Sacrificing a Nascent Soul Realm expert for the Spirit-Devouring Beast's treasure-finding ability was not a choice any faction could make lightly.
The Black-Clad Woman was so astonished because Liu Xing was clearly a useless good-for-nothing who could not cultivate. Why would the Spirit-Devouring Beast burrow into his body?
If Liu Xing was telling the truth and the Spirit-Devouring Beast was sleeping peacefully inside him, that was enough to prove that his divine sense had already fused with the beast's. Even a Nascent Soul Realm expert could have done no more than that.
After all, even a Nascent Soul Realm expert who trapped the Spirit-Devouring Beast inside their body could not command it to seek treasures at will. They had to wait until its appetite stirred and it actively searched for spiritual energy before they could share the results through divine sense. Most of the time, the Spirit-Devouring Beast's favorite thing to do inside a human body was sleep!
If the Devouring Beast could fuse with Liu Xing, then his value had already become anything but ordinary!
With no need to sacrifice a Nascent Soul Realm expert to gain access to the Spirit-Devouring Beast's treasure-finding ability, Liu Xing's existence could be considered even more precious than the beast itself!
The Black-Clad Woman now looked at Liu Xing differently. At the very least, in her eyes, he had become worth a king's ransom.
The Heavenly Demon Sect, to which the Black-Clad Woman belonged, was a major demonic sect. But since the dawn of the space age, the righteous factions of the Cultivation World had grown enormously in strength and firmly suppressed the demonic factions. The planets demonic sects could occupy were generally the leftovers after the great righteous sects had taken their pick, and their abundance of spiritual energy could not compare with the headquarters of those righteous sects.
The abundance of spiritual energy directly affected cultivation progress. The demonic factions were already weak; if this continued, would they not be utterly suppressed by the righteous factions?
Yet the demonic factions were constrained by their cultivation methods. Although their combat strength was tremendous, their ability to temper their minds fell short of what righteous cultivation methods offered. How could establishing new spiritual lands in the boundless cosmos be easy?
To the demonic factions, the Spirit-Devouring Beast was even more valuable than it was to the righteous factions. With its ability to seek spiritual energy, they too could find excellent places where spiritual energy gathered, without having to keep watching the righteous factions' faces before acting.
This time, the Heavenly Demon Sect had dispatched two Nascent Soul Realm experts before finally capturing the Spirit-Devouring Beast. But one of those experts had fought a righteous Nascent Soul Realm expert competing for the beast, leaving both badly injured, while the other had exhausted all his spiritual energy to make the Small Copper Box for the Spirit-Devouring Beast.
Both Nascent Soul experts needed to recover from their injuries, so the task of transporting the Spirit-Devouring Beast back to the Heavenly Demon Sect fell to the Black-Clad Woman.
The Black-Clad Woman was an outstanding disciple among the Heavenly Demon Sect's younger generation. Although she had been wounded in the great battle for the Spirit-Devouring Beast, her ability to move was unaffected. As long as she escorted the beast safely back to the sect, she would earn tremendous merit. She might even be named the Sect Leader's Disciple.
The route the Black-Clad Woman chose was extremely secretive; otherwise, she would never have come near Connors Star. Yet disaster arose within her own walls. The Five Uglies of Meng Mountain, who accompanied her and were responsible for piloting the spaceship, were blinded by greed and actually conceived the idea of seizing the Spirit-Devouring Beast.
Caught off guard, the Black-Clad Woman was ambushed by the Five Uglies of Meng Mountain, worsening her injuries. However, her cultivation far surpassed theirs. After fighting along the way and finishing off three of them, she eventually forced the spaceship to crash-land on Connors Star.
Without the Soul-Congealing Pearl in hand, the Black-Clad Woman could not have unleashed her final, desperate move. Had she fallen at the hands of the Five Uglies of Meng Mountain, it would truly have been a monstrous humiliation.
But for all her calculations, the Black-Clad Woman had never imagined that the Spirit-Devouring Beast would end up fusing with Liu Xing. Still, this turn of events might actually be a good thing for the Heavenly Demon Sect.
After all, the entire Heavenly Demon Sect had only three Nascent Soul Realm experts. Deciding which one to sacrifice by having them fuse with the Spirit-Devouring Beast would certainly have been a headache.
Now Liu Xing's sudden appearance seemed to have solved that problem as neatly as a blade splitting bamboo. The crucial question instead became whether she could keep this fellow in her grasp.
At that thought, the Black-Clad Woman asked Liu Xing softly, "Well... after the Spirit-Devouring Beast burrowed into your body, did you feel anything besides the headache? Can you share any of its information?"
Even the Black-Clad Woman herself had never expected that she could speak so gently without using the Bewitching Art.
Liu Xing thought it over carefully, then said slowly, "After this little fellow burrowed into my body, things really did feel rather strange. It's like an intelligent life-form. I can even sense when it's happy or dejected. I don't know if that's what you mean by sharing information."
Although Liu Xing had little worldly experience, he was no fool. He still remembered a saying the old man had once taught him: an ordinary man was innocent, but carrying a precious jade made him guilty.
The Black-Clad Woman's anxiety over the Spirit-Devouring Beast was enough to show that it was far from ordinary, and its value was probably outrageously high. If he frankly revealed all the strange changes that had occurred after it entered his body, who knew what schemes she might hatch?
Although the Black-Clad Woman was injured, Liu Xing knew she was a cultivator. If she wanted to harm him, he would certainly have no way to resist.
After careful thought, Liu Xing decided to mix truth and falsehood in equal measure. The Spirit-Devouring Beast entering his body was a fact, so he could freely admit it. As for the other strange changes, whatever he could conceal was best left unspoken.
For instance, there was no need to explain to the Black-Clad Woman how he had discovered the Mysterious Cave through the Spirit-Devouring Beast's divine sense, or what he had found there. As for the Red Round Stone, he had all the more reason to keep it hidden if he could. He absolutely could not obediently hand it over.
The Black-Clad Woman was clever, with a heart as intricate as carved jade, yet she had never expected that Liu Xing, who looked so dim-witted and clueless, was secretly working his own little abacus. All her thoughts now revolved around how to keep him in her grasp.
Could it be that I really have to seduce him to achieve that?
At that thought, the Black-Clad Woman's face flushed crimson, and she could not help inwardly spitting again. How could this useless good-for-nothing who can't cultivate possibly be worthy of me?
Despite those thoughts, the Black-Clad Woman's lovely eyes remained fixed on Liu Xing.
PS: Heh heh, today's the Dragon Boat Festival, and I won't ask you all for rice dumplings, salted eggs, or anything like that. Since I'm still diligently posting updates over the holiday, please cast a recommendation vote for me!
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