Chapter Seventeen: The Twelfth Grade Sacred Serpent Whip

A hand suddenly blocked Su Li’s gaze.

Shen Luo was visibly displeased.

He had noticed Su Li staring at Shen Fan the whole time.

An alarm sounded in his heart!

Shen Fan wasn’t only a rising star among the younger generation of the family—he was also handsome, with rosy lips and white teeth, a bearing that had already captured the hearts of countless young women. Although he’d once had his face clawed by a spirit beast, the scar had long since been healed, restored to perfection by the balm Shen Yu had found.

With that in mind, Shen Luo became fully on guard, secretly deciding to keep his distance in the future—he absolutely couldn’t let this guy get near the little furball.

Even spirit beasts weren’t safe from him—what an utter scoundrel!

Shen Fan, who had just been branded in secret with the crime of seducing spirit beasts, felt a sudden chill in the air around him. After a moment’s thought, he took out a white jade bottle from his storage pouch and handed it to Shen Luo. “These are Tier Four Mind-Focusing Pills.”

Shen Luo didn’t stand on ceremony. He poured out two pills, feeding one to Su Li and the other to the Azure Bird.

Shen Fan’s heart ached at the sight, but he dared not object. He kept telling himself that rewarding the two spirit beasts was only right, since they’d just saved them.

But still!

These were top-grade Tier Four elixirs! Shen Fan couldn’t help but inwardly howl.

The Mind-Focusing Pills tasted much like candy beans—sweet and crisp. Su Li’s eyes sparkled as she lifted her paw and patted Shen Luo’s arm.

She looked adorably soft, her expectant gaze filled with trust, as if her whole being was nestling against him. Shen Luo felt his heart twitch and, unable to resist, fed her another pill.

“Master, I want one too!” chirped the Azure Bird, bouncing with excitement.

The boy’s slender frame trembled along with the bird’s hops. As he handed over another pill, he mused on how he might put Feng Xi on a diet once all this was over.

In the blink of an eye, four top-grade spirit pills had been crunched down like snacks by the two beasts. Shen Fan, feeling stifled, simply walked away to check on the Shangguan siblings.

At the sound of footsteps, the girl who’d been meditating opened her eyes abruptly. Seeing Shen Fan, her tense features relaxed, and she asked, “When do we set out?”

Shen Fan didn’t answer, instead glancing up at Shen Luo.

Following his gaze, Shangguan Yuefang’s eyes met the boy’s light, unhurried stare, and a chill crept over her heart. She pressed her lips together tightly, deeply wary of his spirit beasts—especially that white tiger soul.

“With just a few of us, rescuing everyone will be next to impossible,” Shen Luo stated coolly. “Their cultivations are all above the Golden Core stage. I’m outnumbered, and the odds of victory are slim. That’s the first problem. As for the second, there’s something I’d like to ask you, Miss Shangguan.”

Being singled out so abruptly made Shangguan Yuefang’s scalp tingle, a bad premonition rising within her.

The boy’s voice was cold as frost: “A mere Nascent Soul cultivator managed to seize control—why did none of the elders of the Shangguan clan intervene?”

After the Shen family’s disaster ten years ago, high-level cultivators among them were scarce.

At that time, the Shangguan clan’s patriarch had already reached the seventh level of the Divided Spirit realm, and the clan leader himself had attained the early stage of the Nascent Soul. Coupled with the talented younger generation, they had swiftly become the foremost family in Youzhou.

The Shangguan clan had risen to the top of the Southern Mainland’s artifact forgers by once creating a tenth-grade defensive artifact, both offensive and defensive. Yet now, they’d been so easily overrun by a mere Nascent Soul cultivator?

It was simply unbelievable!

A sneer lifted the corners of Shen Luo’s youthful face. “Or perhaps the Shangguan clan is already finished.”

Shangguan Yuefang’s expression changed dramatically, her eyes widening in alarm, panic ringing in her mind.

Shen Fan was just as shocked, his brows furrowing as he looked over. “Don’t tell me the Shangguan clan is hiding something about the Qishan Secret Realm?”

All at once, the pieces fell into place.

Who knew what they’d done in the Qishan Secret Realm to cause the beasts’ rampage, which in turn led to a group of assassins infiltrating Youzhou City and dragging the Shen family into disaster.

With this thought, Shen Fan’s gaze grew sharp. “Miss Shangguan, in these circumstances, you’d better tell the truth.”

Shangguan Yuefang hesitated. “I’m not really sure…”

Shen Luo let out a derisive laugh.

Suddenly, Su Li recalled something important and asked, “Tiger Soul, do you know about Soul Artifacts?”

Tiger Soul’s expression turned to one of deep disgust. “An ancient forging secret art—living souls are refined into vessels and become artifact spirits. Usually, Soul Artifacts are made into a forger’s life-bound weapon, capable of growing in power and grade alongside their master’s cultivation.”

Su Li pressed on: “The strength of the soul affects the artifact’s grade, so some forgers forcibly extract souls from spirit beasts or cultivators?”

“Exactly.” Flames of rage flickered in Tiger Soul’s eyes.

“If I’m not mistaken, what the Shangguan patriarch brought out of the Qishan Secret Realm was a twelfth-grade Serpent Whip with an attached soul.” In the comic, Su Li recalled, Shangguan Yuefang had used this Serpent Whip to squeeze her way into the top three of the female cultivators’ power rankings.

Yet it was this very Divine Serpent Whip that nearly killed her when she attempted to break through to the Nascent Soul stage—the soul artifact’s backlash struck at her moment of weakness. The serpent’s soul had been torn from its body while it was still in the process of forming, leaving it vulnerable to being refined.

“But how should I tell him this?” Su Li’s ears drooped as she frowned in distress.

“Sister Tuan, I can transmit it directly to Master with my spiritual sense,” Tiger Soul offered, flexing his claws.

Tiger Soul had willingly acknowledged a master for the most part because of Su Li’s formidable presence. Since she’d already formed a soul contract with the boy, it was only logical for him to follow suit.

He felt rather pleased with himself—after all, retaining even a wisp of soul through the cataclysm was proof of his high beastly intelligence.

So, Tiger Soul relayed Su Li’s deduction to Shen Luo.

Shen Luo was stunned to learn that the treasure from the secret realm was a twelfth-grade Serpent Whip. No wonder Shangguan Yuefang refused to tell the truth.

Artifacts were ranked in twelve grades: below grade seven were treasures, spirit artifacts, and magic tools; grade eight and above were called divine artifacts, requiring tempering by thunderclouds; grade eleven was immortal artifacts, whose forging could trigger heavenly phenomena; grade twelve was sacred artifacts, also known as living artifacts. Legend had it that supreme sacred artifacts all possessed intelligence.

Shen Luo looked down at Su Li, who blinked back with wide, innocent kitten eyes. The corners of his lips curled up involuntarily.

He took one of Su Li’s little paws and pressed it to his lips in a gentle kiss, murmuring, “Thank you.”

His eyes shone bright as stars.

Su Li yanked her paw back, fur bristling, and buried her flushed face in the crook of the boy’s arm.

How could she find him so beautiful?

A low, delighted chuckle drifted from above her head.

Embarrassed and annoyed, Su Li’s fluffy tail swatted at his arm in protest.

The laughter drew the attention of Shen Fan and Shangguan Yuefang. Shen Fan frowned and asked, “Shen Luo, what is it? Did you just think of something… interesting?” He barely swallowed the word “interesting,” realizing how out of place it was at such a tense moment.

Shen Luo nodded. “Yes, something quite interesting came to mind.” His gaze swung back to Shangguan Yuefang, his smile turning mocking. “If everyone knew that the calamity in Youzhou City was caused by the Shangguan clan’s treasure hunt in the Qishan Secret Realm, I wonder what would happen?”