Chapter 72 - 46: Ancient Cultivator’s Sacrificial Spirit, Ancient Method Inheritance

Chapter 72: Chapter 46: Ancient Cultivator’s Sacrificial Spirit, Ancient Method Inheritance

Standing before the mountain wall, Mu Xiaoyu observed the strange Black Stone in her hand. A brocade handkerchief rested beneath it, separating the stone from her palm, yet she could still feel a chilling sensation radiating from its surface.

Holding up this spoil of war she had risked her life to obtain, Mu Xiaoyu felt a bit disgusted. Although the exterior of the Black Stone wasn’t stained with a single drop of Snake Blood, nor was it tainted by any dust, it had, after all, been extracted from the body of a Python.

Had that earlier strike of the Profound Evil Sword not completely drained her Magical Power, she definitely would have used the Artifact Manipulation Skill instead of picking this thing up with her bare hands.

"So strange," Mu Xiaoyu stared at the Black Stone, her disgust tinged with confusion. "I can clearly see it, and it has weight when I hold it, but why can’t my Divine Sense detect it at all?"

"That shows this item is extraordinary. Junior Sister, it seems your luck is truly good." A familiar voice rang out from not far away.

Mu Xiaoyu turned her head in pleasant surprise, looking at the figure wearing a Black Silver-Threaded Magic Robe. "Senior Brother!"

She was just about to run toward Li Yinsheng when she suddenly stopped and raised a hand to rub her chest. Although she had relied on the Armor-Horse Skill to evade the Black-Scaled Python’s attacks throughout the battle, that final blast of demonic wind had struck her squarely. Following that, the impact had propelled her backward, slamming her into the mountain wall. Between the two blows, her internal organs had suffered some shock. While her injuries weren’t severe, her qi and meridians were inevitably a bit disordered.

Li Yinsheng stepped forward and pressed his palm against the center of her back, slowly channeling his Magical Power into her to smooth out her internal flow.

"Phew..." A warm, comfortable sensation melted through her body. Mu Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief, her face full of enjoyment. After a moment, she finally spoke. "Senior Brother, you’re back from gathering herbs? Let me tell you, I was obediently waiting for you right here, but suddenly a huge..."

Li Yinsheng smiled and rubbed her head. "I saw. You did well. Not only did you handle your first Magical Combat calmly, but you also comprehended your own Profound Evil Sword. Although my Junior Sister has average talent in cultivation, you have quite a knack for Magical Combat."

Praised, Mu Xiaoyu chuckled happily. But she immediately realized something was wrong.

"Senior Brother!" She widened her eyes. "You were watching this whole time?"

Li Yinsheng, still channeling Magical Power into her, nodded with a smiling face.

"Senior Brother, since when were you watching?" Mu Xiaoyu narrowed her eyes, studying Li Yinsheng suspiciously. "Wait, Senior Brother... were you really out gathering herbs?"

"Oh?" Li Yinsheng was a little surprised. "When did my Junior Sister become so smart?"

"SE—NIOR—BRO—THER—!"

Mu Xiaoyu’s yell echoed through the mountain forest.

***

Ultimately, Li Yinsheng managed to turn the page on this matter at the cost of giving her the rest of the day and all of tomorrow off. Overjoyed, Mu Xiaoyu even found the Python’s corpse on the ground much more pleasing to the eye.

However, Li Yinsheng didn’t tell her that he had originally planned to give her a day off anyway. After all, she had been cultivating continuously for a month and a half; she truly deserved a day of rest.

"Senior Brother," Mu Xiaoyu handed the Black Stone to Li Yinsheng, "do you know the origins of this stone? It’s so strange."

Li Yinsheng took the Black Stone and shook his head. "This Black Stone is very unusual. It doesn’t seem like something naturally formed inside this Python."

He wondered how a monster of this level could possibly produce an Exotic Treasure capable of deceiving even his Divine Sense. Yet, despite checking it several times by injecting Magical Power, and even throwing it into a fire ignited by the Burning Wind Skill, he hadn’t discovered anything out of the ordinary. For the moment, he truly couldn’t think of any use for this object.

If he used its property of being undetectable by Divine Sense to refine it into a Magical Artifact for sneak attacks... it would be pointless, as Magical Artifacts were manipulated via Divine Sense. This thing couldn’t be detected by Divine Sense, nor did it react to Divine Sense in the slightest—its main feature was being completely non-interactive. If he added other controllable materials into it and then refined it into a Magical Artifact, those other materials would still be detected by Divine Sense. Could it only be used for attacks manipulated by the Artifact Manipulation Skill? How much power could that possibly have?

As miraculous as this thing was, it was practically useless.

Li Yinsheng returned the Black Stone to Mu Xiaoyu. He racked his brains, trying to come up with some uses or a new angle of praise so his Junior Sister wouldn’t be too disappointed with the first spoil of war she had ever earned in her life.

Cupping the Black Stone in her hands, Mu Xiaoyu suddenly frowned.

"Senior Brother," she said, "I think I smell something on it."

"A smell?" Li Yinsheng blanked for a moment.

Another unusual aspect of this Black Stone was that it was unstained by blood. It was as clean as if it had been washed with water, completely devoid of any bloody or serpentine stench. A Daoist’s five senses far surpassed those of mortals. Even he hadn’t smelled anything, yet his Junior Sister did. Was it a psychological effect caused by her disgust that it was dirty?

"If it has a smell, wash it carefully when we get back," Li Yinsheng said.

"It’s not a bad smell; it’s a very, very faint scent." Mu Xiaoyu shook her head, her face also filled with confusion. "It actually smells pretty good to me, kind of like... Like peach blossoms!"

"Peach blossoms?" Li Yinsheng was taken aback. Could a psychological effect of thinking it dirty result in smelling peach blossoms?

Mu Xiaoyu struggled internally for a moment before suppressing her nausea. She brought the Black Stone right under her nose, sniffed hard a couple of times, and then looked up at Li Yinsheng. ℯℯ𝑙.

"I’m sure of it, Senior Brother. It’s definitely the scent of peach blossoms!" she said with absolute certainty.

Li Yinsheng mimicked her and brought the Black Stone to his nose, but he couldn’t smell anything at all. The stone was as scentless as a bowl of clear water.

"How strange..."

He suddenly recalled that over a month ago, when he was boiling the Crane Egg gifted by the Yellow Crane Temple in the vegetarian kitchen, his Junior Sister had also said she could smell a fragrant egg scent.