Liu Wu led the few young girls along the road back to the Xuanpin Sect.
As a cultivator of the first level of Qi Refining, he could have moved as lightly as a swallow, treading upon the wind. But the girls behind him were ordinary mortals, their stamina limited. Even when exhausting themselves, they could only barely keep pace with his drastically slowed steps.
The rugged mountain paths and dense forests were trials to them.
After only half a day, they were drenched in sweat, breathless, and pale-faced. Liu Wu showed little pity. Only when they were truly unable to walk did he stop to let them rest briefly.
Night soon descended. The cold moonlight filtered through layers of canopy, casting mottled, eerie shadows on the ground.
From deep within the mountains came the occasional chilling roars of ferocious beasts. The terrified girls instinctively drew closer to Liu Wu.
"Tonight, we rest here." Liu Wu found a relatively sheltered hollow in the mountainside, his voice calm. "Start a fire. Keep watch in turns."
He himself sat cross-legged upon a clean rock, eyes shut as though meditating in cultivation, though in truth his divine sense was spread outward, alert to every rustle of wind and grass.
…
Inside a distant cave abode, Liu Ming suddenly opened his eyes.
The familiar chime of the system echoed within his mind, arriving right on time.
[A new day has come. A new avatar can be summoned.]
"Summon avatar!" Liu Ming gave the order in his heart without hesitation.
[Summoning avatar…]
[Randomly generating avatar's appearance…]
[Please assign items to the avatar.]
"None."
[Please name the avatar.]
"Liu Liu."
The name almost slipped out, but at the last moment, he forced himself to stop.
A thought emerged in his mind.
In Wangxian Town, everyone knew—the Master of Blood Banquet Valley sought to accept a disciple named Shen Qingyun.
Countless mortals of that name, from all corners of the land, had rushed eagerly to the City Lord's mansion, all for that faint and elusive chance at immortality!
Liu Ming, too, felt curiosity toward Blood Banquet Valley. Unfortunately, his own name was not Shen Qingyun; he had almost no chance of being admitted.
But what if… his avatar was named Shen Qingyun?
He did not fully understand the system's rules for naming, but he was eighty percent confident that if his avatar bore the name Shen Qingyun, it could slip through the test and infiltrate Blood Banquet Valley!
At that thought, Liu Ming stopped hesitating.
[Please name the avatar.]
"Shen Qingyun!"
[Name confirmed.]
[Avatar summoning… please wait.]
The air twisted slightly. A young man of seventeen or eighteen, carrying a faint scholarly aura, quietly appeared in the spacious hall.
Just then, the cave's stone doors were struck with a dull dong dong.
Liu Meng frowned. Who would come at this hour? With a wave of her hand, the door opened. A page from the Treasure Pavilion stood respectfully outside, holding a storage pouch.
"Senior Sister, the talisman materials you ordered have arrived—two hundred sets in total. That will be one Tri-Spirit coin." The boy's face wore a polished, professional smile.
Liu Meng accepted the pouch. A sweep of her divine sense confirmed the talisman paper, spirit ink, brushes, and other supplies were all in order. She tossed over a Tri-Spirit coin and shut the stone door coldly.
It seemed that thin, wiry man had not betrayed her trust—he had indeed reached the Tri-Spirit Market and bought the materials.
Yet, he had not returned. Whether it was because of his slow pace, or some unforeseen mishap, she could not tell.
Speculation was useless. Liu Meng quickly gathered her focus and turned her full attention to the talisman materials before her.
Thanks to Liu San's "contribution," her mind was already brimming with knowledge—everything from the simplest Qi-Guiding talismans to various offensive and defensive charms. In theory, she was already a master.
All that was left was to put hand to practice.
Taking a deep breath, Liu Meng dipped her brush in spirit ink and began to sketch upon talisman paper.
She was attempting one of the most basic talismans: the Guiding Talisman.
Stroke by stroke—drawing lines, infusing spiritual energy… every step was etched into her memory, seen countless times through Liu San's eyes.
But just as she was about to seal the final stroke, containing the spiritual force within the paper—
Zila!
A sharp hiss. The energy flared out of control, and the talisman dissolved into smoke.
Failure.
Liu Meng frowned, but did not despair. She picked up a second sheet.
Puff.
This time, the ink spread messily. Another failure.
The third time, her spiritual infusion was rushed, the strokes collapsing.
The fourth, the fifth…
Over a dozen attempts, and not one success.
Setting her brush down, Liu Meng let out a breath of frustration. Knowledge alone was not enough—talisman crafting demanded precise control. A single slip meant instant failure.
Perhaps Liu San's mindless, desireless state had been oddly well-suited for talisman making.
The thought stifled her, but she could do nothing except keep trying.
One after another, the talisman papers turned to ash. Yet with every failure, her strokes grew steadier, her movements smoother.
She lost track of time. More than half the materials had been consumed before—
Hum—
A faint azure glow rippled across the talisman. The runes sank inward, and a stable, mysterious energy fluctuation emanated from it.
Her first Guiding Talisman—at last, a success!
Liu Meng exhaled deeply, a rare smile on her lips.
At that moment, Liu Wu finally returned, leading the weary, dust-covered girls.
They stood before Liu Meng, their faces pale and frightened.
Only now did they recall Liu Wu's earlier warning. Only now did they truly begin to wonder—what did this breathtakingly beautiful "fairy" intend for them?
What fate awaited them?
As the girls trembled, Liu Meng also fell into contemplation.
To teach them the sub-manual of the Xuanpin Technique, to make them her attendants—that much was certain. But after that?
Should she be like Su Meier—
Forbidding her attendants from harming the living, forbidding them from draining men's yang energy?
Sending them out to build their own caves once they broke through Qi Refining?
And herself… also harvesting yang essence from men?
Liu Meng shook her head. Though her body was female, her mind remained that of a man. The thought of dual cultivation with other men filled her with disgust.
Yet, if she did nothing and only relied on solitary cultivation, her progress would be far too slow.
A different idea began to form.
Why not let her attendants cultivate instead?
She could simply assign men to them, let them handle dual cultivation.
She had once thought those men were innocent victims. But after visiting Wangxian Town, she began to doubt—perhaps those men were all guilty.
The vicious brute Liu Ming had encountered before could hardly have been mere coincidence. In Su Meier's prison, there must have been many like him.
If so, then why not make use of them? Let her attendants harvest their essence.
The faster her attendants cultivated, the faster her own cultivation would grow through the feedback of the mother-manual.
Though it meant sharing resources, her own progress might not lag behind in the long term.
Most importantly, she would no longer have to step in herself—freeing her from that inner sense of revulsion.
"That's it, then."
Her mind made up, Liu Meng smiled faintly and beckoned the trembling girls forward.
Meanwhile, Liu Wu was preparing to set out once again.
He would first escort "Shen Qingyun" to Wangxian Town, so that he could slip into the City Lord's mansion and probe Blood Banquet Valley's secrets.
Afterward, Liu Wu would head for the dead city itself, carrying Liu Meng's Guiding Talisman, to seek out a Soul Banner within the city of Luo Feng.