Fang Xuan lay on Ning Xian's bed, beneath him a clean mattress, which carried a faint, cool fragrance mixed with a hint of medicinal herbs. It smelled much better than his own bedding. Ning Xian, meanwhile, had spread a simple bamboo mat and thin mattress beside it.
"Senior Sister," Fang Xuan turned over, looking at Ning Xian's cool, delicate profile under the lamp, "Why don't you sleep on the bed? I can just sleep on the floor, or... this bed is quite big..."
Before he could finish, Ning Xian gently cut him off: "No need. You're bruised from the fall and got rained on. Don't catch a cold."
Fang Xuan wanted to say that falling from a three-meter-high roof wouldn't affect someone at the Half-Step Void Core realm.
"Oh, alright..."
He obediently lay down, pulling the covers up to hide half his face, leaving only his eyes exposed, secretly peeking at Ning Xian's meditating figure.
'Senior Sister's quilt smells so good...'
'However, it still seemed a tiny bit less fragrant than the sword binding cloth wrapped around his own sword.'
He thought he wouldn't be able to sleep.
But not long after, he fell into a deep sleep.
His last thought before sleeping was, 'This bed... is really comfortable...'
.......
Meanwhile, Ning Xian, who appeared to be asleep, was far from as calm as she seemed.
Her breathing was a little erratic, and her closed eyelashes trembled slightly.
She took several deep breaths, trying to calm her mind, but found it had little effect.
She simply gave up, opened her eyes, and prepared to meditate and cultivate through the night.
Looking inward, deep within the wound, the golden glow of the newly grown spirit bone had solidified slightly more than yesterday.
Although its growth was slow, it was indeed continuous.
'Rely on him... to lead me... away?'
This thought surfaced uncontrollably once more.
She couldn't make sense of it...
She gently exhaled a turbid breath, cast aside distracting thoughts, and resumed circulating the most basic mind-calming spell.
Regardless, restoring her strength was paramount.
.......
The next morning, bright and early.
Fang Xuan was awakened by an alluring aroma that stirred his appetite.
He groggily opened his eyes to find himself still lying on Ning Xian's bed, covered by her quilt.
The makeshift bed beside him had been neatly tidied, and Ning Xian was nowhere to be seen.
Outside the window, the daylight was bright. The rain had stopped at some unknown time, and the air was fresh.
He sat up and shook his head to clear it.
'Yesterday...'
'Drinking on the roof, falling off, a leaky roof, being taken in by Senior Sister... Right, system settlement.'
He had been so drunk and restless last night that he had actually slept through the settlement time.
He quickly focused his mind and opened the system interface.
【Reward Issued: Complete spirit buns *2, Side Dish: System-Exclusive Virtual Pickled Vegetables (for aesthetic viewing only, enhances dining ritual).】
Fang Xuan's mouth twitched twice as he looked at the two large white buns and the plate of virtual pickled vegetables beside them, which were merely light and shadow effects, not edible but only for display.
'System, are you a rookie?'
'Still... two complete large white buns. Let's see if I can break through to the Void Core Realm with them.'
'But now isn't a good time. I'll do it later.'
.......
Stepping out of the room, he saw Ning Xian had already prepared a simple breakfast in the courtyard.
Clear congee and small side dishes.
She stood by the stove, serving congee, her silhouette graceful in the morning light.
Hearing his movement, she turned and glanced at him, her expression as usual, as if nothing had happened last night.
"Wash up, eat." She was concise.
"Mm." Fang Xuan responded.
.......
After the meal, it was time for sword practice, as usual.
Now, his sword momentum coalesced more smoothly than ever. With a thought, a sharp aura naturally manifested with his sword, effortlessly severing thin branches from a distance.
"Your sword momentum is complete; you've achieved entry-level mastery," Ning Xian commented coolly, sipping her tea nearby.
"Next, you need to integrate this momentum into yourself before you can even begin to talk about sword intent."
'Sword intent...' Fang Xuan's heart stirred slightly.
The day Ning Xian casually severed leaves, she displayed an extremely high level of sword intent. Even though she had lost all her cultivation, that "intent" realm remained.
His sword momentum had only just formed; he was still far from touching the threshold of sword intent.
After finishing his sword practice, he was slightly sweaty.
Fang Xuan sheathed his sword and walked to the stone table, sitting down.
The sunlight was perfect, making him feel languid.
Fang Xuan really wanted to just slump into the bamboo chair and soak up the sun for a while, but glancing at Ning Xian, who sat upright beside him, meticulously sipping her tea, he suppressed that thought.
'If I'm too lazy, will Senior Sister scold me?'
"Senior Sister, I'll go meditate and cultivate some more," he offered proactively.
Ning Xian raised her gaze and looked at him, seemingly surprised by his conscientiousness today, and nodded gently: "Mm."
【Ding! Host detected making an active choice under non-compulsory circumstances. Reasons include conforming to the master's expectations and fear of the master's punishment.】
【Behavior Judgment: The trainee's subconscious has begun to adjust its behavior according to the master's preferences, seeking the master's approval.】
【Training Value +0.5!】
【Training Progress +0.09%】
【Current Total Training Progress: 0.2%】
Fang Xuan: "......?"
'I get training value just by cultivating?'
He didn't pay much attention and prepared to continue cultivating.
But then he suddenly realized a problem.
'It's fine to get training value; it can be exchanged for buns to improve cultivation, so the more the merrier.'
'But what's up with that "training progress"?'
It didn't seem to directly correspond to rewards, but rather was slowly increasing.
He hadn't paid much attention before, but now he saw it was already 0.2%.
'This thing... what happens if it really reaches 100%?'
'The system's name is the All-Heavens Training System. Ning Xian is the master, and he's the training target, her... fully controlled subordinate...'
'This progress bar, could it be... the completion rate for completely transforming him into Ning Xian's compliant tool?!'
Fang Xuan's heart sank, and a chill crept up his spine.
He stared wide-eyed, fixated on that 0.2%.
But the more he looked, the more uneasy he felt.
Before, he had always treated this as a bizarre mission and a means to acquire resources, playing along, feigning compliance, but maintaining his inner freedom.
Yet, just now, when he chose to cultivate, his subconscious actually contained thoughts of wanting to appease Senior Sister and seek the master's approval, which the system deemed as training behavior.
'So he won't really... be slowly trained by this broken system into Senior Sister's completely subservient tool, will he?!'
He quickly shook his head, trying to cast off that terrifying thought.
'How could that be...?'
'He was just... just infatuated, that's all. Being completely broken and subservient to her? That's absolutely impossible.'
.......
He turned his head, looking at Ning Xian's graceful figure in the sunlight, her profile in the light and shadow beautiful to the point of unreality.
"Infatuation... yes, that's exactly what it is," he repeated, trying to convince himself.
But he felt that this reason no longer sounded as convincing as before.
Rate on N.U.
