“Big Brother Shen! Don’t look ok!”

Xue’er’s flustered voice came from behind Shen.

Currently, Shen was in agony. He really wanted to look for reasons he did not understand. Perhaps constructing his avatar as a male had had an effect on his mindset.

The two came to a nearby lake a few hundred miles away from the cave. Shen proposed that Xue’er took a bath first, being the gentleman he was.

However, he failed to continue being one when he didn’t leave when Xue’er had started to undress. Of course, that caused the shy Xue’er to hit him and make him go away to keep watch.

Even Xiao Yan was made to go with Shen. Little White scoffed at the two males with delight.

Therefore, Shen ended up being a guard while Xue’er cleaned herself.

“Hmph! That darned fox! I’ll show her who’s boss one day!” Xiao Yan was as usual.

“Xiao Yan, how come you can talk normally now?”

“Ah! Master, you didn’t notice?!”

“How come no one pays me any attention…” Xiao Yan mumbled as he curled up into a ball.

After some unknown amount of time, while Shen was being lost in thought.

“Big Brother Shen, you can turn back now…” Xue’er’s voice carried over weakly.

Xue’er stood there with a fresh pure white dress. Her cheeks were pink, possibly from having freshened up or for other reasons.

Shen stood there in a daze for quite a long time.

“Big Brother Shen?” Xue’er approached Shen and waved her hands in front of him.

“Ah!”

“I just thought you looked very beautiful, Xue’er.”

This caused Xue’er to blush further while hiding her face in her hands.

“Big Brother Shen, go clean up!” Xue’er turned around with a humph.

‘Hmm, why’s she like that? I wonder if she’s still angry about earlier.’

Shen pondered as he washed himself in the lake.

***

“Xue’er, let me go buy some more wine after we turn in the mission. I’ve run out.”

The couple was now back in Blue Cloud city and have just entered from the north gate. The journey back to the city took only ten days of flying.

“Big Brother Shen! We’ll end up spending all our spirit stones on wine at this rate!”

“Hahaha, it’s alright! I’ll go get more rocks from the void to sell if we do.”

The couple continued walking towards the guild with a merry mood.

Soon, the large building came into view. The outside was busy as before and the inside was just as crowded.

The process of turning in the mission was quite simple as they only had to present their iron badge and the requested material. Shen received the 300 mid-grade spirit stones and the couple walked out of the guild.

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“Let’s return the badge for the cave mansion. We rented it for four weeks but only ended up staying there once.”

“Ok, Big Brother Shen. It does feel like we just wasted some spirit stones.”

After returning the badge, they were now sitting in Green Bamboo Manor. There were very few restaurants and shops that sold spirit wine. Immortal wine on the level brewed by Long Tian was a treasure rarely seen even amongst the large sects’ elders.

“Xue’er, should we go see the Sun siblings? They did promise us a meal. And I wonder if Sun De’s wife had gotten better.”

“Ok, that’s a good idea. We don’t know anyone in this city. It would be nice to make some friends.”

Shen paid the bill and left the restaurant, pulling Xue’er. The spirit beasts were sleeping in Xue’er’s bag space. They disliked crowed places, especially ones filled with humans.

“Big Brother Shen, how do we find them? They didn’t tell us a contact method.”

“Ah.”

The two froze in their tracks.

“Hmm…give me a minute.”

Shen spread out his divine sense over the entire city. He did not limit the range to early Nascent Soul stage this time. It was also rude to unscrupulously use one’s divine sense in a cultivator city. However, Shen’s divine sense cannot be detected by others.

“Western section of the city. It seems that not all cave mansions are owned by the city. Let’s go Xue’er.” Shen held Xue’er’s hand and started walking towards the west.

After an hour, they came upon a neat row of small houses. It seemed that the houses were owned by cultivators who resided in the city. Shortly after, Shen and Xue’er stopped in front of a particular house surrounded by a low fence.

The front yard of the house had various common spirit herbs growing. There was a basic transparent defence barrier covering the entire perimeter of the fence.

The front door creaked open and a man walked out towards the spirit herbs. The man noticed Shen and Xue’er as he came near the front gate.

“It’s you!” The man was shocked for a few seconds.

However, he quickly approached to open the front gate, letting the couple in.

“Please come inside, my sister and wife are also in the house. We have been waiting for you.”

“Really? You didn’t say how we could find you though.” Shen’s mutter was heard by Sun De.

“Ah! We forgot…we were in a hurry to get back you see…hahaha…” Sun De gave a weak laugh.

The inside of the house was very simple. There was a largish area just as they entered with a table and a kitchen set up. There seemed to be two more rooms in the back as two doors could be seen.

“Xiao Su! Haung’er!” Sun De yelled out.

One of the doors creaked open. Sun Su came out and discovered Shen and Xue’er.

“Oh! It’s our benefactors!” She was also surprised at the visitors.

“Hello, we came for the meal just as promised. Also, wanted to see if Sun De’s wife was doing better.”

Shen stated their purpose while Xue’er gave a friendly smile.

“Please sit here. I’ll bring my wife out.”

“Oh, it’s ok. We can go see her instead.”

“No no! She has gotten much better after taking the spirit pills. She’s just resting to recuperate. It’s no trouble.”

Sun De insisted and made Shen and Xue’er sit at the table.

Soon, a beautiful looking mature woman came out, being escorted by Sun De. She had a gentle atmosphere about her.

‘Oh? Early Nascent Soul stage. The quality of cultivators here is much higher than Jade Lead city.’ Shen thought inwardly as he examined the woman.

“Benefactors, this is Haung Lin, my wife.”

“Oh, Big Brother Shen, we haven’t introduced ourselves. How rude of us. My name is Long Xue’er. This is Shen. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Sister Lin is really beautiful!”

Xue’er politely gave their names.

“Not at all. I’m only slightly above average. But thank you for the praise, Sister Xue’er.” Haung Lin smiled gently and took a seat opposite from Shen and Xue’er.

“Was miss Haung poisoned? I can see traces of it in her still. Perhaps she should go back to rest.”

Shen’s comment shocked the trio.

‘Wha-how! How could he see that? Isn’t he only an early Nascent Soul stage?!’

“Brother Shen. If I may address you as such. How did you know that Haung’er was poisoned?” ‘I only told them she was sick when we met before.’

“Of course. I will call you Brother Sun as well. My divine sense is somewhat special you see.”

Shen’s explanation only puzzled them further but they decided think any further.

“Were the spirit stones sufficient? We can provide more if needed.” Xue’er asked with concern.

“It’s more than enough! We can’t thank you enough for your help. Now Haung’er just needs time to drive out the remaining poison on her own. It should be fine in another month or so.”

“Yes, we simply can’t thank you enough! We’ll work hard to repay the debt. It will probably take some time. We don’t wish to take risky missions anymore.”

Sun Su said towards Shen and Xue’er after Sun De’s flurried explanation.

“Debt?” Xue’er tilted her head in confusion.

“Haha, don’t worry about those spirit stones. Our Xue’er decided to help on her own accord. No need to return them.”

“Big Brother Shen!” Xue'er went red from being called 'Our Xue'er'.

Sun Su looked the couple with a somewhat envious gaze.

“Well, let’s not talk about that. I’m glad miss Haung is doing ok. You are the first people we talked to in this city. So that makes us friends if you three don’t mind. Let us drink to celebrate this joyous occasion!”