Inquiry

White light shimmered.

Lying limp as a dead fish upon the bed, Lingxu Fairy suddenly forced herself to rally her spirits, pushing back against the reverse summoning force.

"Disciple Ning Fan, let me ask you. Have you ever seen an ancient jade?"

Lingxu Fairy stared deeply at Ning Fan, seemingly unwilling to miss a single shift in his expression.

"Ancient jade? What ancient jade?"

Ning Fan was slightly taken aback.

"The ancient jade I took from the spirit vein. It looked roughly..."

In a few brief sentences, Lingxu Fairy described the ancient jade's shape to Ning Fan.

"Oh..."

Hearing Lingxu Fairy's words, Ning Fan felt a flash of realization. He remembered that when he first met her, she had taken an object from the spirit vein. At the time, he hadn't noticed exactly what it was.

So it was an ancient jade.

As for what that ancient jade actually was, Ning Fan truly did not know. But he had seen something similar-

On Ye Honglian.

That was right.

Every time Ning Fan saw Ye Honglian, she carried an ancient jade that was practically identical to Lingxu Fairy's description.

"..."

Lingxu Fairy stared intently at Ning Fan. Seeing the look of sudden comprehension on his face, she deduced that his knowledge of the ancient jade was even less than her own.

Thus, she continued.

"It is like this. Sometimes I feel the ancient jade emit a faint light and heat, accompanied by a summoning force. I never responded to it before, but the one time I did answer its call, I ended up with you..."

At this point, Lingxu Fairy shot Ning Fan a vicious glare.

"..."

Ning Fan scratched his head in guilt.

The time Lingxu Fairy mentioned was back in the Wushi Heavenly Palace ruins, right around the time he had taken her Maiden Essence.

"After responding to the summon that once, I can no longer resist it whenever the ancient jade glows," Lingxu Fairy continued.

This was the crux of the matter. She could not resist the ancient jade's summon. Didn't this mean she could be forced into doing this and that with Ning Fan at any given moment?

"..."

Ning Fan pondered this for a moment, roughly piecing together what was going on.

Yun Qingyao and Lingxu Fairy shared a common trait-they both possessed an ancient jade. Whenever Ning Fan dual cultivated with Yun Qingyao, the ancient jade would summon the others. Once they responded, they would take Yun Qingyao's place to dual cultivate with him.

And once they had answered that summon, the initiative fell entirely into Ning Fan's hands. They could no longer refuse.

"It is a good thing you answered the summon before the Peak Competition," Ning Fan said with evident relief.

"Hmm?" Lingxu Fairy frowned.

"If it had happened earlier, you would have caught me in the Sect and my little life would have been forfeit," Ning Fan said, feeling a lingering dread.

"Hmph."

"Your little life is still forfeit. Once you leave the Yin Yang Tower, I guarantee..." Lingxu Fairy began.

But then she remembered that for the next half a month, she might repeatedly fall into Ning Fan's hands.

She swallowed her harsh words.

A person standing under low eaves has no choice but to bow their head. Lingxu Fairy understood this principle well enough.

"..."

Realizing she could not pry any more information about the ancient jade from Ning Fan, Lingxu Fairy gave up fighting the reverse summon.

The white light enveloping her grew increasingly bright.

"Wait!!"

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Ning Fan called out to her fading figure.

"Holy Maiden, I humbly ask a favor of you. Please help me investigate a matter."

"Look into the Tianxuan Holy Land and Ye Honglian. If you can find anything at all, I would be endlessly grateful."

"..."

Just as Ning Fan's last word fell, Lingxu Fairy's figure was completely swallowed by the white light. He was certain she had heard his request, but he had no idea if she would actually help him.

After all, his relationship with Lingxu Fairy was far inferior to his bond with Ye Honglian.

It would be perfectly reasonable for Lingxu Fairy to ignore him entirely.

The white light lingered for a few seconds. When it faded, Yun Qingyao had replaced Lingxu Fairy, reappearing right before Ning Fan's eyes.

"..."

Yun Qingyao blinked, looking at Ning Fan with innocent, adorable eyes. Her face showed absolutely no sign of exhaustion.

Ning Fan, on the other hand, was a bit tired.

The sheer exhaustion of dual cultivation was generally proportional to the immense improvements gained. Once a Yin Yang Divine Sect martial artist reached the late Profound Extreme Realm, even if they absorbed the spiritual power of a Spirit Stone through dual cultivation, they wouldn't feel overly drained.

This was because the resulting improvement wasn't as massive relative to their current realm.

If a single dual cultivation session left them paralyzed with exhaustion every time, the drawbacks would be far too severe.

However, due to the dense Yin Yang Qi within the Yin Yang Tower, Ning Fan's cultivation had surged at an astonishing speed, which was why he felt a wave of fatigue.

Yet Yun Qingyao looked completely refreshed and at ease.

It made sense.

Even when Ning Fan was dual cultivating three times a day and nearly draining himself dry, Yun Qingyao had always looked exactly like this. Now Ning Fan finally understood-someone else had been carrying the burden for her!

Truthfully, he was a little envious.

Of course, he wasn't envious that someone else was dual cultivating in his place. He was envious of Yun Qingyao's boundless stamina. When it came to dual cultivation, he still had to put in the manual labor!

"Let's go!"

Ning Fan rose from the bed. Yun Qingyao followed close behind, and the two walked up to the warded screen. Ning Fan threw a punch, shattering the barrier from the inside.

To his surprise, breaking the barrier from the inside was much easier. It seemed the formation was primarily designed to keep outsiders out.

"Husband, shall we cultivate once more?"

Yun Qingyao looked at Ning Fan, tilting her head with a naive, innocent expression.

"..."

Hearing her words, Ning Fan shook his head.

"Let's rest for now."

A single session took a considerable amount of time. Judging by the state of the tower's first floor, if he stayed to dual cultivate again, the other disciples would probably reach the second floor before him.

The rules clearly stated that once ninety percent of a floor's Yin Yang Qi was consumed, the door to the next floor would open.

He didn't want to pick up a sesame seed only to drop a watermelon.

However, Ning Fan didn't leave immediately. Instead, he strolled over to an adjacent warded screen and lightly tapped on it.

"Junior Brother Ning!?"

"Was that you just now!?"

"..."

Shao Hong's voice echoed from within the barrier. There was a distinct hint of surprise and relief in his tone. The surprise was from encountering Ning Fan.

Ning Fan could be considered Shao Hong's friend, after all.

The relief came from the fact that he hadn't broken the barrier a moment ago. If he had, it would have been impossibly awkward to interrupt a friend's private matters.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Shao, for not disturbing your Junior Brother's dual cultivation."

"Your Junior Brother won't disturb you any further."

"Take your time cultivating."

Ning Fan called out.

Ning Fan fully intended to maintain a good relationship with Shao Hong. Not only had they gotten along well previously, but the simple fact that Shao Hong had entered the main peak a cycle early proved he had formidable backing.

"Take care."

Shao Hong's slightly breathless voice replied.

Ning Fan turned around, waved his hand, and pulled Yun Qingyao toward the center of the Yin Yang Tower, right where the stairs to the second floor awaited.

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