Chapter 157 - 108: Ling’Er’s Departure

Chapter 157: Chapter 108: Ling’Er’s Departure

The Shifeng Conference was essentially hosted by the Dharma Vein, but outsourced to Cangfeng Temple. Thus, its fundamental purpose was to cultivate the outstanding younger generations of various families.

To ensure fairness as much as possible and allocate the limited Shifeng Spirit Charm to the young cultivators with the most potential, the Shifeng Conference divided participants into several age groups to compete for quotas.

He had originally thought the lowest age bracket would be an under-twenty group, just like the Lesser Yang Dao Examination. But after actually asking, he found out that the youngest group was sixteen and under.

His junior sister was exactly sixteen this year, so she had every advantage.

For cultivators under sixteen, even if they started cultivating at age six, they would only have ten years of cultivation time. However, after refining the Mother Insect, his junior sister already had over thirty years of cultivation. Not to mention her Sword Technique; in terms of cultivation alone, she already left her peers far behind in the dust.

"So you’re saying that besides a few people around my age, the others in my group are all younger than me?" Mu Xiaoyu’s eyes lit up. Younger was great! She loved bullying—ahem, challenging—cultivators younger than herself!

After offering his junior sister this metaphorical Calming Pill, Li Yinsheng changed the subject. "Speaking of which, when you were Artifact Refining recently, did you feel that your Divine Sense was falling short?"

Having been tricked several times before, Mu Xiaoyu subconsciously grew alert, quietly analyzing her senior brother’s motives in her head. "He suddenly asked if I felt my current Divine Sense wasn’t enough, which definitely means he wants me to improve it!"

But the only ways to increase Divine Sense were improving her cultivation or consuming Cultivation Fruits. Mu Xiaoyu’s eyes suddenly lit up. "Could his question mean he’s going to increase my daily allowance of Cultivation Fruits?"

In the few months since returning from Bamboo Forest Peak, her senior brother had strictly limited her to five Cultivation Fruits a day. It simply wasn’t enough to satisfy her cravings. "It must be because my cultivation or Divine Sense has improved, so I can eat more Cultivation Fruits every day. Senior Brother is going to give me more!"

Having figured this out, Mu Xiaoyu immediately nodded. "It is falling short! Every time I carve and refine Restrictions, I feel like my Divine Sense is holding me back!

"Also, when purifying materials, the Three Yang Spirit Fire is handy, but it only refines them to make the process easier. The purification itself still relies on Divine Sense.

"Senior Brother, I feel that if my Divine Sense were a bit stronger, the purity of the materials would definitely be higher."

She looked up at Li Yinsheng, keeping her small face as straight as possible to make herself look incredibly serious and earnest. "I just want to improve my Artifact Refining skills, not because I want to eat more Cultivation Fruits."

"Yes, indeed. Most minor disciplines have high requirements for Divine Sense, and Artifact Refining is naturally no exception," Li Yinsheng smiled. "Then do you want to improve your Divine Sense a bit more?"

"Mhm, mhm, mhm!" Mu Xiaoyu nodded repeatedly.

Li Yinsheng raised his hand. Ten drops of a milky, bright liquid emitting a faint, clear radiance appeared in his palm.

"Senior Brother, what is this? Is it the juice of a Cultivation Fruit?" Mu Xiaoyu asked curiously. Cultivation Fruits were white, and this liquid was also white. She subconsciously linked the two.

Li Yinsheng shook his head. "This is called Moon Dew. Although it can improve Divine Sense just like Cultivation Fruits, they do not share the same origin. It is refined from Moonlight, and its efficacy is incomparable to Cultivation Fruits.

"Moon Dew can directly strengthen the Soul, and your Divine Sense will improve along with it. Cultivation Fruits, on the other hand, can only improve Divine Sense."

"Refined from Moonlight?" Knowing it wasn’t Cultivation Fruit juice, Mu Xiaoyu was somewhat disappointed, but this was quickly overtaken by curiosity. "Senior Brother, are you saying these drops are all moonlight?"

Li Yinsheng nodded.

"Wow!" Mu Xiaoyu brought her small face closer, staring at the Moon Dew with a look of amazement. "No wonder they’re so pretty! They look like pearls and tiny moons!"

"Do you want to try taking them?" Li Yinsheng chuckled.

"Eat moonlight?" Mu Xiaoyu’s interest was immediately piqued. "Senior Brother, I want to try! I want to try!"

"I already tried quite a bit when I was at Jade Altar Temple, so I’ll give all ten drops to you," Li Yinsheng said with a beaming smile.

"Really? Thank you, Senior Brother!" Mu Xiaoyu cheered and opened her mouth wide. "Just drop them right in!"

Li Yinsheng flicked his finger. The ten drops of Moon Dew fell into Mu Xiaoyu’s mouth, instantly melting into a clear radiance as she swallowed them.

"How does it feel?" Li Yinsheng asked.

"Mmm..." Mu Xiaoyu felt it for a moment. "It doesn’t taste like much, but it’s cool and refreshing. It would be very comfortable to drink in the summer..."

Halfway through her sentence, she felt the refreshing coolness instantly spread throughout her entire body, turning into a bone-piercing chill.

CHATTER CHATTER CHATTER...

Mu Xiaoyu subconsciously wrapped her arms around herself, her teeth chattering as her whole body trembled uncontrollably. Cold! It was so cold!

It was even colder than when she was little, playing by the well in the dead of winter, accidentally falling in, and being fished out soaked to the bone into the freezing wind! She was freezing to death!

This bone-chilling cold lasted for a full half to three-quarters of an hour before it gradually subsided. But it only mostly subsided. A lingering chill still seeped from her hair down to her fingertips, leaving her shivering slightly.

"Senior Brother!" Mu Xiaoyu puffed out her cheeks. "What... what did you do this time?! Why am I... why am I so cold?!" While puffing her cheeks, she rubbed her hands together, trying to warm up.

"You don’t need to rub your hands. The chill brought by the Moon Dew affects your Soul. Even if you put on a thick padded jacket, it would be useless."

Li Yinsheng explained, "Your Soul hasn’t fully condensed yet and is still scattered throughout your body, which is why there’s this side effect when refining the Moon Dew. But don’t worry, there’s no harm in it. It’s just a bit cold."

"It... it’s not just a bit... it’s freezing!" Mu Xiaoyu said, trembling.

"Don’t worry. The Moon Dew refines very quickly. By tonight at the latest, you’ll be completely fine," Li Yinsheng said, rubbing her head.

In his perception, although the Moon Dew was refining swiftly, after his junior sister’s Soul was strengthened, it became slightly less agile compared to before. This was a normal phenomenon. The Moon Dew was mild enough to have no harmful side effects, but his junior sister was not a Daoist. With her Soul suddenly improved by several notches, she still needed some time to adapt.

This process would take roughly ten days to half a month. During this period, it would be unsuitable for her to continue consuming Moon Dew. Of course, Li Yinsheng currently didn’t have any more Moon Dew on hand anyway.

Shivering, Mu Xiaoyu decided she would never consume Moon Dew again. The stuff only had a cool and refreshing mouthfeel, but it was tasteless and not particularly delicious. Worse, it froze her to the bone. She didn’t want to drink it ever again!

She was just about to tell her senior brother her decision when she saw him take a handful of Cultivation Fruits out of his Qiankun Bag and offer them to her.

Mu Xiaoyu hastily reached out with both hands to accept the Cultivation Fruits, but as soon as she held them, she realized the number didn’t seem right.

"One, two, three, four, five... six?!" She carefully counted them again and confirmed that there were indeed six.

"Senior Brother?" Her face was filled with pleasant surprise, and her shivering lessened by thirty percent. "Can I eat six Cultivation Fruits from now on?"

"Yes," Li Yinsheng nodded, explaining. "I only let you eat five before because your Soul wasn’t strong enough. You could only refine five fruits a day.

"But after consuming the Moon Dew, your Soul has grown stronger, allowing you to refine one more Cultivation Fruit each day."

Mu Xiaoyu froze for a moment before asking, "Does that mean... as long as my Soul gets stronger, the number of Cultivation Fruits I can eat every day will increase?"

Li Yinsheng smiled and nodded. "That’s right, you’re so smart!"

A profound sense of inner conflict surfaced on Mu Xiaoyu’s face. Consuming Moon Dew would make her very cold, and she would have to suffer from morning until night. But after consuming it just once, she could eat an extra Cultivation Fruit every day. Mmm... what a difficult choice!

Mu Xiaoyu hugged her shivering self and circulated the Three Yang Spirit Fire within her body, wanting to alleviate some of the chill.

Although the coldness of her Soul was not connected to her Flesh Body, the warmth of the circulating Three Yang Spirit Fire did give her the illusion of being slightly warmer. Huh? A spark of Spiritual Light suddenly flashed through Mu Xiaoyu’s mind.

"Although consuming Moon Dew makes me very cold, refining a Fire Seed makes me very hot!

"Senior Brother will definitely make me refine more Fire Seeds in the future. Now that Shangguan is gone, refining a Fire Seed will definitely be scorching hot again.

"So if I consume Moon Dew while refining a Fire Seed, wouldn’t the cold and the heat cancel each other out?

"That way, not only would it not be uncomfortable, but I could also eat more Cultivation Fruits later. It’s killing two birds with one stone!

"Hehe! I, Mu Xiaoyu, am truly a genius!"

Looking at Mu Xiaoyu, who was shivering while bearing a silly grin, Li Yinsheng was somewhat baffled. "What’s going on? Has she frozen her brains out?"