Accumulation

The Dragon-Elephant Blood-Baleful Body's entry-level mastery had brought Shen Mo tremendous changes. Now, he could be considered a dual cultivator of both body and magic.

For most of the following half month, he focused on consolidating and adapting to these changes.

In his spare time, he continued making pills and talismans as usual.

As promised, the Spirit-Hidden Rat came by every day to beg for meat.

At the same time, it brought a gift in return, repaying his kindness in kind.

Sometimes, it brought Mystic Crystal ore.

Sometimes, it brought low-grade spirit fruits that grew in the mountains and wilderness.

Sometimes, it brought back the desiccated corpse of a demon beast.

Sometimes, it even showed up, scampering over to present him with a Spirit Stone it had picked up from who knew where, eager to curry favor.

But it never again brought him a treasure like the jade slip containing the Dragon-Elephant Blood-Baleful Body.

Shen Mo was satisfied nonetheless.

After all, his job amounted to roasting meat for the Spirit-Hidden Rat to eat.

The meat came from the sect's own kitchen, so it cost him nothing; all he contributed was his labor.

Getting anything in return was already pretty good.

All he had to do each day was prepare the roasted meat and wait for it to bring him that day's gift.

The whole experience was like opening a blind box, and Shen Mo found himself looking forward to it.

With such a full schedule, time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, the two-month period guarding the Mystic Crystal Mine had come to an end.

"Today's the day we return to the sect."

Shen Mo washed his face and murmured as he gazed at himself in the bronze mirror.

"I've gained quite a lot over these two months."

When he and Chen Mengze had first come here, his only intention had been to get those fifty Spirit Stones, then slack off a bit and practice pill-making on the side.

But when fortune came knocking, there was no stopping it.

Not only had he gained Guo Zhao's friendship, obtained the Dragon Sparrow Sword from him, and learned the art of Artifact Forging,

he had also encountered the Spirit-Hidden Rat here, acquired an extraordinarily effective body-cultivation technique, and picked up all sorts of odds and ends.

These were gains he had never expected.

[Master of Destiny: Shen Mo]

[Cultivation: Body Tempering Realm, Ninth Heaven]

[Talisman Dao: (First Grade) 784/1000]

[Alchemy Dao: (First Grade) 597/1000]

[Artifact Forging: (Unranked) 300/500]

Shen Mo opened his status panel and examined his current experience points in the talisman arts, pill-making, and Artifact Forging, the three immortal-cultivation arts he had been practicing.

Over this period, he had made pills and talismans about equally often.

Yet his Alchemy Dao experience had increased much faster than his Talisman Dao experience.

The difference was thanks to the pill-making insights from the Red Cloud Cauldron, which had saved him from taking many wrong turns.

"Ninety-four Lesser Foundation Establishment Pills, thirty-one Qi Recovery Pills, and thirteen portions of Vitality Strengthening Powder."

"Twenty-two Light Body Talismans, six Separating Fire Talismans, four Focus Talismans, and three Strength Testing Talismans."

He took every pill and talisman out of his Qiankun Pouch and counted them.

It was quite a haul.

He had traded away all the pills and talismans from his first month for demon cores and demon corpses.

But as his experience continued to grow, Shen Mo had become more efficient at making pills and talismans. Over the past twenty-odd days, he had managed to save up quite a few more.

"Last of all, my Destiny situation!"

He opened the Destiny Panel and inspected his current base attributes.

[Body: Robust Physique]

[Aptitude: Superior Aptitude]

[Fortune: Mediocre Luck]

[Appearance: Dignified Appearance]

[Wits: Unremarkable]

[Fate: ???]

[Lifespan: ???]

"Three white, two green."

Over these two months, Shen Mo had accumulated a total of nineteen Destiny Points, all of which he had spent on improving his base Destiny.

But the failure rate was incredibly high.

He had staked all nineteen Destiny Points, one by one, and had only managed to raise his Wits from the gray-ranked "Naturally Dull" to its current white-ranked "Unremarkable."

"Overall, my current foundation of fate is only a little better than an ordinary person's."

Shen Mo wasn't satisfied, but neither was he disappointed.

After all, changing one's fate was never easy.

As long as he kept earning Destiny Points, sooner or later he would raise his destiny to a higher level.

The road was long and full of obstacles. He could take it one step at a time!

"Junior Brother Shen, the sect disciple taking over has arrived. Pack your things. We're leaving!"

Guo Zhao opened the door and entered the cave abode.

After telling Shen Mo this, he hurried out to speak with the disciple who had come to take over, handing over the roster, records, and other documents.

"Time to go?"

Shen Mo went to look for Chen Mengze. She was packing up, too.

He had already put everything he planned to take into his Qiankun Pouch.

But now that it was time to leave, he still felt a little empty inside.

"Ying! Ying!"

He could hear a series of beastly cries from far away.

At the same time, a dark blur darted toward Shen Mo.

The Spirit-Hidden Rat had come to beg for food again.

"Here, it's all yours."

Shen Mo had prepared ten jin of roasted meat and laid it all out in front of the rat.

"Ying! Ying!"

Usually, Shen Mo gave it no more than three jin of meat.

Ten jin was a first. Seeing such a huge portion, the Spirit-Hidden Rat was overjoyed, its tuft of hair bobbing wildly.

It soon began gobbling the meat down like a whirlwind.

As Shen Mo watched it eat, he gently stroked its soft, squishy body, reluctant to part with it. "I'm leaving. After this meal, you'll have to find your own food from now on."

"Ying!"

At his words, the Spirit-Hidden Rat froze and stared at him blankly. Suddenly, even the meat in its mouth didn't taste so good anymore.

Hadn't they agreed that it would find him gifts, and he would feed it?

It seemed Shen Mo could read the huge confusion in its tiny eyes.

Shen Mo sighed and said apologetically, "I'm a disciple of the River-Facing Sect. My assignment here was to guard the Mystic Crystal Mine, so I can't stay forever."

"My assignment is over today, and I have to return to the sect."

"You and I met by chance, and that's fate, but there's no feast that doesn't end."

"I'll make you some more roasted meat to keep, so you can eat it little by little after I'm gone."

As he spoke, Shen Mo changed tack. "Or, if you're willing to leave with me and come to the River-Facing Sect, I can promise you meat at every meal."

With that, he quietly watched the Spirit-Hidden Rat, waiting for it to decide.

The Spirit-Hidden Rat was quite intelligent and possessed a supernatural ability.

Although that ability didn't seem very impressive at present,

as long as the little fellow had something to eat, it would find things for him in return. The payoff was quite good.

Naturally, Shen Mo hoped he could bring it along and keep it by his side.

But in the end, that was up to the rat. Shen Mo couldn't force it.

"Ying!" The Spirit-Hidden Rat tilted its head back to look at Shen Mo, its tiny eyes seeming to ponder.

As far back as it could remember, it had always lived along the banks of the Lancang River. It had never ventured beyond the area.

Now that it was suddenly being asked to leave, the Spirit-Hidden Rat was deeply hesitant.

Besides, Shen Mo had said he would roast more meat for it. Even after he left, surely it wouldn't have to worry about running out of meat for a while?