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nLi Wanting, who has been watching the interaction between the three, put her hands on her hips and sighs helplessly.

n“Junior Disciple Sister Xia, you’re up to mischief again…”

n“Hmm?” Without any shred of guilt, Xia Xue replied calmly, “Senior Disciple Sister Li, you’re words are really unpleasant. I just wanted to show our stupid Young Ancestor that her sword isn’t reliable. ”

n“Hey, so you mean to use this as a pretext to tell me that Little Phecda is easy to be abducted?”

n“Oh, what if it is so?”

n“Fallacy — that’s blatant fallacy! Little Phecda was fooled because she knows you! She won’t be easily deceived by people she doesn’t know!” Xue Qilin turned to Phecda and said, “Little Phecda, what say you?”

n“Of, of course! I… I won’t be fooled!”

nAs a result, Phecda’s eyes flickered and she stammered.

n“Hey, Xue Qilin, your sword is lacking confidence.”

n“Young Ancestor, it really seems that Phecda is lacking confidence…”

nBy looking at Phecda, who doesn’t dare to meet her gaze and listening to Xia Xue and Li Wanting’s statements with different sentiments, Xue Qilin was dumbfounded. But then she rapidly extended her hands and grabbed Phecda and shook her toy-like frame.

n“Little Phecda, come on now! How can you be cheated so easily!? You want me to completely lose face?!”

n“Boo… Qilin, stop shaking! I know I was wrong!”

nDisoriented from all the shaking, Phecda’s eyes become swirly, looking like she’s about to pass out.

nWith no intention of letting her go, Xue Qilin shouted emotionally, “No, you don’t know!”

n“Boo… I’m going to pass out.”

nUnable to withstand it, Phecda’s eyes blurred. After leaving these words behind, her head suddenly tilted to the side, and she fainted.

n“Eh… she really passed out?”

nStartled, Xue Qilin released her grip, and Phecda’s small body fell to the ground.

n“Young Ancestor!”

nLi Wanting denounced loudly.

nXia Xue and Li Wanting reach for Phecda at the same time, but the latter was faster. Before Phecda hit the ground, a pair of hands put together caught her.

nXia Xue stood up straight again, took a look at the passed out Phecda, and sneered coldly.

n“Xue Qilin, you don’t know how fortunate you are.”

n“Sorry. I was a little startled.”

nAware that she is in the wrong, Xue Qilin clasped her cheek awkwardly and apologized frankly.

nXia Xue looked at Xue Qilin with a strong sense of reproach in her eyes.

n“If one day Phecda can’t stand your abuse anymore, she will accept a new master. Let’s see whose shoulder you’re going to cry on then.

n“Oh, it’s, it’s not that serious, is it?”

nFrightened by Xia Xue’s words, Xue Qilin couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy and muttered, “I bully her at most… to call it abuse is too much…”

n“Young Ancestor, you’ve gone too far this time.”

nIn a rare fashion, Li Wanting didn’t speak up for Xue Qilin, but rebuked her severely instead.

nWhy do they make me out to be the bad guy? Little Phecda was clearly in the wrong first! Xue Qilin suddenly wrinkled her nose and stayed silent, unreconciled.

n“Young Ancestor, you –”

nLi Wanting just intended to persuade her, when Xia Xue calmly interrupted her, “Senior Disciple Sister Li, go gather firewood first. It’s getting late. If we delay any longer, it will be too late. I don’t want to sleep outdoors while shaking from the autumn wind.”

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n“This…”

nLi Wanting hesitated for a moment, looking back and forth between Xue Qilin and Xia Xue.

n“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to her.”

nUpon hearing Xia Xue’s promise, Li Wanting finally retracted her gaze, nodded, answered with “okay”, and returned Phecda to Xue Qilin.

nXue Qilin hesitated for a moment, and then finally stopped being angry and took Phecda in her arms. Regarding this, Li Wanting revealed a gratified smile, and then went to the forest.

nWhen her figure disappeared in the forest, Xia Xue sneered at Xue Qilin at once.

n“Hey, why are you looking at me like that?” Xue Qilin frowned, “I did apologize, didn’t I?!”

n“Because you’re stupid.”

nXia Xue answered disdainfully.

n“Wah, you’re infuriating!” Xue Qilin pointed out indignantly, “Little Phecda was clearly in the wrong first.”

n“Hey, our stupid Young Ancestor is really magnanimous!”

nXia Xue is clearly being sarcastic.

nRealizing that the other party is alluding to her being narrow-minded, Xue Qilin jumped up and down with bared teeth, speechless from anger.

nXia Xue sat down on a nearby large stone and crossed her legs, remaining calm and composed.

n“You should know the principle that rare things are valuable, right?”

nSeeing Xia Xue with a serious look on her face, which is quite rare for her, Xue Qilin realized that she isn’t joking, but asking her seriously. She first sat down cross-legged and let Phecda lie on her lap, and then replied, “Of course I know… But why are you mentioning this all of a sudden?”

n“I don’t think you know. You once said to Younger Sister Temple Master that Phecda is a sword spirit, right?”

n“That’s right… But, to be precise –”

n… it should be called item spirit. Before Xue Qilin could say the second half of the sentence, Xia Xue raised her hand to signal her to shut up.

n“The sword spirit — Phecda is one of a kind in the Hua Dynasty.”

nXia Xue declared calmly.

nIn order to gestate an item spirit, you have to meet extremely harsh conditions, and in this world, few people can meet these conditions.

nOne of the most difficult conditions to satisfy is that the item spirit requires that the spiritual qi to gestate it comes from the same person. Since it takes hundreds or even thousands of years to produce an item spirit, even Grandmasters, who have the longest lifespan, cannot live long enough to gestate an item spirit. Consequently, it is basically impossible for item spirits to exist in this world.

nAs for Phecda, she’s just a quasi-item spirit born with the help of Xue Qilin’s magic. She is still far from being a genuine item spirit. It is worth mentioning that the time needed for Phecda to become a genuine item spirit has greatly shortened with the help of magic.

nHowever, in terms of magic knowledge and ability, no one in the whole Hua Dynasty can rival Xue Qilin. In this case, Xia Xue statement that Phecda is the only sword spirit in the Hua dynasty is not an exaggeration.

nWhy did she mention it all of a sudden? Xue Qilin can’t figure it out.

n“Do you know why the School of Mo’s secret hall attracted so many people? Why even the Five Great Sects and the Imperial Court were alarmed by it?”

n“Um…”

nXue Qilin pondered, then suddenly remembered Xia Xue’s question at the start and answered, “… because rare things are valuable?”

n“– it is also because it is said that weapons made by the School of Mo possess matchless strength.”

nXia Xue nodded and added in a deep voice.

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