Qibao fell asleep shortly after supervising Yin Mo. She had no choice—the month of trekking through mountains had truly exhausted her, and she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the bed.
Although the Tower Spirit had merged with this physical body, the pagoda was still under her control. Any unusual movements from the prisoners inside the tower, as well as external changes sensed by the tower itself, would be synchronized to her.
In the middle of the night, Qibao was suddenly startled awake by a tremor in the ground and the roars of Aberrant Beasts. She spread her Spiritual Sense across the tower body, and the tower became her eyes. Through it, she saw a patch of forest in the distance under the moonlight where trees were falling, accompanied by the pounding footsteps of a large Aberrant Beast. More and more trees toppled in a line, spreading toward the team's position.
Qibao habitually put on a spare set of clothes, held up the tower, and appeared outside the earthen fort.
Lu Feng and his four companions, who had slept directly in their combat gear, were already standing there. Glancing at Qibao, Lu Feng said quickly, "An Aberrant Beast of this size is at least A-rank. To be cautious, let's take shelter underground first, and only strike when we've confirmed there's no S-rank."
While he was explaining, Gao Jincheng had already transformed into a large mole and swiftly dug out an underground tunnel.
Qibao said, "You all go in. I'll stay outside and take a look."
She was confident in her defenses, but she didn't expect the newly acquainted mercenary squad to trust her without any preparation.
Still, Qibao enlarged the pagoda, extending its golden protective barrier to cover the deep tunnel as well.
Lu Feng wanted to show off in front of Qibao, so he had Gao Jincheng, Fang Linqing, and Zhuang Ran hide in the tunnel as planned, while he and Zhou Yu—who could transform into a white egret to fly in critical moments—stayed on the surface with Qibao.
He was the strongest captain and held great authority, so Zhou Yu and the others didn't dawdle and quickly cooperated. The last to hide, Gao Jincheng, poked half a mole head out of the tunnel entrance, glancing between the composed Qibao and the distant position of the large Aberrant Beast.
Before a minute had passed, two A-rank wild boars the size of small hills suddenly burst out of the forest. Spotting a strange golden-glowing object hovering low in the air, with three humans standing inside the golden light, the two A-rank wild boars temporarily abandoned their infighting and charged at the humans simultaneously.
"Boom, boom"—the two boars slammed heavily into the golden barrier. The barrier didn't budge an inch, merely bouncing the boars back, sending them crashing to the ground with equal force.
Wild boars had thick hides. They grunted as they got up, shook their heads, turned around, and continued attacking.
When the two boars were bounced back a second time, Qibao seized the opportunity to control the pagoda and ram into each boar. The pagoda, which looked like a toy effortlessly manipulated by Qibao, actually weighed tens of thousands of jin. A single strike was enough to crush the boars' skulls, sending fluids splattering everywhere.
Lu Feng, Zhou Yu, Gao Jincheng: "…"
Remembering that Aberrant Beast Crystal Cores could be exchanged for "points"—a virtual currency—at the base, Qibao retracted the tower and released Yin Mo, whose serpentine body had already raised its head to listen to the outside commotion. In a natural tone of command, she said, "Go dig out their Crystal Cores, rinse them clean, and bring them to me."
Whether Yin Mo was a prisoner or a disguised pet, he had to obediently follow her orders.
Yin Mo's current constitution was comparable to an A-rank Aberrant Beast. The only thing that made him stronger than an Aberrant Beast was his ability to absorb that thin trace of Spiritual Power and slowly continue raising his Cultivation Base. But not to mention that he needed a long time to recover his strength—even at his peak, he wasn't confident he could withstand a collision from the Qibao Tower.
With his strength inferior to the tower, Yin Mo shrank his body to the thickness of an arm, slithered over to the two boar corpses, extended his thin tail to rummage through the crushed bones and flesh, and pulled out two yellowish-brown earth-type Crystal Cores. He raised them before his serpentine head, sprayed water to rinse them clean one by one, then crawled back to present them to Qibao before voluntarily slipping back into the tower.
The five-man squad, who had all come to the surface and witnessed the entire process: "…"
Honestly, if all A-rank Aberrant Beasts were as intelligent and obedient as this snake, they'd want to pick one as a pet too!
Gao Jincheng reminded Qibao, "Aberrant Beast hides and meat can also be exchanged for points. Wild boar meat tastes terrible and isn't worth much, but the hides fetch a decent price."
Delicious Aberrant Beast meat would be sold to wealthy people for direct cooking, while unpalatable meat would be synthesized into unpleasant-tasting nutrient fluid and distributed to the poor. The hides would be made into clothing and leather armor of varying quality.
Hearing this, Qibao walked over and stored the two boar carcasses into the currently vacant second floor of the tower.
With the boars causing such a ruckus, no Aberrant Beasts should be coming this way tonight. Qibao said goodbye to Lu Feng and the others and returned to the tower to rest.
Yin Mo truly lived up to being a Millennial Great Demon who had Shape-shifted long ago. Who knew how long he'd been busy, but the moment Qibao returned, she received two silk bras he'd made. The front was just two cups, and the back, like a tube top, still needed to be tied.
From several floors away in the tower, Yin Mo transmitted his voice to explain: "The bras sold at the base use a special stretchy fabric. Silk simply won't work. Make do with these for now. We'll be back at the base in a few days—then you can buy as many as you want. I guarantee they'll be more comfortable than what I made."
Qibao: "Fine, but you'll have to wash all my dirty clothes. It just so happens you can spray water."
Yin Mo patted his snake tail and decided to endure a few days for now, following her to the base to see her pagoda's test results before deciding whether to escape. Although the pagoda's absolute defense could spare him from being hunted by high-level Ability Users, if the price of safety meant being ordered around like a servant every day, Yin Mo would rather head into the deep mountains and find some obscure corner to be his own master.
Just as dawn broke, Qibao was already sitting among the mercenary squad, mooching a meal.
Learning that the squad still needed to hunt three A-rank Aberrant Beasts to complete their mercenary mission, Qibao said, "I'll protect your safety as repayment for you feeding me."
Two A-rank Aberrant Beast Crystal Cores should be enough to cover her expenses at the base. The other beasts hadn't wronged her, and Qibao didn't want to hunt for the sake of hunting, so when the squad attacked beasts, she would only activate the pagoda's defensive function.
Lu Feng: "We're all friends here, no need to be so polite. A few meals couldn't hire a defensive Ability User of your caliber anyway."
Hearing this, Yin Mo also asked Qibao for food: "Your Contractor never thought about enslaving us. Since you're making me work, you have to pay wages. I don't need points—just provide me three meals a day, or I won't have the strength to do anything."
Qibao was still reasonable, so she consulted Gao Jincheng beside her: "Could I get an extra boxed meal each time? I need to feed my beast. After being fed by me for a while, he's developed a taste for cooked food."
Gao Jincheng was very generous and gave her over a dozen boxes at once.
With Qibao's pagoda golden light barrier as their backing, Lu Feng deliberately caught a low-level beast and bled it, using the blood aura to attract high-level beasts. When an A-rank beast actually arrived, he, Zhou Yu, and Fang Linqing were responsible for killing it.
That afternoon, the mission was complete. The five of them sat atop the back of Zhou Yu's beast-form—a massive white egret—under Qibao's golden light barrier. After ignoring attacks from several flocks of mutated birds, they flew smoothly out of the mountainous region and switched to the off-road vehicle Lu Feng had summoned.
Qibao had seen all kinds of flying Magic Treasures on the Cultivation Continent, so she had no particular interest in a car that could only run on the ground. She sat in the back row next to Fang Linqing and Zhuang Ran, with Gao Jincheng's fluffy mole form curled up on Zhuang Ran's lap.
Besides explaining the situation inside the base, Fang Linqing also kindly reminded her: "Outside the base, high-level beasts or beast packs can appear at any time. Inside the base, there are also groups of Ability Users who act recklessly relying on their strength. Qibao, you're probably an S-rank Spiritual Entity, but even S-rank Psychic Power can be exhausted. When you act alone in the future, it's best to use it sparingly, so you don't end up with insufficient Psychic Power reserves if something unexpected happens."
She was referring to the fact that Qibao had kept her Spiritual Entity pagoda outside all night to use as a house to sleep in.
Qibao couldn't explain, so she just smiled at Fang Linqing: "Thank you. No one ever taught me this before."
Yin Mo: "Why thank her? Your pagoda is a Magic Treasure—you could leave it out for ten thousand years without it consuming your Psychic Power. Her reminder is completely useless to you."
He had stayed up all night making her two bras, and she hadn't even said thank you for that.
Qibao: "This is proper etiquette for human interaction. Whether or not it's useful, she showed concern for me. Not thanking her would be rude."
Yin Mo understood now—everything he did for her was under duress, not out of genuine concern, which was why she never thanked him.
At 7 PM, the sky was completely dark. Lu Feng drove to an abandoned small town they had passed on the way in and chose a well-preserved two-story residence to spend the night.
This time, Qibao didn't put out her pagoda. She shared a tent with Fang Linqing—at least while interacting with the local Ability Users, Qibao didn't want to appear too unusual and invite unnecessary suspicion.
The pagoda was nurtured within her Sea of Consciousness, which was its own self-contained space.
Inside the first floor of the pagoda, Yin Mo could no longer sense the outside world, but the Suppression Array's power had greatly diminished. If he tried to break through the Restriction and escape, it would force the pagoda to manifest, and he could take the opportunity to leave.
But it wasn't yet time to flee. Yin Mo couldn't tip his hand—if the Tower Spirit learned of his abilities, she might find a way to strengthen the array.
Suppressing that restless urge, Yin Mo first sprayed a layer of water onto the scrapped Flying Boat Artifact the Tower Spirit had sent him, then shifted into human form and crouched beside it, scrubbing the Tower Spirit's dirty clothes one by one. The modern long-sleeved shirt and pants were covered in a layer of dust. The two undergarments inside were in better shape—no sweat smell, but instead faintly carrying the subtle Spiritual Qi of her physical body.
After all, it was a body she had condensed by exhausting a pile of Heavenly Treasures. Though it hadn't gained any special abilities, it radiated the scent of Spiritual Qi from the inside out—a fragrance of treasures and spiritual herbs from the Cultivation Continent that felt familiar and nostalgic to Yin Mo.
Involuntarily, Yin Mo lowered his head and buried his face into the thin fabric, taking several deep breaths.
Having inhaled his fill, Yin Mo continued scrubbing with a stern face. After washing the undergarments, he moved to another cabin of the boat to wash socks and embroidered shoes. When everything was done, he had to change the water and rinse them all over again!
Even back when he was just a weak little Snake Demon, he had never endured such humiliation!
Just wait—once they got to the base, he'd pull out that human-branded drum washing machine he'd bought earlier, plug it in, and use it. Then he'd make her pay the electricity bill!
Before falling asleep, Yin Mo decided that even if he had to flee, he'd first stick with Qibao and enjoy the modern life at the base for a while. Only after he'd drained all of Qibao's points and gotten enough satisfaction would he swagger off.