Chapter 1976: Lake of Hatred

Unfortunately, Zu An didn’t have enough information to investigate the weapon further. He could only put the Fallen Soul Banner away for now.

In the end, he took out the Naihe Oblivion Water. A single drop of turbid yellow liquid floated in midair. The other two weapons were easier to deal with, but this substance was a bit tricky.

The War Priest seemed to understand how precious the Naihe Oblivion Water was, so it had placed its spirit origin imprint on it. Furthermore, the imprint hadn't been weakened by the Violet-Gold Alms like the Fallen Soul Banner. Zu An's current strength was still insufficient to erase the War Priest’s imprint.

Ultimately, it was because he didn’t excel in the domain of the soul and spirit. It wasn’t that he didn’t try using Hundredwarble or other similar attacks against the imprint; it was just that none of it worked.

Gradually, he realized that what was left on the Naihe Oblivion Water wasn’t just a spiritual imprint, but rather a mysterious contract he couldn't fully comprehend yet at the moment. This Naihe Oblivion Water’s power was too great, so he didn’t really want to just stow it away and forget about it. The monsters were invading now, so he couldn't ignore any bit of possibility of increasing his current strength.

He suddenly thought of something and summoned Mo Xi.

Mo Xi’s ‘Farewell Nanchao’ skill had the ability to sever contracts, but for it to work, several conditions had to be met. If the removal of the contract was voluntary, her own cultivation had to at least be equal to that of the weaker party. If it wasn't, then her cultivation rank had to be higher.

Now that Zu An thought about it, he really wondered how she had been able to sever the connection between the Violet-Gold Alms and that monk. It seemed that the Violet-Gold Alms had coordinated with her.

The Violet-Gold Alms really was a bit mysterious; it was even able to wound the Fallen Soul Banner of the War Priest. While repairing the weapon, Zu An had begun to fully understand just how incredible the Fallen Soul Banner was.

Zu An put aside his random thoughts and continued to think about the Farewell Nanchao ability. Unfortunately, the Naihe Oblivion Water clearly didn’t have any intelligence of its own, so it couldn't coordinate with Mo Xi like the Violet-Gold Alms.

He really wondered just how the origin spirit imprint on the Naihe Oblivion Water could be categorized. Was it a voluntary contract or was it forced? He assumed that it was most likely involuntary, but the War Priest was now dead and couldn't express anything now. The spiritual imprint would definitely be affected by that too. However, even if it was voluntary, the difference in cultivation between Mo Xi and the War Priest was far more than a single cultivation rank.

Wait, if I increased the grade of the skill, it could also affect the process. With each increase in its grade, Mo Xi can overlook two entire cultivation ranks. If I upgraded it, the two cultivation ranks would be extremely helpful.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Furthermore, even though he had practically used up all of his money and resources recently, it wasn’t for nothing. He was able to upgrade both Daji and Mo Xi to the peak of the ninth rank. If he could give Mo Xi three more cultivation ranks, Farewell Nanchao could really work on the drop of Naihe Oblivion Water.

He closed his eyes and examined the Keyboard System. He quickly learned about the materials needed for Mo Xi’s skill upgrade. Just as with Daji, the foundation of Ki Condensation Pills and silvers as an intermediary were needed. Additionally, Translucent Raindew and Bronze Jiujue Fragments were the two special ingredients needed.[1]

Zu An was actually pretty happy when he saw the names. What raindew and jiujue? Weren’t these just ordinary things?

However, when he saw the ingredient descriptions, he knew he had been mistaken. Translucent Raindew was an extremely rare treasure even in the Xia Dynasty, so where would he look for it now? Additionally, the Bronze Jiujue Fragments came from the special wine vessel that Xia Jie and Mo Xi had used to entertain their ministers during important occasions. Only that item could properly store the special fine wine of their time.

Zu An couldn't help but curse to himself. These two materials were both related to wine. This woman really is an alcoholic! He soon felt a headache coming on. Even if he returned to the Xia Dynasty secret dungeon, he still wouldn't necessarily be able to find these two items.

He suddenly thought of something, however. He opened a subsystem of the Keyboard System that had been collecting dust all this time: The Shop System. He'd always thought that the items inside were too expensive and that it was way cheaper for him to find them through other means. On top of that, there were a lot of strange items he didn't know the use of, so he basically hadn’t used the feature.

He flipped through the different goods, and then sure enough, he found the images of Translucent Raindew and Bronze Jiujue Fragments. The Bronze Jiujue Fragments were comparatively cheaper, only requiring 1,000 Rage points per item. Of course, the amount needed for the actual skill upgrade was larger too. Meanwhile, the Translucent Raindew was expensive, needing 50,000 Rage points for a single drop. Fortunately, the amount needed was comparatively lower.

Zu An took inventory of his current Rage points. He had 201,360 in total, so he bought 62 Bronze Jiujue Fragments. After all, Translucent Raindew was only necessary after Mo Xi reached the sixth rank.

Zu An was a bit absent-minded when he felt the special texture of the Bronze Jiujue Fragments. Just who had made this Keyboard System? It could actually carry such objects within it! When he then thought about how secretive Mi Li was, he realized that it likely wasn't a coincidence for the Keyboard System to have awakened inside of him.

I wonder just who it was that wanted to manipulate my fate… but the only thing I can do for now is to become stronger!

Soon after, he invested the resources into Mo Xi to upgrade her Farewell Nanchao skill. Fortunately, he had the money he'd gotten from Bi Linglong and Liu Ning. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even have enough silvers to upgrade her ability.

Soon after, Mo Xi’s Farewell Nanchao skill reached the sixth rank. He used up 48 Ki Condensation Pills, 62 Bronze Jiujue Fragments, and 107,500 silvers in total. The reason why he stopped there was that he'd discovered that the only way to increase the skill further was for Mo Xi’s own cultivation to reach the master rank.

He had Mo Xi try to erase the imprint on the Naihe Oblivion Water out of wishful thinking, but as expected, it didn't work. It seemed he had to first raise Mo Xi to the master rank.

The reason they were stuck at that stage, apart from just not having enough resources, was that he was missing another special ingredient: The Shining Blackmetal Silkworm!

Ordinary cultivators of varying elements needed entirely different materials to break through into the master rank. For example, fire element cultivators needed Soaring Flames Glass, metal element cultivators needed Cateye Pearls…

Daji was of the fire element, while Mo Xi was of the metal element. However, the breakthrough materials they needed for the master rank was entirely different. For Mo Xi, apart from the previous Rainbow Cloudstone, Thunderjade Raccoon Core, and other items, the other special material she needed was the Shining Blackmetal Silkworm.

The silk such silkworms produced was like metal threads. When it was woven together, it shone with a gorgeous dark radiance. On top of that, when it was broken apart, the material made metallic sounds. What Mo Xi had liked doing the most when Zu An first encountered her was ripping apart silk fabric, so the sound of tearing that kind of silk was even more pleasurable.

She really is a good-for-nothing!

Zu An did receive some information after entrusting the Embroidered Envoy to look into the subject, at least.

It was rumored that decades prior, someone had found a golden silkworm near the Lake of Hatred. Its description was quite similar to the Shining Blackmetal Silkworm. As for any more details, there were none. That was because the Lake of Hatred was a place that couldn't be explored with the court’s power. It was where the Devil Sect’s main headquarters was located!

1. A jiujue is an ancient bronze wine holder. ☜