I CULTIVATED BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE DEMON LORD

———

~ Please support this site by disabling your ad-blocker ❤️ ~
______

CHAPTER 7: Nourishment

Please do not read on pirate sites. Read only on https://royaltywrites.com.ng/ Please read this content from the original site.

At some point, Little Lian reached out and gave her shoulder a gentle nudge. "Sister, is there something on my face?"

"Nothing." Chu Li snapped back to herself all at once, pressing a hand to her brow. When she looked again, Little Lian had already returned to his usual, obedient self.

He lifted first one foot, then the other, studying the bandage she'd wrapped around his knee, the corners of his eyes curving upward slightly with pleasure. "You were right, Sister. It really doesn't hurt anymore."

Watching him now, Chu Li grew more and more convinced she'd simply imagined whatever she thought she'd seen a moment ago.

Probably just the lack of sleep the night before, combined with all the stress, playing tricks on her eyes.

Little Lian, looking a little shy, lowered the hem of his robe back over his legs and drew his feet slightly back.

Just as Chu Li was about to sit down beside him and say something more, she noticed a small, broken scrap of leaf lying on the floor by the bed.

Had the wind blown it in?

She reached down to pick it up, but Little Lian suddenly stopped her. "Wait, Sister!"

Chu Li froze mid-motion, glancing at him in confusion. "What's wrong?"

Little Lian's fingers tightened against his knee, his chin drawing in slightly as he looked at her, his eyes timid. "That horrible Qin Yuxi was in this room earlier. I worried that might have fallen off the bottom of her shoe. I don't want you to get your hands dirty because of her, Sister."

Chu Li couldn't help but laugh a little as she patted his knee. "I know how much you dislike her."

With a flick of her fingertip, she sent the scrap of leaf sailing straight out the window.

After sunset, true to her word, Chu Li moved the bamboo cot over beside her bed, close enough that Little Lian could sleep nearby without the two of them having to share a bed and disturb her rest.

She snapped her fingers to snuff out the candle, pulled the blanket up, and settled in, determined to make up for all the sleep she'd lost the night before.

She'd barely lain down when Little Lian's voice reached her. "Sister, that horrible Qin Yuxi has been confined to her quarters. Aren't you happy about that?"

"Of course I'm happy." Chu Li's mind was already occupied with finding him something nourishing to eat, and she urged him along. "I need to be up early tomorrow. You should get some sleep too."

The room fell quiet, just as she'd hoped.

With the moon bright and the stars sparse, Chu Li rolled over without thinking, and just as she was drifting toward sleep, the moonlight spilling across the bed let her see, quite clearly, Little Lian's bright, doe-like eyes fixed intently on her.

Why wasn't he asleep yet?

Too exhausted to want to fall asleep under his gaze, she simply rolled back the other way.

Little Lian's hesitant voice drifted over from behind her. "Sister, what exactly is a partner?"

Chu Li pressed a finger against her throbbing temple, already sensing that sleep wasn't coming easily tonight after all. "Why are you suddenly asking about that?"

"I heard some of the female disciples in the courtyard today, talking about how they keep partners just to make themselves happy." He fell silent for a moment, then asked her suddenly, "Sister, after you finished talking with the elders, you didn't seem very happy. Is that because I'm not a good partner?"

Every word he said felt painfully sincere. Chu Li hadn't expected him to be so much more perceptive than she'd imagined, and she found herself wondering just how much hardship he must have endured to develop such a sensitive, watchful nature.

"Not at all." Chu Li answered honestly. "I do have some things weighing on my mind, but none of it is your fault. You don't need to take all of that onto yourself."

Little Lian made a small sound of acknowledgment, then asked again, hesitantly, "Sister really won't blame me, or grow tired of me because of it?"

"Of course not." Chu Li couldn't stop a huge yawn, her voice growing muffled as she asked, "Do you have any other questions?"

He gave a small hum, his tone growing even more careful. "In that case... since you've already seen my body, Sister, I suppose you'll take full responsibility for me from now on?"

Chu Li couldn't help but let out a short laugh.

He didn't know much about the world, yet somehow he held onto a rather strong sense of propriety about his own modesty.

Yesterday, she'd seen the skin of his chest, but only because he'd asked for her help tying his robe.

And today, she'd seen his calf, but only to check the wound on his knee.

If it weren't for the fact that she genuinely felt for him, a request like his would have counted, quite fairly, as emotional blackmail.

Thinking that Little Lian would likely make an utterly devoted partner in time, Chu Li felt an odd sense of comfort settle over her.

She patted the blanket lightly and reassured him in a soft voice. "Don't worry. Whatever happens, I'll keep you by my side."

A morning without Qin Yuxi around to throw a tantrum felt genuinely different. The sky had barely begun to lighten before Chu Li was up and about, feeling refreshed.

She spent a moment admiring the boy still sound asleep, eyes closed peacefully, then tiptoed around his bamboo cot, tied the mother bell to her belt, and headed out with a bamboo basket to gather ingredients rich in spiritual energy for him.

Many of the sect's lower-cultivation outer disciples, along with their partners, still relied on spiritually infused meals to absorb energy.

For that reason, the Bliss Sect maintained dedicated spirit fields, growing an abundance of spiritually enriched vegetables and fruits, and with Mount Qiyi crisscrossed by streams and rich in aquatic life, the sect was largely self-sufficient when it came to spiritual food.

The green mist fruit Little Lian had eaten the day before had come fresh from the western orchard, but while it was sweet and refreshing, it fell far short when it came to actually replenishing spiritual energy.

Hoping to find something richer in energy, Chu Li made her way deeper into the orchard, only to find a cluster of Bliss Sect disciples, dressed in vivid reds and greens, already there, directing their partners to gather fruit all around them.

As the only Bliss Sect disciple picking fruit with her own hands, Chu Li didn't think anything of it at first, until several late-stage foundation establishment female disciples gathered around her, looking her up and down with obvious judgment.

"Look at how you're dressed. Haven't even established your foundation yet?"

"A mere Qi refining outer disciple, and you dare come compete with us for Crimson Sky fruit?"

"You're all by yourself? Don't tell me you don't even have a partner."

Chu Li had no interest in engaging with them at first, focused on reaching up to pluck the Crimson Sky fruit from the branches with a spell, one by one. But at that last remark, she couldn't help firing back. "Whether or not I have a partner is none of your business."

The disciple who'd been reprimanded tapped a jade flute lightly against her palm, entirely unhurried. "You're clearly new here, and don't seem to understand how things work in this place. When you're speaking to us, you'll want to mind your tone a little more."

The moment she finished speaking, she gave the jade flute a twist, and a streak of purple light shot out ahead of Chu Li's own spell, knocking the Crimson Sky fruit Chu Li had been about to pick straight to the ground. "Without our permission, you won't be taking a single Crimson Sky fruit from this orchard."

Watching the crimson fruit's flesh burst apart on the ground, Chu Li felt her temper flare. "This is the Bliss Sect's orchard, not something reserved exclusively for the five of you. Wasting spirit fruit like this so openly is nothing short of disrespecting the ingredients themselves."

"You should go around the sect and ask who doesn't know the name Jin Lan." The disciple lifted her chin, her expression thoroughly arrogant. "You want to cross me? I'd sooner let this Crimson Sky fruit rot on the ground than give you a single bite."

The disciples flanking her chimed in eagerly.

"That's right, who do you think you are, fighting Sister Lan over Crimson Sky fruit?"

"With cultivation as pathetic as yours, you could eat ten thousand Crimson Sky fruits and still never break through!"

Chu Li was fairly certain she'd stumbled into the legendary phenomenon of clique bullying, but she wasn't rattled in the slightest. "When did I ever say I wanted the Crimson Sky fruit for myself? My own partner's simply grown tired of green mist fruit and wanted a change. If I can't get any Crimson Sky fruit, I'll just pick something else instead."

With that, she reached back to rub her shoulder and casually smoothed down the strands of hair the wind had blown loose, entirely at ease. "Unlike some people, hoarding a patch of Crimson Sky fruit like it's some kind of treasure, camping out here before everyone else is even awake, just to show off for who exactly? The cranes up in the sky?"

Chu Li raised an arm and pointed upward, and, as if on cue, a few cranes cried out overhead right on schedule.

Jin Lan crossed her arms, tapping the jade flute repeatedly against her elbow, her expression turning distinctly sour. But she quickly recovered, gesturing off to the side with the flute and letting out a scornful laugh instead. "Why would I waste good food on a partner? He's nothing more than a dairy cow I happen to own. Even if all he ate was grass, he'd still produce milk just the same."

Chu Li glanced toward the partner Jin Lan had gestured at. He stood with a visibly guarded, nervous posture, never once daring to meet anyone's eyes, dark circles beneath his eyes, his steps unsteady, clearly worked to the point of exhaustion, yet still diligently carrying out whatever thankless chores his mistress demanded of him.

"A partner is still a person. Treat him like this, and how is he supposed to sleep at night?" Chu Li said, indignant. "It's obvious you've never actually studied anything properly. I bet you don't even know that playing music for a dairy cow can increase its milk yield. If even a well-cared-for cow benefits from that kind of treatment, imagine how much more it matters for a partner."

Jin Lan blinked at her, thoroughly bewildered. "What nonsense are you even talking about!"

"Ignorance really is frightening," Chu Li murmured under her breath, a note of genuine pity in her voice, then picked up her basket. Amid the stunned silence of Jin Lan's little circle, she gave them a small, dismissive wave of her fingers. "Since you all seem to love Crimson Sky fruit so much, you're welcome to keep every last one. I'm off to the next grove. I won't take up any more of your time."

Within less than an hour of wandering the orchard, Chu Li had already gathered quite a haul.

She took stock of the colorful assortment of spirit fruits filling her basket and stored the whole collection away in her storage bracelet.

There was easily enough fruit here to last Little Lian a full week, but he was a growing boy, standing a full eight feet tall, and fruit alone wasn't going to cut it.

Chu Li figured Little Lian was probably waking up around now, and if she went hunting for more ingredients elsewhere in the sect, it would only delay things further.

She had no intention of letting him go hungry on only his third day at the sect.

On her way out of the orchard, Chu Li passed a mountain stream and scooped up a generous handful of clams before heading back toward her quarters.

She'd barely taken two steps when she spotted a lone figure standing near the edge of a cliff nearby.

The disciple wore a ginger-yellow robe paired with an amber-colored sash, unmistakably the attire of a Core Formation stage disciple.

Within the Bliss Sect, disciples at Core Formation stage or above made up only about a fifth of the total population, and those who'd reached that level generally lived rather comfortable lives, rarely the type to be found standing miserably at a cliff's edge, clutching a flowerpot and sighing heavily to herself.

However Chu Li looked at it, the scene struck her as deeply wrong. She dropped her basket and closed the distance in a few quick strides, grabbing the disciple and yanking her backward, sending them both tumbling to the ground in a tangled heap.

"What is wrong with you?" The disciple's fine brows knit together, her face full of aggravation. "I was perfectly fine, just admiring the view, and you go and yank me down out of nowhere!"

Chu Li blinked, thoroughly confused. "I thought you were about to..."

"Thought I was about to jump?" The disciple sat on the ground, still cradling her flowerpot, rubbing at her lower back. "Have you ever seen anyone bring a flowerpot along to leap off a cliff?"

"...My apologies." Chu Li offered a hasty bow, doing her best to look both apologetic and dignified at once, and picked up her basket, ready to make her exit.

The disciple reached out and called her back. "Wait!"

Chu Li paused mid-step. "Yes?"

The disciple lifted the flowerpot above her head. "Have you ever grown flowers before?"

Chu Li nodded blankly.

The disciple cast a quick spell on herself, popping up off the ground in an instant, and immediately shoved the flowerpot straight into Chu Li's arms. "This flower and I simply don't get along. Take it off my hands, would you? I hope you'll look after it properly."

Chu Li eyed the withered, dried-out stem sitting in the pot. "But this flower..."

Was it even still alive?

"This happens to be a rather precious Cuckoo's Cry. Its fragrance aids cultivation, and dye made from it fetches an absurd price on the market, wherever you can even find it for sale. I spent a small fortune in spirit stones tracking one down." The disciple sighed again. "I was simply born unlucky with flowers. Not a single one has ever survived more than half a month in my care. Since you clearly know how to grow things, maybe it'll find new life in your hands instead."

Chu Li felt very much like she'd just been handed an orphan out of nowhere, an orphan that looked to be on its very last breath.

Though she did have some experience growing plants and flowers, the spiritual flora of this world tended to be notoriously delicate, and bringing a Cuckoo's Cry back from the brink like this seemed like a genuinely tall order.

Seeing Chu Li fall silent, the disciple stepped closer, hands clasped behind her back, looking her over, and her eyes suddenly widened at the sight of the clams in Chu Li's basket. "Oh, do you actually eat spirit clams?"

Chu Li waved a hand in explanation. "Not for me, I'm going to stew them, to help nourish my partner."

"Nourishing a partner, is it..." The disciple nodded, her tone suddenly full of meaning, and summoned a bundle of white radishes and celery from her storage ring with a flick of her wrist. "Look at these radishes, nice and thick and sturdy, and this celery, nice and straight and firm. Stewed together with clams, that's about as nourishing as it gets."

Under Chu Li's increasingly suspicious gaze, the disciple made quick work of stuffing the vegetables into her basket, then, with a rather mysterious flourish, produced a black wooden box. "Since fate brought us crashing together today, why don't I send you off with one more ingredient. It's a rare delicacy from the sea, wonderfully nourishing, but my own partner has no use for it. I've simply been keeping it in this box to preserve its freshness."

"What is it?" Chu Li reached to open the box right then, curious to see for herself.

The disciple gave her hand a light tap. "You'll want to wait until right before it goes in the pot to open it, so the ingredients stay fresh."

Chu Li weighed the box in her hands, cool mist curling faintly from its seams, and hesitated. "This box looks rather valuable. I really should return it to you properly. I'm Chu Li, by the way. May I ask your name?"

"You're welcome to hold onto the box for a few days, I won't be needing it in the meantime." The disciple twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "Just call me Qi Ying. Come find me on the eastern side sometime, if you're free!"

And that was how Chu Li found herself walking home in a daze, carrying a near-dead spirit flower in one hand, a decidedly down-to-earth set of vegetables in her basket, and a box containing some unidentified seafood, all while Qi Ying waved her off with enthusiastic cheer.

Back at her quarters with a full haul, Chu Li set up her iron pot, cut the white radish and celery into simple sections, and set them to stew together with the clams.

While the pot simmered, she turned her attention to the window, where she began examining the Cuckoo's Cry Qi Ying had given her.

Though the flower's stem looked dry and withered on the outside, once she carefully scraped away the outer layer, the veins running underneath were still green and moist.

Chu Li carefully dug into the soil until the flower's roots came clearly into view.

There was no obvious sign of rot in the roots, but they'd grown so tangled and cramped that they filled a full two-thirds of the pot's space, clearly suffocating for room.

This poor Cuckoo's Cry, she decided, wasn't dying so much as it was simply refusing to keep living crammed into a pot barely the size of a palm.

Chu Li concluded, with some confidence, that although the flower looked worse for wear, it wasn't beyond saving.

All it needed was a larger pot and some richer soil to be transplanted into, and it would very likely pull through.

She'd just finished setting the pot down by the window when Little Lian's voice drifted over from behind her. "Sister, what's inside that wooden box?"

Absorbed in studying the flower, she answered without turning around. "Some kind of nourishing delicacy, I think. I'm not entirely sure myself."

Before she could add, don't touch it just yet, Chu Li heard a sharp crack and spun around immediately.

The mysterious box lay in two broken halves on the floor, and Little Lian, holding something in his hands, was slowly turning to face her. "Sister, this thing... what exactly does it nourish?"

Cradled between the boy's pale, slender fingers was an unusually large clam, an oddly thick, pale brown siphon, thicker than a wrist, awkwardly extending outward from between its two palm-sized white shells.

At a glance, it looked uncannily like an elephant reaching for food with its trunk.

Chu Li very nearly choked on her own blood right there on the spot.

Did Qi Ying have some kind of misunderstanding about what "nourishing" meant? Why on earth would she gift her something as blatantly virility-boosting as a geoduck?

【Author's Note】

【Bonus scene】

Ji Wuyan: How exactly am I a dairy cow? And more to the point, since when do I produce milk??

Chu Li: ......

In a certain sense... technically, you kind of do.

—

Geoducks are a type of clam with a rather distinctive appearance. Curious readers are welcome to look them up XD

Translator's Notes for Curious Readers 🤍

子规啼 (Cuckoo's Cry): The flower's name draws on a well-known image in classical Chinese poetry, the cuckoo bird (子规/杜鹃) whose cry was said to sound like it was weeping blood, often used as a symbol of sorrow, longing, or unfulfilled wishes. The name carries a wistful, melancholy undertone in the original that doesn't fully translate, but "Cuckoo's Cry" preserves the literal image.
对牛弹琴 (playing music for a cow): Chu Li's line about music increasing a cow's milk yield is a deliberate twist on the old idiom "playing the lute to a cow" (对牛弹琴), roughly equivalent to "casting pearls before swine," meaning to waste effort explaining something to someone who won't understand. Chu Li flips the idiom's usual dismissive meaning into a sincere (if absurd) piece of trivia to needle Jin Lan.
象拔蚌 (elephant-trunk clam): This is the actual Chinese name for what's known in English as the geoduck, a giant saltwater clam famous for its long, thick siphon. The visual joke (comparing it to an elephant's trunk, and then to something else entirely) works basically the same way in both languages, so it was translated directly.
Cultivation stage hierarchy: For reference, the ranks mentioned so far run, in ascending order: Qi Refining → Foundation Establishment → Core Formation (金丹, "Golden Core") → Nascent Soul (元婴). Higher stages generally mean significantly more power, spiritual energy, and status within the sect.
奶牛 (dairy cow) as a term for a partner: Jin Lan's comparison of her partner to a "dairy cow" is meant as a callous, dehumanizing remark, treating him purely as a resource to be milked for spiritual energy rather than a person. Chu Li's pushback plays along with the metaphor rather than rejecting it outright, which is part of the joke.