That evening, Xing Beiluo stood in front of the wooden bathtub, staring at the green liquid inside with a complicated expression.
She remembered when she handed it to Shengyun during the day and urged him to hurry up and refine the medicine, only for Little Azure Dragon to grab a handful of herbs, shove them into his mouth, chew a few times, spit them out into several bottles, and say:
"Here, for your bath. One bottle at a time."
Xing Beiluo: ......
That was hard to comment on!
She kept giving herself mental pep talks: *Hold it in, hold it in...*
*Even saliva has to soak in!*
Resigned to her fate, Xing Beiluo poured the medicinal liquid into the wooden bathtub and got in.
At first, there was a slight stinging sensation accompanied by intermittent feelings of suffocation, but it quickly became very mild. Fortunately, she finally began to feel the spiritual energy flowing through the air.
Hard work pays off—she could finally start cultivating!
All that soaking through the night, until her skin felt nearly pickled, had not been in vain.
With a flick of a hand seal, she immediately felt the spiritual energy in the air rush toward her in an endless stream.
Xing Beiluo gathered her focus into her dantian and began body tempering.
Then, the aura around her surged continuously: Body Tempering Stage 1, Body Tempering Stage 2, Body Tempering Stage 3... all the way to Spirit Inquiry Stage 2. Only then did the turbulent spiritual energy gradually calm down.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the sky turning pale with dawn.
Although she had spent the entire night cultivating, she felt no fatigue at all; instead, she was full of vigor.
She went out to the courtyard as usual to practice a set of fist techniques, only this time, she guided her spiritual power to course through her entire body.
"Ha!" With a single palm strike, the force of the wind split the peach tree in the courtyard right in two.
?!! Wow, this spiritual power is not bad at all.
At that moment, Youbai hurried out: "Miss?"
"Oh, it's fine, I accidentally broke it."
"Miss, are you hurt?" Youbai asked worriedly upon hearing this.
"...... I'm fine."
*Standing here safe and sound, do I look like I'm hurt?*
*If anything, the peach tree opposite me looks much worse off than I do.*
*Shouldn't you worry about it first?*
"Ahem, Youbai, this peach tree is already broken. Go find someone to plant some fruit trees in the courtyard instead; I like eating fruit."
From her conversation with Old Madam Xing the previous night, Xing Beiluo knew this place would likely be her residence from now on. Therefore, she felt no need to be polite about making arrangements.
When Xing Beiluo later learned that she would be living here long-term, she felt immensely grateful for this choice. However, when a certain shameless man climbed her trees and stole her spiritual fruit every day, she would feel her teeth itch with irritation, wishing she could chop down all these spiritual trees.
Returning to the present:
Upon learning that her miss was truly unhurt, Youbai said, "This maid will go see to it right away. By the way, Miss, the Old Madam previously ordered all the servants in the courtyard to be replaced. Now, except for this maid, everyone else is new. Would you like to go establish some rules for them?"
"Forget it, I'm too lazy to go." After a moment's thought, Xing Beiluo added, "Youbai, from now on, you are my personal senior maid, and everything in this courtyard will be arranged by you."
Suddenly entrusted with such a heavy responsibility, Youbai was pleasantly surprised: "This... Yes! This maid will definitely not fail the trust placed in her by Miss."
"Alright, you can go down. Don't come bothering me if there's nothing important." With that, she returned to her room to continue cultivating.
Hard at work cultivating, Xing Beiluo had no idea that a scheme against her was already quietly approaching.
...
This was her third night at the General's Estate.
While cultivating, Xing Beiluo suddenly heard some faint noises. Her sharp instincts as a special agent made her stop and quietly approach the source of the sound.
She saw a masked young girl sneaking into her courtyard. She had to hand it to the General's Estate—they were truly wealthy and broad-faced, having managed to plant a small patch of fruit trees in the front yard in just half a day.
The young girl looked around furtively, walked up to a tree, and buried a pile of jewelry.
"Hmph! Imposter, I'll make sure you die a death so thorough you can't possibly come back."
Her teeth-grating voice drifted over. She checked the jewelry one last time to make sure nothing could go wrong before slipping away. They were counting on this pile of jewelry to frame Xing Beiluo when the time came.
Xing Beiluo recognized the voice instantly—it was Xing Youran!
When she had first discovered these anomalies, she hadn't alerted the enemy because she wanted to find out who was scheming against her behind the scenes. She hadn't expected Xing Youran to reveal herself so directly.
It really took no effort at all.
What would their next move be?
Xing Beiluo's gaze fell on the pile of treasures.
Framing her?
Xing Beiluo dug up the jewelry and weighed it in her hand.
Since the other party was so thoughtful as to frame her, it made no sense for her to play the saint and return it. She would just have to reluctantly accept it!
Xing Beiluo planned to mix the jewelry in with her own, but then a second thought struck her: since those people were willing to bring it out, it must be identifiable. She definitely couldn't mix it with ordinary jewelry, or it would be discovered.
When they couldn't find it under the tree later, they would undoubtedly search the entire courtyard with great fanfare. So, where could she put it so it wouldn't be found?
Xing Beiluo glanced around the room.
Under the bed?
The ceiling beams?
After searching all around, Xing Beiluo found not a single safe spot.
Right! This world was so magical; there had to be some kind of treasure capable of storing items.
At this thought, her spiritual sense stirred, and she entered her portable Space.
As soon as she stepped inside, she felt something was off about the Space. But she was in a hurry now, with no idea when that group of people might make their move, so she walked straight toward Little Azure Dragon, who was pulling weeds: "Shengyun, I've got trouble."
"What trouble could you possibly have? It's already a blessing if you aren't causing trouble for others!"
Clearly, Little Azure Dragon, who had been forced to weed, was holding a grudge.
"Hey, seriously. A group of people are getting ready to frame me, and the stolen goods are all in my possession, but my room doesn't have a single foolproof hiding spot. Do you have any ideas?"
Shengyun sneered: "Hh, I don't believe for a second that you can't figure out a trick like this."
"Of course I know I could hide them in someone else's yard, or even pull off a 'thief crying catch thief' routine. But I want to use these jewels to exchange for money—you know I'm poor, and I'm desperately in need of making money early."
Shengyun countered: "If you stop making me pull weeds, I'll tell you some good news."
"Tell me what the good news is first."
"No, you release me from weeding duty first."
"Bang!"
Xing Beiluo rubbed her knuckles. "Look, I happen to have a terrible temper. I suggest you talk sooner rather than later."
"Ouch..." Little Azure Dragon clutched his right eye. Having just taken a punch from Xing Beiluo, it hurt like hell. This woman definitely had violent tendencies; he needed to stay far away from her in the future.
Seeing Xing Beiluo's fist wind up for another strike, he instantly caved: "Go on, feel the Space and see what's changed."
Xing Beiluo closed her eyes as instructed and sensed her surroundings. There was a very dense concentration of spiritual energy, but when she opened her eyes and looked around, aside from distant mountains, nearby grass, and a thatched hut, nothing seemed different.
She stared at Little Azure Dragon with a dangerous glint in her eyes:
"Well? I don't like people who play games." *You dare mess with me?*