What's wrong with a snake that just wants to cultivate and transform?

Xu Nian retorted firmly, “If it’s off-limits, it’s off-limits.”

Although Ji Yuebai didn’t understand why Xu Nian was so upset, she obediently nodded in agreement.

Once Xu Nian calmed down, a critical concern about her own safety sprang to mind. She leaned in close to Ji Yuebai, asking earnestly, “How do you feel now? How’s your memory recovery coming along?”

She thought that if Ji Yuebai was close to regaining her memory, it might be time to prepare for a quick getaway. Repaying her debt was one thing, but whether Ji Yuebai would be appreciative or not was another matter entirely, especially after what had just transpired, which had left Xu Nian quite embarrassed.

Ji Yuebai lowered her eyes, her long fingers intertwining as she seemed to ponder something.

Xu Nian watched her nervously.

Then she heard Ji Yuebai’s soft and slightly aggrieved voice, “Do you find me annoying? Do you no longer want to repay your debt?”

Inside, Xu Nian thought: How dare she think such a thing?

Outwardly, she spoke in a gentle, understanding tone, “I’m just worried about your injuries. I’m afraid that if they don’t heal properly, they might leave some lingering effects, affecting your future cultivation.”

Ji Yuebai looked at her with deep eyes, “Xu Nian, you’re really kind. I misunderstood you before.”

Xu Nian felt like she had just been friend-zoned.

Feeling that she couldn’t just sit back and accept this, Xu Nian decided to make the most of Ji Yuebai’s current fondness for her. Her snake tail gently brushed Ji Yuebai’s sleeve, and she cooed, “Actually, I have a small favor to ask of you.”

Ji Yuebai responded earnestly, “If it’s within my power, I’ll definitely help you.”

Encouraged by this promise, Xu Nian, with a coy expression, said, “It’s a trivial matter for you.”

Ji Yuebai looked puzzled: “?”

Xu Nian’s tail wagged appealingly, “Well… could you maybe lift the soul-binding oath you placed on me?”

Before Ji Yuebai could react, Xu Nian quickly added, “You just said I was good, and I’ve been law-abiding the whole time we’ve been together. I haven’t stolen anything, always paying for things with money, diligently cultivating, never causing trouble in the world, and definitely not harming anyone. Doesn’t all this prove I’m a good snake?”

Seeing Ji Yuebai’s hesitation, Xu Nian internally wrestled with herself, as if undergoing a tremendous internal struggle. She bit the bullet and said, “If you really feel it’s not right, we can cancel the previous soul-binding oath and make a new one: as long as humans don’t attack me first, I won’t harm them. How about that?”

“After all, even the law allows for self-defense. Would you really want a cute, upright, law-abiding snake like me to be captured and skinned by villains, without any chance to fight back?”

Xu Nian’s plea grew increasingly pitiful. As her emotions heightened, her delicate voice broke into a heart-wrenching, plaintive cry.

Meanwhile, she kept a stealthy eye on Ji Yuebai’s reactions, theatrically wiping non-existent tears with her tail, trying to reason and appeal emotionally to persuade her.

Even Ji Yuebai found her argument reasonable under these circumstances.

“This soul-binding oath is indeed extremely unfair to you.”

Seeing her woeful act working, Xu Nian eagerly nodded in agreement, her big, round eyes sparkling with hopeful anticipation. If she had hands, she might have rubbed them together like a plotting fly, “So, this soul-binding oath…?”

Ji Yuebai’s beautiful brows furrowed, “I don’t know how to undo it.”

Xu Nian: “…”

Seeing Xu Nian’s dejected look, Ji Yuebai earnestly promised, “If I remember how in the future, I’ll definitely help you remove it.”

At these words, Xu Nian nodded weakly, forcing a semblance of joy, “Okay, I’ll wait for you.”

She believed the current Ji Yuebai would keep her word, but she wasn’t so sure about the Ji Yuebai who would recover her memory and cultivation.

Based on what she knew,

It was highly probable that the latter wouldn’t consider a promise made to a demon beast binding.

Moreover, based on Ji Yuebai’s character before losing her memory, if the soul-binding oath were removed, Xu Nian feared her own life would be in grave danger.

After wallowing in despair on the bed for a while, Xu Nian decided to pull herself together.

From what she had read in cultivation novels, a soul-binding oath wasn’t unbreakable. In a way, it was a unilateral restriction imposed by the more powerful on the weaker, forcing the latter to comply with an agreement.

At the same time, as the weaker party’s cultivation level improves, surpassing the one who imposed the restriction, the efficacy of the restriction weakens. At this point, it can be broken through force without suffering the backlash of the restriction.

Xu Nian decided to focus on her cultivation, aiming to surpass Ji Yuebai and break the soul-binding oath on her own.

Putting her resolution into action, she sprang up from the bed and requested Ji Yuebai to set up another Spirit-Gathering Formation. She also observed Ji Yuebai’s technique closely, hoping to learn and use it independently, thus becoming self-sufficient in her cultivation practice.

From then on, Xu Nian resumed her intensive cultivation routine, similar to her days on Xiao Cang Mountain.

She wished she could split each day into twice as many hours, forsaking even her favorite roasted lamb leg to focus solely on advancing her cultivation.

If her progress could be represented as a progress bar, considering her current regimen of ten hours of daily cultivation, assuming an unlimited supply of spirit stones and the support of a perfect spirit-gathering formation, and adding the once-in-sixty-years boost from Imperial Essence, it would still take at least fifty years to advance to the eighth rank as a demon beast. To transform into a ninth-rank great demon capable of human form, she would need at least another one hundred and fifty years.

Of course, in the cultivation world, some demon beasts with extraordinary innate talents can transform without cultivation, such as Jiao dragons, Bai Ze, and Qilins… This is purely a matter of bloodline and heritage, and unless Xu Nian could be reborn, it was not something she could hope for.

Meanwhile, Ji Yuebai’s cultivation was also slowly recovering. Xu Nian could feel the increasingly strong flow of spiritual energy and the unmasked aura of authority when she was around her.

One night, as usual, Xu Nian was coiled on the luxurious couch with a spirit stone above her head, surrounded by a spirit-gathering formation, deeply immersed in cultivation. Suddenly, she saw a burst of purple light in the distant sky, accompanied by strange atmospheric phenomena and thunderbolts of tribulation lightning.

Squinting into the distance, Xu Nian saw it was coming from the direction of Xiao Cang Mountain, near Stone Mountain.

Xu Nian initially wanted to continue her cultivation, but her thoughts uncontrollably drifted towards the thunder tribulation.

The recent tribulation seemed far from ordinary, with the few bolts of lightning rivaling the hundreds she had witnessed in the Cangli secret realm. She wondered who could be undergoing such a terrifying tribulation. Could they survive such frightening lightning strikes?

Xu Nian recalled when she had found Ji Yuebai, along with several storage bags nearby. However, after a quick inspection, she deemed them worthless. The total amount of spirit stones in those bags was less than what she had in her basket overhead, so she stopped bothering to collect them.

Given the magnitude of this thunder tribulation, Xu Nian surmised that the cultivator undergoing it must be no ordinary individual, likely a figure of significant wealth.

If she were to continue her cultivation journey, having an abundance of spirit stones was essential. The stones she had procured from Cangli secret realm would not suffice for the long haul. Therefore, the prospect of this wealthy cultivator undergoing tribulation sparked considerable interest in Xu Nian.

Thinking this through, Xu Nian’s mind began to scheme. If the cultivator were struck dead or rendered unconscious by the lightning, she might be able to scavenge some valuable remains. And if the person survived, she could stealthily flee, ensuring a no-loss situation.

Without risks, there are no gains. As a woman determined to accumulate spirit stones for her transformation, Xu Nian firmly made up her mind.

She shrank her body size and, under the cover of darkness, swiftly headed towards the direction of the thunder tribulation.