For a moment, there was silence, broken only by the soft rustling of the scorpion's legs as it remained perched in his palm.

Then, the scorpion suddenly sprung into action, obeying his orders and driving its stinger into Bubai's waiting hand!

“Ssss.” A sharp intake of breath escaped Bubai’s lips when he felt the pain shoot through him, but he kept himself steady, his divine sense capturing the process with precision.

He watched intently as the venom entered his bloodstream, eroding his skin black…

As the toxin spread and clashed with the green spores within his bloodstream, he felt its effects searing through his veins, a burning sensation so chilling that it threatened to paralyze him.

Yet, he endured, his mind calm like still water. He even had the leisure to turn his attention back to the scorpion cradled in his hand.

“Aye, good job, little one.” Giving it a gentle stroke, he released it back into its container, watching it lazily scuttle away to a corner.

With his hand freed, he was ready to perform a series of tests.

First, a cut in the affected area. Bubai didn’t even flinch at the sight of the dark green blood seeping out.

Mentally, he counted the time, observing the microscopic battlefield…

Time passed like an ant’s crawl.

When the scales of victory gradually tipped in favor of the army of green spores, he circulated his true Qi...

And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the pain began to recede, replaced by a sense of numbness as the venom was squeezed out from his fingertips.

An empty vial appeared in his steady hand, allowing him to carefully collect the sample of his own blood tainted with the scorpion's venom.

After sending the vial into his storage, Bubai turned his attention back to the affected area, giving it another cut.

Red blood seeped out from the wound, gradually dyed a deeper shade of green as new spores repopulate the battlefield’s army, allowing the wound to mend quicker and quicker…

Bubai’s brow furrowed in contemplation, "If it can inhibit my own uniqueness, then it will definitely be effective against most of those paper tigers… of course, true Qi suppression is still a problem.”

He shut the lid containing the obedient male scorpion.

Reaching into the air, he pulled out a parchment and laid it atop the box.

His thoughts then reached out to his doll hidden in his secret chamber. “Brush.”

Kneeling before a low tea table, An Jali dipped the brush into the ink, her movements elegant and noble.

With both hands, she raised the inked brush above her head, “My king, your pen.”

The brush vanished from her hands, snugly appearing in Bubai’s own.

Well, very convenient. Bubai smiled in appreciation before beginning to record his observations on the paper.

“Experimental Log #9.”

“The spores showed signs of growth even lacking sustenance for days. Now, the spores to blood ratio had reached approximately 98%. The test subject had begun to exhibit stronger signs of vitality, its basic regeneration achieving 50% effectiveness compared to the source…”

“The test subject has shown reduced signs of aggressiveness toward the source. It is unknown if this is a symbiosis or parasitic relationship as of yet. Further research is required…”

“The toxicity of the test subject’s venom had been enhanced in comparison to the control group. The rate of diffusion had broken through the barrier of inhibitors, but the invasion still failed after two minutes and 23 seconds. Preliminary estimations that the inhibitors will fail once the dose of venom was increased…”

“The aftereffects leave the affected area with inhibited regeneration. The effects are temporary…”

“No test results for source: dew. Estimated effect is same as before, a complete cleanse of the venom.”

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“The critical point of spore growth should be approaching. Insight into the future trajectory of the spores will soon be revealed.”

After a pause, Bubai’s hand continued scribbling swiftly across the parchment.

“Future Area of Exploration: Leg Amputation, Stinger Removal.”

Finishing the report, Bubai dismissed the brush, causing it to vanish from his hand.

In his storage space, An Jali caught the brush and paper that appeared before her. Setting down the brush, her eyes scanned the unfamiliar script on the parchment. "My king, this language…"

Bubai's casual explanation echoed in her mind, "It's a cryptic code I called English.”

"Yin wen?" An Jali tilted her head, trying to grasp the concept.

After a moment, she carefully placed the paper on a nearby box to let it dry, her gaze lingering on the mysterious symbols. With a shake of her head, she smiled. "As expected of my king..."

Outside, Bubai had already transitioned to his bed, assuming a lotus position. In his hand, he cradled a faintly shimmering spirit stone.

"Crystallized Qi, huh? Now I can finally afford to test this..."

Throwing out the reluctance etched in his feature, Bubai’s true Qi surged to life.

A faint vortex swirled around him as the energy within the tower responded to his absorption, converging towards his pores in a harmonious dance.

Simultaneously, the condensed Qi of the spirit stone responded to the momentum, gradually streaming out and melding seamlessly with the currents of Qi surrounding him, ultimately finding its way into his dantian...

Bubai silently assessed the influx of energy, "Not enough."

With another thought, his mysterious Qi-gathering formation sprang to life, enhancing the speed of absorption to a dizzying pace.

A gentle breeze stirred the air as the Qi rushed towards him, drawn irresistibly by the brute force of his cheat engine.

Concentrating on his mysterious space, Bubai watched the droplets of dew rapidly condensing, raining into the pool below. A satisfied smile graced his lips as he basked in the sensation, “As I suspect, I can drain spirit stones much faster with this activated...”

Yet, only ten minutes ticked by, and a sense of disappointment washed over him when he felt the spirit stone in his hand finally give way, fracturing into shards of dust that vaporized into strands of Qi, hungrily devoured by his dantian moments later.

Bubai observed the emerald pool with a subtle frown etched on his brow. "2% progress… Equivalent to two days of cultivation."

It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing either.

Of course, if his progress was converted to a normal cultivator with the same dantian size, it would be around 10% progress, which was already a remarkable advancement.

And if he used up all his spirit stones, he could probably expand his pool of dew to half the capacity of the mysterious space within a day...

Instant gratification was a step away, yet Bubai shook away the extravagant thought. "No point in rushing this.”

He still didn’t have the next part of the dream catching method, and maxing out his Qi doesn't necessarily guarantee a promotion.

Plus, hard currency like this should be saved for more economical uses or a rainy day.

“Patience and diligence would ultimately yield the greatest rewards.” So, just cultivate normally, the free-to-play style… with hacks.

With that, Bubai’s mysterious formation began anew its passive Qi absorption on his behalf.

Bubai shut his eyes once more, immersing himself in his mysterious space within.

There, he drew forth a shimmering green dew from the fluctuating pool, dividing it into strands and guiding each strand to bore into the crimson leaf, marking the start of his daily cultivation routine…

Upon consuming a fraction of the dew's essence, he paused briefly before shifting his gears.

He seized another droplet of green dew. This time, he didn’t break it apart nor did he drive it toward the leaf.

Instead, he allowed the droplet to penetrate the very core of the sprout, the seed suspended at the heart of the space, sending this droplet of energy to his intended destination - the storage space!

It was only natural that his Qi could enter the storage space.

Alas… unlike a dantian, Qi could leak from the spatial storage into the world beyond whenever he stored or retrieved items, and vice versa.

It wasn’t viable to store water in a leaking cauldron. Thus, this wasn’t his aim.

His aim… was the mysterious tribulation seeds.

Having recognized the value of his new servant in the space, it made sense to cultivate several of these seeds in preparation for future experiments. It was just another pit into which he could pour his essence.

“Well, you never know when they could come in handy.”

Opportunities can come at any given moment. Only a well-prepared fisherman won’t miss the fish.

While Bubai worked, An Jali gazed longingly at the green dew meandering through the air toward the tiny seeds she had arranged atop a box.

Though desire sparkled in her eyes, she remained seated, her eyes mechanically tracing the movement of each droplet with rapt attention, as if hypnotized by the repetitive spectacle.

Eventually, the hypnotizing rhythm ceased, leaving the enraptured beauty in a daze.

Moments later, a trace of disappointment flickered across An Jali’s face.

Yet, in a sudden twist of fate, a final droplet squeezed through the walls of the cubic space.

Instead of joining its brethren in nurturing the seeds, it darted toward An Jali, causing her expression to spark with hope.

Hovering before An Jali’s eager eyes for a moment, it then plunged into the gem embedded in her forehead.

In that moment, her noble decorum was shattered and a look of ecstasy washed over her features.

“Ahn~” A soft, euphoric moan escaped her lips, sending shivers of excitement through any who bore witness to her “transcendent” state...

Leaving the thick beauty immersed in euphoria, Bubai returned to reality.

Sensing the thinning Qi within the tower, he halted his Qi-gathering formation once more.

“Another 1% net increase.” Satisfied, Bubai moved off the bed to give his limbs a stretch, his gaze lingering on the sleeping beauty.

His iceberg secretary’s face was still expressionless, yet now there was an air of naturalness settling over her features, as if she had finally let down her guard against the world.

With a tender smile, Bubai retrieved a spirit stone from the folds of his robe.

Carefully, he lifted the blanket and slipped the spirit stone into her hand. Tucking the blanket back in place, he turned away, quietly heading toward the door.

The Qi-absorption session was over, but today’s cultivation was far from done.

The twins should be waiting. Time to go fishing.