"Cough... cough, Brother Chen, you are too modest."
Hee Qi forced a dry laugh.
This brother of his is good in every aspect, just a little too modest.
If it were him, he’d probably be bragging to the heavens.
Chen Ye, however, has his own struggles, but fortunately the result is good and that sword Ningyuan successfully slew the cloaked man.
Of course,
this is largely due to the cloaked man being a cultivator of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect, most of his cultivation was focused on his puppets.
Consider, this man had quite remarkable combat strength.
He had one Second Tier Warrior Puppet, five Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer Demon Beast Puppets of various shapes, and three bone-piercing nail magical treasures himself.
Unfortunately, he met his match.
Chen Ye excels at the Flying Sword Technique, capable of taking heads from a thousand miles away, making him the perfect nemesis to puppet cultivators of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect.
After resting for a moment, Chen Ye gathered the storage bag left by the cloaked man after his death and the three bone-piercing nails.
He thought about it.
To him, the bone-piercing nails are useless except for exchanging them for spirit stones, especially since Flying Light is a superior replacement for bone-piercing nails.
With this in mind, Chen Ye handed the three dark blue bone-piercing nails to Hee Qi, who was still panting:
"Brother Hee, you just entered Foundation Establishment and are in need of magical treasures. These are useless to me, so I give them to you for self-defense."
"I absolutely can’t accept this—"
Hee Qi was shocked at the sight, these are magical treasures!
Although the cloaked man’s resources were fully invested in the puppets, these bone-piercing nails seem ordinary but they are magical treasures!
At the very least, they are worth a thousand spirit stones!
Chen Ye did not wait for him to decline, forcefully pushed the bone-piercing nails into Hee Qi’s hands, and laughed: "It was with both our efforts that we slew that man, why not accept?"
Hee Qi understood in his heart that there was no combined effort, at most he just delayed the cloaked man.
How could a loose cultivator like him be a match for that cloaked man?
But seeing Chen Ye was determined, he contemplated that indeed there was no need for formalities between them.
Immediately, he happily accepted: "Well! Then I won’t be polite to Brother Chen anymore!"
Chen Ye gave a faint smile and then stored the Warrior Puppet into the storage bag.
Though the Warrior Puppet is bulky, it boasts a sturdy body and immense strength, not easy to fight against cultivators but rather easy to deal with demon beasts.
As for the price, it probably far exceeds that of the bone-piercing nails.
"This place is not suitable for a long stay."
Chen Ye glanced around, the commotion from the previous fight was not small, so it might attract other cultivators with ulterior motives.
He said to Hee Qi decisively: "Let’s return first, both of us need to recuperate, stabilize our injuries and realm. Once recovered, we can plan further."
"I’ll follow Brother Chen’s arrangements!" Hee Qi naturally had no objections.
...
When Chen Ye and Hee Qi returned to the secluded ruins, it was already deep into the night.
"Chirp chirp!"
Hearing the sound of the little white fox, Chen Ye breathed a sigh of relief.
Actually, letting the disciple stay here alone, even with the little white fox watching, he was still somewhat uneasy.
"Master..."
Zhiwei hugged the little white fox and came out, her face calm, but only when she saw her master return safely did her heart settle completely.
"See, didn’t I return smoothly? Hmph, a sneaky mouse can’t possibly be a match for your master?" Chen Ye laughed.
"Yes." Zhiwei replied softly, "Disciple has cleaned the house, master can rest assured and recuperate."
Seeing this, Hee Qi sensibly gave Chen Ye a courteous nod: "Brother Chen, I’ll... go ahead and recuperate. Alas, these days, I’ve fought two tough battles in succession, my body cannot take it."
With that, he found another place and began meditating to recover,
After Hee Qi left,
Zhiwei then lifted her head to look at her master, those black eyes showing a trace of fright and a bit of reproach.
"Scared you?" Chen Ye sat beside her, holding her slender shoulder, asking softly.
Zhiwei shook her head, yet nodded again.
She took the iron sword from her master and began wiping it carefully with a prepared cloth, speaking without lifting her head:
"Master, sometimes remember... there’s still a disciple waiting for you, don’t take risks anymore."
This girl truly is stubborn.
Chen Ye pinched her earlobe, saying dissatisfied: "Uncle He helped us so much, and was in trouble because of me. If master doesn’t help him, wouldn’t that be heartless."
"Is master saying Zhiwei is heartless?"
"I don’t mean that."
"Shh—Zhiwei is definitely heartless."
"You’re... that’s just the influence of the Purity Glaze Body, silly child."
"Whether influenced or not, Zhiwei doesn’t care. Zhiwei just hopes master stays safe."
Seeing the girl’s slightly reddened eyes, Chen Ye did not know what to do.
He simply hugged her, his chin gently resting on her fluffy little head: "Hmph, master fears death and won’t rashly do what can’t be done. That person was slain by me with a single sword, like kicking a stray dog on the street."
Zhiwei glanced at her master, maintaining skepticism.
Her master had just established a foundation, could it be possible to kill a Foundation Establishment Cultivator with one sword?
Forget it.
She understood that her master was coaxing her, so she earnestly nodded her head: "Master is impressive."
Chen Ye’s face sank: "You’re dismissive!"
"No! Zhiwei remembers master kicks dogs impressively, before he pinned Yuanyuan by the road and beat him, even pulling out Yuanyuan’s tail fur." Zhiwei’s little face remained earnest.
This girl... is she being sarcastic about master?!
Yet what she said did indeed happen.
Yuanyuan was the dog raised by Granny Li, previously Chen Ye scolded it several times and even scraped off its tail fur with Geng Metal Qi.
Chen Ye gave a cold hum: "Can’t be bothered to argue with you little girl, come, see what good things master obtained this time."