Chapter 192: Xiaoqi Becomes Tang Monk’s Flesh
"You’re saying this demon beast wanted to capture you?"
Lin Yi looked up again at the frozen demon beast.
’Yes, yes, that’s right. It wanted to grab me...’
Xiaoqi flapped its wings, replying repeatedly through their telepathic link.
Lin Yi said nothing and walked straight into the living room.
He approached the frozen demon beast and sized it up carefully.
’A Bird Demon? Its face looks just like Lei Zhenzi.’
It had a bird’s head and a bird’s beak, with no human features whatsoever.
It was wearing a loose, oversized black robe, and a thick layer of ice completely encased it.
’Strange, why can’t I see any talent traits?’
Lin Yi examined the bird-man and tapped a finger against the ice.
CRACK—
Suddenly, a crack appeared where he had touched it.
Then, the cracking sounds grew more and more frequent.
Lin Yi quickly took a few steps back and drew his long saber from his storage space.
BOOM—
Just as he prepared for a fight...
The next moment, the bird-man shattered into pieces.
Along with the ice that had encased it, it broke into countless fragments that scattered across the floor.
’It’s dead?’
Lin Yi looked at the chunks of ice on the floor. Each one contained a piece of bird meat.
This surprised Lin Yi even more. He glanced back at Xiaoqi.
Sure enough, he saw that Xiaoqi’s "Frozen" trait had changed from blue to purple.
It had upgraded from "Frozen" to "Ice Control."
’And it’s become lethal...’
’Your talent can upgrade on its own? That’s insane!’
A flash of envy crossed Lin Yi’s eyes.
Even his own talent traits required him to gather three identical ones before they could be upgraded.
But Xiaoqi had no such trouble at all.
It could upgrade on its own, but Lin Yi had no idea what the method was.
A talent like that was simply heaven-defying.
Xiaoqi didn’t seem to understand what Lin Yi was talking about.
It tilted its head and looked at Lin Yi blankly.
’Meat, Demon Beast Meat... eat meat...’
The next moment, Xiaoqi saw the shattered pieces of ice.
Flapping its wings, it charged straight over.
CRUNCH CRUNCH—
As Xiaoqi picked up the ice chunks, it made chewing sounds.
Watching Xiaoqi eat the ice chunks was like watching it eat jelly beans.
It ate them one after another. For the slightly smaller pieces, it would chew a few times.
If it came across a larger one, it would swallow it whole.
After eating more than ten pieces, Xiaoqi seemed to be full.
It glanced at the ice chunks still covering the floor, then turned and headed back to the bedroom.
Its body swayed with a swaggering gait.
As Xiaoqi walked past Lin Yi,
it shot him a glance with its mung-bean-sized eyes.
It was as if it were telling Lin Yi to clean up the rest of the Demon Beast Meat to eat tomorrow...
Lin Yi couldn’t help but let out a "PFFT" and burst out laughing.
He put the Demon Beast Meat he had packed and brought back into the refrigerator.
Then he took out a plastic bag and started cleaning up the pieces of the demon beast’s flesh in the living room one by one.
After that, he checked the living room and bedroom all over again.
One question puzzled Lin Yi.
How did that bird-man get in?
He checked the windows; they were all properly locked.
It didn’t seem like it had broken a window to fly in.
’Could Xiaoqi have let it in?’ Lin Yi wondered.
If Xiaoqi really did let it in on purpose, that would be a serious problem.
’Thinking about it, the reason that bird-man came for Xiaoqi... was most likely because of its bloodline.’
Even among demon beasts, they kill each other.
If they could devour a demon beast with an Ancient Bloodline, it would not only greatly increase their cultivation level.
They might even be able to merge with that Ancient Bloodline.
In doing so, they could change their own constitution and genes.
A demon beast that acquired an Ancient Bloodline would undergo a fundamental transformation in its cultivation and talents.
’In other words, Xiaoqi is in extreme danger right now.’
’Other demon beasts will be after its bloodline?’
Lin Yi’s brows furrowed slightly.
If his suspicions were correct, then he could absolutely never leave Xiaoqi at home alone again.
To those demon beasts, Xiaoqi was like Tang Monk’s Flesh.
Eating it could grant immortality and cause one’s cultivation to skyrocket...
’But the question remains, how on earth did this bird-man get into the house?’
’Don’t tell me Xiaoqi actually opened the door for it?’
’But the doorknob...’
Lin Yi glanced back toward the entryway.
Given Xiaoqi’s height, it couldn’t possibly reach the doorknob.
He hurried over to the front door and inspected it carefully.
Suddenly, Lin Yi felt a cool breeze from behind him.
He whipped his head around.
Behind him was the staircase leading to the attic.
’Could the bird-man have come in from there?’
Lin Yi quickly hurried up to the attic.
In fact, he had never once been up to the attic since he moved in.
Even after Tang Qinru had moved out, he had never gone up.
After all, the house wasn’t his, and on the very first day he moved in, Tang Qinru had told him.
He was not allowed to go into the attic without permission.
So, the place had naturally become a forbidden zone in Lin Yi’s mind.
One he had never crossed.
The moment he stepped into the attic, he found it was a workshop.
Various tools for alchemy and medicine refinement were all neatly arranged here.
There were shelves on both sides, but they were all empty.
Straight ahead was a door, which now stood open.
The breeze was coming from inside.
Lin Yi walked to the door and peered inside.
It was a medicine-refining room. Although Tang Qinru had been gone for a long time,
there was still a faint medicinal fragrance in the room.
’This is the smell.’
Lin Yi had often smelled this scent before.
The medicine-refining room was empty. Tang Qinru must have taken everything with her.
And inside the room, there was shattered glass on the floor.
Lin Yi looked up and saw that a transom window had been smashed.
’Case closed...’
Seeing the shattered glass and the broken transom window,
there was only one truth... the bird-man had gotten in from here.
Lin Yi spent over half an hour cleaning up the broken glass.
He then found some plastic and used tape to cover the broken transom window.
’I’ll have to ask the property management to replace the glass tomorrow.’
After he finished cleaning up, he looked at his handiwork.
Lin Yi was quite satisfied.
It was a bit ugly, but at least it could block the wind from blowing in.
He also closed the door before heading back downstairs.
When he returned to his room, Lin Yi found that Xiaoqi was already asleep in its cardboard box.
Apparently, the bird-man’s intrusion hadn’t left much of a psychological scar on it.
It was eating and sleeping well, completely unaffected.
But this piece of ’Tang Monk’s Flesh’ was starting to worry Lin Yi.
From now on, he could absolutely never leave Xiaoqi at home again.
To prevent something like this from happening again.
Although Xiaoqi was already at the 2-Star cultivation level, it was still a total rookie.
The bird-man that broke in today was perhaps at a lower realm than Xiaoqi.
That’s why it was able to be frozen. If a 3-Star demon beast, or one with an even higher cultivation level, were to break in tomorrow...
...Xiaoqi really would become Tang Monk’s Flesh and get eaten.
Lin Yi sighed softly.
More troubles had appeared out of nowhere.
The task of improving his strength had imperceptibly become more urgent.
Going out every day with a piece of ’Tang Monk’s Flesh’ like this...
Danger would surely follow. Right now, Lin Yi felt like that monkey who slays demons and vanquishes evil.
He had to protect Xiaoqi’s safety at all times.
’It feels like I’ve been inexplicably shackled again!’
Lin Yi looked down at Xiaoqi.
He looked at its fluffy appearance. The three tufts of feathers on its head had become even more vibrant.
Its wings were also gradually filling out.
’It may be weak now, but when I think of how Xiaoqi looked inside the Star River Domain...’
’...resplendent with seven colors, its wingspan stretching over a dozen meters.’
’A single cry could make a hundred beasts submit...’
’If it can grow to be like that in the future, what demon beast would dare to have ideas about it?’
’Even coveting it for a moment would require immense courage!’
Lin Yi felt a strange sense of peace.
And his anticipation for Xiaoqi to grow up quickly became even stronger.
After taking a shower and changing into his pajamas,
Lin Yi sat cross-legged on his bed and entered the domain of the Star River Qi Transformation Technique.
A vast universe twinkled with countless stars.
They wove together into a river of stars that stretched across the entire cosmos.
Xiaoqi soared amidst the Star River.
Ever since it had appeared, the White Tiger was no longer as lazy as before.
It chased after Xiaoqi, running across the firmament.
The tiger and the bird chased each other playfully.
And Lin Yi was like the most brilliant star in this universe.
A multi-colored luster emanated from his body, enveloping him completely.
If anyone could have seen Lin Yi sitting cross-legged in the night sky at that moment,
they would surely have regarded him as a god...
Then, Lin Yi felt a roiling sensation in his stomach.
Scorching heat, icy cold, refreshing coolness, gentle warmth... he experienced all sorts of sensations one after another.
Then, they all merged into his body and disappeared.
The converted Qi and Blood was then purified again, turning into a liquid-like Source Qi Flow that slowly trickled into his acupoints.
Each star represented an acupoint.
When this Source Qi Flow entered the acupoints, it was like pouring into a vast ocean, not even creating a single ripple.
It couldn’t even fill a single acupoint...