Chapter 156: Grinding Experience

Yun卿 leaped down from the tree, took out a basin, and collected the blood of the fallen Spirit Goat.

Beast blood is rich in spiritual energy, and blood curd hot pot is also quite delicious. According to Little Jingzi, beast blood has many other uses, such as drawing talismans to ward off evil.

She owned a talisman brush, but nobody had taught her how to craft talismans. Without a proper method, figuring it out on her own was far too difficult.

As for Little Jingzi's claim about drawing talismans to ward off evil, it was likely just empty boasting.

Whatever other uses it might have, consuming it to absorb the spiritual energy for oneself was definitely a foolproof choice.

Once the Spirit Goat's blood had drained entirely, she stored its carcass into the system inventory, used a cleansing spell to tidy up the battlefield, and waited for the next wave of Spirit Goats to arrive.

Before long, the little black-feathered eagle lured in another four Spirit Goats of unidentifiable tiers.

Intimidated by the little black-feathered eagle, these Spirit Goats recklessly charged right through the lethal pathway strung with spider silk.

As the four Spirit Goats collapsed, the little black-feathered eagle remarked, "That should be about enough. This lot will keep us fed for a long time."

Having secured another eighty low-grade spirit stones, Yun卿 barged in with a suggestion: "How about we go for one more round? I can turn them into body-refinement pills. Fourth-tier body-refinement pills should be quite decent."

"Fine then, the last time." Clearly reluctant, the little black-feathered eagle set out once more to search for Spirit Goats.

After a good while, only two Spirit Goats came running over.

Within a mere half-hour of entering the Spirit Goats' territory, the human and the eagle had hunted down a total of nine Spirit Goats.

Before Yun卿 could even open her mouth, the little black-feathered eagle spoke up first: "There are no more Spirit Goats left, and they're too hard to find. I'm tired and need to rest for a bit."

It wasn't that the Spirit Goats had run out; rather, the little black-feathered eagle had grown lazy and was unwilling to look for them anymore, believing that this much mutton was more than enough to last them both a month.

Yun卿 certainly dared not go searching for Spirit Goats on her own, as she wouldn't even be able to defeat one if she caught it.

Since the little black-feathered eagle was feeling lazy and refused to move, Yun卿 had no other choice. After cleaning up the area, she retrieved her spider silk.

She called out to the large eagle, "Big Eagle, I'm going to forage around for some more seasonings nearby. With more seasonings, I'll be able to cook even more delicious meals for you."

"Hmm!" The little black-feathered eagle grunted in acknowledgment.

While gathering seasonings was indeed one of her reasons, Yun卿 also wanted to take the opportunity to search for valuable spiritual herbs and other treasures in the area.

Having spent a full day in the Spirit Goats' territory, Yun卿 reaped a bountiful harvest. Upon returning, she didn't just make roasted mutton skewers and grilled lamb chops; she also prepared boiled mutton slices.

Her original intention was to make shabu-shabu, but even with the assistance of her spiritual sense and a dagger crafted from a bird's talon, it was exceptionally difficult to slice the mutton as thin as cicada wings. The best she could manage were slices about as thin as a cicada's body.

Though the Spirit Goats were relatively small in size, they yielded considerably more meat than Gale Rabbits. For the little black-feathered eagle, the spiritual energy in the meat of fourth and fifth-tier Spirit Goats was just right, but for Yun卿, the spiritual energy was far too dense.

Every time she finished a piece of mutton, she had to cultivate the Boundless Art to refine the internal spiritual energy. Sometimes, when the spiritual energy was overly abundant, she even had to run through a set of body-refinement techniques just to successfully digest the energy contained in a single slice of meat.

With fourth and fifth-tier meat supporting her body refinement, Yun卿 had effectively entered the lifestyle of the 'wealthy'.

While her gathering and combat experience grew rapidly, opportunities to gain crafting experience remained scarce.

Left with no other option, she processed a portion of the Spirit Goat meat into body-refinement pills. By consuming only a quarter of a pill each time, she could practice body refinement for a full hour and gain hundreds of points of combat experience.

For the sake of flavor, she thoughtfully added spiritual strawberries cultivated from her own farmland into the body-refinement pills.

To her surprise, the little black-feathered eagle also took a liking to these fruit-flavored body-refinement pills. However, every time it finished one, the eagle would instantly regret it, as it had to spend precious time refining the intense spiritual energy within the pill, leaving it with even less time to leisurely enjoy its food.

Yun卿, who had to cultivate immediately after every single meal, also found the routine rather tedious. Looking at the large eagle that spent all day sleeping lazily up in the tree, she hit upon a brilliant method for grinding combat experience.

Sighing, Yun卿 said to the little black-feathered eagle, "Big Eagle, these body-refinement pills are packed with spiritual energy. We can only continue eating if we refine that energy quickly."

The little black-feathered eagle was currently plagued by this very issue. The upside of refining these pills was that its cultivation, which had stagnated for a long time, showed signs of stirring. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before it broke through to the seventh tier.

It replied, "Next time, don't bother making these body-refinement pills. It's much better to just boil the mutton and eat it."

How could she stop making body-refinement pills? If she did, how would she grind her crafting experience? Yun卿 countered, "I have a method that can quickly refine the spiritual energy inside the body-refinement pills."

"Oh? What method is that?"

"I'll spar with you. That way, not only will there be no danger, but we can also rapidly refine the spiritual energy. Of course, you mustn't kill me, and preferably you shouldn't injure me either. If you hurt me, I won't be able to cook for you anymore."

"Deal!"

From that day onward, Yun卿 and the little black-feathered eagle entered a sparring routine.

And from that day onward, quite unintentionally, Yun卿 unlocked the rocket-propelled leveling mode for her combat experience.

No matter how hard she tried when attacking the little black-feathered eagle, the eagle was always too lazy to dodge, allowing her to reliably draw a single drop of its blood every time. This yielded anywhere from a few dozen to over a hundred points of combat experience.

Yun卿 could keep attacking the little black-feathered eagle endlessly, right until she was utterly exhausted, after which a single good meal would completely appease it.

When the little black-feathered eagle counterattacked, Yun卿 had to dodge for her very life, relying entirely on the eagle holding back its talons just so she could cling to enough breath to keep bouncing around.

After a few sessions, the little black-feathered eagle grew weary of this boring 'spiritual energy refinement' exercise, but it couldn't withstand Yun卿's silver-tongued persuasion and her habit of occasionally provoking it by tossing small pebbles at it. Consequently, the human and the bird still found themselves brawling several times a day.

The lazy giant eagle grew increasingly disdainful of its cook, often wishing it could just end her with a single swipe of its claw.

Yun卿 thought to herself: *You wouldn't dare, your name is still glowing green.*

Watching her combat experience skyrocket with the prospect of reaching Foundation Establishment drawing near, Yun卿 sighed with pretentious melancholy: "Liu Liu, I really didn't want to grind combat experience!"

The white Liu Liu rolled its eyes and retorted, "Then why don't you let that poor, cute little black-feathered eagle go? It genuinely doesn't want to spar with you anymore."

Since grinding combat experience was possible, how could she possibly stop? Yun卿 replied, "No, it wants to!"

Having already accumulated a tidy sum of spirit stones, Yun卿 had spent 500 taels of gold to change Liu Liu's fur color to white. (In the system, 1 low-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for 100 taels of gold.)

Given that many monsters in the forest were black, she had been startled by the black Liu Liu several times previously. Ever since she changed its color to white, she had never been frightened by it again.

Of course, Liu Liu noted that she could always change it back by paying another fee.

It was worth mentioning that if she ever wanted to disguise herself or change her appearance, she could do so just as easily using spirit stones.

The little black-feathered eagle desperately wished that Yun卿 would spend more time concocting pills, because only when she was busy with alchemy could it finally get some proper rest.

Fourth and fifth-tier body-refinement pills could not be automatically synthesized; manual crafting was both difficult and exceedingly slow, requiring charcoal made from spiritual timber over a century old just to barely manage the process, making it rather time-consuming.

As for whether the food Yun卿 made was tasty? With the seasonings added in precise amounts—neither too much nor too little—there were no truly unpalatable flavors, and the system helped ensure everything was cooked properly anyway. Eating it was certainly never an issue. Without comparison, there was no harm; she firmly believed her cooking was quite acceptable.

Since the little black-feathered eagle had never tasted anything else, the dishes prepared by its cook naturally tasted infinitely better than raw meat seasoned with nothing at all.