My Cousin Is Beautiful as a Fairy

Three days later.

"Did you really not feel anything else?"

"Mm."

Zhou Ming still refused to give up. "Other than your skin getting smoother and cultivation becoming a little faster, there was nothing else?"

Jiang Jiang's pretty face flushed crimson. She shot him a glare. "My talent and innate constitution completely changed. How is that just cultivating faster, like you said?"

Three days ago, when she used spiritual energy to eliminate the Turbid Qi, she had only been willing to give it a try.

After her body could no longer absorb spiritual energy, she began cultivating to see whether her talent and innate constitution had changed.

She had cultivated only one technique for her Jade Bone. Though it was Pseudo-Jade Bone, she had already reached the pinnacle of Eighth Rank. She simply had yet to open her first meridian, so she had not broken through to Seventh Rank.

The best way to test one's innate constitution was Bone Tempering.

She directly began cultivating a second Eighth Rank Bone Tempering technique.

That single attempt left her utterly shocked.

In just half a day, she had cultivated the technique to perfection and tempered another twenty-three Jade Bones.

After consuming a huge amount of blood qi to temper her bones, the famished Jiang Jiang bought a great deal of meat.

After eating, the efficiency with which she converted blood qi had actually doubled.

Only then did she fully believe that her talent and innate constitution had changed.

Jiang Jiang looked at Zhou Ming, who was sitting beside her, and softly called, "Zhou Ming."

The moment Zhou Ming turned his head—

Jiang Jiang's soft, moist cherry lips pressed against his.

"Mm!" His eyes widened in disbelief.

He had actually been forcibly kissed!

"My, my, my! In broad daylight, what are you two doing?"

Li Mu's teasing voice rang out in the courtyard.

Before Zhou Ming could even savor his first kiss, the cherry lips pressed against his had already fled.

Jiang Jiang turned around, her pretty face bright red as she looked at Li Mu. "Mu Mu, it's not what you think!"

Li Mu ignored her and instead walked over to Zhou Ming with a smile. "You lecher, tell me. When did you two get together?"

Zhou Ming glanced at her. "Ask Jiang Jiang yourself. It's not what you think. I'm going to find Brother Huang."

With that, he vanished from the small courtyard as though fleeing for his life.

Watching Zhou Ming vault over the wall and flee, Jiang Jiang gently patted her chest and let out a sigh of relief.

Seeing this, Li Mu smiled and extended a finger, lightly lifting Jiang Jiang's delicate chin.

"Tell me, when did you two get together?"

Jiang Jiang blushed, her gaze shifting evasively as she said quietly, "We didn't."

"What? You weren't together, and you kissed him?" Li Mu gasped softly.

Jiang Jiang slapped her hand away and said coyly, "It really isn't what you think. Listen to me."

Li Mu sat in a chair, smiling as she looked at her best friend.

Little missy.

Let's see how you're going to fool me.

While the two sisters were opening their hearts to each other, Zhou Ming was already drinking with Huang Muheng.

Other than having questions to ask Huang Muheng, he also wanted to see how his first little guinea pig was doing.

Though there had already been a successful case, he still needed to observe him and see whether there were any new changes.

"Brother Zhou, cultivation techniques have no distinction in rank. They merely have different focuses." Huang Muheng looked at Zhou Ming strangely.

The questions Brother Zhou asked were all exceedingly strange.

Today, he had even come to ask whether cultivation techniques had ranks.

How could this thing have ranks? It merely taught people how to cultivate, where to begin, and what to do.

After pondering for a while, Zhou Ming continued, "Since there is no distinction in rank and they simply guide people in cultivation, why not just print the techniques and let everyone practice martial arts?"

Huang Muheng glanced at Zhou Ming and smiled. "Brother Zhou, you've asked the right person. An ordinary person truly wouldn't be able to answer that."

"Please enlighten me, Brother Huang."

Huang Muheng waved his hand. "Brother Zhou, martial resources are limited. That isn't merely a figure of speech. Martial Artists need to eat in order to convert blood qi."

"As cultivation progresses, more and more is required."

"Ordinary meat can no longer satisfy those needs, so heavenly treasures must make up the difference."

"For instance, great medicines nurtured by heaven and earth, such as dragon ginseng and snow lotus."

Zhou Ming's mouth twitched.

So production couldn't keep up with consumption.

But that had nothing to do with me. I could just Consume Heaven and Earth's Essence.

Huang Muheng filled Zhou Ming's cup with wine and smiled. "Speaking of great medicines, I presume Brother Zhou has already heard of the final reward for this Martial Examination."

Zhou Ming froze.

Where was I supposed to hear about it?

Seeing that Zhou Ming did not reply, Huang Muheng smiled. "Brother Zhou, there is no need to feel embarrassed. Ordinary people have never seen a great medicine, so it is understandable that you would want to find someone to learn more about them."

Damn.

So he was saying I was ignorant.

Zhou Ming said nothing and merely drank.

Huang Muheng then continued, "Other than providing a huge amount of blood qi, the more important use of great medicines is that they are a prerequisite for whether a Fifth Grade Martial Artist can establish a Perfect Foundation."

Hearing this, Zhou Ming frowned and asked, "Great medicines are related to a Perfect Foundation as well?"

Huang Muheng said in surprise, "Brother Zhou, what have you been doing these past three days? Didn't you read the technique General Yang gave you? It's recorded in the technique!"

Zhou Ming calmly replied, "I was cultivating martial techniques!"

Huang Muheng's expression turned serious as he advised, "Brother Zhou, martial techniques cannot be mastered in a single day. They require accumulated effort over time. The Six-Prefecture Grand Tournament is coming soon. I think you should first break through to Fifth Grade and focus on converting and condensing blood qi."

"Once the Jade Bones throughout your body and the acupoints of your heavenly cycle are complete, your physical body will be able to support more and denser blood qi."

"Martial techniques can certainly increase one's strength, but given your current situation, breaking through or accumulating blood qi should be the priority."

Zhou Ming wore an odd expression.

He had only casually said it to brush him off. He had not expected this guy to start lecturing him instead.

Born into a powerful noble family, yet he had not developed an arrogant temperament. He truly was worthy of being the little guinea pig I chose.

Then I should help him a little more.

Zhou Ming smiled. "Brother Huang, I know what I'm doing with cultivation. I came today because I have another question. What changes occurred in your body after absorbing spiritual energy?"

Brother! My dear brother! We've finally gotten to this!

Huang Muheng screamed inwardly.

After obtaining spiritual energy for the first time, he had initially only dared to absorb it one pellet at a time.

Even though his body sent him an intensely craving signal, he did not dare absorb too much at once.

After all, he did not know exactly what the stuff did.

Yet after he absorbed all of the spiritual energy, he did not feel any changes.

He did not dwell on it and immediately began cultivating.

While cultivating, he was astonished to discover that the efficiency with which he converted blood qi had increased by ten percent.

He immediately could not wait to find Zhou Ming, but then he recalled Zhou Ming's words telling him to experience the changes for himself.

By the time he finished experiencing them, it was already the day of the Martial Examination.

On the day of the Martial Examination, he received another large bottle of spiritual energy from Zhou Ming and hurried home to absorb it.

After absorbing it, he experienced the effects.

Before he could go find Zhou Ming—

Zhou Ming had come to his door himself.

Huang Muheng rose to his feet, picked up his wine cup, and bowed slightly. "Huang Muheng thanks Brother Yuxi for bestowing this treasure."

Zhou Ming stood and helped him up with a smile. "Don't do this. You gave me cultivation techniques, and I gave you spiritual energy. Neither of us owes the other anything."

Huang Muheng looked solemn as he said, "How could a mere cultivation technique compare to the treasure Brother Yuxi bestowed upon me?"

Zhou Ming smiled. "Enough, enough. We're practically brothers. Don't do this. Sit down and talk."

A quarter of an hour later, after hearing Huang Muheng out, Zhou Ming's gaze sharpened as he fell into thought.

Logically speaking, two small bottles of spiritual energy should not have been enough to achieve the effects Huang Muheng described.

Back then, he had spent half a month capturing spiritual energy, so much that he could not even count it all, before achieving an Immaculate Body.

When he had removed the Turbid Qi from Jiang Jiang that day, he had worked through the entire night.

The spiritual energy he captured in that one night was no less than what he had captured during that half month.

Even if the amount of spiritual energy used to cleanse Jiang Jiang's Turbid Qi differed greatly from his own, it should not have differed by that much.

But compared to Huang Muheng, it was like heaven and earth.

Zhou Ming frowned as he looked at Huang Muheng.

Could it be that there was barely any Turbid Qi in this guy's body?

Seeing Zhou Ming's deeply furrowed brows, Huang Muheng was startled and hurriedly asked, "Brother Zhou, did I absorb it too quickly? Did toxins form in my body?"

He knew that if some heavenly treasures were refined too quickly, they would produce a toxin in the body during the conversion of blood qi. One had to wait a certain amount of time for the physical body to expel the toxins on its own.

Zhou Ming smiled. "There's no problem at all. Absorb it without worry. Go bring the jade bottle over."

Huang Muheng's eyes lit up as he shouted into the distance, "Bring it out!"

Zhou Ming turned to look.

The Martial Artist he had met once before was carrying a large jade vat toward him.

Zhou Ming looked at the large vat before him, speechless.

Huang Muheng patted the vat and smiled. "Brother Zhou, it would be too embarrassing to trouble you every time. I specially spent a great sum to have this vat made so we can settle it all at once."

"Do you have an older sister?"

Huang Muheng froze, not understanding why Zhou Ming had suddenly asked that.

Still, he answered, "I am the second son in my family. I only have an elder brother, no elder sister."

"Then do you have a younger sister?"

Huang Muheng shook his head. "No."

Zhou Ming laughed and cursed, "Then we're neither family nor friends. Why did you bring such a huge vat to hold spiritual energy?"

The moment those words left his mouth, Huang Muheng's eyes lit up. He understood!

So that's how it is.

He hurriedly threw an arm around Zhou Ming's shoulder. "Brother Yuxi, that is not quite right. I have a cousin, beautiful as a fairy. I'll introduce you two!"

Hearing this, Zhou Ming stared at him in astonishment. "Where's your Martial Artist's pride?"

"Brother Yuxi, you jest. You're such a handsome and outstanding rising star of the martial path. Once my cousin sees you, she will surely fall for you. Asking my brother-in-law for things has nothing to do with a Martial Artist's pride."

Looking at the shameless Huang Muheng and listening to his increasingly outrageous words—

In the end, Zhou Ming left behind half a vat of spiritual energy.

And told him that spiritual energy could make up for deficiencies in one's innate constitution.