Chapter 14: Practicing Spells
To that end, Jiang Qing made another trip to the market, visiting a shop specializing in spiritual herbs and medicines to purchase some seeds with notable resilience.
Instead of returning to the inn, she headed outside the city to test her new spells.
Jiang Qing found a relatively open and secluded area to practice. She began by channeling her spiritual energy into a seed, then threw it out. Almost instantly, the seed erupted under the influence of her energy, rapidly expanding into thick, tough vines of various types.
Following the incantations and techniques for the Vine Manipulation spell, Jiang Qing maneuvered the vines until they twisted and coiled into various shapes.
Although her movements were stiff at the beginning of her training, she eventually succeeded. However, her execution still lacked fluidity.
Afterward, Jiang Qing experimented several more times, continuously twisting the freshly sprouted vines into different forms. At times, she shaped them into a vine barrier to protect herself, and at other times, she wove them into a large net to ensnare a boulder across the clearing before tossing it aside.
Only when Jiang Qing felt she had achieved basic proficiency and could control the vines with ease did she stop to begin practicing other spells, such as Wood Spike and Thorn spell.
Time flowed by like water, and two months passed in the blink of an eye.
These two months were enough for Jiang Qing to master all the spells she had set out to learn. During this period, she not only learned wood-attribute spells but also mastered basic utility spells such as Cleansing, Dust-Removal, Washing, Object Manipulation, and Wind-Riding. These were fundamental spells that would prove useful in the future.
She had not returned to Xiaguang City during this time, essentially living out in the wild near the city walls, using the sky as her blanket and the earth as her bed—not unlike a savage. Fortunately, with the Cleansing and Washing spells at her disposal, she could hunt for wild game outside the city to satisfy her hunger while simultaneously testing her new spells. Life was not so bad.
It was worth noting that although Jiang Qing had not focused on cultivation during this time, her level of power had become much more consolidated. She had initially broken through to her current rank by consuming century-old spiritual milk, which was ultimately less stable than cultivation gained through direct practice. Thankfully, after two months of spell training, her previously somewhat erratic spiritual energy had firmed up. That could be considered another gain.
"It's a pity that wood-attribute spells don't have the same attack power as metal or fire-attribute ones. But there’s no helping that—who else is to blame for me having a wood-type spiritual root?"
As Jiang Qing sighed to herself, she tossed away the chicken leg she had been gnawing on, leaving only the bone.
Jiang Qing pulled up her system panel.
Name: Jiang Qing (The male lead’s white moonlight on his path to ascension)
Aptitude: Wood Spiritual Root (Top-tier)
Cultivation: Qi Condensation 5th Layer
Destiny Grid: Destiny Heroine (Purple), Charisma (Purple), Ice Skin and Jade Bones (Purple), Premature Death (Gray), Heaven-Jealous Beauty (Gray), Sickness Talisman (Orange)
Life Script: Follow the male lead to leave the Jiang Family, successfully enter the male lead’s harem, and become his first woman. Later, with the male lead’s help, successfully repair her damaged spiritual root and eventually become a cultivator. Regrettably, the good times do not last; during a pursuit, she dies while attempting to save the male lead.
Recent Turning Point: None.
Her system panel had undergone several changes since the last time she checked.
First, there was the change in her cultivation, which had gone from Qi Condensation 1st Layer to Qi Condensation 5th Layer.
Then, Jiang Qing noticed that her Destiny Grid had also shifted slightly. Most notably, "Premature Death" had changed from black to gray, and "Heaven-Jealous Beauty" had also transitioned from black to gray.
Jiang Qing was overjoyed. She had been most concerned about those conspicuous black labels in her Destiny Grid. She had always felt that if she didn't change them, she might die in some obscure corner at any moment. Seeing the text change from black to gray gave her a massive sense of relief.
While both black and gray represented bad luck, the degree of misfortune differed. Black essentially signaled an inescapable doom, whereas gray was different—with enough caution, it could be avoided.
"At least I won't die so easily now!" Jiang Qing felt her spirits soar.After dismissing the system panel, Jiang Qing turned her attention to how she could improve her strength.
"Now that I've successfully practiced the spell, I really need to test it out properly."
With this thought in mind, Jiang Qing headed toward the Black Wind Forest.
With the Wind-Traveling Spell boosting her, Jiang Qing's speed was much faster this time, and it took her just over two hours to reach the Black Wind Forest.
The Black Wind Forest was filled with countless fierce demonic beasts. To achieve her training goals, Jiang Qing actively provoked beasts that, upon her observation, she could handle. Even so, on a few occasions she put herself in extremely dangerous situations, but her strength advanced by leaps and bounds because of it.
On this day, while searching for demonic beasts to practice on in the Black Wind Forest, Jiang Qing suddenly stopped in her tracks, a trace of doubt flashing in her phoenix-like eyes.
She seemed to have heard human voices just now, though they sounded rather strange.
Driven by curiosity, Jiang Qing walked in the direction the sounds were coming from.
Yet the closer she got, the more subtle and peculiar the sounds became—the moans of a woman in a mix of pain and pleasure, accompanied by the heavy panting of a man.
Having lived through the information-explosion era of her past life, Jiang Qing easily recognized what that was.
Jiang Qing's face darkened instantly. Her instinct was to turn around and leave, but she was simply too curious: just who would be hooking up out in the open in a Black Wind Forest teeming with demonic beasts? Weren't they afraid of being eaten by them?
Carefully creeping forward, Jiang Qing hid behind a large tree and looked down.
The empty mountains were quiet, and a stream gurgled softly. On the grassy patch beside the stream down below, she saw...
Jiang Qing's breath hitched. A handsome-looking man and an exceptionally beautiful woman were entwined together.
At first glance, Jiang Qing recognized the man. Who else could it be if not the male protagonist, Qin Lingtian?
Well, of course. Only that stud of a protagonist would do something like hooking up out in the open anytime, anywhere. Scenes like this were practically countless in the original book.
Aside from chronicling the male protagonist's endless acquisition of fortuitous encounters, battles, and being hunted down, the book spent the most time describing his intimate encounters with all sorts of women!Yet, those women were all obsessed with him, as if bewitched. No matter the circumstances under which they slept with the male lead, no matter how headstrong or fierce they were, they would inevitably fall for him afterward.
"Could it be that those women just enjoy sleeping with Qin Lingtian?" Jiang Qing wondered, speechless.
Then again, it made sense; the book did describe Qin Lingtian as being exceptionally skilled in that regard.
Jiang Qing had no desire to look at Qin Lingtian’s naked body, so she focused her gaze on the woman below, whose eyes were glazed with confusion.
Beneath the woman's snow-white skin were long, straight, beautiful legs and a curvaceous, well-proportioned figure. Under the sunlight, her fair skin radiated an otherworldly glow. With an angelic face that was both innocent and seductive, even Jiang Qing, a woman herself, couldn't help but take an extra look.
As Jiang Qing fixed her gaze above the woman’s head, her system panel quickly appeared.
Name: Zhong Tingyue (A woman who ascends alongside the male lead as part of his harem)
Aptitude: Peerless Single Water Spiritual Root, Pure Yin Body
Cultivation: Early Foundation Establishment
Destiny Grid: Heavenly Female Lead (Purple), Charismatic Personality (Purple), Jade Skin and Bone (Purple), Born Noble (Purple), Fortune Bonus (Purple), Assistance from Benefactors (Purple)
Life Script: The only daughter of the Tianjian Sect Master, she grew up pampered by her father and the sect elders. During an expedition, she was ambushed by the demonic cultivator Li Ye and poisoned with an aphrodisiac. She fled all the way to the Black Wind Forest in the Southern Domain, where she happened to run into the male lead just as the poison in her body reached its peak.
Seeing her suffering from the poison, the male lead felt a moment of pity and saved her by sharing his own body. Following this, the two endured various hardships, and Zhong Tingyue fell completely in love with the male lead, becoming one of his harem members.
Recent Turning Point: She will successfully recover after the poison is neutralized. While on her way back to the sect, she will encounter the demonic cultivator Li Ye again. Seeing that her primordial yin has been broken, Li Ye will mock her and attempt to force himself upon her. Zhong Tingyue will vow to die rather than submit and will ultimately use a Thousand-Mile Escape Talisman to flee...