Chapter 194 - 169: Abnormal Change of the Spirit Contract

Chapter 194: Chapter 169: Abnormal Change of the Spirit Contract

But Ma Rong wouldn’t hear of it. He feigned anger and said, "So Steward Tan can give you things, but I can’t? Junior Brother, are you trying to disown me as your senior brother?"

"Of course not, but I..." Li Changsheng started to say, his mouth slightly agape.

’It wasn’t a matter of not wanting to pay—he simply couldn’t afford it!’

At this thought, he froze for a moment before quickly asking, "Senior Brother, how many Spirit Stones are all these spirit ores in total?"

"Don’t hide the real price from me, Senior Brother. Tell me exactly what it costs."

"Junior Brother, you..."

Seeing his persistence, Ma Rong sighed in resignation. "I had an old acquaintance in my clan buy them. In total, it only cost ten thousand Spirit Stones."

"Ten thousand Spirit Stones?"

The arm Li Changsheng was reaching into his sleeve with froze instantly. A few moments later, he scratched his head in embarrassment. "Well, uh... Senior Brother, could you perhaps wait until I’ve sold the Concentration Flowers..."

’He had no idea the raw ore would be so expensive. He only had a little over three thousand Spirit Stones, enough to buy just a third of it.’

Hearing this, Ma Rong’s heart stirred. He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and smiled. "Just accept them for now, Junior Brother." He paused, then added in a deliberately casual tone, "Once I help you sell the Concentration Flowers, I’ll just deduct the cost from the payment."

’Oh! That’s right.’

Li Changsheng nodded repeatedly. "Let’s do as you say, Senior Brother. After you sell the Concentration Flowers, just deduct the cost yourself."

Ma Rong’s palm suddenly clenched. Forcibly suppressing his excitement, he said softly, "Well then, Junior Brother, I’ll let you get to it. I have some other matters to attend to, so I’ll be heading back."

With that, he didn’t even wait for Li Changsheng to see him off. He strode quickly into the courtyard, transformed into an Escape Light, and departed.

"What’s the big rush?"

Li Changsheng watched him leave, shook his head, and returned to his wooden cabin.

Looking at the spirit ore scattered across the floor, the smile on his face grew wider.

’The materials to enhance Little Xiaohua’s and Little Wooden Head’s innate Magic are finally all here.’

Li Changsheng closed his eyes, ran through the process in his mind, and then began his preparations.

Little Wooden Head required too large a quantity to finish in one go, so he decided to enhance Little Xiaohua first.

Li Changsheng gathered the spirit ore, walked into the kitchen, and took out a large wooden basin. Then, he got to work.

First, he took out several dozen Spirit Stones and ground them into a fine powder. Next, he picked up the Bone-Chopping Knife and coated its surface with the Sharp Metal Art before starting to grind the Red Gold Iron.

SCRAPE... SCRAPE...

As the Bone-Chopping Knife, coated in the Sharp Metal Art, scraped against the Red Gold Iron, a piercing screech echoed out. Specks of the mineral powder fell into the wooden basin.

By Noon, the wooden basin was already more than half full of the mineral powder.

Seeing that it was about enough, Li Changsheng stopped grinding.

He reached for a nearby oil barrel, poured some of its contents in, and began to stir.

A short while later.

Gazing at the slurry in the wooden basin, which shimmered with specks of spiritual light, Li Changsheng nodded in satisfaction. He then carried the basin out into the courtyard.

His eyes landed on the increasingly robust Little Xiaohua at the courtyard entrance.

Li Changsheng set down the wooden basin and gestured. "Little Xiaohua, come here."

OINK OINK...

Little Xiaohua grunted as it got up and waddled over to him.

"Lie down."

Li Changsheng directed Little Xiaohua to lie down, then dipped his hand into the basin. He scooped up a handful of the shimmering, spiritual slurry and smeared it onto Little Xiaohua’s body.

Magically, the slurry vanished completely within a few breaths of touching Little Xiaohua’s body.

The fur where the slurry had been applied became a deeper color and grew harder, like sharp, upturned barbs.

Just as he had coated half of Little Xiaohua’s body, his spiritual connection with Xiaohai suddenly wavered. A wave of frantic, struggling emotion flooded his mind.

Li Changsheng’s expression changed in an instant. He hurriedly closed his eyes and focused his spirit.

At that very moment, several brilliant streaks of light shot up from within the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land and vanished into the mountains.

After a moment of disorientation, Li Changsheng opened his eyes to find himself within a Chaos Space.

With a mere thought, he shifted his consciousness next to the largest of the five-colored stars and placed his hand upon it.

The next instant, a brutal, ferocious consciousness slammed into his own.

BOOM...

Li Changsheng’s vision went black. An unknown time later, a sharp, piercing pain jolted him awake.

When he opened his eyes, he saw an immense locust, its body looking as if it were cast from pure gold, perched on the five-colored star and devouring it in huge bites.

As if noticing his awakening, the enormous locust shot him a glance. Instantly, a ferocious, irresistible pressure washed over him, forcing him back again and again.

But the locust didn’t strike again. The pressure felt like a warning.

’What’s going on?’

Watching the locust devour the five-colored star, Li Changsheng’s heart filled with a mixture of anger and confusion.

’Why would this enormous locust appear in his Spirit Contract Space?’

He had no time to dwell on it. As the locust gnawed on the five-colored star, his connection with Xiaohai grew fainter, and it felt as if that very connection was being transferred from him to the giant locust.

’It’s stealing control of Xiaohai?’

The moment the thought surfaced, Li Changsheng was overcome with fury, his eyes blazing with anger.

’He had worked so hard to raise Xiaohai! How dare this locust try to steal him so brazenly!’

Li Changsheng suppressed his frantic urgency. Instead of rushing forward, he tried to feel out the Spirit Contract Space.

’He refused to believe that this space, a derivative of his own Magic, would simply allow something else to come and go as it pleased.’

Time passed slowly.

A strange sensation gradually grew within Li Changsheng, as if he were sinking into Xiaohai’s perspective. In the next instant, the stars before him vanished, replaced by twisting, beast-shaped runes.

The space was no longer a chaotic expanse; it now resembled an oval-shaped egg. At its four corners were four fist-sized holes.

Faint golden threads poured from one of these holes, wrapping around the beast-shaped rune that shimmered with five-colored spiritual light.

It had already managed to drag out more than half of the rune.

The faint golden threads gave him the exact same feeling as the locust, only now, that irresistible pressure was gone.

"I was wondering what you were. Turns out you’re nothing but a thieving bug!"

Li Changsheng was so angry he laughed. He focused his will on the rune, and with a mere thought...

...the rune, which the faint golden threads had painstakingly dragged out, was instantly yanked back into place.

The golden threads froze for an instant, then thrashed about like a great serpent baring its fangs.

"Trying to scare me?"

Li Changsheng sneered. He approached the golden threads and, sensing the consciousness within them was even weaker than his own, gritted his teeth.

"You want to steal, do you?! Today, I’ll teach you what it means to suffer a double loss!"

Li Changsheng’s will stirred.

Instantly, countless transparent threads materialized within the space. They converged into a massive hand that seized the golden threads and violently yanked them back a meter.

"You wanted in so badly? Then don’t even think about leaving!"

Enduring a splitting headache, Li Changsheng gritted his teeth and condensed another massive hand. It grabbed hold of the golden threads, pulling them deeper into his space with all its might.

Several hundred miles from the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land, inside a narrow cave, the walls were covered with a dense, unsettling carpet of locusts.

In the deepest part of the cave.

A humanoid figure, completely shrouded in a black robe, sat in the center of the cave.

From beneath the robe, a gaunt, bony hand covered in fine, pale-golden scales reached out, pressing down on a grid-like net shimmering with a pearly white light. Or rather, it was pressing down on an insect within the net, a creature covered in fine, root-like filaments and glowing with a hazy, five-colored light.

Just then.

"ROAR!"

The black-robed figure began to tremble violently, letting out a wretched, inhuman howl.