Smiling slightly, Ye Xuan continued his Alchemy.
Two days later.
He had refined another forty-eight batches of Elixirs, yielding seven hundred and twenty Super Spirit Pills. Among them, six hundred were of supreme quality and one hundred and twenty were of high quality. Gathering all the Elixirs together, he took a quick inventory. Supreme quality: 2,500 pills. High quality, including the ones his mother gave him: 1,670 pills. Medium quality: 3,000 pills. It was enough! It was just enough!
Ye Xuan immediately sat cross-legged. He didn’t bother consolidating his cultivation, as the ten-odd days he had spent earlier had already stabilized it sufficiently. Now, it was time to open his eighth Great River Vein. Handfuls of Super Spirit Pills were quickly tossed into his mouth. He devoured them ravenously, as if he had been starving for ages. In just a few minutes, he had consumed two thousand pills. The Elixirs melted in his mouth, transforming into a surge of vigorous energy that his entire body absorbed.
The Divine-Demonic Overlord Body circulated at an ever-increasing speed, endlessly strengthening his physique. His Sea of Consciousness also grew clearer by the second. It wasn’t until he had ingested two thousand three hundred supreme-quality Super Spirit Pills that the energy within his body finally reached saturation.
"Break through!" Without any hesitation, he began to hammer against the barrier of the Hidden Vein. Although he knew the exact location of the eighth Great River Vein, this was his first attempt to breach it. To ensure precision, he still had to rely on Super Soul Crystals. He swallowed nearly a hundred Super Soul Crystals. The energy contained within them naturally resonated with the Great River Veins, automatically swarming toward the eighth one. Acting as a vanguard, the Super Soul Crystals guided the surging energy within him to crash into the bottleneck. Every impact felt like a torrential storm, wreaking havoc and causing immense discomfort inside his body. Yet, he gritted his teeth and persevered, completely unwavering. Whenever the internal energy and the power of the Super Soul Crystals depleted even slightly, he would immediately consume more Elixirs and Soul Crystals.
One night passed.
After consuming another one hundred and thirty Super Spirit Pills, the eighth Great River Vein was finally opened. Just as he had anticipated, breaking through to the 8th Layer had cost him a total of two thousand four hundred and thirty supreme-quality Super Spirit Pills—the consumption rate was multiplying by a factor of three.
With his cultivation advanced, his exhaustion was instantly swept away. Ye Xuan’s Sea of Consciousness grew a bit clearer, though compared to the dense mist lingering at its edges, this newly cleared area was just a drop in the ocean. Opening his eyes, his gaze sharp and imposing, he murmured, "There are only twenty-six days left until the Gongsun family’s tournament.
"With my current cultivation, facing off against a genius at the 4th Layer of the Demon Spirit Realm shouldn’t be a problem. However, it still isn’t a sure bet. Who knows if the Gongsun family’s prodigies have advanced to the 6th Layer of the Demon Spirit Realm? I still need to find a way to raise my cultivation to the 9th Layer."
Sighing, Ye Xuan left the underground secret chamber. He went into the courtyard and glanced at the Night Moon Tree. In the faint light of dawn, the tree emanated a soft glow. Its blossoms had grown quite a bit larger. He wondered if the Night Moon Tree would be able to fully bloom and bear fruit before the Gongsun family’s youth tournament. If it could, he wouldn’t have a single worry left. Even though his resource consumption was massive—equivalent to that of nine or ten normal cultivators combined—he had no choice but to prioritize himself. Only by becoming stronger could he secure more resources for the Ye family. After checking on the Night Moon Tree, Ye Xuan returned to his room.
The moment he opened the door, Liu Ruoxi, who was on the bed, abruptly sat up with a guarded expression. Over the past few days, she had actually considered escaping. She had even tried twice, but Gongsun Yanran had caught her and dragged her back both times.
"Aren’t you going to get up and fetch some water for me to wash my face? I haven’t washed it in days," Ye Xuan’s cold voice rang out.
Gritting her teeth, Liu Ruoxi resentfully complied. She could sense that Ye Xuan’s aura had grown stronger. His cultivation had definitely improved again. This didn’t surprise her, though. With the resources Gongsun Yanran was providing, anyone who wasn’t a complete idiot would never encounter a bottleneck in their cultivation.
"Also, don’t sleep in my bed from now on. Do you really think you have the right to sleep in my bed?" Ye Xuan added.
Liu Ruoxi frowned and instinctively retorted, "If I don’t sleep in the bed, where am I supposed to sleep?"
"On the floor," Ye Xuan said indifferently.
"Ye Xuan, do you really treat me as a servant?!" Liu Ruoxi glared at him, grinding her teeth.
"Who said I treat you as a servant?"
Ye Xuan’s words made her feel a tiny bit better, but that relief was swiftly replaced by pure rage as he continued.
"I treat you as a slave. Right now, I’m only making you do manual labor. But if you disobey me or fail to do your job well, I’ll add another word in front of ’slave’."
Clenching her fists tightly, Liu Ruoxi forced out through gritted teeth, "What word?"
"Sex."
Liu Ruoxi froze for a second before the realization hit her. "Ye Xuan, don’t even think about touching my body! Otherwise, even if I die, I won’t let you off!"
"If I truly wanted to torment you, I wouldn’t leave you any chance of dying," Ye Xuan replied calmly. "So, be obedient and don’t make me angry. Now, go fetch the water."
Liu Ruoxi exhaled sharply and was about to turn around when Ye Xuan seemed to remember something.
"Wait a moment. Undress me first. I’ve been wearing these clothes for days; it’s time for a change."
"Undress you? Completely?"
"Of course!"
"You! You!"
Liu Ruoxi flared up with anger, her eyes brimming with murderous intent. "Completely" obviously meant stripping him down to his underwear. She was the noble daughter of a city lord; the mere thought of changing a man’s underwear utterly disgusted her!
"Ye Xuan, you might as well just kill me."
"What? You won’t do it? Are you embarrassed? Well, it seems I really do need to add that word in front of ’slave’." As Ye Xuan spoke, the Spirit-Suppressing Rope appeared in his hand. The rope emitted a golden glow and darted toward Liu Ruoxi like a slithering snake.
"Ye Xuan, you win! I’ll do it."
In the end, Liu Ruoxi succumbed. She couldn’t run, and she couldn’t win in a fight. What else could she do but submit? She knew Ye Xuan was a man of his word. As humiliating as undressing him was, it was still a hundred times better than him actually violating her body! Gritting her teeth, she walked over to him.
Ye Xuan flashed a grin, tilting his head back slightly and raising his arms.
With trembling hands, Liu Ruoxi slowly undressed him. The long white robe was tossed onto the floor. Then came his underwear. Utterly repulsed, she pinched the very edge of the fabric with her fingernails, not daring to let her fingertips touch it! While undressing him, she had kept her eyes tightly shut the entire time. Her long eyelashes fluttered constantly, and she had bitten her own lip so hard it bled.
Ye Xuan knew she was feeling thoroughly humiliated. But that was exactly his goal. It was also the very reason he had kept her alive.
"Where are your hands wandering off to? Enough, get me dressed. I threw the fresh clothes on the bed; put them on me."
"Oh!" Liu Ruoxi’s face flushed crimson.
Because her eyes were closed, she had accidentally just... She felt mortified just thinking about it. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, amidst the shame, her heart was fluttering as if a thousand little deer were frantically leaping around inside her chest. The sensation was incredibly bizarre. It was obviously a humiliating experience, so she wondered why her body felt as if an electric current had run through it. Along with the goosebumps, there was an indescribable feeling.
She wondered, "What on earth am I thinking? Am I being conditioned by Ye Xuan? No! This is just a bodily instinct. No matter what, if I ever get the chance, I will kill him!"