Chapter 166

Chapter 166

When all the spirit plants in the space had grown luxuriantly, Wen Guangun's body was also almost fully recovered.

Wen Qiao transformed back into human form and stood up from the spirit herb field. The three demonic beasts looked at her with disappointment and expressed their hope that she would transform back, assuring her they would work hard to raise her.

Even Wen Guangun, the small food-iron beast who still needed to be raised by others, was willing to give her some of the precious Jade Nectar he had stored.

Wen Qiao: "… I don't need you to raise me."

Wen Qiao felt that compared to being a small immobile seedling, she preferred being human. Moreover, the degree to which these three demonic beasts liked the little seedling always made her feel that when her demonic body grew to the point of flowering and fruiting, it would be the time for them to eat her.

Wen Qiao hoped that her demonic body wasn't some kind of high-grade spirit medicine. She really didn't want those demonic beasts to want to take a bite out of her every time they saw her; this kind of affection she couldn't bear.

Ignoring the three demonic beasts, Wen Qiao left the spirit field while warning the three to be careful not to damage the spirit herbs in the field.

The three obediently agreed, but as soon as she turned around, Wen Tuto took a bite out of a Dragon Vine Orchid leaf, Wen Guangun ate an entire Seven-Tongue Lingzhi, and Wen Jiji sat on and broke a Beauty-Retaining Flower.

Wen Qiao, who witnessed this with her divine sense: "…"

Wen Qiao finally understood why there were fewer spirit herbs in the space than the last time she entered. It turned out that Wen Tuto and Wen Guangun had been sneaking bites.

Since her injuries had healed, Wen Qiao decided to start working.

She first checked the spirit herbs that Wen Tuto and the others had eaten, took some seeds, and nurtured them to replenish the missing herbs.

Every spirit herb planted in the space, Wen Qiao would first mature one, obtain its seeds, and then nurture more to plant in the spirit field, just in case of emergencies.

So whenever she found any that had been eaten by Wen Tuto and the others, she would promptly use the seeds to nurture replacements.

After checking the spirit herbs in the field, Wen Qiao's gaze fell on the few Purple Jade Spirit Bamboo planted at the edge of the space.

Purple Jade Spirit Bamboo was one of the foods that food-iron beasts loved to eat. To raise Wen Guangun, Wen Qiao had transplanted several stalks of Purple Jade Spirit Bamboo into the space and specially nurtured a large cluster. During this period, Wen Tuto and Wen Guangun stayed in the space to heal their wounds, and without paying attention, these Purple Jade Spirit Bamboos were gnawed down to only a few stalks by Wen Guangun.

Wen Guangun was a clever youngling and knew that Wen Qiao could nurture spirit plants. He deliberately left a few stalks of Purple Jade Spirit Bamboo uneaten, planning to wait for Wen Qiao to nurture more before continuing to gnaw on them.

"En en en en~"

Wen Guangun pawed at Wen Qiao's leg, pointed at the remaining few stalks of Purple Jade Spirit Bamboo, then rolled over in front of her and tilted his head to look at her.

Wen Qiao looked at the black-and-white dumpling at her feet, charmed beyond measure, and very unscrupulously nurtured a large cluster of Purple Jade Spirit Bamboo, exhausting herself in the process.

Wen Guangun happily crawled into the Purple Jade Spirit Bamboo and picked up a stalk to gnaw on. The strength of his fine white teeth gave the impression that even bones could be crushed by him.

The name "food-iron beast" wasn't for nothing. If they could swallow metal, how much more so other plants.

Beside the large ball of fluff, Wen Jiji, seeing the cluster of Purple Jade Spirit Bamboo, rolled over and pawed at her, chirping at her.

At this moment, Ning Yuzhou's voice sounded: "Chui."

Wen Qiao turned her head and saw Ning Yuzhou sitting under the Stone Golden Python Creeper, beckoning to her.

Without hesitation, Wen Qiao abandoned the large ball of fluff and walked over to her husband.

The air was filled with a delicious aroma. Ning Yuzhou had cooked a soup, and although the three demonic beasts were attracted by the smell, Ning Yuzhou indicated that it was cooked for Wen Qiao, so the three had to resist their cravings.

They were all very enthusiastic about raising the little seedling and would never compete with the little seedling for food.

Wen Qiao: "…" She really didn't mind if they competed for food, as long as they could win.

Sitting beside Ning Yuzhou, a bowl of soup was placed in front of Wen Qiao.

Taking a sip of the soup, Wen Qiao tasted the presence of Jade Nectar, though not much, but the whole bowl of soup had a different taste, even more delicious.

Wen Qiao enjoyed it, squinting her eyes in pleasure. She turned the spoon and offered it to Ning Yuzhou, "Husband, have a drink too."

Ning Yuzhou smiled and opened his mouth to drink the soup she fed him, then watched her drink the soup and said, "Chui, now adrift in the vast sea, we don't know where we are. Why don't we stay in the space for a few more days, make more preparations before leaving, and consider it a rest."

Wen Qiao agreed without thinking.

They had spent half a year in the secret realm, their spirits always taut. After being injured earlier, they naturally needed to rest. It was just what she wanted to rearrange the space and solve the large ball of fluff's food problem, which would likely take a considerable amount of time, so they indeed couldn't leave the space anytime soon.

Moreover, there weren't many living creatures in the surrounding seas, so no matter how long they stayed in the space, they wouldn't fear the secret of the space being exposed.

After finishing the soup, Wen Qiao took out a piece of Honey Lip and slowly gnawed on it. After eating three finger-length pieces of Honey Lip, the primordial spirit power in her body was finally restored, and she continued working with renewed vigor.

She took out a seed of the Immortal Blessing Spirit and set aside a small plot of the spirit field, burying the seed in the field and beginning to nurture it.

The large ball of fluff, Wen Jiji, stood in front of her, staring intently at her movements. When Wen Qiao nurtured an Immortal Blessing Spirit to the point of flowering, Wen Jiji flatteringly stuffed a piece of Honey Lip into her mouth, his pair of blue eyes overflowing with joy.

Wen Qiao glanced at him. Even though she was exhausted, she was deeply touched by his actions.

Wen Jiji happily circled around Wen Qiao, urging her to continue nurturing. He wanted many, many Immortal Blessing Spirit flowers. Once he could ensure a sufficient harvest of Immortal Spirit Honey, he could lay eggs for her.

Wen Qiao: "…" She really didn't need him to lay eggs for her!

Although Wen Jiji wished to have many Immortal Blessing Spirits right away, the Immortal Blessing Spirit flowers weren't that easy to nurture. It often took most of the day to barely nurture one, and Wen Qiao was also exhausted.

Whenever the primordial spirit power in her body was depleted, Wen Qiao would directly gnaw on Honey Lip, using it like a spirit pill. When the primordial spirit power in all thirty-six spirit orifices was full, she would continue nurturing Immortal Blessing Spirit flowers.

This repeated process, although tiring, gradually increased the primordial spirit power in her body.

Wen Qiao was somewhat delighted. At this rate, she might break through to the middle stage of the Primordial Void Realm soon.

A month later, Wen Qiao had nurtured a total of one hundred Immortal Blessing Spirit flowers and finally stopped.

She stopped because the plot of land set aside for the Immortal Blessing Spirits was already full, and she couldn't continue. Although the number of these one hundred Immortal Blessing Spirit flowers couldn't compare to those in the valley, compared to the plots of land in the space where other spirit herbs were planted, it was still quite spectacular.

This showed that Wen Qiao secretly favored the large ball of fluff, squeezing out a plot of land for him to plant Immortal Blessing Spirits.

Wen Jijiji compared the surrounding spirit fields and was barely satisfied, so she didn't urge Wen Qiao any further.

With Wen Guangun and Wen Jijiji's food settled, Wen Qiao decided to take a break.

However, when she turned around and saw Ning Yuzhou drawing an array disk under the Stone Golden Python Creeper, as well as the creeper that had almost covered the entire edge of the space, Wen Qiao had another idea.

"Dear husband, do you think we should build a house in the space?"

"A house?" Ning Yuzhou looked up at her, somewhat puzzled. "How would you build it?"

Ning Yuzhou often heard her lament about the lack of space, which led him to not consider building a residence within the space for now. He planned to wait until his cultivation improved and the space expanded before giving it thought.

Wen Qiao pointed at the Stone Golden Python Creeper and said directly, "Let the creeper build it."

Ning Yuzhou thought for a moment and understood her meaning, then smiled and got up, ready to follow her lead.

Immediately, Wen Qiao clenched her fists, preparing to make a great effort.

She placed her hand on the root of the Stone Golden Python Creeper, channeling spiritual energy into it while guiding its growth according to her vision.

Three days later, a vine house suspended in mid-air appeared in the space.

The construction method of this vine house was similar to the cages used by the demonic cultivators outside Tai Zecheng to imprison cultivators, except that those cages were made of demonic plants, very crude, and lacked any aesthetic appeal.

The vine house used the thick vines of the Stone Golden Python Creeper as support, with the vines forming walls and weaving together a house that wasn't particularly large but was quite exquisite. The shape of the house was simple, consisting of two rooms and a hall, with the hall in the middle and the rooms on either side. Although there were windows and doors, they only had frames. Since there were only the two of them in the space, it didn't matter whether the windows and doors were installed or not, so Wen Qiao didn't trouble the Stone Golden Python Creeper with that.

In front of the house was a balcony made of vines, complete with vine chairs and tables for resting.

The Stone Golden Python Creeper, which had been winding along the edges of the space, gathered all its branches and leaves, growing upward and following Wen Qiao's instructions to create this vine house.

This not only saved space but also provided a place for Ning Yuzhou and Wen Qiao to rest when they entered the space.

The vine house was ten zhang above the ground, with a staircase formed from vines leading up to it, winding and dotted with leaves, adding a touch of whimsy. However, for Wen Qiao and the three beasts, the staircase was more decorative than practical; she could easily leap up, and the three beasts could jump up as well, so who would slowly climb the stairs?

When Wen Qiao and the three beasts leaped onto the balcony in front of the vine house, they saw Ning Yuzhou calmly ascending the stairs.

Wen Qiao: "…"

Well, her husband was no ordinary man, even walking with a particularly elegant and leisurely demeanor.

The two of them and the three beasts took a tour of the vine house and were all very satisfied.

Wen Qiao had plans for each room: the one on the left was arranged as a bedroom for sleeping, where she and Ning Yuzhou would rest; the largest room in the middle was Ning Yuzhou's workspace, with shelves made from the Stone Golden Python Creeper against the wall; and the right room was set up as a warehouse to store various spirit herb seeds and items they obtained during their adventures.

Ning Yuzhou found her arrangements quite good.

As for the beasts, they were easy to please.

Apart from Wen Tutu, who had been with Wen Qiao for a long time, Wen Guangun and Wen Jijiji had no concept of living in a house. And Wen Tutu didn't want to be separated from Wen Qiao, so none of the three had considered having their own rooms.

The two Yellow Crystal Ants liked staying on the Ant Fragrance Tree, treating it as their home and rarely leaving it.

Ning Yuzhou entered the middle living room and began setting things up.

Seeing him clear out some spirit pills and alchemy materials from his storage bag and place them on the shelves, Wen Qiao suddenly thought of something and asked, "Dear husband, can you use that strand of Earth Heart Crimson Flame Fire that Senior Sister gave you now?"

"Not yet," Ning Yuzhou replied. "I plan to tame it first before using it."

Hearing this, Wen Qiao furrowed her brows and looked at him worriedly.

For most cultivators, taming a heaven and earth strange fire was not an easy task. Throughout history, countless cultivators had been devoured by strange fires. Those who successfully tamed strange fires were usually cultivators with fire-elemental primordial spirit roots, preferably mutated fire-elemental primordial spirit roots.

To tame a strange fire smoothly, one needed to have a powerful cultivation that could withstand the might of the strange fire. However, by the time one reached such a high level of cultivation, they wouldn't need the strange fire to add to their prowess.

Given Ning Yuzhou's current strength, he couldn't successfully tame the strange fire.

Ning Yuzhou knew her concerns and smiled. "Don't worry, Chui. I don't intend to tame it now, but rather to slowly refine it and wait for the right opportunity to tame it."

Wen Qiao was puzzled. "Do you want to wait until your cultivation is higher to tame it?"

"Mm, you could say that," Ning Yuzhou tilted his head and smiled at her.

Wen Qiao immediately felt relieved and said earnestly, "Then you must be careful and not force it. If necessary, we can rent a pill refining room in the future."

Ever since Ning Yuzhou could cultivate, he mostly used fire talismans when refining pills. But how could the effects of fire talismans compare to naturally occurring flames in the world?

When refining yellow-grade and mystic-grade pills, the reliance on fire wasn't significant, and fire talismans could be used instead. But when he refined earth-grade pills, Wen Qiao could feel that the role of fire talismans in pill refinement was insufficient, greatly reducing Ning Yuzhou's speed of refining pills. Although the success rate remained full pills, it required more mental effort than usual.

His ability to refine top-quality earth-grade pills with fire talismans could be attributed to his outstanding talent and skill. Other alchemists simply couldn't refine earth-grade pills with talisman fire.

In the future, when he became a heavenly-grade alchemist, the role of fire talismans would be close to zero, and they would have to rent pill refining rooms with earth fire.

The same principle applied to artifact forging.

That was why many alchemists and artifact forgers preferred to live in cultivation cities with pill refining rooms and artifact forging rooms. If they wanted to privately refine pills or forge artifacts, unless they possessed strange fires, it was impossible.

Ning Yuzhou took out the red stone containing the Earth Heart Crimson Flame Fire.

The moment this stone appeared, the surrounding air instantly became scorching hot. The leaves of the Stone Golden Python Creeper near the window quickly wilted and turned yellow, showing signs of withering. Wen Qiao hurriedly set up an isolation array to prevent the Earth Heart Crimson Flame Fire from drying out the creeper's moisture.

Looking at the red stone, Wen Qiao gained a deeper understanding of the power of strange fires.

Even now, sealed within the stone, it was still this scorching. If released, its power would be even greater.

Taming it wouldn't be easy.

Seeing Ning Yuzhou start to refine this strand of Earth Heart Crimson Flame Fire, Wen Qiao didn't disturb him and left the vine house with the three beasts.

Standing below the vine house, Wen Qiao looked around the entire space and sensed the richer spiritual energy, realizing that the spirit vein she had collected in the secret realm had already merged with the space.

Apart from that, they had also buried numerous spirit stones within the space, and these alone were enough to enrich the spiritual energy within it.

However, the space required a significant amount of spiritual energy, not just for their cultivation but also for the growth of spirit herbs. The spirit stones consumed daily by the spirit fields were vast, leaving them perpetually short.

Then, Wen Qiao sat beneath the Stone Golden Python Walking Vine and took out the Thousand Threads Vine seed given to her by Qin Hongdao.

The seed of the Thousand Threads Vine was about the size of a thumb, crimson with a cold metallic sheen. Its vitality was incredibly active, and when Wen Qiao touched it, she could feel its desire to break free and sprout roots.

She held the seed in her hand and slowly infused it with primordial spirit energy.

In an instant, the Thousand Threads Vine rapidly produced countless fine vines, each as thin as a strand of human hair. Their crimson hue blossomed in her hand like a blooming velvet flower.

Wen Qiao infused it with a few more strands of primordial spirit energy, causing the Thousand Threads Vine to grow even faster. The crimson vines darkened, resembling steel bristles, stretching forward aggressively.

The three beasts squatting before Wen Qiao were unsurprisingly bound by the Thousand Threads Vine.

The three beasts: "…" What had they done wrong to deserve being tied up?

Wen Qiao couldn’t help but want to laugh, quickly infusing the Thousand Threads Vine with more spirit energy to encourage its continued growth.

With the primordial spirit energy, the Thousand Threads Vine released the three beasts and continued to grow wildly.

Several hours later, the vines withered and fell off, leaving behind several crimson seeds among the fallen vines.

Wen Qiao picked up the seeds and examined them, then took another Thousand Threads Vine seed and continued to nurture it.

The earlier nurturing was merely to obtain its seeds, but this time, Wen Qiao aimed to explore the uses of the Thousand Threads Vine. Although Qin Hongdao said it was good for binding people, how to bind and use it still needed learning and observation. Otherwise, using it recklessly against enemies might have the opposite effect.

Seeing the countless vines sprout again from Wen Qiao’s hands, the three beasts behaved this time and hurriedly ran away.

Despite their timely escape, they were still bound by the Thousand Threads Vine.

The crimson vines, darkening to black, split into three strands, binding the three beasts. From afar, it looked as if red vines grew from Wen Qiao’s hand, tying up the three beasts.

"Zis! Zis!"

"Ji! Ji!"

"En! En!"

The three beasts didn’t dare struggle and could only call out to Wen Qiao.

Wen Qiao said, "Don’t worry, let me test its binding strength first. Once I’m done, I’ll transform into Little Miao and stay with you in the spirit field."

The allure of Little Miao was too great, so the three beasts could only continue serving as sparring partners, allowing Wen Qiao to experiment with the usage of the Thousand Threads Vine.