Cultivation, Double Happiness

The crimson liquid fell onto the grave mound and immediately seeped into it.

Gurgle, gurgle...

As though a long drought had finally met sweet rain, faint sucking sounds drifted from within the grave mound.

By the time roughly one-tenth of the liquid in the vat had been depleted,

the black-red grains of earth on the grave mound took on a dark crimson hue. Zhu Yu stopped pouring the medicinal liquid, waved his hand to place a simple Spiritual Power restriction on the vat, then pressed his palm against the grave mound and stared intently.

[Unranked: 33%]

In just a short while, the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed's cultivation had risen by one percent. It was easy to foresee that once it finished digesting the cultivation liquid, its cultivation would rise even further.

"Not bad."

Delight surfaced on Zhu Yu's face. He nodded in satisfaction, withdrew his arm, and rose to his feet. Just as he was about to lift the vat and leave, the corner of his eye suddenly caught a familiar dark crimson streak of light.

His smile instantly froze. He hurriedly circulated his Spiritual Power, and a pale gray shield swiftly covered his body.

The next moment,

there came a muffled bang.

The dark crimson streak ignored Zhu Yu, who stood as though facing a formidable enemy, and plunged headfirst into the vat beside him. The Spiritual Power restriction covering its surface offered not the slightest resistance.

"This little bastard!"

Zhu Yu froze at first, then came back to himself with wild delight. This demon insect had delivered itself right into his net. Without a second thought, he pulled out a first-tier mid-grade "Ice Arrow Talisman" from his inner pocket, poured Spiritual Power into it, and activated it.

The three-inch-long icy-blue talisman silently turned to ash. An ice-blue arrow radiating bone-piercing cold manifested in the air. The instant it appeared, the surrounding temperature plunged to freezing, and glistening specks of frost began to gather.

Perhaps sensing the danger,

a dark crimson streak flew out of the vat. Yet rather than fleeing, it shot straight at Zhu Yu's face.

"Just what I wanted!"

Rather than being alarmed, Zhu Yu was overjoyed. With a slight movement of thought, the icy-blue arrow trembled faintly before abruptly vanishing.

The next moment,

Crack...

The ice arrow appeared before the black-red streak and crashed directly into it. The instant they touched, the arrow silently collapsed into countless glittering fragments, and an even colder wave of frost erupted violently.

Within a few breaths,

the Corpse Field within a ten-meter radius was coated in a thick layer of ice crystals. The Mantis Demon Insect at the center of the cold wave had no time to react before it was frozen into a lump and fell to the ground.

"Ha..."

At the sight, Zhu Yu was overjoyed. He wanted to step forward and inspect it, but after hesitating, he took out a "Thousand Vine Talisman" from his inner pocket, fed it Spiritual Power, and activated it.

The talisman silently turned to ash.

Under his control, the power contained within the talisman condensed into a slender vine as thick as a little finger, emerald green all over and covered in vicious backward-facing thorns. He sent it down into the Corpse Field, binding the frozen demon insect into a ball.

"Phew..."

Zhu Yu finally set his mind at ease. As a confinement-type talisman, the Thousand Vine Talisman not only bound its target but also absorbed the Spiritual Power within it, in turn strengthening itself.

With one side weakened and the other strengthened,

there was absolutely no way a mere first-tier low-grade Mantis Demon Insect could break free.

"Does this count as double happiness?"

Zhu Yu smiled. Raising his hand, he summoned the vine-wrapped demon insect into his palm. His Divine Sense swept over it, and after confirming that it was still alive and well, he nodded slightly.

After checking again to ensure the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed was unharmed, he lifted the vat of cultivation liquid beside him and gave it a look. The liquid inside had decreased by roughly one-twentieth.

"What an appetite!"

Zhu Yu was startled. The Mantis Demon Insect, no larger than a fist, had swallowed several times its own volume in medicinal liquid in only a few breaths.

After his surprise passed, the smile on his face deepened.

"Serves you right for being greedy. Now I've caught you, haven't I?"

The Mantis Demon Insect had probably gotten carried away drinking the medicinal liquid and had not even tried to evade him. Under normal circumstances, with its ghostlike speed, catching it would not have been so simple.

"Could it be that the medicinal liquid benefits it greatly? Is that why it didn't flee..."

After pondering this, Zhu Yu held the vine bundle imprisoning the demon insect in one hand and lifted the vat in the other, then turned and walked out of the Corpse Field.

When he returned to the courtyard,

perhaps sensing the demon insect's aura, Little Black cast Zhu Yu a sidelong glance with its pitch-black little eyes. Without a word, it turned around and tucked all six limbs, its head, and its tail into its shell.

"What a coward!..."

Zhu Yu shot it a speechless glare, shook his head, and stepped inside.

He put away the medicinal liquid used to cultivate the Fierce Tiger Corpse Seed.

Zhu Yu sat in the seat of honor in the living room and examined the vine bundle. With a thought, his fingertips prickled, and tiny crimson blood beads, lustrous as jade, seeped out and floated before him.

Once the blood beads had gathered into a mass roughly the size of a thumb, he nodded slightly. "That should be enough."

As he spoke, his Divine Sense entered the blood. Under its influence, the blood slowly formed a pictographic rune resembling the character "Qi."

Zhu Yu did not immediately imprint the contract Mark. Instead, he used his Divine Sense to stir the Mark left behind by the Ice Arrow Talisman and dispersed its power.

At once, some watery seepage trickled from beneath the vine bundle.

"Go!"

Zhu Yu did not dare slack off. With a thought, the "Qi" rune immediately flowed through the gaps in the vines and landed on the Mantis Demon Insect, which had just been unfrozen and was still not fully conscious.

As drops of blood seeped into it, a resisting will filled with rage surged forth. The "Qi" rune became unstable, faintly on the verge of collapsing.

Zhu Yu hurriedly extended his Divine Sense to stabilize the "Qi" rune while commanding the vines to tighten inward.

Creak...

One vicious backward-facing thorn after another pierced through the gaps in the Mantis Demon Insect's limbs, producing a chilling sound. Without spiritual radiance protecting its body, it held on for less than a few breaths before wisps of transparent blood began to seep out.

Buzz, buzz...

The Mantis Demon Insect's mouthparts emitted an urgent buzzing like that of a mosquito. Its will became even more violent and enraged, but bound by the vines, it could not move at all. Under Zhu Yu's Divine Sense, which was immense compared to its own, its will was gradually suppressed.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea,

the vine bundle on the table silently dissolved into specks of emerald spiritual light. A black-red streak shot out like lightning, reaching the living room doorway with speed too swift to cover one's ears.

Just as it flew out the door, the streak of light abruptly dimmed, revealing a fist-sized dark crimson mantis that seemed carved from jade. It dropped to the ground with a plop.

The next instant,

a gentle force carried it back into the living room and set it upon the palm of the handsome youth seated in the grand chair.

"Quite clever..."

Feeling the aggrieved and angry thoughts flowing through his connection with the demon insect, Zhu Yu considered for a moment. He raised a hand, and a stream of crimson medicinal liquid poured out from the nearby vat, landing in his palm and gathering into a mass the size of an adult's fist before stopping.

He set the medicinal liquid before it and asked with a smile,

"Little fellow, do you want to eat?"

As though it had caught the scent, the listlessly sprawled Mantis Demon Insect suddenly lifted its head. Its sesame-seed-sized eyes looked at the crimson medicinal liquid, then at Zhu Yu's smiling face.

After a humanlike moment of hesitation, it reluctantly crawled over to the crimson mass of liquid, opened its mouthparts, and took a fierce bite.

"Good..."

The corner of Zhu Yu's lips lifted. He reached out, intending to stroke the Mantis Demon Insect's head, but when he saw it raise its sickle-like forelimbs, he immediately abandoned the thought and said with a smile,

"Still quite the tsundere..."

Unlike Little Black, although the Mantis Demon Insect was only first-tier low-grade, it had already developed its own consciousness. Controlling it solely through a Divine Sense Mark was somewhat difficult.

Of course, he could forcibly control it and command it, but the consequence would be that the Divine Sense Mark would gradually shatter under its repeated resistance.

And if he wanted to form a contract with it again, it would not be so easy.

"Let me see exactly what innate spell you've awakened..."