Not dead yet?"

She took a few steps forward, and only when she got closer did she realize that the other person was wearing shackles on his feet, and his ankles were chafed raw, bleeding profusely and even exposing the bone. She frowned and felt disgusted with the person who imprisoned him.

She bent down and gently examined his wounds. Most of them were external injuries, and the wounds were deep, staining his clothes red. His breathing was also very weak. If she didn't save him, he would surely die.

Looking at the person on the ground, dressed in coarse cloth and loose clothing, she examined them for a long time but couldn't tell their gender.

Who is this person? A scene flashed through her mind: Could this person have escaped from the prison van a few days ago?

But what good is a prison cart?

She stopped, somewhat reluctant to help, but the voice sounded very young, suggesting the child was quite young. She had a quirk: she had an excessive amount of sympathy for children.

"Tsk, you're lucky you were saved first." If you harbored ill intentions, you could just kill them later.

She bent down and brushed his hair aside. He looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old. His face was so dirty that it was hard to tell if he was a boy or a girl. She didn't dare touch his hair and easily picked him up and placed him at the entrance of the cave. She then took out a cleaning talisman from her storage bag and used it on him. Soon, all the dirt on his body disappeared.

She took her own blanket out of the storage space and simply placed it under him.

Yao Sisi thought to herself, "This person's identity is unknown, so it's not good to bring him back to the city. He won't live more than a few days if we just leave him like this!"

She sighed inwardly at the trouble she had gotten herself into, but somehow she thought of Qi Mu, wondering what he felt when he saved her.

Yao Sisi walked out of the cave, resignedly found a withered tree, cut off its branches and made a makeshift bed.

She was busy outside, unaware that the boy had already woken up. He was conscious when someone picked him up, and he even heard her muttering to herself.

Knowing that this person was saving him, he offered no resistance, or rather, he had no strength left to resist.

He trembled slightly, the shackles on his feet pressing down heavily on him.

When Yao Sisi returned, she saw that he had already woken up, and said, "You are too badly injured, it's best not to move around too much."

She took out the small wooden bed she had just made from her storage bag. The bed was so simple that it was even unstable, wobbling on the ground. Yao Sisi's embarrassment flashed by. It wasn't that she couldn't do these things well, but that she was reluctant to use the dagger. Although the dagger was sharp, it wasn't a tool for this purpose.

She placed a wooden slat at the foot of the bed, making the small wooden bed look much more stable. She simply made the bed and deliberately pulled the sheet down to hide the rough and unsightly workmanship, as if doing so would preserve her image as a proud woman.

After dealing with these matters, she went to his side. Because she thought he was a child and didn't even know his gender, she didn't care about the rules between men and women and picked him up again without any hesitation, gently placing him on the bed.

Why won't you open your eyes? Are you in too much pain to open them?

As she spoke, she took out some hemostatic powder from her spatial storage and sprinkled it little by little on his wound.

The person on the bed trembled, as if afraid to open their eyes.

Yao Sisi reached out and touched his forehead. "You still have a fever. Let me boil some water for you!"

After she left, muttering to herself, the man on the bed quietly opened his eyes. His pupils had a silver ring, unlike those of ordinary people. He looked at his current situation, covered by her blanket, as if she could still smell his scent.

She was a very strange woman. Despite the heavy murderous aura emanating from her, and even the smell of ashes from a fire burning everything away, it felt unusually comfortable, warm, and reassuring to be covered with her.

He seemed to have an innate ability to sense human malice, which was what he felt most often, but he felt nothing in her.

He was somewhat bewildered; the man seemed intent on killing but lacked malice.

Yao Sisi returned, wrung out a towel with hot water and placed it on his forehead, muttering to herself, "I bought too little medicine. It seems I should stock up on some of this fever reducer."

Yao Sisi took out a bowl of noodles from her spatial storage, with a few slices of mystical beast meat floating on top. She came to the bedside and asked, "Can you eat now?"

The person lying in bed could no longer lie still; he had been starving for days and would starve to death if he didn't eat soon.

When Yao Sisi saw him open his eyes, she noticed that his eyes were very special, like he was wearing colored contact lenses, but much more natural and clear. The light silver ring around his eyes was particularly beautiful, making him look even more handsome, a kind of beauty that was indistinguishable from a male's.

"Are you a boy or a girl? If you're a girl, I don't need to be so careful."

She was really afraid of the men here; they were too delicate. Even something as simple as loosening a hairband could cause a big fuss. She needed to cultivate, so she didn't have time for such things.

The boy's voice was a little hoarse. When he saw that she looked into his eyes, she only glanced at them briefly and didn't seem to care much, and he felt inexplicably relieved.

"It's a boy, he's eighteen this year..."

A big question mark flashed through Yao Sisi's mind, "Eighteen? Are you kidding me?"

The boy stared pitifully at the bowl of noodles in her hand. Yao Sisi was too lazy to argue anymore. Let him have whatever he wants!

The boy took the noodles and ate them delicately, as if he had always been well-mannered. Despite being so hungry, he was still so polite.

Yao Sisi took out a futon from her spatial storage, crushed a spirit-gathering talisman, sat cross-legged on the futon, and said to him, "I'm going to cultivate now, so don't disturb me unless it's necessary."

The boy paused, then obediently nodded.

But how could Yao Sisi be completely at ease? She mentally instructed the artifact spirit before focusing on her cultivation.

The transformed immortal energy slowly washed over his meridians, and she had a premonition that he would be able to break through in the next two days.

Reaching the third level of Qi Refining is different from before; it's a small hurdle. Once she passes this hurdle, she can try learning magic.

Inside the same cave, the two remained at peace. When Yao Sisi vaguely sensed an opportunity for a breakthrough, she intensified her absorption of spiritual energy, focusing her inner gaze on the ball of spiritual energy within her dantian. She felt it was squeezing her dantian, and she felt a slight stinging pain as fine sweat gradually appeared on her forehead.

Yao Sisi didn't stop, carefully combing through the spiritual energy strand by strand. Gradually, her dantian was filled with spiritual mist, like smoke encircling a space, occasionally tentatively venturing outwards.

Yao Sisi continued to absorb spiritual energy until her dantian could hold no more. She heard a loud boom as her dantian expanded.

What was originally a space the size of a palm has been transformed into twice the size of a regular space.

The first and second levels of the Qi Refining stage only involve condensing spiritual energy into the dantian. The third level involves expanding the dantian. The fourth and fifth levels involve filling the expanded dantian. The sixth level is another small hurdle, requiring the dantian to be condensed solidly. At the sixth level, the spiritual energy within the dantian can be gradually compressed to store more spiritual energy.

At this moment, Yao Sisi opened her eyes, a look of joy flashing across her face; she had successfully broken through.

Having reached the third level of Qi Refining, I can finally use spells.

At the same time, a faint impurity was expelled from her body, which smelled strange. Yao Sisi crushed a cleansing talisman, and the dirt on her body was instantly swept away.

She put the futon back into her space, but she didn't expect that a day and a night would pass in this meditation. Her stomach was already empty from hunger, and the boy was also forced to go hungry.

She quickly took out food from her spatial storage and went to his bedside to wake him up, but saw that he had his brows furrowed as if he were having a nightmare.

Yao Sisi moved his shoulder, and the boy woke up, a moment of shock flashing in his eyes. It was unclear what he had dreamt about to cause such a reaction.

Soon he smelled the aroma, and his stomach started growling uncontrollably.

Yao Sisi pushed the bowl forward: "Get up and eat!"

The boy smiled weakly at her, "Congratulations on your successful breakthrough, Immortal Master."

He already had an androgynous appearance, and his smile was very innocent. Yao Sisi nodded, "It was my oversight. I lost track of time while cultivating. By the way, how do you remove the shackles from your feet?"

The boy gave a wry smile. "It... is made of fine iron, it's not easy to carry..."

Yao Sisi nodded and didn't mention the matter again. The two of them ate something together.

Seeing that she was somewhat distracted, the boy remained silent, but looked deeply at his shackles. If they weren't removed, they would be a big problem.

While Yao Sisi appeared to be eating, part of her consciousness was actually immersed in a conversation with the spirit of the artifact.

"Do you have a way to remove this? As a spirit of the artifact, you must know more about artifact crafting, right?"

The spirit said, "All that's needed is spiritual fire. Master, you can try to condense spiritual fire and burn through that iron chain."

Yao Sisi interjected, "Wouldn't the iron chain get very hot from the fire? Refined iron has better heat conductivity, wouldn't it burn him?"

The spirit: "..."

“Master, spiritual fire is different from ordinary fire.”

Yao Sisi disagreed: "What's the difference? Isn't it just that it gets hotter, has better thermal conductivity, and is more destructive?"

A note from the author:

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To be honest, I've been doubting myself these past few days. Is it because my writing is too bad that the article isn't getting good views? This makes me very anxious, so I keep revising the story and can't even write updates anymore. I'm always trying to make it look better.

But considering my niche tastes, it's probably only right that I succumb to this...

wry smile.