“Are you asking for another beating?” Xu Yifan glared at the demonic plant.
“No I’m not!” the demonic plant bounced onto his leg, saying with an innocent air, “Boss, I want to go out and play.”
It had the temperament of a small child, and after being worn as a bracelet on Xu Yifan’s wrist all day, it was practically about to burst from boredom.
Xu Yifan picked it up and “tossed” it onto the stone bed, but it immediately clambered back and pressed up beside him. As if to prove just how cooped up it really felt, the demonic plant let its two little leaves droop, listless, like frost-bitten greens.
Xu Yifan pulled out a pill and gave it to it. The demonic plant’s eyes lit up, and it said loudly, “Candy bean!”
Its vine tip was just about to plunge in when it suddenly stopped short.
“This isn’t a candy bean!”
“No, it’s not,” Xu Yifan said. “This is a breath-suppressing pill. Once you eat it, no one else will be able to smell your demonic aura.” He’d applied a concealment talisman to himself, while the demonic plant stayed on his body, other cultivators couldn’t smell its demonic aura, but the moment it left him without taking a breath-suppressing pill, its true identity would be exposed instantly.
The cultivation world held righteous and demonic paths as mutually irreconcilable. Once its identity was exposed, the demonic plant would be in real danger, certain to be hunted down.
After all, this place was a sect full of countless powerful experts, not some village, better to be careful.
Hearing this, the demonic plant bounced up and cheered. “Thank you, Boss, thank you, Boss.”
“Mm!” Xu Yifan dug two blankets out of his storage ring and spread them over the stone bed, then earnestly lectured it. “Don’t spend all your time thinking about going out to play. Cultivate properly, that way you get stronger, and I get stronger too. Once you’re able to take human form, I’ll take you out for good food.”
Because of his physical condition, Xu Yifan’s cultivation progressed extremely slowly, constantly stalled. After more than a decade of cultivating, he was still only at Qi Refining sixth layer, and that was only achieved by gulping down piles of pills, without them, he wouldn’t even have reached sixth layer.
However, when an ordinary cultivator’s contracted demonic plant or beast rose sharply in cultivation, it could also pull its contracted cultivator along with it. This was precisely why most cultivators were so eager to contract with high-grade demonic plants and beasts. Most high-bloodline demonic plants and beasts had exceptional cultivation aptitude, facing almost no bottlenecks while cultivating, and on top of that, they could serve as muscle in ordinary times and as extra help in a fight.
Truly the best of both worlds.
If the demonic plant’s cultivation rose just one level, Xu Yifan would be able to smoothly advance to Qi Refining seventh layer.
But this thing didn’t like cultivating, it always wanted to play.
Xu Yifan felt worn out over it, but it was his companion after all, and having only just come into being, it found even chicken droppings fascinating and wanted to play all day long, what could he do about it?
“Good food?” The moment it heard those words, the demonic plant got all worked up, its whole “self” instantly buzzing with excitement, and it bounced right onto Xu Yifan’s back, saying happily, “Better than Spirit Plant Pills?”
Xu Yifan lied to it. “Of course! There’s plenty of stuff better-tasting than Spirit Plant Pills. Spirit Plant Pills are only first-grade, what’s that worth? Whether you’re talking about being human or being grass, you’ve got to have higher aspirations.”
The demonic plant wasn’t especially smart, but its brain wasn’t entirely empty either. It bounced hard on Xu Yifan’s back a few times and said, “I don’t believe you. You’re probably just trying to trick me because you think I’m dumb.”
“…”
So you know you’re dumb, huh?
Xu Yifan rolled his eyes hard, too lazy to argue with it, and simply pulled out a second-grade Spirit Plant Pill.
A cold current, carrying with it the faint, fresh scent of morning grass, instantly filled the entire cave dwelling. The scent was intoxicating, the demonic plant felt an overwhelming wave of comfort wash through its whole body, its vine tip swaying nonstop, its voice going shrill.
“Boss, what is this? What is this? I want it, I want it.”
“Eat it if you want to die.” Xu Yifan said.
“…” The demonic plant froze entirely. “It smells this good, and yet it’s poisonous?”
“It’s not poisonous.” Xu Yifan said. Before the demonic plant could speak again, he added directly, “This is a second-grade pill. If you eat it, your body will explode.”
The demonic plant was only at early Foundation Establishment cultivation, but as a member of the top-grade demonic plant race, it had almost no rivals among those of the same cultivation level, and its constitution far surpassed that of humans, let alone second-grade, it could handle even fifth-grade pills. Xu Yifan was purely bluffing to scare it.
The demonic plant said “Oh,” somewhat dejected.
It hopped down from behind Xu Yifan and, without a word, walked off toward a corner.
“What are you going to do?” Xu Yifan asked.
“I’m going to cultivate,” the demonic plant said, its tone resolute, full of vigor and spirit. “Keep your movements quiet. Don’t disturb me.”
Xu Yifan clicked his tongue, treating this as pure hot air, the demonic plant had said this a good eight hundred if not a thousand times before, and it never lasted longer than the time it took half a stick of incense to burn. He went about his own business, and only once he’d finished setting up the bedding did he say, “We’re going out tonight.”
“Going out to do what?” the demonic plant asked him.
“Getting up to something big.” Xu Yifan didn’t want to say more, his master’s cave wasn’t far off, and being discovered would be disastrous. He had a lot of things in his storage ring, and the cave was completely empty, so by the time he’d finished tidying and arranging everything, it was already evening.
During the gaps in his work, the demonic plant had already snuck off on its own, it had the temperament of a child and never stuck with anything for more than three minutes at a time. Since it had taken the breath-suppressing pill, Xu Yifan wasn’t worried.
That night, the demonic plant came back.
Xu Yifan got up from the bed, swallowed a Disguise Pill, and headed down the mountain with the demonic plant in tow.
“Boss, where are we going?”
“Did you see that jade pendant Ma Xiang was carrying today?” Xu Yifan said.
The demonic plant nodded. “I saw it. What about it, Boss? You want that rock? Want me to go steal it for you?”
Xu Yifan wanted to hit it. “That’s no rock. That’s a fifth-grade Nether Stone Ore.”
The demonic plant said, “Isn’t that still a rock?”
Xu Yifan no longer felt like talking to it.
How could Nether Stone Ore be called just a rock! Rocks were everywhere, Nether Stone Ore, on the other hand, was a rare treasure. Although it was only classified as fifth-grade, its value rivaled that of a tenth-grade magic treasure. Fusing even a small amount of Nether Stone Ore into a magic tool would make it as hard as iron, its power instantly rising three tiers.
The Southern Region was deficient in spiritual energy, fourth-grade spiritual herbs, fruits, and tools were already hard to find, let alone fifth-grade ones. And this Nether Stone Ore had no material incompatibility issues to worry about.
Normally, if a fifth-grade spiritual material were used to forge an artifact, fusing something fifth-grade into a sixth-grade magic tool would actually lower the sixth-grade tool’s overall tier.
But Nether Stone Ore was different.
This thing had extremely high fusion compatibility, even fused with an eighth-grade magic tool, it could raise that eighth-grade tool up three whole tiers.
That piece on Ma Xiang’s waist wasn’t an ordinary jade pendant, it had almost certainly been engraved with a concealing third-grade transformation array and a third-grade protective array, or else there was no way Ma Xiang could have taken a palm strike from his master today and come away completely unscathed.
That piece looked as if it had just been freshly cut.
Ma Xiang was sure to have more of it.
Who would have thought that the resource-poor Southern Region actually had something this good?
Ma Xiang wanted his life, all he wanted in return was one piece of Ma Xiang’s rock. That wasn’t excessive, was it?
Xu Yifan thought it over and decided it wasn’t excessive at all. His whole body burning with eagerness, he snuck into Beast Forest Peak, where Ma Xiang resided. He searched from the foot of the mountain to the summit, practically digging three feet into the ground even around the buildings partway up the slope, but found nothing.
“This can’t be right!” Xu Yifan looked at the demonic plant, which had returned empty-handed. “You didn’t find anything either?”
They’d split up into two directions after reaching Beast Forest Peak, agreeing to regroup at the foot of the mountain at the third watch of the night, regardless of whether they’d found anything.
The demonic plant shook itself. “Nope, didn’t see a thing.”
“Then where the hell did he hide it?” Xu Yifan paced in place. “He must have more Nether Stone Ore. Weren’t you supposedly so good at sneaking around stealing chickens back in the village? How come now, when I ask you to steal something, you can’t manage it?”
The demonic plant nearly jumped up. “Boss, I won’t allow you to doubt my skills! Stealing chickens is easy! Feeling up dogs’ backsides is easy too! But for that damn rock, I even secretly peeked into that Ma Xiang’s ear canal, and I still didn’t see it.”
Xu Yifan’s expression turned thoughtful. “Then where could he have put it…”
“Are you two looking for something?” A clear, ethereal voice suddenly cut in.
Xu Yifan and the demonic plant, guilty as thieves caught in the act, jumped in fright. Turning around, they saw Xian Qinglin standing behind them, no telling when he’d arrived, or how much he’d overheard.
“Are you two looking for something?” Xian Qinglin asked again.
Xu Yifan hadn’t had a particularly good impression of him before, but now, seeing the man standing beneath the hazy moonlight in a set of white robes, his features so exquisite they seemed beyond the mortal world, everything about him looked good, no matter how you looked at it, making Xu Yifan’s heart pound uselessly against his will once again.
This man was just too good-looking, handsome as hell, beautiful and dazzling to the point that it was impossible not to be drawn toward him.
Xu Yifan shook his head. “Nope!”
“I heard you two talking just now.” Xian Qinglin smiled, the very picture of a graceful, handsome young man. Xu Yifan had taken a Disguise Pill and changed his appearance, but that mass of fat on his body was still quite distinctive. Xian Qinglin said, “You’re looking for Elder Ma’s Nether Stone Ore, aren’t you?”
Xu Yifan, having disguised himself, wasn’t worried about being recognized, and seeing that the other man seemed to already understand, immediately admitted it. “Yeah, so what, you know where it is? If I find it, I can share a bit with you.”
“I know.” Xian Qinglin said. “Elder Ma has a secret chamber in the Beast-Taming Hall. I heard from Ma Xiu that he usually keeps his valuables in there. But that chamber has a third-grade protective array, a third-grade concealment array, and a fourth-grade killing array. I… I only know the chamber is in the Beast-Taming Hall. As for exactly where, I don’t know that either.”
“Knowing it’s in the Beast-Taming Hall is enough.” Xu Yifan waved a hand. “Come on, let’s go while it’s still dark out.”
The Beast-Taming Hall had disciples stationed there year-round on night watch. Xu Yifan pulled out two concealment talismans, gave one to Xian Qinglin, and the two of them headed straight for the Beast-Taming Hall.
There were quite a few disciples keeping watch through the night within the sect, but the two of them moved through as if through an empty realm.
Xu Yifan had only just arrived and had no idea where the Beast-Taming Hall even was. Xian Qinglin, on the other hand, knew perfectly well, moving with practiced familiarity.
Puzzled, Xu Yifan transmitted his voice to him. “Aren’t you an outer disciple? How are you this familiar with the inner sect?”
Outer disciples generally weren’t permitted to wander freely through the inner sect. Plenty of places weren’t accessible to outer disciples at all.
Xian Qinglin laughed softly. “I come to the Beast-Taming Hall often to do chores.”
Xu Yifan didn’t need to ask what kind of chores, what else could it be besides shoveling animal dung.
Spirit stones contained a large amount of pure, concentrated spiritual energy that could be used to aid cultivation. Relying solely on absorbing spiritual energy from the air, in a place as deficient in spiritual energy as the Southern Region, reaching Foundation Establishment would be nothing short of a pipe dream. Spirit stones could be used not only by human cultivators, but by demonic plants and beasts as well, which was why spirit stones were so hard to earn on the Southern Region continent.
Outer disciples generally handled odd jobs. If they wanted to cultivate, they needed to earn spirit stones. Every sect had a task hall, filled with all sorts of jobs, some posted by the sect itself, others posted by disciples, the Pill Hall’s disciples posted the most, things like finding certain spiritual herbs for however many spirit stones. But these jobs tended to be dangerous, and correspondingly paid more in spirit stones. Xian Qinglin was only at Qi Refining seventh layer, so he could only take on jobs from the inner sect.
Once they reached the Beast-Taming Hall, the two of them avoided the night-watch disciples and, following the demonic plant, made straight for a doorway.
The demonic plant had a keen sense of smell, and the moment it arrived at the Beast-Taming Hall, it caught the scent of spirit stones. It immediately declared with certainty, “Boss, that secret chamber must be in here.”
Xu Yifan didn’t doubt it for a second.
Back in the village, the demonic plant had gone out stealing chickens before. The villagers had lost a few chickens to it, and afterward they’d started hiding their chickens carefully every night before going to sleep. But no matter how well hidden, the demonic plant could always find them.
It didn’t do anything with the chickens it stole, just ate them.
Because of this, Xu Yifan had paid out plenty of compensation to people over the years.
The demonic plant’s tone was smug and thoroughly excited. Xian Qinglin watched as the two tender red leaves at its tip rubbed against each other like a pair of human hands. “Boss, Boss, I can smell spirit stones too. This time we might really hit it big.”
Xu Yifan: “Hahaha…”
Xian Qinglin’s mouth twitched involuntarily. “…The secret chamber has protective arrays.” He felt they were celebrating far too early. Two third-grade arrays, a protective array and a concealment array, plus a fourth-grade killing array, even a Golden Core cultivator would find that troublesome. Whether they could even break through the concealment array to find the secret chamber in the first place was still a question.
After all, the two of them were only at the Qi Refining stage.
As for this little demonic plant, he couldn’t tell exactly how powerful it was, but judging by its demeanor, he suspected its actual strength probably wasn’t very high either.
“What’s there to be afraid of? Although, this door has a restrictive ward on it, the moment it’s disturbed, Ma Xiang will probably know something’s up over here right away. We’re not going in.” Xu Yifan hung a jade pendant and a spatial ring on the demonic plant and patted it. “Little brother, go for it.”
The demonic plant straightened its body up. “Got it, Boss. Little brother guarantees mission success.” It swaggered its way in through the crack of the door. Xian Qinglin wanted to ask, is this really okay?
That little demonic plant, just slipping in like that, wouldn’t it get shredded by the protective array? A third-grade protective array was nothing to joke about, even a Golden Core cultivator couldn’t break through it in a short amount of time, and causing a commotion would easily draw attention. But before he could get the words out, he saw Xu Yifan squatting by the doorway, cupping his own face with both hands, staring straight at him.
Xian Qinglin instantly felt uncomfortable, his eyes darting about. “You… what are you looking at?”