Chapter 16: Cultivation Is About Human Connections

Ling Qingli had a feeling she was cursed with elbow strikes. The last one, from a now-dead Blood Soul Sect disciple, had triggered a fateful encounter.
This time, she was reborn, ready to reclaim what was hers.

Fortunately, her pursuers’ subconscious didn’t see a powerless little girl as capable of escaping. To avoid accidentally killing her, they held back slightly.
This gave Ling Qingli a chance. Noticing the force behind her wasn’t too strong, she used a pile of wooden debris as a springboard, leaping into the air.
ጿኈቼዽኈቼዽጿ
At that moment, a perfectly timed gust of wind blew toward Ling Qingli mid-air.

A chill ran down her back, but it wasn’t bad news. On the contrary, the wind lifted her higher, effortlessly dodging the attack.
“What?”
The guard gaped, feeling like the heavens were playing a cruel joke.
“Where’d that wind come from? Did someone intervene?!”

Someone intervened?
Ling Qingli was equally baffled. Landing, she glanced at the wooden pile, now dented at chest height.
Without that wind, her clumsy dodge might’ve turned a back hit into a fatal blow to the head.
A strike to the back might not kill her, but one to the head surely would.

She realized she’d just brushed past death.
Who had helped her?
Scanning the surroundings discreetly, the area seemed devoid of other living beings.
Instinctively, her mind conjured that white figure.

A spark of hope flickered in her eyes, but the harsh “Scram” echoed in her ears, dimming that light.
“Hmph, no one intervened. Just a coincidence crafted by the heavens.”

The youth, who’d watched it all, stepped forward to explain, but the guard’s skeptical look was impossible to ignore.
He glared:
“What’s with those looks?”
“Your Highness, as your guard, I’m responsible for your safety.”

Ignoring the youth’s menacing gaze, the guard pressed on:
“I saw it clearly. That rat tried to dodge, and just as she moved, a wind conveniently lifted her out of the attack’s range, then vanished. If that’s all a coincidence, the heavens are awfully good at timing.”

The youth took a deep breath, roaring:
“What do you know, guard?! I mean that the senior hiding in the shadows is so powerful, calling them ‘the heavens’ shows my reverence!”
“Oh? That’s what you meant?”

The guard blinked, noticing the youth’s fiery glare, and quickly backed off, apologizing:
“My mistake. I was on the first level, while Your Highness is on the fifth. Truly, Your Highness thinks far deeper than me. My vision was too narrow.”

Seeing the guard’s tact, the youth let it slide and turned to Ling Qingli. This time, his face bore a warm, appreciative smile.
“Young lady, I am Liu Rong, the fourth prince of the Great Han Empire. Meeting is fate. Would you like to be friends?”

Ling Qingli was stunned. She hadn’t expected a prince before her, nor his drastic change in attitude, but she stayed wary.
Seeing her silence, Liu Rong slapped–

System: his forehead, feigning regret:
“Oh, how forgetful of me! How can we become friends without a proper greeting gift?”

He rummaged through his belongings, reluctantly pulling out a jade vial and presenting it with one hand:
“This is a Purple Mushroom Healing Pill. As long as the injured still clings to a breath, it can heal any wound, even for Golden Core cultivators. It’s a rare treasure. Since fate brought us together, it’s yours.”

Without waiting for her response, he used spiritual energy to float the vial to her.
Ling Qingli was utterly confused. He was a prince; she was just a mouse. He could’ve killed her easily—hadn’t he just tried?
Yet in a blink, he was treating her courteously and gifting her such a valuable pill.

A pill that could heal Golden Core cultivators was priceless in the black market.
This drastic shift—could it be because of that gust of wind?
Wealth was within her grasp, and though she sensed a catch, her hands betrayed her, taking the vial.

The vial’s surface was smooth and cool, but her heart burned.
An overwhelming sense of unreality gripped her, yet the vial’s chill was undeniable.
Then, a cool breeze rose again.

This wind seemed to calm the mind. As it brushed her, her chaotic thoughts settled.
“This wind…”
Ling Qingli raised her free hand, feeling the breeze’s temperature glide over her palm.

Liu Rong felt it too, this oddly soothing wind, and his emotions were mixed. Thankfully, things hadn’t gone south.
This place wasn’t safe to linger. Liu Rong raised a hand in farewell:
“Young lady, we’re friends now, but I don’t yet know your name…”
“Ling Qingli.”

Her cool, wary tone didn’t faze Liu Rong:
“So it’s Miss Ling. I have urgent matters to attend to. May we meet again.”
With that, he soared into the air toward Baihe City’s sky battlefield, his guards trailing behind.

Ling Qingli clutched the jade vial, silent.
The immortals’ battle above grew fiercer, their spiritual energy clashes ravaging the already battered city.
She hid under a half-collapsed eave, debating whether to flee this chaotic place. Nearby, a terrified scream and the crash of falling debris rang out.
“Mommy!!!”

Ling Qingli’s head snapped up. At the street corner, a teetering house, struck by stray sword qi, collapsed in a cascade of tiles and rubble!
A girl, only five or six, stood frozen, staring at the descending shadow, too shocked to cry or run.
At the last moment, a ragged woman lunged from the side, shoving the girl out of the main collapse zone with all her strength.

The girl stumbled and fell, narrowly escaping.
Boom—
Heavy beams and countless bricks buried the woman, leaving only a limp hand protruding amidst the dust.

“Mom! Mom!”
The girl, snapping out of her daze, crawled toward the rubble, futilely tugging at her mother’s buried hand.
Fleeing shadows darted past, but none dared stop.
The sky’s battle raged on, and no one knew where the next strike would land.

Ling Qingli’s breath caught.