Leaving Seclusion

When Shi Yu stood up from the Spirit-Gathering Array, she felt a wave of limp weakness wash over her entire body.

Anyone below the Golden Core Realm was still mortal; after over ten days of continuous seclusion, her stomach was already growling with hunger.

Opening the stone door of her main room, Shi Yu was about to head to the small kitchen to cook some spiritual grain when she looked down and saw someone sleeping at her doorstep.

Startled for a moment, she looked closer and saw that the person curled up sleeping peacefully at her doorway was none other than Qingzhou.

She bent down and nudged him gently.

Qingzhou opened his eyes blearily, his vision hazy, and murmured, “Sister.”

“Why are you sleeping here?”

He sat up, his smooth, unfastened silver hair pooling across the floor. He tilted his head up to gaze at Shi Yu, staring silently without speaking.

Through the life scale beneath his eye, Shi Yu faintly sensed the panic and dependence emanating from it.

She gently rubbed her temples, feeling that things had become rather troublesome.

Buying Qingzhou at the auction was merely because she didn't want to watch his flesh and blood stripped away for alchemy and artifact refining, but that was as far as her involvement went; she had no time or energy to worry about anything more.

Fortunately, Qingzhou seemed to understand this and did not put her on the spot. He quickly stood up and said, “I’ll prepare some food. Please wait a moment, Sister.”

“Alright.” Shi Yu gave a slight nod. Watching his departing back, she sat down at the table and surveyed the cave dwelling.

During her days in seclusion, Qingzhou had managed the cave dwelling quite well.

In the medicinal field, all the weeds had been pulled, and the soil had been loosened and turned with a hoe until it was soft and fertile. Heavenly Scent Rice seeds were evenly sown inside, and after being irrigated with diluted Life Spring water, they had already sprouted into a lush, vibrant green carpet.

It was far more meticulous than when Shi Yu had grown spiritual grain herself.

Looking around at the rest of the dwelling, the various items were arranged neatly, and a few spiritual flowers had been added for decoration, making the space feel pleasant and refreshing.

Since Qingzhou had given her his life scale, he would never harbour thoughts of betrayal. Having him handle the mundane chores and manage the cave dwelling gave Shi Yu much peace of mind.

She looked away and closed her eyes to examine her internal state.

Inside her dantian, fifty-five Qi cyclones breathed spiritual energy in and out, diffusing a vast aura of crimson light. The yellow sprout Dao Foundation was crystal-clear and translucent, its tiny leaves trembling gently in harmony with the rhythm of the Qi cyclones.

The effects of the Xianyun Dew were outstanding. Half a month of secluded meditation had not only allowed her to smoothly break through to the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Realm, but the momentum of her spiritual energy growth had remained unabated. With the aid of the spirit node and Spirit-Gathering Array, she had leaped directly into the mid stage of the fifth layer.

“I’ve only just broken through. Once my cultivation fully stabilizes, the Dragon Bamboo Grass should be mature as well.”

If she could use the Dragon Bamboo Grass to break through straight to the seventh layer of the Qi Refining Realm and enter the late stage, that would be ideal... By then, she could refine the Fate-Tapping Bell—which had gone unchanged for a long time—even further, granting her another boost.

Shi Yu opened her eyes, reasonably satisfied with this pace of cultivation.

Now at the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Realm, she possessed a wider array of methods she could utilize across the four auxiliary arts: artifact refining, alchemy, array formations, and talismans.

Shi Yu planned to refine a spirit robe first after finishing her meal.

With her current cultivation, refining a Tier-3 artifact was still somewhat difficult, but fortunately, she had Slaughter Spring water, which was effective enough for tempering and enhancement.

Furthermore, stored inside the Fate-Tapping Bell were the corpses of two spirit beasts whose cultivations were close to the Golden Core Realm. Using these as spiritual materials, even if the refined artifact fell short of Tier 3, its effectiveness would likely be close.

“The two bolts of Mist-Cloud Silkworm silk gifted by Master Ji are naturally great for refining a spirit robe, but what else should I pair with them?”

Her fingertips lightly tapped the table as a complete design for the spirit robe gradually formed in her mind, and she selected several spiritual materials with matching attributes.

From the two spirit beast corpses, Shi Yu harvested over sixty tail scales from the Scarlet Flame Void-Cleaving Python and a handful of down feathers from the Moon-Embracing Kite-Falcon, intending to craft a wind-and-fire attribute spirit robe.

There were plenty of usable spiritual materials on the two corpses, but in the short term, she would likely have no other opportunity to acquire materials of such quality. Using them now to refine a Tier-2 artifact was somewhat heart-wrenching.

A Tier-2 artifact would not accompany her for long; she would probably need to replace it before too long.

Therefore, the materials harvested this time mostly avoided the prime sections, taking only minor bits from the edges to avoid waste.

Yet even these minor parts were far superior to ordinary spiritual materials.

“Once I reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, I can refine a natal magic treasure.”

“A natal magic treasure placed inside the Purple Mansion for continuous refinement and nourishment will grow in power along with my strength, so materials like these won't be wasted then.”

Having settled her thoughts, Qingzhou happened to arrive right then, carrying a tray of food.

Shi Yu withdrew her thoughts and gave him a faint nod. “Eat together.”

Qingzhou softly agreed, sitting beside her with lowered eyelashes to dish out her food.

As she took the dish, Shi Yu accidentally touched his hand, noticing his fingers flinch back.

Shi Yu paused, pulling back his sleeve, only to reveal that the back of Qingzhou's hand and fingers were covered in fiery-red burns.

She was stunned for a moment. “Did you do this while cooking?”

Qingzhou hastily pulled his sleeve back down and mumbled softly, “It’s nothing.”

“Are you afraid of fire?” Only then did Shi Yu recall that half of his bloodline came from the Snakefolk clan, so he was naturally fearful of fire.

Qingzhou remained silent, hesitating for a long moment before nodding.

Seeing how meticulously he managed the cave dwelling, he was clearly quite neat and capable in his work. Even if he feared fire, how could he end up so clumsily covered in burns?

Shi Yu couldn't quite figure it out, nor did she dwell on it. She took out several pain-relieving and healing spiritual plants from the Fate-Tapping Bell, refined them slightly in her palm, and once they melted into a lump of liquid medicine, she lifted Qingzhou's hand and applied it over his burns.

Taking healing pills for minor burns like these would be overkill; applying this liquid medicine would heal them in just a short moment.

Qingzhou kept his head lowered and eyes cast down, watching Shi Yu's fingertips spread the liquid medicine, a tinge of red dusting the tips of his ears.

Shi Yu did not notice. Finishing up, she withdrew her hand and said, “You don't need to do these tasks in the future. When I find some free time, I’ll hire a few servants to handle cooking.”

Unexpectedly, Qingzhou froze for a moment and hurriedly demurred, “I... I’ll adapt after a while. You don't need to look for anyone else, Sister...”

“I definitely won't get burned again in the future.”

So confident?

Shi Yu sized him up and blinked. “Let’s eat first.”

The food tasted quite good, better than what she made herself. Having gone hungry for over ten days in a row, Shi Yu had quite an appetite.

The Heavenly Scent Rice was soft and fragrant upon entry; as soon as it was swallowed, it transformed into pure, clean grain Qi that flowed into her limbs and bones, quickly relieving her physical hunger.

“Did that kid Ji Yu leave?”

Qingzhou nodded. “Mhm, he left two days ago. He left a message saying that if you plan to enter the Nightmare, don't forget to take him along.”

Shi Yu chuckled softly and shook her head. “What nerve.”

She would make time later to visit Master Ji to see if she could glean any news regarding Nightmares.

“Right.” Shi Yu raised her eyes to look at Qingzhou and pulled out the spirit-measuring ruler. “Grasp this and give it a try.”

She sensed an extremely faint fluctuation of spiritual energy on Qingzhou, guessing it was innate to his bloodline.

With a spirit beast bloodline in his body, he ought to be able to cultivate.

The Snakefolk clan of the North Rock Desert were Earth-attribute spirit beasts. Since Qingzhou possessed half of that bloodline, he should also have an Earth-attribute Spiritual Meridian. Shi Yu wanted to see the quality of his spiritual meridian.

Qingzhou paused before gripping the spirit-measuring ruler. A thin blue line emerged and slowly climbed upward.

Blue?

Shi Yu was slightly surprised. He possessed a Water-attribute Spiritual Meridian?

That was strange.

Spirit beasts were different from humans. Among humans, even blood relatives having entirely different spiritual meridian attributes was completely normal.

However, the Five-Elements attributes of spirit beasts were fixed; an entire clan shared the same attribute.

Moreover, in offspring of spirit beasts and humans, the spirit beast portion of the bloodline usually proved more dominant, fixing the offspring's Five-Elements attribute accordingly.

As for Qingzhou... there was an exception to every rule, it seemed.

Shi Yu was about to ask Qingzhou if he needed her to obtain a few Water-attribute cultivation manuals for him to practice, but Qingzhou saw through her thoughts, put down the spirit-measuring ruler, and said, “Sister, my bloodline carries a heritage.”

This was another difference between spirit beasts and humans in cultivation—they didn't need to laboriously search for cultivation manuals, as they possessed innate heritage within their bloodlines.

However, there was one catch: the purity of the spirit beast bloodline directly affected the completeness of the heritage, making it a double-edged sword.

Shi Yu refrained from saying more. Looking at the spirit-measuring ruler, she raised an eyebrow.

The marking had reached the very top.

Her spirit-measuring ruler was crudely refined, capable of measuring only Low-grade Spiritual Meridians.

Thus, Qingzhou possessed at least a Medium-grade Spiritual Meridian.

“Cultivate well.”

Qingzhou softly acknowledged her.

After the two finished eating, Shi Yu returned to her main room and set to work preparing to refine the spirit robe, processing the spiritual materials one by one.