With familiarity growing, Bai Shengyi was once again on Qin Si's back, feeling no awkwardness. Instead, she drifted off to sleep in a daze.
She slept soundly.
Qin Si heard her soft snores and even slowed his pace.
Fortunately, for the remainder of the journey, they only encountered ordinary spirit beasts. Qin Si only needed to release his Nascent Soul stage aura and avoid the spatial rifts.
He was quite familiar with Youming Valley, and without stopping, he emerged from it in just over a day and a night.
"Bai Shengyi? Time to wake up." Qin Si softly called to the woman who had been sleeping, gaining a deeper understanding of her.
However, before Bai Shengyi woke, Qin Si keenly sensed a movement in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, with fire and wood elements being particularly active.
Qin Si turned his head in astonishment towards the person on his back, "Just what kind of luck do you have?"
She could advance while sleeping?
Qin Si watched as Bai Shengyi stretched, her cultivation jumping from the second level of Foundation Establishment to the fourth, a leap of two levels, and without any bottleneck!
She advanced faster than someone using elixirs!
"Perhaps it's the luck of a daughter of destiny?" Bai Shengyi yawned, though she didn't feel particularly happy about it.
Qin Si said, "Daughter of destiny, can you walk on your own now?"
"Of course, thank you, Little Prince." Bai Shengyi smiled charmingly.
Qin Si snorted, "If you don't want to smile, don't." It was too ugly.
As soon as he spoke, Bai Shengyi's smile vanished, and she sat cross-legged on the ground with a troubled expression, "Alas! When will I be able to control my cultivation?"
Qin Si found her words somewhat grating. His own cultivation speed was considered fast, and it was usually others who envied him. Yet today, he felt Bai Shengyi was showing off.
"One should be content."
Hearing this, Bai Shengyi lowered her head and remained silent.
"What is bothering you? If it's nothing major, can you deal with it after we leave here?"
Qin Si frowned deeply. He felt something was off with Bai Shengyi, but asking her to say something caring... that was out of the question! This woman was so cunning; what if she was just trying to trick him?
"Little Prince, my fire spiritual energy is starting to devour my wood spiritual energy."
As Bai Shengyi spoke, cold sweat broke out on her forehead. It wasn't that she didn't know her limits, but the situation was urgent, and she couldn't afford to be cautious.
This advancement, by all rights, should have meant both her wood and fire spiritual roots progressing together. However, the fire spiritual root was too overbearing, and its power increased too quickly. Her dantian, which had finally stabilized, became chaotic again.
Bai Shengyi had to suppress it with her spiritual power once more. This time, however, the Shifang Youhuo seemed to be prepared, behaving rebelliously and darting around her dantian. For the moment, Bai Shengyi was helpless.
Qin Si couldn't intervene, so he could only protect Bai Shengyi. He wondered when Bai Shengyi had acquired fire spiritual roots again; no wonder she desired the Jiuyou Huanghuo.
After half an hour, Bai Shengyi finally got up, looking extremely fatigued, "Let's go, it's fine now."
"This is for you." Qin Si handed Bai Shengyi a fifth-grade Yunling Pill.
Bai Shengyi looked at Qin Si suspiciously, wondering if he would ask for something in return again.
"What are you looking at? Eat it quickly, and don't drag me down later." He said, forcefully shoving it into Bai Shengyi's hand before walking ahead.
Bai Shengyi looked at his agitated reaction and couldn't help but smile, resting her chin on her hand, her mood suddenly improving greatly.
She took the Yunling Pill and chased after him, "Little Prince, can I have some water? I'm a bit thirsty..."
Qin Si didn't want to pay attention to her, but hearing her pitiful voice, he still couldn't resist. He took out two spirit fruits from his storage bag and gave them to her.
"There's no water, only this."
Bai Shengyi felt a bit embarrassed to accept them. The two fruits were crystal clear and obviously of extraordinary quality; she felt a little scared.
"I'll trade you for this." Bai Shengyi reluctantly handed over the beast core of the Void Beast to Qin Si, feeling like she was losing out greatly while repeatedly reminding herself that Qin Si was her savior and she shouldn't be too calculative.
Qin Si looked at the beast core in his hand and curved his lips. Good, she wasn't an incorrigible little liar after all.
Qin Si escorted her all the way to the vicinity of the stone mountain.
"Are you going back?"
"Yes, I have something else to do." Qin Si replied.
Bai Shengyi said, "Alright, thank you for this time. We part ways here."
Qin Si watched Bai Shengyi smile and wave, then turn around and run off, showing no hint of lingering. She then ran towards Chu Tianle.
Qin Si's gaze slightly deepened, and then he changed direction and strode over.
"Shengyi, how are you?" Chu Tianle rushed forward, wanting to hug Bai Shengyi, but seeing the bloodstains all over her, he became flustered and didn't know what to do. He could only hover a hand, afraid of touching her wounds.
"I'm fine, you guys..."
"She needs rest." Qin Si's cold voice cut in, and he then stood between Bai Shengyi and Chu Tianle.
Chu Tianle was forced to withdraw his hand.
Bai Shengyi asked in confusion, "Little... Vice Principal, didn't you say you were leaving ahead?" Noticing that Qin Si had put on his mask, Bai Shengyi naturally changed her address.
Qin Si said, "I've come to deal with him." He pointed to Sun Lixing, who was lying unconscious nearby.
With his arrival, Feng Wuya and the others couldn't get close, and could only look at Bai Shengyi expectantly. But Qin Si acted as if he didn't notice the awkwardness, standing aside.
Bai Shengyi gave a dry laugh, "Then I'll trouble Vice Principal."
Qin Si listened to her polite words and suddenly found it meaningless.
With a dark expression, he picked up Sun Lixing and turned to leave without a word. This time, he really left. Everyone waited for a while, and only when he didn't return did they gather around Bai Shengyi.
"That was close, Vice Principal's aura is too terrifying. Shengyi, where did you go? Did the Vice Principal save you?" Feng Wuya dabbed his cold sweat with a small handkerchief, bombarding her with questions.
Bai Shengyi recounted what she could tell them.
"Your experience is too magical!" Zhu Wu exclaimed softly, "But it's good that you're alright; you made everyone so worried."
"It's good you're back." Chen Qiyang stated concisely.
Luo Feihua said, "Yes! Chu Tianle, why aren't you speaking? Weren't you the most worried about Shengyi earlier?"
"Huh? Oh... Shengyi, are you and the Vice Principal on very good terms?" Chu Tianle hesitated.
Luo Feihua frowned, "What are you saying? The Vice Principal saved Shengyi; couldn't it be because Shengyi is a student of the academy?"
"I misspoke. I just wanted to ask if you should go and thank him. If it weren't for him this time, none of us could have helped you."
As Chu Tianle spoke, he looked somewhat dejected. He had always wanted to repay Shengyi's life-saving kindness, but in reality, it was always Shengyi who helped him more. This feeling made him very frustrated.
"How could you not have helped me? If you hadn't depleted most of Sun Lixing's spiritual power, I'm afraid I would have been killed by Sun Lixing long ago. Chu Tianle, you need to have confidence in yourself." Bai Shengyi smiled, "As for thanking him, I've already done so."
Chu Tianle stared blankly at her bright and cheerful smile.
While he remained silent, the others still had many questions for Bai Shengyi, especially Feng Wuya and Luo Feihua, who clung to her. Feng Wuya was purely curious, while Luo Feihua was worried. Bai Shengyi spoke for an hour, but Feng Wuya refused to let go.
Later, Chen Qiyang reminded them that too much time had elapsed, allowing Bai Shengyi to escape their clutches.
Everyone bid farewell to each other again and hurried on their journey, each returning home to attend to their own affairs.
After everyone had left, Luo Feihua quietly reminded, "Shengyi, Bai Murong..."
"Hush, it's alright, I'll handle it myself." Bai Shengyi placed her index finger on her lips and gently shook her head at Luo Feihua, "Don't delay everyone's journey."
Seeing that she had things under control, Luo Feihua said no more.
The journey back this time was very smooth.
Since the Luo and Chu families were not in the capital, Bai Shengyi parted ways with Chu Tianle and Luo Feihua not far outside the city. However, she did not immediately enter the city but waited on the outskirts on a mandatory path.
"Oh! Bai Murong, all alone!" Bai Shengyi saw Bai Murong's figure, let out a cold laugh, and slowly walked over, "I thought Qing Buli would escort you home!"
"Bai Shengyi, what are you doing?" Bai Murong met Bai Shengyi's cold gaze and instinctively took a few steps back.
She was a little flustered.