"Your subordinate Du Li pays his respects, Master."
Under Lin Mo's rather astonished gaze, the Ashen Youth dropped to one knee and spoke with utmost respect. "I offended you greatly before. Please forgive me, Master."
"I have now cleansed my heart and turned over a new leaf. I am willing to serve at your beck and call, Master, and would not refuse even ten thousand deaths!"
So his name was Du Li...
Since the Treasure Gourd had subdued him, Lin Mo had no fear whatsoever that he would turn against him. His face full of anticipation, he asked, "What layer of qi refining were you at when you were alive? And now, how strong are you?"
"And... what exactly are you now? A ghost, or... something else?"
Du Li remained kneeling. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "In life, I had reached the fourth layer of qi refining. After my death, my resentment refused to disperse, and my strength increased rather than declined."
"I am now a resentful ghost, unable to reincarnate. As for my strength... it should be roughly equivalent to the ninth layer of qi refining, only a step away from the tenth."
Gasp!
Lin Mo sucked in a breath, followed immediately by an overwhelming surge of delight.
The ninth layer of qi refining!
He, the master, was only at the peak of the first layer of qi refining and would still need some time before advancing to the second.
Yet Du Li, his subordinate, was far stronger than his master. With his cultivation at the ninth layer of qi refining, even if he encountered an Outer Elder in the foundation establishment realm, he should be able to barely protect himself, though he would be no match for them.
Lin Mo had done almost nothing, yet a powerful trump card had fallen into his lap. Together with the Venomous Thorn Bee sleeping in his sleeve, his overall strength might rival the first layer of foundation establishment!
"There is something that may disappoint you, Master."
Du Li hesitated slightly, then cupped his hands. "Your subordinate's path of cultivation is entirely different from yours, Master. I must absorb resentful energy to continue growing stronger, and that resentful energy..."
He paused briefly before continuing. "Earlier, you directed your spirit insect to devour a considerable amount of my resentful energy, then used a mysterious treasure to remove more of it, causing my strength to decline."
"That resentful energy... where did you collect it, Master? If you could return it to me, I might recover my strength and immediately reach the tenth layer of qi refining."
Huh?
Lin Mo froze for a moment, then realization dawned on him.
Earlier, in the Ghost-Crying Field, the Venomous Thorn Bee had flown through the air and fallen asleep immediately after returning to his sleeve. Sure enough, it had been because it had consumed the resentful energy there.
The Venomous Thorn Bee was now advancing, and even as its master, he had no way to make it spit the resentful energy back out.
But he might actually have a way to recover the other portion of the vanished resentful energy!
"Take a look at this."
Lin Mo had already formed a suspicion. He took out his Storage Bag and poured out all ten jin of Golden-Light Wheat inside. "This is the Golden-Light Wheat I grew. Does the phantom image inside have anything to do with your resentful energy?"
Du Li froze on the spot.
The Golden-Light Wheat piled at Lin Mo's feet had plump, rounded grains that looked brimming with spiritual qi and radiated a faint golden glow.
And the phantom image of a young man within that golden glow looked exactly like Du Li's current form!
"Yes, that's it!"
Du Li's face filled with joy, and he said eagerly, "Please grant me permission, Master. I will reclaim the resentful energy right away!"
Would doing this have any harmful effect on the Golden-Light Wheat...?
Lin Mo hesitated, weighing the advantages and drawbacks before finally nodding slowly. "All right, take it back. Let's see how much strength you can recover."
With Lin Mo's permission, Du Li did not hesitate in the slightest. His body instantly broke apart into a vast cloud of ash and dust, enveloping all the Golden-Light Wheat.
Within the golden glow radiating from the grains, Du Li's phantom image rapidly faded until it vanished completely.
The next moment, the cloud of ash and dust coalesced, and Du Li's ashen body appeared once more.
From what Lin Mo could sense, Du Li's aura had indeed grown stronger than before, but the improvement was limited. He definitely had not reached the foundation establishment realm!
"Thank you, Master."
Du Li knelt again, his voice full of joy. "Although I have not recovered all the resentful energy I lost, this is enough to rival an ordinary cultivator at the tenth layer of qi refining."
"If you place me inside your treasure to nurture me, Master, I am confident that I can successfully advance within half a year!"
Nurture him inside the treasure?
Lin Mo lowered his head to look at the Treasure Gourd in his hand, a vague suspicion forming in his mind.
Like many precious treasures from legends, his Treasure Gourd clearly possessed the special ability to nurture souls.
However, his understanding of the gourd's uses was still incomplete. For now, he could only use it to perform spirit infusion on spirit liquid or ordinary spring water. Beyond that, he knew nothing.
If his guess was correct, the "nurturing" Du Li spoke of should mean taking him inside the gourd.
Judging from this, the Treasure Gourd seemed to have a function similar to a Storage Bag, only far more miraculous!
"Come inside."
In truth, Lin Mo did not know how to take Du Li into the gourd either. Deciding to give it a try, he aimed the gourd's mouth at him.
In an instant.
The gourd's mouth lit up faintly, then released a soft glow that shone onto Du Li.
Du Li offered no resistance. He transformed into a vast cloud of ash and dust again, slipped into the gourd's mouth with a whoosh, and fell completely silent.
"That's it? That was pretty simple."
Lin Mo capped the gourd, then carefully inspected the Golden-Light Wheat on the ground. Once he confirmed that there was nothing else unusual about the spirit wheat, the worry hanging over his heart finally disappeared.
The Golden-Light Wheat had not reverted.
Although Du Li's phantom image was no longer present in the golden glow radiating from the grains, they remained brimming with spirituality, far surpassing the ordinary spirit wheat he had seen before.
Presumably, the Treasure Gourd had displayed its power, sealing that resentful energy within the Spirit Spring Water through some means he could not comprehend.
Then, because he had watered the spirit wheat with the Spirit Spring Water, Du Li's phantom image had appeared. Now that Du Li had reclaimed the resentful energy, the image had vanished along with it. Everything fell neatly into place!
"Elder Yuan went to Spirit Beast Peak and raised a huge ruckus, and the Diamond Wall Formation has been set up in the Ghost-Crying Field. There shouldn't be any more trouble for a while..."
With Du Li's situation satisfactorily resolved, Lin Mo did not linger in the rear courtyard. He returned to his bedroom, sat cross-legged on the bed, and began cultivating.
Increasing his strength could not wait.
Gou Fengying's attempt to make trouble for him this time seemed to have ended in a scare without real danger. In truth, only Lin Mo knew that he had been walking a tightrope over a cliff. One careless step would have sent him plunging down to be smashed to pieces.
Only sufficient strength could make Gou Fengying truly wary of him.
Relying solely on Du Li and the Venomous Thorn Bee, which had yet to complete its advancement, was clearly nowhere near enough!
"The second layer of qi refining... soon..."
Lin Mo closed his eyes tightly, sensing the spiritual qi vortex circulating smoothly within his dantian. The anticipation on his face grew ever stronger.
He did not doubt his premonition in the slightest.
In less than two days at most, he would break through the final barrier of the first layer of qi refining and successfully advance to the second!
Before you continue