First, his strength had only recovered to the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage, which gave him no absolute advantage against those experts of the Heavenly Dao stage. Second, he had yet to figure out the origins and intentions of those Heavenly Dao cultivators—how could he return with peace of mind?

"Pick one yourself. See which style you like, and I'll buy it for you," Wei Zhao offered generously.

"All right." Leng Leng agreed quite readily this time. She really did want a phone, but she had no worldly currency on her, so naturally she could only let Wei Zhao buy it. After all, in her mind a phone's value could not even be mentioned in the same breath as a top-grade spirit jade. Since she had already accepted the top-grade spirit jade, whether or not she took one more phone made little difference.

The two of them made a circuit of the phone store. Ordinary people always asked about brand and specs when buying a phone, but Leng Leng clearly knew nothing of such things. From beginning to end she had only one principle for choosing a phone: it had to look good. In the end, she picked an Apple.

Who would have thought this little cold girl's taste would mesh so well with the mundane world! Wei Zhao found it amusing, and at the same time could not help secretly rejoicing. Thank goodness he had wrung a good deal of money out of those two swindlers; otherwise, with only his ten thousand yuan, he would have been hard pressed right about now.

"So can this thing of mine get online now?" Leng Leng asked, eager to give it a try.

"Not yet. We still need to buy a SIM card. There's a carrier shop right over there." With that, Wei Zhao led her inside, bought her a SIM card, and while he was at it signed up for a couple's plan—free calls between the two of them.

"A couple's plan..." Leng Leng watched from the side. She said nothing, but she still found it a little strange—until she saw a lovey-dovey young couple beside them also asking for a couple's plan, and only then did it suddenly dawn on her.

Could it be that "couple" here meant "dao companion"? The way Leng Leng looked at Wei Zhao turned a little odd at once. She still did not understand what "free calls" meant, but she guessed this plan was certainly not meant for ordinary people. Only couples would sign up for such a thing.

Yet guess she did, she showed no intention of stopping him. After all, she was utterly ignorant of such matters; what needed to be done and what did not could only be left to Wei Zhao to decide.

Besides, a mere couple's plan was no big deal. In her eyes, all of this—the phone included—was nothing more than a novel game, something that would have no real effect on actual relationships, so she simply let Wei Zhao have his way.

Once everything was settled, she took her phone from Wei Zhao's hand. Following the method he had taught her earlier, Leng Leng began trying to get online, and sure enough, she could look things up. She was delighted at once—she had never played with anything like this before.

Wei Zhao watched from the side, amused. Even a cold, icy beauty like this little cold girl would smile when she came across something that genuinely interested her. That was truly rare.

Still, on second thought, this little cold girl's learning ability really was formidable. He had only given her a rough demonstration once before, and now, with a completely new phone, she had actually figured out how to get online all by herself—and all this on the premise that she knew nothing whatsoever about the internet. An ordinary person would not have picked it up so quickly.

Leng Leng browsed away happily, and just as she clicked open a gossip site, Wei Zhao pressed a hand to his forehead in exasperation. At this rate, the little cold girl could absolutely surf the web by herself until nightfall. If she had been born into the mundane world, she would surely have been a shut-in.

"You can browse the pages slowly after we get back. Getting online is only an extra function of a smartphone. Now I'll teach you the most basic and most important function—making calls," Wei Zhao had no choice but to interrupt.

"Making calls?" Leng Leng was taken aback.

"That's right. This is the essential meaning of a phone's existence. As long as you know each other's number, you can talk to each other even if you're ten thousand miles apart, just as if you were face to face," Wei Zhao said with a smile.

"That amazing?" Leng Leng was instantly shocked, so much so that she even forgot the most basic of pretenses. Could this be the legendary thousand-mile voice transmission?

"It is amazing, but you'll get used to it soon enough." As he spoke, Wei Zhao demonstrated it for her. With the little cold girl's formidable learning ability, this was child's play—she mastered it at a glance.

"So the thousand-mile voice transmission really does exist, and even ordinary people with no cultivation at all can use it. This is practically a divine artifact! If this were in my part of the world, it would have been snatched up like mad long ago. The mundane world actually has such a powerful thing—it's truly wondrous..." Leng Leng could not help murmuring to herself.

Quiet as she was, Wei Zhao overheard her and asked at once, "Does your part of the world not have phones? Huxi Province shouldn't be that backward, surely?"

"Huh? No... I mean, no, my part of the world is very remote and cut off from the outside world, so I've never seen such a thing as a phone..." Leng Leng gave a start and hastily covered her tracks.

"Is that so? There's still a place like that in Huxi Province? The scenery must be wonderful. If I get the chance, I'd really like to go and see it," Wei Zhao said, half believing, half doubting.

"Uh... we'll talk about it if the chance comes..." Leng Leng shook her head with a bitter smile. She had not lied—she had been speaking of the Great Primordial Minor Jianghu, whose scenery truly far surpassed the chaotic, clamorous mundane world. But how could an ordinary person like Wei Zhao ever get to such a place?

"The chance will come." Wei Zhao smiled faintly, a meaning hidden in it, and then stopped pressing the matter, for he knew it was no use asking now. "Let me teach you some other uses. These days, besides making calls and getting online, smartphones have plenty of interesting apps and games too."

"Really?" Leng Leng once again wore a look of delight. A mere little phone, and yet it had so many wondrous functions—the mundane world was truly no simple place.

As he taught her these things, the two of them naturally drew close again, even nearer than they had been on the bus. Once more catching that refreshing, orchid-like fragrance from her, Wei Zhao could not help feeling stirred. This feeling of courting a girl gave him a peculiar sensation, as though it were both somewhat the same as before and somewhat different.

Just then, scene after scene of how he had first met and come to know his various beauties rose unbidden in Wei Zhao's mind. Every encounter was a beautiful memory, and now, in order to uncover the origins and true nature of those Heavenly Dao experts, a similar scene was playing out once again—only the leading lady had changed to the unapproachable Leng Leng. To be continued.