Mo Qi let out a silent scoff, finding her truly unmotivated.
Everyone who entered the cultivation world, regardless of gender, seemed to be driven by a frenzied ambition, striving and advancing with relentless dedication, neglecting sleep and food. When Lu Xiaoyue left Fengxi Village, despite her young age, her eyes clearly conveyed a spirit of "this mountain cannot contain me; I shall soar on the wind." Yet, Zhen Zhen was so peculiar. She found absorbing spiritual energy to be dirty, refused a spirit artifact, and seemed utterly indifferent to cultivation.
Was this fastidiousness, or a lack of ambition?
"Don't look at me like that," Zhen Zhen said, unnerved by his stare, and hurried ahead.
Fearing an imminent danger, Mo Qi quickly followed.
Indeed, as soon as he caught up, a tentacle snaked down from a hole in the ceiling, lashing directly towards Zhen Zhen's face. She shrieked in terror, too stunned to resist or even think of dodging.
"Flying sword!" Mo Qi called out softly. A flash of sword light sliced through the air, and with a "swish," a tentacle as thick as an elephant's trunk landed on the ground. It thrashed like a severed earthworm before wriggling into the river and disappearing.
After his flying sword returned to its sheath, Mo Qi looked up. An eye peered down from the hole, followed by a colossal form tumbling overhead with a rumbling sound, receding into the distance.
At some point, Zhen Zhen had grabbed Mo Qi's left hand, her face pale. "What was that?"
Mo Qi shook his head. "I don't know. I only saw an eye, and... that thing that escaped into the water, I don't know which part of it it was."
Her hand was soft and delicate, her skin smooth and tender. Mo Qi hesitated to pull away, feeling her action was somewhat forward. They had only met today, and she was already holding his hand and grabbing his clothes. Men and women should maintain distance. If he hadn't glimpsed the chastity mark on her wrist at some point, Mo Qi would have thought her a woman of questionable character.
Zhen Zhen seemed to realize her action was inappropriate and immediately withdrew her hand, a blush spreading to her earlobes.
The spirit artifact, oblivious to danger, continued to fly forward at its original speed.
As they descended further, the light grew dimmer. Mo Qi produced a glowing spirit stone, holding it aloft as they continued downward. A chilling wind surged upwards, reaching their heads like a frigid breath from hell, gradually permeating their bodies and making their hair stand on end.
Zhen Zhen followed behind, her heart pounding in her throat. She reached out, intending to grasp Mo Qi's hand, then hesitated, deeming it improper, and withdrew it again.
They then entered a large cavern. Looking up, they could see stars twinkling in the sky.
"Shall we rest here for a while?" Zhen Zhen asked, glancing at Mo Qi.
Mo Qi, though still full of energy, had to consider her feelings. He agreed, "Alright, we'll spend the night here."
Zhen Zhen took out a piece of cloth from her storage bag, spread it on the ground, and sat down, leaning against the stone wall, ready to rest.
Mo Qi, however, took out an alchemy furnace from his storage bag and placed it on the ground. He said to her, "Let me teach you alchemy."
Seeing how well Zhen Zhen and the spirit artifact got along, he had a sudden idea. Perhaps he could leverage this opportunity by teaching Zhen Zhen alchemy to forge a connection, thereby establishing friendly relations between the Lingxiao Sect and the Divine Pill Sect, and dispelling their previous animosity.
Zhen Zhen, exhausted from the continuous journey, longed to close her eyes and sleep. But seeing the sincerity in Mo Qi's eyes, she couldn't refuse him and nodded, "Alright."
As Mo Qi took out spiritual herbs like Sansheng Stone, Ying Tiandong, and Longgu Xiang from his storage bag, purifying them, he explained, "These are the basic materials for refining the Spirit Power Pill. You can skip the purification and sorting stages; your sect can prepare them for you. You only need to focus on the refining process, controlling the furnace fire. The most crucial step is injecting spiritual energy, which is what makes our pill unique."
Zhen Zhen watched intently. After Mo Qi prepared the refining materials, he took out the spiritual energy bag and began to stoke the fire to start the alchemy.
Mo Qi had an energy stone in his storage bag that could be used to start a fire instead of firewood, and it produced no black smoke, making it much more convenient than firewood.
Midway through the refining process, he injected spiritual energy through the spiritual energy bag. After several hours, he stopped the fire and used spiritual power to drive the alchemy.
Throughout the entire operation, he did not forget to explain, providing precautions, the proportion of each herb, when to use spiritual power for refining, and how to control the heat, all explained clearly. Fearing she might forget, he gave her the full recipe at the end.
The alchemy yielded a total of five pills. He took one himself, gave one to Zhen Zhen, and stored the rest in his storage bag. When he offered it to Zhen Zhen, she still hesitated, likely recalling that the spiritual energy was exhaled by the spirit artifact. After Mo Qi's persistent persuasion, she reluctantly accepted.
Zhen Zhen then attempted to operate it herself once, but failed, wasting a small amount of medicinal ingredients.
Mo Qi did not insist she continue refining, merely urging her to comprehend the process.
As a result, she fell asleep leaning against the stone wall! The spirit artifact also slept beside her!
In the dim light, her beautiful face appeared even more fair and tender, glowing like white jade in the night. Her eyelashes were gently lowered, her cherry lips clearly defined, a sight that was utterly captivating.
Mo Qi involuntarily swallowed.
Later, Zhen Zhen cried out in her dream, "My King, I will cultivate diligently and return to help you pacify the realm." This startled Mo Qi.
It seemed she was indeed a princess of a certain kingdom in the Nine Divine Realms.
Furthermore, it appeared she had come to cultivate with a mission. Seeing her seemingly unmotivated disposition, he hadn't expected her to bear so much.
Mo Qi finally understood why she had entered the Blackwater Abyss trial despite her low cultivation: she was on a mission, shouldering a heavy responsibility.
He mused that for someone with her aptitude to enter one of the Four Great Sects, her father must have exerted considerable influence behind the scenes.
As Mo Qi gazed at Zhen Zhen, lost in thought, he failed to notice dark shapes climbing ashore from the river, one after another. They crawled past him and ascended the hillside to his side. By the time he noticed, the shadows had formed a continuous line, like ants migrating, swarming up the mountain.
Mo Qi observed them closely. The shadows had scales, resembling crocodiles, but their legs were longer, and they walked with a proud gait, unlike the crawling of crocodiles.
They looked quite fearsome, but whether they hadn't seen Mo Qi and Zhen Zhen or simply disregarded them, they passed by as if no one else were present.
Fearing they might suddenly attack Zhen Zhen, Mo Qi quietly moved to her side and sat down. Unbeknownst to him, Zhen Zhen had already woken up. She had clearly seen the spectacle as well and leaned closer, her hand once again clutching Mo Qi's clothes. He felt her hand trembling uncontrollably.
All the monsters stopped at a certain point on the hillside, gradually forming a circle, their heads facing the center, gazing intently as if in worship.
After a moment, a point of light appeared in the center. Initially as small as a sesame seed, it gradually grew to the size of a soybean, its radiance spreading further and brighter, and it showed no sign of stopping its growth...
The surrounding monsters began to stir, emitting low growls.
"It's the Shore Spirit Pill Flower. It blooms for a thousand years, bears fruit for a thousand years, and matures for a thousand years. When it matures, it emits golden light. Because the fruit is crystal clear and shaped like a golden elixir, it's called the Shore Spirit Pill Fruit. Consuming it can grant mortals longevity, and cultivators can exponentially increase their cultivation. I didn't expect to encounter it here," Zhen Zhen said with some excitement.
"In that case," Mo Qi stood up, "we can try to compete for it with these monsters."
"Wait a moment," Zhen Zhen suddenly grabbed Mo Qi's hand, her voice trembling along with her hand. "It's not easy to compete for. Let's forget it. Look..."
In the vast sky above, two blood-red eyes appeared, like two crimson lanterns hanging in the starry sky. The blood-red hue even stained the surrounding stars.
The two eyeballs grew closer, and the figure behind them obscured the entire cavern. A hook-shaped object was vaguely visible beneath the eyes, exuding infinite bloodlust and coldness in the darkness. It was a giant eagle, its wingspan wide enough to blot out the sun and moon.
The monsters retreated, but refused to leave, raising their heads reluctantly and roaring.
The giant eagle swooped down from the sky, its talons like eight sharp swords, ferociously attacking the monsters. Simultaneously, it descended from mid-air. The monsters scattered to avoid it. When it seemed they had evaded the talons, phantom extensions suddenly shot out from the tips of the eight talons, elongating infinitely and piercing the bodies of eight monsters in an instant. The monsters cried out in unison.
But it wasn't over. The giant eagle retracted its sharp talons, pulling out eight shadowy phantoms from the bodies of the eight monsters. These were beast souls! The giant eagle was actually absorbing beast souls!
Mo Qi watched, dumbfounded. At the same time, he seemed to grasp something and immediately sat down cross-legged. The world spun, sun and moon traversed, tides ebbed and flowed, all unfolding before his eyes... At that moment, the spiritual energy within him quietly transformed. Previously like vast rivers, it now became fine as threads.
After absorbing the eight beast souls, the giant eagle's presence terrified the remaining monsters into scattering. However, it couldn't pursue them, as it had already sensed danger. Its eagle eyes shot towards them like two beams of lightning. Zhen Zhen, terrified, retreated and slumped against the cliff face. The giant eagle realized it had to strike first and lunged at Mo Qi, its eight talons extending towards him...
Just then, a phantom, almost invisible in the night, shot out. It had barbs at the front, clearly an arrow, and pierced the giant eagle's body. The giant eagle let out a piercing shriek and plummeted rapidly.
However, it wasn't over. The arrow suddenly retracted the next moment, pulling out a phantom with the eagle's outline, which fell directly into Mo Qi's hand. Mo Qi channeled spiritual energy into it, and with a roar, the phantom ignited. Guided by spiritual energy, it formed a vortex of flames, dancing and spinning in his hand, gradually changing color. Initially crimson, it slowly turned pale red, then blue, and finally colorless, merging into Mo Qi's palm.
Mo Qi opened his palm, shook it, and five sharp phantom claws extended, disappearing within a breath.
A faint smile appeared on Mo Qi's face. He leaped forward, landing on the hillside. Reaching down, he plucked the fruit from the pouch. It was still glowing golden. There were actually two of them! It seemed fate had a hand in it.
Mo Qi landed in front of Zhen Zhen and offered her one of the fruits.
Zhen Zhen was somewhat overwhelmed. "I, I can't accept this. It's, it's too precious."
Mo Qi pondered for a moment. "You say this is a good thing, but I don't believe you. I'm worried it might be poisonous. I'll only eat it if we eat it together!"
A hint of coldness appeared on Zhen Zhen's face. She took the fruit and ate it without a word.
Then, she sat down cross-legged, absorbing the spiritual energy from the fruit.
Mo Qi smiled faintly and ate the remaining fruit himself, then sat down cross-legged, circulating the spiritual energy within him. After the spiritual energy in his sea of consciousness interacted with the life essence forty-nine times, with a roar, his sea of consciousness was opened. His cultivation advanced to the late stage of Foundation Establishment.
Normally, it would take over ten years to advance from the middle stage to the late stage of Foundation Establishment. However, propelled by the power of that miraculous fruit, Mo Qi achieved this leap in an instant. Since entering the Foundation Establishment stage, Mo Qi had felt every breakthrough to be arduous, and every advancement in level to be a refinement of his realm, not just an increase in spiritual energy or cultivation. He suspected that the previous instances of breaking through ten times in a single night would not happen again. During the Concentration stage, he understood there was an inexplicable surplus of spiritual energy within him, driving his repeated breakthroughs. He believed that this spiritual energy might have originated from the Earth Arrow or the white-robed man.
Regardless, he felt fortunate. While he lacked Lu Xiaoyue's cultivation talent, he had stumbled upon fortuitous encounters. All these encounters began that night when he met the black-robed and white-robed men. Therefore, he felt grateful to them, especially the white-robed man, who seemed to have provided him with greater assistance. He had a premonition that he would meet him again one day.
Zhen Zhen also reaped significant rewards. After undergoing the circulation of the heavenly cycle, she had advanced from the eighth stage of Concentration to the ninth stage. She was only a thread away from Great Perfection, just needing a puff of breath.
Mo Qi, unwilling to see her regretful, gave her another Spirit Power Pill.
With the aid of the Spirit Power Pill, Zhen Zhen successfully broke through to the Great Perfection of Concentration.
A happy smile bloomed on Zhen Zhen's face, dispelling the previous unpleasantness caused by "mistrust."
The air became serene, and they sat there in silence for a long time.
Zhen Zhen suddenly spoke, her words startling. "I agree to this marriage. What do you think?"
Mo Qi was bewildered. "Marriage? What marriage?"
Zhen Zhen's face turned crimson, her head buried in the ground, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum. "Don't you feel it? This is the marriage arranged by my sect and your sect. Before coming for the trial, I went through layers of selection, and the so-called selection involved wearing beautiful clothes and walking around, then asking us if we had ideals or a Dao companion. I suspect they were choosing... I've heard your name before. You are so outstanding, your sect must want to find a young and beautiful Dao companion for you..."
As she spoke the words "young and beautiful," her tongue seemed to glide over them. Mo Qi hadn't heard clearly, but he guessed what she meant. It seemed she was quite confident in her own beauty.
Mo Qi, however, chuckled. He understood Zhong Gui's scheme – a honey trap! Should he play along?
"And," Zhen Zhen continued, "why are there only the two of us in the trial? They must have arranged it deliberately."
Mo Qi chuckled again. She was quite observant.
"Do you agree or not?" Zhen Zhen asked, a mixture of shyness, annoyance, and nervousness in her voice.