Chapter 35: Only Three Years of Life Left

After waiting for Oti to slowly walk out, the guard stationed at the gate also followed, a squad of four sturdy guards escorted Wu Ci Ou Ti toward the gate.

……

Lin Manzhi felt she had waited a long time, but it was actually only about half an hour; a commotion came from the courtyard gate.

She rose from the bedside and saw an elderly short female, surrounded by four hulking male beasts as she walked in.

Lin Manzhi immediately understood the identity of the female before her, turned to the Shamaness and said, "Witch Matriarch, my Beast Husband asks you to kindly take a look."

Standing in the middle of the room, Oti glanced at the beautiful female, said nothing, and went to the bedside.

She lowered her head, placed her hand on Mo Lie's forehead, closed her eyes, and the pheromone unique to the Shamaness flowed from her palm like a green thread, gently piercing the male beast's brow—this is the Shamaness's distinctive examination method.

Lin Manzhi, standing nearby, held her breath and watched the scene quietly.

The book describes the Shamaness as requiring an annual selection; only females who are found to have Pregnancy Value can enter, after which various studies follow.

Pregnancy Value is linked to Pheromone, so her Pheromone Value is four, which is enough to qualify for entry into the Mountain Classic Beast Temple.

But she had just finished university, having studied continuously for sixteen years, and truly didn't want to go back to school at all.

In the original novel, the heroine studied medicine; after being transported here she entered the Mountain Classic Beast Temple, naturally becoming a prodigy, attracting countless powerful and outstanding male beasts who courted her.

Lin Manzhi considered herself not clever enough, so she came here to start learning medicine from scratch.

The examination was brief; under Lin Manzhi's gaze, Oti withdrew her hand, opened her eyes, and turned to look at the concerned Lin Manzhi waiting nearby.

"Witch Matriarch, how is he?" Lin Manzhi asked anxiously.

Oti's tone was grave: "Female, the reason your male beast is in a deep sleep is that his Spirit Core is severely shattered."

Lin Manzhi replied truthfully: "His Spirit Core shattered last month; about ten days ago we used Spiritual Repair Agent, and he said it no longer hurt…"

Regarding Mo Lie's Spirit Core injury, at this stage he won't have any incidents… his fatal knot isn't in this time period.

After a bout of panic, looking at the Shamaness, Lin Manzhi gradually calmed down.

She had known about the Spirit Core issue long ago; now she wanted to see if Mo Lie had any other injuries, why he suddenly collapsed with blood.

She asked nervously, "Did he sustain any other external injuries?"

"You still worry about his external injuries? Heh…."

Oti rose, lifted the veil hanging from her shoulder, with a look that nothing could cure him: "His body isn't injured; he'll wake up soon, but there's no way to treat his Spirit Core wound."

Lin Manzhi exhaled slowly.

She turned her head toward Mo Lie, his complexion almost deathly pale, his beautiful blue eyes tightly shut, long lashes trembling, as if he endured intense pain even in his slumber.

Spiritual Core Repair Agent could ease his pain; the most valuable thing at her home was Lettuce, and she recalled Mo Lie once saying Lettuce had very different culinary effects…

Her heart felt torn, she clenched her teeth and asked anxiously, "Do you have Spiritual Core Repair Agent here? I'd like to trade something for it."

"I don't have it; that's a concoction crafted by the Mountain Classic Beast Temple," Wu Ci Ou Ti looked compassionately at the once‑strong male beast lying on the bed, and continued:

"He has at most three years of life left, needs proper care, and from now on can no longer use Beast Form."

Just as written in the original book.

Before leaving, Oti looked at Lin Manzhi with sympathetic eyes, but said bluntly, "If it weren't for the fact you're a female, your meager Beast Coins wouldn't have been enough to summon me to treat the male beast; you still owe me thirty thousand Beast Coins."

Treating females is free; having a male beast request the Shamaness costs a hefty price.

Lin Manzhi knew this, since females are already scarce here, and females who become Shamaness are even rarer; rarity is prized.

"I don't have that many Beast Coins now; by this Xuan Day, I'll deliver them to the Witch Matriarch's hands," Lin Manzhi nodded in agreement.

Xuan Day is at the end of this month, about fifteen days away.

Here a year consists of eleven months across three seasons: a one‑month rainy season, a five‑month winter, and a five‑month dry season, with each month having fifty days.

The Shamaness was lenient toward Lin Manzhi, this Pregnancy‑Value female; hearing Lin Manzhi's words, she said nothing more and left with her attendants.

Lin Manzhi rose to see off Wu Ci Ou Ti, then returned to the house.

She sat directly on the floor, turned her body toward the bed, propped her chin and stared at Mo Lie lying there, his pair of jet‑black beautiful eyes vacant, as if dazed.

Recalling the original novel's plot, the thing that can fully restore a Spirit Core does exist in this world; the original heroine, after gathering all the items, saved her own barely‑alive Snake Beast Husband.

As for the main antagonist Mo Lie, he lacked that luck; his eventual Spirit Core recovery… was entirely thanks to his plundering.

Sigh…

However, Mo Lie's obtaining that medicine happened two years later.

Lin Manzhi was worried; she had skimmed over those medicines at the time, couldn't recall them fully, only remembering they required many rare herbs, Exotic Beasts, exotic birds, exotic insects, and other uncommon items.

How to find them, she didn't know the exact locations; the book only described the places where the heroine obtained them, never specifying which lord's territory or exact address.

Now she thought of setting out to follow the original protagonist to gather all the Spirit Core repair materials; she might not fail to find them.

Hard…

Lin Manzhi took another deep breath.

If only I remembered all the names of the materials needed to repair the Spirit Core!

……

Ansen City.

Today is the day the Shamaness's assessment results are announced; Lin Ling and a group of females head toward the tallest Shamaness Tower Temple in the city.

The black spire's design is unique, black columns support the corridor, and black sheer silk hangs from the top, rippling in the wind like a lake's surface.

The three floors of the Shamaness Tower Temple are all semi‑open courtyards, with white‑jade floor tiles, and lush vegetation adds a splash of life to the black‑and‑white interior.

In the middle of the first floor stands a small pool fountain, at its center a sculpture as white as jade, and a towering obsidian statue over ten zhang tall, half‑human half‑beast, exuding an awe‑inspiring majesty that one dares not meet the eyes.

Although Lin Ling appeared calm on the surface, she was extremely nervous inside.

She was confident that, with her Pheromone Value of two, she could pass the assessment, especially since she had already altered her fate, handing that damned Mo Lie over to Lin Manzhi.

At that time, the plot to have Lin Manzhi assassinate Mo Lie failed, but she had already left a contingency in that tribe.