Cultivation, Contract

[Target: Bucktooth Insect Larva]

[Species: Bucktooth Insect]

[Unranked: 6%]

[Talents: Hard Shell, Sharp Teeth.]

[Status: Healthy, Timid.]

Looking at the information panel, Zhu Yu thought for a moment and silently said in his heart, Establish a model. Analyze the Bucktooth Insect larva and pair it with food suitable for its growth.

There was no analysis time. The True Sight Eye directly gave him the result.

[Required to cultivate a Bucktooth Insect: one tael of fresh flesh daily, one Firefly Petal daily, one Snake-Thread Grass Leaf daily.]

"Firefly Petal, Snake-Thread Grass Leaf..."

Zhu Yu froze for a moment. He was no stranger to those two names; they were precisely the information on the plants outside his door that he had recorded in his spare time. He had even named them himself.

"You're pretty easy to raise..."

Coming back to himself, Zhu Yu touched the Bucktooth Insect larva's slightly cool shell and smiled. Following the clamor, he headed over.

The first half of the road was mostly filled with all kinds of delicacies prepared from spiritual materials...

The middle stretch was lined with shops overflowing with spiritual radiance. Some sold talismans, magical artifacts, and pills; others sold all kinds of rice, flour, demon beast meat, and insect meat. There were even shops selling humanoid and beast-shaped puppets...

"They really do look like people. They're just a little too big..."

Zhu Yu glanced back at the tall figure within the puppet shop, sighed softly, and continued strolling onward.

There were fewer shops in the latter half of the street, replaced by stalls displaying ores that shimmered with strange spiritual light, exotic flowers and grasses wreathed in spiritual charm, and demon beast materials...

There were even proper—and improper—cultivators selling themselves.

It was a scene of flourishing prosperity.

By the time Zhu Yu returned to the stone house,

the waning moon beneath the dome had vanished without him noticing, and a full moon had begun to rise.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Zhu Yu swallowed a Soul Dispersing Pill and a bottle of Meditation Fluid. Rather than immediately sinking into meditation, a thought stirred in his mind, and he summoned the spell information recorded by the True Sight Eye.

Boom...

A vast stream of unfamiliar information surged from the depths of Zhu Yu's mind.

A short while later.

"Phew..."

Zhu Yu slowly exhaled, opened his eyes, and focused his gaze on himself.

[Zhu Yu]

[Age: 16/96]

[Spirit Root: Wood-Earth, Third Grade]

[Attributes: Body 1.1, Spirit 10.1]

[Technique: Basic Visualization Diagram, Minor Accomplishment, 35/1000. Trait: Spirit Condensing]

[Spells: First-Rank High-Grade: Cicada Pact (Incomplete), Not Initiated;

First-Rank Low-Grade: Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating (Incomplete), Not Initiated]

[Life-Bound: Underworld Yin-Nurturing Locust Tree]

Looking at the information panel, which was somewhat more luxurious than when he had first arrived, Zhu Yu nodded in satisfaction and turned his gaze to the spell, Cicada Pact.

[First-Rank High-Grade Spell: Cicada Pact]

[Cicada Song Dharma Vein Catalog missing: 87%. Spiritual materials needed to construct the spell missing: 76%. Derivation and analysis in progress: ...%. Estimated analysis time: ∝]

[Divine Sense Mark: Complete and cultivable. Use Divine Sense supplemented by essence blood to condense a Mark, controlling spirit insects as though they were one's own limbs.]

[Note: Using a Divine Sense Mark to contract spirit insects/spirit beasts of First-Rank Low-Grade or above carries a risk of losing control. The number that can be controlled is related to one's soul.]

"So it can't be analyzed..."

Zhu Yu frowned and closed his eyes, recalling the information on Cicada Pact.

Amid countless missing phrases and fragmented, unsystematic words, an incomplete Dharma Vein Diagram surfaced in his mind. Only one corner remained, its original shape impossible to discern, formed from lines of many colors.

"Too much of it is missing..."

Zhu Yu opened his eyes and shook his head faintly. He took an empty jade bottle, placed both index fingers in his mouth, and bit down hard. Crimson seeped forth.

Drops of blood fell into the bottle. Before long, a shallow layer had gathered at the bottom.

"That should be enough."

Zhu Yu grabbed the Bucktooth Insect larva, which had crawled into a corner of the bed, and recalled the key points for condensing a Divine Sense Mark. His Divine Sense quietly entered the bottle.

Condensing a Divine Sense Mark was not difficult. He only needed to fuse his Divine Sense with his own essence blood and trace it into a pictographic rune resembling "contract." That counted as success.

After only a few attempts, Zhu Yu successfully condensed a Divine Sense Mark. With a thought, a pictographic rune resembling "contract" flew from the mouth of the bottle and fused into the Bucktooth Insect larva in his palm.

In only a moment, a faint connection appeared in his Divine Sense. He vaguely felt that with a mere thought, he could command the Bucktooth Insect in his hand to move.

"Crawl down."

A thought stirred in Zhu Yu's mind.

The Bucktooth Insect's head and legs, curled within its shell, extended. It leaped from his palm onto the bed.

That also allowed Zhu Yu to finally see the Bucktooth Insect larva clearly.

Its head was broad and thick, covered in shell-like keratin. Its six legs were slender like an insect's jointed limbs. It was like a turtle and a beetle had been fused together—ugly in an oddly adorable way.

"Spin in circles..."

"Run left, run right..."

"Come back..."

As if he had gotten a novel toy, Zhu Yu kept the Bucktooth Insect larva running around until it was dizzy for a full quarter-hour before stopping. Gently stroking its shell, he said with a chuckle,

"From now on, you'll be called Little Black. Work hard and bring some glory to your master. Strive to become an Insect Cultivator!"

He had long coveted the Insect Cultivators the little-mustached stall owner had described—those natural masters of spiritual plants.

Turning mortal seeds into spiritual seeds.

Just thinking about it showed how formidable that talent was. Calling it a Divine Ability would not be an exaggeration. With an Insect Cultivator by his side, perhaps he would no longer need to worry about the resources required for his future cultivation.

Squeak...

Little Black let out a low cry, and a faint awareness, so weak it was nearly imperceptible, flowed over.

Perhaps because their hearts were linked,

Zhu Yu quickly understood what Little Black meant.

It was hungry.

Zhu Yu briefly sensed the state of the pills digesting in his stomach. Seeing that it would take some more time, he got out of bed, came to the door, tugged the rope beside it, and pushed the door open.

When he reached the patch of glowing grass outside, he quickly found the plants that would help Little Black grow.

[Target: Firefly Flower/Snake Thread Grass]

[Unranked: 99%]

[Medicinal Effects: Draw Spiritual Energy, Gather Spiritual Energy, Luminescence.]

[Status: Healthy.]

The Firefly Flower was a shrub, about three feet tall, with emerald-green branches and leaves. It bloomed with small white flowers the size of beans, lovely to behold. Snake Thread Grass was an herb; its leaves bore delicate scale-like patterns. Without looking carefully, they seemed like several snakes and insects tangled together.

Zhu Yu picked a little white flower and cut off a blade of grass. Just as he was about to return to the stone house, a curious voice sounded from beside him.

"What are you picking that for?"

Zhu Yu turned toward the voice. What met his eyes was a haggard face shadowed by heavy dark circles. He paused, then raised Little Black in his hand and smiled. "To feed the insect."

"Tch..."

Tong Xuan curled her lips. Just as she was about to say something, a wave of dizziness suddenly struck her. If she had not been leaning against the doorframe, she might have collapsed to the ground. After recovering, she took a deep breath and shook her head. Seeing Zhu Yu about to enter his room, she hurriedly called out,

"Did you know? Yuan Gan killed himself the day before yesterday."

"Hm?"

Zhu Yu was puzzled for a moment, then remembered. This man had been one of the original owner's only two fellow townsmen.

"Now, only you and I are left from the Great Yong Dynasty."

Seeing that his expression did not ripple in the slightest, Tong Xuan's gaze grew somewhat complicated. She forced a smile onto her face, raised a fist, and waved it. "Don't become expendable material... Senior Brother Zhu."

With that, she turned around with difficulty, supporting herself against the doorframe.

Just then, a gentle voice came from beside her.

"Mm. You too."

"Oh, right. If you have nothing to do tomorrow, you can come over and talk with me."