Tianlong and Qingxue had returned to the inn.
Taking out a few spiritual herbs, they refined them to prepare a huge medicinal bath. It would help her in further expelling the impurities and consolidating the newly increased cultivation.
But before doing that, the two didn't forget to have an intense battle in the water. There was too much energy inside them and they needed to vent.
Four hours later...
After finishing their session, she was sitting on his lap while resting her head against his bare chest. There was a satisfied look on her face.
A fragrant medicinal aroma filled the room. As Tianlong gently massaged her forehead, her entire body became limp. Both the medicine and his touch were working magic. It was only with great willpower that she kept herself from falling asleep then and there.
"Adding to what we bought and collected in the forest, we already have Blue-ringed octopus' venom, snakeroot vine, Chironex Jellyfish, Violet nightshade, and Qi obstructing grass. Now, we just need the Flame wasp and Green flannel moths to successfully concoct the Spirit soothing pill." Qingxue said in a soft voice.
Stopping his massage for a second, Tianlong lightly creased his brows. "Flame wasps are pretty easy to find. The green flannel moths on the other hand might pose a little challenge…"
"The only reason the flannel moths are rare is that they don't have much use in alchemy. So people don't bother searching for them. Though, I'm pretty sure we can procure them given a month's time. And even if it doesn't work out, we can just look for them in the northern mountain. Huh, why did you stop massaging? keep going like before!" She lightly slapped his thighs.
Just like how Tianlong was guided by his parents in the martial path, her mother had guided her in the field of alchemy.
So even though he knew more refinement processes and alchemy formulas, he couldn't surpass her. After all, there was a big difference between self-learning and being guided by a teacher.
It was the unbreachable gap between a person dabbled in the subject now and then and someone whose very profession was based on this.
He was well aware that in terms of alchemy, he would never be able to surpass a pure alchemist like her. That's why he took her suggestions whenever alchemy was involved.
The place descended into silence once more. Meanwhile, Qingxue continued to absorb the medicinal energy from the spiritual herbs while also struggling to not fall asleep.
Half an hour later, the bath lost all its medicinal energy which caused her to sigh in relief. Now she could finally go to sleep.
"I'm still not sure why you are going through so much trouble when you can just ask for your father's help …Also, haven't you already seen enough?" She asked while wearing a nightgown.
Tianlong was still sitting in the bath, silently watching her wear clothes.
Her comment bought a playful smile to his face.
Continuing to look at her with the same intense gaze, he said "It's exactly because I have my parents' backing that I'm going through all of this. This is the first time I'll need to fight against someone with a higher cultivation base than mine, but it certainly won't be the last. So why not do it while I have them watching over my back?"
Knowing that she couldn't change his mind, she heaved a sigh and didn't try to convince him anymore.
"When are you going to check those ginsengs? You were the one who detected them in the first place." He was interested in the strange herbs.
"Huahhh~ … oh those things? I completely forgot about them." She gave a big yawn. "Don't worry I'll check them tomorrow. I don't think I'll be in a position to walk tomorrow anyways…" with that, she dozed off to sleep.
…
Unlike her, Tianlong was feeling full of energy.
The smile on his face while looking at Qingxue eventually faded as he lost himself in other thoughts.
"I need to restrain my killing intent!" he mumbled to himself.
Thinking back to the time when he killed Su Fei, even though he was far away, he could see the fear and desperation in her eyes. Clearly, she had sensed the danger to her life.
A similar case occurred when he shot the Dire wolves. The alpha of the pack quickly located him despite him having already hidden his smell and camouflaged.
Finally, it was more evident while he was thinking of killing old Zhan while walking behind him. Even though he didn't want to kill him and was just musing over the situation, the latter was still able to sense something.
'It's not a problem if I attack someone openly, but if I'm tailing someone or trying to launch a sneak attack, it'll give me away!'
According to scholars, every law the cultivators cultivated were derived from the heavenly path. The heavenly dao's will was all-encompassing and thus all creatures were under its jurisdiction. Hence, being connected to the heavens, the cultivators were able to sense certain events or incidents.
In fact, this intuition increased along with their cultivation. Some cultivators who practised divination could even calculate their own and others fortunes and calamities.
That's why sneak attacking a cultivator who had a higher cultivation base was so difficult. They had an acute perception of danger.
He had considered this fact before but never paid too much attention to it.
He was prejudiced against most humans, thinking that their sense of danger wasn't as keen as demonic beasts. But the reaction from old Zhan proved that he was wrong in thinking that.
'My mental realm can't compare to the demonic beasts and the likes of bandits. Whenever I'm thinking of killing someone, my mind subconsciously attaches emotions to it. I simply can't compare to the old monsters who just consider it as a means to an end!'
Getting up from the bath, he dried himself and donned a black robe.
He touched his interspatial ring and took out a brush, a snakeskin scroll, and a vial of blood.
The blood and skin belonged to one of the most ferocious beasts he had killed along with Qingxue, the Inferno python.
Imbuing a faint trace of blood qi to the brush, he dipped it inside the vial of beast blood.
Picking up the brush, he kept it just above the skin… but didn't take the final step.
As minutes passed by, he was still frozen in the same position. It was as if someone had created a statue of a scholar.
However, instead of being filled with wisdom, this scholar's eyes were filled with killing intent!
The scroll was the beast, the brush was the weapon, and the words were the attacks!
Finally, when his eyes seemed to possess the same calm as before, the brush touched the scroll and wrote a single bloody character.
SLAUGHTER!
This single character contained all of his killing intent!
It was said that chess, calligraphy, painting, and music helped in enhancing one's mental state and induced creativity. In some families, especially the royals, these skills were heavily regarded and considered compulsory for every individual. If the combat strength displayed their strength, these skills showed their class.
His mother, Long Qianmei had imparted him the basic skills in calligraphy and music, while his father taught him the basics of chess and painting.
Although he wasn't much talented in either of those fields, he still studied them to a certain extent.
He was a studious person since his childhood. Thus, whenever he was writing, he would do that with utmost attention while keeping the rules of calligraphy in mind.
With this very calligraphy, he was condensing his killing intent.
As he stared at the blood-red character in the snakeskin, he could see that the edges of the character lacked their usual sharpness and blood seemed to seep out from its edges. The faint killing intent radiating from the character indicated that he had failed.
But this didn't discourage him from continuing this path.
Waving his hand, he dispelled the character from the skin and continued to practice his writing.
With the increase in his cultivation, his need for sleep decreased more and more. Missing a day or two days' worth of sleep wasn't much for him. As such, he spent the entire night practising his calligraphy.
As time passed by, his eyes became more and more bloodshot.
A thin murderous aura surrounded his body that converged the more he continued to write.
Having realized that, he stopped writing and took out the ordinary-looking Thunder spirit blade from his interspatial ring.
Giving a last look towards the sleeping figure of Qingxue, he strode out of the room and looked towards the north.
'This can't do! If I only continue to condense killing intent without venting it, sooner or later, I'll create a heart devil!'
'Restraining killing intent by simply calligraphy isn't possible. I need to kill!'