Volume 1 Chapter 12 The Old Woman Has No Worries

  "This is terrible! We're done for!"

  In the Ling Sang forest on the main peak of Qingyun Mountain, Feng Ru was staring at the nine huge white cocoons in front of him with a desire to cry but no tears. He had rushed back from the East Peak and come to see the nine Snow Spirit Silkworms first thing, but unfortunately, he had been intercepted by the silver spider for a while, causing the nine Snow Spirit Silkworms to be unable to eat the Ling Sang leaves, resulting in them spinning cocoons with the snow silkworm silk they were supposed to spit out and entering a dormant state.

  This time, Fang Ruo not only failed to complete this season's task but also risked getting into big trouble. Once the Snow Spirit Silkworm spins a cocoon, it may break out of its shell and evolve into a second-level spirit beast, the Snow Spirit Butterfly. However, not every Snow Spirit Silkworm can evolve, and even among 100 silkworms, there might not be one that can evolve. Those that cannot evolve will die.

  It is precisely because of this that the Qingyun Sect has always been strictly forbidden for three generations of disciples to let the Snow Spirit Silkworm spin a cocoon in order to obtain the Snow Spirit Butterfly. In general, only after taking some special spiritual medicine will the probability of the Snow Spirit Silkworm advancing greatly increase.

  Feng Ruo's nine Snow Spirit Silkworms naturally had no chance to take those special spiritual medicines, let alone being starved for many days. It can be said that in this situation, pupation was impossible, and the final result was that they all died!

  "It's all over, one Snow Spirit Silkworm costs ten low-grade five-element stones, and nine of them would be ninety low-grade five-element stones! And this is almost the price of a White Feathered Crane! How can I afford to lose?" Feng Ruo muttered to herself with a helpless expression.

  After some deliberation, Feng Ruo still decided it was better to confess voluntarily, because now even if he wanted to escape, he couldn't get away without a flying mount, and there was no way to cross the precipice of Qingyun Mountain.

  After collecting her thoughts, Feng Ru nervously walked towards the gate of Qingyun Sect. The person in charge of collecting Snow Silkworms and Fragrant Spirit Rice was an old woman with an unknown age, full of wrinkles on her face, disheveled white hair, and a black cloak that made her look eerie and frightening. Every time Feng Ru saw this ghostly-like old woman, she would be nervous and apprehensive.

  It's not just about being afraid of the old woman, people like Qu Feng and Kong Fei are even more terrified because they have been in contact with her since childhood, and their fear has long been deeply rooted in their hearts.

  What's even more disgusting is that all the rice cakes in Qingyun Sect were made and distributed by this old woman herself. One of the main reasons why Feng Ru was so disgusted with rice cakes was because of the old woman's hands, which looked like dry branches. Just thinking about it made his hair stand on end!

  The old nun's dwelling place was not within the mountain gate of Qingyun Sect, but in a small valley not far away.

  The scenery in this valley is indeed very pleasant, with a small stream flowing through it and gathering into a small lake like a bright mirror. On both banks of the stream are clear and elegant bamboo forests, and groups of butterflies dance gracefully, giving people the first impression that this place is like a paradise on earth. However, everyone knows that this place is more like a devil's lair.

  He walked along the winding path of bluestone in the bamboo forest with a sense of trepidation, while gazing up at the flock of colorful butterflies swirling above his head, not because he had a way to attract bees and butterflies, but because he was being monitored.

  These butterflies look harmless to humans, but in fact they are called Color Cloud Butterflies, which belong to the second-level spiritual beast. They have a violent and cruel temperament, like to eat fresh blood, and usually the objects attacked by them will eventually become a dry corpse. Unfortunately, these Color Cloud Butterflies were exactly what the old woman had domesticated.

  It was precisely because of this that Fang Ruo decided to confess and be lenient, he really didn't dare to imagine the tragic scene of being chased and killed by a group of colorful cloud butterflies.

  Turning a corner, the road ahead suddenly became clear and bright. A quiet little lake appeared before my eyes, with a delicate bamboo pavilion standing not far from its edge. Underneath the pavilion were blooming flowers of various colors, their fragrance wafting through the air.

  But in such a beautiful scene, a hunched black shadow sat there extremely discordantly, like a black skull.

  If he wasn't a timid person, in the past decade or so of battlefield slaughter, he would have killed at least hundreds of enemies, but at this moment, seeing this old woman, his heart couldn't help but "thump thump thump" wildly, and even the hairs on his back stood up straight.

  "Ah---ah, junior---junior has seen---seen senior before!" Fang Yu stuttered and bowed from a distance.

  "Ka-ching!" A clear sound of bone friction rang out, and the old woman slowly turned her head, using those eyes that seemed to be filled with a ghostly fire to stare at Feng Ru for a moment, before saying in a hoarse, dry voice: "Hand it over!"

  This voice had already been heard two or three times, if it were usual, he only needed to hand over the snow silkworm cocoon obediently, and then he could slip away, but now he didn't even have a single snow silkworm cocoon!

  "Back... back to report to the seniors, that Snow Silkworm... is gone." Feng Ruo took a deep breath and spoke cautiously, but his voice was getting smaller and smaller. He could almost predict what kind of storm he would face, or be sucked dry by those colorful cloud butterflies!

  But the old woman didn't say anything, as if she hadn't heard Feng Ru's words at all. For a moment, the area around the small lake became extremely quiet.

  Finally, just as Fang Ruo was sweating profusely and didn't know what to do, the old woman slowly said: "It's Snow Spirit Silkworm forming a cocoon! You nurture it with your magic power for an hour every day, maybe there's a possibility of hatching a Snow Spirit Butterfly. At that time, you can offset your debt. Otherwise, you owe our sect 90 Five Elements Stones. Go!"

  "Yes! Thank you, senior!" Feng Ruo was stunned for a moment, but didn't expect the old woman to be so easy-going. However, he couldn't think much at this moment and hastily paid his respects before carefully retreating.

  And it wasn't until Fang Ruo's figure disappeared that the old woman's dry, cracked mouth moved slightly, muttering to herself: "Heh heh! He's actually already at the initial stage of Qi Refining. This kid has some potential!"

  Feng Ruo didn't know how the old woman evaluated him, but after turning that corner, he ran out like he had seen a ghost, all the way until he escaped from the small valley. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief. He couldn't help it, even though he was now at the initial stage of refining his Qi and had officially entered the ranks of cultivators, he still felt a deep-seated fear when facing that old woman!

  "Alas! It's really hard to imagine how the third-generation disciples of Qingyun Sect survived!" Feng Ruo couldn't help but sigh, "However, that old woman doesn't seem to be unreasonable either. She even thought of a way for herself, using her magical powers to nourish herself. Luckily, my own magical powers have increased greatly now, otherwise, wouldn't the nine Snow Spirit Silkworms have drained me dry?"

  "Huh? Why not put those nine Snow Spirit Silkworms next to the Wooden Spiritual Stone!" A sudden flash of inspiration struck Feng Ru's mind, and this could be considered a two-for-one deal. The spiritual energy emitted by the Wooden Spiritual Stone was extremely abundant, and as long as it wasn't severed from its connection with those tree roots, its spiritual energy wouldn't dry up. As for her own cultivation, it wouldn't be delayed either!

  Thinking of this, Feng You couldn't help but feel a little excited, because if that's the case, then the chances of the nine Snow Spirit Silkworms advancing to Snow Spirit Butterflies would undoubtedly increase greatly. At that time, she would only need to hand over one Snow Spirit Butterfly to that old woman, and the remaining Snow Spirit Butterflies could be kept for herself to raise. Those were second-grade spiritual beasts! With just a bit of nurturing, what's that dogshit spider in comparison? Wouldn't it be easy to get rid of it whenever she wanted?

  "Hey! This book is now ranked 61st on the new book chart, with so many chrysanthemums ahead of it! Brothers, are you interested? One vote for one chrysanthemum!"