Chapter 25: Meals and Lodging Included
The Evil Eye and Lu You, who had been locked in a stalemate, seemed to be pressed on pause—time suddenly froze for a second. In the next moment, the life essence inside the small cauldron was returned to Lu You's body. What had taken all the strength of a Qi Refining cultivator to manifest as just a few drops suddenly turned into rivers and seas. The spiritual energy within Lu You surged along with it, rising from the start of Qi Refining Level 4 all the way to the peak of Level 4, and then breaking through to the fifth level of Qi Refining.
"It's a pity, it can't be absorbed infinitely. There's even the risk of bursting the body if taken too much."
The life essence inside the small cauldron shared the same origin as Lu You. Entering his body was as natural as returning home. But Lu You's mixed spiritual root was like a tiny apartment. No matter how precious the life essence was, the place was too small—no matter how expensive the furniture and appliances were, you could only fit a few inside.
Feeling his meridians swelling from being overfilled, Lu You didn't dare to mess around anymore. He simply let go of all resistance, allowing the Evil Eye to suck out the excess life essence at once, to prevent himself from exploding from the inside.
The Evil Eye stared at Lu You in utter astonishment, wondering why it hadn't managed to draw out his life essence—instead, Lu You had suddenly advanced a level. Before it could figure things out, a red dot appeared between Lu You's brows. Then one drop after another flowed toward the Evil Eye.
Yes! This is it!
The Evil Eye was overjoyed and began to absorb frantically. After taking a thunderstorm strike from Lu You in the main hall, it had spent most of its accumulated power to offset the damage. Now, it wouldn't be satisfied unless it drained Lu You dry.
Drop after drop of life essence was devoured by the Evil Eye. A sinister smile appeared within its pupil—and a smile also surfaced in Lu You's eyes.
The excess life essence that Lu You had accidentally poured in earlier was absorbed by the Evil Eye, solving the problem of his swollen meridians. Seeing that the Evil Eye could keep absorbing endlessly, Lu You began to carefully control the life essence: he let it drip into his body bit by bit, expanding his meridians. The moment he felt discomfort, he immediately handed the blood over to the Evil Eye, then repeated the process again.
For cultivators with mixed spiritual roots, their meridians were like water pipes clogged with mud. At this moment, the infinite blood of cultivation origin was the best cleanser there was. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lu You rapidly nourished and replaced his blood, little by little washing away the impurities in his meridians, while handing the "waste blood" from the cleansed meridians to the Evil Eye to be sucked away.
The Evil Eye exerted itself with all its might. By the standard of a Qi Refining cultivator, it felt like it had already devoured the equivalent of a hundred people—more than it had gained from all the cultivators who entered the ancient tomb this time. Yet Lu You's body continued to supply it endlessly.
What is wrong with this guy? Unlimited supply, all-you-can-drink?
The Evil Eye probed itself in confusion and found that all the losses from being blown apart by Lu You had been fully replenished. The energy within it continued to swell, even recovering a trace of what it had lost over the long years of being sealed here.
Looking back at Lu You, as the blood of cultivation origin was continuously drained away, Lu You's eyes grew brighter, his skin more ruddy, his complexion lifting another notch. He looked as if he had become a year younger.
Although his cultivation realm no longer rose, the spiritual energy within Lu You doubled. His heartbeat became slower and more powerful, his qi and blood grew more vigorous. Originally carrying a hint of a scholarly air, Lu You now stood there like a ferocious tiger lying in the forest, its colors vivid and menacing.
Could it be that the life essence inside this man is inexhaustible?
The Evil Eye gave birth to a thought that even it found laughable—yet this impossible scene was unfolding right before it, something it was experiencing with its own senses.
In the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the Evil Eye felt that it had already devoured the equivalent of a thousand people's worth of blood, feasting to its heart's content in an endless rush of pleasure. Back before it was sealed, if it wanted to drink like this, it had to rack its brains to control blood-slave puppets, avoid detection by the cultivator of the righteous path, and even then it might not manage to kill a thousand cultivators in a year or two. If it had met Lu You earlier, why would it have needed to be hunted all over the world as an evil creature by the righteous sects, then tricked into a seal for thousands of years without food or drink?
As it thought about this, a fawning look appeared in the Evil Eye's pupil. It sent out a trace of ingratiating intent toward Lu You—and then stopped absorbing.
Huh? Why did you stop?
Lu You, who had been enjoying the in-and-out flow, opened his eyes in dissatisfaction, as if giving the Evil Eye a slap with his gaze.
Keep going! Lu You tested the waters by increasing the supply, pouring directly from the small cauldron without passing it through his body, giving the Evil Eye a little extra sweetness.
So there's even more—this guy's blood of cultivation origin is truly inexhaustible!
Seeing Lu You strike a "plenty to go around" posture, the fawning in the Evil Eye's pupil grew even more obvious. In the next moment, instead of absorbing blood, a drop of red energy flowed out from its pupil and fell with a soft pat into the center of Lu You's brow.
From Lu You's perspective, a strange message surged into his mind. Translated, it read: "The Evil Eye has expressed its submission to you and offers you a Soul Blood Contract. Do you accept?"
The contents of the contract also appeared in Lu You's mind: as long as Lu You provided food and lodging, the Evil Eye would henceforth become his most loyal servant, handing over all its abilities for Lu You to use.
Lu You was no stranger to Soul Blood Contracts. Although his cultivation realm was low, he had read all kinds of cultivation knowledge. Such contracts were usually formed when an intelligent artifact spirit acknowledged a master. Once signed, betrayal was impossible, and the spirit could never harm its master. The contract would only disappear if the master died or the artifact spirit perished.
And magical treasures that possessed artifact spirits were god-tier existences in the cultivation world—things that only appeared in cultivators' tall tales and legends of the immortal realm. Even Nascent Soul realm elders were unworthy of owning such a treasure.
He glanced at the Evil Eye, whose pupil was full of expectation, then at the tombstone that had already separated from him. At this moment, Lu You could leave at any time using a Teleportation Talisman.
"No. This Evil Eye is far too sinister." Thinking about how it had behaved in the ancient tomb, Lu You rejected it. Right now, he could simply turn and leave, lie low, and pile up endless resources until he achieved longevity. If he accepted something as strange as the Evil Eye and was discovered by a great power of the immortal realm, wouldn't he be hunted as a demonic cultivator and invite unnecessary trouble?
Rejected?
Sensing Lu You's aversion, the Evil Eye's pupil filled with disbelief. It anxiously spun its eyeball around. Then its pupil lit up—crack, crack! The tombstone shattered into powder, and a crumpled piece of parchment appeared from within.
Controlling the parchment to float before Lu You, the Evil Eye's pupil brimmed with ingratiation.
The front of the parchment was covered in messy lines; on closer inspection, it looked like part of a map. But the parchment wasn't the whole map—just a fragment.
On the back of the parchment were tiny characters Lu You didn't recognize at all.
Master, hurry and contract with me! I've lived for tens of millions of years—I recognize these ancient scripts. They're cultivation techniques. This is a cultivation method that the cultivation world would have fought over to the death tens of millions of years ago!
Seeing Lu You show interest, the Evil Eye hurriedly sent a stream of pleas, like a simp meeting his goddess—far from feeling humiliated by rejection, it felt instead that it had finally met the right person.
<+>
Patreon Account: https://www.patreon.com/collection/1960529?view=condensed[1]
Latest Chapter In Patreon: Chapter 74: Breakthrough[2]
Link to the Latest Chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/154371282?collection=1960529[3]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/1960529?view=condensed
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/154371282?collection=1960529
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/154371282?collection=1960529