Chapter 17

Xiaomiao was playing nearby.

Tanggu summoned the little spirit weasel with a wave of his hand, holding it in his palm.

The little weasel opened its pitch-black eyes wide, looking at him in confusion, unsure what this strange man was going to do.

At that moment, a faint rainbow light flashed in Tanggu's eyes. The light was dreamlike and illusory, eventually turning into a single pale blue hue, like a sharp sword, piercing through the little spirit weasel's eyes and into its mind.

The little spirit weasel froze instantly, then felt something was wrong and struggled continuously. Tanggu's soul was in danger of detaching from its spirit sea.

Seeing this, Tanggu gritted his teeth, spat out a mouthful of blood, and the blue light in his eyes intensified.

"Ya!"

The little spirit weasel only managed to cry out once before its body stiffened, its eyes becoming vacant and dazed, as if it had lost its life.

Its struggle ceased.

Tanggu's soul finally successfully entered its spirit sea, first touching a small ball of soul consciousness, like a fist-sized green light, weak, sensitive, and afraid.

Tanggu approached cautiously. At first, the green light emitted waves of resistance, fear, and retreat, but Tanggu's will radiated a gentle, bright, and warm sense of closeness.

Finally, the two approached and instantly merged. A faint sense of thought formed in Tanggu's heart.

Tanggu's heart stirred: "Little weasel!"

"Strange man?"

At first, the little weasel was clearly startled, but once it realized that the blue light was the strange man beside it, it became extremely excited and thrilled, clearly never having experienced such a wondrous thing.

The two slowly began to communicate. Tanggu knew he couldn't rush it and had to take it slowly, so he kept chatting with it, telling it stories about the outside world, the fun places, and all the delicious food.

Hearing these words, the little weasel, which had never seen the world beyond the forest, became increasingly excited. The green light jumped up and down. When Tanggu was about to leave, it emitted a lingering thought, showing great attachment, clearly having been lonely being confined here for so long.

However, Tanggu left resolutely. Before leaving, he secretly planted a trace of his spiritual consciousness in its spirit sea.

After Tanggu's soul left, the little weasel regained its usual agility. Its eyes, which had been staring at Tanggu, no longer showed fear or strangeness but instead a sense of familiarity.

In the following days, while waiting for the spirit fruit to ripen, Tanggu occasionally communicated with the little weasel using the spiritual consciousness he had left in its spirit sea. Each session was neither too long nor too short, always keeping it interested. This was the shared consciousness.

Three days later, Tanggu felt it was time and decided to start trying to make the little weasel do some simple tasks.

He shook some pine cones from a tree, marked them, and threw them. "Puff," the pine cones flew dozens of feet away. Then, his spiritual consciousness sent a wave in the little spirit weasel's spirit sea. The little weasel's pitch-black eyes turned, instantly understanding. It thought Tanggu was playing a game with it, darted forward, turned into a white light, and returned in the next moment, holding the pine cone Tanggu had thrown.

Tanggu smiled and threw another one, this one farther and in a more secluded spot, but the little weasel's triangular ears perked up, hearing the distant sound, and then it disappeared.

A moment later, it returned, carrying the pine cone back in its mouth.

For the third time, Tanggu threw the pine cone far beyond the little weasel's usual range, into a patch of grass, without deliberately focusing his consciousness on it.

But this time, after going fifty feet, the little weasel did not think of running away. Comically, it used its little head to push the pine cone back.

Seeing this, Tanggu smiled, knowing it had worked.

Although for now, he could only make it do such simple tasks, he believed that with more time, even if he let it go farther or do more complex actions, there would be no problem.

The art of controlling beasts had been successfully cultivated to a minor level.

...

Two days later, the small blood-vein fruits that Tanggu had been waiting for finally ripened, turning a dark red, crystal clear, and dripping with a fresh, peculiar, and rich fragrance.

Tanggu took out the jade box he had prepared, picked the fruits, and placed them inside. Then, he carried the little spirit weasel, leaped down the cliff, and headed straight for the shore where his boat was anchored.

By afternoon, Tanggu had returned to his small thatched hut.

After waiting so long, it was finally time for the harvest.

In the evening, Tanggu took the first small red fruit in the hut.

As the red fruit entered his mouth, a sweet, fragrant, and smooth sensation instantly flowed down his throat, spreading through his limbs and bones. Slowly, a sound like the roar of a dragon and the howl of a tiger emanated from Tanggu's body, lasting for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before gradually subsiding.

But after another cup of tea, Tanggu's face began to turn red and white, his expression becoming fierce. Inside his body, all the meridians emitted a sound like muffled thunder, like the sound of a bell.

With each thunderous sound, many black impurities slowly condensed on his skin, and fine, dense drops of blood seeped out from various parts of his muscles.

The little spirit weasel watched him curiously, not knowing what he was doing. After an hour, Tanggu's eyes flickered, and he opened them, took out the jade box, and swallowed the second small red fruit.

The same scenario repeated, but this time it was even more intense. Tanggu's body trembled continuously, but his expression was unusually calm.

Even a powerful aura began to emanate from his body.

The night passed quickly, and the eastern sky turned pale.

At the third watch of the morning, the sun rose, breaking the dawn.

Finally, Tanggu opened his eyes, and two substantial cold rays flashed in his eyes, then disappeared. He pondered for a moment and threw a punch.

"Thud!" A muffled sound.

A clear tearing sound was heard in the air, and the wooden table in the distance instantly shattered into seventeen or eighteen pieces, scattered on the ground.

Seeing this, Tanggu's eyes showed no sign of regret, but instead, he laughed heartily.

"Peak of the first stage of Qi Dao! Two red fruits actually brought me to this realm. It seems the second stage of Qi Dao is not far off."

"Now, it's time to return to the martial academy. I haven't been back for half a month; it must be quite lively there!"

After saying this, he stood up, found some water to clean himself, put on his gray robe, and headed in the direction of the martial academy.

Honestly, he had missed it a bit after being away for so long.

PS: First update. To explain, I didn't skip the update yesterday. I got up in the morning and wrote 5,000 words for "Demon Master" until 2 PM, then had lunch around 2:30 PM. I continued writing "Sword Armor" until 11 PM, finishing 17,000 words, completing the 22,000-word update. I stayed up until 2 AM, feeling extremely tired, and finally went to bed for a short nap, only to fall asleep directly.

Now, I can focus entirely on updating "Demon Master" without having to juggle both. The three missing updates will be completed over the next two days, meaning there will be at least seven updates today and tomorrow. This is the first chapter.

Please recommend and collect.

Page flip AD starts

Page flip AD ends