Shaohing used the lunar chill to guide the yin energy of the earth veins here into her sea of consciousness, preventing it from eroding her meridians.
As the yin energy surged into her sea of consciousness, she suddenly felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
This sensation was vastly different from the feeling she experienced when absorbing moonlight.
Shaohing maintained her mental focus, circulating her Spirit Refining Technique. Every collision between her two strands of spiritual sense and the yin energy caused a needle-like stinging pain in her brain. However, as time passed, the spiritual sense, having been permeated by the Spirit Refining Technique, began to slowly take on the characteristics of the yin energy, and the pain began to subside.
Time flew by in the blink of an eye; it was unclear how much time had passed.
By the time all of Shaohing's injuries had fully healed and the yin energy had tempered her spiritual sense to be tough and solid, she altered her technique, causing the two strands of spiritual sense to split once more, transforming from two into four.
Only after she used the yin energy to refine her spirit again, allowing the four strands of spiritual sense to become completely stable, did she conclude this cultivation session.
Beside Shaohing, the little white dragon let out a lazy yawn, its long tail drawing bored circles on the ground.
Seeing her stand up, it said excitedly, "You're finally awake!"
Shaohing looked down at it and saw that the protrusions previously on Ao Chuan's body had completely disappeared, and his magical power aura had already leaped into the late stage of the First Realm.
She took out a time-recording talisman to check; more than eight days had passed since she entered this underground cavern.
"Where are we going now?"
Shaohing did not rush to leave. She took out several bright pearls to illuminate the place quite brightly, then retrieved a bronze tripod from the storage ring handed over by Lu Tianxiang—one he had not yet consecrated.
It was neither too large nor too small; Shaohing tried to set it up and found it to be quite suitable.
"As I promised before, I'll let you taste that spiritual lotus root. Out in the open, smoke from a cooking fire is like a glaring sign to others saying, 'Someone is here, come attack me,' but it's quite alright down here underground."
She had absorbed a significant amount of yin energy, so it was no longer as dense as before, allowing her to smoothly activate a Yang-attribute spell like the Fire Inducing Technique. In the blink of an eye, a ball of raging flame burned at the bottom of the tripod.
Shaohing then used water-element spiritual energy to condense half a tripod's worth of water, took out a cloth bag, and poured the white jade spiritual rice directly into it.
"Is this how you cook porridge?"
Ao Chuan watched Shaohing's movements with great interest and asked.
The young dragon always possessed a curious desire to explore everything.
"Of course it is!"
Shaohing replied, her tone very certain.
Although she had never actually prepared meals—having never lifted a finger in the Marquis's manor and having no interest in culinary arts, then resorting to scavenging leftovers after being kicked out, and finally eating fasting pills after starting her cultivation—she spoke with authority.
Shaohing took out two sections of spiritual lotus root. Without peeling them, she used her magical power to form blades and sliced them into small pieces before tossing them into the tripod.
"I'm telling you, this is what you call 'original flavor.' Got it?"
Ao Chuan felt something was slightly off, but Shaohing's tone and demeanor were so confident that it subconsciously nodded its dragon head.
The intense fire gradually brought the water to a boil, and the spiritual rice and lotus slices released a faint, sweet aroma.
After a moment's thought, Shaohing rummaged through Lu Tianxiang's storage ring and found a pile of spiritual plants and vegetables.
The little white dragon watched, somewhat dazed, and raised its head to ask, "All of these can be added to the porridge?"
"Of course! You're so ignorant of the world."
Having practiced the *Golden Crow Embracing the Sun Visualization Map*, Shaohing's understanding of fire-attribute techniques had further improved. The flames were fierce; in less than fifteen minutes, Shaohing used a Wood Entwining Curse to grow a pair of wooden chopsticks and poked them inside; everything was already soft and mushy.
Understanding her intention, Ao Chuan immediately lunged toward the tripod while opening its mouth.
But Shaohing grabbed it by the neck, then conjured a large wooden bowl, tilted the tripod to fill it, and placed it in front of Ao Chuan.
"Eat properly," Shaohing said, releasing its neck.
Ao Chuan grunted twice and then took a small taste.
The scalding porridge did not damage its mouth at all, and Ao Chuan truly tasted the fresh and sweet flavor, immediately praising, "Delicious! You're so amazing!"
With that, it buried its head and began eating heartily with slurping sounds.
The tiny, almost imperceptible trace of guilt in Shaohing's heart immediately vanished, replaced by a strong sense of pride.
She thought to herself, *Of course, is there anything I do that isn't top-tier?*
Shaohing used spells to create wooden bowls and spoons for herself, then served some into a small bowl, used a Wind Blowing Technique to cool it, and began to eat as well.
Since joining the sect, she had not eaten grain for a long time. Now, tasting this spiritual rice porridge, with its sweet vegetables, fragrant rice stalks, and the faint currents of spiritual energy flowing into her body bringing a warm sense of comfort, it was a delight.
In the mortal realm, there was a concept of dietary supplementation; such spiritual meals were beneficial to cultivators and, unlike medicinal pills, did not contain pill toxins, possessing a certain "quietly nourishing" quality.
However, Shaohing had previously been busy with cultivation, planting spiritual rice, taking missions, and browsing classics in the Pavilion of Profound Methods... Fasting pills could save her the time required for eating, so they had always been her first choice.
But now, enjoying this rare moment of leisure, Shaohing held her bowl of porridge, the corners of her lips curling up slightly.
By the time she had finished half a bowl, the little white dragon had long since finished the large wooden bowl of spiritual porridge. Seeing no objection from Shaohing, it crawled directly into the tripod and licked the rice soup off the inner walls of the bronze tripod until it was spotless.
Even though it was so clean it looked like it didn't need washing, Shaohing still frowned and cast a Dust Cleansing Technique before storing the tripod back in her storage ring.
"Once I finish this half bowl of porridge, we leave this place."
Shaohing increased her eating speed slightly, but suddenly, she sensed a faint surge of air approaching her.
Her ears twitched as she identified the direction by sound. Turning her head, she saw a streak of blue light shooting toward her.
"No, it's aiming for my porridge bowl?"
Shaohing reacted swiftly, tossing the wooden bowl forward while herself lunging several steps backward.
The blue light indeed chased after the porridge bowl.
Shaohing steadied herself and suddenly reached out her right hand. Controlled by an Object Manipulation Technique, the wooden bowl flew back into her hand without spilling a single drop of soup.
Simultaneously, her left hand formed a seal, and a ball of flame shot straight toward the blue light.
*Buzz, buzz, buzz!*
At that moment, the blue light revealed its true form—it was actually a small insect. Its body was as crystal clear as a sapphire, possessing six legs and thin mosquito-like wings.
Although the flames caused it pain, they could not burn it to ash. Currently trapped in a prison of flame, the blue insect could not escape, but it did not appear to have suffered significant damage.
"What is this thing?"
Shaohing had read many texts regarding demonic beasts, but none matched this blue insect.
Ao Chuan stared at the blue insect, rapidly mobilizing his bloodline inheritance. Thanks to the grace of his ancestors, they could obtain a vast amount of information regarding this cultivation world from their bloodline immediately upon birth.
He soon cried out in alarm, "It's an Yin-Erosion Insect!"
"It's an ancient insect species that lives alongside yin energy. Their characteristic is that they automatically remain in a dormant state when they don't encounter light or heat, but our cooking just woke them up."
"We need to leave quickly; don't bother with this little thing. The appearance of an Yin-Erosion Insect means a Mother Insect is nearby. Although ordinary Yin-Erosion Insects have very short lifespans, with the Mother Insect's incredible reproductive capacity, she can produce an army of tens of thousands of Yin-Erosion Insects in just half an hour!"