The afternoon sun shone brightly, casting a warm, drowsy glow over the courtyard.
But Fang Xuan dared not relax; he knew time was pressing.
After washing the dishes, he walked to the center of the courtyard and once again picked up his dark sword, Little Brother.
The sword hilt felt increasingly natural in his hand.
With spirit energy flowing, he practiced the Fang family sword techniques a few times.
.......
'Not bad, a little progress.'
He nodded to himself; every bit of strength gained would be crucial for breaking through the upcoming troubles.
He practiced for about half an hour, a light sweat breaking out on his body.
He sheathed his sword, preparing to sit in meditation and cultivate.
Inside his dantian, spirit energy surged like mist and tide, having reached the peak of Late-Stage Foundation Establishment, just a hair’s breadth away from the Void Core realm.
But he wasn't in a hurry to break through. Instead, he circulated the energy through his meridians repeatedly, according to the most orthodox method, solidifying his foundation.
Breaking through to Void Core was no small matter; it required a natural progression. The firmer his foundation, the further he could go in the future.
However, he truly needed to achieve Void Core Realm strength as soon as possible.
The gap between Half-Step Void Core and a true Void Core was still significant.
If he relied solely on slow, steady effort, it might be too late.
'It seems I'll have to be a bit shameless and earn some training value…'
Fang Xuan opened his eyes, his gaze fixed on Ning Xian’s tightly shut bamboo hut, pondering.
Training value could be exchanged for spirit buns, a shortcut to rapidly increasing cultivation, and it built a very stable foundation.
But in the past two days, the points gained through daily interaction and being “fed” were stable but too slow.
To accumulate enough to break through to Void Core in a short time, he needed to make a big move.
But how could he make Ning Xian intensely train him?
Directly asking certainly wouldn’t work.
The last time he hinted at dao companions, it almost backfired.
He propped his chin, his gaze sweeping across the courtyard.
Suddenly, he saw a few items of clothing drying on the bamboo pole.
These were Ning Xian’s old clothes, changed and washed last night, plain white and simple, gently swaying in the sunlight.
Among them, a slender, moon-white strip of cloth was particularly noticeable.
'That was… Ning Xian's chest binding cloth?'
A bold idea suddenly popped into his head.
'Void Core… is more important than my face.'
To break through as quickly as possible and gain enough strength to protect his senior sister, things like 'face' could be temporarily discarded.
He took a deep breath, steeling himself mentally.
Anyway, in Ning Xian’s eyes, he was probably already a slightly strange but relatively reliable junior brother.
A little stranger… 'It should… be fine, right?'
.......
The afternoon valley was unusually quiet, with only the sounds of wind rustling bamboo leaves and the flowing stream.
Ning Xian seemed to still be adjusting her breathing inside the house.
Fang Xuan composed himself, trying to put on a foolishly innocent expression that said, 'I'm just curious, not thinking too much.'
Standing up, he walked straight to the bamboo drying pole.
He reached out, his target clear, and snatched the soft, moon-white strip of cloth.
It felt cool to the touch, carrying the fresh scent of soap and Ning Xian’s faint, cool fragrance.
Then, holding the cloth, he turned, walked to Ning Xian’s bamboo hut door, and cleared his throat:
“Senior Sister?”
The room fell silent for a moment, then Ning Xian’s cool voice replied: “What is it?”
Fang Xuan pushed open the door and saw Ning Xian sitting on a chair, her clear eyes looking at him with confusion, and at… the conspicuous moon-white item in his hand.
Fang Xuan held up the strip of cloth: “Senior Sister, I’ll take this bandage, okay? I like white, and it’ll be perfect for wrapping my sword hilt. It feels very comfortable to hold.”
Ning Xian: “......?”
She clearly hadn't processed it, her cool eyes blinking.
Rarely did her usually calm, unruffled gaze show such a brief moment of blankness.
'Comfortable… to hold?'
The air seemed to still for a few breaths.
Seeing her not speak, Fang Xuan felt the timing might not be quite right, so he steeled himself.
He deliberately leaned in and took a sniff, inwardly praying he wouldn't be beaten to death:
“Hmm… Senior Sister, this bandage smells quite nice.”
【Ding! Host detected openly appreciating Master Ning Xian's intimate personal item. Behavior assessed: extreme overstepping of boundaries and inappropriate infatuation with Master's private property, training value +0.2!】
Fang Xuan: “......”
'System, are you trying to get me killed faster? And 0.2? That’s all? I risk my life for just 0.2?'
His imagined scene should have been:
Ning Xian instantly filled with shame and indignation, looking disgusted, then cursing him as a lecher and a shameless scoundrel.
Finally, she would glare at him with disdain, as if he were trash, perhaps even kick him to the ground and coldly tell him to get out…
'That’s what intense training and punishment should look like!'
At that point, the system might have judged it as 'severely trained,' perhaps giving him 1 or even 5 points of training value.
He had already prepared himself to be beaten and to secretly enjoy it.
But…
Ning Xian merely turned her head.
A faint blush indeed appeared on her fair face, but it wasn't from indignation; rather, it seemed like awkwardness from being dumbfounded by her silly junior brother…
“If you… like it, then take it.”
Fang Xuan: “.......”
He held the moon-white strip of cloth, somewhat dumbfounded.
'Senior Sister, who is training whom here? You’re not even angry. Am I training you instead…?'
'Miscalculated, a complete miscalculation.'
'Senior Sister's thought process… is it different from normal people, or does she just have an exceptionally high tolerance for weirdness?'
Fang Xuan felt a little choked up. His meticulously planned drama of seeking punishment had not only failed to achieve the desired effect.
Instead, it made him look like a foolish junior brother with an undeveloped mind, casually taking his senior sister’s belongings.
This was a world away from his imagined scene of 'being intensely trained by the aloof senior sister.'
Ning Xian seemed to feel the atmosphere was a bit awkward, mainly because Fang Xuan was standing there so conspicuously, so she softly added: “If you need cloth to wrap your sword… I have some clean cotton cloth.”
“No… no need. This one is quite good.”
Fang Xuan replied dryly, feeling his 'face' had been completely thrown away today.
He turned around, walking out of Ning Xian’s room with stiff, uncoordinated steps, gently closing the door.
Outside, the sun was still bright.
Fang Xuan looked down at the fragrant strip of cloth in his hand.
Although he hadn't successfully gained training value from his senior sister, he… seemed to have successfully acquired a sword-wrapping cloth imbued with his senior sister’s scent.
He walked to the stone table, picked up his black sword, Little Brother, and unwound the ordinary gray cloth previously wrapped around it.
Then, carefully, he wrapped the moon-white strip of cloth several times around the sword hilt, tying a secure knot.
He gripped it… 'Hmm, the feel is indeed softer and more comfortable, and that extremely faint, cool fragrance subtly lingers.'
“Smells faintly like milk…”
He mumbled instinctively, then shook his head sharply, trying to banish that strange adjective from his mind.
System: 【Host detected experiencing a subtle, private satisfaction from Master's intimate item, training value +0.1】
'System… you are truly persistent.'
'It seems the usual level of 'seeking death' isn't enough; Senior Sister’s threshold is much higher than he imagined.'
Fang Xuan toyed with the newly wrapped sword hilt, forced to admit again that it felt much softer than before, and his palm felt warm.
.......
'Since my 'face' has already been lost once, I might as well completely abandon it.'
“For Void Core… I’ll endure it!”
If once wasn't enough, he’d try again, with even greater intensity.
He refused to believe Ning Xian could always treat him like an ignorant child.
There had to be a way to make her intensely train him.
Rate on N.U.
