Twenty-seven pieces of Dao Origin Stone… a meager sum indeed for the current Jiang Wang, negligible even.

Yet, gazing at the box, half-filled with these few stones, he felt they surpassed all the treasures in the world.

Jiang An An was but six years old. On the fifteenth of the tenth month, she had just celebrated her sixth birthday. On that very day, Jiang Wang had been in Linzi, locked in a life-and-death struggle with Wang Yiwu.

How had a child of six years managed to save twenty-seven pieces of Dao Origin Stone? He could almost envision it – little An An, meticulously saving and searching, like a tiny miser, hoarding these treasures she held so dear.

Jiang Wang stared at the box of Dao Origin Stones, lost in thought. Jiang An An blinked her eyes. “These are all things I earned running errands for Uncle, Senior Brother, and Senior Sister… Can they help you cultivate?”

Though her words were unstated, her eyes clearly pleaded for praise.

Jiang Wang snapped back to reality and swept Jiang An An into a hug. “They help immensely! If Brother reaches the peak of the Transcendent realm one day, you’ll surely have played a part! Jiang An An, how are you so capable?”

Jiang An An giggled, her face beaming with pride.

After a moment, Jiang Wang said, “Actually, Brother has a gift for you too.”

“Brother’s return is the best gift!”

Jiang An An’s sweet words warmed Jiang Wang’s heart, making him laugh heartily, but the anticipation in her eyes betrayed her. “What gift is it?” she asked softly.

Jiang Wang placed little An An carefully on a stool and then, one by one, began to take gifts out of his storage box.

Cloud-Burned Silk Candy from You Kingdom…
Various famous teas and delicacies from Qi Kingdom…
Iron Pulp Fruit sent by Lian Que from South Yao City…
Famous Eight-Sound Tea from Linzi, Fog Maiden Pipa, Le Hou Drunken Wine, Hidden in the Clouds…

These were all unique delicacies Jiang Wang had tasted. No matter where he went, he always remembered he had a sister with a sweet tooth. So, whenever he tasted something delicious, he always set aside a portion for Jiang An An. These were the flavors of his journeys, and they were also a glimpse of his experiences that he offered to his sister.

With each gift he took out, Jiang An An’s eyes grew brighter. By the end, they curved into crescent moons.

“Brother, you’re so good!”

“With good food, who isn’t good?” Jiang Wang retorted with a mock complaint, then took out an exquisitely shaped pink storage box. “This storage box is for you. If you can’t finish eating, you can put it inside first, and it won’t spoil. You can eat it slowly later.”

This storage box was beautiful, with a plump little squirrel carved on the surface, vividly rendered. It was the exquisite Squirrel Box that the Mo School had just begun selling this year. Compared to the ordinary storage box Jiang Wang used, its capacity was twice as large, yet it was more compact, more delicate, and even more refined.

The price of this storage box was steep. While ordinary storage boxes sold for around a hundred pieces of Wan Yuan Stone, this pink Squirrel Box cost a staggering three hundred pieces of Wan Yuan Stone! Jiang Wang himself was reluctant to buy one, yet he prepared one for Jiang An An.

Along the way, he had always been criticized by others for being stingy and overly frugal. Jiang Wang was meticulous in his dealings with the Door of Hell, “haggled” with Chong Xuan Sheng, endured Xu Xiang Gan constantly leeching off him in Linzi, and showed no mercy from killing Li Long Chuan to Yan Fu, yet extracting benefits from Jiang Wang was incredibly difficult…

But Jiang Wang hadn’t always been like this. In the beginning, when he was in the outer sect of the Dao Yuan, he was the kind of person who lived for the day, spending money freely like scattering gold, spending his silver in large handfuls.

When had he begun to “change”? It was from the moment Jiang An An started earning money through petty schemes in the school, wanting to help him repay Zhao Ru Cheng.

At this moment, Jiang An An was already licking the Cloud-Burned Silk Candy. Sweets were her forever love, and the Cloud-Burned Silk Candy, like a cluster of glowing clouds resting on a bamboo branch, naturally looked very appetizing. She held the candy in one hand and clutched the Squirrel Box tightly in the other, almost laughing with joy. “It’s so beautiful!”

Jiang Wang helped her wipe the corner of her mouth and casually asked, “Sister Qing Yu said you’re ready to open your meridians, right?”

Having studied in Ling Xiao Pavilion for so long, Jiang An An naturally knew what opening her meridians meant. Her small mouth bobbed up and down as she nodded.

“Then I’ll go tell Ye Qing Yu, and we’ll arrange for you to open your meridians tomorrow.” Jiang Wang released her hand. “You eat slowly. Brother will go back to Ting Yun Xie first.”

In truth, Jiang An An’s foundation was already solid, and she could have opened her meridians long ago. It was just that Ye Qing Yu had always been looking for a Earth Origin Great Pill, which was why they had waited so long. They had already decided that if they couldn’t find one before the end of the year, they would use a First-Grade Meridian Opening Pill instead. Now that Jiang Wang had brought the Earth Origin Great Pill that Chong Xuan Sheng had helped him obtain, there was no need to wait any longer.

Jiang An An quickly put down the Squirrel Box and grabbed hold of Jiang Wang’s clothes with one hand, naturally unwilling to let go of the food in her other hand. She looked at Jiang Wang with pitiful eyes. “Don’t go…”

Jiang An An lived in a very inner part of Ling Xiao Pavilion. For Jiang Wang, an “outsider,” to enter this area was already improper. If Ye Qing Yu hadn’t given him that purple jade token, he wouldn’t have been able to enter at all. To stay here and rest would be even more impolite. Jiang An An had been well taken care of in Ling Xiao Pavilion for so long, and Jiang Wang naturally wanted to show respect to this place.

He ruffled An An’s hair and chuckled. “Brother still has things to do. We’ll see each other tomorrow.”

Once Jiang Wang said he had things to do, the reluctance in Jiang An An’s heart, though still present, no longer bound her. She just pouted. “Oh.”

“After you open your meridians tomorrow, I’ll take you out to play,” Jiang Wang coaxed.

Jiang An An immediately brightened up. “You promised!”

Back in Ting Yun Xie, Jiang Wang used the purple jade token to communicate with Ye Qing Yu about arranging An An’s meridian opening for tomorrow. Jiang An An was now, after all, a direct disciple of Ling Xiao Pavilion. Such a major undertaking as opening meridians should be carried out under the protection of Ling Xiao Pavilion. This purple jade token had been specially set up by Ye Qing Yu; as long as one injected Dao Origin, they could communicate with Ye Qing Yu anytime within the range of the Ling Xiao secret realm.

There was a knock on the door. The voice of Forward echoed. “Jiang Wang!” Without waiting for Jiang Wang’s response, he pushed the door open. “I did knock,” he added as an afterthought.

Jiang Wang paused his conversation with Ye Qing Yu, asking helplessly, “What is it? Couldn’t it wait until tomorrow?”

Forward paced nervously for a few steps, then found a chair and sat down, his face a mask of worry. “Did you or did you not explain to An An that my eyes just look lifeless, they’re not always like this, they’re not always not waking up!”

He truly looked very worried. But the problem he was worried about was also truly very boring… However, this was also very much in line with Forward’s nature. If this person ever spoke about world affairs all the time, the sun would surely rise in the west.

Facing his question, Jiang Wang was very honest. “We didn’t talk about you.”

“Impossible! How dashing is my Sword-Riding on Qing Ming? Who isn’t envious? A child certainly can’t resist!” Forward refuted decisively, but his momentum quickly dropped. “Really? Not a single word?”

Jiang Wang shrugged, indicating he could believe it or not.

Seeing his attitude, Forward was very dissatisfied. “You specifically called me to accompany you on a ten-thousand-mile journey just to show off how cute your sister is and how beautiful your little lover is?”

This time it was Jiang Wang’s turn to be awkward. Ye Qing Yu was still listening on the other end of the purple jade token! “Ye Dao You and I have a gentleman’s friendship, you mustn’t speak nonsense…”

“Got it!” Forward waved his hand, a cold smile playing on his lips with the demeanor of a seasoned lover. “You’re even willing to leave An An, such a cute sister, here to make connections for you. What kind of girl can’t you woo? Your ambition is clear!”

“An An being in Ling Xiao Pavilion is for another reason, Ye Dao You is purely helping…” Jiang Wang’s explanation was interrupted again.

“With your meager cultivation, don’t think you can hide anything from me.” Forward pointed at his dead-fish eyes. “These eyes of mine have seen too much!”