Chapter 268: Soul-Seizing and Soul-Nourishing

From this day on, Liu Liu Xiaolou changed his attitude, stopped fleeing blindly, and prepared to begin cultivation. The spirit stones he had accumulated in the Qiankun Bag—aside from those already used—still numbered about forty, enough to sustain his cultivation for a year.

Of course, assuming the tree demon didn't eat him.

These past few days, the tree demon would occasionally drop food for him: a bird flying overhead, a wild rabbit that wandered by, sometimes not a single offering in a full day, sometimes a whole wild boar at once.

Liu Liu Xiaolou couldn't help wondering: was he not tasty enough, not as good as that spirit leopard, so the tree demon had no appetite? Or was the tree demon planning to fatten him up before eating?

And was his own cultivation merely accelerating his own death?

But right now, he had no other option—he could only hope to raise his cultivation and break through to Qi Refining Ninth Layer before the spirit stones ran out, then see if there was any chance to escape.

He would also come beneath the spirit leopard, look up at the creature that had been on the brink of death for over half a month yet never died, and sigh inwardly: If not for you…

One day, after steadying his spirit, he reached into the Qiankun Bag for spirit stones and suddenly noticed the dusty drum-flute buried in the corner, unused for years. A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

This drum-flute had been seized nearly three years ago in the life-or-death battle beside Zhuoshui. Liu Liu Xiaolou still remembered vividly how the Badong cultivator had controlled the serpent spirit-shadow. After the Badong cultivator died, the serpent spirit-shadow vanished, and the drum-flute reverted to an ordinary flute.

Later, he had taken time to study the "Serpent Cultivation Secret Method," also seized from the Badong cultivator, and gained some understanding of how to cultivate spirit parasites. But he had never encountered a worthy spirit serpent to cultivate, so he had put it aside.

Although the "Serpent Cultivation Secret Method" described how to raise spirit serpents and transform them into serpent parasites, the underlying principles were universal and could be applied to other spirit beasts.

If he could transform this spirit leopard into a leopard parasite, his strength would surge dramatically—and with the leopard's spirit-shadow as cover, he might truly escape the tree demon's imprisonment!

Thinking it through, Liu Liu Xiaolou temporarily set aside his cultivation of the Xuanzhen Scripture and returned to studying the "Serpent Cultivation Secret Method." Nearly three years had passed; now, rereading the Daoist text, his comprehension ran deeper than before.

After mentally reviewing all the steps twice to ensure accuracy, he took out the drum-flute, aligned the finger holes, and blew. A faint, mournful wail echoed through the forest.

At first, his playing was clumsy—he couldn't produce the "breaking the silence" tone required by the "Serpent Cultivation Secret Method." But after days of persistent practice, once he mastered the method of true qi circulation, the "breaking the silence" tone finally emerged.

Once his playing was polished and the tone calibrated, Liu Liu Xiaolou aimed the drum-flute at the spirit leopard hanging in midair and played the "Soul-Seizing" melody.

The spirit leopard's current state was precisely the perfect condition described in the "Serpent Cultivation Secret Method": consciousness adrift, unaware of its own body, blind to the outside world.

Normally, to capture a spirit beast's soul, one must fully subdue the chosen beast, reducing it to a dazed state—neither fully unconscious nor fully awake. This step was the hardest.

The stronger the spirit beast selected, the better. If its strength approached or even surpassed the cultivator's, the cultivator either couldn't subdue it, or if he did, he'd likely inflict grievous injuries—or even kill it by accident.

Only when the cultivator's strength vastly exceeded the spirit beast's could this goal be relatively easily achieved—but then the spirit beast was too weak, making the resulting beast parasite meaningless. This was the main reason Liu Liu Xiaolou had not cultivated parasites in three years.

Thus, the current spirit leopard was perfectly suited for cultivation—it saved Liu Liu Xiaolou the hardest step entirely.

As the "Soul-Seizing" melody began, the tree demon seemed to sense unease; its branches and vines trembled as if swept by a gale, startling Liu Liu Xiaolou into stopping his playing. He waited, trembling, until the tree demon stilled.

He played again. The tree demon trembled once more. He stopped again.

After several such repetitions, the tree demon finally grew accustomed to the flute's sound, and Liu Liu Xiaolou was able to complete the full "Soul-Seizing" melody.

When the final note faded, Liu Liu Xiaolou felt as if the spirit leopard…

Had opened its eyes. Its deep blue gaze dimmed slightly, and at the same time, something indescribable seemed to have entered the drum-flute.

Playing the "Soul-Seizing" melody consumed considerable true qi and inflicted significant damage to the spiritual sense. He felt utterly exhausted and collapsed into sleep at once, snoring loudly.

The next day, after a full night's rest and a meal of wild rabbit provided by the tree demon, Liu Liu Xiaolou rallied his spirit and played the drum-flute again. When the melody ended, the spirit leopard's deep blue gaze dimmed further, and the mysterious presence within the drum-flute grew slightly stronger.

Liu Liu Xiaolou patiently played for half a month. When his true qi ran dry, he sat and restored it; when hungry, he ate the meat and fruit the tree demon dropped. On one day, the spirit leopard's eyes finally closed completely, its gaze utterly extinguished.

He went beneath the spirit leopard, reached out, and felt—no trace of life remained.

The drum-flute, however, had grown slightly heavier.

Thus, the spirit leopard was truly dead.

Liu Liu Xiaolou tried to pluck out the tree demon's sprouts embedded in the spirit leopard's body. They remained firmly lodged beneath its skin, stubbornly hard to remove. Summoning courage, he spent half a day prying out a small segment—only to find the sprout writhing on its own, oozing faint traces of blood from its tip, making his scalp crawl.

No sooner had he tossed the sprout far away than a vine silently lashed out from behind, striking his shoulder and sending him flying.

The tree demon's strike was vicious. Liu Liu Xiaolou was hurled ten zhang through the air—but the moment he cleared the canopy, several vines snatched him mid-flight and dragged him back, slamming him hard to the ground.

He rose, his shoulder burning with pain.

He dared not move again. After catching his breath, he proceeded to the next step of cultivation as outlined in the "Serpent Cultivation Secret Method."

The flute sounded again—a new melody, titled "Soul-Nourishing."

This tune lacked the tearing sensation of the previous one; instead, it was pleasant to hear, slow and steady, deeply soothing. After practicing for two days and successfully completing the full melody for the first time, Liu Liu Xiaolou's eyelids drooped, overcome by profound fatigue, and he fell into a deep, snoring sleep on the spot.

When he awoke, the sun blazed brightly again.

After eating and drinking his fill, he played the "Soul-Nourishing" melody again. When finished, he fell asleep again. Days passed like this, and he felt increasingly clear-minded and full of vigor.

On this day, as he played the "Soul-Nourishing" melody, he became utterly absorbed—forgetting where he was, when he was, even who he was. The melody overflowed with warmth, peace, stillness.

When the final note ended, he did not fall asleep. Instead, he felt serene, joyful, and at peace.

Suddenly, he saw birds perched densely upon the canopy, and countless small creatures—rabbits, rats, sheep, deer—peeking out from the underbrush, all staring fixedly at him.

After a long while, the canopy trembled gently, and the birds took flight. The rabbits, rats, sheep, and deer scattered.

He examined the drum-flute in his hand. At some point, a faint, hazy glow had emerged from one end of the flute—then, after a moment, it retracted.

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