Blood. Blood was everywhere.
On the walls, on the ground, on the fluttering banners-everywhere.
Su Qing stood in a pool of blood, studying the sword in his hand. Almost as though talking to himself, he murmured, "Has it recovered a little?"
"Tch, you're dreaming. That tiny bit of recovery barely amounts to anything," Nine Nether Sparrow said, sprawling lazily on Su Qing's Spirit Wheel.
Su Qing sighed.
"After all, the strongest of them was only in the Divine Soul Realm."
"Come on, stop thinking about that. Let's check their treasury first and see if there's anything good that can help me recover."
Nine Nether Sparrow urged him on eagerly.
"Fine, but let's settle this first. The Nine-Whisker Blood Ginseng is mine."
"No problem."
With that, Su Qing set off toward the treasury whose location he had just tortured out of someone.
In the innermost compound, Su Qing looked at the wall before him and casually swung the Kunwu Sword, cleaving it in two.
Behind the wall was a brightly lit secret chamber.
The chamber was not particularly large, but it was packed to the brim with resources.
A vast heap of Spirit Coins lay on the left. By a rough estimate, it rivaled the Mu Domain's net income for an entire year.
On the other side stood several rows of jade slips, evidently spiritual arts and other such things collected by Mangyin Mountain.
Su Qing swept his sleeve over them, storing them all in the Sleeve Universe, then looked farther inside, where Mangyin Mountain's collection of heavenly materials and earthly treasures and spirit beast essences lay.
Su Qing handed all the spirit beast essences to Nine Nether Sparrow in one go to help her recover.
He picked through the heavenly materials and earthly treasures, leaving some for Nine Nether Sparrow and setting aside the Nine-Whisker Blood Ginseng and various rare metals and unusual stones for himself. He intended to use the rest to replenish the Mu Domain's treasury.
After gathering everything up, Su Qing bent down and picked a scroll out of the dust, patting off the grime clinging to it.
Black lines had been drawn haphazardly across the scroll, scattered everywhere without any discernible pattern.
Su Qing stared at the scroll for a long while, then silently put it away and sighed.
An old man on the subway, staring at his phone.
Sure enough, I'm not cut out for this.
I'll toss it to Mu Chen when I get back. If my dear little brother knows it, that means I know it too.
"Pfft!" An ill-timed snicker rang out from within Su Qing's Qi Sea.
Su Qing turned his gaze inward and saw Nine Nether Sparrow flapping her wings, struggling to suppress her laughter. His face darkened.
Inside his Qi Sea, Nine Nether Sparrow had watched Su Qing stare blankly at the scroll for ages, only to give up empty-handed. For some reason, the dejected look on his face made her want to laugh.
She knew laughing at a time like this was hardly appropriate and tried her best to hold it in. Unfortunately, a sound slipped out, and Su Qing heard it.
Su Qing's Divine Soul stood before his Spirit Wheel and opened his eyes. Looking at Nine Nether Sparrow, who seemed to be performing a pantomime, he let out a weary sigh.
"If you want to laugh, just laugh," Su Qing said helplessly.
Nine Nether Sparrow froze at his voice, then turned and caught sight of his helpless expression. She could no longer hold it in.
Then she laughed even louder.
"N-no, I can't! Go back outside first. Just seeing that look on your face makes me want to laugh. Go... go!"
"Pfft, hahahahaha!"
"...Just try laughing again!" Su Qing snapped, finally losing patience.
Back at the Mu Estate, Su Qing met with Mu Chen, who had rushed home upon receiving the news. After demonstrating what deep brotherly affection looked like, he handed the scroll to Mu Chen.
After accepting the scroll, Mu Chen also expressed his heartfelt love and admiration for his elder brother, declaring that he would catch up to him one day.
Su Qing voiced his wholehearted approval and encouragement, then proposed teaching Mu Chen a few techniques himself.
Mu Chen thought it over and, deeply moved, declined.
Mu Chen said he had already seen right through his brother. He would rather cultivate beneath a waterfall than suffer under Su Qing's hands.
Su Qing expressed profound regret, lamenting that his brat of a little brother had finally grown up and was no longer so easy to fool.
The brothers chatted a little longer before Mu Chen went off to practice Spirit Arrays on his own.
After that battle, the Liu Domain existed in name only. The Liu Family was gone, and its subordinates had all scattered.
Although the Mu Domain could not annex all of the Liu Domain's territory, it secured over half its cities and carried off most of the resources in its treasury, including its grade-two Spirit Gathering Array.
But one Spirit Gathering Array was not enough to satisfy the Mu Domain. At Su Qing's suggestion, Mu Feng decided to install the Liu Domain's array in another city, then gather Spirit Array Masters from all over to build another grade-two Spirit Gathering Array in the main city.
After taking over the Liu Domain's territory, Mu Feng immediately began preparing for this with Mu Chen's Spirit Array teacher, Wen Ling.
This left Wen Ling extremely busy. After tossing Mu Chen a grade-one scroll, Wen Ling went off to work.
From then on, the rockery in Mu Chen's courtyard suffered.
Su Qing paid it no mind. With a wave of his hand, he shut out the explosions coming from Mu Chen's direction, then took out the Nine-Whisker Blood Ginseng and consumed it using the Medicine Gathering technique.
One of the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends techniques: Medicine Gathering.
The human body held a great medicine, and obtaining it could grant longevity. When fierce medicinal power could not be absorbed naturally by the body, this technique guided and circulated it, refining it little by little.
Under Su Qing's guidance, all the surging medicinal power within the blood ginseng was refined and absorbed by his body, becoming blood energy that nourished it.
As for the spiritual energy within it, some flowed into Su Qing's Spirit Wheel, while the rest flowed toward Nine Nether Sparrow.
After absorbing this spiritual energy, Nine Nether Sparrow's dull feathers regained a little luster, replenishing some of the bloodline power she had transferred to Su Qing during Nirvana.
After absorbing the Nine-Whisker Blood Ginseng, a little vitality finally shone through Su Qing's ice-white skin, which no longer looked as withered and desolate as dead wood.
Unfortunately, his desperate gamble that day had not only consumed ninety percent of his blood essence, but also injured his meridians when he squeezed out his spiritual energy.
There was likely no way to heal such injuries in the Northern Spiritual Realm. He could only nourish them slowly himself and seek a solution after entering the Five Great Academies.
The injuries to his internal organs, however, had improved after the battle with Liu Jingshan.
First, while fighting for his life, Su Qing had drawn out the sharp metal qi lingering within them and turned it into sword light to slash at his enemy, easing the strain on his organs.
Second, during Nirvana, that innate divine ability had also healed some of his injuries.
Now, as long as Su Qing used no more than eighty percent of his spiritual energy in battle, he would not aggravate his injuries. It was no longer like the beginning, when he coughed up blood every time he fought.
Su Qing let out a long breath of white vapor-the impurities and medicinal toxins from the spiritual medicine.
Judging by the date, the Five Great Academies' quotas should be announced soon...
Meanwhile, in a study at the Northern Spiritual Academy, three figures sat around a table.
At its head sat Xiao Mu, the Northern Spiritual Academy's dean. Instructor Xi and Master Mo, the most senior instructors of the east and west courtyards, sat to either side of him.
"The Five Great Academies' quotas have been announced."
Dean Xiao was the first to speak.
"How many did our Northern Spiritual Academy receive this time?"
Master Mo asked, anticipation in his eyes.
"Five."
Dean Xiao answered, though there was a strange look in his eyes.
"About the same as previous years," Master Mo said.
"Su Qing is certain to take one of those places. As for the remaining four, our Western Academy has six contenders, and the East Courtyard has five. The competition will be fierce."
Instructor Xi offered his analysis from the side.
Hearing Instructor Xi's analysis, the strange look in Dean Xiao's eyes deepened, and he said,
"Besides those five places, there are also two special places-seed quotas."
An embarrassed look immediately appeared on Instructor Xi's face. Then he could not help asking, "Why would our Northern Spiritual Academy be given places like those?"
The Five Great Academies' quotas were divided into three tiers. Ordinary quotas were the lowest, while seed quotas were the second tier.
Generally, only exceptionally powerful Spirit Academies qualified for seed quotas. An academy of the Northern Spiritual Academy's size had never received one before.
"Across the whole of Hundred Spirits, where our Northern Spiritual Realm is located, all the Spirit Academies combined only receive twenty seed quotas."
Master Mo asked in bewilderment.
"Why give them to us? And two at that?"