After the brief moment of joy, Du Xinghe couldn’t help but feel some worry.
According to what she had seen in the inheritance palace, raising Qilins required vast amounts of rare treasures… Of course, they could survive on rough fare, but their growth would be much slower—
It was like in mobile games, where the rarer the character, the more uncommon the materials needed for leveling up. Even if you poured in massive amounts of basic materials, it would be like throwing mud into the sea with no visible effect.
At this moment, Du Xinghe faced the following situation:
Good news: got a rare card on the first single pull as a beginner.
Bad news: too poor to have materials to raise the card.
If given the chance, Du Xinghe really wanted to ask the one who laid the egg: didn’t you leave any assets to raise the offspring? So it’s all just spiritual wealth! After pondering for a moment, she remembered a crucial point: “The dangers in the Luminous-grade Secret Realm shouldn’t exceed the Golden Core Stage, but since the Qilin hatched inside the secret realm, it isn’t restricted by this rule. It can basically sweep through anything below Golden Core…”
Then what was she waiting for?
Time to get up and gather materials!
…
Half a quarter-hour later, the Qilin followed Du Xinghe’s instructions: first eating its own eggshell, burning the words on the wall, then carrying her outward to explore the cave. Along the way, it devoured all the spirit stones and spirit herbs it saw, and no demon beasts that crossed its path were spared.
Meanwhile, Du Xinghe sat cross-legged in meditation on the Qilin’s back, occasionally opening her eyes: “…Ye Qi!”
[Baa?]
Ye Qi held half a skull in its mouth, dragging along a string of partially shattered bones.
Their owner was likely some unfortunate cultivator who had perished in the secret realm.
It looked up innocently, drool nearly dripping from its mouth.
“You can’t eat that.”
Hearing this, Ye Qi released its grip, and the skull rolled to the ground.
Somehow, even though she was riding a young divine beast, she felt like she was walking a dog and had to watch it to prevent it from eating garbage off the street.
Ning Lin even scorned it:
“Putting a Qi Refining Stage skull in your mouth? Have some standards.”
Du Xinghe’s head began to ache faintly.
After about two hours of eating, the Qilin still showed no signs of fullness. When she opened the offspring panel, she noticed two new lines of values beneath Ye Qi and Ning Lin’s information.
…
[Name]: Ye Qi
[Age]: 0 years
[Mother]: Du Xinghe
[Height]: 12 feet
[Talent]: Ward off Evil and Transform Malevolence
[Evolution Value]: 41/10000
…
[Name]: Ning Lin
[Age]: 0 years
[Mother]: Du Xinghe
[Height]: 12 feet
[Talent]: Exterminate Evil and Slaughter
[Evolution Value]: 41/10000
Du Xinghe was stunned.
Qilins were benevolent auspicious beasts symbolizing peace, prosperity, longevity, and excelling at transforming malevolence. Yet Ning Lin practically had “extremely fierce” written on its forehead. What had gone wrong? However, with the values quantified, Du Xinghe could more intuitively appreciate how expensive it was to raise a rare divine beast. So she said, “Everything here is free, eat more.”
Accompanied by a “crunch crunch crunch crunch” sound, the Qilin left nothing in its path—not a blade of grass remained.
[Mother, this Shadow Rat’s meat is very suitable for you.]
Ye Qi bit through a Shadow Rat’s neck, keeping the most tender part to offer Du Xinghe.
Looking at the bloody rat meat, Du Xinghe could only smile: “…Thank you, but I’ll pass.”
[How foolish! Meat must be roasted to be delicious. How could you give raw meat to Mother?]
While scolding its brother, Ning Lin breathed out flames, roasting the Shadow Rat meat until it was fragrant, then presented it to her as a treasure.
The usually fierce and violent Ning Lin only had starry eyes for Du Xinghe.
With the atmosphere built up like this, it would seem impolite if she didn’t eat.
Then she remembered there were no sewers in the cave, and Shadow Rats were a type of Spirit Beast that were very clean. After much mental preparation, Du Xinghe condensed thousands of words into one phrase that East Asian families would understand implicitly:
“Thank you, Mom isn’t hungry, you eat.”
Ning Lin was deeply moved and swallowed the Shadow Rat in two bites.
While looting the secret realm, Du Xinghe took only one or two out of ten items, keeping some higher-quality Spirit Herbs and crystals for her own use after leaving the realm or to sell at the cultivator market. The rest all went into the Qilin’s stomach.
Passing through caves of various sizes, Du Xinghe suddenly heard the sound of rushing water and couldn’t help but feel delighted: “Stop, let me listen for the direction of the water source.”
After listening carefully for a moment, she identified it came from the southwest and headed toward the source. She discovered an extremely narrow passage in the cave wall, only wide enough for her to pass through alone – the Qilin couldn’t squeeze in.
She pondered: “Wait for me here.”
After reaching Foundation Establishment, her body felt light, her five senses were sharp, and she seemed to have endless energy. Even her soul felt cleansed by the spiritual energy, though the process had also expelled impurities from her body, leaving her sticky and smelly. Since they were still in the secret realm, she would have endured it if there were no conditions for bathing.
Now that she knew there was a water source and had some self-protection ability after Foundation Establishment, she decided to investigate.
Rustle, rustle…
The narrow path was pitch black, but Du Xinghe actually found her vision too clear. Even the movements of insects and ants crawling on the walls on both sides were completely visible to her heightened senses after Foundation Establishment: “At my current first-layer Foundation Establishment realm, it seems I still can’t control it freely.”
The enhanced five senses after Foundation Establishment were like having cheats activated for ordinary people.
Not to mention anything else, if she stood in an underground gambling den, she would be the most skilled cheat.
But this cheat consumed a lot of energy, forcing her to constantly receive massive amounts of useless information – like having taste buds in your intestines. Impressive? Absolutely, capable of what others cannot!
But this was definitely an ability nobody would want.
Only upon reaching the second layer of Foundation Establishment could she turn it off.
At the third layer, she would truly be able to control it freely.
…
Soon passing through the narrow path, she found an underground river ahead. The turbulent water posed no danger to Du Xinghe. She released her spiritual sense, confirming she didn’t detect any powerful demon beasts in the water, before entering the river.
The rushing current that could smooth jagged rocks couldn’t shake her in the slightest. The icy cold flowing water washed away the impurities from her body, revealing snow-white, flawless skin beneath. The spiritual energy had repaired the severe injuries she originally suffered at Heart-Questioning Cliff, leaving her back like fine mutton-fat jade, pure and smooth.
After washing her robes in the river and using magic to dry them, Du Xinghe secretly resolved:
“After returning, I still need to learn some daily life spells.”
The spell formulas that made life more convenient weren’t secrets. Previously, the original owner came from a wandering orphan background – no one had told her about such convenient magic. She only knew to diligently practice basic techniques. Neither Yuanming Zunzhe nor the senior brothers of Nine Yang Sect had thought to guide or care for her, merely treating her as unpaid labor.
The past was like smoke, occasionally stirring up some remaining embers.
After dressing properly, Du Xinghe suddenly heard a panicked shout from upstream.
“Senior Brother Wei Yi, save me!”
The voice, she remembered, belonged to the Nine Yang Sect disciple she had encountered on the Flying Ship.
Du Xinghe indifferently averted her gaze and prepared to return through the narrow path to reunite with the Qilin.
However, the commotion grew increasingly louder and closer.
Footsteps pounded like rapid drumbeats against her eardrums.
“Hiss…”
“I really need to break through to the second level of Foundation Establishment soon.”
In an instant, a dark shadow surged downstream, charging straight toward Du Xinghe!
Additional chapter for the leader of Mitian Alliance~