Early the next morning.
Chu Mo stopped chanting the "Yangblood Curse," poured the finished spirit ink from the stone mortar into a porcelain bottle, and stretched.
Compared with talisman paper, spirit ink took little time to make, though its ingredients had to meet stricter requirements.
Without the Spell Coins rewarded by his panel, he could only have sacrificed his own blood essence, just like the other two apprentices.
He had just put the porcelain bottle away when a gentle knock came from beyond the courtyard gate. Chu Mo frowned slightly. Who could it be at this hour?
Outside stood Qing Xi, still dressed in an eye-catching crimson gown, her smile blooming like a flower and her gaze rippling like water. She carried a small food box.
"I so enjoyed our conversation yesterday, junior brother. After returning, I thought of how diligently you cultivated and felt truly impressed.
I happened to make some spirit cakes today, so I thought I'd bring you a few to replenish your qi and blood. Consider it a small token of my regard." As she spoke, she offered him the food box, her manner natural and intimate.
Chu Mo discreetly swept his gaze over the space above Qing Xi's head, then put on a slightly bashful look of flattered surprise and hurriedly accepted the box.
"Oh... I'm sorry for the trouble of having you deliver these yourself, senior sister. Please, come in."
Qing Xi entered the courtyard with a radiant smile, swiftly and discreetly surveying her surroundings.
After confirming that Chu Mo was alone, she seemed to flick a fingertip almost imperceptibly. A faint, unusual fragrance quietly spread.
Chu Mo appeared not to notice. He returned with tea and sat opposite Qing Xi.
Qing Xi chatted cheerfully, urging him to try the spirit cakes while sharing gossip from the sect. Yet her gaze grew increasingly hazy and seductive, and an intangible aura began to emanate from her, luring him into surrender.
Slowly, Chu Mo's gaze began to grow unfocused and dazed, his movements turning somewhat sluggish.
"Junior brother? Junior Brother Chu Mo?" Qing Xi's voice grew even softer, its allure seeping into his bones. She slowly rose and approached him, her breath fragrant as orchids.
"It seems you've worn yourself out by cultivating too diligently... shall your senior sister show you a taste of supreme bliss?"
A flash of triumph crossed her eyes. She had gained another source of nourishment for cultivating the "Black Serpent Molting True Heart Scripture," and her chances of passing the Outer Disciple examination had improved as well.
She placed her soft hand in that of the "barely conscious" Chu Mo and led him toward the room.
The door gently closed.
Just as their breaths intertwined, with Qing Xi seemingly in complete control, the seductive flush abruptly drained from her face, replaced by incredulous horror. She cried out involuntarily:
"You... how do you know the Black Serpent Molting True Heart Scripture too?!"
Hadn't Zhao Yang said Chu Mo had no primary cultivation method? Yet the proficiency with which he circulated the technique, and his grasp of that secret art's essence, far surpassed hers!
"Junior brother, I was wrong! Please spare me!" Qing Xi's beautiful face lost all color as she begged, tears falling like rain on pear blossoms.
Her vital energy poured out uncontrollably like a flood through opened sluice gates. Her whole body went limp, and she could not mobilize even a wisp of true qi.
She had merely heard Zhao Yang mention this soft persimmon ripe for squeezing and marked him as a backup source of "human material." She had never expected to find herself imprisoned instead.
Chu Mo turned a deaf ear to Qing Xi and focused solely on cultivating.
[You killed a Level 3 · Duo'e Sect Reserve Grunt (Red Name)]
Chu Mo rose to his feet, refreshed and invigorated. Feeling the true qi within him swell once again, he could not help praising it:
"The Black Serpent Molting True Heart Scripture truly deserves its reputation for rapid advancement. Even with the losses from refining it into crimson-glow primordial qi, it still helped me fully stabilize my Qi Refining Third Layer cultivation."
Indeed, thanks to the unexpected "grand gift" Qing Xi had delivered to his doorstep, he had not only broken through to the Qi Refining Third Layer but also completely stabilized his cultivation.
The moment she entered, Chu Mo had seen that vivid red name. Wary of her cultivation, and since she had not attacked immediately, he had pretended not to notice.
He had never expected her to be a female flower thief. As luck would have it, he also "knew a little" of the "Black Serpent Molting True Heart Scripture."
With his player template, his experience grew slowly even without actual practice. He picked up four faintly shimmering orange orbs beside the bed.
[Obtained [Spell Coin] x7] [Obtained [Ecstasy Powder] x6] [Obtained [Spell · Green Vine Bind]] [Obtained [Secret Art · Puppet Refinement Art]]
"Jackpot!" Chu Mo felt a little excited. This was his richest haul yet. He had never expected Qing Xi to be so well-off.
Unfortunately, the Darkworld Grotto-Scenery Banner had already drawn away her soul, or perhaps he could have squeezed something else out of her.
"Senior sister, I'll remember your contribution," Chu Mo murmured sincerely.
Though, after taking five consecutive hits from the Mind-Cleansing Mantra, her soul had forgotten nearly half a year's worth of memories and no longer recognized him at all.
He skipped the first two items and looked at the descriptions of the final two drops:
[Green Vine Bind] [Summons thirty feet of green-patterned poisonous vines to coil around a target. The vines carry a paralytic toxin. When cast in a forest, vine strength increases by thirty percent and range expands to fifty feet.]
"Good stuff." Chu Mo's eyes lit up. He liked anything that could boost his strength.
Moreover, according to the information he had gathered, the "Savage Realm," where the Outer Disciple examination took place, consisted mostly of remote mountains and ancient forests. Casting this spell there would be like a fish taking to water.
"Perhaps Qing Xi prepared this specifically for the examination?" he guessed.
[Puppet Refinement Art] [Refines a soulless corpse into a puppet capable of carrying out simple commands (such as guarding, hauling, and fighting). The puppet can be forcibly triggered to self-destruct. Its strength depends on the corpse's strength in life.]
Chu Mo's gaze involuntarily drifted toward Qing Xi, hesitation showing on his face. "This... isn't really appropriate, is it?"
He felt that the thought he had just entertained... was a little too beastly. Perhaps he should leave it alone?
Ten days later, in a dense forest seldom visited by anyone.
"Go on, senior sister. Let me see what you can do." With a slight stir of his thoughts, Chu Mo issued a command to the red-clad figure standing silently behind him.
That figure was Qing Xi-or rather, a puppet refined through the [Puppet Refinement Art], retaining most of her physical form and some of her cultivation from life.
Her face was deathly pale and lifeless, her eyes hollow, yet she faintly radiated the fluctuations of a Qi Refining Third Layer cultivator.
Upon receiving the command, the puppet Qing Xi abruptly raised her head, her empty eyes locking onto a boulder as tall as a person ahead.
Her figure flickered. Surprisingly, she was even faster than she had been in life, rushing straight forward on a gust of chilling wind and striking with both palms.
Boom!
With a muffled crash, stone chips flew everywhere. Two palm prints had been forcibly stamped into the surface, each roughly an inch deep.
Chu Mo nodded slightly.
Not bad. Her strength was roughly at the second layer of Qi Refining. Though her movements were somewhat stiff and mechanical, she made up for it with absolute obedience, fearlessness, and immunity to pain. She was more than sufficient as a meat shield and a distraction.
He wondered where Qing Xi had managed to scrounge up such a fine thing.
"Senior sister, I'll remember you forever." Qing Xi stood silently in place as Chu Mo pressed his palms together and thanked his senior sister once again.
As for being beastly and all that, it simply wasn't as enticing as strength.
Unfortunately, Qing Xi's soul had already returned to the Soul Banner and could not receive Chu Mo's gratitude.