Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Qingcheng hadn’t actually left. She was watching from the shadows of the cave because she wanted to see for herself what the effects of the pills were.
After all, this was the first time she had refined pills, and she wanted to see what effect they had on the Magical Beasts personally.
After she was done watching, she felt rather pleased. “The pills of this universe are really amazing!” She heard the Magical Beasts thank her sincerely, so that made her happy inside. She then really left.
Tealwood knew that she had been watching all this while and knew when she had left. He looked at all the Magical Beasts lying prostrate and unleashed the aura that only a Sacred Beast gave off on them, signifying his authority as the king of the beasts.
“It’s been hard on everyone today, so that’s quite enough! All of you may leave now.”
But none of them moved. The Thunder Cloud Leopard was the most excited. “King, is it possible for me to see Her Excellency? I have some words that I would like to tell her personally! Could you let her know for me?”
The other Magical Beasts expressed a similar opinion.
When Tealwood heard their requests, he didn’t reject them outright. He used their spiritual connection that had formed from establishing the bond to let Qingcheng know.
“Master, are you free now? Could you come to the entrance of the cave? These fellows would like to say some things to you personally.”
Qingcheng was a little surprised. “Oh? Sure, I’ll come over right now.”
Everyone was silent as they watched Qingcheng slowly walking out to them.
She looked at all the Magical Beasts that were waiting for her before her gaze finally landed on the Thunder Cloud Leopard, who was in the front. “Why are all of you looking for me?”
She was clearly quite young, but she had an aura around her that commanded respect even though she wasn’t angry or anything of the sort.
The Thunder Cloud Leopard lay prostrate, and then he looked up to growl quietly, “Your Excellency! Thank you so much for allowing me to level up in cultivation!”
Qingcheng calmly replied, “There’s no need to thank me. This is your own doing. You deserve this.”
“No. I was severely injured after a battle many years ago, and after that, no matter how hard I tried to cultivate, my cultivation level refused to go up. If not for you, I would still be unable to level up.
“From today onwards, I, Thunder Cloud Leopard, swear to follow you! I will never betray you! And I sincerely hope you will permit this!” After that, he looked nervously with anticipation at Qingcheng. He hadn’t dreamed of being able to establish a bond with her, but being by her side was good enough.
Actually, during the duel earlier, Qingcheng had noticed that the scars on his body were his weak spots in battle. But she didn’t say anything and just poured Sacred Spirit Spring water into its mouth. She hadn’t had any hopes that the leopard would serve her.
“Are you sure? If you follow me, you might face death at any time, and… if you betray me, then the consequences won’t be as simple as just dying!” When she came to the last part of her sentence, her queenly aura became even stronger than before. All the Magical Beasts felt their hearts suddenly shrink back.
Tealwood had felt that too. He exclaimed inside his heart, “Master is really a natural-born leader! Everyone can’t help but fall at her feet!”
The Thunder Cloud Leopard wasn’t frightened by what she said. Did that mean she was agreeable to this? He quickly swore very sincerely, “I, Thunder Cloud Leopard, solemnly swear to follow Her Excellency Qingcheng until the day I die, and will not follow another person! If I go against this oath, then I will accept any punishment from the heavens and will die without the chance to be reincarnated!”
The moment he finished saying these words, a power fell from the sky and created an oath formation with the leopard and Qingcheng as the center. Then it turned into two bright sparks and disappeared in the spot between their brows.
After the rest of the Magical Beasts saw this, they all also expressed their wish to follow her and pledged their allegiance as well.
Qingcheng spoke again, saying, “I will not stay here for too long and will leave after the next few days of duels are over. You can choose to leave with me or stay here and cultivate. It is entirely up to you.”
It was true that she wasn’t going to stick around for too long. Now that the problem with her body had been settled, it was time to head out to consolidate power and fight the Feng family!
After the Magical Beasts heard what she said, they expressed that they were willing to go with her. They needed a bigger universe to train themselves so that they could become stronger and better.
She looked at the Thunder Cloud Leopard. “Thunder Cloud Leopard, from now on, I’ll call you Tealcloud, and you will be a team leader. The 19 of you shall be led by Tealcloud, and you shall report to him. All of you can go back tonight, and I’ll call for all of you to return before I leave.”
Tealcloud hadn’t expected his Master to give him a name. “Thank you for giving me a name. Tealcloud will lead them back to the forest.” Then he turned and brought all the Magical Beasts with him.
The battlefield was quiet once more. The Windblast Wolves that had been left behind were still shocked by what just happened. They were still in a daze.
Tealwood didn’t feel much about what had just happened. He only felt proud to have a master who had absolute charm. He walked over to Qingcheng. “Master, have you really decided to leave in a few days?”
“That’s right. Once my cultivation is stable, I will leave. You can decide what to do with Xiaojiu and the rest. Whether they stay or follow, I won’t interfere with their choice.” She looked up at the sky to see that the moon was already slanting a little, so she walked back into the cave.
Tealwood watched as she disappeared into the distance before turning away.
Qingcheng returned to the interspace and took a bath with the Sacred Spirit Spring water first. Both large and small scabs on her wounds slowly fell off her skin, and it was as smooth as jade again.
After an entire day of fighting, her body was very tired, and she ended up falling asleep inside the bathing pool again…
By the time she woke up, it was the next day inside the interspace.
After she tidied herself up, she walked into the Alchemy room to continue refining more pills. However, this time, she didn’t make them continuously like what she had the other day.
From time to time, she would go to the kitchen to whip up a feast, as if she had gone back to her previous life. After she finished a mission, she would always make a delicious meal for herself, then eat together with her pet dog. That was the only time in her life when she felt like she was truly happy.
As she ate, she started thinking. This universe didn’t have things like desserts and cakes, so if she wanted to eat some, she would have to find the ingredients herself.
“It’s probably possible to buy some flour in the city. If I want eggs, then I could search for some in the forest. Chickens are not sentient animals in this universe. I could make the rest from scratch myself.” Qingcheng started making plans.
On the second day of duels.
Qingcheng showed up on time and looked at all the Wood Attribute Magical Beasts before her.
“Let’s start!” Fierce fighting ensued once more!
It was nightfall, and the sky was getting dark by the time the last Fifth Stage Intermediate Phase Magical Beast finally collapsed.
Just like the day before, Qingcheng left after passing Tealwood the pills. But unlike the day before, she didn’t come back out after the Magical Beasts had consumed them.
She told Tealwood to tell them, “Go back and think about it carefully! If you wish to follow me and you still want to do so after the five days of battles are over, then come and look for me again!”
The same thing repeated day after day until the last day. All the battles were completed, and Qingcheng’s cultivation level was stable. She could feel that she was going to level up again, but she didn’t want to right now and suppressed it instead.
Qingcheng went back into the interspace to start refining pills again. During this time, she had become familiar with the steps to refine any pills that were Level Four and below, and she was able to refine them to High-Grade or Premium-Grade levels. The pills that she refined eventually piled up into a small mountain of their own.
What was she refining so many pills for? It was in preparation for her next plan, of course. Besides refining pills, she had also created an area in the Spirit Field of the interspace to plant some ordinary fruits and vegetables, then made a special area about one kilometer in diameter that was going to be used to rear non-sentient animals.