'Mu Qing's Approval…? Is Mu Qing that man just now?' Yuan raised his eyebrows in a puzzled manner after seeing the notification.
«Mu Qing's Approval: Grants you access to certain events»
'What kind of effect is this?' Yuan became even more puzzled after seeing the description.
Unlike Mo Zhou's Gratitude that grants him offensive benefits, this Mu Qing's Approval provided nothing of that sort except a vague description.
'I guess not every effect comes with benefits like Mo Zhou's Gratitude…' Yuan thought to himself.
"Xiao Hua, now that I have defeated a monster at the Spirit Warrior level, do you think I am ready to fight other monsters at the same level?" Yuan asked her sometime later.
"Un. But Spirit Warrior level monsters don't usually roam in this area. The Demonic Spider must have been a special occasion. If Brother Yuan wants to fight Spirit Warrior leveled monsters, we will have to travel further south to the Purple Bamboo Forest. There we can find monsters between the first level and the third level Spirit Warrior."
"How far away is this place?" Yuan asked.
"A few thousand miles," she casually responded.
"A few thousand?!" Yuan's eyes widened with shock, as that was akin to traveling from one continent to another in the real world! How long would it take for them to get there without a plane or any vehicle?
"Um… And how are we going to get there?" He decided to ask her.
"We fly, of course." Xiao Hua calmly responded. "Unless Brother Yuan wants to run there, which will take a couple of days."
"W-Wait a second… did you just say 'fly'? You can fly?!" Yuan looked at her with wide eyes, completely forgetting about her skills.
Xiao Hua nodded and said, "Once a Cultivator reaches the Spirit Grandmaster level, they can manipulate the spiritual energy within their body and their surroundings and soar in the sky. Of course, there are talented individuals out there who can fly before reaching the Spirit Grandmaster level."
"But since Brother Yuan can't fly yet, Xiao Hua will carry you with a flying sword."
After saying those words, Xiao Hua retrieved a sword from her storage pouch and tossed it in the air.
One would expect the gravity to pull the sword towards the ground, but the sword actually remained suspended in the air, almost as though there was an invisible hand holding it.
"Oh my god…" Yuan stared at the floating sword with bright eyes.
He has been wanting to try something like this ever since he saw that Cultivator floating in the sky while standing on his sword when he first arrived in this world. However, he didn't expect that such an opportunity would arise so fast.
"You are the best, Xiao Hua! I love you!" Yuan went to hug her out of sheer excitement.
"Oh…" Xiao Hua's soft cheeks turned slightly rosy after the hug.
"Anyway, how do I do this? Do I just jump on the sword?" Yuan asked her afterward.
"U-Un." Xiao Hua nodded, and she spoke, "Because Xiao Hua will control the sword for Brother Yuan, you will only need to control the spiritual energy in your legs and feet, or you will fall off the sword in the air."
"Okay, let's give this a try!"
Yuan immediately turned to face the flying sword with excitement in his gaze.
After preparing himself, he jumped on the sword.
"Ah!"
Yuan immediately fell off the sword a second later due to a mistake in his balancing.
"This is harder than I'd thought…" Yuan said, but he did not lose hope and tried again.
"Ack!"
"Ugh!"
"Oof!"
After many trials and errors that resulted in his face kissing the ground, Yuan finally began getting used to controlling his spiritual energy and balancing himself on the sword.
"Look! I am floating!" Yuan spoke with excitement after standing on the flying sword without falling for over a minute.
Seeing this Xiao Hua said, "Xiao Hua will move the sword now. Try to stay on the sword, Brother Yuan."
"Do it slowly!" He quickly warned her.
A second later, the flying sword began moving very slowly, traveling a single meter every few seconds.
"Hahaha! I am doing—"
Just as Yuan prepared to celebrate his achievement, he lost control over his spiritual energy and fell off the sword again.
"Don't worry, Brother Yuan, you'll get used to it." Xiao Hua encouraged him.
Thus, Yuan began training with this flying sword for the remainder of the day.
After many hours of training, Yuan was finally able to remain standing on the sword even when it was flying at 100 miles per hour. However, any faster than that and he would fall right off the sword.
By the end of the day, Yuan could finally withstand the flying sword traveling over 300 miles per hour. Of course, he still needed Xiao Hua to control the sword for him.
"Okay, Xiao Hua, it's about time for me to log off. We can start traveling to the Purple Bamboo Forest after I return." Yuan said to her at the end.
"Un." Xiao Hua nodded before returning to the necklace, and Yuan logged off shortly later.
After logging off, Yuan could already hear the sound of gentle footsteps approaching his room, and he immediately knew it was Yu Rou.
Once the door to his room opened, Yu Rou's soft voice resounded, "I apologize for not being able to take care of you yesterday, Brother."
"There's no need for you to apologize. Even you need to rest on some days. Anyway, are you okay? I heard from the maid that you were speaking with Father and Mother." Yuan said to her.
"Haha…" A low-spirited laugh escaped from Yu Rou's mouth, and she spoke, "Instead of speaking, it was more like being scolded."
"Eh? You were scolded? Now that's something you won't hear every day. What did you do?" Yuan was surprised to learn that Yu Rou had been scolded, as she was the role model type of girl who's always respectful and obedient towards her parents.
"Well, my grades in school dropped a little bit— enough for me to get scolded."
Although Yuan couldn't see her expression, he could hear the bitterness in her voice.
"I see… Our parents are very strict when it comes to performance, after all…" Yuan said.
"They can be too strict at times…" she sighed.
"Anyway, let's not talk about such a depressing subject. Why don't you tell me about your experience with Cultivation Online while I help you clean? How are you enjoying the game so far?" Yu Rou asked him a moment later.
"To say I am enjoying it is an understatement!" Yuan quickly said.
"Oh? Tell me more about it." Yu Rou smiled after hearing his voice that was filled with excitement and happiness, which was an unfamiliar feeling even for her.