In a dim, damp dungeon corridor, where every sound seemed to echo infinitely...

The heavy clang of the door's metal latch reverberated when Jia Fei entered, carrying a ceramic box embedded with gems.

Her steps were quiet, almost ghostly, when compared to the brutal cycle of indecent “music” coming from the cells lining the prison’s corridor.

Passing by the first cell, Jia Fei glanced to the side, where she saw a brunette sister busily feeding on a haggard, nearly skeletal man, who had his wrists and ankles cuffed to the cold stained wall, his body limp and eyes devoid of hope.

Jia Fei's lips tightened, but she pressed onward, ignoring the screams and pleas from the few men who still had a voice in the other cells.

Her business was at the end of the corridor, where two cells were merged and modified to be the only walled-off room in this dungeon.

Pausing right outside the lone, ornate jade door radiating a subtle glow, Jia Fei wore her pleasant smile once more before pushing it open.

The door led to a royally-furnished room brightly lit by lamps lining its walls, a stark contrast to the darkness outside.

At the center of the room was a mahogany throne. Here, the muscular Jia Shizi with wild, unkempt black hair was reclining with one leg draped over the armrest.

The bare-chested man was munching on a ripe spiritual fruit, the juice dripping down his chin. A female servant knelt beside him, holding a silver plate to catch the discarded seeds.

Jia Shizi's eyes brightened when he saw Jia Fei and the box she carried. "Finally done?"

He tossed the half-eaten spiritual fruit onto the servant's plate and grinned widely. "Bring it here."

Jia Fei shut out the noise from the corridor outside before walking over to the throne.

"Sorry to keep husband waiting..." Bowing slightly, she respectfully offered up the ceramic box.

Jia Shizi took it eagerly, lifting the lid with one hand. “Hmm?”

Noticing something off, Jia Shizi brought the box up to his nose to take a deep sniff.

With that, his expression quickly shifted from curiosity to wild delight, and he let out a loud, wild laugh. “Hahaha! What a surprise! What a great surprise!”

"I really didn’t expect his essence to become even richer than before! This level… it’s not losing out to Immortal Jade Bamboo!”

“With this, my injuries will be fully recovered by the time the tournament starts, and I might even be able to shave a couple of years off my journey to the late stage!"

Seeing the happy Jia Shizi, Jia Fei took the chance to chime in, "Congratulations to husband for discovering a heavenly treasure."

"Indeed! This is a treasure those other folks back in the clan would fight for, and I have it all to myself!”

Jia Shizi’s chest swelled with wild ambition.

“Such an excellent source of vitality. I must pull him onto my boat, no matter the cost! Once I do, I won’t have to worry about wasting resources to raise pigs for my farm any longer. Hahaha!"

After letting out his joy, Jia Shizi placed the ceramic box onto the armrest of his throne, then looked at Jia Fei with an appraising gaze.

"As expected of the woman I picked out, the best of the best. Fei’er, you and Wan’er did a great job this time. The following weeks will be a bit rough for you two, but I hope you two will play your part well."

"Yes, husband.” No stranger to her role in all this, Jia Fei obediently played it without question, presenting a curtsy to emphasize her usefulness, “When has Jia Fei ever disappointed you?"

Her husband's grin was sharp, his eyes bright with approval.

"Good. Very good. Go! Claim an extra portion of spirit stones and rice from the treasury. Feed yourselves nice and plump to make that Mo friend of mine fall head over heels next week. Hahaha..."

The wild laugh filled the room, but the sound was soon drowned out by the thick, misty fog that rolled in from every side, burying the darkest ambitions with pure darkness...

Bubai’s eyes snapped open, finding himself in a room heavily cloaked in the foggy haze of Sweet Dream incense.

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Feeling the strain from his arms, Bubai glanced up at the vat of water, weighing over 400 pounds, held up above his head by his hands.

With a single thought, Bubai opened his storage space, feeling an unseen vortex tugging at the heavy vat.

The vat warped and distorted as it was drawn in, vanishing into the void.

With a soft thud, it plopped down in an empty corner among other jumble of items in the cramped storage space. Not a single drop of water sloshed out.

Bubai exhaled deeply, relaxing his tense muscles and straightened up from his horse stance.

Wiping the sheen of sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve, Bubai’s eyes drifted toward the stunning Jia Fei lying unconscious on the ground, her loose, wavy blonde hair splayed out like a halo.

The tear stains on her cheeks added a strange contrast to her voluptuous figure, which was only partially covered by the tattered fabric – leftovers from his brutal need for speed.

"No wonder there's more Qi to harvest this time. She was fed well. Dang, too bad I didn't get to harvest the daughter as well."

Bubai sighed in regret, realizing he had missed out on another opportunity.

Just from this plump beauty alone, he managed to add an extra 5% of dew to his pool, shaving days off his cultivation time in just mere hours. That’s a lot!

If he cultivated the “mother and daughter gu” technique, he could have doubled the benefit to 10%! That was equivalent to five spirit stone’s worth of Qi!

Bubai’s lips curled into a bitter smile. "Alas, I can only make do with one."

Honestly, losing out on such a significant opportunity in exchange for the loyalty of a mere mortal maid seemed like a bad trade-off, but this was, in fact, a key to his broader plan.

The rarer the resource, the higher the premium it could fetch.

Raising his own price to leech the most benefits. This was a game he excelled at, applying it to all his transactions, whether they be with the fairy, the family guy, or others!

Of course, playing hard-to-get was just of the reasons. Bubai wasn’t lying when he said time was an issue.

Bubai added a bundle of sweet dream incense sticks next to the still lit incense burner, mentally calculating the time.

"Five, six hours... That should be enough time to drop those off."

Leaving the storage room, Bubai headed up the stairs.

Every step up brought him closer to the stern, lecturing voice filtering down from upstairs.

“...Wind, Yin and Yang are the basic attributes of Qi. On top of this, there are derivative attributes harmonized from the basics. Snow, frost, ice, fog...”

Stepping into the lounge, Bubai’s eyes jumped to the lecturing Xiao Lan, standing tall in her hanfu winter mantle. Facing her was Wei Yi, who was sitting prim and proper on a mat.

Seeing Bubai’s entry, Wei Yi peeked over with bright eyes, only to hear her iceberg mentor snapping, “Pay attention,” prompting her to sharply look back forward with rapt attention.

The cute maid’s antic left Bubai amused, but before he could even chuckle, Xiao Lan’s stern, glassy eyes shot him a glare that could freeze a flame.

Oh… After months of tutoring sessions with her, he knew that look all too well.

He was in a hurry, but he knew better than to cross this iceberg secretary of his when she was in the middle of teaching.

So, Bubai honestly plopped himself down on the table-side chair, using the time productively to cultivate while halfheartedly listening to Xiao Lan’s lecture.

“...Qi flows, it changes, and with the right techniques, you can alter its nature. We cultivators call this molding, a necessary part of many techniques used to change from one attribute to another..."

Very interesting concepts, fascinating enough to make him like his maid, hanging on every word… had he not already learned it before.

Long ago, before he was even promoted, he received a similar run-down from his cultivation secretary.

After his promotion, he received an even deeper education from the backlog of memories with the fairy.

All magical arts and techniques could accommodate any Qi, but for them to be successful, the Qi had to be molded into the correct attribute.

Casting a fire spell, for instance, required Qi with a fire attribute; similarly, a lightning spell needed Qi with a lightning attribute.

Letting Qi flow through certain paths of the body converted basic Qi into the specific type required for a spell.

Bubai wasn’t exactly sure how this magical transformation worked. He just knew it was done naturally with the special circulation routes provided by each technique's manual.

Alas, the molding process often leads to a loss of energy, especially if the attributes aren’t compatible.

This was one of the reasons why it was much harder for cultivators to learn certain spells and techniques.

Of course, if a cultivator’s dantian already contained Qi with the correct attribute, the process was much more efficient.

Plus, a proper foundation could refine true Qi of its corresponding innate attributes, which greatly lessens the encumbering molding process, especially for the more complex, higher-end techniques.

Some could even skip the molding step entirely, allowing for quicker casting.

That's why techniques compatible with one's foundation and spiritual roots attributes were so important in the long run.

For himself, it seems his mystical seed went all out in converting all his Qi into the mysterious green Qi, which he assumes is the wood attribute.

Then again, it could be some special attribute he had never heard of.

After all, there were other special Qi attributes which required specific foundations to mold and refine, like sword Qi, death Qi, or his own memory Qi.

These special Qi could be used as fuel for their own sets of unique techniques or mixed with Qi of the basic attribute to cast other spells with added effects, like how Xiao Lan applied sword Qi to her water spear spell, giving it extra sharpness and increasing its damage on impact.

As some basic attributes, like water or wood, were generally geared towards support mechanics like restraint or recovery, mixing attributes is a way to transform the techniques of these corresponding attributes into more destructive versions.

Of course, not all special Qi attributes had this flexible application.

Sometimes, the use case of special attributes could be very specific and very inefficient for casting other general techniques.

His own memory Qi, for example, was better suited for dream spells or mental illusions, and it wouldn't be particularly effective if used to cast elemental spells.

Hitting a person with a lightning bolt molded from his memory Qi will only sear them instead of sending them on a trip down memory lane.

He had tested it on himself to confirm this theory.

Of course, maybe that’s just his mastery not being enough, or perhaps the memory Qi’s effects diminished so much during the conversion process that it didn’t affect himself.

Regardless, he did get shocked by the effects though…

Pun not intended.