Azure Cloud Sect, Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling.
Jiang Si sat beneath the waterfall curtain with closed eyes, quietly listening to Bingtang's report.
"You've worked hard," he said, opening his eyes. "Give Four-leaf Clover a month's paid leave."
Bingtang picked up a towel nearby and handed it to him. "I was just thinking the sa thing."
After Jiang Si wiped his face clean, she handed him the fresh clothes prepared nearby. The old clothes were soaked with sweat from training, so she collected them into a bag and set it aside.
Though she really wanted to take them back and wash them for him, unfortunately Jiang Si didn't like others doing his laundry.
As he stood up, he casually asked, "Did you manage to sell those mana crystals I gave you last ti?"
Even after three years, Bingtang still paused for a mont every ti she heard "mana crystal."
Then she imdiately responded, "Oh, the Grief Seeds. Yes, they've been sold. That Class B Disaster Beast's Grief See... mana crystal was a bit difficult to move. There are fewer buyers recently."
"Is that so?"
"And there haven't been many Class B Disaster Beasts lately. If we sell too quickly here, we might attract the Disaster Control Bureau's attention."
Jiang Si finished dressing and returned to his Sect Master cushion.
The entire Azure Cloud Sect only had this one cushion because nobody else liked sitting on it.
To be honest, the thing wasn't very large, and sitting properly required curling one's legs. Normal people couldn't get used to it - only Jiang Si enjoyed it.
Bingtang chattered on beside him: "Over these three years, more and more mana crystals have been sold through Azure Cloud Sect, and market prices have started dropping. Low-grade mana crystals aren't fetching the high prices they used to. If this continues, Azure Cloud Sect might face financial imbalance..."
"Then contact the Witch Association and have them produce more Class B Disaster Beasts."
He said it as casually as if Azure Cloud Sect and the Witch Association were long-term business partners.
Bingtang felt sowhat helpless.
Azure Cloud Sect's expenses couldn't rely solely on her. No matter how wealthy she was, one person supporting such an organization alone couldn't last long.
Thus, one of Azure Cloud Sect's major business operations was selling Grief Seeds.
Of course, this was Jiang Si's suggestion originally, since in his view, Grief Seeds were similar to mana crystals - both were rare items that would definitely have buyers at good prices.
That's how it always worked in the novels.
So Bingtang, half-believing, mobilized her family connections to investigate, and surprisingly, Jiang Si turned out to be right.
There were indeed places offering high prices for Grief Seeds.
So used them as decorations. Although Grief Seeds couldn't compare to Miracle Seeds, their sowhat sinister aura combined with their magical material gave them considerable ornantal value even after losing their magical power.
Many wealthy people treated Grief Seeds as status symbols, so prices remained high.
Additionally, so universities and research institutes studied Disaster Beast characteristics and had substantial demand for Grief Seeds that the Disaster Control Bureau's supply couldn't et.
Most of Azure Cloud Sect's revenue over the years ca from Grief Seed transactions, to the point where they'd established a dedicated departnt.
Bingtang only provided the startup capital - the operating funds maintaining Azure Cloud Sect still ca from Jiang Si and the major disciples' own Disaster Beast hunting results.
The other Magical Girls naturally received salary rewards. Although Jiang Si didn't, the entire Azure Cloud Sect was built for him. If Jiang Si wanted it, all of Azure Cloud Sect's liquid assets would beco his personal property.
However, Jiang Si never interfered with Azure Cloud Sect's operations and rarely asked her for money.
Even when he took part-ti jobs, he wouldn't take a single cent from Azure Cloud Sect - it was truly hard not to admire him.
He'd even asked her before if her family had any job openings.
Back then, Bingtang was still too naive to understand Jiang Si's thinking. She just felt that a Sect Master shouldn't need to work part-ti jobs. Later, when she discovered Jiang Si had gone to work elsewhere, she found it strange - even for the sect's sake, he didn't need to go that far.
After observing for longer, she completely understood.
This wasn't just for the sect - it was also for cultivation training! He specifically sought out labor-intensive jobs where the training effect was no worse than gym equipnt.
After understanding Jiang Si's intentions, Bingtang stopped thinking about proactively providing the Sect Master with money or easy job positions.
Presumably Jiang Si knew she would understand him, so he never stated it directly. After three years together, they no longer needed communication to understand each other's hearts and minds.
She absolutely couldn't interfere with Jiang Si's cultivation and training.
Usually when sect disciples wondered why the Sect Master was so difficult to et, Bingtang would solemnly inform them that the Sect Master was busy cultivating and wouldn't slack off enjoying life just because of his high status, staying in Azure Cloud Sect to corrupt himself.
After hearing this, the disciples all worshipped him intensely. Even though Azure Cloud Sect's base salary was extrely high, because the Sect Master led by example, extravagance never beca prevalent, with most mbers taking pride in frugal cultivation.
Even with everyone being so thrifty, because their efforts had saturated the Grief Seed market over the years and disciples kept increasing, Azure Cloud Sect's funds were still sowhat tight.
Bingtang had to start considering new revenue sources.
She handed a proposal to Jiang Si.
"This is the latest Azure Cloud Sect proposal I've been discussing with so disciples recently. Based on a shell company, we'd conduct Magical Girl idol activities. Although their true identities need to remain hidden, Azure Cloud Sect has several high-popularity Magical Girls who could conduct idol activities only in their Magical Girl forms. From the Disaster Control Bureau's perspective, this is feasible..."
Magical Girls need to keep up with the tis too.
Actually, the Disaster Control Bureau had been promoting Magical Girl idolization work all along - the previous Magical Girl concert was hugely popular and earned substantial profits.
Bingtang only thought of this proposal after seeing the Disaster Control Bureau's successful approach.
Jiang Si glanced at the "Beihai Idol is Legendary" proposal docunt and set it on the table. "You can handle this as you see fit."
"We plan to create a Magical Girl band called Magic Collection Card. I wonder if Shion would be interested..."
"No."
Never mind that Jiang Si couldn't play instrunts or sing - from what he knew, girl bands generally didn't have good outcos.
Bingtang herself had ntioned recently how the lead singer and keyboardist of a currently popular girl band had a falling out, and the bassist only learned about the band's dissolution from the internet three days later, having been denying the breakup rumors before that...
With Magical Girls having such varied temperants, it felt even more likely to crash and burn.
But since this was Bingtang's proposal, he didn't plan to pour cold water on it.
Though sowhat disappointed, Bingtang didn't press further because clearly Jiang Si was entering cultivation mode.
Wispy smoke drifted as lodious, ancient-sounding bell tones reverberated, filling Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling with immortal aura.
Bingtang looked around before spotting a small tape recorder behind Jiang Si.
He'd recorded bell-ringing sounds from sowhere...
Honestly, it had quite the charm. After spending so much ti with Jiang Si, Bingtang gradually understood what "immortal aura" ant.
Though she couldn't explain it clearly, it was definitely a feeling - and she was feeling it now.
Jiang Si took out his Miracle Seed, which had now transford into deep purple, almost black.
The dense magical power carried the Witch Association's ominous aura, yet showed no signs of losing control.
All the magical power was perfectly contained within the seed - no matter how it churned, it couldn't spill out or affect the seed itself.
Miracle Seeds are born from Magical Girls' hearts, the materialization of a Magical Girl's heart.
Light, heavy, joyful, sorrowful - all emotions manifest on the Miracle Seed.
The corrupted magical power contained in Grief Seeds is the aggregate of all negative emotions - for Magical Girls, it's like poison.
Once a Miracle Seed becos contaminated, a Magical Girl's power greatly diminishes, potentially even losing transformation ability.
No Magical Girl would want to absorb such potent toxins.
Only Jiang Si was the first to attempt absorbing large quantities of Grief Seed contamination from Disaster Beasts. No matter how much he absorbed, his seed showed no cracks or morphological changes, remaining constant.
Aside from discoloration, the contaminated magic couldn't affect his Miracle Seed in any way.
Jiang Si quickly confird that the contaminated magic from Grief Seeds was essentially no different from Magical Girls' magic.
It was precisely because Jiang Si proved Grief Seed magic could be absorbed that Azure Cloud Sect sought thods to purify Grief Seeds.
This led to Azure Cloud Sect's highly systematic cultivation thods that made their Magical Girls' overall level significantly higher than the Disaster Control Bureau's.
After all, until reaching Blooming tier, accumulating magical power remained the fastest and most convenient way to increase strength.
Whereas normally Magical Girls tended to be rather casual about magical power accumulation...
"Give your Miracle Seed."
Hearing Jiang Si's words, Bingtang imdiately took out the blue seed hanging from her bracelet and handed it over.
Jiang Si closed his eyes, imrsing his entire consciousness into the Miracle Seed's power.
Single-attribute magical power tempering of his body had reached its limit, so the thod he conceived was magical power fusion to further enhance his flesh's magical compatibility.
Although he failed last ti, it provided so experience - attribute-conflicting magical power would maximally stimulate the body's limits.
Bingtang's magical attribute was cold energy, while his was blazing fire - the most conflicting attributes.
However, the magical power ratio required continuous testing.
A fifty-fifty magical power ratio instantly created conflicts that tore parts of his skin.
He first adjusted his own power down to forty percent, but the magical conflict remained terrifyingly intense.
Even with the most precise magical control, his forehead was torn open by overflowing magical power.
Bingtang's magical power required continuous permission from her to use, making adjustnts troubleso. Only after reducing his own power to twenty-five percent did Jiang Si continue mobilizing Bingtang's magic.
He constantly adjusted ratios, modified magical circulation thods, and attempted circulation and absorption within his body.
Until he found a critical point.
When his own power reached seventeen percent and Bingtang's reached thirty-five percent, the mutually repelling magical powers finally found a fusion point.
The circulation thods of both magical powers kept transforming. Jiang Si stretched and extended his own magic until constructing an extrely complex three-dinsional sh structure, while the icy blue magic transford into finer threads flowing through the central pipeline.
Both magical powers maintained a delicate balance - though slightly trembling and on the verge of collapse at any mont, they perfectly maintained their forms.
"Boom!"
A crisp explosion sound as magical power scattered!
Like a basin of cold water drenching Jiang Si's entire body.
Bingtang, who had been tense throughout, finally relaxed, her forehead covered in fine sweat beads.
This precise magical control, even though she was only assisting, still exhausted Bingtang trendously.
Only Jiang Si could manipulate two types of magic with such effortless grace...
"As expected, a Miracle Seed with an owner is still difficult to control," Jiang Si casually returned Bingtang's seed. "But I've found the optimal ratio for two conflicting magical powers - approximately thirty-five to seventeen. I don't know if this has universal applicability. Later, have so disciples test it. If successful, we might mass-produce Blooming tier."
After catching her breath slightly, Bingtang took dical cotton from her portable pouch, cleaned Jiang Si's forehead, and carefully bandaged the wound. "Why did you suddenly experint with this again today?"
"Thought of it during my fight with Cripple today." Jiang Si stood up and stretched his arms - the magical conflict had significantly impacted his muscles, leaving them sore. "When his magic penetrated my body, I detected a marvelous balance. I suspected it related to magical power proportions, so I wanted to test it."
The bag exploded violently! The remaining force even flipped over the treadmill behind it!
Jiang Si looked at his fist, a rare smile appearing on his face. "Excellent. Although it failed, the physical enhancent is obvious. Pity I can't maintain the magic in my body, otherwise I could probably break through to Seedling tier. My pure strength is already very close to Seedling level. My current realm is indeed Half-Step limit Sprout Great Perfection, which matches my initial expectations quite well."
Although Jiang Si never gave up strengthening his body, to Bingtang, reaching Sprout tier was already the human body's limit.
Yet this punch made Bingtang see the possibility of Jiang Si reaching Seedling tier through pure physical ans.
No way? This has truly surpassed humanity, hasn't it?
The thought of Jiang Si being able to defeat her without transforming imdiately created strong crisis awareness in Bingtang's heart.
That was utterly unacceptable!
More importantly, this ant she might not get to see Shion anymore!
That prospect was even more unacceptable!
So Bingtang quietly asked, "You're still... still much weaker than after transforming, right?"
"Hmm, although the destructive power can injure Seedling tier, without magical power, my defense is lacking, and I can't fly either, putting at a mobility disadvantage."
Jiang Si analyzed himself very calmly. "I could probably injure them by surprise, but a one-hit kill isn't likely. Once they react, unless they're idiots, they'll create distance. Once they take to the air, I'm helpless. In real combat, the advantages aren't great. Transformation is still faster."
Bingtang nodded like a pecking chick beside him.
Exactly - with a Miracle Seed, why wouldn't you transform? Can't waste Shion's beauty. Such a pretty, adorable face not being seen by others would be an outrageous waste, practically inviting divine punishnt...
Naturally unable to guess the thoughts of this friend who'd followed him for three years, Jiang Si finished everything, tidied his clothes, and since it was getting late, needed to head ho early.
"Be careful on your way, Jiang Si. Dujuan definitely won't let this go."
As he left Azure Cloud Sect, Bingtang reminded him: "She might co looking for you."
"That would be perfect."
Jiang Si gave her a strange look. "What are you worried about?"
"I... I'm not worried about anything."
Bingtang stamred slightly. "Not worried about Dujuan hurting you, mainly concerned the Disaster Control Bureau might discover your identity..."
"Understood, I'll be careful."
Watching Jiang Si turn and walk away, Bingtang hesitated slightly before waving and saying quietly, "Make sure to transform!"
After Jiang Si disappeared into the distance, she secretly followed him. The Witch Association would definitely act quickly - they might encounter them tonight.
Damn Witch Association - if you can't force the transformation, I'll never forgive you...
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