My Cousin Is Beautiful as a Fairy

Three days later.

"Did you really not sense anything else?"

"Mm."

Zhou Ming still would not give up. "Other than smoother skin and cultivating a little faster, there was nothing else?"

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

Three days ago, when she used spirit essence to eliminate the Turbid Qi, she had initially only meant to give it a try.

After her body could no longer absorb spirit essence, she began cultivating to see whether her talent and bone foundation had changed.

Her Jade Bone had cultivated only one technique. Though it was Pseudo-Jade Bone, it had already reached the complete Eighth Rank. She simply had not yet opened her first meridian, so she had yet to break through to Seventh Rank.

The best way to test one's bone foundation was Bone Tempering.

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

The moment she started, she was utterly shocked.

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

After consuming a great deal of vital blood to temper her bones, she was starving and bought a large amount of meat.

After eating, the efficiency at which she converted vital blood had actually doubled.

Only then did she completely believe that her talent and bone foundation had changed.

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

The instant Zhou Ming turned his head—

Jiang Jiang's soft cherry lips pressed against his.

"Mm!" His eyes widened in disbelief.

He had actually been forcibly kissed!

"Well, well, well! What are you two doing in broad daylight?"

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

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

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

Li Mu ignored her and walked to Zhou Ming's side with a smile. "You rogue, tell me—when did you two get together?"

Zhou Ming shot her a glance. "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 leap over the wall and flee, Jiang Jiang lightly patted her chest and let out a breath of relief.

Seeing this, Li Mu smiled and reached out a finger, gently lifting Jiang Jiang's delicate little chin.

"Tell me. When did you get together?"

Jiang Jiang blushed, her gaze somewhat evasive as she said softly, "We didn't."

"What? You weren't even together, and you kissed him?" Li Mu exclaimed quietly.

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

Li Mu sat in her chair, smiling brightly at her best friend.

Little girl.

Let's see how you plan to fool me.

While the two sisters were speaking heart-to-heart, Zhou Ming was already drinking with Huang Muheng.

He had come to find Huang Muheng not only because he had questions to ask, but also because he wanted to see how his first little white mouse was doing.

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

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

The questions Brother Zhou raised were all exceedingly strange.

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

How could such things have grades? They simply guided one on how to cultivate, where to begin, and what to do.

After pondering for a while, Zhou Ming continued, "Since there is no distinction of rank and they merely instruct people on how to cultivate, why not simply print the techniques and let everyone practice martial arts?"

Huang Muheng glanced at Zhou Ming and smiled. "Brother Zhou, you have asked the right person. An ordinary person truly might not be able to answer you."

"Please enlighten me, Brother Huang."

Huang Muheng waved his hand. "Brother Zhou, martial resources are limited. That is not merely something people say. Martial artists need to eat in order to convert vital blood."

"As cultivation progresses, they need increasingly more."

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

"For example, Great Medicines nurtured by heaven and earth, such as dragon ginseng and snow lotus."

Zhou Ming's mouth twitched.

Production could not keep up with consumption, then.

Still, 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 Medicine, I presume Brother Zhou has 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 need not feel embarrassed. Ordinary people have never seen Great Medicine, so it is understandable that they would wish to find someone to learn more from."

Damn.

So he was saying I lacked knowledge.

Zhou Ming said nothing and merely drank.

Huang Muheng then continued, "Other than providing a massive amount of vital blood, the more important function of Great Medicine is that it is the prerequisite for whether a Fifth-Grade martial artist can establish a Perfect Foundation."

Hearing this, Zhou Ming frowned and asked, "Great Medicine is also related to a Perfect Foundation?"

Huang Muheng said in surprise, "Brother Zhou, what have you been doing these past three days? Did you not read the techniques General Yang gave you? It is recorded in them!"

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

Huang Muheng's expression turned serious as he advised, "Brother Zhou, martial skills cannot be mastered in a day. They require accumulation day after day. The Six-Prefecture Grand Tournament is about to begin. I think you should first break through to Fifth Grade and focus on converting and condensing vital blood."

"With Jade Bones throughout your body and your Circulatory Acupoints complete, your fleshly body can support greater and denser vital blood."

"Martial skills can certainly increase your strength, but given your current state, breaking through or accumulating vital blood is the superior strategy."

Zhou Ming's expression turned strange.

He had merely made a casual excuse, yet this guy had actually begun advising him.

Born into an influential family, yet he had not developed an aloof, superior temperament. As expected of the little white mouse I chose.

Then I'll give him a bigger hand.

Zhou Ming smiled. "Brother Huang, I know what I am doing with cultivation. I came today because I have another question. After absorbing spirit essence, what changes occurred in your body?"

Brother! My dear brother! We're finally talking about this!

Huang Muheng roared inwardly.

After obtaining spirit essence for the first time, he had initially only dared absorb it one bead at a time.

Even when his body sent him signals of extreme craving, he did not dare absorb too much at once.

After all, he had no idea what this thing actually did.

Yet after absorbing all the spirit essence, he had not felt any changes.

He did not dwell on it and immediately began cultivating instead.

While cultivating, he had discovered in astonishment that his efficiency in converting vital blood had actually increased by ten percent.

He immediately could not hold himself back from wanting to find Zhou Ming, but then he remembered Zhou Ming's words telling him to experience the changes 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 obtained another large bottle of spirit essence from Zhou Ming and hurried home without stopping to absorb it.

After absorbing it, he felt out its effects.

Before he could go looking for Zhou Ming—

Zhou Ming had come to his door himself.

Huang Muheng stood, raised his wine cup, and bowed slightly. "Huang Muheng thanks Brother Yu Xi for bestowing this treasure."

Zhou Ming rose and helped him up with a smile. "Don't do this. You gave me cultivation techniques, and I gave you spirit essence. 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 Yu Xi bestowed upon me?"

Zhou Ming smiled. "Enough, enough. We're practically brothers. Cut it out and sit down."

A quarter of an hour later, after hearing Huang Muheng's account, Zhou Ming's eyes sharpened as he sank into thought.

Logically speaking, two small bottles of spirit essence could not have produced the effects Huang Muheng described.

Back then, Zhou Ming had spent half a month capturing spirit essence—so much that he could not even count it all—before achieving an Immaculate Body.

The day he removed Jiang Jiang's Turbid Qi, he had worked through an entire night.

The spirit essence he captured that night was no less than what he had caught during that half-month, perhaps even more.

The amount of spirit essence used to cleanse away Turbid Qi could differ between Jiang Jiang and him, but the difference could not have been that great.

But compared to Huang Muheng, it was the difference between heaven and earth.

Zhou Ming frowned as he looked at Huang Muheng.

Could it be that this guy had hardly any Turbid Qi in his body?

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

He knew that some heavenly treasures, if refined too quickly, would produce a toxin in the body during the conversion of vital blood. One would need to wait for some time for the fleshly body to expel the toxins on its own.

Zhou Ming smiled. "There is 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 the thing out!"

Zhou Ming turned to look.

The martial artist he had met once before was carrying a huge jade vat toward him.

Zhou Ming looked at the 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 make this vat and 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 child 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 scolded, "Then why are you bringing such a huge vat to hold spirit essence when we are neither related nor acquainted?"

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

He thought inwardly: So that's how it is.

He hurriedly threw an arm around Zhou Ming's shoulder. "Brother Yu Xi, 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 is your martial artist's pride?"

"Brother Yu Xi, you jest. You are such a handsome and outstanding rising star of the martial path. The moment my cousin sees you, she will surely fall for you. Asking my brother-in-law for something has nothing whatsoever to do with a martial artist's pride."

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

In the end, Zhou Ming left behind half a vat of spirit essence.

And told him that spirit essence could make up for deficiencies in one's bone foundation.