Lo stood to prepare for supper. Meanwhile, away from prying eyes and with hours remaining in return of Fei Qing, Fei Yang once again tried to gain the youth's favor. Boys his age were definitely curious, if not lustful, regarding the opposite gender and their sexual orientation. From what Fei Yang had gathered from the tribe, Fei Cai had proved himself to be the former kind. Of course, till now, he hadn't shown any form of interest towards the opposite gender, even going as far as to accept Lo as his slave, a decision quite remarkable even in Fei Yang's eyes.
"Young master," she smiled and walked closer to the idly sitting Fei Cai. In fact, he wasn't idle. His primeval essence was divided into two streams. One of the streams remained within his aperture and continued to morph in various shapes. This was the shape training that the Demon Venerable invented to increase the control of primeval essence. A training which Fei Cai approved of greatly. His proficiency took off at a horrifying pace that he could now steadily feed the rank 2 Shrewd Gu with his primeval essence. While he looked idle on the surface, it took only a single greeting from Fei Yang to disrupt his training.
"Never call me Young Master," the boy grunted with displeasure flickering in his gaze. Fei Yang was beautiful and luscious, sure. But Fei Cai already knew that the world was filled with supermodels. Was there a need to aggravate Fei Qing by opting designs over his slave? Even if Fei Qing didn't have any amorous relationship with Fei Yang, would he really allow Fei Cai to have any chances with Fei Yang, a rank 3 expert? No. Her only use was to provide experience with refinement.
Still, a tantalizing scent drifted from Fei Yang which caused Fei Cai's nose to twitch and his heart to shiver in fright. If he was to be a 10-year-old kid, he would have felt attracted to Fei Yang just based on her scent. After all, Fei Cai was once a young kid who was warmed up by the various gestures of mature females around in his life. It wasn't something serious and later he realized that all of it was simply in his head. He would practically have a crush on a different woman every single day. But he had passed that phase. He married a materialistic woman and finally separated after learning the lesson paid in flesh, money, and pleasure.
Hearing Fei Cai's tone, Fei Yang didn't reach closer but stayed put. In reality, like beast strength gu worms whose effects would remain within a person's body, Fei Yang had refined and utilized a rank 1 gu worm at the beginning of her cultivation road. This turned her body's odor tantalizing and sweet instead of sour. In fact, if it wasn't for the gu worm only being rank 1, she would have easily seduced Fei Qing with her scent alone!
"Then what should I address you with... er..." Fei Yang inquired awkwardly with Fei Cai looking towards her. His gaze going through her curves, making him feel moved by a tiny margin but not enough to lose his reasons and objectives. "You don't need to call me anything. Only I will call you when I need help with refinement. I hope you can be of assistance then," Fei Cai revealed. Her experience would prove useful eventually and that is why Fei Cai simply didn't shut her off.
"I appreciate your trust," Fei Yang smiled and walked into the cooking region under his narrowed gaze. Fei Cai wasn't really afraid of Lo spilling any beans. His brain was physically modified to accept his master's orders and that would mean Fei Cai, not even Fei Qing. With a soft sigh, Fei Cai closed his eyes and continued with the training. Just a single use of rank 2 gu worm utilized more than half of his primeval essence so instead of using the gu worm, Fei Cai would allow his primeval essence to interact with the gu worm and retreat in a constant cycle.
Hours went by with Fei Cai's eyes gradually closing. He had drained his energy completely but he felt refreshed. His situation was still in stagnation. He earned 6 Primeval stones today and with the last three days of hunting, he had 15 primeval stones in total. He couldn't ask for a loan or advance on his allowance due to the fact that Fei Qing had already shown great favor by regular tutoring, a rank 1 horse enslavement gu, and the terror horse itself.
Fei Cai even played with the idea of sharing a small part of recipes in his hands as a recent discovery but one use of Shrewd Gu revealed that he would not have pulled it off. First off, recipes are not unprotected. Even if they are, there are many pieces of evidence to support the existence of the former master who left it, for instance, an inheritance ground. Strangely enough, Fei Cai did receive Thieving Heaven's true inheritance lying around but how lucky would a person need to be for that to happen?
But the situation wasn't truly desperate. Fei Cai simply found the constant increase and a large fund ready to be spent on cultivation quite effective. 'I can always try to refine a Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus... but the minimum rank of the gu worm is 3. I would not even be able to fulfill its feeding requirement, much less the purchase of materials, and the spirit springs needed to refine it in the first place.'
His thoughts then turned to increasing the effectiveness of his hunting. He was fully healed now and with a terror horse in tow, Fei Cai wished to travel into the outskirts of the forest once again. The stronger the beasts he hunts, the greater the risk and in return, the better reward he will earn. 'And with the tribulation slowly increasing the rise of water, ice, and snow path gu worms, I should try and find the gu materials for the recipes. I need to prepare for the described frozen hell earlier on.'
---
The use of Ground Eye Gu Worm became ineffective during the time on the Terror Horse's back so Fei Cai had to grow cautious when he entered the forest. Lo was prepared with a dagger in his hand clutched tightly, deeply affected by the surprise attack from a green horn salamander the last time. "Master, may I inquire something?" Lo whispered as Fei Cai decided to ignore him. Instead of using his bow, Fei Cai finally jumped off the Terror Claw Horse. Without any instinct gu to serve as a back-up plan, Fei Cai decided to use the Ground Eye Gu Worm once he felt a little strange.
This feeling was cultivated with a month of hunting and cautious adventures and as expected, Fei Cai found a cluster of footsteps hidden by a thicket of bushes. What Fei Cai could see using the eyes was tracks of bunnies and hares. Most likely a bunch of calm hares and other rodents which did not particularly interest him. Not at the moment. One attack towards their direction would scatter them and he did not have the means to hunt all of them before their escape.
"Ask," Fei Cai finally replied to Lo.
"Master, why is Fei Lu pestering you?"
"She's a girl," Fei Cai mumbled without giving it much thought. Not all females maybe, as Fei Cai called his wife— a stupid cunt, but his impression on the gender as a whole was disrupted. The women of this world were surely different and far more helpful than his old world but a few things needed adjustments. Even Fei Lu, for instance, could easily kill his previous wife despite her tender age.
"Do not inquire about why people come near me," Fei Cai stated before jumping on the horse once again. With a movement of the bridle, the horse started to move slowly, and only after a few minutes did they stop once again. A pleased expression passed through Fei Cai as he hurriedly jumped down and activated the ground eye gu worm once again after seeing a small hall leading into the darkness. From the edges of the hole, Fei Cai even saw a dark brown tail pass by.
The moment he activated the gu worm, he forced himself to calm down.
After all, he found a hidden nest of a mother Earth Digger!
With their bodies presented as small toads, the Earth Diggers lay eggs in masses, each offspring worth 2 primeval stones and an egg worth 3! The longer the time passes, the less valuable these creatures become due to the special Earth Skin Oil coated above them since their birth, which wanes after a duration, making the toads unable to dig any longer and suffocate within their birthplace, usually. This was also the reason for their rarity. A high mortality rate!
Licking his lips, Fei Cai motioned Lo to move forward and walked behind him with a dagger in his hands, too. The area dugout was small and it was clustered quite a bit. Surely, he would strike a great hunt today, too!