Looking at the first-grade inferior-inferior talisman in his hand—which was to say, a first-grade defective talisman, the Blood Spirit Talisman—Lin Moyu's expression turned somewhat unsightly. He asked with utter incomprehension, "That shouldn't be right. Before my true spirit awakened, I could at least draw low-grade talismans. How has it become defective now?"
Just as Lin Moyu was standing there in a daze, staring at the talisman he had drawn, Lin Ruyu returned with Yun Rumo, having finally finished the paperwork.
Seeing Yun Rumo holding a stick of candied haws and nibbling on it, Lin Moyu thought of something, and a smile touched the corner of his mouth.
Upon returning home, Lin Ruyu originally intended to head straight to the kitchen to cook, but then, suddenly remembering something, she said to Lin Moyu, "I heard about what happened to Xiao Yun at school. Handle the whole thing however you see fit, and I'll take the responsibility. If push comes to shove, just deal with a few people."
Lin Moyu nodded. "I know. I'll take care of it when I go to school tomorrow."
Yun Rumo stared blankly at the two of them, because they were once again using cultivators' spiritual line transmission; if one were not a cultivator, it was utterly impossible to capture the sound.
Seeing that they were ignoring her, Yun Rumo silently ate her candied haws without interrupting to ask questions. Her long history of being bullied had long since taught her a survival method uniquely her own; otherwise, she would have died in the slums long ago instead of being adopted by that ruffian old man.
Lin Ruyu glanced at Yun Rumo and, forgoing spiritual line transmission, spoke directly, "From now on, Xiao Yun is your younger sister. Protect her well and don't let anyone bully her, or you'll be answering to me."
Lin Moyu hurriedly forced a smile and said, "Definitely. From now on, Yun Rumo is my sister."
After watching Lin Ruyu go off to cook, Lin Moyu looked at Yun Rumo, who was sitting obediently on the sofa and asking no questions at all, and handed her the defective Blood Spirit Talisman he was holding.
"This is a gift for you. A talisman I drew myself—you must cherish it well!" Lin Moyu said in a playful tone, telling her to cherish it, seeing as he had no idea how effective this defective talisman really was, and the one-third success rate was merely his own conjecture.
After finishing dinner, Lin Moyu returned to his room alone, while Lin Ruyu took Yun Rumo to the room prepared for her.
Looking at the clean, tidy, and somewhat cozy room, which even thoughtfully featured an oversized stuffed doll on the bed headboard, Yun Rumo said with a choked voice, "Th... thank you!"
Lin Ruyu smiled slightly, then handed Yun Rumo a small jade bottle and said, "This is first-grade spiritual liquid. Apply it to your body tonight before bed; it can repair your meridians."
After Lin Ruyu left, Yun Rumo looked around the unfamiliar yet cozy room, then gazed down at the jade bottle in her hand, and whispered softly, "Thank you, Mom!"
When Lin Ruyu had taken Yun Rumo to register, she had specifically told Yun Rumo not to call her "Mom," but simply to call her Aunt.
Yet Yun Rumo, who had never felt maternal love before, finally let down all her guard and threw herself onto the bed, hugging the huge cotton doll.
Meanwhile, right next door, Lin Moyu opened up that interface once more for a look before beginning his cultivation.
"Time passes so slowly," Lin Moyu muttered with a sigh, and then resumed his cultivation.
The night passed without sleep.
After a night of cultivation, although Lin Moyu had not broken through to Qi Refining Level 3, he had sensed the bottleneck for it. He felt that after just a few more nights of cultivation, he would be able to simultaneously condense three clusters of blood-colored spiritual Qi.
And most importantly, Lin Moyu discovered that as he began cultivating with the Blood Spirit Root, the blood Qi within his body grew increasingly potent, yet without that distinct feel of a body cultivator.
Therefore, Lin Moyu could only attribute this change to his spirit root. After all, when he was previously studying at Huayang High School, a lecturing cultivator had mentioned that the variations among spirit roots weren't just limited to spiritual Qi, but included other changes as well. It was only a pity that the cultivator had merely instructed them to experience it privately for themselves without explaining it directly.
Lin Moyu
Aptitude: Blood Spirit Root
Cultivation: Qi Refining Level 2
Fate: Samsara Heavenly Evolution
Samsara Warehouse: Slaughter Blood Lotus (Golden)
Samsara Heavenly Evolution Count: 0 (Samsara Heavenly Evolution available in five days)
Seeing that the interface had changed, Lin Moyu didn't dawdle any longer. He immediately stood up, stretched his limbs, deactivated the Spirit Gathering Array, and stepped out of his room. Catching sight of Yun Rumo, who had just woken up, he greeted her calmly and went off to eat breakfast.
After finishing breakfast, Lin Moyu walked toward the school by himself. Old Mom had given her orders; today, he had to settle the school business.
"Mom's meaning was probably that if normal methods don't work, killing a few people is fine too." A cold glint flashed in Lin Moyu's eyes. If he hadn't been worried about not being able to afford the fine, he would have been ready to kill a few people yesterday just to establish his authority.
In Huayang Grotto-Heaven, killing a mortal without cause incurs a fine of one hundred Spirit Stones, whereas if there is a justified reason for killing a mortal, the fine is merely ten Spirit Stones.
A single Spirit Stone is roughly equivalent to the currency used by one hundred thousand ordinary people—though naturally, this is only the official price, and there is a daily limit on exchanging money for Spirit Stones.
In the black market, one Spirit Stone can fetch two hundred thousand, or even more.
It is precisely because the base of ordinary people is so vast, and because they are more willing to bear children compared to cultivators, that the status of ordinary people isn't reduced to that of livestock.
After all, apart from cultivation resources, a massive amount of basic resources requires the participation of ordinary people in production.
And this is only because Huayang Grotto-Heaven's resources need to be self-sufficient. In other open grotto-heavens across Shenzhou, the lives of those mortals are even more wretched by a landslide.
Of course, as long as a mortal's descendant displays a spirit root, it means they are ready to soar. Possessing a spirit root means you have practically no bottlenecks below the Foundation Establishment Stage, and it also saves you an exorbitantly expensive Foundation Establishment Pill. Take Lin Ruyu, for instance: precisely because she lacked a spirit root, she has been stuck at Qi Refining Level 9 for many years, not daring to advance to Tenth Layer Perfection for fear that once she gets the chance to step up to Foundation Establishment, she will lose her current leisurely life.
Just as he arrived at school, Lin Moyu saw all the students looking at him in astonishment, as if shocked that Lin Moyu actually dared to come to school at all.
Lin Moyu ignored their gazes; he cared nothing for the perspectives of worldly mortals. For now, he was merely forced to stay in school for a period of time; once he cultivated to Foundation Establishment, he would definitely give that bunch a taste of their own medicine.
A gentleman takes his revenge ten years later, and it's not too late!
Right now, he lacked the qualifications for revenge, so he could only endure. Besides, with his golden finger, he believed the day of Foundation Establishment was not far off.
At that moment, in the teaching building, a burly man covered from head to toe in dragon tattoos pointed through the glass at Lin Moyu and said, "Is this the ordinary student you said was just a bit good at fighting?"
Xiaolong said somewhat awkwardly, "Although he's very good at fighting, he really is just an ordinary student."
The burly man flew into a rage, grabbed Xiaolong by the collar, and pressed him against the glass window, speaking in a fierce tone, "That fucking is a cultivator, a cultivator, do you hear me?!"
"You want to die yourself and drag me down with you?!" The burly man abruptly flung Xiaolong to the floor, and without even looking at him, he gave Lin Moyu a wide berth and walked off down the opposite hallway.
"A cultivator." Though somewhat dazed from being thrown, Xiaolong still managed to catch the key term.
"Hey, where is the person I told you to find?" Lin Moyu stood right before Xiaolong, asking in an icy tone.