The room was not a big one. The table, bed, and all the other furniture was covered in a layer of dust. Clearly, no one had been staying in this room for a long time. Once Su Ming cleaned it up, he sat down on the bed and looked at the dark sky outside the window. His eyes began to sparkle.
Gradually, a hint of a smile appeared at the corners of his lips.
"The power of the world here is indeed thick!" Su Ming had noticed this when he was going up the mountain. As he sat on the bed, the feeling he gained from the presence all around him became even clearer.
"As expected of the place where a sect is located…"
There were three reasons why Su Ming came to Evil Spirit Sect. One of them was to resolve the crisis for Ugly Little Thing"s family, the second was to help her find the cause for her brother"s death, and the third was so that Su Ming could recover his cultivation base as quickly as possible.
The thick presence here was incredibly helpful towards helping him recover, but…
"The grudge is too deep…"
Su Ming frowned. The power of the world here might be thick, but the grudge contained within it was similarly thick. If he stayed here for a long period of time, his personality would definitely be affected.
He remained in pensive silence for a time, then his gaze fell on the gourd, and he saw that the ghost face formed from the black smoke was also looking at him, smiling ferociously. It thought that Su Ming could not see it. After all, he was merely a mortal in its eyes.
Su Ming did not bother himself with that ghost face. He opened the gourd, and an even thicker wave of grudge instantly came cras.h.i.+ng into his face. It instantaneously filled the entire room, causing shrill screams to sound in Su Ming"s ears.
After a moment, his face turned dark and sinister. He poured out a medicinal core from the gourd, which was purplish black. The thick grudge within it was terrifying.
Yet strangely, when he placed the medicinal core to his nose to sniff it, a medicinal fragrance wafted into his nostrils, and it turned into a refres.h.i.+ng feeling.
Su Ming shook the gourd slightly, and found that there were about a hundred something medicinal cores inside it.
He closed his eyes and only opened them again after a long moment. A pensive look appeared in his eyes.
"This is a very good supplement. If a mortal takes it, they will be able to strengthen their bodies… They will be filled with blood… Just what is this Zhao Chong thinking about?" A glint appeared in Su Ming"s eyes and he swallowed the core.
He was familiar with medicinal herbs since he was young, and had ample experience when it came to creating medicinal pills. With just one sniff, he could tell the general effects of this medicinal core. Since he could not tell what was going on with that Zhao Chong, he decided to just swallow one of the cores.
The medicine turned into a wave of warmth that flowed through Su Ming"s entire body. After a moment, a brilliant glow shone in his eyes. He brought out a few more pills and swallowed them one by one. His cultivation base recovered a bit more after he swallowed those medicinal cores.
When it turned dark outside, Su Ming lay on his bed, circulating his cultivation base within his body as he pretended to sleep. When midnight arrived and everything was silent outside, the cold air in his room suddenly turned thicker. A black shadow floated out from the wall by his side.
The ghost-like figure floated to Su Ming"s bed, as if he was observing him. Soon after, ghosts like these floated out from all the walls in the room. Before long, there were about a dozens of them in Su Ming"s room. They floated around while going in and out of the room, but they did not make a single sound.
With his eyes narrowed, Su Ming lay on his bed and watched this scene. If he was really a child, then he would definitely be so terrified that he would be s.h.i.+vering when he saw this sight.
However, he was Su Ming. He only narrowed his eyes and looked at them coldly. These were indeed ghosts, but judging by their looks, they had been here for a long time. They continued wandering about the room, and no one could say what they were doing.
This scene lasted for several hours. When the sky started becoming brighter, all the drifting and wandering ghosts suddenly stopped moving and looked towards Su Ming simultaneously.
A murderous look appeared in their eyes. When they looked at him, their gazes seemed to have gained corporeal form. Almost at the instant they looked at Su Ming, they abruptly moved and charged towards him.
A glint appeared in Su Ming"s eyes. He chose not to move and simply allowed the ghosts to surround him. Once they did so, he saw all of them sucking in a breath in his direction.
With it, Su Ming could clearly feel a hint of his life force being absorbed. A freezing glare flashed in his eyes. The ghosts slowly retreated once they absorbed a hint of his life force. They returned to the walls around him and disappeared.
The sky turned bright at that moment.
"This room is very interesting…"
Su Ming opened his eyes and looked at the walls around him with slightly cold eyes. He averted his gaze and picked up the gourd on the ground, then continued to swallow the medicinal cores.
Time pa.s.sed. In the blink of an eye, ten days went by. During them, Su Ming did not get out of the house, neither did Zhao Chong send any word to him. Everything remained silent.
However, when night came, the ghosts would appear. Every single day before morning, they would absorb his life force and leave.
Thankfully, they would only absorb a small wisp, and it was not much of a problem to Su Ming. Besides, when he ate the medicinal cores, he could replenish his life force. Su Ming spent most of his time in absorbing the power of the world in this place and used it to recover his injuries.
On this day, he finished eating all the medicinal cores. He cast a glance at the gourd and picked it up once he stood up. When he stepped out of his room, he pushed open the door to his house for the first time and walked into the courtyard.
It was dusk. The sky was filled with a layer of crimson. The remaining rays of light from the sun scattered on the ground, and it looked incredibly beautiful. With the gourd in hand, Su Ming went to Zhao Chong"s house and wrapped his fist in his palm with a respectful expression on his face.
"Greetings, Master, I"ve already finished all the medicinal cores." To Su Ming, these medicinal cores were still marginally useful. They could make him recover faster.
It might not be much, but if he could get free medicinal cores, he would naturally not let it pa.s.s.
Deathly silence filled Zhao Chong"s house. The hoa.r.s.e voice only appeared slowly after a moment.
"You finished them? There were a hundred Soul Nurturing Cores, and you finished all of them in ten days? Didn"t I tell you to only take one per day?!" For the first time, a hint of emotion could be heard within that voice.
"My body felt warm and really comfortable once I ate those medicinal cores, so I didn"t manage to control myself and ate more," Su Ming said.
He did not know what Zhao Chong was thinking at that moment. After a period of silence, another wave of fog flew out from the house and turned into a dried up arm before Su Ming. It swiftly grabbed his right hand.
Su Ming smiled coldly in his heart, but his face was pale. He allowed his right hand to be held by that arm and sensed a wave of cold air rus.h.i.+ng into his body, swimming through his body once before leaving.
"There are three hundred here. You… don"t you dare eat them too quickly!" Once the cold air went away, the black fog also retreated, and three gourds flew out from the house before falling by Su Ming"s feet.
"Thank you, Master." Su Ming picked up the three gourds on the ground and went back to his house, no longer bothering himself with that Zhao Chong.
"This person definitely has ulterior motives. If that"s the case, I"ll just get what I can from him."
Once Su Ming returned to his house, he sat down in his room and brought out one of the medicinal cores to inspect it after he opened the gourd. Then he swallowed it.
Time gradually trickled by, and twenty days went by...
Su Ming had been in Evil Spirit Sect for a whole month now. During this time, the rate of his recovery far surpa.s.sed what he had managed outside. His cultivation base had recovered by about fifteen percent as he took in those medicinal cores and absorbed the power of the world in secret.
On this day, he finished the medicinal cores once again. Su Ming gave a lazy stretch and stood up, then grabbed the three gourds before going to Zhao Chong"s gate once again.
"Master, I finished the medicinal cores again."
This time, Zhao Chong"s house remained silent for a much longer period of time compared to the last time. When he eventually spoke, there was a hint of disbelief within the hoa.r.s.e voice.
"There were three hundred in there!"
"That"s right. I ate them all." Su Ming nodded.
"How many do you eat per day?" Zhao Chong"s voice became much darker than before.
"Sometimes I don"t take any. Sometimes I take about a dozen per day. My record was a hundred per day," Su Ming reported honestly.
Zhao Chong"s house fell silent once again. After a long time, a cold harrumph traveled out.
"Since you like these medicinal cores, no matter how much you want, I will let you have them!" When those words were spoken, a huge gourd about half a man"s height abruptly flew out from the opened door to the house and fell with a bang before Su Ming.
"There are two thousand cores here. If you can, finish them within a month!"
Su Ming grinned, then dragged the gourd back to his room and closed the door. Once he inspected it, he started going through his life of recovering his cultivation base again.
But he was smiling coldly in his heart. Zhao Chong was really good at holding it in regarding this. On one hand, it was because he had not noticed the waves of power from his cultivation base, and on the other hand, it also let Su Ming see that whatever it was that he was plotting for, it was something of incredible scale.
"Alright, let"s see just where this person"s limits lie."
Time pa.s.sed as usual, and in the blink of an eye… another month was over.
"Master, I finished the medicinal cores." Su Ming stood at the same spot in the courtyard before Zhao Chong"s house. Before him was the empty giant gourd. He even tapped it, and an empty sound rang from within.
Zhao Chong"s house remained silent. When the time taken for almost half of an incense stick to burn went by, three huge gourds flew out from inside the house, and each of them contained about two thousand pills. They landed before Su Ming.
This time, this Zhao Chong did not even seem to want to speak.
Another month later…
"Master, I finished them again."
Another month later…
"Master, do you have anymore?"
This lasted up to half a year. During it, Su Ming would take a large amount of medicinal cores from Zhao Chong every month. The number of pills he took already numbered to tens of thousands, and Su Ming was taking more and more in each go. His speed of recovery combined with the power of the world in this place had allowed him to recover almost four-tenths of his cultivation base during these past six months!
This sort of recovery had made Su Ming see hope, but the effects of the medicinal core were practically insignificant by then.
On this day, Su Ming came to Zhao Chong"s house once again and said these words, "Master, could you give me another type of medicinal core?"