The clouds hung like ink, with only a faint thread of light filtering through to cast a dim glow over the forest beside the courtyard.
Qin Yi silently observed the changes happening in his body.
When he breathed on his own, he barely felt anything, but now he could sense the icy chill of spiritual essence flowing into every part of his body.
Before long, the quantity of spiritual essence within him must have reached a tipping point, triggering a qualitative breakthrough. Still holding his hand seal and immersed in the cultivation vision, Qin Yi began to gradually perceive the spiritual essence coursing through his body.
Is this inner vision?
The spiritual essence flowed continuously along pathways that resembled veins or meridians.
It seemed this cultivation technique was also derived from the internal cultivation techniques of warriors. According to what that old man Peng Jun had said, after the "Spirit Attraction Ritual" concluded, internal cultivation relied on something called meridians.
The clouds pressed lower and lower against the horizon, allowing only faint, dim light to pass through.
Qin Yi kept constant watch over the changes in his body.
Ready to withdraw at any moment.Though he didn't know why he had chosen to save Ruan Su, his own survival remained the absolute top priority.
Gradually, the icy sensation within his body transformed into a fullness akin to satiety, and as time progressed, it shifted again into a prickling, needle-like distending pain.
Sensing this, Qin Yi glanced at the blue spiritual essence still swirling around Ruan Su—nearly half of it yet unabsorbed.
Just as I thought... it's not enough.
Qin Yi impassively withdrew his hand.
The girl's face, half flawless and half twisted, unconsciously tilted to the side, as if even in her coma she sought to chase that faint, impractical warmth.
Qin Yi prepared to rise.
His body could no longer hold this much spiritual essence. Continuing would not only fail to save Ruan Su but would drag himself down as well.
But the turn of events completely exceeded Qin Yi's expectations. Though his hand had pulled away, the almost tangible blue spiritual essence stretched into a thin, half-inch liquid thread between him and Ruan Su.
The spiritual essence continued to pour into his body along this thread.
This was bad.
Without any hesitation, Qin Yi tried to retreat, attempting to break the connection through physical distance—but he was already too late.
Once the needle-like distending pain appeared, the various negative sensations didn't rise in a linear fashion—they erupted like a cliffside cascade!
Tearing pain assailed him from every corner of his body. His vision instantly turned blood red, and his body toppled backward.
Several breaths later, Qin Yi too began to spew blood from his mouth in great gushes.
But he didn't stop moving.
Like a thought pattern implanted deep in his mind, he crawled on the ground, enduring the agony wracking his entire body, inching painfully toward the other side, trying to distance himself from the death behind him.
He had to survive.
Even though he didn't know what meaning that held anymore.
...
Night fell.
Yellow Bamboo Town,
Meng's Clothing Workshop, rear hall.
A desolate draft blew through, stone lanterns set into the high walls cast flickering, feeble light, and mountains of goods were neatly sorted and stacked throughout the side courtyard.
The young woman in the ru skirt seemed to be in a good mood. Holding a small notebook beneath a stack of cargo, she hummed an unfamiliar tune while carefully verifying the goods set to be shipped out.
Granny Meng returned without warning, her mourning-garment-like black robes swallowing the surrounding light as she emerged from the pitch-dark shadows. She swept past Meng Peijiu with a chill breeze and went straight to the master's armchair at the deepest part of the rear hall.
After a brief pause, Meng Peijiu turned her head as if only just noticing, stared at the old woman, and asked curiously:
"Hey, Mother, where have you been?"
Granny Meng leaned back in the armchair, creaking as she slowly rocked. The firelight played across her aged face as she spoke in an unvarnished, dry and raspy voice:
"Nianci Mountain has been restless lately. I went to inspect the ritual tracking disk."
Meng Peijiu turned around, the hem of her skirt rippling with vivid motion in the dim light. She didn't seem particularly surprised, and asked:
"Hey~ Restless how? It can't be that mountain lord tiger, can it?"
Granny Meng seemed to despise the other woman's flippant attitude. She narrowed her eyes, her voice hoarse:
"A beast that hasn't even fully developed spiritual intelligence deserves to be called a mountain lord? There's something resembling a mutant creature in the mountains. It hides well—I searched several rounds and couldn't flush it out."
Meng Peijiu waved her hand and said with a laugh:
"These are all minor matters. The 'Black Sun's' influence hasn't fully spread to the Shu region yet. Since it avoids you, that means it won't have much impact on the ritual."
Granny Meng's voice was deep and muffled, as low as the netherworld itself:
"Being cautious never hurts."
Meng Peijiu chuckled softly, her eyes curving into crescents:
"Heh heh, then where did you go last night?"
Granny Meng glanced sidelong at the other woman and replied directly:
"I went to see Her. Also, traces of blood feeding have begun to appear on the jade."
Hearing this, Meng Peijiu casually set the ledger in her hand atop a pile of crates. Ignoring the gloomy, sinister atmosphere of the courtyard, she spoke with the same flippant tone, showing not a shred of respect for her 'mother,' and said with a smile:
"So, Mother dear, what do you plan to do now?"
Granny Meng leaned back in the armchair, her face hidden in the shadows. She did not answer.
Meng Peijiu moved with delicate steps into the rear hall, casually taking a seat on a random chair. She leaned sideways against the backrest, propped her chin on her hand, gazed at the main seat, and said leisurely:
"Si Lu... you've dragged this out far too long. That's why the main family sent me here. The entire ritual has already slipped completely out of your control, hasn't it?"
Granny Meng's tone dropped slightly, and the temperature around her seemed to lower with it:
"That's because of that little one beside Her."
Meng Peijiu thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement:
"True enough. If not for that little one, based on your reports, the entire ritual should have been completed long ago."
Having said that, Meng Peijiu's tone abruptly shifted, turning cold and clear:
"But that cannot excuse your incompetence. Once blood feeding appears, the speed of its spread is unknown. If the ritual cannot be completed before it fully consumes the 'Pan Blood Spirit Jade,' you should know the consequences."
Granny Meng fell silent, her hunched frame trembling faintly in the darkness.
Meng Peijiu's right index finger, which was propping up her chin, gently tapped her fair cheek as she asked:
"I'll be taking over the entire ritual from here. Do you have any objections?"
Granny Meng was silent for a moment. Her small eyes reflected the dim, flickering flames of the distant stone lanterns, their light shifting unpredictably:
"You... still intend to directly interfere with the ritual?"
Meng Peijiu straightened in her chair, staring at Granny Meng, speaking each word deliberately:
"In principle, one indeed cannot directly interfere with the ritual. But now the principles themselves are beginning to fester. Direct interference is still better than outright failure, wouldn't you agree?"
Silence.
After a long while, Granny Meng suddenly spoke, her voice rising and falling like a guttering flame:
"What do you plan to do?"
Meng Peijiu thought for a moment, raising her slender hand slightly, and said with a soft laugh:
"First, find a way to separate Her from that little one. Without the interference, the ritual should proceed much more smoothly. If that truly doesn't work, then we'll have no choice but to forcibly conduct the ritual."
Granny Meng hesitated for a beat, then raised an objection:
"That little one... could become a future asset to Her."
"I went to see them yesterday. They don't measure up at all."
Meng Peijiu took a deep breath, rose from her seat, cast a long look at Granny Meng, and walked toward the exit of the hall:
"The whole world is transforming at this very moment. That little one has a few redeemable qualities, but their cultivation aptitude is far too poor. Rather than an asset, they're better suited to be the whetstone for Her complete metamorphosis."
Her footsteps suddenly halted. Meng Peijiu stood still beneath the upturned eaves of the rear hall, gazing at the cloud-covered sky. Her words drifted ethereally on the cold autumn wind:
"Si Lu, a carp that leaps over the dragon gate is still just a carp. But She is destined to be a phoenix soaring through the nine heavens..."