Chapter 51: Golden Core Legacy

An ice silkworm and a snow silkworm were, of course, different!

Fan Huilan had not understood these things before, but ever since her employer had put her in charge of Heavenly Garment Workshop and given her a copy of General Knowledge of Yao Creatures, she had stayed up several nights in a row memorizing the entire book so she would not betray his trust. She did not dare claim that she had mastered and understood every yao creature in the world today, but telling the differences between each type of yao creature and naming a few of their characteristics was not difficult for her.

Snow silkworms were mid yellow-grade yao creatures. They had no intelligence, only the instincts to survive and reproduce. Whether young or fully grown, their entire bodies were snowy white. After forming cocoons, they transformed into high yellow-grade yao creatures called blood moths, which were violent by nature and liked feeding on blood. Wild blood moths attacked mortals indiscriminately, but captive blood moths were much tamer and not picky eaters. Pig blood or chicken blood was enough to fool them.

A single blood moth could lay roughly several hundred snow silkworm eggs in a year, then die within a month after laying them.

Ice silkworms, however, were mystic-grade yao creatures with low intelligence and the ability to recognize a master. When young, this yao creature was entirely snowy white and looked extremely similar to a snow silkworm, but upon reaching adulthood, it would turn clear and translucent overnight like crystal glass. When it did not move, it looked very much like an ice-carved ornament, hence the name ice silkworm.

Although ice silkworms also spun silk, they did not form cocoons. Instead, they converted the accumulated power inside their bodies that they could not digest into threads and spat it out. They spent most of each day spinning silk. This yao creature was naturally gentle, but it had a territorial instinct. If another living creature appeared in its nest, it would regard it as an invader and kill it.

At the same time, ice silkworms liked gnawing on spirit stones. If they went too long without being fed spirit stones, they would become more and more irritable until they could no longer resist devouring their master.

Fan Huilan explained all this to Xingchun and said, “This ice silkworm bit you before. That means it was already finding it hard to suppress the urge to devour its master. Had you entered Zhaoge a little later, perhaps one night, while you were sleeping, it would have eaten you in one bite.”

To prove she was not making things up, Fan Huilan even opened General Knowledge of Yao Creatures to the page about ice silkworms for Xingchun to see.

Xingchun already trusted her. After reading what was written in the book, she had not the slightest doubt left. At this moment, only relief and lingering fear remained in her heart. “When it bit me, I thought it was just throwing a tantrum at me.”

When Xingchun spoke of this, she was very embarrassed. She looked to Fan Huilan for help. “Big Sister Fan, then what should we do now?”

Fan Huilan had already separated the ice silkworm from the snow silkworms and arranged a nest for the ice silkworm alone. She carefully observed the ice silkworm’s appearance and fed it a handful of excellent mulberry leaves to pacify it before saying, “Fortunately, this ice silkworm is still a juvenile. It only needs to be given spirit stones once every three months to calm down.”

Xingchun suddenly understood. “Right, right, I picked it up three months ago.” Then she grew worried again. “Spirit stones are so expensive. How could I afford to raise it? Big Sister Fan, do you have any way?”

Fan Huilan said, “Spirit stones are hard to come by. I have to bring it to the small residence and see whether our employer is willing to keep it.” She said solemnly, “But if so, this ice silkworm will no longer be yours in the future. It will belong to Zhaoge. Have you thought it through?”

Xingchun did not answer at once. She twisted her fingers and hesitated. “Then, would I still be able to come see it often, talk to it, and feed it mulberry leaves?”

A smile appeared on Fan Huilan’s face. “Of course. The ice silkworm will still be kept in the silkworm room. You work here, and cleaning the silkworm room is already part of your duties.”

All hesitation vanished from Xingchun’s face, and she nodded happily.

Fan Huilan then carried the ice silkworm in a bamboo basket to the small residence.

Chi Yixuan had already returned to Zhaoge yesterday. On this trip to the Immortal Continent, besides buying snacks, buying seeds, making the acquaintance of some people, and picking up quite a bit of junk, he had also sent magic artifact materials to the Artifact Refining Workshop to be refined and refurbished so they could still be used. Ownerless storage bags were washed clean and distributed to his subordinates, scattered spirit stones were saved up for emergencies, and at the same time, he had been able to familiarize himself outside with the use of spiritual power.

Overall, Chi Yixuan was still satisfied with this trip.

After returning to Zhaoge, he continued inspecting the progress of Zhaoge’s city construction. After several days, the progress on the city walls had advanced by another few li. This speed both surprised and delighted him.

“As expected when everyone is of one mind and tens of thousands of people are working. The progress is much faster than I expected!” Although they did not have all kinds of modern facilities, the mortals of this world were not ordinary mortals. They had life-bound artifacts assisting them. Once they entered the Dao, their physical qualities improved greatly, and very few of them slacked off. Under this kind of drive, the city wall could be said to change with each passing day.

“At this speed, in less than seven days, the city’s three walls will be finished. Other cities at least have walls on all four sides. I have a Sea of Suffering Path here blocking one side, which saves me a lot of trouble.”

Chi Yixuan studied the map. “The city walls are twenty li long and eighteen li wide, which is ten kilometers by nine kilometers. The total occupied area is ninety square kilometers. Add in Nameless Valley, and the total area is a little larger than the Chang’an City back home.”

“Chang’an City’s total area was about eighty-seven square kilometers and could accommodate a population of one million. Calculated that way, before my live points reach one million, I won’t have to worry about living space.”

“Mm, but the barrier is troublesome. If the place is too large, array coverage will also be troublesome. Once the population exceeds one million, I’ll have to be cautious when expanding outward.”

“Wait, why do I have to expand outward? If there isn’t enough space to live in, I can do demolition and relocation, then build skyscrapers. That would even save array materials.”

“Haha, I really am a genius!”

Chi Yixuan entertained himself for a while. While his life-bound artifact was not paying attention, he also stuffed another handful of snacks into his mouth. He truly loved this immortal cultivation world where, no matter how much he ate, he never got fat and did not need to use the bathroom!

After confirming that everything in his territory was running well, Chi Yixuan tidied up and prepared to take an afternoon nap. Just then, his life-bound artifact reminded him that Fan Huilan had arrived with the ice silkworm.

Chi Yixuan slapped his forehead. “I almost forgot about the ice silkworm.”

The next moment, there was a knock at the door, and Fan Huilan walked in carrying a bamboo basket. “Employer, this is the ice silkworm Xingchun brought.” Fan Huilan recounted what had happened today.

Chi Yixuan nodded and lifted the cotton cloth covering the bamboo basket, revealing the yao creature inside, suppressed by a talisman paper.

Ice silkworm, mystic-grade yao creature, currently in the transitional stage from juvenile to adult. Due to a lack of spirit stones, it is very irritable right now.

Chi Yixuan removed the talisman paper from the bamboo basket. Once this plump little juvenile ice silkworm gained its freedom, it immediately lunged at Chi Yixuan’s finger and bit down.

However, what it bit was not human flesh, but a fragrant spirit stone.

The ice silkworm seemed to freeze for a moment. Its entire worm body went blank briefly, then it hugged the spirit stone and started gnawing. The ferocity with which it had just been about to attack vanished completely. It only gnawed very fiercely and with great effort, but the sound it made was extremely faint.

Chi Yixuan looked carefully and could not help laughing. Well, this little thing had gnawed for ages, yet the spirit stone had only suffered a flesh wound!

He began to doubt it. “Can such a little thing really bite someone to death?”

His life-bound artifact said, “There is something similar to a straw inside an ice silkworm’s mouth. If it bites an artery, the blood in a human body will be sucked dry in the blink of an eye.”

Chi Yixuan: “…”

Fine. He could not look down on any yao creature.

While the ice silkworm hugged the spirit stone and gnawed seriously, Chi Yixuan used his divine sense to examine it carefully.

Unsurprisingly, he discovered a tiny sword seal on it.

In the Longevity Realm, a sword seal was a practitioner’s representative mark. Every practitioner’s sword seal was unique, and it was also an important token that could represent a practitioner.

When mortals signed contracts, they either signed their names or pressed down their fingerprints. When practitioners established contracts, they used sword seals. After all, handwriting could be imitated, and a fingerprint could be forced down by pressing someone’s finger, but no one could force a practitioner to brand a sword seal. Not even body possession could do it.

That was because in this world, cultivation was bound to the soul, so sword seals were naturally also connected to the soul.

Chi Yixuan had marked Xingchun back in Silver City, so Xingchun had a sword seal he had left behind on her.

Sword seals could not be seen with the naked eye. They could only be discovered by scanning carefully with divine sense. Chi Yixuan was only at Foundation Establishment cultivation, so his sword seal was a little blurry, and the information contained within it was also very limited.

As for the sword seal on this ice silkworm, although it was only the size of a thumb, its lines were clear and golden in color, showing that the owner of the sword seal was at least at Golden Core cultivation.

Chi Yixuan touched this sword seal with his divine sense. In an instant, the information left on it imprinted itself into his mind.

There were three pieces of information inside. First, if Xingchun was forced to hand over the ice silkworm, the sword seal on the ice silkworm would erupt instantly and kill the person who had seized the ice silkworm by force.

Second, if Xingchun willingly gave away the ice silkworm, the practitioner who obtained it needed to treat Xingchun and the ice silkworm well. Words alone were not proof; a contract would serve as evidence.

Third, after the contract was made, one could obtain the sword seal owner’s legacy.

After reading the information inside the sword seal, Chi Yixuan slowly let out a breath and once again praised himself for his caution.

For something as good as an ice silkworm, any practitioner with an eye for value would not let it go. When Chi Yixuan had originally discovered that the little girl was hiding an ice silkworm, he had immediately been tempted too and felt that he had to get his hands on such a good thing.

However, he had not acted back then.

First, at that time, the little girl had been very wary of him, and he could not bring himself to do something as tasteless as coercing a little girl. In addition, Heavenly Garment Workshop had not yet begun construction back then, so he had intended to take things slowly. He had sent his subordinates to gradually build up the little girl’s favorability, waiting until she approved of Zhaoge and voluntarily joined Zhaoge.

His thinking then had been that if the little girl voluntarily brought the ice silkworm and came to join Zhaoge, Zhaoge naturally would not mistreat her. If she truly was unwilling, then he could only personally step in and find a price that moved the little girl enough to buy the ice silkworm.

The latter was not what he wanted to see. After all, a little girl, no matter how intelligent and cautious, was still extremely weak. Whether it was the ice silkworm or wealth, either could cost her life.

Second, there had been a faint layer of doubt in his heart. An ice silkworm was like a hen that laid golden eggs. Even on the Immortal Continent, it was worth quite a lot. The Easternmost Continent did not have the conditions for ice silkworms to be born. Why had this ice silkworm appeared in Silver City, and why was it being raised by a mortal little girl?

If it was wild, how lucky would a mortal have to be to tame a mystic-grade yao creature?

Chi Yixuan suspected that there was something wrong with Xingchun’s identity. He even suspected that another practitioner was watching her from the shadows. Therefore, ever since that time, he had not looked at Xingchun again and had simply let things develop on their own. Even the task he had given Fan Huilan had been delivered with a let-it-happen-naturally attitude.

He would rather have one less opportunity than invite unnecessary trouble. After all, he was not a lone commander. His Zhaoge and all those live points of his were not going anywhere.

…

While Chi Yixuan was pondering over the ice silkworm, Fan Huilan quietly raised her eyes. Her admiring, yearning gaze silently fixed on him.

Fan Huilan had recounted everything that had happened in the silkworm room today. The only thing she had not mentioned was what she had been thinking while carrying the bamboo basket over.

The ice silkworm was very light, but as she carried it, it felt heavy.

Fan Huilan had not understood before why her employer had wanted to draw Xingchun into Zhaoge. No matter how she looked at the girl, she had not felt there was anything special about her. Later, when the little girl came to Zhaoge with snow silkworms, this question still had not been answered. After all, snow silkworms were not very rare yao creatures.

Only today, when she personally discovered that the “snow silkworm” had become an ice silkworm, did Fan Huilan suddenly understand everything and realize all her employer’s intentions from before.

With her employer’s insight, he naturally had long since seen that what the little girl had was an ice silkworm, not a snow silkworm. But Xingchun was highly guarded and did not easily trust others. If he told her directly, she definitely would not believe it, and perhaps many complications would arise.

Yet these complications, to a practitioner, were only small matters that could be resolved with a casual wave of the hand. Her employer had clearly known that the little girl could not raise an ice silkworm. He clearly could have seized the ice silkworm by force. In any case, once Xingchun entered Zhaoge and studied General Knowledge of Yao Creatures, she would naturally understand that all of it had been for her own good.

But her employer had not done that. Instead, he had spent a great deal of thought allowing Xingchun to accept all this naturally. Who knew how precious a Perfected One’s time was? Yet her employer had been willing to spend it on a little girl!

Fan Huilan had known long ago that her employer was good, but she had not known he was this good. He was even willing to be considerate of a little girl’s feelings. Before, she had merely stood at the foot of the mountain and looked up at him from afar. But what happened today stirred indescribable feelings within her.

In Fan Huilan’s heart, her employer had sent her to approach Xingchun definitely not for the ice silkworm, but to preserve the little girl’s life. After all, her employer’s realm was high. The things ordinary people loved, he did not love. It was even more impossible for him to love spirit stones, treasures, or even a precious ice silkworm.

And so, when Chi Yixuan returned to himself, he met Fan Huilan’s incomparably precious and incomparably expectant gaze.

Chi Yixuan: “???”

He secretly asked his life-bound artifact, “I zoned out just now and didn’t notice. Did she say something? Or did she imagine something again?”

His life-bound artifact: “Why would you think that?”

Chi Yixuan said, “Mainly because her eyes look very strange.”

His life-bound artifact: “Perhaps she has already fallen in love with you. That is the gaze of someone hoping to receive your favor.”

Chi Yixuan: “…”

“To tell you the truth, when the end-of-class bell rang, I also looked at homeroom teachers who dragged out class with that kind of gaze. Does that mean I fell in love with my homeroom teacher?”

His life-bound artifact: “…”

Chi Yixuan did not take what his life-bound artifact said seriously. After all, his life-bound artifact had a strange filter toward him. In his life-bound artifact’s heart, it was as if he were a heartthrob loved by everyone, and anyone who did not love him was guilty. It was just like a brainless fan. Too terrifying.

Chi Yixuan instructed Fan Huilan to bring Xingchun over.

When they learned that their employer wanted to meet Xingchun, Qiu Ping’an and Lu Wuxing, who happened to pass by, came to ask Fan Huilan for news. They asked what their employer had said when she had stayed in the small residence for so long earlier.

This had already become the shared understanding among this little group of companions. Everyone who entered the small residence had to share fresh news afterward. Of course, they were not prying into secrets. If their employer assigned someone a task, as long as it was not publicly said at a collective meeting, they would not ask about it, much less discuss it. They very properly kept a sense of boundaries.

What they wanted to ask was whether their employer had mentioned anyone today, whether he was satisfied with the meals sent over today, and whether he had praised anything today. Whether it was the weather or the fresh flowers by the window, they wanted to hear about it.

What had happened in the silkworm room was not secret either. Everyone would know soon enough. If it had been before, Fan Huilan would long since have told her companions about it. Not only would she have told them, she would have emphasized her employer’s consideration for the little girl, and then everyone would close the door together to reverently admire their employer’s virtue.

But today, because of an indescribable state of mind, Fan Huilan was unwilling to say it. She therefore pretended to be embarrassed and annoyed. “I’m busy. Stop always coming to ask me. I can’t be bothered to tell you.”

Qiu Ping’an and Lu Wuxing: “…”

The two left in bafflement. After walking for a while, they even whispered to each other.

Lu Wuxing said, “What’s wrong with her? Is she uncomfortable because her monthly period came? Then I’ll go to the kitchen and make her a bowl of brown sugar eggs? Rubi said that’s delicious.”

Qiu Ping’an was stunned for a moment. “Don’t female cultivators not have monthly periods?”

Lu Wuxing looked disgusted. “One look and I can tell you have no luck with women. They only stop having monthly periods after Foundation Establishment!”

The two muttered as they walked farther away. Fan Huilan had already brought Xingchun into the small residence.

Xingchun had already been nervous to begin with. After stepping into the small residence and seeing this elegant courtyard residence, she grew even more nervous.

She had imagined what it would be like if she became a practitioner in the future, but she had never imagined that she would be able to stand before a Perfected One so soon.

When she walked along the veranda and stepped into the main hall, Xingchun even carefully looked back once, worried that the soles of her shoes had dirtied the floor.

“Xingchun, long time no see.”

A man’s voice rang out. Xingchun raised her head and froze for a moment. She felt that the person before her looked somewhat familiar, but she could not say where she had seen him before.

Chi Yixuan helped her remember. “The wonton stall in Silver City. I bought talisman papers from you.”

In truth, Chi Yixuan’s current appearance was not quite the same as it had been then, but first, some time had passed, and second, Chi Yixuan’s appearance resembled the original body’s. Xingchun had not remembered him very clearly to begin with. Now, upon hearing that familiar tone and remembering the scene from back then, the face before her quickly replaced the blurry person in her memory. Her face reddened. “So… it was you.”

Back then, she had shaken him off and slipped away. She never would have thought that person was the master of Zhaoge. Xingchun was both awkward and ashamed, and for a moment, she did not even know where to put her feet.

Chi Yixuan asked whether she remembered where she had picked up the ice silkworm, whether there had been anyone nearby when she picked it up, and where her parents were originally from.

Xingchun answered each question. According to her account, her father had died early, her mother had also passed away two years ago, and she had picked up the ice silkworm in the outskirts of Silver City. At the time, there had been no one there at all.

Chi Yixuan called her to stand in front of him, patted her head, and said to her, “The ice silkworm is not an ordinary mystic-grade yao creature. Fabric woven from the silk it spits out is worth a fortune. Zhaoge will not take your things for nothing. How about this? I will sign a contract with you using a sword seal. In the future, after deducting costs, ten percent of the money earned from the ice silkworm’s silk will be given to you. What do you think?”

Even ten percent was already extremely generous! Xingchun was not an ignorant little girl. She waved her hands repeatedly. “No, no, I can’t. You saved my life, and besides, raising an ice silkworm is already very expensive. I’m satisfied just being able to have a job here.”

Chi Yixuan did not speak. He only frowned slightly, and Fan Huilan beside him spoke up. “Accept it. Our employer’s word is as weighty as nine tripods. Once he says something, he will not change it. Zhaoge has always been this fair. We are not giving you special treatment alone.”

Only after Fan Huilan said this did Xingchun accept, though she still felt rather uneasy, as if the pie falling from the sky was getting bigger and bigger.

Before long, the contract was established. One copy turned into a tiny dot and merged into Xingchun’s brow. The little girl touched her brow, finding it rather wondrous.

After Fan Huilan left with Xingchun, Chi Yixuan heard his life-bound artifact’s reminder by his ear.

“Congratulations. You have obtained a precious ice silkworm for Zhaoge. You have received in advance one opportunity to upgrade Heavenly Garment Workshop.”

Chi Yixuan was not in a hurry to upgrade Heavenly Garment Workshop. Instead, he began to think. Just now, when he patted the little girl’s head, he had taken the opportunity to check her mind. He discovered that the little girl’s memories had indeed been tampered with. What she said was indeed everything she believed to be true. Unfortunately, that was clearly not the truth.

Chi Yixuan grew more and more curious. However, only after signing the contract did he discover that to claim that Golden Core practitioner’s legacy, he had to reach Golden Core himself. For now, he had no choice but to set the matter aside.

“Next comes more construction, gaining points, and advancing to Golden Core as soon as possible.”

“Ah, and I still have to reach a population of one hundred thousand before the New Year! Life-bound artifact, how many live points do I have right now?”

“You currently have a total of 12,548 subjects.”

Next Chapter >