The Changes in Xiao'er

As he entered the inside of the Training Pagoda, Xue Bai was met with a rather big surprise.

Xiao'er was on the first floor fighting a sword puppet!

Before Xue Bai left to recruit Zhu Que, Xiao'er was at the 4th stage of the Organ Tempering realm. And while she was usually lax when it came to cultivation, Xue Bai had promised to give her something if she broke through 2 stages before he returned.

Knowing this, in the week he had been gone, she hadn't rested much and would spend almost all day either in the Training Pagoda or cultivating.

Thanks to that, in the week Xue Bai had been gone, she had broken through a stage, reaching the 5th stage.

And she was confident that she would reach the 6th stage before he returned. Xue Bai did say he would return in about three weeks.

However, she was currently unaware that Xue Bai's trip had been cut short by Yue ZIfeng, so after hearing someone enter the Training Pagoda, she didn't think it was him.

"Sister Rou, if you're going to come in, send me a message," Xiao'er complained as she sent the sword puppet in front of her flying with a swift kick.

Xiao'er was currently on the first floor, and the puppet she was fighting was only at the peak of the Bone Strengthening realm. So while her combat strength was weak for her cultivation, she could still suppress people of lower cultivation with overwhelming strength.

The only reason she was fighting such a weaker opponent was just like Xue Bai. She wasn't looking for a blood boil and only wanted to train her swordsmanship. So her launching her opponent away wasn't very surprising to her, but what did surprise her was when she turned around.

"Young Master!" Xiao'er shouted in shock, "You said you wouldn't return for another two weeks."

"Some things came up, and Master forced me to come back," Xue Bai sighed, "But other than that, Sister Rou? You became friends with Second Senior Sister?"

Xiao'er was a cheerful girl who could light up anyone's day, so it wasn't surprising that she made friends with Ye Rou, but he didn't think it would happen this quickly.

"Yes! Sister Rou and I are kindred spirits." XIao'er cheerfully spoke as she skipped over to the control panel, shutting down the sword puppet.

"Young Master, do you want to use the first floor? I can go upstairs if you'd like." Xiao'er asked.

But Xue Bai shook his head, "I need to test something against the Organ Tempering realm puppets. So you can stay here."

After saying that, he bid farewell to Xiao'er, directly skipped the first floor, and went upstairs. Ever since he broke through to the 5th stage of the Bone Strengthening realm, the puppets on the first floor didn't pose any threat to him anymore.

The only way they could was if he brought the number of puppets into the double digits, but that wasn't what Xue Bai wanted to test currently, so he ignored the first floor. Instead, he wanted to test his destructive power right now.

On the second floor, Xue Bai noticed that everything was the same as the first. From the silver walls to the position of the control panel, nothing was different.

But since it was only more convenient, he didn't say anything but merely went over to the control panel.

Inputting the array to release a sword puppet at the 1st stage of the Organ Tempering Realm, Xue Bai readied himself.

Focusing within himself, Xue Bai once again conjured the purple illusory sword into his right hand and welcomed the silver armored puppet that charged at him without warning.

In most cases, before reaching the Qi Sea realm, you weren't given access to long-range attacks, making most fights in the 5 physical realms close combat brawls.

There were, however, rare circumstances where one could go around that limitation, and one of the most common ones was to comprehend a Law before the Qi Sea realm.

This was why Xue Bai was able to kill the Flame Salamander from a long distance using the illusory sword that he had conjured from his Sword Law.

However, he wasn't planning on using his long-range ability and instead met the charge of the sword puppet head-on.

Sadly the sword in his hand wasn't as long as the ones he usually used, forcing him to use it more like a dagger rather than a sword. Which, while foreign to Xue Bai, wasn't uncomfortable, as he quickly got a grasp on it after twirling it around a little. Feeling good with the small test, he felt ready enough to fight.

The first clash with the sword puppet, however, made the situation awkward.

Sword puppets on each floor had weapons making their cultivation base. So the Organ Tempering realm puppet in front of Xue Bai had a sword that was a Middle Yellow-grade treasure.

But as Xue Bai and the puppet clashed, Xue Bai's illusory sword cut through the puppet's sword like a knife through butter. It even slashed into the sword puppet's chest, breaking its silver armor.

If Xue Bai hadn't reacted fast enough and withdrew his slash, it would've most likely cleaved through the sword puppet as well.

The only downside was that the puppet was now completely out of commission and needed to go back into the Training Pagoda array to heal its damages, leaving Xue Bai without a training dummy.

Xue Bai didn't care much, however, but rather he was excited at his new strength. But right when he was about to smile, he almost collapsed. Conjuring the illusory sword now at the Small Success stage sapped almost half of his Spiritual Qi.

"This can't be used haphazardly." Xue Bai noted.

Though the illusory sword wouldn't dissipate due to time, it existed almost like a prepaid phone.

However much Spiritual Qi Xue Bai poured into it during its creation dictated everything about it, from its strength, to how much damage it could do before it dematerialized.

"All the more reason not to rely on it, then."

Feeling happy about his progress, Xue Bai swallowed a pill to regenerate his lost Spiritual Qi before turning the array off and leaving the Training Pagoda.

Xiao'er seeing her Young Master leave so quickly was curious about what he did up there, but since Xue Bai looked so haggard, she held back her questions. They could talk later when Xue Bai looked and felt better.

Walking out, Xue Bai walked to where the courtyards were and quickly found where Zhu Que had decided to live.

Like Xiao'er, she had chosen to live next to Xue Bai, taking the empty courtyard on the other side of his.

"Sister Zhu! If you are done changing, come with me to Master's peak. We need to get you an identification token!" Xue Bai yelled from outside.

Xue Bai knew that Zhu Que most likely decided to take a bath along with changing into her new robes, so instead of going into and encountering the age-old cliche, he stayed outside and yelled into it.

Even though the Azure Dragon God said that they were fated to marry, Xue Bai still didn't believe it fully, and both of them were still too young to even start thinking about such a future.

Following his shout, the door to Zhu Que's courtyard quickly opened, where she exited wearing a pristine light blue robe that matched both her new hair color and eyes while she was in her hybrid form.

Before, when she first awakened her Martial Veins and had her accident, the color of ice terrified her and became a trigger for her trauma. But after she mutated her bloodline and had more time with the element, she became more and more attached to it.

She knew that being afraid of her new strength would be dangerous, so she tried to step out of the shadow of her trauma and enjoy the beautiful color that was light blue.

After successfully mutating her bloodline, Zhu Que had completely changed on the outside. Her rough tan was gone, the thick, bruised calluses on her hands had disappeared, and even her temperament had changed from the shy farmer girl to a cold, aloof genius befitting her new talent.historical

Overall if Xue Bai hadn't seen her before and knew her from the game, he would've struggled to correlate the two together.

"I'm ready, Little Brother." Zhu Que spoke as she exited the courtyard.

After she completed her metamorphosis, Zhu Que was on cloud nine.

Even though her parents had died, and she had been living as a beggar for two weeks, after she met Xue Bai, her life took a complete 180.

At first, when Xue Bai told her that the courtyard had clothes for her prepared in the closet, Zhu Que had thought that there would be maybe two, at most, five pieces of clothing to look at. After all, her narrow outlook on the world made her a frog at the bottom of a well. But after she entered the closet, she was floored.

Just the closet alone was bigger than her house back at Blue Stone Village. And the clothing options had everything from a beautiful black backless dress befitting a grand ball to a pair of pink silk pajamas for bedtime.

There wasn't a single type of clothing Zhu Que could think of that wasn't in the closet.

And like a child in a candy store, she had taken the time to look at everything she could have, where eventually, she decided to pick a beautiful martial robe that matched her favorite color.

So as she exited her new courtyard and saw Xue Bai's gaze Zhu Que felt as proud as a peacock, even going as far as to subconsciously raise her chest and nose as if saying, 'Look at me.'

"Good, follow me," Xue Bai nodded at her as he turned around, "Also, don't stray far. It'll be bad news if someone sees you without me on this mountain."

Nodding in response, Zhu Que followed close behind. She guessed that while Yue Zifeng didn't accept her as a disciple of his, he allowed her to join both the sect and let her live in the legendary Core Region.

If he hadn't, Yue Zifeng would have most likely made Xue Bai abandon her in the Inner or even Outer Sect.

Descending the peak, Xue Bai would give Zhu Que a basic tour of Yue Zifeng's mountain, telling her which areas she could explore and which she couldn't.

Zhu Que, behind took note of everything, not daring to miss a word. She had barely managed to get here. To leave just because she trespassed something would be such a disappointment.

Xue Bai would also take his time and show Zhu Que some of the most beautiful scenic areas on the mountain that he managed to discover.

He noticed that Zhu Que loved nature, so he made sure to show her all of the beauty her new home had to offer. From the deep, expansive valleys to the crystal clear lakes that looked ripped right out of a painting.

But it was when the two were exploring a small serene waterfall that Zhu Que spotted, when out from behind the waterfall, a curious voice full of cheer came.

"Junior Brother, who is the girl with you? Are you raising a wife that I don't know about?"

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The side chapter is coming out at 5 PM EST.

Anything is helpful!

/slarbi123