Chapter 123: The Snow Monarch’s XP
“Ow~~”
In a small house tucked away in a corner of Gray Shadow Mountain, a pitiful girl, missing an eye, was cradled in the arms of a beautiful woman in a snow-white shroud, her body writhing and squirming as she whimpered in pain.
Of course, her eye hurt. It had exploded.
This was the price of carelessly peeking into the realm of legends. It wasn’t that the technique was flawed, but that her mortal body couldn’t withstand the strain of glimpsing a legendary being’s secrets.
After all, deciphering the secrets within that parchment would increase her chances of contracting with a legendary spirit beast by tens of thousands of times.
For example, hypothetically, what if the Snow Monarch’s XP (fetish/preference) was short-skirted, big-breasted girls in white silk stockings?
Then, by donning a sexy white silk outfit and stuffing a little fox into her bra, wouldn’t she be able to easily capture the Snow Monarch’s heart (and other body parts)?
Exploring the realm of legends came with a price.
Unless one possessed the courage to be reduced to ashes and still consider it a worthwhile trade, embracing the philosophy of “I would gladly die after glimpsing the truth,” they could never approach a legendary being.
Seeing the girl’s pain, the Frost Snow Woman gently cupped her face and blew cold air into the empty eye socket, trying to soothe her master.
The chilling air flowed through her nerves, and the pain actually subsided slightly.
A few minutes later, just as hair and nails regrew after being cut, the girl’s eye regenerated, the beautiful, ice-blue teardrop pattern reappearing.
Rubbing her newly restored eye, Gong Lianyue breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t expected the first entry to be about the Snow Monarch. Unfortunately, in her current state, she couldn’t continue reading.
“What if she had the Frost Snow Woman read it and then relay the information to her?”
With this thought, Gong Lianyue looked at the Frost Snow Woman, who, in a rare display of fear, was shaking her head and tightly closing her eyes, as if terrified of the parchment.
Right, the pressure Saint-rank spirit beasts felt when facing a higher-ranked being was far greater than that of humans. She herself had exploded her eye just from reading a few lines. The consequences for the Frost Snow Woman would be far worse.
Although she could endure the pain of exploding her eyes hundreds of times to record the information, she was currently in the Wind Realm with limited resources. Crippling herself would be pointless.
She would have to put the secrets of legends aside for now…
Storing the parchment in her Crystal Chamber, Gong Lianyue turned her attention to the stone bracelet.
The abstract patterns carved into the bracelet radiated an ancient aura, clearly requiring some kind of… blood contract ritual for activation.
A relic from the same era as the parchment, she wondered what secrets it held…
Gong Lianyue put on the bracelet and shook her wrist. A stream of ice-blue water flowed around it, like a cool, flowing garment.
A few seconds later, the spirit energy dissipated, and the bracelet became inert, like an ordinary stone.
The girl’s expression remained unchanged, unsurprised. Since spirit energy didn’t work, she would try a blood contract.
Plink!
A drop of crimson blood from her bitten fingertip landed on the stone bracelet, disappearing without a trace, like a drop of water in the ocean. The bracelet remained unresponsive.
Seeing this, Gong Lianyue frowned.
Besides spirit energy resonance and blood contracts, were there any other ways to activate a spirit artifact?
No, wait…!!!
This bracelet was a relic from the Dark Ages. The standards for crafting spirit artifacts back then weren’t based on humans. Even the blood required for a contract would have to be from a spirit beast.
Realizing this, Gong Lianyue summoned the Water Element Commander. Although she also had the Frost Snow Woman, using Saint-rank blood to activate a spirit artifact seemed excessive.
A few minutes later, she held a drop of dense, pure water, the essence extracted from near the Water Element Commander’s core, its energy equivalent to blood.
Plink!
As the Water Element Commander’s essence touched the stone bracelet, the ancient carvings glowed with an icy blue light. The water flowed along the carvings, quickly turning the bracelet into a beautiful, shimmering ice crystal.
The contract was successful. Gong Lianyue eagerly channeled her spirit energy.
With a whoosh, an illusory space, about the size of a combat arena, appeared in her mind. It was exactly like a spatial storage ring from a fantasy novel, similar in function to the Water Element Commander’s Crystal Chamber, though it couldn’t store living beings.
If that was all it could do, it would be too insignificant to be placed alongside the other two items. Spatial storage items were commonplace, only valuable to ordinary mortals.
Therefore, Gong Lianyue suspected this storage bracelet was just a disguise, concealing the true treasure!
She quickly scanned the space and, as expected, found a lifeless core in the corner.
With a thought, the diamond-shaped crystal appeared, floating in the air, radiating a desolate, oppressive aura.
Its dull, dark appearance seemed unremarkable, but the few gray scales on its surface were incredibly hard, their swirling patterns like the claws of a beast.
A Saint-rank soul core!
Its owner had been dead for countless years…
“What a pity…”
Gong Lianyue sighed. Just from the core’s appearance, she could tell its owner had been incredibly powerful, an unparalleled offensive spirit beast, perhaps even an extinct species.
If it were still alive, it would have been like finding a free Saint-rank spirit beast.
But since it was dead, there were only three possible uses: one, use its residual spirit energy for cultivation; two, use it to refine spirit artifacts or elixirs of the same attribute; three, have another spirit beast consume it to enhance its abilities.
She immediately dismissed the first option. Even a Saint-rank core that had been dormant for tens of thousands of years was too valuable to be used as a simple energy source. The second option was also out. She knew nothing about refining. That left only the third.
“The Water Element Commander, the Nine-Colored Cloud Dream Flower, the Iron Jade Ice Scorpion, and the Frost Snow Woman… who should eat it…?”
Chapter 124: The Saintess’s Downfall
“Water Element Commander, Nine-Colored Cloud Dream Flower, Iron Jade Ice Scorpion, and Frost Snow Woman… who should eat it…?”
Gong Lianyue first ruled out the Ice Spirit. As a pitiful, weak, low-rank spirit beast, it likely couldn’t withstand the energy of a Saint-rank core and would explode.
But before making a decision, she needed to identify the core.
If it was an offensive type, then only the scorpion was suitable.
If it was a support type, she would consider the other spirit beasts.
However, just as Gong Lianyue was about to examine it, the Frost Snow Woman beside her picked up the scale-covered core.
Holding the core in her hand, the icy aura flowing around it, yet its surface remained frost-free.
The Snow Woman’s beautiful eyes flickered as she examined the core, a familiar look on her face, as if recalling something.
After a moment, to the girl’s surprise, the Frost Snow Woman opened her mouth and, with great difficulty, uttered three words: “Hidden Scale Mountain”.
Due to her unclear pronunciation, it took Gong Lianyue a moment to understand.
“Hidden Scale Mountain.”
This was the soul core of the Saint-rank spirit beast, Hidden Scale Mountain!!!
Hidden Scale Mountain, its body as large as a mountain, its appearance pig-like, one of the largest Saint-ranks, its size rivaling even some legendary beings.
After the end of the Dark Ages, massive spirit beasts like it, whose insatiable hunger caused widespread destruction, were forbidden from roaming freely. Unable to find enough food, they had all starved to death.
This scale-covered core belonged to a Hidden Scale Mountain. The three items they had found in the prison cell must have been its belongings.
As for how the Frost Snow Woman recognized it, there was no need to delve too deeply. Spirit beasts’ origins and lifespans far exceeded those of humans. Perhaps an elder from her clan had encountered a Hidden Scale Mountain before.
Since it was a Hidden Scale Mountain core, the only suitable candidate was the Iron Jade Ice Scorpion, also a biological, offensive type.
A moment later, the Frost Snow Woman returned to her spirit space, leaving the girl and the scorpion alone in the room.
A week had passed since entering Gray Shadow Mountain. Today was the day of the novice trial.
Thousands of tasks were listed. Completing any one of them was enough to pass and officially join Gray Shadow Mountain.
In the trial hall, twenty or so young girls waited nervously.
Among them was the silver-haired Shui Qingyue, casually playing with a strand of hair.
Her reputation had spread throughout the mountain. Initially admired, she was now notorious, all thanks to her arrogant and wicked behavior.
Even more widespread than the rumors about her personality were her infamous quotes, which had become popular memes within Gray Shadow Mountain:
My teacher is a senior instructor!
Do you want to defy a senior instructor?
Do you want to be sent to the mines by a senior instructor?
Such a despicable personality, yet she was a talented, high-rank Spirit Master. They were powerless against her.
In the center of the hall, a woman held a list of names, her expression serious.
“I will now announce the results of the novice trial.”
“After careful evaluation by the Gray Shadow Mountain higher-ups, a total of seventeen participants have passed.”
“First place, Liu Xiaoqin, completion rate 0.021%.”
“Second place, Feng Ruru, completion rate 0.019%.”
“…”
“…”
As the seventeen names were read, everyone stared at the silver-haired girl in disbelief.
Shui Qingyue hadn’t passed?
Just by breaking through to the Illumination Stage and contracting with a high-rank spirit beast, she had already surpassed ninety-nine percent of previous participants. How could she have failed?
The woman cleared her throat and continued,
“Shui Qingyue, completion rate 72.84%, deemed unqualified due to character flaws, by unanimous decision of the instructors.”
“My teacher is a senior instructor!”
Gong Lianyue, her hands on her hips, her chest puffed out, remained defiant, showing no remorse.
Seeing this, the Gray Shadow Mountain higher-ups observing from the shadows sighed and shook their heads, giving up all hope.
Such incredible talent, yet her personality was spoiled. With such arrogance, she wouldn’t go far.
“I’m sorry, but that instructor has withdrawn their offer and refuses to take you as a disciple.”
“…”
“…”
This time, it was Gong Lianyue’s turn to fall silent. She lowered her head and thought for a moment.
A sound judgment.
Although Gray Shadow Mountain was far from a true powerhouse, their decision was undoubtedly correct.
To become so arrogant and conceited just from being noticed by a single senior instructor… if such behavior was rewarded, it would reflect poorly on the Gray Citadel and its subsidiary forces, the Ten Citadels.
She had come here to play the villain, embracing the saying, “Good people die young, while evil lives for a thousand years.”
But if she were a true villain, she wouldn’t constantly boast about her senior instructor. She would have silenced anyone who opposed her, preventing those ridiculous memes from spreading.
So, she hadn’t been playing a villain, but a fool…
“Oh well~~”
Gong Lianyue sighed, turned, and left the trial hall.
The other girls, initially shocked by the silver-haired girl’s dismissal, then exchanged delighted glances.
It was like witnessing the downfall of a hated bully, a satisfying sense of justice.
They still remembered her cold and dismissive attitude. They hadn’t expected her to fall so quickly.
Even Gong Lianyue hadn’t anticipated this setback. It was truly unexpected.
Her chances of attending the legendary being’s birthday celebration seemed even more remote now. She would have to find another way. She had underestimated the factions of the Wind Realm…
Rejecting even a high-rank Spirit Master… they had some backbone.
However, before she could leave the hall, a woman in a black robe stopped her.
Gong Lianyue paused, recognizing the woman who had been handing out flyers in the herb gathering area, seemingly a member of the Saintess’s faction.
The black-robed woman looked at the silver-haired girl with a smug expression, as if looking at a stray dog.
“No senior instructor to protect you now? Then come with me. The Saintess wants to see you.”
A powerful wave of spirit energy erupted. Feeling the oppressive aura of the Dawn and Dusk Stage Spirit Master, the silver-haired girl nodded helplessly.
She was led away, a perfect example of the typical, cowardly antagonist’s downfall.
However, at this moment, facing impending doom, the girl’s mind was filled with a ridiculous thought.
“The Saintess of Gray Shadow Mountain wants to see me? Could it be… she wants to commit suicide and give me her position?”
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