Master-Servant Pact

Inside the Fate-Tapping Bell, all twenty-or-so fruits hanging from the Dragon Bamboo Grass had matured. Shi Yu harvested every last one and stored them beside the Life Spring water, though she was in no hurry to consume them.

She had only just broken through, so her cultivation was still somewhat unstable. To avoid an unsteady realm, it was better to wait until her cultivation solidified before consuming the Dragon Bamboo Fruits.

“Cultivation cannot be rushed for quick gains. Steady progress and consolidating one's foundation are what truly matter.”

There was less than half a year left until the Alchemy Exchange Conference in Hengze Prefecture. It would be best if she could use the Dragon Bamboo Fruits to break through to the seventh layer of the Qi Refining Realm in one go.

Only by stepping into the late stage of the Qi Refining Realm would she have the confidence to attempt refining Tier-3 pills and compete for the top spot.

Looking inside the Fate-Tapping Bell, the medicinal field beside the Life Spring water was vibrant with life. Rare spiritual plants such as Dragon Bamboo Grass, Seven-Star Blood Vine, Heavenly Tone Lotus, and Nutmeg Orchid were nourished by the spring's life force, growing vigorously with lush, thick foliage, their medicinal potency increasing rapidly.

“Growing inside the Fate-Tapping Bell for one month probably yields as much growth in medicinal potency as a year in the outside world,” Shi Yu estimated conservatively.

Her eyes swept over each spiritual plant.

Even after the Dragon Bamboo Fruits were harvested, the Dragon Bamboo Grass could continue to bloom and bear fruit, serving as a stable source of spiritual fruit. Consuming too many of these spiritual fruits would greatly diminish their effectiveness, so even if she no longer needed them in the future, selling them off would still net her a tidy sum of spirit stones.

Furthermore, items like the Seven-Star Blood Vine and Heavenly Tone Lotus had all grown a size sturdier than before. What were originally ordinary-quality specimens could now be considered quite excellent.

Though still a bit shy of the top-tier, supreme grade, given another stretch of time, they would surely match it. In any case, she had no immediate need for these spiritual plants; by the day she did, their medicinal potency would undoubtedly be at its peak.

And... Shi Yu looked closer and discovered with pleasant surprise that several new sprouts had unknowingly emerged from the roots of these spiritual plants that had been planted for quite some time.

This was a pleasant surprise indeed.

She carefully separated the new sprouts and planted them a short distance away from the parent plants.

Fortunately, she only planted rare and hard-to-find spiritual plants in the medicinal field, leaving plenty of open space.

The others were fine, but as for the Heavenly Tone Lotus... a full three delicate new shoots had sprouted at its base, which delighted Shi Yu immensely.

The Heavenly Tone Lotus was the main ingredient for the Foundation Establishment Pill. For such a rare item, the more, the better.

Foundation Establishment was divided into three tiers: Heavenly Dao, Earthly Dao, and Mortal Dao.

Each tier was further divided into nine grades.

Foundation Establishment was the first major threshold on the path of cultivation, as well as the foundation for all future progress. To achieve greater heights, higher tiers during Foundation Establishment were naturally preferable.

With the lowest, Mortal Dao Foundation Establishment, a cultivator's realm would inevitably be capped at Foundation Establishment for life. But with Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, advancing straight to the Golden Core Realm was a given, and even the Nascent Soul Realm was within reach.

Planning ahead, Shi Yu needed to prepare early. If she waited until the verge of a breakthrough only to lack resources, panicking then would be useless and merely waste precious time.

Her original Supreme-grade Fire-attribute Spiritual Meridian had been extracted. Although her newly formed spiritual meridian grew day by day, it was still somewhat slow, remaining at Low-grade even now.

With such spiritual meridian aptitude, her chances of achieving even Earthly Dao Foundation Establishment were slim.

However, if she had sufficient resources... such as an endless supply of Foundation Establishment Pills to pop like candy, piled high with various heavenly materials and earthly treasures, achieving Earthly Dao Foundation Establishment might actually be well within reach.

With that thought, Shi Yu looked at the newly sprouted Heavenly Tone Lotus shoots with an even softer gaze. She even generously set aside a full drop of Life Spring water, diluted it slightly, and thoroughly watered the shoots.

The snow-pure petals of the Heavenly Tone Lotus trembled gently, becoming increasingly translucent and exquisite.

“Grow well. I'll water you often.”

Shi Yu withdrew her divine sense from the Fate-Tapping Bell and walked out of the main room.

Half a month ago, influenced by Qingzhou's breakthrough, her own cultivation had grown, allowing her to sense an opportunity to break through as well. Without having time to ask him questions, she had hurriedly returned to the main room to enter secluded cultivation.

Now that she had emerged, she intended to ask Qingzhou what had actually happened.

The silver-haired, silver-eyed youth sat with his head bowed by the spirit spring, his finger flicking the water's surface to create ripples, causing several spirit fish to leap and play around his hand.

Hearing her footsteps, he turned his head, his eyes curving and lips arching into a smile. “Sister, you're out of seclusion.”

Having undergone a snake molt, he now looked to be about the same age as her, making the word “Sister” feel a bit awkward to hear.

And... Shi Yu only now recalled that since he possessed spirit beast bloodline, his growth rate naturally could not be measured by human standards. Though he looked sixteen or seventeen on the outside, who knew how old he actually was on the inside?

Shi Yu cleared her throat lightly. “Call me Ah Yu.”

Qingzhou had always obeyed her words, so he softly murmured, “Ah Yu.”

Two plain words spoken by a youth of extraordinary beauty somehow gained a touch of delicate tenderness.

Shi Yu sat down across from him, glanced at the few spirit fish in the spring, and casually remarked, “They're getting pretty plump.”

Qingzhou's finger didn't stop teasing the fish, but he smoothly agreed, “We can slaughter them for steamed fish.”

Shi Yu had only mentioned spirit fish offhandedly before, and Qingzhou had specifically bought them to raise. Perhaps due to his bloodline, the spirit fish were very affectionate toward him, swimming back and forth around his fingers. One wondered if they would scatter in panic if they understood his words.

Shi Yu chuckled, then brought up the real matter. “The day you broke through to the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Realm...”

She stroked the silver life scale beneath her eye. The scale, which usually remained hidden, surfaced on her skin like natural makeup. “A surge of cultivation seemed to flow through the life scale into my meridians.”

“The day I gave you my life scale was when I formed a contract with you,” Qingzhou nodded. “In fact, every time my realm breaks through, this happens. It's just that my cultivation was low before, so the boost to you was negligible and naturally went unnoticed.”

“Only this breakthrough to the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Realm, crossing from the early stage to the mid stage, finally brought you some noticeable benefit.”

Shi Yu lowered her hand. “I see. The life scale actually serves such a purpose. Advancing together, sharing life and prosperity.”

Unexpectedly, Qingzhou shook his head. “It's not sharing life and prosperity.”

By offering up his life scale, he had effectively submitted his life and soul origin to Shi Yu. In the future, as his cultivation grew and his lifespan lengthened, Shi Yu would receive a share of the benefits.

Further down the line, when he unlocked innate divine abilities through cultivation, Shi Yu could also borrow his spirit beast power through the life scale to cast divine abilities carved into his bloodline origin.

However, it did not work in reverse. Whether Shi Yu's cultivation grew or her lifespan increased, Qingzhou would gain no benefit whatsoever. In fact, if Shi Yu suffered a heavy injury, Qingzhou would bear the damage as well.

If she were to perish, Qingzhou's soul would shatter instantly, dying alongside her.

—This was a one-sided Master-Servant Pact.

Hearing this, Shi Yu frowned slightly. “This pact is too domineering. Can't it be changed to some other mutually beneficial contract?”

To be honest, she did feel a sense of absolute control over Qingzhou. But as they spent more time together and gradually became companions, this sense of control felt a bit too overbearing.

Qingzhou curled his lips into a light smile. “Naturally, there are others.”

With that, his silver eyes, bright as twin moons, rippled softly as he looked at her.

Before Shi Yu could ask further, he changed the subject: “Thanks to those bottles of python blood you gave me, Ah Yu, I benefited greatly and was able to make such rapid progress.”

The Scarlet Flame Void-Cleaving Python blood was indeed good stuff. After all, it came from a beast close to the Golden Core Realm, and the Scarlet Flame Void-Cleaving Python clan possessed outstanding talent among serpent spirit beasts.

Still, Qingzhou's progress was astonishingly fast. In so short a time, he had already reached the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Realm.

“It's good as long as it benefits you.” Shi Yu pulled out a few more bottles and handed them to him. “I haven't gone down the mountain in a long time. I'll go check on the shop.”