Cautiously rolling again, her instincts screamed—and in a flash, she leapt up in panic.
A second later—BOOM!
Her warm little bed suddenly exploded into splinters!
"What did you do to my bed?!" Jian Xiaolou flicked her fingers, activating the fire crystal on the wall. As dust filled the air, her face was full of shock.
Startled by the noise, Zhan Tianxiang abruptly sat up. He remembered crashing onto her bed earlier—he must've broken it then.
Jian Xiaolou glared at him. "Was it you?"
Zhan Tianxiang felt tonight couldn't get any worse. Keeping his jaw tight, he replied stiffly, "Why would I destroy your bed for no reason? Do I look that bored?"
"It really wasn't you?" Jian Xiaolou was skeptical. The bed had clearly been shattered by a cultivator's pressure—if it wasn't him, who else could it be?
"Of course not!" Zhan Tianxiang shamelessly denied it.
Indeed, Jian Xiaolou couldn't think of a reason why he'd destroy her bed. Frowning in confusion, she muttered, "That's strange… who could break through the ward and get into our room?"
Zhan Tianxiang quickly added, "Maybe you were unconsciously cultivating in your sleep, and some spiritual energy leaked out. You just don't remember."
That was technically possible, and Jian Xiaolou reluctantly accepted the explanation.
Zhan Tianxiang's expression darkened further—his blood and qi were surging chaotically, almost beyond his control.
He couldn't help but feel anger toward Elder Blackhead. Even though Zhan Tianxiang was part of the dark faction under his command, he was still a direct descendant of the Zhan family—a noble Second Young Master. How dare a mere Zhan family retainer lay hands on him repeatedly?
Then again…
If he couldn't cultivate the Zhan family's sword art, could he still call himself a real Zhan?
A bitter taste rose in his chest. If not for the unique ability he possessed, his father likely would have cast him out long ago.
But that melancholy didn't last long—because something else stunned him into silence.
Jian Xiaolou, yawning, climbed onto his bed:
"I refined 500 pounds of Red-Hazy Iron today. I'm completely drained. And it's almost dawn—still have to mine at Qiu Long Mountain. I'm bunking with you tonight."
Bunking?? Absolutely not!
Zhan Tianxiang broke into a cold sweat. His blood and qi became even more turbulent. Instinctively, he wanted to kick her off—but since it was technically his fault her bed broke, he had no right.
In a panic, he scrambled off the bed and fled the room.
"I'll go absorb some spiritual energy outside—you sleep well!"
Jian Xiaolou didn't think much of it. The bed wasn't big, and sleeping alone was more comfortable.
The room quieted again. Just as she drifted toward sleep, she suddenly heard a rough male voice say:
"The Young Master has already begun executing the plan. We hope everything goes smoothly on your end."
"Who's there?!"
Startled awake, Jian Xiaolou leapt up and instinctively summoned her Zidian short sword. Eyes scanning the room in high alert.
The voice spoke again:
"If you mess this up, not even the Young Master will be able to protect you."
A chill raced down her spine like ice water pouring into her collar. Teeth chattering, she searched the room—then looked up at the birdcage in disbelief:
"Xiao Hei… was that you? You can talk?!"
Xiao Hei hopped around on the wooden bar, flapped its wings a few times, and with its raspy voice, croaked:
"Mess it up, and not even the Young Master can protect you."
"You really can talk?" Jian Xiaolou's eyes lit up with wonder. After fifteen years, this was the first time she'd ever heard the bird speak.
But… what was it talking about?
A "plan"? A "Young Master"?
What plan? Which Young Master?
Jian Xiaolou thought about it for a long time, but couldn't make any sense of it.
However, since myna birds were good at mimicking speech, and she often took this one out wandering, it wasn't strange if it had picked something up from somewhere and remembered it.
"Say that again so I can hear it."
"Mess it up, and even the Young Master won't be able to protect you."
"Don't just repeat that one line. Hmm… say 'Jian Xiaolou is a great beauty.'"
Xiao Hei (the bird) stopped fluttering. It stood still on the perch, tightly shutting its beak as it stared at Jian Xiaolou.
"Come, say it with me: Jian-Xiao-Lou-is-a-great-beau-ty."
She pulled a dried fruit from her storage pouch and held it near Xiao Hei's beak, tempting it to speak again.
Xiao Hei tilted its head and looked at her—but refused to say another word.
The two of them—girl and bird—stared at each other for a long time. Finally, Xiao Hei squeezed out two dry, harsh syllables:
"Id-iot."
Smack!
The birdcage—bird and all—was smacked and sent flying across the room.
That night felt like a dream. But come morning, Xiao Hei was still the same old Xiao Hei—the dazed, foolish little bird.
After being startled so many times in one night, Jian Xiaolou didn't sleep at all. She chose to meditate and cultivate instead.
Among her three elemental spiritual roots—earth, metal, and wood—her earth root had the best aptitude, reaching 65 points. Earth affinity was known for defense. Since she couldn't go around killing, she had studied a defensive earth technique her father had bought her called "Earth Movement Art."
The importance of techniques to a cultivator couldn't be overstated. Technique scrolls were among the most scarce resources on the Chixiao Continent. This Earth Movement Art was only of mid-grade human rank.
It contained three spells: Body Forging, Earth Spike, and Earth Shield.
The Body Forging Spell was a type of cultivation similar to physical cultivators. Once mastered, it could give one a physique nearly as strong as a true body cultivator, but without the extreme hardship and repeated physical tempering.
Knowing she was destined for a defensive path, Jian Xiaolou understood just how important it was to have a sturdy, tough body. From the day she got this technique, she had been devoted to Body Forging cultivation.
Unfortunately, her mother constantly tried to stop her.
She feared that her cute, dainty daughter would turn herself into a musclebound "Iron Barbie", and no one would want to marry her. Her poor mother had worried herself sick over it.
So after more than ten years, Jian Xiaolou had only reached the second level of the technique.
She cultivated until midday. Zhan Tianxiang still hadn't returned. Jian Xiaolou ended her meditation and went alone to mine at Qiu Long Mountain.
Qiu Long Mountain wasn't just any mountain. It lay within Floating Light City. In fact, this Tier-2 city had been built around the mountain to protect it from being overexploited.
The mountain stretched for hundreds of miles in a ring-like formation. Disciples of the Fire Refining Sect were only allowed to mine on the outer sections, and even then, only up to mid-mountain.
But in Jian Xiaolou's eyes, that rule was completely unnecessary—strange miasma and sealing formations filled the upper parts of Qiu Long Mountain. Who could even reach that high?
Carrying her tools, she weaved in and out of the tunnels that had been carved out over the years by her senior brothers and sisters. In no time, she had gathered nearly 400 pounds of Red-Hazy Iron ore. After casting a Lightening Spell, she tossed it all into her storage pouch.
It wouldn't hold any more, so she climbed out of the tunnel, planning to return and smelt the ore.
But just outside the cave, she saw a black tide of Iron Armor Ants.
Jian Xiaolou was puzzled. Iron Armor Ants were ore-eating spirit beasts. They never attacked humans and lived in massive colonies within mines—each colony had thousands of ants. But right now, there were hundreds of colonies' worth of ants rushing past her in a frantic stream, as if fleeing from something.
When things act strangely, something sinister is often behind it.
Jian Xiaolou stood still at the cave entrance, waiting for the swarm to pass.
Following behind the ants were three people. One of them saw her and called out:
"Junior Sister Jian?"
This person's cultivation was much higher than hers. Jian Xiaolou only sensed him after he spoke.
She recognized him—Gao Zhan, the cultivator who, during the entrance exam, had extracted twenty-two refined three-inch iron balls from the ore.
Cold on the outside, black-hearted on the inside—that was Jian Xiaolou's assessment of him.