"Understood!"
Ye Tian replied with some excitement and immediately put away his Fire Tip Spear.
He stuffed a handful of Marrow Cleansing Pills into his mouth, adjusting his condition to its peak, then swiftly sat down cross-legged.
His eyes were wide open, unblinking, staring intently at the broken lotus platform that Bibi Dong was pulling rapidly toward the shore.
The lake's surface was still rippling...
Without the embellishment of the Moonlit Water Fairy, the scenery around the lake was no longer as ethereal.
Ye Tian's gaze shifted, catching sight of the spider silk in front of him... He couldn't help but glance at Bibi Dong beside him. After a moment of contemplation, he suppressed his worries and closed his eyes.
After Bibi Dong took the stamen, she probably wouldn't disturb him.
"You can begin."
In just a few breaths, Bibi Dong's voice sounded in Ye Tian's ear.
She had already pulled the remains of the Moonlit Water Fairy, along with its purple soul ring, to the base of the tree.
"Mhm~"
Ye Tian nodded and immediately circulated the Soul Power within his body.
The flawless, milky-white pill Martial Soul appeared in Ye Tian's cupped palms...
A purple ring spiraled beneath him.
The dense Pill Fragrance atomized, floating around his body and enveloping the entire treetop, including Bibi Dong.
Inhaling the Pill Fragrance, Bibi Dong couldn't help but glance sideways at Ye Tian.
She had actually noticed his earlier glance. Pursing her red lips... she looked at the golden stamen of the Moonlit Water Fairy, which still radiated a silver glow. Could it be that Ye Tian didn't know the stamen's effects?
The answer was, of course, no.
What was this, then?
A protection fee?
A mocking smile appeared on Bibi Dong's face.
She averted her gaze, silently watching as Ye Tian drew the purple soul ring over.
Suddenly...
Swish!
Without further hesitation, Bibi Dong leaped down, brushing past the purple soul ring.
The rush of wind beside him made Ye Tian frown involuntarily, but he quickly settled down again.
Bibi Dong's acceptance of the stamen indicated her attitude.
Ye Tian proceeded as planned.
Just as the purple soul ring, glowing with moonlight, hovered above his head and he was about to begin absorbing it...
Bibi Dong's voice suddenly rang out.
"Wait!"
"!!!"
Ye Tian's breath caught in his throat, a sense of confusion in his heart.
Just as he was about to open his eyes, Bibi Dong's voice came from right beside him...
"Continue absorbing. Just open your mouth."
Evidently, Bibi Dong had already taken the stamen and returned to his side.
"..."
Ye Tian fell silent. After a moment's hesitation, he apprehensively continued to circulate his Soul Power... while opening his mouth.
Instantly...
Ye Tian could sense a fragrant breeze approaching, a medicinal scent lingering at the tip of his nose.
Immediately after, a coolness spread within his mouth...
Ye Tian was stunned.
He hadn't smelled this medicinal fragrance much before, but he recognized it. Bibi Dong was feeding him the stamen of the Moonlit Water Fairy!
"This stamen can enhance a Soul Master's spiritual power."
Bibi Dong crouched beside Ye Tian, speaking in a soft, gentle voice as she methodically broke the stamen in her hand into small petals... and placed them one by one into Ye Tian's mouth.
Along with her jade-like finger, she pressed down on the stamen in his mouth...
Bibi Dong suddenly had the urge to make Ye Tian bite her.
It was just for an instant, but it was enough to make Bibi Dong frown and suppress the strange thought.
She withdrew her hand and continued feeding him. Only after she was finished did she continue speaking:
"This stamen is ineffective for me, but it's perfect for you. I imagine absorbing both of these at the same time shouldn't be a problem for you, right?"
As she spoke, Bibi Dong's index finger traced back and forth along the corners of his lips, wiping away the juice from the stamen that had spilled... before she finally pulled her hand back.
Ye Tian was dazed for a long while before he came back to his senses. He pursed his lips and swallowed the stamen.
Then, he opened his eyes and looked at Bibi Dong beside him.
He spoke with respect and courtesy, "Thank you, Teacher."
"Mm, it seems you'll have no problem."
Bibi Dong replied faintly. She crossed her legs and sat down directly beside Ye Tian, instructing, "Begin your absorption."
"Yes!"
Ye Tian nodded earnestly.
He immediately closed his eyes and officially began to absorb the soul ring, which was over three thousand eight hundred years old.
The purple light above his head suddenly loosened... transforming into wisps of Soul Power that descended upon Ye Tian's head.
"..."
Bibi Dong took a deep breath of the Pill Fragrance, a look of intoxication on her face.
Looking at the medicinal liquid on her fingertip... she brought it directly to her thin, lovely lips and licked it clean.
Smack!
"Ye Tian, you want to get even with me, but I insist on making you owe me..." Bibi Dong murmured to herself as she withdrew her finger, her eyes narrowing as she glanced at the little guy beside her, a dangerously strange smile on her face.
The odd thing was... her voice didn't reach Ye Tian's ears at all.
Suddenly!
The smile on Bibi Dong's face froze.
Her eyes filled with astonishment...
Her index finger, which she had yet to lower, slowly rose to the corner of her eye and wiped it gently.
She then brought her finger before her eyes...
Only then did she see that it was a crystalline, milky-white dewdrop!
It even exuded an extremely rich Pill Fragrance!
Bibi Dong's eyes widened.
How could she not be familiar with this milky-white color and scent?
Wasn't this the unique fragrance that came with Ye Tian's Martial Soul?
Bibi Dong turned her head abruptly.
A flash of moonlight was so dazzling it made her phoenix eyes narrow.
What entered her vision... was Ye Tian, still sitting cross-legged beside her.
However, a gentle moonlight now clung to the surface of his body, echoing the bright moon in the sky.
At the same time... the moonlight continuously stimulated wisps of white mist to emerge... pouring out from Ye Tian's pores.
In that short period, the mist around Ye Tian had already completely enveloped all the branches and vines of the large tree they were on!
Only the bare main trunk remained visible, and the mist was growing ever denser...
The milky-white substance at the corner of Bibi Dong's eye just now was the precursor to the Pill Fragrance beginning to liquefy!
Bibi Dong was stunned.
She gazed at Ye Tian, bathed in moonlight, a milky-white auspicious cloud above his head, and clad in a Taoist Robe...
Her eyes held a trace of unprecedented fascination.
Bibi Dong had never expected that feeding the Moonlit Water Fairy's stamen to Ye Tian would cause such a drastic change in the phenomenon he naturally produced!
No!
It probably wasn't just the effect of the stamen...
The stamen could indeed enhance spiritual power, but its effect was limited. It would already be quite impressive if it could raise Ye Tian's spiritual power to the level of a rank 30.
The main reason was likely the high degree of compatibility between the soul ring produced by the Moonlit Water Fairy and Ye Tian's pill Martial Soul...
This change was the result of all these factors combined.
A brilliant smile blossomed on Bibi Dong's face.
The moonlight gradually faded. As time passed, a purple qi appeared from the east at the horizon.
When the diffused milky-white mist began to contract, more and more milky-white droplets appeared around Ye Tian. Many of them were even messily clinging to Bibi Dong's face.
Bibi Dong, of course, couldn't possibly find this distasteful; in fact, she was more than happy about it.
She closed her eyes and sniffed gently, looking rather pleased.
When the morning sun rose, the white mist around Ye Tian had vanished without a trace.
In its place were dozens of milky-white droplets of liquefied Pill Fragrance, condensed around him... right above his head.
The purple soul ring had also become incredibly faint, on the verge of dissipating at any moment.