It was already midnight. As I lay next to Aisnam, hugging her, I once again analyzed my reward, which was higher than before. Her earlier breakthrough was certainly helpful.

[Cultivation Difference Bonus - 40; Pampering Bonus - 65 (Capped)]

[105x Return - 7 Qi Strands]

"Why are you here?" Aisnam asked again, but considering the last time was several hours ago, before I interrupted her with a kiss — and much more — the repeat was understandable.

"The healer that you sent me not only solved my problem —" I started, which was interrupted by a sudden gasp. She put her hand on my chest, and a sliver of Qi invaded my essence. I kept my true cultivation hidden but let her check my martial one.

She let her control fade, which paid off nicely.

[Cultivation Difference Bonus - 40; Pampering Bonus - 65 (Capped)]

[105x Return - 1 Qi Strand]

"You're healed … and you already had your breakthrough," she gasped, then looked at me angrily. "Why did you come back?"

"Was I not supposed to?" I asked, deliberately acting obtuse, as she had never mentioned the deadline to me officially. "Remember, I was supposed to return after my treatment was complete all along. The treatment is done, and I returned."

"I see," she muttered, happy with my return, but frustrated that I threw myself into danger once more. "How did you pass through the cursed tunnel?" she added. I reached into my clothes, and showed the protection talisman I had drawn. Her eyes widened. "That's a good one. Where did you get it?"

"The same place where I picked my other mission," I said.

"What other mission?" she asked.

I chuckled. I couldn't help but be amused by the fact that she had already forgotten the excuse she had used to send me away. I was supposed to pick the medicine for the Queen. "Sorry. I forgot in the excitement of seeing you, but that old lady didn't have the medicine for the Queen, so she sent me somewhere else to pick it up," I said, and reached to my clothes once more, this time passing her the box. I did so, because I didn't want her to ask too many questions about the cultivator market.

The less she knew, the easier I could navigate in the future.

The box was sealed with a formation, but a sliver of Qi was enough to unlock it, revealing a pill in a jade bottle.

And, a paper filled with instructions. She quickly skimmed it before gasping. "A … a pill to repair the immortal root," she stammered in shock, as she had just opened a random box in her basement and found it filled with gold.

I had a feeling that, she would never consider trading that pill for gold, even enough gold to literally fill the said imaginary basement. I could understand, as the Qi radiating from the pill was thick and strong, and it smelled incredible. Unfortunately, I had no idea about its quality.

"Do you know what that represents?" she gasped.

"I have no idea, but I'm guessing it's something important," I said, then leaned for a quick kiss. "Why don't you go and bring that to the Queen?" She nodded, but said nothing, still looking shocked. I could see that she wanted to ask many questions, but failed to find the appropriate one.

I was glad for my supposed lack of knowledge. After all, I just brought back a box from a dealer, and knew nothing about cultivation.

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She was still shocked, so I took the initiative. "I'm guessing you're going to stay upstairs and defend the Queen in case something goes wrong?" I asked, carefully leading her to a decision. She nodded. "How long would it take?"

"A day? Maybe two?" she answered, still looking shocked. "Do you know what it means?"

"No, but you can explain to me later," I said as I leaned for another kiss. "Now, why don't you go and give the Queen the good news, while I stay here and make sure nothing goes wrong?" I kissed her again. "Don't worry, I'll protect you," I promised.

She looked conflicted, and for a moment, I thought she would admit her real identity, but then, she chose to dress and leave. "We'll talk again tomorrow," she said, then went upstairs. I was tempted to offer my help as a cultivator, but decided against it.

As Pearyin showed, once the mindset of my lover changed, there were no further bonuses. I couldn't risk that with Aisnam unless it was a life-and-death situation. Not when she was my only source of Qi.

Thanks to my increased cultivation, I had a better sense of what was going on upstairs. There was already a dense amount of pure Qi there, showing that she had put the purification talismans I had given to her to good use.

I carefully extended my senses, feeling the movements of the Qi. For a while, it was subtle and unmoving, then, it started to be pulled in. Slowly at first, but soon it picked up speed. Soon, the Qi upstairs turned into a tornado.

I walked around the house, even added a few protective talismans in certain spots to make sure the sudden circulation wouldn't damage the protection of the house, and noticed from the outside. And, just to be on the safe side, I put on my cultivator disguise.

An unnecessary measure, it turned out. The added protective charms worked excellently. Annoyingly, it meant that I had nothing to do. I couldn't draw any talismans because I left brush outside, not to mention I only had a few papers remaining. I couldn't go to the city, because I wanted to continue guarding her just in case.

And, I couldn't practice martial arts. Well, technically, I could, but I had already worked hard on them during my travels, and the progress I could make on them without finding some new styles was limited.

"Why not explore the cursed Qi, then," I muttered to myself as I walked to the secret entrance. It was easy to open from the inside. I left a cleansing and a purification charm at the entrance to make sure cursed Qi didn't slip inside.

Then, I walked in until I arrived at the stone gate, examining it during the nighttime for the first time. There were certain differences. For once, there were several symbols, glowing softly, though, a few of them were dimmer. I didn't recognize them, but considering cursed Qi was flowing from the weakened symbols, it wasn't very difficult to guess their function.

Also, examining those weakened symbols, I could see that they were deliberately damaged. Recently too, though I didn't know whether it was Aisnam or her rivals that was responsible. Either case was possible.

Of course, that didn't explain what was hidden in there, and why it was constantly letting out cursed Qi. If I had been more naive, I might have assumed that it wasn't too dangerous, as cultivators were willing to use it as a tool for their personal battles.

Unfortunately, I had already seen them using a civil war for their own purposes, showing that their sense of what was appropriate was quite a bit different than mine.

It was much better to assume that it was risky. Therefore, I didn't dare to walk in. Instead, I started examining the symbols, trying to decipher them with the help of my talisman knowledge. It didn't work.

They belonged to a formation, which completely different from a talisman.

… maybe I should break the symbols and open the door, I thought. After all, it was an opportunity. Who knew what might be hidden in its depths. Maybe it would give me a chance to rise to the top, make me rise to the top, and make those arrogant monsters pay! All would die in my hands!

I shuddered as I pulled back and closed the secret entrance. And, for good measure, actually activated a cleansing charm to get rid of the remaining bits.

Those thoughts were not mine. For one, I didn't have an enemy. The closest thing that I had to an enemy was the Verdant Family, and even then, it was a distant, indirect connection due to my desire to help Aisnam. They were an inconvenience at best. I certainly wasn't at a point where I wanted to massacre them.

Also, I didn't care about any opportunity. Why should I, when I had my System, which was very enough. Technically, an opportunity might grant me more power — as evidenced by that mad swordsman I had seen — but my System was already doing so steadily.

Without tempting me for casual genocide in the process.

No, I had no intention of opening up mysterious stone gates that would fit perfectly in a horror movie just to follow the promises of a mysterious voice whispering directly to my thoughts.

On the contrary, I decided to find a way to learn formations.

Repairing those symbols wasn't a terrible idea.