For the next few days, Xiao Hong whole-heartedly practised with Qiao Guiying, sparring every day. In fact, the two of them basically did not return to their homes. They simply stayed together in the forest, battling with each other or against the Demon Beasts they came across. Xiao Hong was forced, several times, by Qiao Guiying to confront multiple Demon Beasts at the Disaster level. Every time Xiao Hong felt like she was done for, Qiao Guiying would step in and save her.

While initially Xiao Hong felt dissatisfied, she came to terms with it when she witnessed the tremendous growth in her Battle Sense. While she didn’t become some sort of Grandmaster, she could still be considered half-decent - that was Qiao Guiying’s evaluation.

As for Xiao Hong? Her own evaluation was that she was awesome! Her nose would be directly against the Heavens if Qiao Guiying didn’t rub it in the ground at least twice a day!

***

Today, Xiao Hong was facing a small pack of Wind Spirit Wolves.

There were 12 Rank 3 initial-stage Wind Spirit Wolves and one Rank 3 mid-stage Wind Spirit Wolf King. Their individual cultivations might not be as good as the previous beasts Xiao Hong had faced, but they were much, much more dangerous thanks to their teamwork. So her strategy was to blitz them through overwhelming speed and power - not allowing them to show their advantages.

The Wind Spirit Wolf King, who stood at the front howled, signalling to his subordinate wolves who sprang into action, letting out loud howls in response and splitting into groups that divided between left, right and centre. The wind surrounded them, making their bodies lighter and speedier.

“{Don’t let them surround you, Sister Hong! Remember! You have already lost if the Wind Spirit Wolves have surrounded you!}” A Qi transmission reached her from Qiao Guiying. Xiao Hong nodded, showing her understanding.

She waited for a few moments before…

Star Shifting Steps!

Xiao Hong’s figure turned hazy with starlight, and she suddenly appeared a few metres away from a Wind Spirit Wolf, while making a hand seal. The Leiying Sword shot out with a blistering speed and attacked the Wind Spirit Wolf. The sword was so fast, it looked like a bolt of purple lighting!

The Wind Spirit Wolf, sensing a terrifying danger, howled loudly and a tornado-like barrier instantaneously surrounded it, protecting it from all sides!

Unfortunately for it, Xiao Hong had poured a large amount of Zhenqi into the Flying Sword, so it was only halted for a few moments before it sliced through the barrier. Yet, that small window of time was enough for it to avoid a fatal injury and only receive a serious injury. The wolf retreated, mostly safe… Or was it?

As it retreated, the  Wind Spirit Wolf’s firm steps became wobbly and it fell to the ground paralysed.

Poison! A Master of Alchemy was also a Master of Poison. While Xiao Hong had initially felt a little disdainful of Poison, Qiao Guiying had smacked the idea out of her head.

Until you have absolute strength, tricks are the norm! 

At least, against Demon Beasts, poison was very useful.

And although it was not very useful against cultivators, since they carried Antidote and Poison Suppressant Pills, it would still allow one to gain a small advantage!

Xiao Hong once again executed the Star Shifting Steps and disappeared, dodging a flurry of wind blades that inundated the space she had occupied not long ago. Having missed their target the Wind Blades continued on their path, slashing out trenches in the ground or slicing through numerous trees.

Xiao Hong appeared next to another Wind Spirit Wolf that was still on cooldown from having used a Wind blade and once again followed the same procedure, neutralising another Wind Spirit Wolf.

Executing her movement technique yet again, she disappeared. This time though, she did not appear next to another Wind Spirit Wolf. No, this time she was much farther away from wolves.

She quickly weaved hand seals and pushed her palm towards a small group of three Wind Spirit Wolves with tremendous ferocity, as if she would take them out no matter what! 

A ball of Black Flames manifested in front of her palm before it swiftly transformed into a Dark Flame Serpent.

The building-sized Dark Flame Serpent sent a pillar of flames towards them before suddenly turning towards another more sparse group of four Wind Spirit Wolves and -

BOOOM!!

- exploding upon reaching them, severely injuring two and killing the other two. 

Even the small group of three Wind Spirit Wolves were burnt badly and would be more of a burden than actual help.

So, just like that, Xiao Hong had defeated nine out of the 13 Wind Spirit Wolves!

But Xiao Hong didn’t stop and executed her Star Shifting Steps to the limit and escaped as far as she could. 

HOOOWL!!!!

An ear-shattering wrathful howl shook the very air! Trees, plants and grass were uprooted by the horrible storm that the Wind Spirit Wolf King conjured in its wrath.

Its eyes glowed with sinister green light as it disappeared from its place! 

Star Shifting Steps!

Xiao Hong moved. Yet, the Wind Spirit Wolf King’s speed was no joke either! It instantly pursued after her, appearing almost instantaneously next to her, forcing her to execute her Star Shifting Steps once again!

‘What?! How is it able to react so fast?’

“{It can sense where you are going to appear, through the Wind’s Whispers.}” Qiao Guying’s qi transmission reached her. It wasn’t called the Spirit of the Wind for nothing, after all. And this was only Wind Spirit Wolf King in its beginning stages. If it were a Wind Spirit Wolf King in the later stages, Xiao Hong might as well eat some poison and kill herself - that way maybe the ‘spiciness’ of the poison might make the Wind Spirit Wolf King suffer a little.

Xiao Hong gritted her teeth and executed the Star Shifting Steps continuously while also making strange hand seals one after another.

Spirit Transformation Technique!

Her aura rose immediately. The Wind Spirit Wolf King, as if sensing something off in advance did not chase after her this time and simply opened its mouth widely and -

HOWWL!!

Hundreds upon hundreds of Wind blades shot out towards where Xiao Hong would appear with extreme speed!

Xiao Hong’s face blanched, there was absolutely no way she could withstand that! Even with her level of body cultivation, she would be severely injured!

She forcefully used Star Shifting Steps!

Xiao Hong’s body disappeared and reappeared in the distance. The right sleeve of her Sect Robes had been torn to shreds and there was a large gash that extended from her shoulder to her bicep. Bright crimson blood flowed down her arms, contrasting against her fair skin; evoking a sense of pity in the viewer.

Despite tearing up in tremendous pain, Xiao Hong gritted her teeth and completed the hand seals. 

Earth Shell!

Whizz! TH-SCREECH!!

With a loud screech, a part of the Earth Shell collapsed, kicking up tremendous amounts of dust. The Wind Spirit Wolf King warily stared at the dust. But at the same time, it kept an eye on its surroundings. As a Demon Beast, it could not produce Divine Sense until much later, so it had to rely on its five senses. However, as Demonic Beasts’ five senses were no less useful; in battle, it could even be said to be slightly more advantageous!

Suddenly, it heard a crackling sound and hissing sound, like droplets of water instantly vaporising. A slight scorched smell tingled its nose.

In a split second, gusts of green aura appeared around its body and feet and it disappeared. It reappeared further away when it heard a shout from somewhere behind it. The Wind Spirit Wolf King immediately turned towards the back and attempted to disappear once again when a monstrous Divine Sense appeared and crushed the winds forming around its body!

“Now!” 

A large-building-sized Dark Flame Serpent crashed into the Wind Spirit Wolf King head-on!

BOOOOOM!!

With a colossal explosion, the Dark Flame Serpent detonated.

But Xiao Hong did not let up at all and continued summoning another Dark Flame Serpent and an Earth Shell.

Her Divine Sense swept out, searching carefully. In a matter of moments, she found the Wind Spirit Wolf King running away with severe burns across its body. The three remaining unharmed wolves around it in a protective formation.

“You think I’ll let you escape?!” Xiao Hong cursed in anger as she shot into the sky above and followed after them. Yet, she still kept a considerable distance between them - who knew if it was a trap? She had learned the hard way that Demonic Beasts weren’t exactly dumb. They might not be as smart as humans in everyday life and cultivation, but their battle IQ was far beyond any normal human cultivator! Traps, formations etc came naturally to them - like it was engraved in their very bloodline!

She just kept summoning Dark Flame Serpents one after another and shot them towards the Wind Spirit Wolves! She solely attacked the Wind Spirit Wolf King, hoping that the other Wind Spirit Wolves noticed it and abandoned it. 

Unlike the last few times battling Demon Beasts, however, the Wind Spirit Wolves stuck to each other, no matter how she showed that she only wanted to take down the Wind Spirit Wolf King. It was as if they would rather die than betray their King!

The others were abandoned only because they were already dead or very close to death.

Xiao Hong paused in the sky. Her heart clenched, and a complicated feeling of admiration, anger and grudging respect surged in it. She realised that she had become a villain in the eyes of the Wind Spirit Wolves - picking a fight for no reason other than purely to increase her experience in battle. 

Qiao Guiying appeared next to Xiao Hong. Without even asking she pulled Xiao Hong into a hug, she whispered soothingly, “Junior Sister, don’t be sad. It is just the way of the World and we have to adapt to it.” She somewhat understood what was going on - after all, she had been through this as well. Moreover, Junior Sister Hong was much kinder than the ordinary person according to her, so it must have hurt her when she saw the camaraderie between the Wind Spirit Wolves and realised that they had a family they needed to protect. She must have questioned her own actions. That was what she had gone through as well!

Xiao Hong nodded. She didn’t feel sad, per se. But she realised that this was her life now. She was a cultivator. 

‘A cultivator stepped on a mountain of corpses to reach for the Heavens!’ While this phrase was a bit of an exaggeration, it still highlighted the truth of this World: no cultivator is truly innocent - their hands were stained with blood. Innocent or otherwise. It was just how they dealt with that determined a cultivator's path! 

As Xiao Hong lay in Qiao Guiying’s warm embrace, her mind took the first step out of her peaceful mentality and slowly took a step towards a mentality closer to that of the cultivators of this World. Her Will sharpened as though being honed.

The Wind Spirit Wolves had already disappeared from their sight, so Xiao Hong simply decided to let them go - it was too much hassle to track them.

Even after she had recovered from her previous state of mind, Xiao Hong stayed in Qiao Guiying’s embrace for a while. It was really comfortable! 

It was only after quite a while that Xiao Hong reluctantly pulled herself out of Qiao Guiying’s embrace. 

While Qiao Guiying felt equally reluctant; the feeling of holding her Junior Sister in her arms felt really, really good! She could feel the warmth of her companion’s through clothes. The faint, mysterious scent of Blue Irises filled her nostrils; she had to suppress the desire to take a deep breath like some pervert. She could feel the soft and smooth skin of Xiao Hong’s back under her hands - it made her want to run her hands all over it. Some very distant corner of her mind noted that Xiao Hong’s arm had already stopped bleeding.

She shook her head lightly, she would take her time and slowly make this Junior Sister fall for her completely. At that time, wouldn’t she be able to do whatever she wanted? Qiao Guiying was patient if nothing else! 

So, after a while, she asked, “Do you want to review your fight?” 

It was a habit that Qiao Guiying had forced onto Xiao Hong. Reviewing one’s actions after any activity was a great activity that allowed one to improve much faster. It was only because of this that Xiao Hong had become so much more proficient in battle in such a short time.

Xiao Hong nodded, and began, “I should have used a deadly poison instead of simply using a paralysing one. That way even if I had missed slightly and only left a slight injury rather than a severe one, I would still be able to take the Wind Spirit Wolf out.”

Qiao Guiying nodded, “Indeed, but, remember, that is only useful against Demon Beasts who don’t have access to Antidote Pills or Poison Suppressing Pills. Against cultivators, it won’t be very useful. Even if you develop an extraordinary poison that ignores the effects of those two pills, it will eventually become useless - Alchemists of other Sects, and Alchemists in general aren’t idiots.

“This is why the Poison Path can only be an Auxiliary path.

“What else?” Qiao Guiying looked at Xiao Hong expectantly.

“Err… I don’t know what else?” Honestly, Xiao Hong felt she’d done pretty well. But the first few times that they did this review, Xiao Hong’s self-confidence, which was bloated after her win, was destroyed so utterly by Qiao Guiying that she drew circles behind under a tree in depression.

“Then let me help.” Qiao Guiying smiled pleasantly, bringing great terror to Xiao Hong, “For example when you dealt with the first two wolves, you got too close. If you really want to kill yourself, just eat your poison. Or do you want to be used as a chew toy?

“Also, did you cultivate Profound-Rank Spells to Great Accomplishment for nothing? You always use your spells at full power! Did your oh-so-smart brain not comprehend that you can actually use spells at a lower capacity? 

“Instead of using the Flying Sword to slash at the 2nd Wind Spirit Wolf, you could have dropped a low-powered Dark Flame Serpent! You don’t always have to materialise its form - it is just as useful as a fireball. You can drop the fireball and run.

“This would also make the other Wind Spirit Wolves - who don’t know as much about spells - underestimate it and misunderstand its mechanics. Demon Beasts don’t think of Spells and Martial Arts of us humans as spells or martial arts - they think of them as Bloodline abilities. Before the Fusion stage, it is rather rigid and cannot be used as freely as humans use spells - mostly because their intelligence hasn’t reached a good enough level. 

“Then, when the Wind Spirit Wolf King attacked, you should have used an Earth Shell and then used Earth Burrow - you were on the ground after all. Or did you somehow forget that? Or did you forget that you cultivated Earth Burrow? When the Wind Spirit Wolf King’s attack destroyed a part of your Earth Shell, you could have used your Dark Flame Serpent to push the Wind Spirit Wolf King inside and detonated your spell inside the Earth Shell.

“You wouldn’t have had to use Spirit Transformation Art and waste so much Zhenqi.

“Even if you have a lot of it, don’t throw it around like it's cheap!

“Besides, there are so many more minor adjustments…”

And Xiao Hong was once again found drawing circles under a tree…

Anyway, after another short while of ranting, Qiao Guiying looked at the dead-fish-eyed Xiao Hong, “Oops!” She covered her mouth and fidgeted guiltily, “Sister Hong, I-I didn’t mean to be so harsh. I-I just-”

“Yes, yes, you just want the best for me and you tried your best to critique my fighting…” The dead-fish-eyed Xiao Hong couldn’t help but interrupt. She’d heard this so often in the past few days that she felt her ears might rot!

It took Xiao Hong a few moments to recover from the rant. Compared to yesterday, when it took her minutes to recover, it was much faster!

“Alright, I should get some rest. I will be leaving the Sect in about three days.” Even if she wasn’t tired, she still needed to prepare. The Secret Realm Trial would be held for nearly 3 years, after all. Which wasn’t a short amount of time.

Qiao Guiying nodded, agreeing with her thoughts.

***

A few days later, on the eve of Xiao Hong’s departure, she once again met up with Qiao Guiying - who had suddenly decided to act like a mother.

“... Have you taken extra sets of clothes? There’s going to be a lot of battles in the Secret Realm, and you’ll go through clothes like Body Tempering Cultivators go through resources.”

“Are you wearing the Inner Armour I gave you? You had better be, or else…” She threatened with wide eyes. It was as if she would really discipline Xiao Hong if she hadn’t. 

“Yes, yes~, I am wearing it.” Xiao Hong said. Her assurances were apparently not even paid heed to, as her companion patted her all over to make sure. Even as she did, she continued being a mother.

“Do you have enough Qi Gathering Pills, Antidote Pills, Poison Suppressant Pills, Qi Gathering Pills, Healing Pills? If you don’t, take these.” She stuffed several storage bags into Xiao Hong’s robes.

“Yes, Sister Ying. I’m an Alchemist, remember? The only thing I don’t lack is Pills.” Xiao Hong rolled her eyes. 

“Mh-hm.” Qiao Guiying nodded and then proceeded to stuff a few more Storage Bags into her robes, causing Xiao Hong’s mouth to twitch violently.

“Do you have enough Spirit Stones…”

“....” 

Qiao Guiying prattled on and on without caring about whether Xiao Hong answered or not.

“And finally, Sister Hong,” she took her companion's hands into her own and stared directly into her eyes, “please stay safe. No matter what. Promise me.”

Xiao Hong looked at Qiao Guiying’s deep blue, sapphire-like eyes that brimmed with emotion and nodded, “I will.”

Qiao Guiying smiled and stared at Xiao Hong’s face for a while. Then she took Xiao Hong’s face in her hands and pulled towards her own and kissed her full on the lips! Xiao Hong’s brain short-circuited as a pleasurable tingle shot down her spine as she felt the warm, slightly wet and soft lips against her own. A refreshing minty scent filled her mouth. She couldn’t help but close her eyes in enjoyment. 

But before she could fully enjoy it, the feeling disappeared.

Xiao Hong opened her eyes to find no one in front of her.

Xiao Hong: “???”

Xiao Hong: “!!!”

“Dammit, I was taken advantage of!” Xiao Hong flew into a rage, stomping her foot into the ground. Ever since she was transmigrated, it was only her taking advantage of Qiao Guiying. But today she was inexplicably taken advantage of! 

“Just you wait, you little minx! Wait till I return and get my hands on you. I’ll show you what happens when you mess with Xiao Hong!”

After uttering a few more ‘threatening’ sentences, Xiao Hong calmed down and stood there in a daze.

As she remembered the feeling of those soft lips, her hand subconsciously went up to her own, feeling them stretch under her delicate fingers. The wind blew lightly, sweeping through her hair, sending ripples through it like the waves on the ocean. Her resplendent red eyes glowed enchantingly under the twilight; like stars in the sky. Her sculpted lips stretched into a wide smile. Her heart felt like it was soaring through the wide skies.

Cheeks flushed a rosy hue, she whispered, “Hehe, just you wait~.”

***

On the other side, Qiao Guiying barely made it to Liu Yun peak and almost drunkenly got to her home before diving into her bed and shoving her face into her pillow. 

She squealed into her pillow, “I did it! I did it! I did it! I did it! I did it! I didit! Idid it! Ididit! Ididit!” Towards the end, she became tongue-tied and her speech became warbled. She held the pillow to her face to cool it down - to no effect. Her face felt so hot she felt it could melt a mountain-sized piece of Eternal Ice!

“I did it, and,” Her eyes lit up with delight, “and, she didn’t refuse! She didn’t refuse! Hehehehehe~!”

Her heart was dancing like there was no tomorrow.

That night many cultivators of the Liu Yun Peak complained about a Yin Spirit giggling and laughing like mad. Many of them even complained that they suffered from Qi Deviation!