Spirit Cultivation

"How much bounty did we get from that?" Xuefeng asked seeing that Xiao Wen came back to the apartment they rented for the night. There were barely any rooms left in any inns, so they had to go with the most expensive apartment, the City Centre Restaurant, located right in the middle of the city.

"Haha, that stingy City Lord planned to give me only ten thousand high-tiered Spirit Stones, but we worked too hard to only get this much. In the end, after some persuasion, I managed to get ten times that. Are you proud of me?" Xiao Wen sat next to him on the sofa and hugged him, while low-key pleading for some praise from him.

"Mhmm, you did well—" Xuefeng reached out to pat her on the head on instinct, but then realised how much more she got and asked in shock, "Wait, ten times? How did you get that much?" Normally, ten thousand for such a mission was already an excessive amount, as missions were mostly low rewarding, knowing everyone could take them.

"Haha, of course, I used my good looks and power to get what I want." Xiao Wen laughed sweetly, declaring her charm and strength proudly before kissing him on the cheek, teasing him a little bit, "Didn't I do the same with you?"

She waited to hear his confirmation, but Xuefeng only teased her back the same way, "Oh, are we already official? I didn't know about that. I thought you were just kissing me as a friend."

It would be a surprise if Xiao Wen or any woman in this situation didn't get mad at such a tease and that's exactly what happened. Xiao Wen pouted right away as she hit his arm lightly and Xuefeng had to save the situation, saying while caressing her cheek, "Alright, I was joking, of course, you are someone much closer to me than just a friend."

"Mhmm, I forgive you…" Xiao Wen wanted to push him to say more, that she was his girlfriend already, but she was satisfied for now, not wanting to push it too much. She already held onto all of his money as insurance, so even if he wanted her gone, he would have to keep her around for that.

"I hope that you didn't beat the City Lord up to get so much money…" Xuefeng asked, knowing that one hundred thousand would be a lot of money for such a medium-sized city.

"Of course not… Why do you think I'm some kind of brute or something…" Xiao Wen denied innocently, pretending to be hurt by his words, but deep down she felt anxious, worried that he will investigate her actions.

...….

A few moments ago in the City Lord Mansion.

"The fuck did you just say?! Ten thousand?! Did I hear wrong or are you just pulling my leg?!" Xiao Wen cried out angrily as she lifted the City Lord up by his shirt and pinned him to the wall. One of her hands carried a burning fireball while the other easily held the man's weight without problems.

The City Lord stuttered the moment he saw the raging fireball in Xiao Wen's hand and tried to explain, knowing he couldn't fight back against her, "M-miss… That was the reward determined based on the skill level and the mission difficulty. I think ten thousand is already an extravagant reward…"

Hearing his reply, Xiao Wen suddenly released her pressure of the Sage and argued more, "Oh based on the skill you say?! We were facing a fucking Sage Cultivator! Do you know how much money one needs to pay to hire a Sage? I don't even bother to look at the mission if it's not above one hundred thousand!"

Feeling the pressure emanating from her, the City Lord shuddered, realising that he wasn't dealing with a nobody. She was a Sage Cultivator! As a City Lord of a border town, he did have knowledge about all secret stuff in the cultivation world.

Before he could defend himself, Xiao Wen added coldly, staring daggers at the City Lord's eyes, "Not only that, my sister got hurt because of your incompetence! She was the one taking this mission and If I didn't respond to her distress call in time, she would be dead! How are you going to pay back for your sins?!"

"I'm deeply sorry for Miss's sister… I can increase the reward to fifty thousand as compensation for your losses—" The City Lord decided to give in after hearing the whole situation, but then Xiao Wen called out, "Double that or this city will be in flames in a moment. We killed all the bandits in the area. The money that will flow into your city is much more than this little amount."

Realising she was right about that, the City Lord didn't object anymore, "Alright… Can Miss give me a moment to gather the money…? I don't have this much on me right now."

Xiao Wen finally released the poor City Lord back onto the floor and called out, ending the conversation with him, "You have five minutes."

...….

Without realising what Xiao Wen had done, Xuefeng asked her casually as they waited for food, "Oh, by the way, will you give me at least one million that we got from Thousand Blades tomorrow? I need it for something." With so much Spirit Stones, he wouldn't have to worry about running out of supply with Nuwa. He also doubted there were more than one million high-tiered Fate Stones inside the Holy Land so it will last for a while.

"I don't mind… But why do you need so much?" Hearing him asking for so much, the happiness from keeping Xuefeng's money and from the trust he had with her was slowly dissipating.

Finding no problems with telling, Xuefeng explained part of his business while dodging the part about Fate Stones trading, "I plan to pass it to Nuwa in the Holy Land I was talking about. They are learning Spirit Cultivation there, but they need Spirit Stones for that as Spirit Qi is non-existent there. I am supplying it for her from here."

"Oh, that's nice of you. But you know how big of a sum a million high-tiered Spirit Stones is? And who is Nuwa…?" Xiao Wen asked, finding it quite suspicious. She still had not met with Nuwa so she didn't know much about her.

"She is Yiren's mother, but also the Elf Queen there. If you didn't know, Yiren is an Elf Princess." Xuefeng introduced them and pulled Yiren's hair away from her ears to show how different they were. When he touched it, a blush appeared on Yiren's cheeks, which meant that she could still sense that Xuefeng was touching her ears, even though she was sleeping.

"That's so cool…" Xiao Wen patted Yiren gently now knowing her complete origin and asked curiously, making sure she learnt all the details, "So… What connects you with Yiren's mother...? Are you two…?" She didn't finish the last question as it got stuck in her throat.

Xuefeng didn't hesitate much before he admitted the truth, "Are we lovers? Yes. We did it a few times already and I consider her as such." He believed that honesty in a relationship was important and also, he didn't consider this information a secret. He could hide such things as the origin of his Fate Stone supply, but he wouldn't cover any of his relationships.

"I didn't know you like older women like that…" Hearing his reply, Xiao Wen couldn't help but mutter under her breath, but then she realised what she just said, but it was too late for her to cancel her words. Xuefeng already stared at her sternly, clearly not liking her saying such comments towards him and Nuwa.

Xiao Wen quickly understood it was her bad this time and apologized sincerely, "Xuefeng, I'm sorry… I didn't mean it like that… I just don't want to share you with so many women… I'm still not used to it, so please don't be mad at me…" Only her feelings for him were holding her in place and preventing her from revolting against such policies.

Xuefeng sighed, not being blind about that and clearly explained his stance to her, "I know you are not used to it, but I'm not going to let go of anyone because of someone else. You need to get along with the others. Even if there is a conflict between any of you, I hope we can always resolve it peacefully. You need to understand that you are not the only person I care about."

"I know… I'm sorry…" Xiao Wen kissed him on the lips and apologised once again while promising at the same time, "As long as you care about me, I will try to be nice to everyone…" She knew it will take her some time for that to happen, but she would try her best to overcome it.

When she showed such pitiful expression, Xuefeng could only stop being so harsh on her, kissing her as well as a mark of peace, saying gently, "Mhmm, as long as you understand it." He never liked arguing and it was hard for him to stay mad for long, no matter what Xiao Wen would do.

Knock, knock.

Just then, someone knocked on the doors to their apartment and it happened to be the manager of the restaurant, who brought them the dishes that they ordered together with other servants from downstairs earlier on.

At the same time, Ling called out as the servants started placing the dishes on the table, 'I will wake up Yiren. Try to feed her something before she continues to sleep. I'm already halfway there in healing her, but I also need a break.'

Before Xuefeng could respond, Yiren moved in his arms and opened her eyes, asking confused, "Xuefeng… wh-where are we…?" She looked at the various dishes and the place they were in, while stretching herself before returning back to hugging Xuefeng as that was her favourite position.

"Thank you, you can leave." Seeing all dishes placed, Xuefeng thanked the manager before turning to Yiren after they left, "We are in the Border City inside a restaurant. I want you to eat something so you can regain your energy. Are you hungry?"

"Mhmm, I am…" Yiren nodded cutely as she turned around, not leaving his lap and asked while leaning weakly on his chest, "Can you feed me? I still feel a bit weak…"

"Of course." Xuefeng teased her on the nose before realising that space next to him was still empty and called out towards the bathroom, "Wuying, are you there? What are you doing for so long in the bathroom? Dinner is ready."

Inside the bathroom, Wuying was rubbing her eyes while splashing herself with cold water. Looking in the mirror at her red eyes, which she slowly forced to turn back to her original colour, she muttered to herself, "Stay calm. You got this. Nothing bad will happen."

With that said, Wuying left the bathroom and called out, "I'm sorry, I'm back." Instead of looking at Xuefeng, she was staring at the food behind him which made it look like she stared at him. Wu Lan sighed when she saw that, contemplating if she should inform Xuefeng about that issue on the side.

Xuefeng smiled seeing her happy expression and patted the place next to him, saying warmly, "Oh, no problem. Come, I want you to sit next to me." When Wuying heard it, her eyes constricted, but she still nodded and approached him.