Interstellar Farming: I Make Potions and Climb to the Top

Back on the seventh basement level of the Training Institute, Di Youlin had sensed Ning Xuan through pure instinct. His nature had always been wild and untamable. The only reason he had compromised and bowed his head time and again since coming to her side was because he knew Ning Xuan was the only one who could save him.

Di Youlin was lucid right now. His request for Ning Xuan to form a Spirit Connection with him was made with absolute certainty, not on a whim or impulse.

In fact, the reason he had fought with Yun Han over Ning Xuan today was that he had wanted to ask her to form a Spirit Connection with him. He had simply lost control of his aura for a moment and injured someone, which was what had infuriated her.

"Oh? So it has to be me. And what if I’m not willing?" Ning Xuan said, her expression darkening.

"Master, don’t you want to touch me when I’ve turned into a Phoenix? Don’t you want a Phoenix as a mount? You saw it today—my Mutant Beast Gene’s true form is a Phoenix of pure crimson-gold. Every plume shimmers with the brilliance of molten gold, and its tail feathers trail a seven-layered, phantasmal blue-green light. It’s magnificent. Wouldn’t having a Phoenix for a mount be incredibly prestigious?" Fearing Ning Xuan wasn’t interested, Di Youlin did his best to paint a vivid picture.

The corners of Ning Xuan’s lips lifted as she glanced down at Di Youlin. "With a personality like yours? The moment you don’t need me anymore, you’ll run as far as you can. And you talk about being a mount? Are you just feeding me empty promises?" Ning Xuan said, finding it somewhat amusing.

"How would I dare, Master? I wish I could cling to you every single day. Why would I ever want to run far away?" Di Youlin said with a wronged expression.

"Don’t think I don’t know. You want to cling to me now for your own comfort. Once your crisis is resolved, who knows what you’ll do." Ning Xuan shook her head and turned to leave.

"Master, don’t go! With the Spirit Connection channel, I can’t possibly escape your control. Master, if there are any conditions you want me to agree to, just say them," Di Youlin pleaded, clinging to Ning Xuan and refusing to let go.

"There are no conditions. Di Youlin, my other Contractors were all assigned to me through the system’s mandatory matching. Mandatory matching has the highest priority among all matching systems, so their bonds with me are all official and perfectly legitimate."

"But you? I was forced to take you in because of your family’s power. You just said it yourself—your mother has been searching for countless Controllers to match with you. Your parents are both still alive. If I form a connection with you, and then you fully transform, your crisis is resolved, your Combat Power soars, and you return to the Federation’s territory... don’t you think your family will feel I took advantage of your vulnerability? That I ruined your prospects?" Ning Xuan said with a sneer.

Ning Xuan’s words were like a bucket of cold water dumped over Di Youlin, making his heart skip a beat. Her concerns were completely valid. If he really did manage to fully transform, his parents might not credit Ning Xuan for it. Even if he tried to explain and confirm it, they might not believe him—especially his mother.

"Master..." Di Youlin wanted to say more, but he didn’t know what.

"Enough. Stop kneeling and go back to sleep. I punish you by making you kneel, and you still can’t behave, always pulling these little tricks." Ning Xuan dodged to the side, pulling her leg free.

Di Youlin watched Ning Xuan walk away and return to her large tent. He had no choice but to stand up and slowly walk toward the tent next to hers.

Di Youlin returned to his own tent, which wasn’t far from Ning Xuan’s. He perked up his ears, trying to catch any sounds from her tent.

Di Youlin felt as if he could hear Yun Han’s broken moans. Indescribable images flashed through his mind, and his face slowly began to turn red.

The next morning, Yun Han didn’t come out for breakfast. Ning Xuan temporarily assigned Di Youlin to mining duty. This was originally Yun Han’s job, but now that Di Youlin was taking over, Yun Han could rest.

Today, Ning Xuan took Chen Nan, Lan Xin, and Qinghe to cultivate beneath the spiral nebula. Qinghe cherished the opportunity to cultivate by Ning Xuan’s side. Thanks to the improvements in his bloodline genes, his scales hadn’t gone out of control again, and he hadn’t felt that bone-deep pain in the areas where they grew for a long time.

Lan Xin could also now completely retract his scales into his body. After this period of Cultivation, both his spiritual power and his physical constitution had shown significant improvement.

The others had progressed similarly. If she were to have her blood tested now, Ning Xuan believed her Spiritual Power Value, which had just broken through to S-rank, would have certainly increased a great deal. Her physical constitution and Comprehensive Combat Power had also clearly improved.

In addition to diligently cultivating in this superior environment, Ning Xuan had also taken several Body Refining Medicine Baths. While doing so, she discovered that the medicinal solution was much more potent when diluted with water from the lake compared to ordinary water.

Di Youlin was mining in Yun Han’s place while Ning Xuan was cultivating. The mining site happened to be not far from Ning Xuan’s tent, so Di Youlin used the excuse of getting a drink of water to barge into her tent.

Yun Han was lounging lazily on the bed. Seeing Di Youlin enter, a mocking smile touched his lips. "What’s this? Seeing how patient Ning Xuan is, has Mr. Di run out of patience? Can’t wait any longer?"

Yun Han was wearing a tie-front silk sleep robe. The fabric was glossy and smooth, and the style was very loose.

As he leaned on the bed, his sleep robe was untied, revealing a wide expanse of his chest. A clear bite mark was visible on the pale skin of his collarbone, and below his Adam’s apple was a patch of purplish-red marks. Something seemed to be wrapped around his faintly visible waistline.

Wanting to get a clearer look, Di Youlin couldn’t help but take a few steps forward. Yun Han didn’t expect him to come closer. His expression changed as he asked, "What do you think you’re doing?" and started to get out of bed.

"HSSS..." Yun Han sucked in a sharp breath. Di Youlin saw a thorny, black-and-red vine as thick as a finger shoot out from behind Yun Han. It rose up like a snake, stopping right in front of him.

"Hey, I mean no harm! I’ll leave right now." Di Youlin had been bound by the Ghost-faced Red Vine before, so he knew exactly what it felt like. He never expected Ning Xuan to have left a Ghost-faced Red Vine on Yun Han. Terrified of being caught by Ning Xuan, he wanted to back out immediately.

"Stop. Why did you come looking for me?" Yun Han asked, his expression grim.

"It’s nothing, really. I caused you to get hurt yesterday, didn’t I? Even though I didn’t mean to, I still injured you, so I wanted to come and apologize." Di Youlin slowly backed away a few steps. Once he confirmed that the Ghost-faced Red Vine had retracted, he stopped.

"Heh. So Mr. Di knows how to apologize. How unbelievable. If it was just for an apology, then I’ve received it. You can go now." Yun Han adjusted his sitting position and told him to leave.

"Uh, how about we chat a little more? You know, it must be fate that we both serve the same master. And we were acquainted before, right? You’re so favored... could you give me some pointers?"