Cultivating In Secret Beside A Demoness

This was the very first time that the Daily Appraisal had failed. This ability never let him down. He could find information about anything or anyone when he used the Daily Appraisal ability.

However, when he activated the ability on the demoness, all it gave him were question marks.

[Hong Yuye: ??? ]

!!

At least now he knew her name. Jiang Hao realized that he would need to break through the Golden Core Realm and reach higher realms if he wanted to find out more about her. He did not know how long that would take.

The only thing he could do was to keep trying to advance to greater cultivation realms.

“Are you using a divine ability on me?” Hong Yuye’s voice made him jump in fright. “You seem flustered.” She stood up and turned away from the flower with a faint smile on her lips.

“N-no I wasn’t…”

He didn’t understand how she had discovered him using his ability. No one had been able to sense it before.

Hong Yuye smiled. “Lying comes so easily to you. You have used your ability twice on me till now. Do you think I don’t know that?” Jiang Hao lowered his head and remained quiet.

“Did you finish reading the book I gave you?”

“Only the first part… I’ve only had time to skim through the rest,” said Jiang Hao truthfully.

“And here I thought you might have already read it all since you like hiding so much.” Hong Yuye shook her head. “It is no wonder the way you use your ability is so crude. Anyone could sense it if they had half a brain.”

Jiang Hao was puzzled. ‘What does she mean? Could abilities be hidden like one’s cultivation?’

“Do you still want to mine?” Hong Yuye asked suddenly.

Jiang Hao shook his head. “No. I want to stay here and take care of your flower.”

Hong Yuye walked to the corner of the courtyard and pulled out Jiang Hao’s

Half-Moon Blade from the dirt. “Always with the lies…”

She looked at the saber for a while and walked into the house. “I hope you have tea.”

Jiang Hao took a deep breath and opened the pack of Red Azure tea. He brewed a pot of it and poured her a cup.

He placed the cup of tea gingerly on the table.

Hong Yuye lifted the cup to her lips and took a sip. She didn’t say anything.

Jiang Hao heaved a sigh of relief.

“How did you raise the spirit beast?” Hong Yuye asked.

“I just feed it spirit stones,” said Jiang Hao.

“Just that?” Hong Yuye took another sip of tea.

Jiang Hao hesitated. “I tie it up and feed it.”

Hong Yuye stared at him for a while. “What else can you raise?

“rm… not sure.”

He was telling the truth. If he could use Daily Appraisal on the plant or animal, he could figure out a way to nurture it. However, he wasn’t sure what else he could raise in his home.

“Find something interesting to plant in your small garden,” said Hong Yuye. Jiang Hao sighed. ‘Where do I find something like that?’

The Heavenly Fragrance Dao Flower was the only “interesting” and rare item he had for now.

“If I like it, I’ll take it with me.” Hong Yuye looked at Jiang Hao. “Do you have any objections?”

Jiang Hao was speechless.

“I guess not,” said Hong Yuye and placed her cup on the table.

He could sense her vast aura.

“I have no objections at all!” said Jiang Hao hurriedly.

Hong Yuye stood up and walked out. “I won’t make you work for nothing. When the time comes, I’ll help you learn anything you want.”

Jiang Hao believed her. She had given him the nameless manual and the Seven Forms of the Heavenly Blade, after all.

Knowledge was invaluable.

“Oh, yeah…” Hong Yuye turned to him. “Prepare a better tea next time. I’ll often visit to check on my flower. You do know what will happen if you anger me.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” said Jiang Hao.

Hong Yuye then left.

“Ahhh… it hurts!” yelled the spirit beast. “What happened to my face?”

Jiang Hao checked its injuries to make sure the beast was alright. Then, he left it be.

He knew Hong Yuye had attacked the beast till it fainted. She probably didn’t want the beast to see her.

Jiang Hao sighed. ‘Where am I supposed to find a rare plant?!’

He needed to go and check out the treasures that were to be used as rewards for the competition. He needed to see if the seed was worth it.

Jiang Hao felt that a purple bubble would drastically change things for him. One more ability would really help him out.

When he returned to his room, he realized that the Half-Moon Blade was gone. He sighed. ‘Why do you have to steal my blades, Hong Yuye?’

Jiang Hao felt calm after the demoness was gone. There was such a huge difference in the way he felt when she wasn’t there and when she appeared suddenly. He needed to get stronger too.

He took out the nameless manual and began to read.

This time, he decided to read the entire book. He wasn’t in a hurry.

From what Hong Yuye had said, he needed to read the entire thing. He read the whole night and only finished it in the morning.

Jiang Hao was deep in thought as he gently closed the book.

“There isn’t a section on divine abilities, but it does talk at length about special spells and energy consumption…”

If there was any description of rare abilities, he would have noticed it.

If Hong Yuye hadn’t told him to read it again, he wouldn’t have noticed anything about special energy consumption.

Divine abilities consumed energy, but all of them consumed it in different ways. There were generally four things in a body that could be consumed. They were spirit, stamina, cultivation, and lifeblood. These were all consumed in different ways and for different uses.

As long as he knew what was consumed and in which activity, he could mask it from the world. Since all these things were related to the breath and spiritual energy, hiding them would greatly reduce the traces he left behind.

“The person who wrote this book must be a genius!”

There were so many things in the book that he couldn’t understand. Jiang Hao realized that he was still lacking in knowledge.

If he hadn’t decided to use the Daily Appraisal on Ming Yi today, he would have used that ability on the book. He wanted to know if this was written by Hong Yuye herself.

If it was, he needed to be even more careful of her.

After a while, Jiang Hao headed to the Spirit Herb Garden with the battered and bruised spirit beast.

He saw Ming Yi just in time.

Jiang Hao activated the Daily Appraisal ability..