The Grind Continues (1)
Xie Xan sat with his legs crossed as the corpse of the Scatter Ghost Centipede lay beside him. His body continuously gave off a whiff of dense spirit energy as he continued to assimilate with his first and last spirit soul. His arms continuously trembled and his legs spasmed at times. After all, his body wasn't sturdy enough to overcome the strength of a 100000-year-old spirit beast and even if the beast was actively cooperating, his body wasn't enhanced by a beast-type martial soul itself so compared to the likes of Erlong, his body was a grade below... but many times stronger than other force's spirit sages!
After all, Xie Xan had absorbed an immortal herb and not only 'just' an immortal herb but one of the top species— Yearning Heartbroken Red! As the beast and Xie Xan accepted each other's presence, Ja Sun stared at the man intently. Currently, Xie Xan had a humongous amount of extra spirit energy because he had absorbed two spirit bones in his bottleneck just to have a chance at a 100000-year-old torso bone, and now, with the absorption of the spirit soul, his body was being strained, making him fully acclimate the effects of the Yearning Heartbroken Red. And that's why, Ja Sun suggested not to use such a high quality and amount of spirit energy for breakthrough...
But something better.
Ja Sun may be an asshole through and through, but he knew when to give good advice even if the piece of knowledge may as well be worth a spirit bone. After all, aside from knowledge, every other ingredient came from Xie Xan. Thus, the moment Ja Sun felt the swirl of spirit energy in Xie Xan's spirit sea stabilizing and solidifying... he took his attention away from the man. Xie Xan would obviously need more than a day to fully absorb and make subsequent breakthroughs with his remnant spirit energy AND then absorb the spirit bone.
Even Ja Sun wasn't about to ruin his surprise by checking early what kind of spirit bone Xie Xan got.
"You're awfully down," Ja Sun looked toward Xiao Wu, "Not happy to see a 100000-year-old beast submitting so easily?"
Xiao Wu seemed to have fallen thoughtful and took her time to respond.
"I feel... complicated," she chimed.
"No shit," Ja Yin scoffed, "It's clear on your face, Bunny."
Pouting slightly at the nickname, Xiao Wu muttered, "I'm a rabbit..."
"Anyway, I... am afraid. What if someone stronger comes along and forces Ma-ma too like this?" She looked at the corpse of the centipede. Although Ja Sun could point out the irony that the mother-daughter duo had already trusted him with their lives which, in a world such as this, was the same as suicide if the decision happens to be wrong, Ja Sun hummed thoughtfully.
"Someone stronger than me huh... I'd sure like to fight and drink with them."
"What if they kill you?" Xiao Wu's light brown doe eyes widened with her squeaky chime rising in volume.
"Then I die," Ja Sun shrugged. Won't be the first time, after all.
Besides, Ah Yin and Bibi Dong could easily be... half as strong as himself and the rest of the team were on their way to becoming stronger. Only a God could threaten them at this point and even then... Ja Sun had his means. In fact, there was still one thing Ja Sun wanted to use but was forced to keep aside while fighting Di Tian because the dragon summoned a God Technique at a great price.
"Huh? I don't want you to die!" Xiao Wu quickly caught Ja Sun's arm, her lips parted and her expression turned even more complicated while Ja Yin rolled her eyes internally.
'The acts of this girl,' she snorted under her breath and began to find Xiao Wu more and more like... Hu Lana. The way she acts overall. Not perverted but clingy as hell! Much to her distress, she saw AND felt Ja Sun enjoying himself internally. Why wouldn't he? Xiao Wu wasn't the least bit reserved in 'exploiting' her body and for reasons related to her origin, Xiao Wu, like her mother, was quite acrobatic. The way the mother-daughter pair could 'cling' was like no other.
"No worries," Ja Sun chuckled, winking at the frustrated Ja Yin with his third eye as his hands snaked around Xiao Wu, "In this world, death is just another concept."
Although Xiao Wu failed to understand the implications behind his words, Ja Yin couldn't help but frown thoughtfully. Of course, as a 100000-year-old beast Xiao Wu and her mother had comprehended a law to the realm of mastery themselves but if they wished to show it, they must regain appropriate strength... which made Ja Sun wonder if the realm of harmony was equivalent to the realm of masters then could Xiao Wu and Xiao Bei train again to get the realm of self?
Well, talented individuals gain a realm of self after becoming spirit sage which is one of the reasons why this realm of cultivation is named as such.
"Alright, isn't she calm enough?" Ja Yin finally growled impatiently as she found Xiao Wu happily snuggling with Ja Sun while they sat under a tree.
"Beh, I'm scared again~!" Xiao Wu chortled and Ja Yin changed her assessment of this... rabbit cunt. She was just as much clingy and manipulative as a certain debauched fox!
"Don't be, there-there~!" And always eager to breed chaos, Ja Sun stroked Xiao Wu's head with a laugh. With nothing else to do but pounce at the two utterly selfish bastards, Ja Yin's throat reverberated with a guttural growl and her mane seemed to grow a notch wilder. With a devilish smirk, Ja Yin pulled Xiao Wu out of his light grip and pinned her against the tree.
"Want something to be really scared of? Hmm?" Ja Yin's free hand pinched Xiao Wu's chin between her thumb and index as Xiao Wu's expression returned to a more peaceful state and a giggle escaped her lips.
"Hehe~ I was joking, Sister Yin. After all, how can a person fear the more obvious reason for their fortune? If anything," Xiao Wu let out a soft groan, her hands tugging on Ja Yin's waist, and pulled closer to herself, "I like you a lot~!"
Ja Yin's eyes widened slightly but this moment of hesitation is all Xiao Wu needed to tighten her grip on Ja Yin's waist and slip out from between the Three-eyed Golden Empyrean and the tree. Of course, Xiao Wu playfully chose the most exaggerated option. Her waist slammed into Yin's before the rabbit contorted her body and practically coiled and slithered around Ja Yin.
Oh, Ja Yin had enough time to break Xiao Wu's smug movement into two, but just like Ja Sun, her own smile turned slightly fond. As fate would have, Ja Sun was a sucker for a playful situation and now taking after him, Ja Yin was the same.
But wiping the smile off of her lips, Ja Yin turned on her paws and looked at Xiao Wu crouched in between Ja Sun's legs, her back purposely pushed up to reveal her round, perky, and smackable bum as she looked back with an adorable grin, "Go easy on me from now on, Sister Yin~" Xiao Wu chortled, "Or I will have to ask the Bigger Sister Yin to discipline you!"
If Ja Yin was about to go easy on her, the latter statement changed that as Ja Yin revealed a feral grin, "Better prepare that butt!"
"Ah! Save me!"
Xiao Wu's yelp echoed as she quickly jumped on the tree but Ja Sun instead laughed out loud.
"Make those cheeks ripple!"
Xiao Wu pouted at this as her body only reacted more positively to the notion.
On the other hand...
'Must be painful to even concentrate, hmm?' Within Xie Xan's mind, a ghastly voice grumbled as the man himself could hear everything and rolled his eyes within his mental scape.
"Welcome to our hell, buddy... I think we can find a common ground due to this. Still, let's just concentrate on breaking through."
"That seems a better use of our time indeed," Scatter agreed and continued, "But are you sure that as long as I help you find a few treasures, Beast God will help with our cultivation?"
"Yeah, he can raise the cultivation of spirit rings and in this case, it directly means your cultivation. The stronger we are, the more beasts we can hunt. Core and spirit bones... this is our priority and only then comes the immortal herbs."
"Hmm... well, to a fruitful cooperation and cultivation," Scatter Ghost Centipede's voice resounded within Xie Xan's mind as he smiled and nodded, "And to experiencing the same mental hardships from now on."
---
With their personal competition a little over three weeks later, Xie Xan didn't expose his abilities just yet. And he wasn't planning to go all out in the competition itself to save some trump cards. He did, however, had mighty gains! Not only did he successfully form a yin-based spirit core that sharpened the edge of his martial soul, but he also improved his innate deathgod domain quite a bit. But the most impressive of all was what came afterward. With almost all the energy used for forming his core, Xie Xan only reached the cultivation of rank 72.
Sadly, he couldn't gain a 100000-year-old Torso Bone but got a left-arm bone instead. Not the kind to be depressed about literally free things in his life, Xie Xan happily absorbed the spirit bone and had his cultivation reach rank 80 in a day! But he didn't breakthrough just yet even when he could now that he has a spirit soul.
And it wasn't because of reasons related to the foundation. Their group's foundation was rock solid. He had a chance he needed to prepare for. The Scatter Ghost Centipede had a core of its own which was also based on Yin energy. Now, he could either form another yin-based core for his physique and mental energy... or wait.
He had the corpse of a 100000-year-old beast and a core that could be traded. Even the pragmatic Scatter Ghost Centipede didn't mind these thoughts. Heck, Xie Xan even planned to study the corpse for the Golden Wardrobe Ring.
But all this needed time. Xie Xan realized that even if he broke last the bottleneck of rank 80, he wouldn't be close to rank 90. So, it was better to wait... for Ja Sun. The man for some reason had troves of treasure and would, at times, issue open trade with other members. Usually, they could only drool and get annoyed at Ja Sun's obvious tactic of flaunting his wealth but Xie Xan thought he had a great shot this time around.
Besides, Ja Sun advised against forming a single-type core constantly even if it meant great strength in short term and everyone in their group, including Bibi Dong, took his suggestion seriously... for things like this. In fact, Ja Sun also suggested that this other yin-based core might be needed by Hu Lana, so there's that. Thus, Xie Xan was convinced to stay his hand at another breakthrough.
Thus, they ventured back but the grind never stops.
Once he returned, Ja Sun found that there was already someone ready to have her spirit soul, too.
Who else but Erlong?
***
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