The Nine-Tailed Fox's Birthday

"This was sent by the eldest princess."

Not long after Su Mu entered the courtyard, someone arrived carrying a red tray, delivered it with those words, then turned and left.

A strip of red cloth covered the tray.

Seeing this, Su Mu had a rough guess as to what was underneath and could not resist lifting the cloth.

Inside the tray, gold lay in neat stacks, along with several slightly misty Spirit Stones.

"So these are Spirit Stones?"

Su Mu picked up a Spirit Stone and carefully stroked it. It felt somewhat cool and a little soft, yet when he squeezed hard, it did not budge, as though it were extremely hard.

Su Mu could not help raising an eyebrow at this.

"You even asked the eldest princess for these things?"

Beside him, Xiao Wu watched, her little mouth falling open. Did this fellow have any idea how rare an opportunity to request a reward was, especially from the eldest princess?

Why had he asked for these things?

"Tsk, money may be a worldly possession, but even a hero can be brought low by a single penny, right?"

Su Mu did not particularly mind. In his view, money was still very important.

Besides, he had also asked the eldest princess for permission to enter and leave the palace grounds freely. Going out would cost at least a little money.

At that thought, Su Mu spotted a token on the tray. He quickly picked it up, examined it, then set it down again.

"Here, this piece of gold is for you."

Su Mu selected a piece of gold and handed it to Xiao Wu.

Seeing this, Xiao Wu hurriedly waved her hands. "This was bestowed on you by the eldest princess. How could I accept it?"

"You spent fifty taels of silver at the teahouse before. This is to pay you back. The rest is because I'd like your help. I can enter and leave the palace freely now, but I'll still have to trouble you to accompany me when I go out."

Although Su Mu could now enter and leave the palace grounds freely, he did not feel particularly safe without someone accompanying him.

Especially since, the last time he had gone out with Xiao Wu, he had noticed some people taking notice of him and staring at him for ages.

Whenever he recalled that time, Su Mu felt a little creeped out.

Without someone beside him, he really did worry that someone might send him off to the next life one day.

Xiao Wu paused at his words. "Wouldn't we need to ask the eldest princess for permission first?"

"Then go ahead and ask her."

Su Mu had originally felt that, with the merit he had just earned, having a maid accompany him outside was hardly worth mentioning.

But on second thought, merit was merit, and rules still had to be followed, lest someone slap him with accusations of looking down on everyone or disregarding discipline. That would be terrible.

"All right, just keep the gold."

In any case, Su Mu could not bring back anything he bought here, so his attachment to gold had weakened considerably, and he was quite generous with it.

Xiao Wu studied Su Mu earnestly, then smiled sweetly and put the gold away.

"Still, if you like gold, you can write out that prayer from before and sell it. A copy with six inches of Righteous Qi should sell for about one tael of gold."

Xiao Wu thought for a moment, then casually added, "If it were the original, the price would be far higher."

"Huh, I can do that too?"

Su Mu was taken aback. Xiao Wu had told him before that, with calligraphy, the original was extremely expensive, the most useful, and held the most Righteous Qi. That had made him assume only the original could be sold.

"Of course. It's just that the price is rather low."

One tael of gold? That hardly counts as cheap!

Su Mu was speechless, but something stirred in his heart, and a vague plan began taking shape. That plan would have to wait a little, though.

"I understand. I just asked the eldest princess for a cultivation method, so I'm going to study it now. Come get me if anything comes up."

Su Mu casually set the money aside and prepared to carefully study the cultivation method in his mind.

He did not need to worry about the money disappearing if he left it here.

Over the past few days, he had also observed that the palace grounds down here were quite heavily guarded. It was safe here.

Xiao Wu understood this and withdrew at his words.

Su Mu drew a deep breath, unable to keep a flash of excitement off his face.

When it came to cultivating toward immortality, there was probably no one who could resist such temptation.

Now that he had such an opportunity, it was only natural for him to feel a little excited.

Soon, Su Mu sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes, and began examining the cultivation method.

Green Hollow.

An utterly seductive figure reclined behind pink bed curtains. Through the gauze, the exquisite curves of her delicate body were faintly visible.

"My queen, we have investigated thoroughly. The earlier phenomenon was caused by the eldest princess of Great Liang undergoing her tribulation. Before her tribulation, she performed a sacrifice, intending to summon an auspicious beast, but someone sabotaged it, and she summoned a remnant soul instead."

"That remnant soul seemed entirely unremarkable, inferior even to a three-year-old child. But when Xiao Luanji was about to undergo her tribulation, this remnant soul stepped forward and recited a prayer, which Xiao Luanji wrote down."

"The phenomenon was caused by that prayer. The Heavenly Dao manifested its power then. Presumably, the prayer deeply resonated with the heart of the Dao, and Xiao Luanji herself drew the Heavenly Dao's attention."

"Such a thing happened?"

The seductive figure sat up, seemingly moved by the matter.

"Our Demon Race has always faced nine chances of death and one of survival when undergoing tribulations. It is even harder for us than for Xiao Luanji. With this person's help, wouldn't our chances of surviving tribulations improve considerably?"

At that moment, a trace of excitement faintly showed in the phoenix eyes of the woman behind the curtains.

From those few sentences alone, she had already deduced many things and concluded that, if there truly was such a prayer, it would certainly be a tremendous boon to the Demon Race.

"Then I'll go abduct him at once!"

Hearing this, the rugged, square-faced burly man outside spoke directly in his booming voice.

"Idiot! Can't you use your brain? Always talking about fighting, killing, and kidnapping-what great things could you ever accomplish like that?"

Hearing his words, the woman inside immediately rebuked him angrily.

Chastised like this, the burly man immediately lowered his head, not daring to utter another word.

"My birthday is in another month. Send this person an invitation then. Make certain to invite him here, and do not use force."

"Yes!"

The burly man hurriedly acknowledged her words.

Only then did the woman languidly recline again, a faint hint of spring surfacing in her phoenix eyes, captivating the soul.

"I wonder whether this person can help me survive this heavenly tribulation too?"

Thinking of her heavenly tribulation, the woman let out a soft sigh of boundless melancholy.

She had slumbered for so long precisely to evade this heavenly tribulation and prolong her life. Now, however, she could evade it no longer. In the end, she had to face it.