My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion-Chapter 652 - 432: Not Off by an Ounce Over a Thousand Miles (Two in One)

Four human traffickers, along with the serpent demon Bai Fuzi who planned to use living beings to refine medicine, were all slain by Min Ning's sword.

Only then did Min Ning pick up a silk cloth to meticulously wipe the blood off his sword, taking care to clean it thoroughly.

This sword was acquired shortly after she entered Sichuan, guided by Zhu Yu, atop an unnamed towering peak.

It is said that the sword belonged to a prodigy of the Sword Dao in his youth. He originally intended to temper the Immortal Sword with the thunder on that peak, but when he returned, his mindset had undergone a complete transformation—he no longer had the heart to wield the sword. Thus, he left it behind, waiting for the fated one to claim it.

The sword was buried deep in the cracks of the cliff face. Climbing up was perilous, with fierce winds howling. Several times, Min Ning barely avoided falling. Even now, with her eyes closed, she can still hear the roaring thunder. In the most perilous moment, a colossal boulder beside her shattered from the impact of a lightning strike.

This sword did not come easily, and because of its inscription, Min Ning named it "Fengyun" (Wind and Clouds).

With a single breath, wind and cloud converge, and the sword radiates light thrice over. These eight words exude an air of grandeur, inscribed by one with fiery ambition. Min Ning, as it happens, is youthful enough to embody this sentiment.

After wiping away the blood on the sword, Min Ning washed it with water from a jar and headed toward the basement of the small building where Bai Fuzi had taken the two children.

The door was not locked, likely because Bai Fuzi had planned to deal with them quickly before dragging them inside.

Min Ning pushed the door open and stepped inside. Darkness greeted her.

She walked down a long corridor, and the space gradually became more open.

There was a faint sound of wind.

Whoosh!

In the instant the wind blew, Min Ning raised her hand, swiftly catching a pair of delicate wrists. A girl's cry of pain pierced the air as a sharp stone clattered to the ground.

Min Ning sent another hand probing forward.

Qing Li's eyes welled with tears from the pain, but she stubbornly lifted her gaze, straining against the dim light to clearly see the person's face—down to even the slightest detail. Even if she were to bear immense resentment and transform into a vengeful spirit, she would demand retribution!

The hand swung closer and larger, almost engulfing her vision entirely. At that moment, Qing Li's mind went blank; hatred, grievance, pain—all vanished without a trace. Only fear remained, boundless and all-encompassing. The terror of imminent death flooded her senses.

Qing Li squeezed her eyes shut.

Tears splattered outward.

After a long pause, an unfamiliar sensation registered upon her forehead. She hesitantly opened her eyes.

She saw the man gently placing a hand on her head, his face adorned with a wide smile, faintly discernible in the darkness.

The girl who had always been so strong froze in place.

Then, she burst into tears.

...

Qing Li cried for a long time. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Min Ning did not urge her to stop. She simply remained silent by her side, knowing that it was better to cry loudly in such moments. Keeping the pain bottled up inside would surely break a person.

Back when her own parents passed away one after another, Min Ning had initially been strong during the day but would cling to her sister at night, crying until she felt dizzy, as though the heavens had darkened and the earth collapsed.

After what felt like ages, Qing Li finally ceased her sobbing.

"Come out..."

Qing Li said.

Her younger brother Qing Xia crawled out from the shadows. He hadn't been crying—perhaps he had shed too many tears on the journey before—now he quietly helped his sister wipe away her remaining tears.

Min Ning finally spoke up: "What are your names?"

All along the way, to avoid arousing suspicion from Zhao Yuanwang's party and creating complications, Min Ning had refrained from showing much concern for the two children.

With a nasal tone from crying, the girl replied:

"My name is Qing Li... and my brother's name is Qing Xia."

Min Ning nodded slightly without pressing further.

From the journey and overheard conversations among Zhao Yuanwang's entourage, along with her own deductions, Min Ning had pieced together the backstory of the siblings. The two children had been abandoned at a Buddhist monastery since childhood. Their parents were unknown, and not even a keepsake like a Jade Pendant for identification was left behind. The boy was a baby at the time, while the girl was around three or four years old—perhaps she still held faint, blurry memories of their parents.

The monks of the monastery raised them and, upon testing their talents and affinities, were stunned to discover the extraordinary potential of both: one was a Dao seed, the other a Buddha seed, both naturally gifted from birth rather than through acquired cultivation. Fearing their immeasurable potential might be squandered—or, worse, become a curse—the abbot penned a letter and sent the siblings to Sichuan's eminent sect on Emei Mountain to join a reputable master's tutelage.

But unexpectedly, the news leaked, and the group was ambushed midway. Several monks from the accompanying party perished at the hands of those four traffickers, who then planned to sell the two children to Bai Fuzi.

"He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

Min Ning scanned the surroundings, noticing how surprisingly spacious the place was—far beyond a typical cellar. It also extended deeper underground.

Recalling, Qing Li replied, "He tied us up and threw us in here before leaving. I used a stone to cut the ropes. Before he left, he said something about us being Dao seeds and Buddha seeds—useful for refining the 'Sword Pill' he needed."

Sword Pill?

Min Ning was not unfamiliar with the term.

A Sword Pill was crafted by condensing Sword Intent onto an alchemical medium such as cinnabar or precious metals, harnessing the energies of heaven and earth to create Sword Qi. The pill could slice through iron like mud or coil around the finger with unparalleled flexibility. The finest Sword Pills shone with five-colored divine light, capable of cutting through anything.

"But Bai Fuzi himself doesn't use swords—how would he have Sword Intent to craft a Sword Pill?"

Min Ning muttered to herself.

As she puzzled over this, Zhu Yu's voice rang in her ears:

"It wouldn't be his Sword Intent."

Min Ning raised an eyebrow slightly. If Zhu Yu took the initiative to speak, then there must be something unusual here.

So she followed up with a question: "Are you saying... there is residual Sword Intent here?"

"Deep inside." Zhu Yu replied.

Min Ning nodded faintly and turned to the two children, saying: