Li Zhirui watched Qin Haoming leave with a belly full of doubts, only feeling that he had suffered undeserved calamity. Jiang Fengwu was clearly using him as a shield. Li Zhirui couldn’t help but laugh and say, "It seems, Taoist Jiang is quite popular."
Seeing that Li Zhirui didn’t take it to heart, Jiang Fengwu felt a sigh of relief but also a sense of bitter distress, because it meant that he had no interest in her at all!
This made her question her own charm for the first time and even felt a surge of impulse to reveal her true appearance.
"What if I say it’s true?"
But as she thought about it, Jiang Fengwu felt unwilling to let it go, and a courage from somewhere within her made her speak these words out loud.
Li Zhirui looked at her in some shock, because to him, it seemed incredible.
After all, they had only known each other for a few short months, and their interactions had not been many. Although they could chat amiably enough, and could barely be considered friends, in reality, there wasn’t much understanding between them.
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As for love at first sight or something like that, it wasn’t that Li Zhirui was putting himself down, but while his appearance was decent, it wasn’t especially outstanding among cultivators, certainly not enough to make a female cultivator fall head over heels for him.
"Taoist Jiang is not joking?" Li Zhirui couldn’t help but ask again and, perhaps feeling that this question was quite inappropriate, he hurriedly added, "I just find it somewhat incredible, nothing more."
"Li, I never joke about feelings," Jiang Fengwu said with a serious face: "What Qin Haoming said earlier is true, I really have developed feelings for you!"
Li Zhirui’s brows furrowed slightly. Although he possessed a secret space, a secret that absolutely could not be known by a second person, he still wished to find a partner to walk the path of The Great Tao with.
Jiang Fengwu’s aptitude and temperament were quite good, but being a Loose Cultivator, she could only be considered to have above-average potential.
Because Loose Cultivators often get limited by their perspective and environment, they chase after the height of their realm and the strength of their power more. As for accumulation and foundation, these terms have nothing to do with Loose Cultivators.
So even though Jiang Fengwu possessed late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation and appeared quite robust, it was not necessarily true that she had the chance to break through to the Golden Core.
And Li Zhirui had already broken through his bottleneck and was just waiting for his injuries to heal before he could set out to close himself off in seclusion and begin his breakthrough.
"I don’t know what Taoist Jiang sees in me," Li Zhirui said gravely: "But I want to say that we are not familiar with each other, we don’t understand each other’s views and perspectives on many things, and I will soon be returning to the Li family to prepare for my Golden Core breakthrough..."
Some things don’t need to be said for both sides to understand.
"So I am sorry, but I cannot reciprocate your feelings."
Perhaps these words were somewhat cruel to Jiang Fengwu, but Li Zhirui had to speak them, to cut off her affections for him.
Actually, Li Zhirui had decided long ago that if he were to find a partner, it would at least be after his Golden Core breakthrough, looking for a female cultivator of the same realm and not much different in age.
This requirement might not seem like much, but in reality, it was quite strict because Golden Core cultivators were already few and female cultivators were even fewer.
As for the condition of "not much difference in age," in the cultivation world near Da Rong Island, it was almost impossible to find such a female cultivator, and moreover, who would marry off such an outstanding woman to the Li family?
The reason why he didn’t look for a partner in the Nascent Soul Realm was that within ten thousand miles of Da Rong Island, there simply were no Nascent Soul female cultivators!
And even though Li Zhirui was quite confident in himself, believing he could break through to the Nascent Soul Realm, it would take a very long time.
"Is it just because you think I can’t break through to the Golden Core?" Jiang Fengwu said somewhat defiantly.
Li Zhirui didn’t speak, but his expression had already conveyed his thoughts to her.
"I will definitely break through to the Golden Core!"
It was not that Jiang Fengwu had such profound feelings for Li Zhirui that she couldn’t live without him, but rather that breaking through to the Golden Core was the wish of every cultivator.
Furthermore, Li Zhirui’s judgment had upset her pride, which was why she had made that promise—to ruthlessly slap him in the face when the time came.
Li Zhirui did not respond, but simply smiled slightly. After all, anything he said at this time would not be appropriate.
"Hmph!" Jiang Fengwu was very dissatisfied with his attitude. With a snort, she no longer wished to interact with Li Zhirui and immediately stood up to leave.
Li Zhirui shook his head slightly, immediately closed the door, and returned to his quiet room.
What he didn’t know was that Jiang Fengwu had not left straight away. After taking a few steps, she turned around for another look, but what she saw was the firmly shut door, which inexplicably filled her with anger and a sense of grievance.
In the days that followed, Jiang Fengwu never came to collect Spirit Pills again, instead delegating the task to another cultivator.
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"What was his reaction?" Upon his return, the cultivator was met with a fervent inquiry from Jiang Fengwu.
"Very calm. He just asked me to show proof of identity and then handed over the Spirit Pills to me," the cultivator replied.
Jiang Fengwu was hugely disappointed and cursed under her breath, "Cold-hearted and unfeeling guy."
"Captain, if you like him so much, why don’t you go yourself?" the cultivator asked curiously.
Jiang Fengwu pursed her lips and did not explain, simply asking him to leave; she wanted to be alone.
She stared blankly ahead, her surroundings permeated with sadness. Luckily, she was not one to wallow in self-pity, and she soon shook off the negative emotions, her face showing a touch of determination as she said, "I will definitely break through to the Golden Core!"
It wasn’t that Jiang Fengwu’s feelings for Li Zhirui were extreme; it was her pride that made her unwilling to easily concede!
Time hurried by, and several months passed in the blink of an eye.
After this period of rest and healing, Li Zhirui had completely recovered from his injuries, and his karmic debts had long been paid off, so he planned to leave for his family tomorrow.
The next morning, he walked out of the gates of Immortal City, only to unexpectedly encounter Jiang Fengwu’s squad returning from the battlefield.
"Captain, he’s about to leave, you should go now or it’ll be too late!" whispered the cultivator who had gone to collect the Spirit Pills.
Jiang Fengwu steeled her heart and immediately approached Li Zhirui, "Are you going back to your family?"
Li Zhirui nodded and smiled, "It seems that my fellow daoists have had a rewarding experience," he said. Everyone seemed to radiate contentment, which was visible to all.
"Can you tell me which family you come from? So I can look for you after I break through to Golden Core," she asked.
A flicker of surprise crossed Li Zhirui’s eyes. He had thought she would give up because of his rejection, but now it seemed that she had not.
He could see that Jiang Fengwu’s feelings weren’t that deep, but rather, it was a desire to prove herself.
This made Li Zhirui frown slightly; he hadn’t expected Jiang Fengwu to be so proud, just like her name, like a proud phoenix.
"You won’t even tell me that?" Seeing his prolonged silence, Jiang Fengwu felt increasingly disappointed.
"My family is located to the east of Yunping State, on an island. With a little inquiry, you can easily find out," Li Zhirui said through a voice transmission.