Chapter 75 – Moon-Swallowing Toad: Cultivation Efficiency Skyrockets

Following Yan Yunyu’s instructions to contact Chu Lingluo’s mother left the maid Xiao Xue momentarily stunned, thinking her young mistress intended to slander Chu Lingluo’s mother. Hesitating briefly, Xiao Xue still reminded her: “Young Mistress, Madam Chu is not a foolish person. Mere words alone are unlikely to provoke her into action…”

“I’m well aware of that. However, while a top-grade artifact might not sway her, her daughter’s future certainly will. Just do as I say and contact her.”

“Yes, Young Mistress.”

Using a mirror-like magical artifact, Yan Yunyu easily established contact with Chu Lingluo’s mother.

She was a woman dressed in palace attire, but unlike Chu Lingluo, her expression was exceptionally cold and aloof.

At the same time, she appeared extremely youthful—rather than looking like Chu Lingluo’s mother, she could easily pass as her older sister. Judging by her appearance, this lady seemed only a few years older than Chu Lingluo.

Yan Yunyu was not surprised by her youthful looks.

Not only was this lady a Qi Refiner, but even without cultivation, aristocratic women from noble families could easily maintain their youthful appearance through special magical artifacts and elixirs.

Upon seeing the palace-attired woman, Yan Yunyu immediately bowed deeply before the other could speak and apologized earnestly: “I’m sorry, Aunt Chu. I have failed your trust and did not take good care of Lingluo.”

Her words caused the palace-attired woman’s expression to freeze momentarily. Frowning slightly, she disregarded etiquette and asked directly: “What happened to Lingluo? Didn’t she just make it onto the Hidden Dragon Rankings?”

Clearly, apart from Yan Yunyu, this palace-attired woman also had her own sources of information to keep track of Chu Lingluo’s situation.

Yan Yunyu showed no surprise at this and replied: “It’s precisely because she entered the Hidden Dragon Rankings that trouble arose.”

Without waiting for Chu Lingluo’s mother to inquire further, Yan Yunyu explained:

“Lingluo is my cousin. Naturally, I would assist her when she enrolled.”

“To make her happy and help her achieve a better ranking in the Tower Challenge, I devised a small plan to have Mu Lin—whom I had previously supported—team up with her.”

“Mu Lin possesses exceptional paper folding skills and is also skilled in painting and calligraphy. I once spent over a hundred spirit stones to purchase his works. Lingluo also greatly admires his artwork. During this period, she has been following Mu Lin and has been very happy every day.”

“Aside from his artistic talent, although Mu Lin has a third-class spirit root, his combat aptitude is quite remarkable. During this Tower Challenge, he and Lingluo supported each other and became the top performers at Anping Dao Palace, both entering the Hidden Dragon Rankings together.”

At this point, Chu Lingluo’s mother had already sensed what was coming.

She understood clearly, but a young girl beside her seemed somewhat confused.

“Huh? Isn’t Sister doing very well? Why are you apologizing, Sister Yu?”

Yan Yunyu smiled bitterly at this and said: “It’s precisely because things are going too well that trouble has arisen.”

“Still don’t understand…”

“Yiyi, this isn’t something you should be listening to. Please step outside first.”

“Yes, Mother.”

After Yiyi left, Chu Lingluo’s mother’s expression turned slightly cold as she asked: “Are you implying that the two have developed feelings for each other?”

Yes, romance—not slander—was Yan Yunyu’s ultimate trump card.

‘I refuse to believe your Chu Family would willingly allow Lingluo to marry a commoner with a third-class spirit root, especially one inheriting the ominous Yin Eight Gates.’

In my previous life, the principle that all people are equal had already been written into the constitution. Yet even so, marriages between men and women still emphasized matching social status.

In this world, the distinction between nobility and commoners is clear-cut, and the aristocratic families place great importance on bloodlines. When it comes to marriage, they place even greater emphasis on matching social status.

Yan Yunyu believed that the Chu Family would absolutely never agree to let Chu Lingluo marry into a lower status.

Moreover, this world also highly values a woman’s reputation. For an unmarried woman, not only is losing her virginity a stain, but even falling in love before marriage is considered a blemish.

Because of this, Yan Yunyu felt that once the Chu Family learned of this matter, they would definitely cut off all contact between Chu Lingluo and Mu Lin swiftly and decisively.

And at that time, her opportunity would come.

As for Mu Lin entering the Hidden Dragon Rankings and being recognized as a Prodigy, which would earn him the attention of aristocratic families and even lead to them offering their daughters in marriage… that was indeed true. However, whether they would recruit him as a son-in-law or marry off their daughters also depended on the individual.

For the sake of reputation and bloodline, legitimate daughters were mostly married off to those of the same social class.

It was the illegitimate daughters who were used to recruit talent.

Unless Mu Lin’s talent was extraordinary enough to rank within the top ten of the Hidden Dragon Rankings, only then would the aristocratic families make an exception.

However, the top ten was something Yan Yunyu had never even considered.

Even Dongfang Ya, who had great confidence in Mu Lin, had said that with the full support of Anping Dao Palace, Mu Lin had a chance of breaking into the top thirty-six.

And at that time, everyone knew she was exaggerating.

While scheming in her mind, Yan Yunyu spoke up:

“There are already signs of this. Today, Lingluo even lent Mu Lin a top-grade artifact for temporary use.”

“Actually, Mu Lin used to be very mindful of boundaries. He wouldn’t take anything he shouldn’t. When I bought his artworks before and offered extra Spirit Stones, he refused them. That’s why I felt comfortable introducing him to Lingluo.”

“But perhaps Lingluo is too beautiful, or maybe feelings developed over time, or perhaps entering the Hidden Dragon Rankings gave him confidence. In any case, he accepted the gifts from Lingluo, which can also be seen as having ulterior motives toward her…”

“I understand. Thank you for informing me about Lingluo’s situation. Feel free to come to me if you have any matters in the future.”

After saying this, Chu Lingluo’s mother proactively ended the communication.

And Yan Yunyu, a faint smile appeared on her face.

“That aunt probably won’t believe my one-sided account and will send someone to investigate.”

“However, although I concealed some details, most of what I said just now was true.”

“Mu Lin was indeed someone I subtly pushed toward Lingluo with a little scheme. And Lingluo’s fondness for Mu Lin is absolutely overflowing. Under such circumstances, no matter how you investigate, the outcome won’t change!”

…

Yan Yunyu’s little maneuvers were unknown to Mu Lin.

At that moment, he was marveling at the usefulness of the Moon-Swallowing Jade Toad.

—When night fell and the moon appeared, Mu Lin released the Jade Toad.

Then, he saw that under the moonlight, the Jade Toad seemed to come alive, its entire body glowing, and its mouth opening and closing rhythmically.

As it breathed, the Moonlight energy within a radius of several miles flew toward the Jade Toad’s mouth like young swallows returning to their nest.

After one hour, a drop of Moonlight Jade Dew was condensed.

After taking out and swallowing the Moonlight Jade Dew, Mu Lin discovered that he… had become a being of light.

The excessively abundant energy caused Mu Lin to exhale and inhale streams of radiance with every breath.

He himself even felt as if his mana was limitless.

With an abundance of moonlight energy, Mu Lin’s cultivation also became exceptionally smooth.

Even though his Spirit Root Talent remained unchanged, the abundant energy filling his entire body still increased his cultivation efficiency by three to five times.

Beyond mana cultivation, Mu Lin’s practice with the Substitute Paper Figure became even more unrestrained.

(End of Chapter)