Chapter 75: Cultivation Advances

"How is your progress going between the two of you?"

Jiang Taozhi asked while munching on crispy snacks.

"Progress? What progress?" Ruan Hongzhuang asked, somewhat surprised.

Hearing this, Jiang Taozhi asked in shock: "You haven't contacted each other at all today?"

"Yes, we chatted for a while this morning," Ruan Hongzhuang said.

"What about the late morning? Noon? Afternoon? Evening?" Jiang Taozhi stopped eating her crispy snacks, stared at Ruan Hongzhuang with wide eyes, as if looking at some rare object.

"Everyone was busy with work in the late morning, so it wasn't good to contact, right? The afternoon was the same. As for noon, I was afraid of disturbing his rest. But in the evening, I didn't contact him; that really is a bit not good..."

Ruan Hongzhuang frowned, self-criticizing.

Jiang Taozhi clicked her tongue, not knowing what to say.

"Is there a problem?"

"Is there a problem? The problem is huge! Is this how you two are dating?" Ruan Hongzhuang said, somewhat speechless.

"Dating, dating. There must be communication and interaction to call it dating. You two are each busy with your own things; can that count as dating?"

"What you say makes sense. Then I'll send him a WeChat message. No, I'll just call him. I don't know if he's had dinner yet..."

As Ruan Hongzhuang spoke, she took out her phone, preparing to call Shen Siyuan.

But Jiang Taozhi pressed her hand down, saying with displeasure: "Why doesn't he take the initiative to call you?"

Ruan Hongzhuang paused, then said: "Maybe he was afraid of disturbing my work?"

Jiang Taozhi was stunned; she never expected someone so decisive and efficient at work to be so clueless in matters of the heart.

So she said, quite speechless: "Then don't call him. Don't disturb his work."

"But it should be off work by now."

Ruan Hongzhuang raised her hand and looked at the exquisite ladies' watch on her wrist.

"Right, you know it's off work too? Let's go... let's go... we'll talk about it later..."

Jiang Taozhi, speechless, pushed Ruan Hongzhuang forward.

At this moment, they were on their way home for dinner.

Using the excuse that Ruan Hongzhuang had stolen her "boyfriend," Jiang Taozhi got Ruan Hongzhuang to agree to treat her to several big meals.

The big meals she spoke of were not those trendy shops or star-rated restaurants outside, but private meals where the chef is invited to the home.

These private chefs do not visit just anyone who invites them, and Ruan Hongzhuang happened to know a very skilled private chef.

The cooking skills were top-notch; after eating it once, Jiang Taozhi couldn't forget it.

Having caught this opportunity this time, she naturally wouldn't let it go.

By the time the two arrived at Ruan Hongzhuang's seaside residence, the chef had already arrived with ingredients, and the housekeeper was helping with the prep work.

As for ordering dishes, that didn't exist. Except for some special dietary restrictions, whatever the chef cooked, the host family ate. It was just this kind of personality, yet even so, many people still flocked to it.

However, while the two waited for the meal, Ruan Hongzhuang still couldn't help but call Shen Siyuan first.

"Since I proposed the relationship, I naturally need to be the one to take the initiative," Ruan Hongzhuang said with convincing logic.

Jiang Taozhi was actually left speechless.

Unfortunately, no one answered the phone.

Of course no one answered; Shen Siyuan was currently crying in agony.

If not for his bones supporting his entire body, he would probably be lying on the ground like a puddle of rotten mud right now.

At this moment, his whole body looked extremely miserable; large patches of skin were cracking, curling up, and then peeling off.

The excruciating pain made his whole body soaked with sweat as if washed by water; the ground was covered with fallen teeth and bloodstains, making his entire appearance look both miserable and wretched.

"Sister, is the sweet potato pot going to die?"

Dou Dou whispered quietly in Yin Xingyue's ear. They didn't know when they had returned; seeing Shen Siyuan in such a miserable state, Dou Dou was a bit scared, with tears swirling in her eyes.

"Don't talk nonsense," Yin Xingyue scolded, though worry was also barely concealed in her eyes.

"It's fine, it will be over in a moment."

Shen Siyuan endured the pain throughout his body, whispering a word of comfort, but unfortunately, all his teeth had fallen out, making his speech leaky and indistinct.

However, just as his words finished, the pain vanished, but soon, a strange itching swept over his entire body.

This itch wasn't the kind on the skin's surface, but an itch that penetrated deep into the bones.

Shen Siyuan changed his body posture; this could reduce the itch on his body. He went from the Second Phase, Third Layer, all the way to the Second Phase, Sixth Layer.

Then he could no longer continue. The first thread of merit made him leap from the First Phase, First Layer directly into the Second Phase, Second Layer, crossing a total of eight stages.

And the second thread of merit was directly halved, allowing him to cross only four stages.

However, even so, he had completely mastered the First Phase and the Second Phase.

This might look very simple, but anyone who has studied mathematics knows that if the returns decrease by half each time like this, to cultivate the Great Luo Han Eighteen Phases to the final layer of the Eighteen Phases, which has a total of 108 layers, the merit required would be unimaginably huge.

Unless the later stages do not decrease in this multiplicative manner, otherwise, it is absolutely impossible to use merit to cultivate the Great Luo Han Eighteen Phases to the final layer.

So we still need to consider repairing the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, opening the storage space inside, and taking out some of the Heavenly and Earthly Spirit Treasures accumulated by the Nine Nether Demon Lord over thousands of years. With the assistance of these spirit treasures, cultivating the Great Luo Han Eighteen Phases will naturally advance vigorously.

"Brother, are... are you okay?"

Seeing Shen Siyuan's expression relax and the pain on his face disappear completely, Yin Xingyue finally stepped forward to ask tentatively.

Her small face was full of worry; Dou Dou, hiding behind her and tugging at her clothes, was even more tearful. Shen Siyuan's appearance had scared her a bit.

"It's fine, I'm very good right now, especially good," Shen Siyuan, coming back to his senses, immediately spoke to comfort them.

He really felt very good now; not only did he feel incredibly strong and energetic, but the teeth that had just fallen out had all grown back. A mouthful of white pearl teeth, compared to his past teeth, was improved by countless times; he felt he could chew iron and crush gold.

"But... but you just now were a bit scary," Yin Xingyue said softly.

Dou Dou nodded her small head frantically beside her, indicating that Shen Siyuan just now had really scared the baby.

"Cultivation is never easy. Building muscle and forging bones, washing tendons and refining marrow, is never a pleasant thing."

Upon hearing this, Yin Xingyue seemed to understand, but Watching Dou Dou understood nothing at all.

"Alright, you two go play; I'm going to take a shower," Shen Siyuan said.

But before that, the floor needed to be cleaned up; it looked rather gruesome, no wonder it had scared Watching Dou Dou.

After Shen Siyuan finished tidying up and went to the bathroom to shower, he felt refreshed all over.

Seeing Yin Xingyue teaching Watching Dou Dou the 【Embrace-Wind Sleep】, he finally remembered the two of them had been missing all afternoon.

So he asked, "Where did you two go this afternoon?"

"Went to find a doggy, went to find a doggy..."

It turned out Watching Dou Dou had found a doggy and wanted to catch it to raise, but that doggy ran away upon seeing Watching Dou Dou, hiding far from her; Watching Dou Dou knew the reason but could do nothing about it.

Seeing Yin Xingyue return, she couldn't help but beg her big sister to take her along to catch that doggy.

"Where is that doggy? Did it run away?"

"That little dog has an owner," Yin Xingyuan said.

"Wait, are you talking about a living dog or a dead ghost dog?"

"It's a ghost dog."

"Then it still has an owner?" Shen Siyuan asked in surprise.

Yin Xingyue nodded. "It's a dog raised by a little girl; it died, yet it still follows the little girl every day."

"I see."

Shen Siyuan wasn't surprised; after animals die, if there is reincarnation, they all return directly to the Underworld.

If there is no reincarnation, most dissipate into the heavens and earth, after all, they don't have as deep an obsession and reluctance as humans do.

Of course, a portion still exist in the human world in animal form, among which dogs are the most numerous; the vast majority are waiting to meet their owners again.

"After I put out the fire on my head, I'll go find the little girl and ask to borrow the doggy to play with," Watching Dou Dou said from the side.

Yin Xingyue glanced at her and said, "The little girl is older than you; you must call her Young Lady."

"Then you keep working hard."

Shen Siyuan casually said a word, picked up the phone nearby, and only then remembered he had apparently missed a call just now.

Opening it, he saw it was from Ruan Hongzhuang; he finally reacted, nearly forgetting he now had a "girlfriend," probably because he hadn't had a girlfriend for so long, he was still somewhat unaccustomed.

Throughout the day, aside from a greeting in the morning, the two had not contacted each other at all; this was not normal.

Besides that, because he had gained a thread of merit in the morning, today at work, aside from working,

all his thoughts were on how to utilize that thread of merit, which was truly inappropriate.

Thinking of this, Shen Siyuan hurriedly edited a message and sent it over.