Although Benji had clearly stated that the more tails Nongli grew, the slower her cultivation would progress, it actually seemed that Nongli was about to sprout her third tail in less than half a year after meeting Qingmu?
In the Demon Realm, with the help of the demon clans and combined with Maxie’s understanding of the fox girl in the real world, Nongli’s cultivation advanced rapidly.
As she was on the verge of breaking through, Nongli became noticeably anxious, shedding fur quite severely.
“Can’t you just transform fully instead of being half human, half fox?”
In the room, Qingmu looked at the tea filled with fox fur, and without any appetite, placed it back on the table.
Nongli was lying on his bed at this moment, her two fox tails swaying back and forth like dandelions, and with each sway, a cluster of fluff floated in the air.
Qingmu now felt like his lungs were filled entirely with fox fur, and at this rate, he might develop pneumoconiosis.
“Ugh… haaahhh…”
Nongli kicked the blanket rapidly, making some unintelligible chittering sounds.
Qingmu couldn’t quite understand this kind of anxiety. Benji explained it as instinct, Maxie said it was hormones—they both meant the same thing.
“All right, stop fussing. Let’s go.”
Rising to his feet, Qingmu fanned away the floating fox fur in front of him and approached Nongli.
“Ugh!”
Nongli warily dodged into the bed, showing a very resistant posture.
Qingmu felt a bit on edge, thinking that if he were someone else, Nongli might have attacked by now.
But he still reached out, grabbed Nongli by the nape, and gently rubbed it. Nongli’s tension eased somewhat. With coaxing words, he pulled her out of the room and brought her to the cultivation chamber prepared by Benji.
Back when they were still in the mountain village, Qingmu had naively thought that sprouting tails was a trivial matter that happened in the blink of an eye, without any mutations. But Benji pointed out he was mistaken.
Because Nongli possessed the bloodline of an ancient great demon, sprouting the second tail seemed effortless, whereas other foxes would endure an extremely painful process when growing their second tail.
And the more tails Nongli sprouted, the greater the suffering. Her anxiety clearly showed she had a bad premonition, hence the resistance.
After sending Nongli into the cultivation chamber, Qingmu stood by the door, watching the sealed stone gate.
Beside him, Benji smiled lightly and asked, “Are you nervous?”
“Yeah.”
Qingmu had wanted to deny it at first, but realized he was indeed worried about Nongli—not sure if his worry was just fear that Nongli wouldn’t break through, which would affect the simulated rewards.
Purely and simply, he was just worried about Nongli.
If he called it worry, he felt perhaps it was a bit hypocritical.
As if seeing through his heart, Benji asked again, “Nervous but won’t say why? Don’t you know what you’re afraid of?”
“Maybe because I feel that humans and demons are different? No matter what identity Nongli and I have, in the end, I won’t be able to take care of her forever.”
“Rest assured, you can leave Nongli to me. I’m more than happy to take in a little fox who could become a future Demon King.”
Benji didn’t hide his true intention at all, and Qingmu actually found his straightforwardness rather endearing.
Good, as long as he wants something from Nongli, she’ll be safe from the Pursuing Sword Immortal.
Otherwise, just the two of them—Qingmu and the Nongli who’s even afraid to break through—how could they resist the Pursuing Sword Immortal?
“Is there any inconvenience in cultivating the Qi Technique?”
After chatting a bit, Benji shifted the topic to the Qi Technique.
“Compared to my soul Qi Technique, the body Qi Technique is somewhat obscure and hard to understand, but recently I’ve managed to decipher its obscurity.”
Qingmu looked at Benji and asked, “Could it be you’re encountering some difficulties?”
Benji nodded. Since he asked, there must be some problems.
“Look.”
Benji pulled open his collar, revealing the skin underneath. Suddenly, the flesh twisted and revealed a blackish-brown shell, like an insect’s abdomen, with strange protrusions and indentations.
“My true form makes my cultivation much harder than most things in this world. The root cause lies in my physical structure. The mysteries of the body Qi Technique—where the Qi reaches—my body simply cannot achieve.”
“Ah… then what can be done?”
Qingmu didn’t understand this.
“I’ve found a solution: change to another body, or… eat the spirit vein of someone who has experienced the body Qi Technique?”
Benji’s words stunned Qingmu.
Changing bodies sounded mysterious—like possession, right?
But if it was possession, what kind of vessel could bear Benji’s kind of demon power?
Could it be?!
Qingmu immediately thought of Nongli. Was Benji’s help to Nongli actually for this reason—
Before Qingmu could finish this thought, Benji smiled and said, “Don’t be fooled by the fact that I’m a demon king. You must understand, the ancient bloodline is not something just anyone can touch. It’s the blessing of ancient great demons, the fortune of the lucky, and the curse of those who covet it.”
Benji’s meaning was clear: as long as one is touched by the ancient bloodline, trouble is sure to come.
Seeing that Benji didn’t seem to be lying, Qingmu breathed a sigh of relief.
“Then, do you think anyone in this world can cultivate the body Qi Technique?”
Qingmu frowned and asked again, “Are you planning to let someone else cultivate the body Qi Technique?”
“I do have that idea, but choosing a body whose spirit vein can be eaten is not easy.”
Watching Benji discuss eating other demons so seriously, Qingmu felt somewhat uneasy.
But it was no longer his concern.
Because he had shown Benji his own body before. His body had no need to cultivate the Qi Technique, so he was only half-hearted at it. Moreover, his body lacked the talent to sustain the Qi Technique.
“All right, Nongli wants to grow her third tail. At the earliest, it’ll take a dozen or twenty hours; at the longest, ten days or half a month. Do you want to wait that long?”
“Then… I’ll go refine pills first and come back to check?”
Qingmu thought Benji made sense and turned to leave.
After Qingmu left, Benji turned and headed to another place.
It was a secret chamber. On the table sat a crystal ball, inside which clearly was the image of Nongli meditating in the cultivation chamber.
Sitting beside the table was a white-clad fairy, resting her chin on her hand as she stared intently at Nongli in the crystal ball.
“Pursuing Sword Immortal, do you like this gift of mine?”
Benji sat opposite Lin Qiyou, smiling as he asked.
Lin Qiyou’s relaxed brows knitted tightly, her beautiful eyes fixed on Benji’s face. In a cold voice she asked, “Why? Where did you catch the fox?”
“She has a name. She’s called Nongli.”
“A beast is still a beast.”
“I picked her up casually in your Human Realm. At first, I wasn’t sure she was one of them. After I confirmed, I invited you here, didn’t I?”
“Is that so… then when do we make our move?”
“No rush, no rush… let’s wait until she’s a little meatier.”
Benji squinted his eyes and answered.