A week had passed since the second test had started and the group had just returned to their cave abode. They had collected 300 points in one week through hunting and robbing the cultivators who tried to rob them before killing them. Hua Ye was still with the team, he had been interrogated by Jiang Mang about his intentions and identity, which had surprised Jiang Mang. Jiang Mang was then left with the option of keeping Hua Ye charmed with a charm seed for the entire test before disposing him at the end, which will most likely be discovered by the sea serpent group and antagonize them. He could also choose to directly kill him, but as Hua Ye had already told his followers about his plans, his family will still blame their son's death on them if they remain alive. Both of these options weren't optimal while releasing Hua Ye would also not be wise.
Jiang Mang had spent an entire night thinking until he had discovered an option that would allow them to reap all the benefits while minimizing the risks. He had decided to change the charm seed to a love seed which unlike the charm seed will slowly integrate into a person's mind and heart until it becomes their real thoughts and desires, which cannot be eliminated after integration. This process will also not inhibit a person's talent and personality besides their new feelings of love towards the caster. This integration process takes about a week but will last forever unless the same technique is cast and used by another more powerful cultivator.
Jiang Mang had also used his self-created qi song and his heart intent to change the willless charm puppet, Hua Ye's feelings towards Jiang Mang to become his number one priority followed by becoming stronger to be able to protect Jiang Mang.
Now that a week has passed, the love seed has disappeared due to successful integration in Hua Ye's mind. Hua Ye was now officially Jiang Mang's suitor, who would go to great lengths to please and protect him. Hua Ye has also integrated himself into the team without any obstacles and had become their strongest member. Feng Xue and Chu Lingxin are never bothered by him as he always stays by Jiang Mang's side to either confess and show his love to Jiang Mang or to protect him from danger.
Jiang Mang has started regretting his decision from the previous week as Hua Ye is extremely arrogant and proud, which makes him very obnoxious to Jiang Mang. Hua Ye is also extremely possessive and always interrupts Jiang Mang and Feng Xue's intimate moments and it has even grown to the point where he will not even listen to Jiang Mang's complaints when he interrupts the love birds by kidnapping Jiang Mang towards his cultivation room.
Chu Lingxin found the situation comical while Feng Xue found it disturbing that she had to fight with a guy for her lover's attention, and she blamed Jiang Mang for it. The four of them were now assembled in the cave preparing some of the saint beast meat to eat. Feng Xue was grilling the meat while sitting next to Chu Lingxin, who was discussing their plans for the rest of the recruitment with Jiang Mang and Hua Ye.
Hua Ye was the person with the greatest amount of information, and he had determined that having more than five thousand points as a group of four will be needed to enter the top thousand. Having 10000 points will, on the other hand, guarantee their position based on similar tests of the past.
The group had also decided to keep increasing their cultivation and combat power by learning how to coordinate and further improving their techniques. Jiang Mang was already capable of coordinating with Chu Lingxin while his feelings for Feng Xue allowed them to improve fast through hunting experience. The only new addition is Hua Ye, who only wants to coordinate with Jiang Mang and not with the two girls.
Hua Ye had only agreed after many unwilling pesterings of Jiang Mang. They had formed a basic battle formation after a week where Jiang Mang supports everyone through his usage of Illusion song, Vine storm, or Darkness domain. Hua Ye, who specialized in the whip and water element was responsible for crowd control and mid-range attacks while Feng Xue was the ranged attacker and Chu Lingxin, the close combat fighter.
All four of them had strong defensive techniques that could be combined to form a combination defensive qi shield which was formed by both the fire and water element but stabilized by Jiang Mang's life & death qi and Chu Lingxin's yin & yang qi. This shield formed a yin yang symbol formed out of water and fire and was capable of resisting peak saint stage attacks accompanied by great accomplishment intents.
Everyone had also kept training their techniques especially, Jiang Mang who had invested most of his time in the poison daggers manual. He had concocted many new types of poison with all the surrounding herbs and remains of saint beasts, which has increased his accumulation of poison comprehension but he has still been unable in comprehending the intent.
The new lover boy, Hua Ye, has seen Jiang Mang working all day and night, which has increased his understanding of the blind pretty boy. He has also learned to respect the effort that Jiang Mang puts in his cultivation to acquire his current powers in comparison to him, who used mostly pills and money while gaining guidance from the top experts in the group from a young age. He has never been through the hardships that the boy he loves has gone through.
This thought eventually evolved to a stronger desire for growing stronger, so that Jiang Mang will not have to go through these struggles in the future.
The day ended after that meal and discussion when everyone returned to their respective rooms to prepare for the following day. The next day everyone headed out after collecting all of their belongings into their storage artifacts, they were going to hunt in a swamp where many saint beasts gathered to increase their points as they were still lacking in their goal of 10000 points as a party of four.