Chapter 188 - 163: Contract, Pressure

Chapter 188: Chapter 163: Contract, Pressure

It took a long while before Li Changsheng finally raised his head.

The corners of his eyes were a bloody, stark red. His clear black and white pupils were completely bloodshot, making him look as though he hadn’t slept for a very long time.

Li Changsheng rubbed his brow. After taking another moment to compose himself, he glanced at the cocoon, then leaped onto the python beside him.

BOOM...

The three pythons turned around and swiftly left the Spirit Field, kicking up a trail of dust as they returned to the small courtyard.

Fighting off intense drowsiness, Li Changsheng fetched some Spirit Rice from the kitchen and poured it into the feeding trough for Xiaohua and her family, then hurried back to the wooden cabin.

Returning to the third floor, he collapsed onto his soft couch. Within a few breaths, he was dead to the world.

Three days passed in his slumber.

Third floor of the wooden cabin.

Li Changsheng slowly opened his eyes and sat up. He massaged his swollen, numb head, a bitter smile surfacing on his face.

He had still underestimated the difficulty of contracting the Senluo Flower Demon, and likewise overestimated his own mental fortitude. As a result, even after sleeping for three days, his mind was still heavy and foggy, punctuated by occasional bursts of throbbing pain.

He sat in a daze for a moment before closing his eyes to focus. His consciousness blurred for a split second, and his mind sank into the Spirit Contract Space.

Within the Chaos Space, stars twinkled brightly. Among them, one star radiating a five-colored spiritual glow—hazy and dreamlike—was the most dazzling of all.

With a shift of his thoughts, Li Changsheng appeared at the edge of the five-colored star. He reached out to touch it, but instead of sinking into the star as he had expected, he was met with a repulsive force.

"It still hasn’t awakened..." Li Changsheng thought.

Exiting the Spirit Contract Space, he shook his head and made his way down the stairs.

Returning to the first floor, he sat down for some tea. Just then, a jade-green streak of light flashed rapidly across the sky, landing in the courtyard mere breaths later. By the time Li Changsheng snapped back to attention, Ma Rong had already walked into the room.

"Senior Brother," Li Changsheng said, standing up and cupping his hands in greeting.

Noticing his listless demeanor, Ma Rong studied him carefully. Seeing the blood-red corners of his eyes, Ma Rong frowned slightly. "Junior Brother, did your mind suffer damage?"

Li Changsheng gestured for him to sit and shook his head. "I’m fine, I just suffered a backlash from magic." Forcing himself to stay alert, he asked in confusion, "What brings you here, Senior Brother?"

Seeing that he didn’t want to elaborate, Ma Rong didn’t press the matter. He took a storage bag from his sleeve, tossed it onto the table, and smiled. "Weren’t you wanting to experiment with cultivating Spirit Plants using Spirit Medicines? This contains freshly matured Spirit Medicines."

Hmm?

Li Changsheng’s expression lifted. He picked up the storage bag and impatiently channeled his Spiritual Power into it.

The next moment, a row of jade boxes appeared on the table. He reached out, grabbed one, and opened it. Ten dark, vine-like Spirit Plants covered in cyan veins came into view.

"Muscle Forging Grass!" Li Changsheng’s eyes lit up with pleasant surprise.

He quickly opened the rest of the boxes one by one.

Tier One High-grade Spirit Medicine: Bone Refining Flower, White Jade Fruit, and Purple Bee Bud. Middle-grade Spirit Medicine: Nourishing Vein Grass and Fleshy Bamboo Shoot. Lower-grade Spirit Medicine: Spirit Gathering Grass and Bright God Flower.

There were also some Spirit Rice varieties like Yellow Rice and Blood Seed Rice.

After inspecting them all, Li Changsheng couldn’t hide his delight. He cupped his hands toward Ma Rong. "Thank you, Senior Brother."

"It’s just a few Spirit Medicines, no need to be so polite, Junior Brother." Ma Rong waved a hand dismissively, smiling. "Do you have any other requests?"

Li Changsheng’s eyes flickered. He hesitated for a moment before asking awkwardly, "Senior Brother, do you have any Tier One Top-grade Spiritual Ore or Tier Two Lower-grade Spiritual Ore?" Pausing, he hurriedly added, "Raw ore is fine."

"Tier One Top-grade and Tier Two Lower-grade Spiritual Ore? Raw ore?"

Ma Rong was dumbfounded by the request. Recovering his wits, he asked in confusion, "Are you looking to dabble in Artifact Refining?" Then he frowned. "But the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land doesn’t have Earth Fire..."

He looked around but didn’t spot a refining furnace either.

Li Changsheng waved his hand. "It’s not for Artifact Refining. I need some spiritual ores for practicing magic."

Ma Rong wondered why he would need spiritual ores to practice magic. But he didn’t pry. After a moment of thought, he asked, "How much do you need, Junior Brother?"

"Hmm..." Li Changsheng mused, then answered hesitantly, "Three thousand pounds of each?"

"That’s not too much." Ma Rong nodded slightly and asked, "What elemental attributes do you need?"

"Wood and Metal attributes. If that’s impossible, Earth attribute is fine too..." Li Changsheng said after a brief thought.

Ma Rong nodded in understanding and smiled. "Wait a few days, Junior Brother. Next time, I’ll have my clansmen bring some over."

Three thousand pounds of each sounded like a lot, but spiritual ores were incredibly heavy; it actually didn’t amount to much volume.

Li Changsheng said happily, "Thank you, Senior Brother."

With these spiritual ores, he could amplify the magic of Little Xiaohua and Little Wooden Head, boosting their magic power beyond their current tiers.

After a brief chat, a thought stirred in Li Changsheng’s mind, and he asked about the herder lineage Cultivators in the Ten Thousand Poison Forest. "Senior Brother, did you ever catch those people?"

"Sigh..." Ma Rong shook his head. "Neither the surveillance measures I left behind nor the other Stewards sensed the insect swarms relocating.

"The Patrol Guard captain even went back to investigate and saw that the two swarms were practically starving to the point of cannibalizing each other.

"Those two Insect Slaves were certainly vigilant. They actually abandoned the swarms they had worked so hard to breed," Ma Rong said helplessly, throwing his hands up.

Judging by the size of the two swarms, those two herder lineage Cultivators had to be at least at the Mid-Meridian Condensation stage. If he could capture them... just getting a share of the reward would be enough for him to break through the Early-Meridian Condensation bottleneck.

It was a pity they had escaped.

In the Wanzhong Mountains Range, as long as they were determined to hide, finding them would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"It is a pity..." Li Changsheng responded with an awkward chuckle.

He promptly changed the subject, asking if there was any news of Tan Hu and whether he had run into danger.

Ma Rong gave him a peculiar look and chuckled softly. "Don’t worry, Junior Brother. Senior Brother Tan is fine, just tied up with some matters. I reckon it might take him three to six months to return."

Speaking of which, he looked Li Changsheng up and down and asked, "You’re at the ninth level of Qi Cultivation now. Have you prepared the Spirit Ascending Liquid?"

Li Changsheng replied softly, "Senior Brother Tan gave me a bottle. I plan to nourish my Spirit Veins for a few days, then consume it to clear the remaining meridians."

"That’s good." Ma Rong nodded, then asked, "Do you have a Second-Order Spiritual Pill?"

Li Changsheng nodded. "Yes, I haven’t used the one rewarded by the sect yet."

Hearing this, Ma Rong’s expression relaxed a bit. He had given his own sect-rewarded Second-Order Spiritual Pills to Ma Zhenyi, so if Li Changsheng had lacked one, it really would have given him a headache.

The two chatted about the Spiritual Land for a while longer before Ma Rong stood up and took his leave. Li Changsheng watched him depart, then turned and walked to the kitchen.

After three days without their slop, he felt that Xiaohua and her family had gotten thinner. That wouldn’t do! He had to give them a good, nourishing meal.

Just as he was chopping up some slightly wilted Stinky Ferns, a connection in his mind suddenly expanded several times over.

Li Changsheng froze; had he not been leaning on the stove, he would have collapsed onto the floor.

It took him a good while to recover.

Enduring the throbbing pain in his head, he wiped away the fresh blood from the corner of his eye and quickly finished chopping the slop—the Stinky Sock branches and leaves—then scooped some Spirit Rice into the pot.

He slumped onto a stool and closed his eyes to soothe his mind.

An hour later.

Li Changsheng glanced at Xiaohua’s family, who were ravenously scarfing down their food, and rubbed his brow as he walked over to Little Wooden Head.

CLANG CLANG CLANG...

Little Wooden Head conveyed an emotion of joy through its intent. Its branches and leaves danced, jingling merrily.

Li Changsheng looked at the insect nest nestled between its branches and willed a command.

The next moment, the Insect Mother, roughly the size of a local hound, dragged its bloated body out of the nest.

Li Changsheng focused his gaze.

[Target: Slave Insect]

[Species: Mutated Red-winged Blood Bamboo "Insect Mother"]

[Tier One High-grade: 1%]

[Talents: Blood Devouring, Reproduction.]

[Status: Healthy.]

"It only advanced to High-grade?" Li Changsheng thought in disappointment.

He waved his hand, signaling the Insect Mother to return to the nest. Looking up at the fence, he willed another command.

BUZZ...

Two dark shadows took off from both sides of the fence and arrived in front of him instantly. Li Changsheng beckoned them over and focused his gaze.

[Target: Big Bro] [Tier One Middle-grade: 99%]

[Target: Little Bro] [Tier One Middle-grade: 99%]

"Hopefully, there’s a change..." Li Changsheng thought, focusing his gaze on their cultivation level column.

The next moment, a string of information flooded his mind.

[Advancement Requirements: Devour ten drops of Snake Saliva Tree Demon Juice, consume a large amount of flesh rich in Spiritual Qi. A high probability of unknown mutation.]