Chapter 9: Spiritual Water
Shen Xu felt better after clearing things up with Zhen Yuan.
The weight pressing on his heart was removed, and he felt better about the marriage.
"You seem relieved." Zhen Yuan observed.
Shen Xu laughed but did not say anything. Instead, he took Zhen Yuan's arm and led him towards the spiritual water lake in the space.
"I want to put the spirit stones you gave me into the lake. Is it okay?" He asked.
"You can do whatever you want."
As he spoke, Zhen Yuan did some mental calculations and figured out the number of spirit stones in his storage bag.
"I still have nine thousand spirit stones. We can put them in the lake." He said.
"Is that okay? What about our travel expenses?"
"Don't worry. Blue Spring town is not far from Blue Deer village. We will sell talismans when we get there."
Speaking of talismans, Zhen Yuan remembered he didn't put any in the storage bag he gave to Shen Xu.
Now that they were Taoist companions, he couldn't be stingy.
He had to make sure that Shen Xu had adequate means to protect himself.
"Take this first." He said and took out three hundred talismans from his storage bag.
Of the three hundred, two hundred and fifty were level one talismans, forty were level two, and the remaining ten were level three.
However, Shen Xu did not take them all.
At the moment, he was only a qi refining realm cultivator.
Even if his soul power was powerful, he couldn't activate level-three talismans or formations.
Thinking about it this way, Shen Xu felt it was a waste to keep the level three talismans.
Since they didn't have enough spirit stones, it was best to sell the talismans.
After all, Zhen Yuan was not going anywhere. When the time came, he would draw more talismans for Shen Xu to use.
"Alright, but take more level two talismans." Zhen Yuan said after listening to Shen Xu's rationale.
Without waiting for Shen Xu's agreement, he took the level three talismans and replaced them with sixty level two talismans.
On second thought, he added five formation disks.
"All are level two formation disks. Three are protective formations, and the remaining are attack formations." He said.
"I don't need…" Shen Xu started, but Zhen Yuan didn't want to listen.
He placed the things in Shen Xu's hands, and the double had no choice but to put them away.
Although Shen Xu felt that having so many talismans was unnecessary, his heart was sweet.
He liked that Zhen Yuan thought about his safety and didn't think twice about sharing his things.
"Thank you." He finally said.
"We don't need that between us." Zhen Yuan said and rubbed the other's hair.
After that, they continued toward the lake and stopped at its bank.
"The spiritual aura in the space comes from this lake." Shen Xu said and looked at the clear water.
He didn't see anything special about the water, but he knew it was rich in qi.
"Do you want to take a sip before we add spirit stones?" He asked.
"Let's do it."
Zhen Yuan removed a cup from his storage bag and scooped some water from the lake.
"Have a drink."
Shen Xu took the cup and had a sip.
The water was cool, and when it reached his stomach, the spiritual aura was quickly absorbed, and his body was refreshed.
"It's so refreshing." He exclaimed and took another sip.
After drinking half the water, he passed the cup to Zhen Yuan, and watched him in anticipation.
Zhen Yuan did not disappoint.
He drank the remaining water, and his body was refreshed.
While Zhen Yuan was drinking, a thought crossed Shen Xu's mind and his brows furled.
"What's wrong?"
"You comprehend laws instead of refining qi. Are spiritual water and spirit stones useful to you?"
"My cultivation level won't improve from absorbing spirit stones. However, I can still use spirit stones to replenish my qi and relieve fatigue." Zhen Yuan answered.
"You have qi?" Shen Xu was a little surprised.
Rather than answer, Zhen Yuan opened his hand, and a drop of clear qi appeared on his palm.
The drop was only the size of a tear, but it filled Shen Xu with profound awe.
He felt like he was standing in front of something sacred and beyond his reach.
"This is all the qi in my body."
"How can that be?" Shen Xu was confused.
Even a cultivator at the first level of the qi refining realm had more than one drop of qi.
"When I comprehend laws, my understanding congeals into qi. So far, I have only managed to congeal this small drop."
Shen Xu frowned, and thousands of thoughts crossed his mind.
He wanted to understand Zhen Yuan's cultivation, but the more he knew, the more confused he got.
After thinking for a while, he finally settled on one question.
"Is one drop enough to fight and do other things?" He asked.
"It's enough."
Originally, Zhen Yuan was also at a loss.
However, after experimenting, he discovered that the drop of qi was very vast.
If defined in terms of level one talismans, he could draw ten thousand talismans before exhausting the drop.
In terms of level two talismans, he could draw one thousand and one hundred level three talismans.
With regards to monsters, he would have to go all out with an early stage level three monster to exhaust his qi.
"Isn't a level three monster equivalent to a golden core realm cultivator?" Shen Xu asked in shock.
If Zhen Yuan could fight a level three monster, it meant his cultivation was already in the golden core realm.
However, Zhen Yuan was only sixteen.
At the age of sixteen, the absolute geniuses in the capital were only at the foundation establishment realm.
'What a monster.' Shen Xu thought and stole a glance at Zhen Yuan.
"What's the matter?"
"It's nothing." Shen Xu answered.
However, his mind was running wildly.
The more he interacted with Zhen Yuan, the more he felt that something was off.
He couldn't understand why a character like him was not in the original book.
"Don't think too much." Zhen Yuan said and rubbed Shen Xu's hair.
"I know." Shen Xu said and forced himself to relax.
Since he couldn't figure it out, he could only take things as they came.
"Let's add the spirit stones."
"Don't add yours. Keep them for your cultivation." Zhen Yuan quickly stopped Shen Xu.
Although Shen Xu wanted to argue, he didn't have a chance. Zhen Yuan removed all the spirit stones in his storage bag and dropped them in the spiritual water lake.
As soon as the spirit stones fell into the water, the lake began to boil.
It boiled for an incense stick of time, and when it finally stopped, the aura in the chaos flame space was a little richer.
"Can you feel it?" Shen Xu asked excitedly.
"It's richer."
Zhen Yuan bent down and scooped another cup of spiritual water.
He handed the cup to Shen Xu, and the other immediately took a sip.
"It's indeed richer." Shen Xu said and sighed.
Unfortunately, his cultivation was already at the twelfth level of the qi refining realm. The only way to improve was to break through to the foundation establishment realm.
However, Shen Xu couldn't do this since he planned to abolish himself.
"Although you can't take advantage of it now, you will be able to in the future." Zhen Yuan soothed.
"It's not a waste either way. Richer spiritual aura is good for the spirit herbs."
"That's right." Shen Xu agreed.
While they were talking and walking, Xiaoren planted many seeds on the land.
With the increase in aura, most of the seeds had sprouted. The red soil was now covered by a layer of green, which made the space look more vibrant.
"Zhen Yuan, you should spend more time in the space to comprehend the laws here." Shen Xu suddenly said.
"The laws in this space are too profound. I need a deeper foundation before I can think about them."
"Is that so?"
"Hmmm."
Shen Xu didn't quite understand, but he didn't ask more.
Since they were married, he didn't need to learn everything all at once.
As they continued to get along, he would naturally get a firmer grasp of Zhen Yuan's cultivation.
For now, what he needed to do was learn alchemy. This would not only help him earn spirit stones but also help his Taoist companion with his cultivation.
"Do you want to go outside to rest?" Zhen Yuan asked.
Shen Xu thought about the hut that had a hole on the roof and quickly shook his head.
"No. Let's stay in the space hut."
"Okay." Zhen Yuan didn't insist.
They walked to the bamboo hut and went straight to the bedroom.
When they entered the room, they realised there was only one bed.
Shen Xu looked at Zhen Yuan, and Zhen Yuan looked at him.
They looked at each other for a long time but neither compromised.
In the end, Shen Xu sighed and pulled Zhen Yuan towards the bed.
"Let's sleep together." He said.
"Okay."
Without another word, the two removed their outer robes and left their inner robes as sleepwear.