“What is it?” Bai Jia said.

“I met a lady in a black dress during my trip. It wasn’t the first time though and I first met her during the winter hunt. She-” Qian Yu started talking.

*Snap* a sound broke out, stopping Qian Yu in his tracks. He looked upward and saw Bai Jia break a chopstick. 

‘Shit… weren’t they on good terms?’ Qian Yu was startled.

Meanwhile, Bai Jia’s heart felt uneasy. “Little boy, did she seduce you? What happened?” Bai Jia asked as she stared at him with the eyes of a death god. 

“What? No, nothing happened back then. I merely treated her wounds when I found her injured during the winter hunt,” Qian Yu explained, still a little shocked by her attitude. 

She inwardly sighed as she heard that. Nothing had happened. 

Outwardly, she was the same. “Why did you treat her? She wasn’t supposed to be there, you know!” Bai Jia didn’t ease her gaze at all. Instead, she increased her pressure, that of a Martial Fighter.

“I was in my doctor mindset at the time. I-I couldn’t just leave a pretty lady like that anyways,” Qian Yu answered under her pressure. He knew that even if he didn’t treat her, she wouldn’t have had any other problems unless she had ran into someone with bad intentions.

“Y-you!” Bai Jia held out her chopsticks in the air.

“Of course, sister Bai is prettier though!” Qian Yu put his hands up.

A few seconds passed as she heard that and a smile rose on her face. “Alright, fine. It’s all in the past now. Continue on,” Bai Jia stopped pressuring him. 

“I know. She found me when I was travelling in the Soba Empire and she asked me to partake in an inheritance realm for her. However, I don’t know her name or much about her so I was wondering if you can tell me what you know about her,” Qian Yu said. 

“She’s from the Dark Empire. If you didn’t know, the Dark Empire is a country on the same continent as the Central Union. In that country, the royal family is the strongest force by far and those part of the royal family cultivate the Embrace of Darkness, a legendary grade technique. As for her identity, she’s the eldest princess and 3rd child of the current emperor. Her name is Wang Meilin,” Bai Jia seemed a little annoyed as she explained. 

“Huh? She’s a princess?” Qian Yu found it a little hilarious. Nobles usually loved their fame and honor, but this Wang Meilin princess didn’t seem to care about that at all.

“Yeah, for a princess, she doesn’t really act like one and her reputation of messing around and teasing others is pretty well known. But, I don’t think she’s that simple. I can’t read her and I don’t know what her intentions are. She is after all, a talented cultivator currently at the Martial Lord realm,” Bai Jia agreed with Qian Yu.

Suddenly, Qian Yu remembered something as he thought, ‘Didn’t she say that her actions also acted as a cover? What is her aim then?’ 

Bai Jia continued as she asked, “I’ll go with you whenever you plan to go with her. She probably wants you to do it when you're at the late stage of soul foundation right?” 

“Yes that is correct,” Qian Yu nodded to which Bai Jia didn’t say anything as she contemplated something. 

“Anyways, are you cultivating the Immortal Soul sister Bai?” Qian Yu waited a few minutes before he asked again. 

“Huh? How do you know about that?” A rare expression of confusion was seen on her face. 

“Hehe looks like I was right,” Qian Yu laughed. Continuing, he explained, “Before the spiritual beast horde was coming, I managed to see one of the three culprits on the hunted list and I told one of my rogue cultivator friends who was actually an informant or something for the Order”.

“You even know the Order?” Bai Jia asked, still amazed. 

“Yeah, anyways, the information was considered a big merit so general Qiu Tai gave me a reward and invited me to the organization as well. Hehe, he even talked about you,” Qian Yu said proudly. 

“Hmm, do you know about sister’s background now?” Bai Jia asked. 

“Actually, Wang Meilin and Qiu Tai both told me about you. Sister’s background was more impressive than I thought.” Qian Yu honestly replied. 

“Ahem, anyways. Sister is really proud of you. You even talked to Qiu Tai who is a Martial Emperor,” an honest and bright smile appeared on Bai Jia’s face as she said that. It wasn’t every day that you could talk to such a figure.

“Hehe, thank you. I never would have expected I would be able to talk to a Martial Emperor face to face like that. Anyways, the reward was the Immortal Soul cultivation technique,” Qian Yu laughed. 

“Did you join them?” Bai Jia didn’t seem too surprised by the reward being the technique. 

“No, I didn’t give a proper answer yet. I’m too weak anyways. What do you think?” Qian Yu asked for her opinion.

Thinking for a few minutes, Bai Jia finally said, “It’s up to you. Joining the organization will mean a lot of work and it could be dangerous. However, you’ll also get a good pay and the best sources of information.” 

”Due to that, the people who joined the organization are those that seek fame or honor, ones with a good background but not the strongest, and/or those that don’t have a good source of income. In the end, you will get all sorts of people. As for me, I don’t have plans to join it since I have a strong enough background,” she held out three fingers.

“I was originally going to find you something to do in the Central Union in order to get that technique but it seems like I don’t need to,” Bai Jia replied as she seemed a little unhappy. 

Qian Yu was delighted to hear her words. ‘I still need another copy of that technique for Zhen Yue since we don’t have any other cultivation techniques she can learn for a while. I don’t know about Sun Hong but she’ll probably need it as well,’ Qian Yu thought. 

“Ahem sister, I will probably need your help for that actually. I actually enjoy the weather in the Soba Empire a lot compared to the Southern Ice Continent so it’ll be nice to stay in the Central Union for a while,” Qian Yu gave out an excuse. 

Bai Jia’s attitude did a complete flip, “Really? Alright, I’ll be on the lookout then.”

‘It looks like I made a lot of appointments somehow… Well, at least they don’t overlap,’ Qian Yu sighed. When he became a late stage soul foundation expert, he would have to do something for Wang Meilin. When he became a Martial Fighter, which would probably be in another year or two, he could finally be strong enough and fulfill his promise to help find Zhen Yue’s family. Then, he could go visit the Bai Jia in the Central Union. 

“By any chance, have you already learned the technique?” Qian Yu asked.

“No, I’m practicing my family’s other martial technique right now. I will start learning it when I return home though. As for you… well, you should start practicing it when you become a Martial Fighter where your soul world is strong enough,” Bai Jia shook her head. 

“Huh? You can’t cultivate it beforehand?” Qian Yu was puzzled. 

“It is possible but hard. If you aren’t talented in it, you will waste a lot of time. It would just be better to spend that time cultivating your main technique first,” Bai Jia answered. 

Qian Yu sighed hearing that, ‘Without Zhen Yue around, I can’t really cultivate Annihilating Lightning.

‘Should I meet with Zhen Yue two times a week? No, that’s a bad idea right now, I need to let Zhen Yue focus on getting to soul foundation. To be honest, I don’t even want to bother Zhen Yue until she successfully ascends,’ Qian Yu hesitated, however, he knew she was in a critical phase.

“What about the martial technique in it? Soul Exploration?” Qian Yu shook his head. 

“That’s a good question. Normally, soul foundation and Martial Fighter cultivators have low understanding and control of their soul world. As such, they can only watch their soul world from afar like a flying cultivator looking down on the world. However, as you get stronger, you can get closer to the ground and explore your own soul world and do stuff inside. This is why inheritance realms are left behind by Martial Saints or Martial Emperors. As for the technique, I don’t know what use this could have though besides making it easier to create an inheritance realm before you get to that stage,” Bai Jia scratched her head.

Qian Yu took his time comprehending her words. ‘I’ll take a look at it when I enter the soul foundation stage then,’ he thought.

Bai Jia's next words, however, scared him, “Do you have any other secrets you didn’t tell me?”

“Ahem, of course not! Anyways, I just remembered I got to do something today,” Qian Yu denied it as he finished eating and got up to leave.

“Bye sister!” Qian Yu said as he left and closed the door.

“Is he lying? Should I go request some information on him?” Bai Jia said as she watched Qian Yu leave.

‘Phew, it’s really hard to resist under sister Bai’s charm and pressure. Anymore and I feel like I would have said something,’ Qian Yu leaned against the door. 

As he walked down the stairs, he looked back at the doors. ‘Was she jealous earlier?’ Qian Yu wondered. 

‘Nah no way,’ he shook his head. He didn’t dare believe it so easily. 

‘We’re close… but like siblings in a way,’ Qian Yu left the building. To her, he was always just a “little boy” as if he was her little brother. 

Going home, Qian Yu started writing a letter to Zhen Yue. 

‘Change of plans, I’ll see you in 2 weeks, so do your best and break through!’ Qian Yu wrote a simple sentence before he left to send it to Zhen Yue.