Improvement, Part Two

These were the two Demon Talisman Seeds he knew best.

Wrapped in vines, they were held up before him as though offered in cupped hands.

"Good job." Lin Xin praised it and took the Demon Talisman Seeds.

Both Demon Talisman Seeds were covered in blood, clearly won after a fierce struggle.

Quickly building a bonfire, Lin Xin took out the three Demon Talisman Seeds from before and tossed them all into the flames.

Threads of red mist turned into crimson strands that drifted over and slipped into his nostrils.

Three points of free attributes flowed in, and Lin Xin turned his gaze to his attributes.

"My damage is sufficient. What I lack now is constitution. If I'm not mistaken, constitution should be..."

He recalled the predictions and analyses he had made before. He had conducted detailed tests on every attribute point.

Especially Evasion and Constitution, which he had always overlooked.

"...It should determine the body's recovery and innate constitution. Innate constitution may be the key that affects one's lifespan. Unfortunately, raising my cultivation no longer grants free attributes." Ever since some time ago, he had noticed that increasing the Returning Origin Art no longer left him with surplus attribute points, though he did not know why.

Lin Xin frowned slightly. He carefully spread spiritual energy throughout every part of his body, sensing the changes within himself, then added all three attribute points to Constitution.

His Constitution shot straight from two points to five.

Standing in the shadowy courtyard, he initially felt no major change. After a while, though, a faint heat began to rise in his heart.

The center of his chest was the hottest, as though a ball of fire were burning there. His muscles and bones also seemed to be soaking in warm water, feeling exceptionally comfortable.

Hiss!

Yin Manto reacted before he did. It had previously devoured too much Blood Essence, including the flesh and blood of a Demon King at the Golden Core realm. Now, it had suddenly received the boost from Lin Xin's three Constitution points.

All its branches and leaves slowly swelled and unfurled, like a tightly curled ball of black yarn gradually unraveling. It turned into a mass of pitch-black stuff, like a pool of black hair, its strands churning as a huge blood-red eyeball was cradled in the center.

Yin Manto slowly rolled about as all its branches and vines began to take on a faint silvery sheen, changing from black to a silver-gray color, as if coated in a layer of silver powder.

Its size also grew larger and larger, gradually expanding to more than twice its original size. It kept making hissing sounds.

Elsewhere among its vines, a small flower bud slowly began to grow.

The flower bud had initially been only the size of a fist, but under Lin Xin's gaze, it swelled at a visible rate. It soon grew as large as a human head, its surface covered in a leathery layer of gelatinous material, faintly translucent, with pale veins visible beneath the skin.

"This is..." Lin Xin frowned as he watched the scene. He seemed to have vaguely seen records of such growth in ancient texts before.

Yin Manto's appearance seemed very similar to a legendary Demon Crown Flower.

Yin Manto's consciousness continuously conveyed delight and joy. It frantically radiated desire, as if it wanted to devour more flesh and blood, more souls—an abyss of hunger whose limits could scarcely be seen.

The flower bud continued growing, quickly expanding from the size of a human head to the size of a washbasin, then growing larger still until it became a massive flower ball nearly two meters in diameter.

Rip!

The silver-gray flower ball suddenly split open down the middle. Countless streams of transparent, foul-smelling slime sprayed out from within. Behind the slime were rows of sharp teeth, as keen as a crocodile's, with sticky threads of mucus still clinging between the upper and lower rows.

The slime that sprayed onto the ground swiftly corroded the soil, raising green smoke.

"Ha?" The flower bud's giant mouth swayed as it breathed at Lin Xin, sending out waves of sour stench.

Lin Xin asked doubtfully.

"Are you Yin Manto?"

"Ha?"

Bang!!

Expressionless, Lin Xin smacked the giant mouth aside with his sword, producing a tremendous crash.

"Don't point that stinking mouth at me."

"Ha..."

One side of Yin Manto's mouth had swollen from the blow. It wobbled up from the ground nearby, then eagerly scampered back to Lin Xin's side like a fawning puppy.

"I thought it had split off a child body. Turns out it just grew another head."

He was somewhat speechless. Yin Manto had truly become a Man-Eating Flower now. Rather than simply relying on its original spikes to suck its enemies dry, it could now directly devour them.

"What is the use of this mouth you've grown?"

Lin Xin sent out his question through his consciousness.

"Ha... ha... hahaha..."

"..."

Lin Xin viciously smacked it with his sword again, sending it rolling away.

"Speak properly!"

"Eat... eat... can eat, return... to you..."

"Like that?" Lin Xin froze. "How does it return anything to me?"

"Purify... essence... improve..."

Yin Manto's consciousness was somewhat muddled, like that of a child only a few years old. Its command of language was still incomplete.

"Is that so?"

Lin Xin's heart stirred. To be honest, Yin Manto had suffered severe damage in many battles, but he had never bothered with it. The recovery ability of plant-type summoned creatures was no empty boast. Each time he summoned it again, it appeared completely restored.

He just had not expected that adding three points of Constitution to it would bring about such a huge change.

Sitting cross-legged, Lin Xin stopped investigating further. He could naturally test and learn more about Yin Manto after entering the Nether Prefecture again in the future. He still needed to continue his earlier investigation and research.

"The effects of the Constitution attribute are now beginning to take full effect."

He carefully experienced the changes occurring in his body. Strands of attribute energy spread throughout him, dispersing into his muscles, bones, and internal organs.

Clearly, he could feel that the structure of his body had undergone faint, subtle changes. These changes could be felt, yet could not be put into words.

Some hidden injuries he had suffered before were also slowly healing under the increase in his Constitution attribute...

The lamplight was as small as a bean.

Inside the room, Hua Yaozhu leaned softly against Lin Zhen's chest, her alluring eyes like silken threads. Her upper garments were half undone as Lin Zhen's hand reached inside and slowly kneaded her.

"Tell me, why did Father come today? I've been training hard in martial arts under Sister Hong, so I rarely get to see him even once." Hua Yaozhu spoke softly.

"I don't know... Father must have his reasons for doing this. But what happened that day... what happened that day... don't think about it." A shadow flickered through Lin Zhen's evasive eyes.

"It's all right. Father was only testing me, probably..." Hua Yaozhu said in a low voice. The more she spoke this way, the stranger the look in Lin Zhen's eyes became.

"Don't worry... Zhu'er, I'll protect you... I definitely will." He held Hua Yaozhu, his expression resolute. Yet he did not notice in the slightest that wisps of his pure cultivation were slowly flowing into Hua Yaozhu's body.

Faint dark circles had also appeared beneath his eyes, as though he were exhausted from excessive depletion.

"Mm."

Hua Yaozhu gave a soft moan. Beneath the lamplight, their silhouettes cast upon the paper window slowly overlapped. Before long, their clothes had completely fallen away, and they slowly sank down.

"Manor Lord, the matter concerning Hua Yaozhu has already been investigated."

In the lakeside pavilion, Lin Xin sat in the place Xiao Lingling had often occupied, with the Black Phoenix Zither she had loved most in life placed before him.

The leaders of several manor Dark Guard units stood before him, heads lowered as they reported respectfully.

The Dark Guards were orphans Lin Xin had begun training long ago. From childhood, they had undergone all manner of ideological conditioning, their bodies soaked in Li Lao's concentrated medicinal liquid, while they practiced various external martial arts and killing techniques.