"I really give up on you two siblings!" Hua Lulan took a jade pendant from his waist and said, "This jade pendant can help you block three attacks. You'd better keep it safe, because after all, we won't be staying together all the time from now on."
Lan Annuo accepted it, flipped her hand to reveal a book, and handed it to him.
Hua Lulan raised an eyebrow.
Lan Annuo smiled with a look of pure innocence. "This is some of my transcribed thoughts regarding artifact forging. I wonder if Brother Hua would be so kind as to take a look and offer some guidance."
Lan Annuo had always known how to handle situations like this. After all, when you have no value, how could you expect anyone to go out of their way to save you? Sometimes even your own biological parents could abandon you.
At first, Hua Lulan didn't take it seriously. After all, Lan Annuo was just a six-year-old girl. Although Lan Anchen had frequently boasted to him about how smart, hardworking, and diligent his younger sister was, Hua Lulan had basically let it go in one ear and out the other. Knowing her true age, Hua Lulan genuinely didn't believe a girl under six could be all that exceptional—after all, that was in the Mortal Realm, not the world of immortality.
However, after seeing just one or two ideas inside, Hua Lulan couldn't help but calm down and carefully ponder them.
Lan Annuo wasn't in a hurry; the greater her capability, the easier it was for others to value and protect her.
Qin Kuai, who had previously targeted Lan Annuo, led his lackeys over to the open area.
One of the underlings stepped forward, wearing an honest and amiable smile, and spoke in a loud voice, "Everyone, let me introduce you. This is Senior Brother Qin Kuai. He is kind-hearted, considerate of others, and has always enjoyed an excellent reputation and standing among the outer sect disciples. Furthermore, Senior Brother Qin Kuai's older brother is a direct disciple of Elder Qin and is on the verge of breaking through to the Golden Core stage.
"I suppose everyone currently has only a hazy understanding of the sect's situation.
"Senior Brother Qin Kuai is kind-hearted and cannot bear the thought of everyone making mistakes upon arriving at a new place, so he specifically asked me to inform everyone in advance about a few points for attention. Will the junior brothers who are interested please step a bit closer."
As he spoke, several other underlings began inviting a few of the better-qualified individuals, led by Fan Nuanyang, to talk separately.
Whether intentionally or not, Lan Annuo was directly ignored by them.
Hearing his words, Lan Annuo remarked, "Are all you cultivators this shameless? Or are you simply exceptionally skilled at standing truth on its head?"
Hua Lulan replied, "Purely personal behavior."
Lan Annuo really didn't care at all about being targeted. After all, she wasn't a real child—who cared about whether they had friends or not!
After the crowd dispersed, Lan Annuo returned to her room. Of course, Hua Lulan had also given her a piece of paper; it wasn't large, but the information on it was quite substantial.
From the outside, the flying ship didn't look very large, but the interior was full of ingenious design, with a space more than twice as large.
Lan Annuo returned to her room, closed the door properly, and released Aotian. After having him inspect the room and confirm there were no issues, she began to curiously look around every corner of the room. After all, it was her first time seeing a flying ship capable of spatial folding.
Previously, she had also curiously searched for relevant materials, but she couldn't break through the spatial dimensions, and no matter what she tried, it was to no avail—until the project was called off after consuming close to a hundred million.
The design of the flying ship was completely natural. Lan Annuo searched the room from top to bottom and only found a single trace of a clue, but looking at the patterns above, she completely failed to understand what they represented.
She could only temporarily give up with a sense of discouragement. Back in the Lan Family library, she had wanted to try and find books related to artifact forging or alchemy, but whether it was due to this world's emphasis on keeping knowledge confidential or not, ordinary books only contained fragmented records.
Not a single complete pill formula existed.
Helpless, Lan Annuo could only temporarily give up her research and instead began communicating with the spatial spiritual qi factors, just as her older brother had repeatedly emphasized before.
Lan Annuo closed her eyes, began reciting the incantation silently, and started to feel the flow of qi within her body.
The sensation lasted for four full hours, and it wasn't until the sky turned dark that Lan Annuo opened her eyes once more.
Fortunately, she had laid a good foundation beforehand, so her limbs weren't numb now.
Aotian was gnawing on a spirit herb nearby. Seeing her open her eyes, he immediately spat twice, coughing out the debris in his mouth.
He complained with a wronged expression, "You're finally awake! If you didn't wake up soon, I was going to starve to death."
Lan Annuo felt somewhat speechless. "Wake up. Aren't you supposed to be a young master of the Soaring Serpent? Where did your strength go? It's just a single missed meal, how bad could the starvation be?
"Didn't I skip it too?"
"Even if I'm not starving, my cravings are acting up! Is that not allowed?" Aotian said with righteous indignation.
"Then go satisfy your cravings and eat something! I saw you hiding food with my own eyes last time!"
"What do you mean by hiding? I call that saving it for you in advance—it's called being prepared for a rainy day. If there ever comes a day when you really have nothing to eat, I'll take it out to help you through the hardship. How about that? Am I considerate? Is my foresight thorough?" Aotian thought his reasoning was both clever and thoughtful.
"Is that so? Well, I'm hungry right now. Give me some jerky and water!"
"Ha, haha, there's none left." After a couple of fake laughs, his voice dropped so low it was barely audible.
With a single thought from Lan Annuo, Aotian was once again forcefully straightened out.
Lan Annuo said, "Look at that. I'm hungry right now and you can't even help with that, yet you talk about being prepared for a rainy day and all that future stuff. When we get to the sect, you might as well just eat Bigu Pills right along with me. I hear that swallowing a tiny pill leaves you completely full for a whole day!"
At the mere thought of that scenario, Aotian didn't hesitate to roll on the ground and throw a tantrum, crying, "I don't care! Since we've already formed a pact, I am your snake in life and your snake in death—you can't abuse me like this! I want to eat meat, I want good food and spicy dishes, I am not going to eat those tasteless Bigu Pills!
"No way, absolutely no way."
Lan Annuo pulled a pack of jerky from her sachet, eating as she watched him throw a tantrum.
Seeing that she had no reaction whatsoever and was even eating jerky while watching him put on a show as if it were a spectator sport, Aotian grew even angrier, but at least he stopped crying and rolling around.
Only then did Lan Annuo deign to give him a proper look. "That's more like it. You're not a little kid anymore, so stop acting like one."
With tear-filled eyes, Aotian said, "I'm still just a hatchling, a hatchling!"
"So what if you're a hatchling? Who isn't one?"
Aotian was momentarily at a loss for words, only then remembering that the great demon king seemed to be a child too.
However, how could he possibly admit fault? He argued, "We Soaring Serpents don't reach adulthood until we're three hundred years old, so strictly speaking, I'm younger than you."
"Oh, then good little baby, do you want to play a game?"
"What game?" Aotian asked, puzzled.
"Probably the wonderful sensation of experiencing the world spinning upside down!" Lan Annuo said with a smile.
Seeing her smile, Aotian instinctively backed away from her. After all, whenever she smiled, nothing good ever came of it—those were all lessons paid for in his own blood and tears!
Aotian quickly slithered into a corner and hid himself.
Lan Annuo clicked her tongue with a trace of regret, feeling that he wasn't nearly as innocent and easy to gull as before. Still, seeing as he was her contracted beast, she tossed a small piece of spirit stone over.
Aotian immediately flew up to catch it, swallowed it down, and promptly locked himself back in the corner, playing dead and refusing to move.
Lan Annuo straightened her clothes and pushed open the door to her room.
Among the towering mountain ranges, white clouds drifted, immortal beasts danced, and flashes of multicolored light flickered among the peaks from time to time, adding a few touches of immortal aura.
The Qinghai Sect had arrived.