Chapter 26

Ling Wuji temporarily spared Liu Ting’er’s life. However, whether he would ultimately kill her or not would depend on what she said next.

Liu Ting’er looked at the cold boy before her with a complicated expression and finally chose to tell the truth.

“I once accidentally overheard from Brother Chun Chou’s parents that Brother Chun Chou has a space-type spiritual root. If he could absorb the spatial spiritual power from a spatial magic treasure or spiritual object, then the originally incomplete space spiritual root inside his body could be repaired—if not fully, then at least mostly. Then Brother Chun Chou would be able to cultivate space-type techniques and spells.”

Ling Wuji froze for a moment.

“An incomplete… space spiritual root?”

Liu Ting’er lowered her eyes.

“I know you’re wondering whether Chun Chou’s so-called mixed spiritual roots are all incomplete ones. I don’t know about that. I only once heard his parents say they wanted to find him a spiritual object or treasure extremely rich in spatial spiritual power. Only then, they said, would they feel they had done right by him.

“At that time… I was only seven years old. Hearing those words was purely by chance. I didn’t dare listen further and immediately left, so I wasn’t discovered. As for anything else, I don’t know.”

Ling Wuji, however, thought of far more.

He even began to suspect whether the Xie family’s four biological children all having pure single spiritual roots might also be related to this matter.

But Chun Chou had been right about one thing: no matter what had happened, the Xie couple weren’t even Foundation Establishment cultivators. If something had occurred, they certainly weren’t the ones who originally caused it. However, whether they later took advantage of the result was another matter.

As for the Liu Ting’er before him, she also had a blue lotus “tattoo” on her body.

Had she truly only overheard things… or had she also secretly taken something?

Ling Wuji said calmly,

“Speaking of treasures, don’t you also have one?”

Seeing Liu Ting’er freeze, he slowly uttered four words:

“Chaos Green Lotus. Chaos Five-Spirit Roots. Heh… you’re quite capable.”

Liu Ting’er had calculated many things, but she never expected Ling Wuji to know even this. For a moment her mind went blank.

“Yes,” she said blankly. “But so what? Even if you know I possess the Chaos Green Lotus Pearl, what then? Unless a great cultivator at the Deity Transformation stage personally acts—and someone with the same spiritual roots as me is present to lure the pearl out—no one can remove the Chaos Green Lotus Pearl from my body!

“So what if you know? Chun Chou… he doesn’t even have the Chaos Five-Spirit Roots. This pearl can’t be used by him at all!”

After saying that, Liu Ting’er clutched her head, suddenly feeling that she had said something she shouldn’t have. Something in the Storm Pear Blossom Needles seemed to make her mind hazy. She could hardly believe she had revealed so many secrets.

Immediately she took out a knife from her storage pouch and cut herself, trying to use pain to stop herself from speaking foolishly.

Ling Wuji immediately understood.

“So the Chaos Green Lotus Pearl—you stole it from the Xie family. That’s how you overheard that conversation between Chun Chou’s parents?”

Liu Ting’er bit her lips tightly and refused to answer.

But Ling Wuji didn’t need her reply anymore. He already knew the truth.

He tapped his fingers lightly against the edge of his wheelchair, then asked,

“The spatial treasure you mentioned—what is it? Where is it?”

Liu Ting’er hesitated, then said,

“At Guiyuan Sect. In order to attract talented rogue cultivators and cultivators from small sects, the Guiyuan Sect holds a competition every so often. Alchemists, talisman masters, artifact refiners, spirit-plant cultivators—all have their own contests.

“That spatial treasure is among the prizes for the competition held one year from now.”

She said nothing further. Otherwise it would appear she knew far too much.

But Ling Wuji still remained silent.

Liu Ting’er realized things weren’t over yet. Gritting her teeth, she swore a Heaven and Earth Oath, declaring that everything she had just said was the truth, without a single lie.

Just as her aura grew weaker and she sorrowfully thought she might truly die this time, a gust of wind passed by.

She suddenly felt someone using blood to draw something on her forehead.

Liu Ting’er was terrified and tried to resist—but she had no strength left. She could only allow Ling Wuji to draw whatever he was drawing on her forehead.

Finally, Ling Wuji pressed a blue object onto the suspected formation on her forehead. The blue object passed through her skin and bones and rushed straight into her sea of consciousness.

Liu Ting’er thought she was about to die.

But in the end, she didn’t.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw the boy sitting in his wheelchair, observing the nearby spiritual plants, apparently deciding which ones were suitable to take away.

Liu Ting’er thought to herself that she had probably survived.

But soon she noticed something wrong.

She was a beast tamer, extremely familiar with master-beast contracts. Her contracted spirit beasts had all died, so she should no longer have any contracts remaining.

Yet inside her sea of consciousness… there was a blue scale.

And it wasn’t that she had contracted a beast as its master.

Rather, a spiritual beast—or perhaps even a demon beast—had contracted her instead.

Liu Ting’er: “……”

She looked at Ling Wuji in disbelief.

“Y-you’re not human? You’re actually—”

Ling Wuji interrupted calmly,

“You seem to know many things. Killing you is less useful than keeping you alive for now.

“Don’t worry. This is not the strict contract beast tamers use. It’s very loose. I don’t need you to stay by my side all the time, nor will I put you into a beast pouch.

“You only need to do two things: never harm Chun Chou, and make sure I can find you whenever I want to.”

“You may leave.”

How could Liu Ting’er leave?

She murmured,

“You might as well kill me.”

But then she gave a bitter smile. She didn’t actually want to die.

As a beast tamer, first being devoured by a temporarily contracted spirit beast, and now being contracted in reverse by a demon beast, Liu Ting’er felt that her “rebirth” was almost laughable.

But even so, she still wanted to live.

Only by living could there be hope.

Unfortunately, her injuries were too severe for her to leave on her own.

After thinking for a moment, Ling Wuji carried her out. During the journey he didn’t order her to do anything.

Liu Ting’er suppressed the many thoughts in her heart.

After all, she had been reborn. She would certainly find a way to break the contract.

And the people from her hometown—she would definitely save them.

Ling Wuji, however, didn’t care about any of her thoughts.

For Liu Ting’er, he only required the two conditions he had stated.

After suffering such a blow, Liu Ting’er refused to stay in Canglan City to wait for the identity jade token one year later. After resting for one night at her and Qiao Linglong’s residence, she left the city at dawn.

So what if she had been contracted?

If she could be lucky enough to be reborn, she refused to believe she would end up as nothing more than a servant.

Ling Wuji would absolutely never tell Chun Chou about contracting a human.

He didn’t want Chun Chou to see his not-so-gentle side.

The next morning, when Ling Wuji woke up, Chun Chou was still asleep.

He turned his head and looked at the person beside him.

The young man was sleeping, his brows slightly furrowed, with dark circles beneath his eyes.

Ling Wuji immediately realized that Chun Chou had not been doing well these past few days either.

His heart softened greatly, and he kept watching the person beside him.

Half an hour later, Chun Chou woke up.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Ling Wuji staring at him without blinking.

The just-awakened Chun Chou: “……”

Well.

His boyfriend looked a little scary just now, but since it was his boyfriend, he couldn’t say it out loud and hurt his feelings—even though he was still slightly startled.

Chun Chou imagined patting his chest to calm himself down, then sat up and smiled.

“You’re awake? Want to eat something? Or should I set up a spirit-gathering formation for you now so you can start cultivating earlier and recover faster? You like bathing so much, but since you’re injured you can’t bathe. It’s better to recover sooner.”

Ling Wuji also sat up, leaning against the headboard. Lowering his eyes slightly, he said,

“Let’s eat together first. After the meal, I’ll cultivate and recover.”

He did not mention bathing at all.

Chun Chou nodded, crawled out from the quilt, and was about to run outside barefoot.

The red string and priceless pearl around his ankle were very eye-catching.

Ling Wuji glanced at them once, then immediately shifted his gaze away and said,

“Chun Chou, put on your shoes.”

Chun Chou waved his hand. “I know!” But he still didn’t put on his shoes right away. Instead, his feet slowly floated up from the ground.

He used a small spell he had learned from the jade slip—the Levitation Spell! He could float for a short while!

Ling Wuji was startled for a moment, then smiled.

—His Chun Chou was always this adorable.

Two quarters of an hour later, the two of them had breakfast together. Cute Chun Chou wasn’t very good at cooking, but he could take several delicacies from his storage pouch and combine them into their morning meal.

There was meat, vegetables, spiritual fruits, and two cups of spiritual tea. Chun Chou felt that he had done an excellent job with this “combination.”

Ling Wuji indeed praised Chun Chou’s breakfast, saying it looked so good that it made one’s appetite stir just by looking at it.

Chun Chou said, “Mm… right!” and then laughed.

The awkwardness between the two of them had now completely disappeared.

No matter what, Ling Wuji had returned alive.

After breakfast, Chun Chou really did set up a Spirit Gathering Formation for Ling Wuji and placed quite a few spirit stones inside.

Ling Wuji couldn’t help asking,

“Did you go out every night these past few days?”

Chun Chou’s salary was fixed, so these spirit stones clearly came from somewhere beyond his normal wages.

Chun Chou replied with an “Mm,” then smiled.

“More than that! My Growth Spell, Geng Metal Spell, and Cloud-Rain Spell have all advanced. Now every time I cast them, they cover an area of five mu of land.

“Many spirit-plant cultivators in the Hundred Herb Garden of the City Lord’s Manor know about it. People invite me over every day to help.”

“Only then did I realize that most of the spirit-plant cultivators in the Hundred Herb Garden can only use the first-tier versions of those three spells. There are only ten people in the whole garden who know the second-tier Growth, Geng Metal, and Cloud-Rain spells.

“Now I’ve become a little famous. Every day someone asks me to help, and I can earn some extra money.”

Ling Wuji immediately understood.

“So second-tier spells don’t only increase the casting range—they also improve other aspects?”

Chun Chou nodded, his expression becoming slightly complicated.

“They make spiritual plants grow faster, and the harvest yields more.”

Originally, he had only thought of the spirit-plant cultivator job as something temporary.

But now he realized that being a spirit-plant cultivator actually had a fairly good future.

Ever since people learned he could use second-tier planting spells, Steward Bai had even come to see him personally and increased his monthly salary to six hundred low-grade spirit stones.

Chun Chou: “……”

It made him really tempted to keep doing this job for the long term.

But he still had to search for his younger brothers and sisters. Being a spirit-plant cultivator—unless he had a portable planting space—would probably only be temporary until he found all four of them.

If you keep thinking about something, maybe one day it will respond.

If he kept repeating the words “portable planting space,” maybe one day he would actually obtain one.

Chun Chou bit his chopsticks and quietly indulged in his fantasy.

After all, one must have dreams.

What if one day they really come true?

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