In the Misty Continent, when faced with danger, or in situations like their current one where enemies besieged their home, females would choose their most favored companion to protect them closely, while the other beast husbands would be responsible for fighting and eliminating the enemy.
This was a tradition in every household in the Misty Continent.
However, in the half-year since their marriage, they hadn't encountered any enemy attacks. Moreover, due to Xiao Jinsheng's unpleasant behavior, the five men shared her as a common enemy, making them allies in a united front.
Compared to the six beast husbands in the neighboring Bai Yan's household, who were constantly scheming against each other, Xiao Jinsheng's five beast husbands had a relatively harmonious relationship.
This fragile alliance seemed to have shattered tonight.
The four men finished clearing the fog corpses outside the villa and then went to the basement to skillfully repair the windows.
While everyone was busy, they saw Su Ye go to knock on Que Zelian's bedroom door.
Whether it was Mo Jiao, Huai Qing, or Yu Yunxiao, they all stopped what they were doing, their puzzled gazes fixed on Su Ye.
Xiao Jinsheng was very good at regulating her mental state. Even though she had been terrified not long ago, she had already lulled herself to sleep.
She didn't react in her sleep.
Que Zelian had no choice but to get up and open the door. Seeing that it was Su Ye, he was a little surprised. "What is it?"
"Yours," Su Ye said, handing him a white jade stone the size of a quail egg.
Inside the jade stone was a single star.
"A level one star stone, where did you get this?" Even though the star stone's level was low, Que Zelian was still surprised.
He knew that star stone resources couldn't be found in the east of the Misty Continent; they could only be found in the west.
Of course, if fog rose in the east of the Misty Continent and fog corpses appeared, there was a chance of obtaining star stones by killing them, but the probability was extremely low.
"Found it in the remains of the fog corpse you shredded," Su Ye explained.
His gaze passed over Que Zelian's shoulder, seeing Xiao Jinsheng lying asleep on the large bed, only half her serene face visible beneath the covers. He frowned almost imperceptibly.
Su Ye didn't say anything more. After giving Que Zelian the star stone that belonged to him, he turned and left.
"Am I this lucky?" Que Zelian wondered.
The probability of a fog corpse dropping a star stone was one in ten million, yet he had encountered it?
However, his current strength was already five stars, and a level one star stone wouldn't provide much improvement for him.
Thinking that Xiao Jinsheng's mental energy was still only one star, Que Zelian unceremoniously shook her awake.
Xiao Jinsheng opened her eyes from her sleep, about to vent her annoyance, when she met Que Zelian's refined and handsome face.
Her usually short-lived morning grumpiness instantly vanished.
"I remember your mental energy is stuck at the one-star bottleneck. Let's absorb the star stone tonight first," Que Zelian said, placing the star stone on the bedside table.
"Where did you get a star stone?" Xiao Jinsheng asked, puzzled.
She knew that she hadn't given these five men any star chart tasks in the past half-year, and their star stone reserves had been used up four months ago.
"Su Ye found it on the fog corpse that attacked you tonight," Que Zelian's answer didn't have the bloody tone of Su Ye's usual speech.
In the Misty Continent, the terminal's treatment of females and males was different.
Because females only had mental energy and no physical combat ability, the terminal was responsible for their survival resources before adulthood.
Even at the time of marriage, the terminal provided the shelter as a gift.
Xiao Jinsheng's small villa was allocated by the terminal when she got married.
It was also a twist of fate that she and Bai Yan had been neighbors before adulthood, and after marriage, their allocated houses were neighbors again.
How could they not compete in this situation?
Females in the Misty Continent also didn't have star stone resources to upgrade their mental energy before adulthood. All females' mental energy improvements occurred after marriage.
Before marriage, Xiao Jinsheng and Bai Yan's mental energy were both one star.
They married a year apart. Bai Yan's mental energy had already reached five stars, while Xiao Jinsheng's still remained at one star.
The star level of a female's mental energy was directly related to the level of star chart tasks and the durability of items issued by the terminal.
This was also why, even though Que Zelian had no feelings for Xiao Jinsheng, he still chose to let her improve her strength first.
Neither the original owner nor Xiao Jinsheng had ever seen a star stone before.
Following Que Zelian's guidance, she absorbed the star stone. The pure power of the star stone filled her with the energy needed to upgrade her mental energy to two stars, but Xiao Jinsheng's mental energy still showed no signs of advancing.
"Nothing's happening," Xiao Jinsheng said, looking at the star stone that had been absorbed and turned into a pile of dust in her palm, feeling confused.
Que Zelian was also bewildered.
He had seen Xiao Jinsheng's mental energy; it was at the critical point of breaking through to two stars. A level one star stone should have been more than enough, with even some energy to spare.
But the star stone's power entered Xiao Jinsheng's star sea and truly sank without a trace.
"Is there something wrong with my body?" Xiao Jinsheng touched her lower abdomen, starting to doubt herself.
"Wait a moment, I'll get someone to take a look," Que Zelian, also realizing something was wrong, went downstairs and called all four other men into the room.
Being surrounded by five handsome men on the bed, it was impossible for Xiao Jinsheng not to feel flustered, and perhaps even a little suggestive.
Fortunately, she still remembered the main point, casting aside the inappropriate thoughts in her mind and extending one hand to Yu Yunxiao and the other to Huai Qing. "Quickly, help me take a look. It can't be some terminal illness, right?"
"If I die, you all die too."
"We know, just shut up first," Yu Yunxiao said, first using his healing ability to examine her.
Tiny specks of warm-colored light danced over Xiao Jinsheng's body.
After examining Xiao Jinsheng from head to toe, Yu Yunxiao frowned. "She's fine."
Her physical condition was even better than his, despite his constant late nights playing games.
Her mental state was even far beyond that of the five men present.
Huai Qing also gently pressed his hand on Xiao Jinsheng's wrist, a soft blue-green light radiating from him.
After examining her, he also shook his head. "There's nothing wrong with her mind or body."
"Then why can we use star stones to upgrade, but she can't?" Que Zelian wondered.
"Perhaps it's because her ability is mental energy?" Huai Qing guessed. "Females are the only ones in the Misty Continent with mental energy abilities. Maybe their upgrade method is different from ours?"
The five men present were all married for the first time, and Xiao Jinsheng was the only female they had interacted with in this context, so they had no experience.
Moreover, only Xiao Jinsheng and Bai Yan's families lived in this area. The neighboring Bai Yan might have experience to share.
But thinking about Xiao Jinsheng's strained relationship with Bai Yan, none of the five men mentioned asking Bai Yan.
They were sure that mentioning Bai Yan would make Xiao Jinsheng explode.
"Maybe the star stone energy required for her mental energy is higher than ours. Anyway, we're going to the west of the Misty Continent tomorrow, so we'll find more star stones for her to absorb," Su Ye's golden eyes naturally revealed a fierce glint as he looked at Xiao Jinsheng.
But seeing her dejected expression, her head drooping as if she had a terminal illness, Su Ye silently swallowed the sarcastic words that were about to come out of his mouth.
Forget it. Since Xiao Jinsheng wasn't causing trouble, he wouldn't target her.
Otherwise, it would look like he was bullying a little female.
They packed the equipment needed to go to the west of the Misty Continent that night, just waiting for Xiao Jinsheng to get up and accept the star chart tasks.
Because of this, breakfast today was exceptionally lavish.
Huai Qing took charge of the kitchen, boiling meat porridge, grinding soybean milk, and even frying dough sticks.
Xiao Jinsheng savored the delicious food, almost shedding tears.
Yesterday's lunch, made by Que Zelian, had been bland and tasteless.