Phoniex Requiem
Chapter 86: The Challenge
Chapter 86: The Challenge
Li Mo's icy blue eyes were fixed on Yun Ruoyan, moving down onto her face and onto the qilin bead in her left hand. He reached out his hand and slowly touched the beads before making an expression of astonishment. He knew that human furnaces had an incredible talent for cultivation, but only after he had actually met one of them did he realize how shocking they were.
On the night he handed the bracelet to Yun Ruoyan, he used a drop of beastkin blood to open one of the beads and released some spiritual energy adjusted to the qilin flames. He hoped that this amount of energy would take a while for Yun Ruoyan to digest, but, not until ten days later, he had exhausted everything completely.
What Qiuqiu did not tell Li Mo was that Yun Ruoyan only needed one day and one night to absorb the remnants of the qilin energy. If he knew about this, even he would not be able to maintain his famous ice facade.
Li Mo was already very happy with Yun Ruoyan. If he maintained his cultivation level, he would be able to start cultivating with him as a couple [1]. Glancing once again at the sleeping beauty, Li Mo's lips curled up. He could not help but think back to what happened near the secluded pond during the flower viewing party.
Li Mo was looking forward to cultivating with him. He grinned once more before returning to the qilin beads. When the qilin core was first sealed within the beads, the Beast King used his own blood as a seal. Therefore, to unseal, it also required the Beast King's blood.
As the son of the Beast King, Li Mo was naturally able to unseal with his blood. The more blood he used, the bigger the crack, and the stronger the spiritual energy produced from the qilin. With the remnants of energy, the bead would seal itself once more.
Li Mo made a shallow incision on his finger with his long fingernails, dripping two drops of blood onto the qilin beads. The beads began to glow a dull red before the light and blood disappeared once again.
Qiuqiu did not know that Yun Ruoyan was a human furnace, and naturally did not understand what Li Mo was doing. However, it does not try to ask, knowing that any attempt will be futile.
Li Mo's threat to Qiuqiu was quite effective. At least before he showed clear killing intent to Yun Ruoyan again, Qiuqiu would not reveal his identity to her.
Once again, fireflies attacked Yun Ruoyan's dream. They seemed to be attracted to her, dancing around her, as she smiled happily like a child.
"Miss, Miss, are you awake?"
The sound of Peony, accompanied by a sharp knock on the door, suddenly made Yun Ruoyan wake up. He sat up straight and narrowed his eyes at the bright light coming through the window.
He knew he was asleep. Grimly, he sighed and asked, "What time is it now?"
Peony, who was still standing outside her room, replied, “It's still morning, Miss, but usually you've been cultivating at this point."
Yun Ruoyan got off the bed, put on a jacket, and quickly put gauze on her face, as she did not have time to make a fake birthmark.
"Miss, you look beautiful today."
Yun Ruoyan opened the door of her room, and Peony entered with a sink.
"When don't I look pretty?" Yun Ruoyan smiled.
“No, it's bena. You look so radiant today, Miss,” Peony assured him. When he entered, it was as if Yun Ruoyan's face was glowing with gentle warmth, as if her skin was made of moon rock.
Yun Ruoyan smiled again before pouring a little tea for herself.
"Did you have a good dream last night, ma'am?" Peony placed the sink on the table before turning to Yun Ruoyan. “As soon as I got to the door, I heard your laughter. I thought you had woken up and tried to call you, but you never answered! Only then did I realize that you were just laughing in your sleep. ”
Yun Ruoyan hesitated for a moment before recalling her firefly-filled dream. This was not the first time he had met her either. When was the last time?
As he tried to refine his memories, Qiuqiu called out to him. "Madam, quickly check your spiritual vortex."
Yun Ruoyan immediately pushed the Peony out and told him to make sure not to let anyone in. Although the Peony was not formally trained in cultivation, his years of experience in the Yun household had given him some information on the basics. Combining this with his understanding of Yun Ruoyan's aloof habits, he naturally followed Yun Ruoyan's orders and stood outside his hut as a guard.
To Yun Ruoyan's spiritual senses, her spiritual vortex was a thick layer of white mist. Recently, with the training of the pill master and the qilin beads, dull red patches began to appear. Today, however, the red patch is very bright, and it measures almost twice as much.
“Qiuqiu, can you see how my spiritual energy aligned with fire has grown? That's amazing!" Yun Ruoyan exclaimed to Qiuqiu. “I was worried these past few days that my fire alignment was still too dirty, and it would be very difficult for me to condense spiritual flames. I can't believe that such a big change happened overnight!”
Afraid Yun Ruoyan would suspect something, Qiuqiu immediately explained, “That's how sometimes cultivation is. You may think that you have reached the highest point, but in fact you are just brewing and saving energy for a breakthrough. As long as you do the necessary work, you will definitely get a commensurate reward. ”
Yun Ruoyan nodded in agreement. These past few days, he had basically spent all his time trying to improve and purify his spiritual energy that was in harmony with fire. He wanted to become a pill master as quickly as possible to help the Lin family.
"Madam, it's good to try to condense the spiritual flame again," Qiuqiu reminded him.
Yun Ruoyan nodded once more. He sat cross-legged on the bed, his palms clenched. A wisp of red mist emanated from his dantian and through his body before condensing outside his palm. The last time he tried to condense spiritual flames, this entire process took a full two hours. This time, he managed to do so in no more than fifteen minutes.
Looking at the small flame, Yun Ruoyan excitedly shouted, "I made it, I finally made it!"
The person he most wanted to share his victory with, no doubt, was Lin Zainan.
When Yun Ruoyan rushed to the Lin family, she saw there were two half-race fire horses at the main entrance. Half-breed horses refers to the offspring of magical beasts with ordinary horses, tame enough that one would not need to be a beast tamer to train them, either, and fast enough that they can travel thousands of miles in a day.
Yun Ruoyan could count the number of people in the capital who were rich enough to have such horses with her finger.
The servants at the gate told Yun Ruoyan that there were two people who would come to Lin's estate every day around this time. However, why they were here, the servants did not know.
As Yun Ruoyan entered the courtyard, she found the housekeeper Lin Bo, who told her that Lin Zainan was entertaining guests in the main reception room. Although he was curious, he was not officially considered a member of the Lin family, and it was impolite for him to interfere in their conversation.
He was heading to the backyard to find Lin Qingchen and Lin Qingxue when an irritated male voice emerged from the reception room.
“Older Lin, we have traveled over a thousand miles to get here, all the way from the Yue kingdom. Aren't you going to show us courtesy?"
Yun Ruoyan could not help but stop in her tracks as she sharpened her ears. His grandfather's cold voice came next.
“I have stated, once again, that I will not sell you any pills. Do you intend to take it from me?!”
“Our young master has always been an admirer of your work, Elder Lin. He has long wanted to study under your guidance, but the Lin family does not accept disciples from outside the family. Please, aren't you going to sell us some of your pills so that our young master can research them?" the wanderer, a middle-aged man, asked solemnly. “Young master and I have been looking for you four days in a row, but you always refused our visit. Now that we finally have a chance to talk directly to you, you rejected us once again! The Lin Family was one of the most famous pill masters in the continent. Aren't you going to sell us some middle-class pills?"
"Even if you won't sell me any pills, I won't dare to force, Elder Lin," a gray-clothed young man spoke from the middle-aged man's side. “Will you give me some pointers instead?”
“I'm sorry I let you down, Young Master Wang, but my declining health has made me unable to make pills lately. I'm afraid I won't be able to give you any useful clues." Lin Zainan stood up from her chair and pointed towards the door. "Please return."
"Older Lin, are you sure you want to show such great disrespect to the merchant coalition of the four kingdoms?" reply the middle-aged man, seeing that Lin Zainan had no intention of retreating. "Do you think the Lin family is still in its golden age?"
Lin Zainan slammed her palm on the table. “The Wang family of the Yue kingdom, right? you dare challenge my authority in my home? Do you think the Lin family is easily intimidated since there is nothing left to defend the family?”
"Older Lin, please calm down." The young man stood up. His tone was respectful, but his demeanor was filled with arrogance and arrogance. “Since childhood, I've been engrossed in the art of pill making. During my visit to the Li kingdom, I had approached many other famous pill experts, only to find that their reputation was inappropriate. Elder Lin, as one of the most famous pill masters in the Li kingdom, I'm sure you won't disappoint me.”
"What do you mean?"
“Since you won't sell me any pills, Elder Lin, you won't give me any clues either, then my only path is to challenge you as a pill expert. Dare you accept my challenge, elder Lin?”
Lin Zainan blinked. The young man was no more than eighteen years old, so what made him so haughty and domineering?
Seeing that he had Lin Zainan's full attention, the young man continued, “Before this long, I became a fifth rank pill master. I know my cultivation is still too low to mean anything to you, Elder Lin, but I still want to challenge you. Elder Lin, will you give me a chance to learn from my defeat?"
Lin Zainan glanced at the young man expressionlessly, but her inner thoughts were chaotic. This young descendant of the Wang family was truly a pill-making genius, who would appear once in a hundred years.
Lin Zainan had immersed herself in pill making for decades, but she had only ever been a peak rank five pill expert. This young man, on the other hand, had become a fifth rank pill expert at such a young age, showing his frightening prowess.
The middle-aged man smiled proudly. “Young master I have spent the last year traveling across four kingdoms in search of an opponent. If he finds his match in you, Elder Lin, it won't waste our time.”
Lin Zainan frowned, her forehead clenched. If he had the cultivation of his peak rank five pill master, giving a lesson to this arrogant young man would mean nothing. However, with his current third rank cultivation, he would not be a match.
Will his name be ruined in the hands of this brat today ?!
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With related ****.