“Why?” Shang Xia’s chest heaved up and down. Ever since he arrived, he destroyed two rank three talismans, and dealt with the attack of five undead corpses where one of them was a rank three monster. He finally settled all the troublesome matters, and he had to take a break to catch his breath. He was too lazy to walk over to Mu Qingyu to undo the restrictions on her body.
“What are you referring to?” Mu Qingyu twisted her body slightly to put herself in a more comfortable position before replying.
“Since he won’t be attacked once he holds the Vermillion Plaque, why did Zhu Ying kill those in the Zhu Family Manor?” Shang Xia asked Mu Qingyu. He was clearly vigilant of her since she came in with Zhu Ying. Even though her inner qi was sealed and her movements were restricted, Shang Xia wouldn’t let his guard down.
“Because of me. The undead corpses won’t attack him, but I turned into their target!” Mu Qingyu snorted as if it was a stupid question. “Of course, I was merely bait. He would abandon me the moment I became useless!”
Shang Xia frowned in confusion. “If you know that, why would you follow him to the Coral Forest? With the relationship you two share… Especially after you broke off your engagement with him… Why would you still choose to work together? Wouldn’t you find it awkward?”
Mu Qingyu fell silent for a second and she seemed to have noticed the trace of mockery in Shang Xia’s voice. She chuckled softly, “It's simple. He promised to give me a complete advancement formula for those in the Martial Extremity Realm to enter the Martial Intent Realm.”
“Hah… Is that it?” Shang Xia snorted. “Aren’t you selling yourself short? Moreover, you’re not even close to the grand completion stage of the Martial Realm… You have no use for it.”
Mu Qingyu raised her head in a fit of rage and she yelled in agitation, “What do you know? You know nothing!” A sneer formed on her face and she continued, “Of course you don’t. You’re the direct descendant of the mighty Shang Clan in the Tongyou City. The genius of the Tongyou Institution… Why would you care about a mere advancement formula for the Martial Intent Realm? Hah… The moment you reach the requirement to break through, your Shang Clan and the institution will probably bring out all their advancement formulas for you to choose from. You won’t even need to worry about how compatible you are with the formula! How can you ever understand how precious an advancement formula is? You will never understand the worth of an advancement formula not controlled by the institution!”
Mu Qingyu’s words made sense. It was true that he was never worried about not being able to find a suitable advancement formula.
However, his mood wouldn’t be affected just because of her agitated emotions.
After thinking about it for a second, not a trace of emotion could be seen on his face and he asked, “The Mu Family wishes to obtain your own inheritance not controlled by anyone. However, your aunt has already entered the Martial Intent Realm. Doesn’t she possess an advancement formula?”
Mu Qingyu snorted in disdain. “Looks like you really don’t know anything. Ever since your Shang Clan rose to power, Patriarch Kou increased the requirement to learn rank three advancement formulas! It isn’t too difficult for disciples of the institution to advance, but none of us are allowed to leak the formulas. It’s nearly impossible for anyone to enter the Martial Intent Realm without the help of the institution! Unless we find an advancement formula on our own, our family will forever be controlled by the institution!”
Shang Xia snorted under her breath. “So… The institution only allows contributions but it doesn’t allow its secrets to leak…”
“That’s right.” Mu Qingyu muttered.
Shang Xia obviously knew the reason behind Kou Chongxue’s actions. Not only would their possession of advancement formulas increase the prestige of the Tongyou Institution, but it would also strengthen their control over the various families under their banner.
Mu Qingyu looked at Shang Xia’s expression and she couldn’t help but break the silence after some time. “Are you really unable to break the restrictions on my body?”
Without hesitation, Shang Xia replied, “Zhu Ying wishes nothing but death upon me. You’re someone who colluded with him. Hah… Even if his original plan was to use you as a cultivation furnace, I’m not planning to let you run loose here… Who knows what your plan is… Anyway, you can rest assured that I won’t use you as my cultivation furnace!”
“If Zhu Ying wishes to comprehend his martial extremity intent, he has to look for me. Are you planning to use me as bait?” A trace of anguish flashed through Mu Qingyu’s eyes. However, her body was restrained by the restrictions laid down by Zhu Ying. She couldn’t do anything!
Shang Xia glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “You’re thinking too much into it. I might not be able to undo what Zhu Ying did anyway.”
After his explanation, he placed her back on the stone bed. At the very least, she would be more comfortable than when she curled up against the wall.
“What are in these?” Shang Xia asked as he pointed at the bottles Zhu Ying brought out earlier.
All of these were prepared by Zhu Ying when he planned to use her as his cultivation furnace earlier. When Shang Xia emerged and caught him by surprise, Zhu Ying escaped frantically and failed to collect his stuff.
“He prepared those medicines for him to comprehend his martial intent…” Mu Qingyu muttered.
“Oh? What medicine are they?” Shang Xia’s eyes lit up and he opened the jade bottles and wooden boxes without waiting for her to answer.
Mu Qingyu could tell that he didn’t trust her from his actions and she replied casually, “He told me that he was planning to comprehend the Burning Blood Ice Sealing Art…”
“I know what he plans to comprehend.” Shang Xia interrupted her before she could finish. He closed the lid on the wooden case before opening the jade bottle beside it.
Pausing slightly Mu Qingyu continued, “According to him, the Burning Blood Ice Sealing Art possesses huge explosive strength. Cultivators will need to ensure that their meridians can withstand the violent flow of their inner qi. All of these items are used to strengthen and expand one’s meridians. From what I know there are some Meridian Replenishing Powder, Life Blood Powder, and Expanding Meridian Powder in there.”
Shang Xia sniffed the bottle while listening to her. He grunted once after she completed her explanation. “At least you’re not lying. There’s actually some Expanding Meridian Powder in here.”
Looking at Shang Xia’s suspicious expression, Mu Qingyu thought that he was testing to see if she would lie. As such, she revealed everything she knew.
“There’s some Life Blood Powder in the wooden case, and it’s one of the most important medicines for him to comprehend the Burning Blood Ice Sealing Art. The most valuable medicine he prepared, the Expanding Meridian Powder, is contained in the other jade box.”
A smile eventually appeared on Shang Xia’s face. “Looks like you know quite a lot. I bet you obtained a lot of good stuff from him too.”
Mu Qingyu remained impassive. “All of these are merely a small part of what he obtained. Some of the stuff he brought into the Coral Forest was given to him by the Liu Clan, but he obtained most of his treasures after entering this place. Weirdly enough, Liu Jitang and the others didn’t discover all the treasures when passing through the place.”
Shang Xia wasn’t surprised at all. After all, Liu Jitang’s objective wasn’t those low leveled talismans or medicine.
His only goal was the inheritance of the Zhu Family! Before obtaining the inheritance, he could overlook Zhu Ying getting some benefits.
The reason behind Zhu Ying’s huge leap in cultivation was naturally Liu Jitang’s assistance. To Zhu Ying, those were the least they could do since they coveted his Zhu Family’s inheritance! It was even possible that he thought he was the one gracing them with the help they needed to enter the Coral Forest…
After thinking about it, Shang Xia realized what Liu Jitang was doing by allowing Zhu Ying to obtain so many treasures after entering the Coral Forest. By letting so, everyone who came in with them would start to detest Zhu Ying, causing Zhu Ying to seek protection from Liu Jitang.
After writing out the entire story in his mind, Shang Xia continued to look through the other containers.
When he popped open the lid to a violet-colored jade bottle, his heart trembled slightly. “Tempering Meridian Powder! He actually has Tempering Meridian Powder!”
Sucking in a cold breath, Shang Xia stopped his hands from trembling and he thought to himself,?Yeah, that’s about right. In order to comprehend his martial intent, he definitely needs some Tempering Meridian Powder…
Now that he had a portion of Tempering Meridian Powder, he could start comprehending his Yin Yang Sword Formation!
It was no wonder he was so agitated. Regardless, his loss of composure nearly destroyed his cool image in front of Mu Qingyu.
There were six containers in front of the stone bed, and Shang Xia verified those that contained Meridian Replenishing Powder, Life Blood Powder, Tempering Meridian Powder, and Expanding Meridian Powder. Those were the four he knew about.
As for the other two, Mu Qingyu said that they were suitable for strengthening his physical body.
After examining them several times, Shang Xia had to admit that he had no idea what they were.
Of course, he wouldn’t use any medicine he couldn’t recognize.
“These medicines are pretty good… Guess I earned big this time.” Shang Xia chuckled to himself before sweeping everything into his Embroidered Cloud Case.
His gaze soon turned to the other items in the chamber and he asked Mu Qingyu, “What are these?”
“He gathered those along his way. Since his Embroidered Cloud Case was full, he can’t keep any of these within.” Mu Qingyu muttered softly.
Casually looking through the items on the ground, he discovered that all of them were items or herbs that were of the second rank or lower. Even so, the sheer quantity of it caused Shang Xia to be dumbstruck. It was too bad Shang Xia’s Embroidered Cloud Case was also pretty limited in space…
“So… The treasures in that fellow’s possession are rank three or higher?” Shang Xia’s eyes lit up suddenly.