You're a Good Person

The little girl in the bamboo basket on his back was incredibly surprised, astonished that Li Muyang had trusted her so easily.

Li Muyang, sprinting rapidly through the mountain forest, merely curled his lip—I've already died at that monster's hands hundreds of times; how could I not believe you?

However, there was naturally no need to tell the little girl such things.

As he tore through the woods toward the cave entrance he had come from, he said, "I'm not an idiot. You hate Black Cloud Stronghold so much, yet you don't want to leave, and you even took the initiative to persuade me to go back... then what you said must be true!"

"Otherwise, now that you've already left Black Cloud Stronghold, why would you want to go back? Do you really want to be a Soul-Lost One in the stronghold, getting your blood drained?"

Most of the demonic arts practiced in Black Cloud Stronghold required demonic blood as an essential ingredient.

And the blood of a Soul-Lost One was a type of demonic blood.

Therefore, if the little girl returned to the stronghold, she would have to serve as a blood bag, being drained of her blood frequently.

If there were a chance to escape Black Cloud Stronghold, the little girl would certainly be willing.

Li Muyang's words made perfect sense. The little girl in the basket paused for a moment, then gave a lonely smile.

"That's right... if one could leave, who would want to return to the stronghold?"

The little girl's tone was somewhat dejected.

This big brother was truly clever; he had thought of so much in an instant.

The way she had acted so smart in front of him earlier must have looked quite ridiculous in his eyes...

The little girl curled up in the bamboo basket, covering her face, feeling her cheeks burning hot.

After the little girl fell silent, Li Muyang looked up at the favorability bar in the top right corner of his vision.

[Little Wild Grass: 23 (She thinks you are very clever)]

It actually went up by another three points...

This little girl was truly strange.

Favorability that had been so difficult to grind before was now rising with ease; it had gone up three points in the time it took to say a few words.

As expected, one shouldn't follow the conventional interaction patterns of a game to progress the plot. If he had let himself go earlier and hadn't been restricted by the system's choices, he might have already reached the third stage by now.

Li Muyang ran through the mountain forest with the little girl on his back and soon returned to that pitch-black cave.

A tunnel deep within the cave led directly into the stronghold.

Following the path they had taken earlier, Li Muyang and the girl traveled through the gloomy underground for a long time before finally returning to the moonlit Black Cloud Stronghold.

It was already the middle of the night.

In the quiet stronghold, only the rustling of insects could be heard. All the stilt houses in his field of vision had their doors tightly shut; the villagers were all asleep.

Yet, seeing this dark and eerie stronghold now, Li Muyang let out a long sigh of relief, feeling a sense of security.

—Although he knew that it wasn't safe in the stronghold either.

But at the very least, as long as he didn't fall asleep while in the stronghold, he wouldn't encounter any danger.

After returning to the stilt house with the little girl in the bamboo basket, Li Muyang said, "You go to sleep first, rest for a while. We'll discuss the monster from your dreams when you wake up."

Hearing this, the little girl was stunned.

She had assumed that after Li Muyang carried her back, he would immediately ask her about the monster.

But now, instead of asking about it, Li Muyang was telling her to rest first...

The girl's eyes were full of confusion: "Big brother, aren't you curious about the monster that appeared in the dream?"

Li Muyang looked calm: "I am curious, but not right now. Go get some rest."

It was the middle of the night and everyone else was asleep; even if he knew the origins of the monster, could he go find someone else to help?

In any case, that was a matter for tomorrow.

Of course, the main reason Li Muyang was so eager for the little girl to sleep was that he was itching to see the rewards from the first stage.

Right now, he just wanted to quickly study the manual for the Residual Cloud Movement Technique and see how to cultivate it rapidly.

As for the later decryption process of the game, defeating the monster, and so on, he would deal with that after studying the Residual Cloud Movement Technique.

Li Muyang saved his progress again and told the little girl to get into bed.

The little girl hesitated for a moment, then obediently climbed onto the bamboo bed and lay down.

She curled up under the thin quilt, took the initiative to let Li Muyang lock the collar around her neck, and closed her eyes, looking obedient and sensible.

The favorability bar in the top right corner of Li Muyang's vision jumped again.

[Little Wild Grass: 25 (She thinks you are a good person)]

"?"

A question mark appeared above Li Muyang's head.

Just like that, in the middle of casual conversation, her favorability had gone up another 2 points?

Was it really this easy to raise that brat's favorability? Back at the start, he had been so good to her, so why hadn't her favorability budged an inch?

Li Muyang, his save file now closed, slowly opened his eyes.

The afternoon sunlight spilled over him, and the old tree beside the ridge danced in the wind, its leaves rustling with a soft, whispering sound.

On this mountainside, far removed from the bustle of humanity, it was truly tranquil.

From the woods not far away came the crisp, melodic chirping of birds.

Having exited the game, Li Muyang let out a long breath and stood up from the ridge.

"Suddenly, it feels like this favorability isn't so hard to grind after all..."

Li Muyang rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

Could it be that Little Wild Grass was the type who was cold on the outside but warm on the inside, the kind who was easy to fool once you got to know her?

But that didn't matter; what mattered now was the Residual Cloud Movement Technique!

He carefully studied the manual and discovered that the difficulty of cultivation was quite low; the only requirement was a sufficient supply of demon blood.

With enough demon blood to sustain the process, he could master it in three to five days.

Standing on the ridge after finishing the manual, Li Muyang stretched his body and hoisted the massive water bucket resting nearby.

The bucket was filled with cool mountain spring water. As Li Muyang stood on the ridge and cast the Lesser Cloud and Rain Art, the water in the bucket slowly rose, transforming into a swirling white mist.

This mist drifted outward, continuously shedding a sparse, gentle rain.

The rain, imbued with spiritual energy, fell upon the spirit field, steadily nourishing the seeds within.

The work of a spirit planter was quite easy; one only needed to perform the rain ritual once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

Li Muyang was not a workaholic like Guan Xiaoshun, who performed the rain ritual several more times a day than the average person.

He had no particular demands regarding the growth rate of the spirit grain. Once the two basic rain rituals were finished, Li Muyang tossed the massive water bucket into the tidy tile-roofed house and headed down the mountain with a clay pot in hand.

Outside the gathering place of the Demon Refining Sect's outer sect, there was a marketplace.

Today happened to be market day, and disciples from all seventeen settlements of the Demon Refining Sect's outer sect who had needs would come here to trade.

Beyond the usual establishments like brothels and taverns, the marketplace was filled with many low-level cultivators setting up stalls.

Some sold talismans or magical artifacts they had crafted themselves, while others sold surplus spirit rice... it was a dazzling array of goods, with everything one could imagine.

The environment of the Demon Refining Sect was generally quite insular; once outer sect disciples entered, it was difficult for them to leave easily, which had led to the formation of their own internal market ecosystem.

Li Muyang walked toward the marketplace while flipping through the Residual Cloud Movement Technique manual in his mind.

This Residual Cloud Movement Technique was a standard demonic art: powerful, quick to master, and highly damaging to the body.

Beyond the negative status effects incurred after use, the cultivation process itself also caused physical harm.

However, Li Muyang didn't care; all of his costs were exempted by the system.

As long as he could buy the necessary demon blood at the marketplace, he would be able to quickly master this formidable Residual Cloud Movement Technique.