The Emperor's Domineering Favor, the Evil Consort's Unparalleled Reign

Having successfully escaped through the secret passage, the alluring man explained to Ying Li in detail what a Spirit Master is. Unlike ordinary Spirit Cultivators on the Spirit Realm Continent, Spirit Masters are born with the ability to control their minds and have a unique attraction and control over spirit beasts.

As for the spirit book in Ying Li's hand, it is a cultivation technique specifically for spirit masters. Through the spirit book, one can flexibly utilize their abilities. When facing a powerful enemy, the higher the level of the spirit book, the more flexible the use of mental control becomes. Unlike Ying Li's deep pupils, which utilize the spirit of heaven and earth to control opponents, the former uses his own abilities to sense the direction of the opponent's attacks, intimately interacting with the spirit beasts' spiritual guidance, using spirits as a barrier and as an array to attack enemies and protect himself.

Unexpectedly, fleeing from Bixia Palace would bring such a gain. Ying Li was both happy and worried. Later, her face turned a little pale. She put the spiritual book into the cloth bag at her waist, glanced back at the Hu family's house shrouded in thick smoke, frowned slightly, and turned to leave.

"Girl, what's wrong? Aren't you happy to have obtained the spirit book? In the future, you will be able to become a spirit mage. If you can become a purple-robed spirit mage among the red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple, the entire Spirit Realm Continent will treat you as an honored guest, and no one will dare to bully your family again. Even if you don't become a purple-robed spirit mage, reaching the yellow-robed level is still very good."

Seeing Ying Li's somewhat disappointed expression, the alluring man couldn't help but offer a reminder.

Ying Li stopped in his tracks and said, "I do want to cultivate the Spirit Book, but according to what you said, Spirit Masters are born with the ability to control their minds. Only those with this ability can cultivate the Spirit Book, but I don't have that ability. Also, I'm not from the Ghost Realm, so this Spirit Book is actually of no use to me."

"Haha... What am I supposed to say to you? Don't you know your own abilities?" The alluring man simply rose out of the bone ring, stood in front of Ying Li, and patted him heavily on the shoulder. He continued, "Have you forgotten your reaction in the secret passage? That Yin Huan is a hidden master. He saw many forks in the road during the final mystery of the secret passage, while you only saw one. And that one really was the Spirit Guiding Path. Tell me, do you possess or not possess the ability of mind control?"

Ying Li's eyes lit up. Now that she thought of it, she did recall the scene when Yin Huan asked her that question. Could it be that she really had the ability to control minds?

"You are the king of mind control, and I possess the Bone Ring. Perhaps this is also due to your power." Ying Li was still somewhat skeptical.

"Remember this: the Bone Ring is made from your flesh and blood, the Seven Star Bone Totem, and me—they are all yours. You must have a significant secret, which you may only discover as you grow stronger. Until then, don't underestimate yourself. The girl I've chosen is far superior to those worthless people, so don't wallow in self-pity." The alluring man said with a somewhat solemn expression. He knew that Ying Li's journey had been difficult; now, with enemies chasing her and her family in danger, she was constantly on edge, unsure when he might plunge this girl into utter ruin.

He had to stop them before that happened.

Ying Li looked up at the handsome man's unusually serious face, and suddenly felt a warmth in her heart. A smile appeared on her face as she took out the spiritual book from her bag and nodded heavily, "I'll learn it!"

"That's more like it!" The alluring man patted Ying Li's head, a smile spreading across his face. In that instant, Ying Li stared at the smile on his face, suddenly lost in thought. That smile, those clear eyes, her face suddenly overlapped with the alluring man's. Her heart pounded, a feeling of unease washed over her, and her eyes welled up with tears. Her right hand clenched tightly, and the alluring man vanished in front of Ying Li like a wisp of smoke, returning to the Bone Ring.

"Hey, you brat, I only touched you a couple of times, why are you angry? Are you shy?!" A teasing voice came from the bone ring. Ying Li shook her head heavily, her right hand tightly covering her chest. After a long while, she finally returned to normal.

What's wrong with her? What happened?

“Girl, stop fooling around. There’s a Winter Night Manor in Huai’an Kingdom, and a Winter Night Mountain outside the manor. It’s the beginning of winter now, and the hunting for spiritual herbs there is about to start. Let’s go there, participate in the hunt, and get more spiritual herbs. If you’re going to cultivate spiritual books, you must quickly improve your abilities to properly utilize the skills of a spiritual mage.” The alluring man didn’t notice anything different about Ying Li. He remembered the precious spiritual herbs of Winter Night Mountain, which was a good place to go.

Ying Li nodded, still feeling the lingering fear from the panic she had just experienced. After a while, her eyes regained their clarity. Now was not the time to think about trivial matters; she needed to become stronger quickly. Only by becoming stronger could she be free from worries and have the power to protect her family.

Since the alluring man said that there are many spiritual herbs in Winter Night Mountain, they must not be ordinary spiritual herbs. If they can catch his eye, they must be very precious.

Ying Li carefully put away the spiritual book and resumed his journey. Winter Night Manor was not far from here, and based on Ying Li's speed, he would arrive in half a month.

During the past two weeks, Ying Li used the method taught to her by the alluring man to cultivate the spiritual book. Sure enough, she saw words appear on the spiritual book. She memorized the contents of the cultivation method and, based on her comprehension, she learned about one or two tenths of it. However, she was still far from mastering it.

Thinking of the alluring man's overwhelming power in defeating Ling Yin in the secret passage, Ying Li was filled with excitement. Such strength, the power of a king who controls the mind—if she could cultivate to that level, no one would dare to bully her family again.

Finally, they arrived at Winter Night Manor. The manor's gate was quite different from that of Clear Moon Manor, but its layout was similar to the manor where Yin Huan had taken her to stay. However, the sheer size of Winter Night Manor was astonishing. The entire manor spiraled around half of the foot of Winter Night Mountain, and the undulating pavilions and towers of the manor left countless visitors in awe.

Signing up for the Spirit Herb Hunt was easy. There were no low-level rules that discriminated based on identity or age. Instead, you simply lined up, and when it was your turn, the person in charge would observe your spiritual power and tell you whether you were eligible or not. There was no arrogance or shady dealings. They simply offered you the opportunity to enter Winter Night Manor. If you wanted to participate in the Spirit Herb Hunt, you had to pass the manor's test to enter Winter Night Mountain and freely pick spirit herbs.

Ying Li looked at the long, winding queue and a helpless expression appeared on her face. It seemed they would have to wait until the next day. But to everyone's surprise, the long queue disappeared in less than two hours. Ying Li, with a keen eye, noticed that not a single person among them was a soul cultivator; everyone's spiritual power was above that of a spiritual cultivator.

It seems that getting into Winter Night Mountain is still a big challenge. Competing with so many people is not a good thing; there will probably be a lot of fighting.

Thinking this, the person in front of Ying Li was refused entry because their spiritual energy was unstable, as if they had taken some kind of forbidden drug. When it was Ying Li's turn, the person in charge initially just wanted to take a look around, since he had been looking around for quite a while and was indeed a bit tired.

But after seeing Ying Li, he still glanced at her several times. The girl in front of him was only at the fourth level of spiritual cultivation, and she looked rather thin. He was unsure whether to let her enter the manor to participate in the test.

"With only the skill of the fourth level of spiritual cultivation, what makes you think you're qualified to enter Winter Night Manor?" The man asked first. He was about thirty years old, and his face couldn't hide his vicissitudes. There was a clear scar under his right eyebrow, and when he looked up, he had an indescribable fierce look.

If it were anyone else, they would probably be frightened by that glance, but Ying Li was someone who had seen monsters like the Leopard Cat Spirit Guide. This man's glance was far inferior to that terrifying monster.

"Judging from your age, Uncle, I would venture to guess that you are over thirty, but your spiritual power is only at the second level of Divine Cultivation. What makes you think you have the right to sit here and refuse others?" Ying Li spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly, and was not intimidated by the man at all.

Her third uncle was about the same age as him, yet he had already reached the sixth level of Divine Cultivation, and was probably at the seventh level now. It's important to know that the higher the level, the slower the breakthrough; for people of similar age, a difference of one level is like heaven and earth. This person was lower than her third uncle, Ying Qihan, so Ying Li had nothing to fear from him.

The man's expression changed, and the two men standing behind him looked even more indignant. Winter Night Manor was the best in Huai'an Kingdom, and the spiritual herbs on its mountain were extremely rare, attracting powerful figures from various countries to pluck them. Others respected them enough, and this little girl dared to contradict their manager in public! She was truly audacious!

"You little brat, your spiritual power is low, but your tone is arrogant. How dare you speak to our steward like that! Apologize at once!"

"That's right! Apologize quickly, before our manager gets angry, and lower your head!"

The two men looked at Ying Li with anger on their faces, their eyes sharp and contemptuous as if they were looking at a wayward girl.

Ying Li remained silent, staring intently at the steward with a blank expression on her face, awaiting his reply.

After a while, the man waved to the two people behind him, forced a smile at Ying Li, and said, "Girl, you're right. With your courage, I'll let you into Winter Night Manor. Don't cry if you don't pass the test." After saying that, he gestured for Ying Li to leave, without mentioning her question at all.

Ying Li looked into the other person's unfathomable eyes, nodded slightly, and walked into the manor without looking back. This person had some composure. If it were someone else, they would definitely have made a fuss, but this person had the capacity to tolerate others. Ying Li could easily guess why he was still able to stay here as the manager despite his low level of martial arts skills.

"Sir, that little brat went too far! She's got no skills whatsoever, how could you do that?!" A servant behind him muttered indignantly as he watched Ying Li leave.

The steward's smile vanished. He glanced at the person behind him and scolded, "What do you know? Her spiritual power is ordinary, not much different from these people, but she's so young yet has achieved so much. How can we compare to her talent! Besides, usually only those with higher spiritual power can discern someone's level of spiritual power. But that girl is much weaker than me, yet she can easily guess my strength. She's probably not simple; she possesses abilities we can't see. Such a talent is not someone we can afford to provoke! If we do, we might face utter ruin!"