Chapter 44

"Even if I can't grow up, I'm still willing — I just want to start cultivating early,"

"If you refuse to let me cultivate!"

"Then I'll cultivate in secret on my own! Nobody is going to stop me!"

Her tone was utterly resolute,

as if leaving no room whatsoever for negotiation.

The moment those words left her mouth, the entire room fell into a dead silence.

Everyone looked at one another, momentarily at a loss for how to respond.

Liu Yuesong frowned slightly,

well aware that Ye Ruyan's temperament had always been stubborn and competitive,

especially when it came to comparisons with Ye Xiuxiu.

Meanwhile, Ye Xiuxiu watched her younger sister with a heart full of puzzlement,

pondering silently to herself.

She truly could not understand

why Ye Ruyan would choose this particular moment to bring up wanting to cultivate?

And right after she herself had just revealed her body-strengthening ability, no less.

Could it be that her sister was merely acting on a whim, wanting to follow the trend and give it a try?

Or did she genuinely believe that through her own efforts,

she could surpass someone who already possessed an innate advantage?

I not only have an innate cultivation art, but also Marrow Cleansing and Bone Refining to defy fate and rewrite destiny,

not only is my talent better than yours, but what's even more infuriating is that my body-strengthening ability also lets me double my efforts.

Better talent than you, and more hardworking than you too.

Could it be that you're purely doing this just to get abused?

The end result would be not only ruining your own body, but barely improving your cultivation at all.

However, at this moment, Ye Ruyan completely ignored what others thought and felt.

In her mind, there was only one thought,

and that was to use the top-tier divine-grade cultivation art "Heaven and Earth Immortal Art" she had mastered to close the gap with the body-strengthening ability,

and she believed even more firmly that her "Heaven and Earth Immortal Art" was far more powerful than Ye Xiuxiu's innate cultivation art.

After all, the "Heaven and Earth Immortal Art" was a cultivation art from the Immortal Realm.

"Very well, since you want to cultivate,"

"then the two of you shall cultivate together."

Ye Qingping let out a sigh,

his daughter having a mind of her own was a good thing,

and afterward he would see if he could find some way

to remedy the flaw of Ruyan cultivating too early.

【You went to great lengths to find Jinhua Peaches to heal your grandfather Ye Songzhi's injuries, but now the Ye Family's Jinhua Peach Grove has been destroyed,】

【Find the root cause behind the destruction of the Ye Family's Jinhua Peach Grove,】

【so as to facilitate the Ye Family's future reconstruction of the Jinhua Peach Grove — these are the guarantee of the Ye Family's vitality.】

【Quest: Find the root cause behind the destruction of the Ye Family's Jinhua Peach Grove】

【Reward: Beast-Taming Ring.】

A crisp, cold system notification suddenly rang out in the depths of Ye Xiuxiu's ethereal mind.

Every time such a sound appeared,

it meant yet another brand-new quest full of unknown challenges was about to descend upon her.

"Find the root cause behind the destruction of the Jinhua Peach Grove?"

"Where am I supposed to go looking for that?"

Ye Xiuxiu felt a splitting headache when she saw this quest,

the Jinhua Peach Grove hasn't even been destroyed yet, so how am I supposed to know what the cause is?

To complete this quest, she would really just have to leave it to luck.

Ye Songzhi then spoke in a calm and composed manner:

"Dongxia, take the two of them directly to the Jinhua Spring for Body Refining."

As he spoke, his gaze swept over the two standing to the side in turn.

Upon hearing the instruction, Li Dongxia gave a slight nod to indicate she understood, but a trace of doubt still lingered in her heart, and she could not help but ask:

"But… you're just letting the two of them enter the Jinhua Spring just like that?"

"Aren't you worried about consuming too much of the Jinhua Spring's water?"

One must know,

this Jinhua Spring was a major foundation of the Ye Family,

yet in the face of Li Dongxia's concern, Ye Songzhi appeared completely unconcerned.

He waved his hand casually and said indifferently:

"It's fine — the most outstanding in our family are precisely these two girls."

"Even if they truly exhaust the Jinhua Spring entirely, it would still be worth it."

"After all, these heavenly treasures and earthly riches are born to be used — if they cannot fulfill their proper function, would that not be a grievous waste of heaven's gifts?"

When these words reached Ye Xiuxiu's ears,

for some reason, they gave her a sense of déjà vu,

as if she had heard similar remarks somewhere before.

"Isn't money meant to be spent?"

At the same time, Ye Qingping, standing to the side, showed undisguised envy on his face.

Back in the day,

even he himself had never enjoyed such generous treatment.

He could only get half a bucket on occasion.

Of course, he could now naturally produce treasures even rarer than this.

It was just a pity that these treasures could only be retrieved and put to use after he returned.

At the end of the day, everyone has selfish motives,

no matter how generous a person may be,

there will always be some things they are unwilling to share with others.

Ye Xiuxiu and Ye Ruyan were brought by Li Dongxia into the deepest part of Ye Jia Zu Di,

where the Jinhua Spring was located.

The entire spring was golden in color,

very similar to the color of the Jinhua Peach Grove.

"You two little ones, take off all your clothes and get in to soak,"

"If you can't take it, come out and rest for a while before going back in."

"One more thing I want to remind you,"

"if you need to pee, remember to come out first."

At first, hearing the earlier sentences was fine,

but upon hearing that last sentence,

Ye Xiuxiu and Ye Ruyan instantly fell silent.

What a sharp judge of character!

Very soon,

the two little ones stripped off their clothes and jumped into the Jinhua Spring.

The Jinhua Spring was not entirely deep water,

there were shallow areas prepared in advance on both sides.

After the two jumped in,

the water level reached right to their waists and abdomens.

"Now both of you take a deep breath each,"

"then submerge your heads completely underwater."

"Also, not only do you need to soak, you also have to drink the spring water of the Jinhua Spring at the same time."

The best way to use the Jinhua Spring for Body Refining was internal ingestion combined with external application,

which meant soaking in the bath while drinking the bathwater...

Tempering the body both internally and externally at the same time,

yielded the best results!

After the two sat down,

their heads were submerged completely.

Ye Xiuxiu had barely gotten in when she felt an intense stimulation coming from all directions,

almost every part of her body had a stinging sensation.

"It's normal for it to hurt,"

"endure it."

On the shore,

Li Dongxia watched the two with a smile,

not daring to leave,

lest anything happen to the two little ones here.

The essence of the stimulation they were experiencing,

was actually being subjected to the attacks of the Jinhua Spring water,

attacking while simultaneously repairing,

making the skin and flesh adapt to the force of the attacks so as to achieve improvement.

Though Ye Xiuxiu sitting underwater looked exactly the same as Ye Ruyan,

in secret,

her body-strengthening had already begun to take effect.

Although both were tempering their bodies through the Jinhua Spring,

Ye Xiuxiu's results were 1.3 times hers.

There was also one more thing,

the body-tempering power of the Jinhua Spring was restricting Ye Ruyan's skeletal development,

or more accurately, hardening it prematurely.

Ye Xiuxiu sat quietly underwater,

Suddenly,

She felt as if something was touching her foot in the water!

(End of chapter)