Chapter 19: Closed-Door Cultivation

  "Xiao Liang, I'm sorry, I couldn't avenge you." Xia Mingchuan apologized.

  Xia Xiaoleng smiled sweetly and said: "Brother Chuan, with you here, I'm not afraid of anything."

  He gently rubbed Xia Xiao Liang's head, and Xia Ming Chuan put on a serious face: "Father said that the hundred-year-old competition half a year later requires you to participate with me. I hope Xiaoleng can cultivate well. We don't want a good ranking, just as long as you safely complete the competition."

  Xia Xiaoleng was stunned. The Hundred Year Grand Competition? She hastily pulled at Xia Mingchuan and asked, "Is the Hundred Year Grand Competition fun? Are there any rewards?"

  "Of course, there's a reward, but at your level, I estimate you won't be getting it..." Xia Mingchuan cleared his throat and looked at Xia Xiaoliang's fierce expression, his voice growing smaller as he spoke.

  "What reward?" Xia Xiao Liang's small mouth pouted and her big eyes stared, asking.

  Xia Mingjiang didn't know why, but seeing Xia Xiaoleng like this made him shrink back three points, and he said weakly: "Every time the reward is different, it's just spells, treasures and so on."

  Xia Xiaoliang blinked her eyes and after a while, she went "oh" and nodded to indicate that she understood.

  "Is there danger in the Hundred Year Competition?" Xia XiaoLiang only then remembered Xia MingChuan mentioning the phrase "safe competition".

  Xia Mingchuan slightly furrowed his brow and nodded, "Yes, every Grand Competition will have casualties. Especially among the several clans with bigger conflicts, they will go all out in each competition."

  "Are the heads of these tribes just going to sit back and do nothing?" Xia Xiao-liang scrunched up her small face, but in her heart she was cursing a thousand times - isn't this just bullying the weak?

  "The rules of the Hundred-Year Grand Competition allow for injuries, and if death occurs, it can only be blamed on being too weak. Therefore, in general, those who participate in the Hundred-Year Grand Competition are usually family members approaching their hundredth birthday. Oh, I forgot to tell you, all participants in the Hundred-Year Grand Competition are under a hundred years old... demons." Xia Mingjiang explained to Xia Xiaoliang.

  Xia Xiaoleng took a deep breath, making Xia Mingchuan look like he was in great pain. She spun around in circles, her tail wagging wildly, before suddenly stopping and saying: "Brother Chuan, why don't we just not participate?"

  Xia Mingjiang looked at Xia Xiaoliang's frightened eyes and said with a heartache, "I don't want you to participate either, but Father has already made up his mind, I couldn't change it."

  "Half a year! I, I still can't do anything!" Xia Xiao Liang was frantic. This competition was going to be a fight, and she had no advantages whatsoever. Before crossing over, she was even afraid of insects, let alone fighting and killing.

  She had seen a few fights in her life, all of which took place on Cat Mountain. The first was between Duan Chen and Xia Mingchuan, the second and third were between Rabbit Princess and Yan Wang. Of course, Rabbit Princess and Yan Wang were just one-sidedly beating people, which couldn't be counted as a fight.

  Let her go and compete in fighting with those small arms and legs, wouldn't she be swallowed alive? Has the clan leader gone mad?

  "If you don't know, I'll teach you! Besides, don't you still have Tasha's Step and Thousand Illusions? If you can't beat them, just run away, idiot!" Xia Mingchuan was worried in his heart, but he couldn't let Xia Xiaoleng stay depressed. No matter what the situation would be like six months later, for now, he had to calm down and focus on cultivating."

  "Ah, I can use Tasha's Step and Thousand Illusions! No matter win or lose, my life will definitely be saved! Brother Chuan, you're so clever!" Xia XiaoLiang suddenly became cheerful. Being able to live on, who would want to die?

  Xia Mingchuan was defeated by Xia Xiaoliang's "purity". He thought he had to make up a lot of excuses for her to listen, but unexpectedly, one sentence was enough to dismiss him. It seems that he overestimated her after all.

  Xia Xiaoliang didn't know that she had already been labeled as "good at coaxing and deceiving", and happily urged Xia Mingchuan to roast fish for her. From morning till night, she practiced with all her might, and now her stomach was growling with hunger!

  After a meal of roasted fish, Xia Mingchuan and Yan Yuese said to Xia Xiaoliang: "Retreating can quickly improve our cultivation. You and I are originally five-element body types, practicing together will make us grow faster. Why don't we retreat tomorrow? Here, these fish were prepared for our retreat."

  Xia Mingchuan pointed to the carp in the large basin, and it turned out that he had been thinking of this all along. Xia Xiaoleng curled up her lips. It was said that being closed off for a year or two would not be enough to eat with just these few fish.

  It wasn't until the second day of Xia Xiao Liang's closed-door training that she found out why only this little fish was prepared.

  During her seclusion, Xia Xiao Liang played happily with the small ball of Five Elements' energy, forgetting about time. She only felt that the spiritual energy inside her body was getting denser and the energy ball was getting bigger. It wasn't until she woke up that Yao Er told her that five months had already passed.

  Xia Mingjiang stopped his cultivation as Xia Xiaoliang woke up, stretched and got down from the stone bed.

  The weather has turned from winter to summer, the bonfire on the ground had long been extinguished, leaving only black charcoal. The fish in the large basin had all died due to evaporation of water, Xiaoliang saw it and silently chanted an "Amitabha", then regretted that these few big carp had died and couldn't be eaten.

  Xia Mingchuan, who had already reached the mid-term peak of Qi refining, was spirited and refreshed. He had never tried this kind of flying-like cultivation speed before, and all of this was brought about by that silly but extremely lucky Xia Xiaoliang.

  He was shocked when he looked at Xia Xiao Liang. Although he admired her rapid progress, he had not expected that in just five months, she would be able to cultivate to the peak of the early stage of Qi Refining, and if she continued to refine it, she could reach the middle stage of Qi Refining!

  It's really swift! Xia Mingchuan's original sense of superiority has decreased a lot.

  "Brother Chuan, I feel like I'm full of energy now, it's as if I'm not tired at all." Xia XiaoLiang clenched her small fists and exclaimed excitedly.

  "That's right, you're also a cultivator now, can't you change at all!" Xia Mingchuan forced a somewhat unnatural smile. He was probably afraid that before long, Xia Xiaoleng would surpass him, and by then it would be hard to say who would protect whom.

  Xia Xiaoliang was carefree and didn't notice Xia Mingchuan's expression. Xia Xiaoliang stared with a pair of big eyes, her thoughts flying around, remembering how she used to be in poor health, always getting sick every now and then, just like Lin Meimei. Now that she had a good physique, she could go wherever she wanted, and was no longer afraid of getting sick!

  "Little Liang, you chat with Yao'er for a bit, I'll go catch some fish for you to eat!" Xia Mingchuan pointed at the innocent Yao'er and left with a large wooden basin that was much bigger than him.

  As expected, after taking it away, the air is much fresher, Xia Xiaoleng sighed.

  "Yao'er, I'm sorry to have left you alone here. When I was in seclusion, did you go out and find something to eat on your own?" Xia XiaoLiang followed Xia MingChuan's words and chatted with Yao'er.

  "Yes! How could I bear to starve myself? I eat three meals a day, and they're all delicious!" The little monster lifted her round head, but no matter how you looked at it, you couldn't see where her neck was.

  Xia Xiaoliang hugged Yao'er, who was twice as heavy as five months ago, and said: "It looks like you're living a good life, your whole body is almost round!"

  "You're the ball!" Yao'er said with a tilted head and a proud smile.

  "Huh? I'm telling you, do you dare to talk back? Believe me, I'll get Brother Chuan to roast you and eat you! Hmm, looking at your shiny fur, it should make a comfortable cushion!" Xia XiaoLiang's mouth was watering, gazing at the demon with a mesmerized expression.