Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 735 - Four Hundred and Fifty-Nine: Dead

Chapter 735: Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty-Nine: Dead

"Sister Qingmo has always been cultivating,"

As the words fell, the sun-drenched, elegant pavilion became quiet for a moment.

Xu Yuan was slightly startled but soon felt that his question was somewhat superfluous and laughed softly,

"That’s right. With her character, she would only cultivate during such free time."

Xu Xinyao smiled lightly upon hearing this, glanced in the direction of the chamber assigned to Ran Qingmo by the Prime Minister’s Mansion, and said with a chuckle,

"Oh right, Sister Qingmo also said she owes you another favor."

Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow; he remembered he still had a favor from the Big Ice Lump unused. Why did he owe another one now:

"Why?"

Xu Xinyao tilted her head and thought for a moment, then said softly,

"Sister Qingmo probably feels that it’s a bit much to be using our mansion’s Source Crystals for cultivation for so many days."

"...."

A hint of puzzlement flashed across Xu Yuan’s eyes, but he quickly smoothed out his brow.

His father had granted him power nearly equivalent to the Subnational Level, allowing him to casually obtain millions of Silver Taels.

Now, his horizons had expanded with the experiences he had and the elevated status within the Prime Minister’s Mansion, but Big Ice Lump was still merely a disciple of the Sword Sect Leader.

Although it seemed their statuses were similar—one the son of the Prime Minister, the other a disciple of the State Preceptor—in reality, there was a vast difference between them.

After all,

The mansion belonged to the Prime Minister, not the Sword Sect to the State Preceptor.

If we were to use Xu Yuan’s terminology from his previous life,

He would be akin to the heir of a monopolistic giant corporation’s sole owner, while Big Ice Lump was merely the disciple of a local enterprise’s chairman.

The entire Prime Minister’s Mansion was his father’s; he could freely use all resources of this "giant corporation," but the State Preceptor was just the chairman of the Sword Sect, and Big Ice Lump would need the Sword Sect’s "board of directors" to agree for her to use the sect’s resources.

At this thought, a smile unconsciously curled up on Xu Yuan’s lips.

He thought back to when he first encountered Ran Qingmo, the girl holding an Ink Sword, carrying a knapsack, with such a simple appearance that she didn’t even have a Sumeru Ring.

Over the past month and more, she must have felt guilty about vigorously exploiting the unlimited supply of Source Crystals provided by the mansion with her disposition.

Suppressing the impulse to go see this young girl in the outer courtyard of the mansion, Xu Yuan turned his gaze back to his younger sister standing before him.

But before he could speak,

Xu Xinyao glanced at her own wrist which he was holding, and with a warm smile, reminded him,

"Brother, could you let go of my hand now? Xinyao still needs to go to the Geometry Institute to gather the Array Masters."

Xu Yuan’s eyes paused, and he coughed lightly as he released her slender wrist, paused for a moment, and then continued to ask,

"So... what cultivation level has she reached now?"

A year had passed, and his own cultivation had broken through from the Sixth Grade Iron Body Realm at the time of their parting to now the Fourth Grade Integration Body.

Listening to Xu Xinyao’s words, Big Ice Lump’s rate of cultivation must not have encountered any bottlenecks, but given that Xu Changge, that guy, nearly reached the Primordial Realm at close to twenty years old, it’s likely that Big Ice Lump, who just turned eighteen, was still lingering in the Grandmaster Realm.

Of course, Xu Yuan was not asking this because he wanted to fight against Big Ice Lump, a Great Grandmaster, with his Integration Body realm.

One must be aware of one’s limitations.

The gap between Integration Body Realm and the Grandmaster Realm was all too clear to him; even though his equipment had been fully upgraded, any ordinary Grandmaster within the mansion was not someone he could contend with, let alone Big Ice Lump, a peerless prodigy of her caliber.

His main thought was to see if he could break her defense.

In response to this question, Xu Xinyao looked at her brother with a slightly odd expression and asked in return,

"Brother, do you know what my cultivation level is now?"

Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow and then extended his spiritual vision to scan the girl in front of him, speaking softly,

"Soul Condensation."

"Do you think a mere Xinyao at the Soul Condensation stage could see through Sister Qingmo’s cultivation?"

"....." Xu Yuan.

Xu Xinyao huffed lightly,

"You should ask eldest brother or father about that."

After speaking, she turned to leave, but after taking a couple of steps, she stopped at the entrance steps to the refined pavilion, turning her water-like beautiful eyes back, hesitantly saying,

"Brother... the Formation Pattern magic artifact I promised you is ready."

"Formation Pattern magic artifact?"

Xu Yuan was stunned for a moment, his eyes filled with confusion.

Seeing this expression on his face, Xu Xinyao knew that her third brother probably forgot; a touch of helplessness showed in her beautiful eyes as she casually pulled out a thick and long black box from her Sumeru Ring:

"This one, but you probably can’t use it yet. After all, activating these magic artifacts requires Origin Qi. I’ll go back and modify it before I give it to you."

The moment Xu Yuan saw this item, he immediately remembered that it was something he had coveted back in Shengshan County.

An item from the Cangyuan Chronicles that allowed this younger sister to defeat a Great Grandmaster while in the Soul Condensation stage.

Barrett... cough, Ink Box.

As he stared at the black box in A Yao’s hands for a few breaths, an idea surfaced in Xu Yuan’s mind.

If the power of this thing could be increased by dozens of times, could it blow up the Saint in the Imperial Palace with one shot?

While contemplating this, Xu Xinyao gave a slight smile and softly added,

"I have also forged a set of body-protecting formation artifacts and Spiritual Wind Boots for you, third brother, but they all need to be redesigned according to the black Origin Qi in your body right now."

Xu Yuan waved his hand lightly, responding to her with a smile,

"Lately, brother has no plans to travel far, so there’s no rush at this moment."

"Then... may I go now?"

"Go ahead, brother will wait here for your news."

As he finished speaking, Xu Yuan watched the elegant figure hurry away until she disappeared from the courtyard. He sat quietly in the pavilion for several breaths before getting up and walking to his own chamber.

Without modern entertainment, no books or tea, unable to cultivate, his only pastime, visiting the Hook Bar, required leaving the house, leaving nothing but sleep for Xu Yuan.

...

...

...

After avoiding attention for a few days due to the blunder caused by that girl Xu Xinyao, Xu Yuan found out that neither his eldest brother nor his father had taken the matter to heart. Aside from sleeping, this added a new pastime for Xu Yuan—perusing the memorials presented to his father every day.

Of course, Xu Yuan hadn’t forgotten to contact Lou Ji in his spare time to have her investigate the movements of the Desert Goddess.

At first, this old woman thought about refusing, but after his persistent coaxing and pestering, Lou Ji finally agreed.

However, Xu Yuan felt that this was probably because Lou Ji coveted the several million Silver Taels and supplies in his Sumeru Ring.

Time passed by day by day.

With each memorial delivered day by day, Xu Yuan was able to clearly understand the trend of the war on the Northern Frontier and knew that the situation was becoming increasingly tense across the realm.

The father who once occasionally appeared in the inner courtyard was gradually nowhere to be seen; Xu Changge left the household after his injuries healed, and Xu Xinyao was busy every day at the Geometry Institute, fiddling with the formation that would solve his cultivation issues.

Until one day, Xu Yuan saw a piece of information on the memorial.

Xu Changtian was dead.