Huangfu Yuan’s secluded cultivation this time lasted nine days, recovering only a little over half of his injuries. The residual Demonic Qi in his body would have to be eliminated through other means at a later time.
However, he was interrupted this time by the commotion from next door—or more precisely, by the commotion from next door triggering the ring on his chest to emit a sound.
He took off the ring. The originally plain and unadorned ring shimmered with a faint glow.
“She is the master you have been searching for all along?” he said calmly.
The ring did not speak, but the flowing luminescence upon it served as its answer.
After a while, the commotion of the breakthrough next door came to an end.
You Yu opened her eyes, her gaze filled with joy.
She had reached the first level of the Lianqi Period with her Huo Linggen!
She had officially set foot on the path of Xiuxian!
As long as she walked this path, she would no longer be the helpless little lamb that her original self had been, with no ability to resist!
“Knock, knock, knock—”
A knock sounded at the door. She went to open it and saw Huangfu Yuan standing outside.
Seeing him, she couldn’t help but want to share the joy in her heart. She smiled and said, “Huangfu Yuan, I’ve broken through! I’m now at the first level of the Lianqi Period!”
“Mm, I could sense it,” Huangfu Yuan said. “Congratulations on formally stepping into the path of Xiuxian.”
“Thank you.”
“There’s something I need to discuss with you.”
“Come inside and talk.”
You Yu stepped aside to let him in, then closed the door and walked over to sit down beside Huangfu Yuan.
“You still absorbed the white light points?” Huangfu Yuan asked.
“Yes.”
“Let me examine your condition.”
“Alright.”
You Yu extended her hand. After Huangfu Yuan probed for a moment, he said, “Your Spiritual Pool is normal, and your Jingmai are also normal. For now, I can’t see any effects on your body.”
“Thank you.”
Huangfu Yuan took out a bracelet and a ring. “These are congratulatory gifts for you—congratulations on your breakthrough.”
You Yu looked at the two items on the table, quite surprised. “You’re giving me gifts?”
“As my lifesaver, now that you’ve formally stepped through the gates of cultivation, this is a small token of my appreciation.” Perhaps because it was the first time he had said such words, Huangfu Yuan’s expression showed a hint of awkwardness.
“This is too generous,” You Yu said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Huangfu Yuan pointed at the ring and said, “This is a spatial ring. If you can gain its recognition, you can make it acknowledge you as its master. I obtained it from an ancient ruin. How large it is inside, I’m not sure myself.”
You Yu understood.
In the novel, spatial rings were extremely precious. She had wondered why he was so generous as to give her one—turns out it required its owner to be recognized by it.
It seemed he hadn’t been able to make it acknowledge him, so he might as well do her a favor.
Still, a spatial ring like this should be some kind of treasure, right?
Huangfu Yuan glanced at her and continued, “Your constitution… is somewhat troublesome.”
You Yu’s breath immediately tightened. She had known her constitution was special, but she hadn’t expected him to discover it too.
Her flesh and blood could help people evolve their constitutions and change their talents. Did he have no designs on that?
Huangfu Yuan expressed his intentions through his actions: “This bracelet is a Huanqi that can conceal your constitution. Anyone below the Huashen Period will not be able to detect it. It can also hide your cultivation level. If you don’t actively reveal it, most people won’t be able to tell your level of Xiuwei either.”
You Yu’s mouth fell open.
She remembered that the levels here were Lianqi Period, Zhuji Period, Jindan Period, Yuanying Period, Huashen Period, Heqi Period, Dacheng Period, and Dujie Period.
The Dujie Period was a legendary existence—at least, in the parts of the novel she had seen, it had never appeared.
Those at the Heqi Period and Dacheng Period were already protector elders of a sect, usually in deep secluded cultivation. Unless it concerned the life or death of the sect, they rarely came out.
Those at the Huashen Period generally did not walk the outside world either. They stayed in seclusion within the sect, occasionally appearing on the sect’s behalf.
The overseer of a sect was mostly at the Yuanying Period, and even then, a sect would only have a few.
As for those above the Huashen Period, they would hardly pay attention to an insignificant ant like her.
So with this bracelet, she almost didn’t need to worry about her constitution being discovered at all.
Moreover, it could hide her cultivation level, allowing her to display her training level as she pleased. It was practically a Divine Artifact for playing the fool to catch the unwary!
She wanted it badly, but her rationality still made her struggle for a moment: “This… must be very precious, right? How could I accept such an expensive gift from you?”
“This is merely a Huanqi, not particularly valuable, and I have no use for it,” Huangfu Yuan said indifferently. “Compared to that, you need it more.”
Thinking of how the original body had been stripped of flesh and bone, skinned and tendons pulled, blood drained for Medicinal Baths—the last bit of her embarrassment vanished.
She swiftly grabbed the bracelet and put it on her left wrist. It was a bit loose; if she moved too vigorously, it might slip off.
“Blood-bond it to acknowledge you as master,” Huangfu Yuan reminded her.
She looked around for a sharp object, wondering how to draw blood, when a flash of white light passed by. She felt a slight sting on her fingertip, and then blood welled up.
Well then. Impressive.
She quickly dripped blood onto the bracelet. The bracelet absorbed all of it, then began adjusting its size, stopping just as it fit perfectly around her wrist.
This was incredible!
This was the first time You Yu had witnessed a Divine Artifact from this world. Her eyes widened, her face filled with curiosity.
“Why don’t you try the Kongjian Huanjie as well?” Huangfu Yuan noticed she was stunned and reminded her.
“Oh, right.”
You Yu picked up the Kongjian Huanjie and pressed her fingertip against it. She thought the remaining blood would be enough, but the ring seemed to come alive, latching onto her wound and continuously sucking her blood.
Startled, You Yu instinctively tried to pull it off, only to find she couldn’t remove it at all!
Having never experienced anything like this, she instinctively turned to Huangfu Yuan for help: “Huangfu Yuan, it’s sucking my blood!”
Huangfu Yuan didn’t move and said, “Some Spirit Tools do require a larger amount of blood. Hold on a little longer.”
Hearing this, You Yu felt a bit more at ease. She endured the pain and let the ring feed on her blood. Just as she wondered if this thing was going to drain her dry, it finally stopped, settling into her palm as if it had eaten its fill.
Uh—
It was just a space ring, yet she could somehow sense that kind of emotion from it.
Huangfu Yuan looked at the obedient ring and said, “Can you sense the space inside it?”
You Yu tried to sense it and shook her head. “I don’t feel anything. Did it fail to recognize me as its master?”
“It didn’t absorb the blood of others,” Huangfu Yuan said. “The lack of reaction now should mean there wasn’t enough blood this time. You can try again later.”
“Alright then.” You Yu slipped it onto the middle finger of her left hand. The ring, which had been still, automatically adjusted its size and then slowly vanished before their eyes!
You Yu could feel the ring on her finger, but it looked as if it had disappeared!
“What is this?”