Zhu Sixiu looked at Zhu Xiaosuo, whose nose and mouth were bleeding, sighed, and took out a purple handkerchief to wipe the blood away.

Gone was the usual fawning and sycophantic demeanor.

In the face of death, all identities lose their meaning, leaving only two pure individuals.

Zhu Sixiu's willingness to continue serving Zhu Xiaosuo came from genuine respect.

Zhu Xiaosuo coughed up some blood and said with a smile, "Why is a grown man like you using a handkerchief of this color?"

Zhu Sixiu sat beside him, staring at the handkerchief now stained red, and also smiled, "My wife embroidered it for me."

Perhaps it was a fleeting resurgence of energy, but Zhu Xiaosuo felt a bit stronger and started chatting with Zhu Sixiu.

"When did you get a wife? How come I didn't know?"

"Not yet married. I was supposed to marry her next month."

"Cough, cough, which family is she from?"

"She's not from any family. Like me, she's an orphan. We used to scavenge for leftovers together as kids. Later, I was taken to the Zhu Clan by Brother Gao, and she went to work at the Zhu Clan's silk farm because of me."

"You're thirty this year, right?"

"Twenty-nine."

"Then why haven't you married yet?"

"The work I do with Brother Gao is risky, and over the years, nearly a hundred brothers have died. I don't know how long I'll survive, and I didn't want her to become a widow at a young age. But she's been waiting for me all along. I thought after helping you ascend, there'd be no more turmoil, and I could finally marry her. But now, with today's events..."

As he spoke, Zhu Sixiu shed a few tears.

Zhu Xiaosuo coughed up more blood.

"I've... burdened you."

Zhu Sixiu wiped Zhu Xiaosuo's blood again with the handkerchief and used two fingers to wipe away his tears.

"Don't say that. Being able to accompany you is my fortune. You don't know how many people envy me. No one can control such accidents. If it were Brother Gao or Zhu Liude, they would have made the same choice as I did, so you don't need to feel guilty."

Before they could exchange any final words, Zhu Xiaosuo saw a streak of Escaping Light approaching from the clouds.

It was a powerful cultivator.

Probably the one who came to kill him.

"They're here..."

The light finally stopped in front of them.

"Hey, you're still alive."

"Senior wants to kill... why is it you?"

Zhu Xiaosuo recognized the cultivator who wanted to kill him.

It was the same girl who had shot him in the knee with an arrow over two years ago.

She looked unchanged from back then, perhaps even younger.

Still appeared to be a teenager.

"It's you?! Little unlucky fellow, we meet again! Didn't expect you'd become a cultivator! How did you become one, did you take a Vein Opening Pill?"

"Senior, please, save my life first..."

"Oh, okay."

The girl extended her middle finger, making an internationally friendly gesture as she touched Zhu Xiaosuo's wound.

With her other hand, she pulled out the arrow.

"Poof..."

As the arrow was removed, Zhu Xiaosuo spat out more blood.

He felt like he was one step closer to death.

But that feeling only lasted a few breaths before his body was revitalized with new life.

"Patriarch, are you okay?"

After taking a moment, he said to Zhu Sixiu, "I'm fine, our lives are saved. This senior is an acquaintance of mine, and it's not her first time doing this. Go wait for me outside the forest."

Zhu Sixiu left.

Only Zhu Xiaosuo and the blushing, head-lowered young girl remained.

Zhu Xiaosuo sighed, "Senior, your archery is truly remarkable."

"Well... I didn't do it on purpose. I'm usually a hundred percent accurate."

"Last time, you sneezed and missed. What about this time?"

"Because I sneezed again and missed..."

"Sneezed again?"

"This time, it really was because I sneezed and missed."

"And last time?"

The girl blushed and didn't answer.

"Last time, you aimed at me on purpose?"

"No, no... last time, it was because I ate radish stew with beans before going out..."

Zhu Xiaosuo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his body still not fully adjusted after narrowly escaping death.

"Senior, this arrow was much more vicious than the one two and a half years ago."

"Well... I broke through, so naturally, I'm a bit stronger."

"What stage is Senior at now?"

"Honoring the Ancient Stage, Second Layer."

Zhu Xiaosuo, who spent his days in the Rebirth Stage, had to think for a moment to recall what the Honoring the Ancient Stage was.

Rebirth Stage, Bone Transformation Stage, Honoring the Ancient Stage.

The third stage for cultivators.

"And Senior's age?"

"Seventeen."

His face twitched.

Seventeen and two major stages ahead of him.

Either an extraordinary talent or from a powerful background.

No need to ask about her identity.

A dragon among dragons!

Thinking about how he still had to dig for Spirit Stones to break through to the Second Layer of the Rebirth Stage.

He looked at the girl again and again, feeling a lack of motivation.

A man three years older is like holding a gold brick.

Isn't this a gift from the heavens?

Forget everything else, it's time to start flattering.

Miss this chance, and you'll never get another.

Zhu Xiaosuo's body instantly returned to its best condition.

Radiant, eyes shining.

"My name is Zhu Xiaosuo. I've been shot twice, and I haven't asked for Senior's name yet?"

"Chen Qinqiu."

"Chen Qinqiu? Sounds a bit odd... but it doesn't matter! Senior Chen, I have dabbled in everything from poetry and songs to philosophy. It's better to choose a day than to wait for it; our meeting today is fate, why not sit down and have a discussion?"

Chen Qinqiu listened, her face no longer red, but looked at Zhu Xiaosuo with a strange expression.

"In our academy, many who claim to be geniuses don't speak as boldly as you."

"Whether it's bold talk or not, we'll only know after a discussion, right, Senior?"

"There's some truth in that. I'll ask you three questions. If you can answer one, I'll believe you."

"Go ahead."

"Alright, wait a moment!"

With that, Chen Qinqiu pulled out a book from her chest.

Her bold demeanor was just like before.

But Zhu Xiaosuo noticed that when she took out the item from her chest, she encountered some resistance, unlike two and a half years ago.

Chen Qinqiu opened a page and said:

"Listen carefully. A group of cultivators is going to a Spirit Field to harvest Spirit Herbs. If there are twenty-three cultivators, they can finish in nine days. If there are twenty-one cultivators, it takes twelve days. So, if there are thirty-three cultivators, how many days will it take to harvest the Spirit Field's Spirit Herbs? Can you do it?"

"Wait a minute!"

Zhu Xiaosuo suspected he had misheard.

What kind of question is this?

Why does this cultivation world seem different from the ones in the books he read in his previous life?

Shouldn't it be something like 'Smoke locks the pond willow' and you have to come up with a matching line, or compose a poem with the moon as the theme?

What's this, a word problem?

Zhu Xiaosuo looked bewildered.

"Can't you do it? It is a bit difficult; only a dozen people in our academy have solved it..."

Find the original at "pawread.com".

"Who said I can't? Read it again! I didn't catch it the first time."

Zhu Xiaosuo picked up a stick, ready to write and draw.

Come on, this problem sounds like it's no harder than a first-year middle school level. As someone who fought his way from a small town to a prestigious university by solving problems, he couldn't possibly be stumped by this.