One couldn't see her face clearly, but just from the slightest hint revealed by the spiritual light, there was an indescribable enchanting beauty.

No.

It couldn't be said to be enchanting, but purely beautiful.

So beautiful that it made people want to get closer, similar to the celestial charm of Li Ye.

"Hu Taotao." Moqi pouted, "You're still pretending like this in front of my disciple; don't you find it exhausting usually?"

She pointed at the woman in the spiritual light and said to Li Ye, "Look at her, she's learned a divine technique just to maintain this spiritual light on her, and she does this every time she appears.

Even scattering petals.

She's not tired, but I'm tired for her!"

Li Ye could only chuckle along.

He could tell this elder of the Fox Race must be on good terms with his mistress, otherwise, with his mistress's temperament, she wouldn't even bother talking extra.

"Moqi~" Hu Taotao called gently, then naturally sat next to his mistress, finally letting the spiritual light around her dissipate a bit.

Unexpectedly.

Her appearance wasn't as exquisite as Li Ye imagined, even a bit chubby, but her peach blossom eyes seemed to shimmer with spring light, indescribably beautiful.

She grabbed his mistress's hand and looked at Li Ye, showing a sincere smile, "Since you're Moqi's disciple, I'll call you brother.

Brother, what exactly does Zhu Yu have?

Could you tell me, sister?"

Though her tone was soft, it didn't feel pretentious or anything, but rather approachable — that "brother" made even Li Ye feel that having such a sister might be nice.

Li Ye glanced at True Man Moqi.

The latter nodded approvingly at him, so Li Ye then relayed some matters to Hu Taotao.

This Nascent Soul Fox Race elder, after listening with a slight change in her eyes, said straightforwardly:

"In my clan, there are some juniors, though young, capable of going out for tasks. How about letting them work for you, brother, not for spirit stones or anything, just as long as they are fed?"

"I'll allocate all I can of Zhu Yu for you to handle, and give you the spiritual token to enter our clan's domain. When the Qinghuo produces, you can try to harvest it yourself, how about that?"

Hu Taotao made a decision in that instant.

Since she wanted to show goodwill, she decided to go all out — she worried that missing this opportunity might mean missing the chance to connect closely with Li Ye.

They say the Qingqiu Fox Race is adept at handling numerous affairs and relationships, but that's all propped up by their connections. She had a premonition that this all-out effort would definitely reward her well.

This instinct was already proven when she resolutely took out one of the only three Qingqiu jewels inside the sect to help Moqi achieve Nascent Soul.

True Man Moqi had expected her to say this.

Though Hu Taotao liked to put on airs usually, once she decided to invest heavily, no one could criticize her.

Moqi could see that Li Ye really didn't understand management; even with just one disciple, he was already busy with the chores of opening the mountain and recruiting disciples, all with a Foundation Establishment cultivation.

Though this was indeed a rare experience, it was also clear to see his shortcomings in this area. If he could get help from the Qingqiu Fox Race, at least he wouldn't need to worry about personnel matters.

With the Qingqiu Fox Race supporting and helping him to teach the new disciples, within a dozen years, he'd be able to train a batch of them, and by then, Li Ye wouldn't need to worry about these things.

So she approved but expressed nothing, leaving it all for Li Ye to decide.

Li Ye, at this moment, figured things out.

He said with a strange tone, "Elder Hu, could it be that the young foxes in your clan can't even afford food?"

Hu Taotao was taken aback by this question but replied after a moment, "Not quite, but not far from it."

"Our Qingqiu Fox Race relies on the spiritual power of Zhu Yu for cultivation. Without it, the cultivation progress becomes incredibly slow."

"Now... the whole Qingqiu Fox Race almost lacks Zhu Yu's spiritual qi. If they knew you could solve it, brother, they'd probably offer a higher price than mine."

"Even serving as slaves or maids — as long as they're fed and sheltered."

She didn't hide anything.

This matter was well-known among the senior members of the Four Seasons Sect, but the spirit plant was too special to cultivate on a large scale, even with the sect's aid.

If this goes on, the Qingqiu Foxes might have to abandon their ancestral traditions and eat other food instead.

"I see." Li Ye expressed understanding, then quietly took out the bound Zhu Yu.

Binding this item required him to expend a full million Vital Essence, making it the most expensive among all the spirit plants he had bound.

But the effect was not bad.

He had bound Zhu Yu with a Golden Core-level spiritual insect related to the previously raised Qingsui Silkworm.

It's called the "Dark Desire Silkworm."

This silkworm was peculiar; it didn't form small cocoons to reside in but constantly spewed silk, transforming the surrounding environment into its own cocoon.

The cultivator who tamed it could infuse their spiritual power into the nascent silk during this process. Once the silk fully formed, the cocoon would default as a shared magical treasure between the cultivator and the Dark Desire Silkworm.

This treasure had some incredible divine techniques, such as a portable cave mansion that was basic, and if enough spiritual power was infused into it during cultivation, it could even accelerate the passage of time within the silkworm cocoon.

Despite being wondrous, this spiritual insect was born at the Golden Core stage, needing an incredible amount of spiritual qi, too much for low-tier cultivators without family elder support.

High-tier cultivators could afford it but already had their portable cave mansions and favored treasures, so they might not invest much effort into it.

Thus, this spiritual insect's status was awkward.

Usually, it was a symbol of "noble cultivators" displaying their power and wealth.

The two elders naturally recognized this spiritual insect too.

The peculiar, star-studded black spiritual silkworm was resting on Zhu Yu, spitting silk from its mouth.

The silk was a high, elegant cyan, slowly accumulating like weaving a sky curtain around its environment.

The silk emitted a faint light.

It was... the azure hue of Zhu Yu.

True Man Moqi hadn't reacted.

Hu Taotao stood up in surprise, carefully touching the silk with her finger, incredulous:

"This silk... is entirely pure Zhu Yu spiritual power?"

She took a deep breath.

The silk trembled lightly, the azure spiritual power within entirely absorbed by her. The pitiful silkworm glanced at Hu Taotao with small eyes but dared not protest under the Great Demon's presence.

It could only shrink back into the leaves of Zhu Yu, sticking its head out cautiously to continue spitting silk, restoring the threads where Hu Taotao had absorbed the power.

Endlessly, it seemed.

More astonishingly, as it continued spitting, the once dim light of Zhu Yu grew brighter, even more radiant than when it grew in Qingqiu.

It inexplicably gave the feeling: like an originally blocked waterway suddenly cleared, the spiritual power naturally flowed continuously.

This scene made True Man Moqi squint his eyes.

Could it be that too much might indeed spoil things?

Now, what needs to be done must change significantly.

I wonder if those old guys won't spit out blood if they hear about these things, having to change suddenly after thousands of years.

Indeed, not easy.

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