After Xia Qianyue healed most of Chu Xu's injuries, she picked him up and dragged him back to his room, leaving Chu Wuyao alone in the whole garden.
When Chu Wuyao realized this, she unconsciously stroked a ring that was placed on her left finger.
The ring was made out of strange black metal and there was a tiny crimson skull on its top, that made it look a little creepy.
Chu Wuyao spread her senses and a thought of her mind entered the black ring.
Instantly, the image of a small space appeared on her mind, with only a few items occupying a small corner of it.
This black ring was a space equipment, which Chu Wuyao found in Li Zhengyu's collection right after his death.
After she admired it for little bit, Chu Wuyao turned her attention to the items inside the space ring.
With a thought of her mind, the items inside the small space disappeared and the next moment, they appeared in front of her.
These items included two books, a few glass bottles filled with white pills, a red staff and a few other miscellaneous items.
"Compared to me, this Li Zhengyu can be considered a very rich guy.", Chu Wuyao lamented as she looked at the various possessions of Li Zhengyu.
But then, she smiled.
With Li Zhengyu's death, all these items became hers!
It had taken her a few days to find all of these items, and now, Chu Wuyao had some free time and was ready to look through them.
The first thing Chu Wuyao picked up was an ordinary, thin book that had no title on its black cover.
Flipping to the first page, Chu Wuyao started reading through the crudely written text.
"Year 17. August 12th. My sister was chosen by an immortal master and was accepted as a concubine. From now on, my sister will surely be able to live a comfortable life!"
"August 15th. A few strangely-dressed people came and delivered the corpse of my sister. Her corpse was covered in countless wounds and there was a horrified expression on her face. After I struggled to bury her body, I cried for two hours straight."
"..."
"Year 20. April 20th. Today, an inner disciple of the Original Desire Sect passed by the Waterflower City. After I knelt on the ground and begged her to let me become her servant, she took out a whip and started hitting and humiliating me with a sadistic expression."
"Still, after she was done, she accepted me as her servant."
"..."
"Year 35. December 3rd. A strange man came to me and invited me to join his secret organization. After I thought about it, I accepted his offer. As a reward, the strange man gifted me a powerful technique and many accompanying skills."
"Year 38. June 29th. I have secretly broken through the 9th Level of Qi Accumulation. With the technique that the strange man gifted me, I'm sure that I'll be able to breakthrough the Shackles Realm and take my revenge!"
"..."
This thin book was a diary, describing almost the entire life of Li Zhengyu.
As Chu Wuyao read through it, she felt as if she had personally witnessed the life of Li Zhengyu.
From losing his sister, to vowing to take revenge, begging to become a servant and becoming hopeful for the future.
By the time she reached the last page, Chu Wuyao had gone through every stage of his life.
"What a cliche story.", she commented once she was done reading the diary.
To be honest, Chu Wuyao didn't feel emotional about the tragic life of Li Zhengyu.
In this dangerous world, it is very common for people to lose their relatives at a young age and endure humiliation in order to survive.
Even Chu Wuyao's predecessor had lost her parents at a very young age and she survived by stealing food in the streets of the Waterflower City.
There were many times that she was caught and was beaten up, but she still continued doing it, all in order to survive.
Li Zhengyu's experience wasn't unique at all.
Compared to his life, most of Chu Wuyao's attention was on some information regarding the Original Desire Sect that Li Zhengyu had written about, as well as the strange man described towards the end.
She guessed that this man was either a disciple of the Blood God Palace, or had somehow managed to obtain its inheritance.
No matter what, it was obvious that he was planning something behind the scenes.
"But that is something that the sect should be worrying about. I'm only an outer disciple."
"With my strength, there is no way that I'll fall into the man's eyes.", Chu Wuyao thought and put the diary aside for the time being.
Then, she picked up the second book.
Compared to the diary, the appearance of this book was quite luxurious, completely red in color and its cover and pages were made out of thin leather.
The title on its cover read "Blood Slave Sutra" in deep crimson colors.
Chu Wuyao opened it carefully and just like she did with the diary, she started reading it patiently.
Time passed by slowly, with only the sound of pages turning echoing in the large garden.
Soon, Chu Wuyao finished the book and closed her eyes, trying to digest the book's contents.
Unlike what she had previously thought, Li Zhengyu didn't practice the Blood Soul Sutra, but this technique, the Blood Slave Sutra.
The Blood Slave Sutra was extremely similar to the Blood Soul Sutra, but Chu Wuyao understood that it should be a lower-end version of it.
Not only is the Blood Slave Sutra's power way weaker, but its side-effects are also way more severe.
"No wonder Li Zhengyu's breakthrough to the Shackles Realm failed."
"99.9% of cultivators who practice this technique will fail to achieve breakthrough even if they are extremely talented."
Chu Wuyao guessed that this technique was specially created in order to mass produce low-level cultivators, not caring about their safety and mental state.
Essentially, it is a technique that sacrifices the cultivator's potential in order to gain strength in a short period of time.
There are many such techniques, but they are mostly practiced by casual cultivators and no sane disciple of a major sect would choose to practice such dangerous technique.
Apart from the Blood Slave Sutra, this red book also contained some skills that piqued Chu Wuyao's interest, as well as some useful information.
Stretching her hand, Chu Wuya picked up the only item that was found in Li Zhengyu's body, the red stick.
Holding it in her right hand, she urged her cultivation and poured her Qi into it, causing a thin piece of patched fabric to appear on one of its ends.
However, Chu Wuyao wasn't fooled by its ordinary appearance.
From the diary and the red book, she had learned that this was not a stick at all, but a magic weapon called Blood Flag.
To build this magic weapon, a cultivator has to collect the materials, smelt them into the shape of a flag and then sacrifice hundreds of people.
Although the Blood Flag in her hand was incomplete and had not become a magic weapon yet, it was extremely close to becoming one.
Chu Wuyao played with the Blood Flag for a bit and then she carefully put it back into her space ring.
One had to know that so far, Chu Wuyao had yet to come into contact with a true magic weapon.
The weapons she had seen so far, the sword that Chu Xu used for example, were not actually real magic weapons.
Perhaps only the silver sword that Chu Xu took out during the fight with the armored giant could be considered a magic weapon.
But this magic weapon is also the primary reason why Chu Xu's condition is so bad.
Only cultivators at the Shackles Realm can wield magic weapons and Chu Xu had to overdraft his vitality in order to activate it for a short period of time with his Qi Accumulation Realm.
Still, its power was something that Chu Wuyao yearned for.
"As long as I sacrifice a few people, I should be able to turn the Blood Flag into a real magic weapon.", Chu Wuyao thought secretly and turned her attention to the last useful items in front of her.
These items were about ten glass bottles that were stacked on top of each other, each containing a dozen or so white pills.
Chu Wuyao uncorked one of them and immediately, a sweet fragrance assaulted her nose.
Just by smelling this fragrance, she had the illusion that her cultivation was slowly improving.
Putting the cork back in order to not waste it, she sighed at its efficiency.
"It's worthy of being a Qi pill, a pill specially created for cultivators at the Qi Accumulation Realm to consume."
Glancing at the glass bottles that were filled with Qi pills in front of her, the corners of her mouth curved upwards.
With all these Qi pills, Chu Wuyao was confident that her cultivation, which had been lagging behind all this time, would improve massively in the near future.