Two streaks of light flew over and stopped above the spirit herb and spirit fruit.
Human figures appeared within them.
They were a handsome man and beautiful woman riding magical artifacts.
The man appeared to be at 2-Star of the Qi Refining Realm, while the woman was at 1-Star.
'Why is a 2-Star Qi Refining Realm cultivator here?!'
This was the outermost edge of the secret realm.
The spiritual energy was thinnest here......
So only the lowest Demon Beasts, spirit herbs, and spirit creatures appeared.
There was little here for someone at 2-Star of the Qi Refining Realm to gain.
Those who came here while the secret realm was open were generally at the beginning of the Qi Refining Realm, or at most 1-Star.
It was as though a level-twenty player had come to a hunting ground for players in the low levels from one to ten.
"We're in luck. A low-grade spirit herb and spirit fruit!"
In the end, the spirit herb and spirit fruit the slime had cultivated were what drew them here.
"To think I'd stumble upon such a windfall while helping you, Junior Martial Sister."
Low-grade spirit herbs and spirit fruit could normally be obtained only deeper inside the secret realm.
They had easily obtained in a low-level hunting ground items that ordinarily required hard work in a hunting ground for the level twenties.
"Shall we harvest them now?"
The man dismounted his flying magical artifact and cautiously tried to gather the spirit herb and fruit.
SQUELCH—
"What the hell?!"
The instant he dismounted, his foot sank into the mudfield.
He hurriedly climbed back onto his flying magical artifact.
"Damn it, my clothes are ruined."
Mud covered him from his shoes to his knees.
"Cleansing Talisman."
He immediately took out a talisman and used it.
His mud-covered shoes and clothes became clean again.
Meanwhile, the woman beside him carefully placed the spirit herb and fruit in her storage pouch.
"Ah......."
A trace of regret briefly appeared in the man's eyes.
The woman noticed it too.
Her expression turned sullen......
"No, I meant to give them to you from the beginning, Junior Martial Sister. I deliberately came here to help you today, remember? Ha ha."
At a glance, the man seemed to like the woman.
He had come here to help her.
But for a moment, greed for the spirit herb and spirit fruit had seized him.
"Still, you're lucky, Junior Martial Sister. You found something good on your first day."
It seemed that this was the period when the secret realm was open.
Human cultivators could operate in this secret realm for only fifteen days each year.
If they missed this period, it was difficult for Qi Refining Realm cultivators to obtain the cultivation resources they needed.
Outside secret realms, the demon race occupied territories according to their various realms.
If a Qi Refining Realm cultivator wandered around carelessly.
They were liable to die a violent death.
Yet if they stayed within human territory, it was difficult to obtain the cultivation resources they wanted.
Humans were numerous, while resources were scarce.
Sects had already claimed every decent place.
The period when a secret realm opened was precisely when Qi Refining Realm cultivators could diligently gather cultivation resources.
"Thank you, Senior Martial Brother. Let's go somewhere else now."
"Wait a moment, Junior Martial Sister. I think there's something here."
He sensed the demonic energy of a Demon Beast.
It was a 1-Star Demon Beast.
'Just leave. Please.......'
The slime lay flat in the depths of the mudfield.
'Two against one isn't fair.'
His opponents were two cultivators at 2-Star and 1-Star of the Qi Refining Realm.
One of them was also at a higher realm than him.
If they fought, the slime was certain to lose.
"I know. A Demon Beast is hiding deep underground."
"Then shall we catch it before we go?"
"No. Let's just go. I don't want to dirty my clothes."
Dealing with a Demon Beast hidden in the mudfield was troublesome.
The female cultivator had no desire to fight such a creature without good reason.
"We can just use Protective Talismans."
A protective talisman was a talisman that protected the body.
It blocked anything deemed harmful to its bearer.
The range of what it judged harmful was broad.
It blocked not only physical attacks.
But also curses, diseases, poison, and similar threats.
When one entered water, it even blocked......
The water from penetrating for a short time.
Entering a mudfield produced a similar effect to entering water.
It temporarily pushed the mud away.
Using a Protective Talisman kept mud from touching the body or clothes.
"Senior Martial Brother, can you really squander a Protective Talisman on something like that?"
A protective talisman was meant to protect its bearer in a dangerous moment.
This was a secret realm.
Danger could arise at any time.
A Protective Talisman was something to conserve here.
"It's fine. I'll give you one."
"Ha... Senior Martial Brother."
The female cultivator disliked that aspect of her senior martial brother.
Not every woman liked a man who drove a sports car and threw money around.
Some inevitably regarded it as pathetic.
"First the Cleansing Talisman, now the Protective Talisman. Aren't you being wasteful with your talismans?"
Talismans were not made for free.
They required various materials, labor, and spiritual power.
They were consumable items......
So using them carelessly consumed that many more spirit stones.
Spirit stones were money to immortal cultivators.
"It's fine. That much is no burden to me at all."
He looked like a nouveau riche man who enjoyed showing off in front of women.
"Senior Martial Brother."
"What?"
"You're from the same lineage as Martial Grandunc, so it doesn't matter for you... but I'm different. I have to obtain everything myself."
"That's why I'm helping you like this."
The woman knew why the man was helping her.
She disliked him for it, but......
The world of cultivation was harsh.
The higher one's realm, the more one needed.
She had no choice but to accept his help on this trip into the secret realm.
That did not mean she intended to give him both her body and heart.
She intended to accept his help only as far as she could still refuse him.
But... his attitude was beginning to cross that line.
"I'll decline that kind of help."
She drew a clear line.
"Come on... don't be like that, Junior Martial Sister."
The man's voice became suggestive.
"I'm sorry, but... Senior Martial Brother, I'm busy. I have to gather enough cultivation resources during these fifteen days to last the whole year. I don't have time if I also need to prepare the contribution I'll turn in for merit."
"Don't worry. I'll take care of that for you."
There would be a price for it.
His intentions were far too blatant.
The female cultivator shuddered at his words.
She mounted her flying magical artifact and disappeared.
"Junior Martial Sister, wait!"
The male cultivator mounted his flying magical artifact and followed her.
'Ugh. F*ck. Those two put on a whole damn show.'
The slime felt as though he had watched an episode of an over-the-top morning drama.
He disliked being in a situation where others held his life in their hands.
***
'I will avenge this humiliation without fail.'
The webnovel loser despised the behavior of nouveau riche men like the male cultivator.
It was fine when he did it, but......
When someone else did it, he had to retaliate, even if only through a keyboard battle.
'Once I reach a higher realm, I'll crush that bastard underfoot.'
In the cultivation world, the natural order was to prostrate oneself when one's realm was lower and crush others when it was higher.
'I'll spare the woman once.'
As a member of the demon race, it was only natural to kill humans.
The game had been designed that way.
Without hostile races, there would inevitably be less conflict.
Characters died in droves not only in battles between demons and demons or humans and humans......
But also in wars between the demon race and the human race.
After dying that way, people naturally became furious.
They wanted to raise their realms and look down on others.
Then they spent money to avenge what had been done to them before.
As for the female cultivator......
He could spare her once to show his gratitude for what had happened.
'It's not because she's pretty. I'm a slime.......'
The slime steeled himself and resolved to work even harder to raise his realm.
***
'I only have to endure for fifteen days.'
He decided not to cultivate any spirit herbs during that time.
Right now, the wrong things would bite his bait.
One mistake, and he might be the one eaten.
'I have plenty of other options.'
He could absorb the mudfield's spiritual energy through the Mud Slimes.
They were a kind of subordinate.
They were like the low-ranking cultivators of a sect.
They gathered spiritual energy and offered it to the Horned Mud Slime.
It was not a great help, but......
It helped prevent his realm from falling.
The demon race could directly draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
That allowed them to grow faster than the human race.
In exchange, their spiritual energy was less compressed, meaning it had lower purity.
That much more spiritual energy leaked away.
If more water flowed out than entered, the water level inevitably dropped.
If humans were concrete dams with narrow channels......
Then demons were temporary reservoirs made of earth and stone, holding a great volume of water but leaking constantly.
The demon race had to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth without cease.
When necessary, they even had to Devour members of their own race.
The way to prevent that was to build a sturdy dam with a cultivation method, as humans did.
That was why, once demons reached a sufficiently high realm......
They took human form and learned the cultivation methods of the human race.
Demon immortals did not assume human forms for no reason.
They did so to absorb the knowledge accumulated by humans and rise to higher realms.
***
The mudfield also helped him maintain his realm.
The slime transformed the surrounding terrain into a mudfield.
He could also discover spirit stones in the process.
Such spirit stones were crystalline rocks in which the energy of heaven and earth, spiritual energy, had gathered.
Spirit herbs might live a long time, but......
Not as long as stone.
Over a long period, the energy of heaven and earth collected within crystals.
In places with weak energy, lowest-grade spirit stones formed.
The denser the spiritual energy, the higher the quality of the spirit stones it produced.
High-grade spirit stones were common in spirit veins where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was concentrated.
Such spirit veins not only aided cultivation.
They were also profitable.
That was why people founded sects and fought to obtain good spirit veins.
Spirit stones were used like money in the cultivation world.
They had that many uses.
They could be used to raise one's realm......
And were also needed to make talismans, magical artifacts, and arcane treasures.
In places without spirit veins, they powered barriers.
They were even used in pill furnaces for making medicinal pills.
Because they had many uses and many people wanted them, spirit stones could function as money.
Anything many people wanted possessed value.
Something that possessed such value was money.
Thus, spirit stones became the currency of the cultivation world.
The slime's mudfield became a tool.
For mining the money underground: spirit stones.
'The spirit stones I get from the mudfield make for a decent profit too.'
Even lowest-grade spirit stones were helpful.
When he lacked spiritual energy, he could Devour them and absorb it.
'The other incidental income isn't small either.'
Moving the mudfield occasionally yielded unexpected side income.
Lower Demon Beasts such as One-Horned Rabbits and One-Horned Rats fell into it.
Everywhere had its inattentive and stupid creatures.
Some were simply unlucky.
They were the creatures that bit a hook without bait.
Creatures became trapped in the mudfield for all sorts of reasons.
Those creatures became food for the slime.
The mudfield was even more useful than he had thought.
'In a way, this also follows the laws of heaven and earth.'
The path of immortal cultivation was also called defying heaven.
It meant defying the ordained path and lifespan of humanity.
Human cultivators therefore ceaselessly defied the laws of heaven and earth.
They used various cultivation methods and tools, magical artifacts and arcane treasures, to extend their lives.
The demon race, by contrast, was long-lived.
More precisely, every increase in realm extended their lifespans by a great amount.
Because they were naturally long-lived, they could raise their realms without defying heaven.
'Is that why most demon cultivators undergo heavenly tribulation after taking human form?'
Heavenly tribulation might occur because cultivators attempted to defy heaven after they could no longer overcome their lifespans by following the natural order.
'How would I know the reason? It's all just the game company's worldbuilding anyway.......'
Xianxia settings shared broadly similar frameworks......
But differed wildly in their details.
Everyone constructed the setting however it suited them.
'Still, one thing is certain.'
The slime race had been designed to make use of mudfields.
Following that path was the natural order.
'You defy heaven only when there is no other way.'
Following the natural order, the slime concealed himself in the mudfield and held his breath.
The fifteen days quickly passed.
'Now it's my time again. Ha ha ha.'
After the humans left the secret realm, a fragrant spirit herb grew in the mudfield.
Luscious spirit fruit formed at its tip.
Its fragrance would once again draw in moths to a flame.