William saw Lord Paddlington give him a gummy smile before the void closed. He then noticed that Princess Jin seemed to be in shock and wasn’t preparing for a safe landing.

He wasn’t sure if the travel through the void did something to her, but he wasn’t going to wait in hopes that she would snap out of it.

William jumped up to catch Princess Jin in his arms and heard her muttering something curious. “The turtle took away the ancestor.”

That sentence was repeated constantly by her in a tiny voice. Knowing Lord Paddlington could be a condescending turtle, William suspected something traumatizing had been done to her.

He hadn’t thought the turtle could create voids in space, but since it was apparently able to do so, it might also have the ability to create illusions. Maybe it had teased Princess Jin about her favorite relative because it was angry about something.

“Wei Liang?!”

Or maybe instead of making wild guesses, William could just ask Princess Jin what was wrong since she was clear-eyed again. And just in time, too. His feet had just landed back on the ground when she snapped herself out of whatever was causing her to lose focus.

Before William could ask Princess Jin questions to satisfy his curiosity, she spoke again, making him freeze.

“Why don’t you have any clothes on?!”

He had forgotten that the only thing he had on his body was underwear. Honestly, since there was nobody else to worry about, he even started to prefer to be without clothes.

Princess Jin squirmed to get out of William’s arms and turned her face to avoid looking at him. “Put your robes on! Don’t you know how dangerous it is here?”

William suddenly realized that her presence caused another problem. He wouldn’t be able to use his spatial stone as casually as before. At least he could pull his robes out of the space with Princess Jin giving him some privacy by looking away.

After slipping on his robes, William asked, “How did you get here?”

Princess Jin glanced at him, obviously relieved that he was no longer nearly naked, and angrily pointed at him. “I should be asking you that! How did you get here? And where is Ren Bo?”

“Ren Bo?” William was confused why he was being asked that since they were the first ones sucked into the vortex, “I thought he might be with you. Are you saying that you haven’t seen him?”

Princess Jin made an odd face before slowly saying, “No, I’ve been alone the whole time.”

William hummed in acceptance, wondering if Ren Bo would arrive here soon. Of all the places Princess Jin chose to go in this vast dimension, it happened to be here, where he was pretty much directed by that snake.

“How did you come by the oasis, Princess Jin?”

“Same as you,” Princess Jin gained a strange look in her eyes, “The Lord Protector of the Verdant Forest. Did he not send you here?”

“The what?” William blinked, taking a second to realize who she was talking about, “The serpent?”

“Wei Liang,” Princess Jin said sharply, “Don’t mention the Lord Protector in such a disrespectful way. He will hear about it, and that will not end well.”

“Er, right,” William nodded, wondering what the Lord Protector would do if he knew he was privately, mentally referred to as a snake.

“Good,” Princess Jin nodded, relaxing a little before looking around for the first time, "… How long has it been like this?”

William stared at her, getting the hint that she knew what this random paradise in the middle of hell was. That pretty much confirmed his original thought that she knew something about this dimension.

“Almost since the time I was dropped here,” William replied, “Why? Anything special about it? What do you think of that waterfall? Looks good, doesn’t it?”

William stared at Princess Jin eagerly, waiting for her to say the waterfall was the answer to all his problems and that his expectations weren’t overblown.

Unfortunately, he received a less-than-satisfactory answer.

“The waterfall?” Princess Jin glanced at it before looking away, “It’s average. I can take you to see the Whisper Falls near the capital. It has to be ten times larger at minimum.”

“Oh,” William deflated slightly, not hearing what he expected, “Sounds good.”

“Hmm,” Princess Jin nodded, “You know, we’re beyond lucky that this was the time we arrived here. This place is usually a fiery landscape, but there are the rare times when a treasure land like this forms.”

“Treasure land?” William repeated with a slow smile, his disappointment about the waterfall disappearing, “What do you know about it? I’ve only been here for a few hours, so I haven’t done much other than kill a Pyralisk.”

“Pyralisk!” Princess Jin moved into his personal space and stared into his eyes, “YOU killed one?”

William blinked at the sudden closeness and stepped back slightly, for the first time, noticing the changed level she now had.

[Name: Princess Jin | Level: 46

Clearly, the oasis helped her just like it did for him, though not as significantly.

"Pyralisks are formed as an equivalent to humans in level six of Qi Gathering. You’re strong enough to do that now?”

“Er, yes?” William stepped back again, “You can’t tell me the water up there didn’t help you out either.”

Princess Jin took a deep breath and muttered something too quiet for him to hear before speaking louder, “How much were you able to drink before it got too much for you?”

“Drink?” William asked dumbly. He didn’t drink water other than the trickle that might have inadvertently entered his body. He submerged himself until there were no benefits to be had.

“Yes, how many spoonfuls did you drink?” Princess Jin didn’t wait for him to answer, “It must be more than six. The efficiency reduces greatly after the first. I’m surprised that you were able to take that much without harming yourself.”

William kept his mouth shut and let her make the conclusions. He felt that he had done something that was either ridiculously stupid or stupidly impossible. He remembered how being underwater blocked off all use of spiritual energy.

Also, he realized near the end that going underwater and cultivating might have caused him to die explosively without the system converting his benefits from cultivating into experience points.

When William noticed that she was actually waiting for an answer, he mumbled, “I can’t be sure. Probably something like that.”

Princess Jin stared at him for a long second before shaking his head. “You really are amazing, Wei Liang. I was wrong about you. Tell me, how many contaminated spirit beasts did Ancestor Sophia tell you to eliminate?”

“Three,” William replied, but his mind went to something Elder Yu warned him about, of how the Emperor of the Tianxia collected talents.

Princess Jin was a part of the imperial family. She might be one from a branch line, but she was part of the imperial family all the same.

It might be possible that everything that she would see and hear would be reported back to her elders. In fact, instead of being possible, replacing that with something more concrete would be better.

Princess Jin will tell her elders everything that happens in this secret realm.

“Ancestor Sophia wasn’t able to tell me how much I had to kill before that turtle sent me away, but I think it’ll only be one. Maybe two if I got really unlucky.”

William nodded, still wondering what to do about his realization. Having Princess Jin here was a bigger problem than he realized.

“We can work together,” Princess Jin said happily, “Before that, let’s plunder this treasure land. It’s rumored to disappear quickly, so let’s head straight for the tree roots. There is a resource for Spirit Severing cultivators underneath, but we can exchange it for things that will help us greatly.”

“Sure,” William nodded, sticking to a short answer. A plan was slowly coming to mind, but it would be tough to pull off a friendship of a level that would make her keep his secrets.