48. Following leader’s slug

As Mei Lin looked around the slug houses, she didn't find any cultivators at the second stage of BT to collect their blood, so she went back inside the tea-house. Cultivators at the first stage of BT didn't catch her interest because the young female bandit had provided her with plenty of blood. After wandering for a while, Mei Lin returned and directly entered the kitchen. Xu Jie watched as Mei Lin passed by without saying anything and disappeared into the storage room, which was next to the room where Xu Yi had been before. The storage room was full of food, so Mei Lin picked one of the spirit fruits that she usually ate.

As she left the storage room, Mei Lin noticed that Xu Jie wasn't there and had already gone to the second floor. Mei Lin locked the doors and made her way up to the second floor. Xu Yi was already awake and eating the food that Xu Jie had prepared. Mei Lin also found a meal waiting for her on her table. As Mei Lin ascended to the second floor, Xu Jie and Xu Yi stopped talking and looked at her.

Xu Yi was happy to see Mei Lin. "Where have you been, Miss Cultivator?" he asked, already awake and being fed noodles by Xu Jie. "I went to the market house, but the staircase to the house was destroyed, so I wasn't successful. No one around the tea-house is alive, and it's already been looted, so we are safe for now. The slug is sleeping for now. After it wakes up, it will probably start following the leader slug."

Mei Lin didn't want to ask Xu Yi to go to the market for food or to start clearing the way for the slug. As she looked at him, he still appeared very weak and would not be able to do much. Another reason was that when their gazes met, Mei Lin saw pain in his eyes, which she had never seen before. Mei Lin didn't say anything further and went to her cultivation mat next to the window.

Just before Mei Lin sat down, she noticed a bowl of noodles and a candle on the table next to the window. There, illuminated by the soft glow of a candle, sat a bowl filled to the brim with steaming noodles, adorned with slices of eggs, mushrooms, and various types of savory meats. The aroma of the dish wafted through the air, a fragrant symphony that tickled her senses and stirred her appetite.

Despite the chill that hung in the room, delicate tendrils of white steam rose gracefully from the bowl, carrying with them the promise of warmth and comfort amid the wintry night. With a sense of anticipation coursing through her, Mei Lin approached the table, her movements guided by the allure of the delicious meal before her.

Mei Lin sat on the cultivation mat and immediately dug into the food with chopsticks. The noodles smelled delicious, and her desire for food was enormous. As she placed the hot noodles into her mouth, she felt the delicious taste slowly spreading. However, just as she ate the noodles, a strange feeling spread from her stomach. Mei Lin felt like throwing up as she ate the noodles. 'Something is strange,' she thought as she struggled with the pain from her stomach, which was becoming unbearable.

Mei Lin placed the chopsticks on the table and began circulating her natural energy in the cultivation sea to get rid of the food. In just a few seconds, the pain slowly stopped. Mei Lin didn't know what happened because Xu Jie and Xu Yi had eaten the food and were fine.

After calming down, Mei Lin tried to eat once more, but just as she placed the noodles into her mouth, she wanted to throw up again. Mei Lin thought about the last time she had eaten normal food. 'It was probably when I left the mountain village.' Mei Lin pulled out a spirit fruit from her storage ring and took a small bite. Nothing happened. 'This is strange,' she thought. 'Spirit fruit feels good, unlike the noodles.' Mei Lin pondered for a moment, then got up from her seat. She took a bowl and went to Xu Yi.

"Thank you for the food, but I can't eat it," Mei Lin said to Xu Jie, feeling embarrassed. Xu Jie looked at her with a dumbfounded expression. Mei Lin quickly left, realizing that she couldn't eat normal food and that her only available option was spirit fruits.

After giving Xu Jie back her food, Mei Lin placed a spirit fruit on the table and started chopping it with a crystal knife. After eating the fruit, she poured herself a blood tea and drank half of it. After calming her hunger, Mei Lin sat in a lotus position and entered a cultivation state.

Mei Lin was in cultivation all day long. After she ended her cultivation, it was already late at night. Mei opened her eyes and didn't see Xu Yi and Xu Jie. They both had gone to the first floor. Xu Jie started to clean the floor and staircase outside the tea-house, while Xu Yi pulled the dead bandit outside and went to the market house to see if he could enter inside.

Mei Lin was once again alone in the dark on the second floor. Despite doing nothing but cultivating all day, she was physically and mentally exhausted, so she went to her room. Immediately as she lay down on the bed, she fell asleep.

The next morning, Mei Lin woke up early and went to the second floor. She picked up the teapot from which she drank yesterday and poured the rest of the blood tea out of the window. After emptying the teapot, she filled it with new blood and went to the first floor to make new tea. The fireplace was cold, so Mei Lin started the fire again and prepared the water for the tea.

It didn't take long for everything to be prepared. After the fire was ready, Mei Lin placed the teapot on the fire. Once the teapot was heated, Mei Lin placed it into the storage space and went to the kitchen. The kitchen was full of new spirit fruits and other things, which she had seen on the second floor of the market house along with ordinary food.

'Xu Yi did manage to get inside the market house. Now we can start our way to find the leader slug and master,' Mei Lin thought, feeling happy. She smiled under her veil. Without waiting for Xu Yi or Xu Jie to wake up, she placed a few more pieces of wood into the fire and quietly opened the door to the room where Xu was sleeping.

After that, Mei Lin left the first floor and entered into second one. She set on the cultivation mat and prepared to put a few spirit herbs which she found in the forest before they found a caravan and put them in the teapot with the hot blood. After waiting for herbs to release their aroma inside, she poured herself a cup and put a teapot into her storage ring.

Mei Lin drank the whole cup and entered a cultivation state. The process of absorbing blood and creating the first wisp of natural energy was a little faster than the day before. This time it took Mei Lin half an hour less to absorb all the blood from the teapot. Mei Lin ended her cultivation state much earlier, but despite that, she was exhausted. Her cultivation stage was very close to the middle of the first stage of BT. 'Probably tomorrow I will be once again in the middle of condensing my first natural energy wisp. NO!'

'Tomorrow, I will certainly be in the middle of creating the first wisp of natural energy. Li Wei managed to do it in less than half a month, but I already have a cultivation sea.' Mei Lin was happy with her progress and got up to go to the second floor to read. Despite that she had a candle on her table, she didn't have anything to light it up so she went to the fireplace.

As Mei Lin settled before the crackling fireplace, she reached for a book on blood cultivation, eager to deepen her understanding of her chosen path. After reading throw Blood cultivation book she discovered, that blood cultivators should absorb natural energy from the blood of other cultivators rather than from spirit stones.

It's much faster to absorb natural energy from the blood of others than from spirit stones. Another advantage of absorbing the blood of others is that Mei Lin can gain a better understanding of blood cultivation and improve her manipulation of blood.

After putting away the Blood cultivation book, Mei Lin took out a book about plants and started reading about blood flowers. Mei Lin read through everything several times in the hope of discovering how long it takes for blood flowers to bloom. After finding nothing new, she put the book back into her storage ring and went outside to take a look if any of them had bloomed nearby. Half an hour later, she didn't find anything and went back to her room to sleep.

The next day, Mei Lin woke up early and went to the kitchen to prepare a new batch of tea. As she went throw the second floor she discovered, that the slug was slowly moving somewhere. Mei Lin looked outside of the window with the hope of finding where. As she looked out she found the slug was moving forward to the one place where there were a lot of corpses, one of the potential places to find blood flowers. Mei Lin wasn't happy that he would destroy this place but it doesn't matter. 'If I find a master, she will surely know where will be the best place to find blood flowers.

Without further hesitation, Mei Lin went down to the first floor. Xu Jie was busy making breakfast, and the nice smell of food spread all over the first floor. Mei Lin was surprised. "How is Xu Yi?" she asked, noticing his absence. Xu Jie stopped preparing the food and looked at Mei Lin.

"Yi is already cultivating. He was on the second floor yesterday, but he saw you cultivating, so he didn't bring you lunch," Xu Jie replied. Mei Lin felt relieved that Xu Yi was feeling better and that he had brought her lunch, even though she hadn't known.

"We are already on the move. The slug is probably heading to the leader's slug. It will take a while. The leader's slug is much faster and heavily protected, so it will be far away. Did we meet someone yesterday? No, the slug didn't move yesterday either. Maybe Husband is near the leader's slug because it's safe here, so he went to help at the front of the caravan. Only the first few slug houses are full of precious cargo. The rest of the caravan is just to assist the leader and a few other slug houses," Mei Lin speculated aloud.

'What will happen as we catch up to the rest of the caravan?' Mei Lin thought, but the doors behind the kitchen suddenly opened, and Xu Yi entered the kitchen.

"Good morning Miss cultivator," Xu Yi greeted Mei Lin as he entered the kitchen. Once he entered the room he didn't try to look at Mei Lin, because he was constantly blushing regardless as he watched her.

Mei Lin observed Xu Yi's flushed face, and sensing his embarrassment, she took the opportunity to ask about taking a bath. Xu Jie was initially angry because they needed to be ready for the journey, but Xu Yi immediately agreed. Not long after, the bath was ready.

Mei Lin stepped into the room, her eyes immediately drawn to the inviting sight of a steaming hot bath. With a swift motion, she shed her clothes, allowing them to fall in a heap on the floor. Standing naked in the warm glow of the room, Mei Lin couldn't help but notice the scars that adorned her legs and hands, which were still very uncomfortable despite their complete recovery. After slowly washing the blood of the female bandit from yesterday, she quickly went into the hot water to relax her mind.

After bathing for nearly half an hour, Mei Lin returned to the second floor. The pleasure from the hot water had been extremely enjoyable, to the point where she would have liked to stay longer. However, she feared Xu Jie's reaction would be even more severe the longer she stayed in the bath.

After settling into her spot next to the window, Mei Lin closed her eyes and began to cultivate. Every two hours, she interrupted her practice to check from the windows for any signs of blood flowers or cultivators at the second stage or higher.

Around noon, Xu Yi and Xu Jie decided to join Mei Lin on the second floor, thinking it would be safer to be together. Mei Lin and Xu Yi were both immersed in their cultivation, while Xu Jie kept watch over the surroundings near the slug. With nothing else to do, she scanned the area for any survivors.