Two updates today...
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After such a massive upheaval, anyone would have been left physically and mentally drained. Even though they knew dozens of precious Gold-Eating Beasts were buried beneath the collapsed mine shaft — and that those creatures wouldn't die so easily — neither Yun Xuan nor Ruan Xinyu had any desire to go after those beasts again.
Instead, Ruan Xinyu produced a small Cosmos Bag and handed it to Yang Kai.
"What's this?" Yang Kai asked, startled.
"Your spoils of war." Ruan Xinyu smiled faintly. "While you were resting, I found it on that Enchantress. Guess what's inside?"
Yang Kai weighed it in his hand and guessed immediately: "Refined rare minerals."
"How did you know?" Ruan Xinyu was momentarily stunned.
Yang Kai shook his head with a smile: "The Enchantress let slip some information earlier. She said those Gold-Eating Beasts were hers. If you think about it, these beasts didn't just happen to be here — the Enchantress deliberately brought them to this location, letting them consume the Sun Tin ore and collecting their refined output. Besides, while we were exploring the mine shaft, we never found even a trace of refined minerals excreted by the Gold-Eating Beasts. Those products must have already been collected by the Enchantress — inside this very Cosmos Bag."
His analysis immediately made Yun Xuan's beautiful eyes shimmer with a strange light.
Ruan Xinyu seemed to regard him with new appreciation as well: "You know, I wouldn't have guessed — you're actually quite sharp-minded."
She pressed her lips together in a smile and added: "There's quite a bit of refined Sun Tin ore in here. You could sell it for a fortune in spirit stones."
Yang Kai thought for a moment, then tossed the Cosmos Bag back to her: "You two took enormous losses this time. When you go back, you'll need to give the Pride Alliance some kind of accounting. Keep it."
Ruan Xinyu's face lit up with delight as she hurriedly caught it. She had secretly hoped for this, but since the Enchantress had been killed by Yang Kai, she hadn't felt it was right to take his property.
Yun Xuan opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words came out.
"Let's go. We should leave this place first. I'll escort you to the nearest town." Yang Kai was the first to rise. This statement made Yun Xuan think, and she regarded him with a trace of suspicion.
This area was at the very edge of the territory the Pride Alliance could control — about two or three days' journey from the forest. There was a sizable city not far away, and the group had passed through it on the way here.
Half a day later, the three of them emerged from the forest and reached a small village nearby. Yang Kai rented a horse-drawn carriage, had Yun Xuan and Ruan Xinyu sit inside, and took the reins himself, driving toward the town ahead.
This gentle consideration made Ruan Xinyu see him in a new light, and even Yun Xuan wore a few more smiles because of it.
The two women chatted idly for a while before Yun Xuan, exhausted, fell asleep. Ruan Xinyu, bored with nothing to do, climbed outside and sat beside Yang Kai, propping her chin on her hand, tilting her head, and staring at him with unblinking eyes as he focused on wielding the whip.
"What are you looking at?" Yang Kai squirmed under her gaze.
"I'm trying to figure out who you really are." Ruan Xinyu smiled with pressed lips. "You were so gravely injured — how did you bounce back to full energy after just half a day?"
"My recovery ability exceeds that of an ordinary person by some margin."
"Obviously." Ruan Xinyu nodded gently. "Youth is a wonderful thing."
"Are you so old yourself?" Yang Kai scoffed, turning to glance at her.
"Compared to you, I'm practically past my prime. Yun Xuan and I are both nearly thirty," Ruan Xinyu said with a self-deprecating laugh.
"Whatever is going on between you and Yun Xuan? Before, you couldn't stand each other, and now you're thick as family. Are women really that fickle?"
At Yang Kai's question, Ruan Xinyu fell silent, a hint of sorrow surfacing on her delicate face.
Yang Kai realized he might have asked something he shouldn't have and quickly shrugged: "If you don't want to talk about it, pretend I never asked."
Ruan Xinyu shook her head and said softly: "We really should have been family all along... Do you know what Yun Xuan's background actually is?"
"I only know her identity is something out of the ordinary," Yang Kai answered casually. Whether it was Master Ma of the Artifact Pavilion or that Transcendent Realm expert Sun Ying, both had treated Yun Xuan with considerable ease — even respect. An ordinary Pride Alliance disciple would never have received such treatment.
"Something out of the ordinary is right." Ruan Xinyu glanced back quietly and confirmed that Yun Xuan was still fast asleep. She then spoke: "Yun Xuan is actually the daughter of our Alliance Leader!"
Yang Kai stared at her in surprise.
"I'm serious. Her father is the Pride Alliance Leader."
"Then why does she..."
With that kind of background, Yun Xuan should have been living in luxury rather than doing everything herself. Yet from her usual conduct, there was no trace of any young miss's airs.
"There are reasons," Ruan Xinyu said softly, drawing a quiet breath. "I'm only telling you this because it's you. Don't go running your mouth and spreading it around."
"Do I seem like that kind of person?" Yang Kai rolled his eyes at her.
Ruan Xinyu regarded him seriously, then nodded: "Yun Xuan actually had a younger brother. He was extraordinarily talented, showing superior gifts at a very young age. However, because of the Pride Alliance's unique system, the Alliance Leader deliberately had him start from the bottom and train alongside the others, going out on missions with the rest of the disciples. He performed remarkably well — rising from the lowest-ranked disciple to a squad leader purely on his own merit, gathering a team of followers beneath him."