The little girl in the bamboo basket was incredibly surprised, astounded that Li Muyang trusted her so easily.
Li Muyang, who was hastily running through the mountain forest, just curled his lips—having died in the hands of that monster hundreds of times, how could he not believe her?
But naturally, there was no need to say such things to the little girl.
As he sprinted through the woods toward the cave entrance they had come from, he said,
“I’m not a fool, you hate Black Cloud Fort so much yet don’t want to leave, and even persuaded me to go back… what you said must be true!”
“Otherwise, if you left Black Cloud Fort, why would you go back? Do you really want to stay in the fort to be the one whose blood is drained like a soulless being?”
The cultivation of most demonic arts at Black Cloud Fort requires demon blood, which is an essential material.
And the blood of the soulless beings is one type of demon blood.
So if the little girl returned to the fort, she would end up like a blood cow, frequently having her blood drawn.
If there was a chance to escape Black Cloud Fort, the little girl would definitely want to.
Li Muyang’s words made perfect sense. The little girl in the basket was stunned for a moment before giving a forlorn smile.
“Yes… if I could leave, who would want to return to the fort?”
The tone of the little girl was somewhat dejected.
This big brother is really smart, figuring out so much instantly.
Her trying to act clever in front of him earlier must have looked funny to him…
The little girl in the basket curled up her body and covered her face, feeling her face burning hot.
After the little girl fell silent, Li Muyang looked up at the affection meter in the upper right corner of his field of view.
[Little Wild Grass: 23 (She thinks you are very smart)]
It had actually increased by three points…
This little girl is really strange.
The affection meter, which was so hard to increase before, started rising effortlessly now; it rose three points just by saying a couple of sentences.
Indeed, he shouldn’t have followed the conventional interactive game plot routine; if he had let himself go sooner without being restricted by system choices, perhaps he’d already be at stage three.
Li Muyang, carrying the little girl on his back, was running through the mountain forest and quickly returned to that dark cave.
A tunnel deep within the cave led directly into the fort.
Following the path they had taken earlier, Li Muyang and the girl meandered through the dark underground for a long time before finally returning to Black Cloud Fort under the moonlight.
And by this time, it was already past midnight.
In the serene fort, only the rustling sounds of insects were heard, and all the visual field’s stilted buildings had their doors tightly shut—villagers were all asleep.
But at this sight of the gloomy and eerie fort, Li Muyang breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a sense of safety,
—although he knew it was not safe in the fort either.
But at least in the fort, as long as he did not fall asleep, he would not encounter any danger.
Having carried the little girl back to the stilted building in his basket, Li Muyang said,
“You go to sleep first, take a rest, and after you wake up, we’ll discuss the monster in your dreams.”
Li Muyang’s words left the little girl stunned.
She had thought that after Li Muyang carried her back, he would immediately inquire about the monster.
But now Li Muyang was not asking about it but instead letting her rest first…
Confusion filled the girl’s eyes, “Big brother, aren’t you curious about the monster that appeared in the dreams?”
Li Muyang replied calmly, “Curious, but not now, rest first.”
The rest of the people were asleep at this late hour; even if they knew about the monster, could they go seek help from someone else?
Either way, that was all for tomorrow’s worry.
Of course, Li Muyang’s rush to put the little girl to sleep was mainly driven by his eagerness to obtain the first-stage reward.
Now he just wanted to quickly study the secret tome of the “Remnant Cloud Movement Technique” to see how he could speed up his cultivation.
As for the decryption process later in the game and defeating monsters, that could wait until after he had studied the “Remnant Cloud Movement Technique.”
Li Muyang saved another slot and called the little girl to bed.
The little girl hesitated for a moment but obediently climbed onto the bamboo bed and lay down.
She curled up in the thin blanket, willingly letting Li Muyang lock the chain around her neck, and closed her eyes obediently and sensibly.
The favorability bar in the upper right corner of Li Muyang’s vision jumped again.
[Little Wild Grass: 25 (she thinks you’re a good person)]
“?”
A question mark popped up above Li Muyang’s head again.
Did favorability increase by 2 points during this cheerful conversation?
Is this girl’s favorability so easy to increase? Then why didn’t it move at all when I was so nice to her at the beginning?
Li Muyang, after finishing saving, slowly opened his eyes.
The afternoon sunshine fell on him, and the old trees beside the ridge swayed their leaves in the wind, making a rustling sound.
This secluded mid-mountain area was indeed exceedingly tranquil.
From the nearby woods came the crisp and pleasing sounds of birds chirping.
Upon exiting the game, Li Muyang took a deep breath and stood up on the ridge.
“Suddenly, I feel like this favorability isn’t so hard to gain after all…”
Li Muyang stroked his chin and pondered for a moment.
Could it be that this Little Wild Grass is the type who is cold on the outside but warm on the inside, easily fooled once familiar?
But that’s not important now; what’s important is the “Remnant Cloud Movement Technique”!
He carefully studied the secret tome and discovered that the cultivation difficulty was very low, the only requirement being a sufficient amount of demon blood.
With enough demon blood to nourish it, one could succeed in cultivation within three to five days.
Standing on the ridge, Li Muyang finished reading the manual, then stretched out his body and picked up the huge water bucket placed nearby.
The bucket was filled with cool mountain spring water, which rose slowly and turned into a misty white fog as Li Muyang stood on the ridge performing the “Little Cloud Rain Technique.”
This blob of white mist drifted out and sporadically dropped scattered raindrops.
The rain, imbued with Spiritual Energy, fell into the spirit field, continuously nourishing the seeds within.
The job of a Spirit Plant Cultivator was very relaxed; he only needed to make it rain once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
Li Muyang was not like Xiaoshun, the workaholic, who performed the rain technique several times more each day than ordinary people.
He had no specific needs for the growth of the Spirit Rice, and after completing the basic two rain sessions, Li Muyang tossed the huge bucket into the tidied tile house and descended the mountain with a pottery jar.
Outside the gathering place of the Refinement Demon Sect’s Outer Sect, there was a market.
Today happened to be the market day, and disciples from all seventeen gathering places of the Outer Sect who had needs would come to the market.
Besides the usual expenses at places such as brothels and taverns in the market, there were many lower-ranking cultivators who set up stalls.
They either sold talismans and Magic Artifacts they had crafted themselves or sold excess Spirit Rice… Everything was available in a dazzling array.
The environment of the Refinement Demon Sect was generally secluded; once the Outer Sect Disciples entered, it was quite difficult to leave easily, thus forming its own market ecosystem.
Li Muyang, flipping through the “Remnant Cloud Movement Technique” manual in his mind, walked toward the market.
This “Remnant Cloud Movement Technique” was a standard Demon technique, powerful and quick to master, but harsh on the body.
Aside from causing debuffs after use, it also inflicted damage to the body during cultivation.
However, Li Muyang did not mind, as all costs were exempted by the system.
Once he acquired the needed demon blood at the market, he would be able to rapidly master this formidable “Remnant Cloud Movement Technique.”