The girl suddenly asked, "What is a washboard?"

Juxi was caught off guard by the question, and with a puzzled expression, he asked, "Can you...can you hear my inner thoughts?" He did not want this person to know all about his inner thoughts.

"Of course, I am the tapeworm in your belly, or should I say fate brought me to you! Ahem!"

The girl cleared her throat and casually adjusted her silver hair cascading over her shoulders as she proudly introduced herself.

Her fair jade hands lightly touched Juxi's cheek as she said, "I...oh no, I am Ling...uh, Long Ling hehe...anyway, I'll be your master from now on! Hehe!"

"Hehe, agreed! Let's make a deal now. I'll help you find the lost past, and you help me find the lost future!"

(Nighttime)

Nighttime was the weakest point of defense for the Ye family, but since the assessment ritual, the number of guards at the Ye family mansion had significantly increased from two hundred light-armored soldiers to five hundred light-armored soldiers, ten experienced warriors, and two formidable experts in the Nine Hearts realm on guard duty.

In short, the entire Ye family resembled a large military fortress, terrifying many residents of the northern region, who feared an impending war!

A slender figure moved swiftly along the rooftops of the Ye family under the cover of the moonlight disappearing into the shadows when the moonlight illuminated the ground again. "Phew, that was close! How can we escape with several of our family guards patrolling below?" This silly voice belonged to Ye Juxi, the young master of the Ye family.

"You know nothing! If we go out openly during the day, where's the challenge in my training?" Ling Long educated Juxi on the self-discipline of the dragon race: "Maintaining the tranquility of dragon energy is crucial, and avoiding conflict with numerous enemies on the continent is extremely important."

"But with the power of dragon energy, can't I freely exert my strength?" Juxi said, releasing his energy and effortlessly flipping over the outer wall of the Ye family residence.

"You fool! You've been spotted!"

"Uh...who's hiding there?!"

"Stay quiet; I'll conceal your presence."

"Who goes there?" A guard hurriedly approached the wall but only saw a few spirit birds chirping as they landed on the eaves. Perplexed, the guard muttered, "Huh? Did I hear wrong?"

"You seem suspicious!" Another guard following him mocked, "Looks like your secret stash is about to be revealed!"

In a fit of rage, Juxi banged his head on a stone outside the courtyard gate, wanting to scream but was silenced by Long Ling, causing him to faint from the pain.

"Haha, Juxi, you're so weak! Even a mouse scared you that much?" The image of a brown-haired, beautifully shaped figure lingered vaguely in Arya's mind.

"Ugh! It hurts!" Juxi felt as if a painful memory was resurfacing in his mind, making it unbearable.

"It’s not that you don't remember, but that something is blocking you! Each time you break through, your memories from a past life will be restored!" Long Ling extended a disdainful middle finger towards Juxi, saying, "Watch closely!"

The dragon energy fluctuated, presenting a dazzling crimson spectacle. The energies interacted, continuously building up into a multi-layered pagoda until they stopped at nine levels.

Juxi was clueless about the dragon energy, but imitated Long Ling and released his energy, only to witness... "Why is there only one layer?" With a one-meter radius red halo surrounding him, Juxi clenched his fists, attempting to release the remaining dragon energy to increase the number of halos.

No matter how hard she tried, Juxi couldn't connect her breath to the spiritual power.

One minute later.

"Master, no matter how I try to increase the number of halos, I just can't make them connect," Juxi, frustrated by multiple failures, complained, "It's so difficult to connect just one halo, I must be a born waste!"

Dragon Ling, who had been sitting on a large bluestone, opened one eye and asked, "How many halos do you want to connect?"

"You, as weak as you are, managed to connect nine halos. It wouldn't hurt for me to connect ten, right?" Juxi's words almost made Dragon Ling explode with anger.

Seeing this, Dragon Ling raised her hand and slapped Juxi across the face, raging, "I... I cultivated for two hundred years to reach the ninth level of an immortal, and here you are, a kid with just activated talent, already at the peak of the Initial Stone Realm! What more do you want?"

"Ouch!"

Rubbing her reddened cheek where she was slapped, Juxi's head buzzed. It took her quite a while leaning against a tree to regain her senses and say, "Crazy woman! I’m just a kid who can barely read, did you have to hit me so hard?"

Dragon Ling calmed down, sighed, and realized that Juxi was just a novice on the path of a warrior. Any stillness on her part was forgivable.

"Alright, who made me encounter such an unlucky disciple as you!"

Continuing, Dragon Ling explained the difference between Qi cultivators and Mechanical cultivators, "You've seen that I represent my level with a pagoda, which signifies that I’m a Mechanical cultivator, while you represent your level with the number of halos, showing that you are a Qi cultivator."

"Oh... but the day before yesterday, you mentioned that I belong to both Qi and Mechanical cultivations, what's that about?" He vaguely recalled that Dragon Ling mentioned Dual Cultivation before she vanished.

"Dual Cultivation?" Dragon Ling first looked puzzled, then had a sudden realization and explained, "Yes, the special privilege of the direct bloodline of the Dragon Clan is to cultivate both Qi and Mechanical techniques! But that doesn't make you invincible; the Dragon Clan's sacred artifact, the Dragon Ball, is particularly difficult to control under an Opposer, so you don't really need such high destructive power!"

Juxi only then understood why the Dragon Ball had not responded that day. With her meager dragon energy, not even close to being at the Opposer level of spiritual energy, she could barely manage the Dragon Ball.

And her misdirected spiritual energy tossed into it was as good as gone forever!

"My child, you really know nothing about the realm of Qi! Come, let me teach you!"

Reaching out a finger from her long sleeve, Dragon Ling pointed at Juxi's chest and emitted a silver light. Juxi felt a vast amount of information flooding into her mind instantly, with rows of densely packed subtitles scrolling through her brain.

"..."

As for the realm of Sorcery, it was as elusive as the power of immortals not from this world.

Juxi thought that only by reaching the peak of the ninth level and then advancing to the tenth level of the Immortal Emperor tier could she comprehend and gain control of this world!

"Phew, and another thing, we still have at least a hundred and eighty miles to go before we reach the Snow Spirit Mountain Range. Hurry up, or we'll fall behind!" Dragon energy helped to speed up their pace, although it couldn't match the speed of a silver carriage, it was still faster than most!

"Panting heavily, Juxi grumbled, "Running all night without regard for life, I'm exhausted!"

Yet, Dragon Ling nonchalantly powdered her face and said, "I... I didn’t even know I'm tiring you out?"

This remark ignited Juxi's anger. She shouted at Dragon Ling, "Do you have a clue what tiredness is?! You don't even know death, let alone tiredness? Bah!"

"Hehe, calm down. Look, we've arrived at our destination." Dragon Ling laughed cheerfully, displaying no signs of being a millennia-old enchantress. She happily acted as a guide for Juxi, still sitting down, "Our first stop is the famous Snow Spirit Village, a must-pass through the Snow Spirit Mountain Range, separating the north and south!"

"Wait, Snow Spirit Village?" Juxi's eyes fell upon nothing more than a dozen stone and thatched houses, along with a small inn and a few chimneys billowing smoke. In his memory, Snow Spirit Village was supposed to be a bustling metropolis with skyscrapers and a population of three hundred thousand—this was clearly just a roadside stop!

"Hehe, indeed this is Snow Spirit Village!" Long Ling retrieved a map scroll and pointed to the west of Snow Spirit City, saying, "See, Snow Spirit Village in the Snow Spirit Mountains is right next to the mountains, completely separate from Snow Spirit City in the east—two different places, alright!”

Upon Long Ling's explanation, Juxi immediately approached the elderly woman sitting in front of the house and, in a polite tone, asked, "Good morning, ma'am, may I ask?"

"What did you say, child?" The old woman, hard of hearing, replied, "My ears are not good!"

Long Ling made a disgusted face and pulled Juxi into the inn, saying, "Don't gross me out, and also, don't disturb the old lady's peaceful days!"

"These young people nowadays mature early," the old woman watched the two "hugging" each other into the inn and sighed, "Knowing how to continue the family line at twelve or thirteen!"

The interior of the Snow Spirit Mountains has existed on the continent since ancient times, housing a nine-hearted super spirit beast within. While there were no powerful spirit beasts of Initial Stone Level on the outskirts, even the highest level. Nine-hearted spirit beasts possess intelligence almost equal to humans, leading to strict hierarchical divisions among them due to their aversion to humans, allowing them to plan the deepest areas for themselves to enjoy.

Juxi, along with Long Ling, who was hardly human, ventured alone into the extremely dangerous Snow Spirit Mountains.

"Be careful, don't disturb the High-Level Poison Scales of the White Stone level. They may seem fragile, but they are adept at disguise and group attacks, leaving nothing behind but waste!" Long Ling reiterated various dangers in the forest, nearly making Juxi's ears sore.

"Enough!!!" Juxi's roar echoed through the entire forest, and occasional squeaky sounds added to the eerie atmosphere! With both hands habitually protecting his head, he asked, "What is it?”

"It's here!" Long Ling cautiously looked around and sensed the changes in the surroundings with aura, suddenly a mysterious agile creature appeared from the sky and launched an attack on the unsuspecting Juxi!

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

A monkey with iron-clad arms descended from above and angrily lunged towards Juxi, its attacks appearing weak but its speed exceptionally nimble, making it impossible for him to track the direction of the monkey's attacks with his naked eyes. Just as Juxi wrapped both arms around his head to protect it, the ape finally launched a full-fledged attack!

"Ouch!!!"

The Pre-Stone Level creature did not have high... should be without attack power, but its temperament was indeed violent! The little guy was riding on Juxi's face.

"Squeak!"

The monkey let out a pitiful cry, with a small feather arrow sticking out of its head, a melodious voice echoed around Juxi's ears, "Hmm, you screamed so loudly it disrupted its meal!"

"Thank you, Long...!?" Just as Juxi uttered the word "Dragon," he realized that the person saving him was not Long Ling!?