Long Ye wiped his face and retaliated by pressing down the cloth on Shi Qian’s belly, submerging him entirely in the water.

Shi Qian, now a soaked ball of fur, floated in the water like a drenched fuzzball. But instead of floating back up, he sank deeper.

Startled, Long Ye quickly reached in to pull him out. “Little Qian!”

Seeing Long Ye’s worried expression, Shi Qian stretched out his paws and evaded Long Ye’s hand, swimming skillfully in the tub.

After two laps, he resurfaced and shook his head, splashing water all over Long Ye again.

Long Ye sighed. He suddenly understood why the neighbors were always scolding their kids—even the cutest child could drive someone to their limits.

Though he had the urge to spank Shi Qian’s little rear, he figured it wasn’t a good idea to discipline a new pet on the first day. With a helpless smile, Long Ye patiently grabbed the soap and continued washing Shi Qian.

Shi Qian, oblivious to Long Ye’s hidden thoughts, was busy rating him as a pet caretaker. Long Ye seemed like an excellent choice.

After being scrubbed down, Shi Qian climbed out of the tub, used a small spell to dry himself, and fluffed up into a soft, adorable ball of fur.

This was one of the perks of living in a cultivation world. Unlike modern pets that had to endure noisy blow dryers, here, a simple spell did the job perfectly.

Feeling refreshed after his bath, Shi Qian was about to take a nap when Long Ye caught him. “Little Qian, if you nap now, you won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

Long Ye took out a bottle of pills given to him by the Golden Core stage cultivator and poured out two.

“These are Spirit Nourishing Pills. They can help increase your spiritual energy. Let’s take one and meditate together.”

Long Ye swallowed one pill himself and offered the other to Shi Qian.

Spirit medicines were ranked from Heaven, Earth, Mystic, to Yellow, with each rank further divided into upper, middle, lower, and extreme grades. The pill was quite valuable—an upper-grade Yellow pill, costing thousands of spirit beads per bottle. Spirit beads, the most basic currency in the cultivation world, were worth much less than spirit stones, with one thousand beads equaling one low-grade spirit stone.

Long Ye only had a few low-grade spirit stones to his name, not enough to buy even half a bottle of pills.

As for Shi Qian: he had never tasted something like this before.

Should he try it?

Curious, Shi Qian opened his mouth wide and swallowed the Spirit Nourishing Pill like a piece of candy.

The medicinal effect came on quickly. Long Ye sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, focusing on absorbing the pill’s energy.

The pill’s potent energy surged into Long Ye’s body, filling every muscle and channel. When it hit his most crucial meridians, a wave of sharp pain spread through him. But Long Ye was used to this kind of agony. Sweat dripped from his body, but his mind remained focused.

Next to him, Shi Qian sat on his own cushion. With memories of the Little Mouse, he knew that cultivating and absorbing spiritual energy was painful. But he had already swallowed the pill, so not absorbing the energy would be a waste. Plus, his spiritual reserves were currently depleted, so he began meditating to absorb the energy.

Like a balloon, Shi Qian’s small body quickly filled with energy.

Compared to Long Ye, who started earlier, Shi Qian felt the pain more quickly.

At first, the discomfort was mild, but it rapidly intensified, until every meridian in his body felt like it was being torn apart.

It hurt. A lot.

Shi Qian collapsed on his cushion, his limbs splayed out, unwilling to absorb any more energy.

Like a deflating balloon, his body went limp.

His fur, once soft and fluffy, was now matted and tangled, making him look like an old, unwashed quilt.

Glancing at Long Ye, who was drenched in sweat but still tirelessly meditating on the cushion, Shi Qian could only think: Bro, I respect you. You’re a real warrior!

He should have known that anyone who could cultivate to the fifth level of Qi Refining with such a restricted body had to be a true hardliner.

Hardworking and powerful—who could be more impressive than that?

Shi Qian was truly impressed, but he was not that kind of person. More importantly, he wasn’t that kind of mouse.

Among the many departments of the Time Travel Bureau, Shi Qian chose the Animal Department, not just because he liked small animals but also for the relaxed, laid-back lifestyle it offered.

Casting a cleansing spell to clean himself, Shi Qian comfortably lay down on the cushion, fiddling with a straw rope, thoroughly enjoying his lazy leisure.

A quarter of an hour later, Long Ye was gasping for breath, feeling the electric-like tearing pain coursing through his veins. He knew he had reached the limit of absorbing the medicine and could finally take a break. But he couldn’t rest for long; otherwise, the medicinal power would dissipate and go to waste.

The young man opened his eyes, his sharp, determined gaze landing on the little spirit beast playing with the cushion. His look turned to one of helplessness.

Shi Qian had started late and finished quickly, and since he looked perfectly clean and relaxed, Long Ye mistakenly thought that Shi Qian hadn’t meditated at all, let alone absorbed the medicinal energy. He assumed the little creature had been playing the whole time.

Long Ye sighed inwardly. How could this little spirit beast be so lazy? Even after being fed a pill, he didn’t sit and absorb its energy.

But, seeing how obedient he was, sticking by his side, Long Ye couldn’t stay mad. He scooped up the fluffy, lazy ball of fur. “I’m going to train my body now. Come watch and don’t just lie around.”

Then, he demonstrated a brutal routine: beating up wooden stakes, doing deep squats while lifting heavy stones.

Meanwhile, Shi Qian, after trying to do ten seconds of hanging sit-ups, thought: This guy’s a complete savage.

After two rounds of body training outside the courtyard, Long Ye half-heartedly cleaned himself with a cleansing spell and prepared to meditate again.

Before starting, he glanced at the laid-back little spirit beast and patiently encouraged, “Little Qian, you should cultivate too. I have experience with this—once you pass through a certain threshold, it will feel incredibly good afterward.”

Although Long Ye had never experienced it himself, he had heard that others, unlike him, felt immense satisfaction and power after each advancement. The whole body supposedly felt great.

I wonder what that feels like? Long Ye mused, his face showing a light, longing expression.

Shi Qian watched Long Ye’s hopeful face, recalling how Long Ye seemed to sweat profusely, with his expressions being a bit much. Given Long Ye’s apparent “protagonist halo,” Shi Qian believed his nonsense without realizing the information gap between them.

Shi Qian sat down again and attempted to cultivate and absorb the medicinal energy.

After thirty seconds, Shi Qian lay flat again.

Shi Qian: …

Damn you! It still hurts!

At best, the pain just turns into numbness after a while.

“Squeak squeak squeak!”

You big liar!

Shi Qian angrily squeaked his frustration. He realized the key issue—both he and Long Ye had extremely strong bloodlines, but their physical endurance couldn’t keep up. However, Long Ye had no clue about this!

From Long Ye’s perspective, Shi Qian was just a weak foundation-level creature, probably thinking he was simply lazy.

Sure enough, when Long Ye saw Shi Qian lying down again, he tried to encourage him, “Xiao Qian, focus.”

Shi Qian: Squeak squeak.

No.

Shi Qian shook his head vigorously.

Long Ye tried to reason with the fussy little spirit beast, “Xiao Qian, if you don’t work hard, how will you become stronger?”

Shi Qian turned around, proudly pointing at Long Ye with his still-not-fully-healed paw. Squeak squeak.

You’re the one who needs to get stronger. I’m just an adorable little chinchilla. How could you bear to make me suffer?

Shi Qian squeaked pitifully, feeling a bit heartbroken. With a flicker of thought, he pulled out the little handkerchief his mouse mom gave him from his space, using it to fake wipe his tears.

Then, he dramatically recited, “Squeak squeak squeak…”

Poor little white mouse, so young, without a mother or brother, yet forced to endure such suffering…

Long Ye still didn’t understand what Shi Qian was saying, but the spirit beast’s emotional display, so over-the-top that even professional actors couldn’t match it, made him feel like he wasn’t training Shi Qian but tormenting him.

His dedication to cultivating collided with his compassion for the little creature, leaving Long Ye visibly conflicted.

In the end, he sighed deeply. “Alright… maybe next time. How about that?”

Shi Qian, just wanting to be let off the hook, nodded obediently.

He knew this routine well—give a little the first time, and there will always be a second and third…

Taking it easy for a moment is pure bliss. Taking it easy forever is even better.

There was no way Shi Qian was going to endure painful cultivation. He figured he’d wait until a future adventure in some secret realm where he could soak in a mystical pool and strengthen his bloodline and body, then he’d think about putting in the effort.

With Shi Qian successfully taking it easy, he watched as Long Ye continued to train hard.

Three days passed, and Long Ye had absorbed three spirit-nurturing pills.

Meanwhile, the battle over the secret realm rings had begun to show results. Most of the rings were snatched by the four major families in the city, while five landed with smaller families, and three had disappeared, their current owners unknown.

Long Ye’s family was among the top in Town, but their rival Li family had already obtained one of the rings, while the Long family had nothing to show for it.

No, perhaps they did have something—a few injured foundation-level cultivators and the death of a late-stage foundation elder.

With the Long family’s Golden Core elder in closed-door cultivation for years, even their own family members speculated that the elder had passed away. They just hadn’t revealed it to prevent others from coveting their wealth.

In such a situation, without the reappearance of a Golden Core cultivator, the Long family’s standing was at risk, and so they were acting with urgency. However, this anxiety had exposed their weaknesses, causing suspicion in the Li family.

In the Long family council hall, the heads of the various branches gathered to discuss the crisis.

Long Ye’s grandfather, Long Xing, and his uncle, Long Chengyang, were both present. Long Chengyang, one of the injured foundation cultivators, had fallen from mid-stage to early-stage, his face pale and worn.

The atmosphere was heavy when a report came in, and the patriarch allowed Long Ming to enter.

“We were out gathering herbs, not far from Jiutian Peak.”

“Then we split up, and I overheard someone say that Long Ye had obtained something even the Golden Core elder couldn’t find. He was planning to give it to Li Qing Qian, arranging a private meeting with her.”

“Why would the Golden Core elder search him?”

“The clan elder can verify it the man was in the spritual plant shop that day and I overheard him; I found out that the person is a half-human, half-demon hybrid living in Lanjiudi.”