On their third day at Golden Jade Tower, Echo met the famous Yu Xuefei from Thousand Beauty Valley, known as the “Medical Immortal.” Seraphine and Echo were sitting under a tree waiting for medicine when a graceful figure descended. Yu Xuefei carried an oil-paper umbrella, wearing a purple dress with thin gauze over it, surrounded by a faint luminous aura as she approached.

The other cultivators waiting under the tree all stood to bow respectfully. Yu Xuefei smiled brightly, returning each bow before finally reaching their table. “Yu Xuefei of Thousand Beauty Valley greets Palace Lord Velka.”

Yu Xuefei’s voice was very gentle, warming the heart to hear.

Seraphine returned the courtesy. “I’ve long heard Fellow Daoist Yu’s name. This is Lingshan Sect disciple Xi Lingren, also my dear friend. She’s injured and recovering here. Please take good care of her.”

Yu Xuefei had beautiful features, her smiling eyes like rippling spring water. “I will certainly do my utmost.”

Echo’s gaze followed her as she entered Golden Jade Tower. Soon the medic who’d been treating Echo came out, bidding everyone farewell before heading off to adventure. Echo kept staring at the door until Seraphine said displeasedly, “Why not nail your eyes there?”

“Hahaha,” Echo laughed to cover up, asking, “Seraphine, did Yu Xuefei specifically come to greet you because you’re the Palace Lord of Luanyang Palace?”

Seraphine made a lazy sound of agreement. Her mother had given her life for the world, and this legacy belonged to Seraphine—not something to hide or feel ashamed of. Many cultivators showed extra care to Luanyang Palace and herbecause she was Yunong Velka’s daughter, and she accepted it openly.

People were fickle—she feared that if she acted too humble, many would take it seriously and forget how much of this peaceful world’s tranquility came from a woman named Yunong Velka.

Seraphine snapped back to attention, finding Echo still facing away from her. Somewhat annoyed, she reached out and knocked on Echo’s head.

Still looking!

“Ow.” Echo covered her head and turned around with a brilliant expression. Seeing Echo’s look, Seraphine had an ominous feeling before hearing her say, “Seraphine, Seraphine, Yu Xuefei’s hair is so long—it reaches down to here.”

She gestured at her mid-thigh.

Seraphine said warily, “Mm.”

“Seraphine, Yu Xuefei has a very gentle temperament and seems quite popular,” Echo said. “Of course, Seraphine is also very popular.”

Seraphine: “Hmph.”

“Seraphine, I’ve been reading marriage reports in my database. Research shows that marriages between complementary personalities can reduce family conflicts!”

What kind of expert was that?

Seraphine frowned, crushing peanuts between her fingers and placing two peanut pieces on the table. Error slithered from her sleeve, using its tail to curl up the peanuts and bring them to its mouth. Its green eyes fixed on Echo. Let the dragon hear what this orb wanted to do.

The orb asked: “Seraphine, do you like challenging things?”

Seraphine immediately thought of Zhu Shiyu—a sword cultivator following the Ruthless Path. Challenging?

“I like very challenging things,” she said lazily, pinching a peanut and bringing it to her lips. Her tongue rolled around the round peanut before her back teeth clamped down. With a “crunch,” one peanut met its demise!

Echo pondered this, realizing that cultivators aiming for immortality were all challenging humans. She couldn’t arbitrarily focus on Zhu Shiyu alone. After serious consideration, she decided to cut to the chase: “Do you prefer cool sword-using girls, or gentle girls with long hair?”

Seraphine’s tongue pressed against her teeth, her chest rising and falling as she laughed coldly: “I like—very cool sword-using girls with long hair who are also stupid.”

“The stupider the better, because the stupider she is—the more challenging for me!”

With that, Seraphine flicked a peanut shell at Echo’s head, snorting coldly: “Hurry up and drink your medicine. I’m going back to cultivate.”

Echo was analyzing Seraphine’s words. She didn’t believe Seraphine would actually like stupid girls. Her saying this had a 70% chance of hidden meaning and 30% chance of deliberate mockery. Unable to complete her analysis, she told Seraphine: “I can come drink medicine myself. Seraphine doesn’t need to accompany me every day.”

Seraphine thought: If I don’t accompany you, you’ll probably march up to Zhu Shiyu and ask her views on abandoning the Ruthless Path, or ask Yu Xuefei if she likes wealthy, beautiful women with bad tempers.

“I enjoys it,” she snorted coldly, looking away.

Alright, alright.

Echo obediently drank her medicine.

Compared to other injured cultivators who still went out adventuring, Echo peacefully recovered at Golden Jade Tower. After seven days of bitter medicine, her complexion gradually improved. They planned to leave Golden Jade Tower tomorrow and head to the Northern Glacier first to retrieve the Spirit Heart beneath it.

Ever since getting used to being surrounded by spirit mist during cultivation, Seraphine found practice rather unsatisfying with the Spirit Heart on strike. She walked out of the jade house, storing it in her ring as she went to meet up with Echo.

Yu Xuefei had outstanding talent as Thousand Beauty Valley’s Young Valley Master, possessing the sect’s generations-old high-grade artifact, the Medicine King Furnace. Medicines that took ordinary furnaces ten days to half a month to refine were completed much faster in her hands, producing higher quality spiritual medicines.

Heart’s blood injuries couldn’t be healed in just seven days—Seraphine had asked her to refine spiritual medicine for Echo to take after leaving Golden Jade Tower.

But just as Seraphine took two steps, the earth suddenly began shaking. Countless birds erupted from the forest outside the valley.

Under the wisteria tree, cultivators who’d been meditating quickly stood up, looking at the sky in shock.

“What’s happening? An earthquake?”

“This doesn’t sound like an earthquake—seems like some huge creature is approaching!”

Seraphine’s hair suddenly stood on end as an ominous feeling enveloped her. She drew her natal weapon, shouting: “Xi Lingren!”

“Seraphine.”

Echo’s clear voice overlapped with Seraphine’s call. A blue-green figure flew out of Golden Jade Tower, landing beside Seraphine in an instant. She sighed in relief, grasping Seraphine’s wrist. They looked at each other and flew into the air.

Error transformed into its true form, catching both of them as they three gazed outward from the sky.

“Wow!” Echo exclaimed.

A Stone Giant!

Golden Jade Tower was built in a valley with endless snow mountains on the other side—white peaks stretching for thousands of miles, covered in eternal snow that never melted, forever pure white.

But now, a massive figure appeared in that pristine whiteness. Its body was composed of stones, as if randomly gathered boulders from the snowy plains had been assembled together, with white snow still covering parts of the rock.

Its enormous, heavy body let it walk easily through the snow mountains, each weighty footstep accompanied by tremors in the earth.

In front of this stone colossus, two figures fled frantically.

“Zhao Hangyi, Xue Bufan.” Seraphine identified them.

Zhao Hangyi rode a golden abacus carrying Xue Bufan, who appeared severely injured with his white robes soaked in blood. Zhao Hangyi shouted: “Fellow cultivators, please temporarily evacuate Golden Jade Tower—I need to borrow it!”

Cultivators had already fled the building, floating in the air and staring in shock at the Stone Giant in the snow mountains. Someone called out: “Where did this Stone Giant come from? It’s at least late Golden Core stage!”

Echo opened her inventory, pulling out Nine Heavens which had been lying dormant for ages. Before she could draw the sword, Seraphine pressed down her hand.

“Wait,” she said.

In the snow mountains, the fleeing Zhao Hangyi formed hand seals, chanting incantations. With a great shout of “Rise!” the Golden Jade Tower, previously seated on the ground, suddenly flew up and shot straight toward him.

Golden Jade Tower erupted with waves of golden light. Zhao Hangyi laughed heartily, controlling the tower to ram into the Stone Giant.

Seraphine was amazed—she hadn’t expected Golden Jade Tower to be more than just a rest house like her jade house, but an artifact combining defense and offense.

In the snow mountains, Golden Jade Tower collided with the Stone Giant, producing earth-shaking sounds. Countless stone fragments were knocked from the giant’s body as it raised both arms to strike the tower.

Zhao Hangyi, riding his golden abacus, stuffed spiritual medicines in his mouth, chanting while changing hand seals. The Golden Jade Tower in midair suddenly enlarged, crashing down like Mount Tai with a thunderous “boom” that smashed into the Stone Giant.

Among the sounds of crashing rocks, the Stone Giant crumbled, its stones crushed under Golden Jade Tower.

“Boom!” The massive Golden Jade Tower landed crookedly on the ground.

“Phew.” Zhao Hangyi sighed in relief, slumping down. He swallowed the blood rising in his throat, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe his sweaty brow. “Good, Brother Xue, we should be safe from—”

Before he could finish, Xue Bufan cried: “Brother Zhao, look out!”

Zhao Hangyi looked up sharply to see a massive stone flying straight at them. The Stone Giant, crushed halfway by Golden Jade Tower, was still alive, its arm hurtling toward them with howling wind.

Xue Bufan drew his sword, releasing a sword intent. But severely injured, his sword light struck the stone like a snowflake hitting the ground—nothing happened.

At this critical moment, a clear sword cry rang from the sky. In the vast snow mountains, heavy snow suddenly swirled up. A silver-white light tore through the sky, sword light piercing toward the boulder. In an instant, frost sealed the massive stone.

Sharp sword intent like needles penetrated the seemingly indestructible boulder. With cracking sounds, ice shattered and stone broke, hundreds of golden dragon fragments falling like snow along with the broken rocks.

Zhao Hangyi immediately leaped up, diving down while coughing blood to collect fragments, shouting: “Don’t leave!”

Still on the abacus, Xue Bufan sighed in relief, bowing to Echo: “Thank you, Senior Sister.”

Echo shook her sword clean. “No need for courtesy.”

Xue Bufan said gently: “Long time no see. Congratulations on reaching Soul Transformation stage, Senior Sister.”

“Congratulations on reaching Golden Core,” Echo replied.

“Just a fortunate coincidence.” Xue Bufan lowered his gaze with a modest smile.

Echo nodded. “I was also lucky.”

Snow drifted through the air. She looked at his respectful figure with an expressionless face before turning away.

Xue Bufan’s tense heart relaxed. He looked up at Echo’s retreating form, transmitting to the spiritual consciousness in his ring: “I don’t know why, but seeing Senior Sister this time, I feel inexplicably uneasy.”

A hoarse voice reached his ears: “You’re probably just scared witless by her. Last time she pointed her sword at you, you didn’t dare say a word—truly timid as a mouse! I think you should cultivate properly. Once your cultivation surpasses hers someday, what’s there to be uneasy about?”

“Master is right.” Xue Bufan nodded. Through the wind and snow, he glanced at Echo from afar—two young, stunning women in red and white standing side by side.

Xue Bufan suddenly pressed his hand to his heart, finding that his unease hadn’t disappeared but was growing stronger.

He swallowed nervously, murmuring: “Strange……”

Echo returned to Seraphine’s side, taking her hand. “Seraphine, the Stone Giant dropped lots of fragments.”

“I saw.” Seraphine frowned, watching Zhao Hangyi search for fragments in the snow mountains. “Have you encountered this type of monster before in the secret realm?”

Echo shook her head. “I’ll ask the golden birds, but they haven’t appeared since this morning.”

Seraphine frowned slightly, hearing Echo say: “Hidden quest incoming, probably.”

Hidden quest?

Seraphine was about to ask Echo to explain when suddenly two dragon roars echoed through the sky. Every cultivator in the Twin Dragon Secret Realm heard the thunder-like cries and looked up.

Two intertwined golden dragons appeared in the sky, majestic and speaking with human voices.

“From this month forward, Stone Giants will randomly appear in the secret realm. Defeating them yields large quantities of golden dragon fragments. Stone Giant appearance times and locations are random, cultivation levels are random, fragments obtained after defeat are random. May you all receive Heaven’s protection and have your wishes fulfilled.”

After speaking, the massive dragon forms dispersed in the air.

Soon, two golden birds flapped their wings and flew to Echo’s shoulders. Seraphine made a pleased “tsk” sound. “Excellent. I like this hidden quest. Let’s agree: Stone Giants below the Golden Core stage, I will kill. Stone Giants above the Soul Transformation stage, you will kill.”

Echo nodded. “But before we go kill Stone Giants, I need to go find Zhao Hangyi for payment.” She needed to ask ZhaoHangyi for the life-saving fee, considering Seraphine and she had been paying for tea and lodging at Golden Jade Tower for many days.

One must manage expenditures and increase income. Echo weighed Nine Heavens in her hand, a slight curve on her lips.

[Author’s Note]:

Work Log…

A new goal has appeared—how could I possibly stop moving forward?

Hehe, thank you~

A new quest, new rewards…… and a few new faces. Things are about to get really interesting. See what mischief I get into next and read ahead at Pxtreon➡️LoveisLove520!