Page 36

What troubled Xie Shiyuan the most was the burning sensation he felt whenever her tears landed on his scales. This discomfort coursed through his tail, spreading to his heart, leaving him restless.

Unable to find a way to vent his unease, he instinctively raised his tail and coiled Qin Shu before him.

Qin Shu had been crying earnestly, but when she was suddenly lifted off the ground, her heart skipped a beat. She looked up and met a pair of vertical pupils.

His flawless features were so close that she almost forgot to breathe.

He raised his well-defined hand and gently touched her cheek.

The coldness of his fingertips sent a shiver down her spine, and Qin Shu instinctively leaned back, her lower back pressing against his tail.

Then his cool, clear voice echoed in the cavern, "So, this is what tears are?"

Tears welled up in Qin Shu's eyes, and her throat tightened. She opened her mouth but found herself unable to speak.

Xie Shiyuan squinted slightly as if recalling something. After a long pause, he spoke again, "Snakes don't shed tears."

Qin Shu couldn't decipher his expression at that moment. He stared at her intently, seemingly waiting for a response.

She forced a faint smile and, for some reason, blurted out, "Well, that's pretty cool of you."

Xie Shiyuan furrowed his brow, apparently failing to follow her train of thought. "What?"

Caught off guard, Qin Shu coughed awkwardly and explained, "I mean, that's a compliment. It means you're impressive."

Xie Shiyuan's furrowed brow smoothed out, and he raised his chin slightly, letting out a soft scoff. "You've got quite the silver tongue for a little child."

Qin Shu had been stealthily observing his expression. Given Xie Shiyuan's advanced cultivation and heightened senses, how could he not notice?

He snorted coldly before adding, "A silver tongue won't save you. You still need to heal me."

Qin Shu: "..."

His sudden outburst shook Qin Shu out of her earlier grievances. Realizing he didn't seem inclined to harm her, her courage grew slightly.

"Healing costs ten lower-grade spirit stones per session!" she declared. Low prices didn't matter; slow and steady was her plan.

Xie Shiyuan raised an eyebrow, but before he could say anything, Qin Shu hurriedly added, "I have low cultivation, and absorbing spiritual energy takes a long time. Every time I heal you, it takes me forever to recover. Ten lower-grade spirit stones are an absolute bargain."

Xie Shiyuan looked at the small figure before him. If he returned to his original form, a single flick of his tail could crush her.

Though clearly terrified, she summoned the courage to negotiate with him.

Amused, he thought back on his long, blood-soaked years. Perhaps it was because she was so weak that he felt no urge to harm her.

Fine, he decided. She could stay for amusement.

When Qin Shu saw him nod slowly, his ink-black hair cascaded down his chest with the motion. "Mm."

He agreed!

Joy lit up Qin Shu's face. She braced her hands on his tail and wriggled out of his coils.

Xie Shiyuan didn't stop her. Instead, he watched as she slid down his tail, the friction of the fabric causing a strange ticklish sensation.

Climbing off the stone bed, Qin Shu cupped her fists and said, "Since you've agreed, no take-backs! I'll heal you right now. Keep in mind all the times I've treated you before. Don't even think of skipping payment."

Her eyes sparkled as she looked at his tail. Rubbing her hands together excitedly, she resembled someone spotting a mountain of spirit stones.

She placed her small hands on his icy scales, realizing for the first time that a single scale was larger than her hand.

Secretly astonished, she silently vowed to tread carefully.

Resigned to the snake's overbearing presence, she sighed and closed her eyes, channeling the spiritual energy from her dantian to gradually mend Xie Shiyuan's tail.

Recently, she had been nearing the third stage of Qi Refinement, making her control over spiritual energy smoother.

Through her energy, she could sense the state of the snake's body. His injuries were severe, with raw flesh tainted by black residues emitting the stench of rotting flesh.

Her palms glowed faintly green as wood-element spiritual energy seeped into the gaps between his scales, wrapping around the nearest blackened spot and slowly eroding it.

Clearing that single blackened spot left Qin Shu drenched in sweat.

She withdrew her hand and collapsed onto the bed, gasping for breath.

Xie Shiyuan felt the change in the toxins within him. The tip of his tail flicked with satisfaction.

Originally, such severe injuries would have taken him centuries to recover from. But surprisingly, despite her meager cultivation, the little child's spiritual energy possessed a unique quality.

Wherever her energy passed, the wounds seemed not only cleansed of toxins but also freed from lingering laws of restriction left by the tribulation lightning.

Seeing how exhausted she was, Xie Shiyuan hesitated before retrieving a fiery red inner core from his spatial dimension and tossing it toward her.

Qin Shu, still slumped on the stone bed and contemplating taking a spirit-replenishing pill, suddenly saw a fire-red inner core appear before her.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the snake.

Mouth agape, she stammered, "A snake... Your inner core?!"

Momentarily stunned by her words, Xie Shiyuan scoffed dismissively. "You foolish child. Dreaming of my core at your age? Aren't you afraid of exploding from it?"

Feeling embarrassed by her misunderstanding, Qin Shu scratched her nose awkwardly.

She picked up the core he had casually tossed onto the bed. It exuded a concentrated fire-element aura.

Curious, she examined it closely and even attempted to absorb its energy.

However, Xie Shiyuan's tail flicked to stop her.

She frowned and shot him a resentful look, her eyes full of dissatisfaction.

"What's the meaning of this? Are you going back on your gift?"

Xie Shiyuan closed his eyes, feigning indifference. "You dare absorb a beast's inner core directly? Quite bold, indeed."

His words hinted at concern, leaving Qin Shu puzzled.

No matter. If she didn't understand, someone else would.

She discreetly pulled out a communication jade slip and typed: "Dear senior cultivators, can we humans absorb a beast's inner core?"

Replies flooded in almost immediately:

"Newbie? Beast energy is too volatile for humans."

"Warning: Risk of meridian rupture!"

"Unless refined into a pill, humans can't directly absorb it."

...

Qin Shu now understood that while inner cores were treasures, they required alchemists to refine them.

The Dan Alliance frequently purchased such cores, and the higher the beast's rank, the more valuable the core.

As she debated whether to sell the core, she suddenly sensed faint breathing near her ear...