“There really is one!” In the skeleton’s brow, Ye Chu discovered a blood-red crystal the size of a fingertip, shaped like a smooth pebble. The crystal was eerily crimson, as though blood were flowing within it.
Ye Chu could hardly suppress the urge to shout in excitement. Even though he had seen many extraordinary treasures before, this moment still made his blood surge. A single Primal Spirit True Source like this, if brought out, would drive even great cultivators into a frenzied scramble to seize it.
Moreover, even a sect as powerful as Qing Wenting’s, or a colossal entity like the empire itself, would be unwilling to use a Primal Spirit True Source on someone at the Innate Realm.
If Ye Chu were to use this Primal Spirit True Source now, his primal spirit would grow far beyond that of others. He was confident that even though he had only just reached the Innate Realm, with the True Source shaping his spirit, he could absolutely dominate third-layer Innate Realm cultivators. Even those who had cultivated ordinary Spirit Moulding techniques at the third layer would not last ten moves against him.
Most importantly, the Primal Spirit True Source contained the lingering intent of its original owner. If he could refine it along with the source, the benefits to himself would be unimaginable. There was even a chance he might gain partial access to techniques that only great cultivators at the level of ‘Devouring the Essence of Sun and Moon’ possessed in life.
That was the truly maddening part. For an Innate Realm cultivator to be able to wield techniques belonging to a great cultivator at the Devouring level would challenge the very nerves of anyone who heard it. Among peers, who would dare face him head-on?
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Ye Chu stepped forward towards the skeleton bit by bit. He struggled against the oppressive aura radiating from it, trying to close the distance.
But Ye Chu had still underestimated the terror of a great cultivator. Even in death, the pressure from the skeleton’s bones alone sent him flying backwards. His blood and qi churned violently.
“Damn it!” Ye Chu climbed up from the ground and cursed under his breath. His gaze fixed on the skeleton. He grabbed a stone from the floor and hurled it forward with force.
“Senior, forgive me. Though I do not wish to damage your remains, you have condensed a True Source. If I do not take it, heaven itself would strike me with lightning for wasting such fortune.” Ye Chu clasped his hands in a gesture of apology, yet the stones in his hand were thrown without the slightest mercy.
The skeleton resisted Ye Chu because he possessed intent, and it instinctively countered. But those stones were mere natural objects of heaven and earth. One after another, they struck without provoking any resistance.
The stones hit the skeleton. Of course, such force could not break the bones of a great cultivator. Yet even so, the repeated impacts caused the skeleton to tremble. The crystal lodged in the brow gradually loosened, began to wobble, and finally fell. It rolled down along the bones and came to rest at Ye Chu’s feet.
Ye Chu quickly fashioned a small stone box and covered the Primal Spirit True Source with it. Only then did he look back at the skeleton.
“Thank you for your generous gift, Senior! You truly are a magnanimous person. To present such a supreme treasure to me without changing colour shows you were determined to bestow it upon me. Though you remain silent, I can sense the faint sincerity in your heart, hoping I will make good use of this Primal Spirit True Source to strengthen myself. This junior will certainly not disappoint your trust. Your calm and silent bearing is truly admirable!” Ye Chu clasped his hands towards the skeleton with an expression full of reverence.
Ye Chu shamelessly showered the skeleton with praise. Left and right, he kept saying “thank you for silently bestowing this gift, Senior” and “your noble demeanour is truly lofty!”
…
Having obtained the Primal Spirit True Source, Ye Chu worried that Tan Miaotong might grow anxious if he stayed underwater too long. He left the cave and swam upwards.
Holding the stone box tightly, he thought of the several skeletons he had seen earlier and felt a wave of relief. Fortunately, those people could not withstand the killing aura; otherwise, this treasure would never have fallen into his hands. But thinking about it, it was destined to be this way.
The strongest who could enter were only at the fifth layer of the Innate Realm. Such cultivators had absolutely no chance of resisting that level of killing aura. Only because Ye Chu’s physique was special and immune to such intense killing aura could he take this item away.
“Pfft…”
Ye Chu burst out of the water’s surface. Tan Miaotong jumped in fright. Seeing it was him, her pretty face flushed red again. She quickly turned her head away, signalling that she would not look at his body.
Wiping the water from his face, Ye Chu noticed from behind that even Tan Miaotong’s neck had turned scarlet. He burst into loud laughter. Tan Miaotong really was a delightful person. He thought to himself that if this had been Qing Wenting, she would definitely have pointed at his chest with utter contempt and retorted, “Just these few ribs? Showing them to this Holy Maiden is purely asking for humiliation.”
Ye Chu put his clothes back on, tucked the stone box into his robes, and walked over to Tan Miaotong. “Let us go!”
“Mm!” Tan Miaotong saw Ye Chu reaching for her hand and instinctively dodged. Her face burned fiercely with embarrassment.
“The mist here is too thick. I am afraid you might trip over a rock and fall,” Ye Chu said innocently, looking at Tan Miaotong. “Do you really not want me to hold your hand?”
“No!” Tan Miaotong bit her lip lightly. She thought to herself, if you are going to make up an excuse, could you not come up with a slightly better one?
“This cave is haunted! Aren’t you afraid?” Ye Chu shivered dramatically and looked at Tan Miaotong.
“You are here for the first time, right? When have you ever heard of this place being haunted?” Tan Miaotong struggled to hold back her laughter, watching Ye Chu’s exaggerated attempt at looking terrified.
“Oh!” Ye Chu smiled. “Is that so? Maybe I remembered wrong. Let us go then!”
Ye Chu thought to himself that the two excuses he had come up with today were truly clumsy. He had not performed at his usual level. It must be because he had become too pure-hearted lately; even something as low-difficulty as deceiving a woman was failing him.
Seeing that Ye Chu no longer tried to take her hand, Tan Miaotong breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Yet she could not help recalling how, before entering, she had thought Ye Chu was being earnest and simply acting naturally when he took her hand. Who would have guessed he had ulterior motives even then?
“Did you find something in the pool?” Tan Miaotong asked Ye Chu. Her clear, bright eyes fixed on him intently.
“I found something good. But do not tell Qing Wenting or Ye Jingyun,” Ye Chu reminded her. He thought to himself that if those two women found out, they would definitely demand a share.
“Giggle…” Tan Miaotong found it amusing. Did Wenting really need to be like that? “I do not like lying to people!”
“I am not asking you to lie!” Ye Chu laughed. “We are both honest people. How could we lie? We are just… not telling them. This is our little secret, just between the two of us!”
Tan Miaotong’s face heated up again at Ye Chu’s slightly ambiguous last words. She turned her head, pretending not to have heard.
“I found a Primal Spirit True Source in the pool!” Ye Chu said to Tan Miaotong with a smile.
At first, Tan Miaotong did not react to what a Primal Spirit True Source was and casually let out an “Oh.” But once it registered, her eyes snapped towards Ye Chu. She pointed at him with trembling fingers. “You… you… what did you say?”
“That is right! Just a Primal Spirit True Source, nothing more!” Ye Chu grinned broadly.
In that moment, Tan Miaotong found Ye Chu’s smile utterly shameless, especially when paired with the word “just.” The feeling was even stronger.