Chapter 3: 3, Kept

Feng Jinyan raised her eyebrows slightly. This old man was quite fashionable, actually knowing that this was "sugar dating"? No, wait. Who would want him to sponsor them? She certainly had no interest in being with an old geezer.

"Take a look at yourself. You're at such an age and you're still thinking about sponsoring someone? Who would go with you?" Jinse shot Yun Lingzi a glare, her black eyes filled with disdain, leaving Yun Lingzi's old face turning the color of pig liver in an instant.

This girl? Her heart was truly black. She was clearly the one who said that if she didn't take a master, she would go with him—how had it turned into him being in the wrong?

"You won't take a master, yet you want to go with me? What exactly are you trying to pull? What is our relationship?" Yun Lingzi retorted with a flushed face, his chest heaving continuously as the light faded from his small, bean-like eyes.

"Aside from being a master, whatever you say." Jinse also grew weary. The jungle was vast, and her former comrades-in-arms who had faced life and death with her were long gone. She also needed a place to settle down. Layers of sorrow rippled through her pitch-black eyes, inexplicably infecting Yun Lingzi; his small eyes actually grew somewhat moist, and he forgot her recent sharp tongue, feeling a sudden surge of sympathy for her.

"Fine, girl, say no more. Just consider it as me adopting you."

Yun Lingzi compromised. The thing he could most not stand was seeing others sad. Relationships were not important; they were merely titles used to bind people. He was open-minded; he just didn't want this girl to face him with such a sorrowful expression.

"..."

Jinse looked speechlessly at the old man who looked like he was about to cry. Had someone died in his family? She hadn't even cried yet, so why was he getting all worked up?

"Food, housing, and expenses are all covered. And I'll even cover your training in Profound Power."

Jinse reined in the emotions buried in her heart, and the old man followed suit, losing his melancholy. Looking at the spirited girl with his small eyes, he could tell at a glance that she was a good prospect.

"..."

Jinse was speechless once again. The conditions were quite good; it would have been even better if he hadn't added that "covered" part. Profound Power? A memory of the test in the Prince's Mansion inexplicably surfaced in her mind. She, Xiao Jinse, was merely a useless person with zero profound power cultivation. A smile curled at the corner of her mouth, as dazzling as a blooming hibiscus, which inexplicably sent a chill through Yun Lingzi's entire body.

Such a powerful, murderous aura. Even he felt a sense of lingering fear. This girl was definitely not as harmless as she appeared on the surface.

"Fine."

Her crisp, lively voice rang out exceptionally clear in the sunny weather. Profound Power—she would treat it as her first challenge upon arriving in this different world. A light of excitement appeared in her black eyes, like the morning sun just rising on the horizon: dazzling and brilliant.

Yun Lingzi was puzzled. Looking at the girl before him, who seemed as pure as a lotus emerging from water, he hadn't expected her to possess a murderous aura sufficient to intimidate him. To think such energy was hidden within this thin body that looked only fourteen or fifteen years old—it only confirmed his intuition.

Perhaps he did not know, but this was the beginning of the tragedy of his life. Everything was merely a matter for later. A gentle breeze blew, and the shadows of the two had long since vanished. Green leaves swayed and the sun rose high; everything looked so harmonious and beautiful.

Brilliant light shone through the shade onto the handsome man's face. His eyes, framed by long lashes, trembled slightly before opening. Within his deep, dark-gold eyes lay a sense of supreme arrogance and solitary pride. His ink-like brows furrowed slightly, and it was hard to ignore the pain in his chest as his dark-gold eyes rippled with confusion...