Ethereal Grace's words gave Yunxi a hint. She closed her eyes and thought for a while, running through everything she had collected about Mu Zijun over the past year. Then she snapped her eyes open and replied at once:
[Fleeting Cloud]:Senior, every time Mu Zijun gets a benefit or finds heavenly materials and earthly treasures, there are always other cultivators with him. He usually chooses to form a team for trial missions or when going out to temper himself.
[Ethereal Grace]:Filter again. Among those often around him, which cultivators appear the most, or keep teaming up with him?
[Fleeting Cloud]:Three people. Two are disciples of Haoran Sect, one is a loose cultivator. All were early Golden Core, the same realm as he was, so they often teamed up. After Mu Zijun gained some opportunities during training and advanced to late Golden Core, he teamed up less with the loose cultivator since that person stayed stuck at early Golden Core.
[Ethereal Grace]:And the realms of the two same-sect Golden Core teammates now?
[Fleeting Cloud]: Both have advanced to mid Golden Core. But one male cultivator was injured during a recent expedition to seek a third-rank spirit plant and is currently in seclusion within the sect to heal.
After answering Ethereal Grace's questions, Yunxi still did not understand why the senior kept asking about the people around Mu Zijun, so she asked directly:
[Fleeting Cloud]:Senior, is Mu Zijun's good luck stolen from those around him, or is he secretly intercepting their harvests? But the people I assigned to monitor him reported that he has shown no signs of underhanded schemes.
This was exactly what she could not figure out.
[Ethereal Grace]:This Lord once visited a small world and witnessed a special physique called the Fate-Seizing Physique. As the name suggests, it seizes the fortune of others. It is not like an evil cultivator's method. It is an innate constitution.
Some people never realize they have it. Once they do, they will deliberately approach those with strong fortune. Through close contact, they siphon the other party's luck without the victim ever noticing.
Because it does not strip all of a person's fortune at once, those whose fate is being stolen may not realize it immediately. Only after spending a period around the one with the Fate-Seizing Physique will their luck decline and problems start to appear.
Yunxi's almond eyes widened. This was her first time hearing of such a physique. Ye Yuchen's Innate Dao Body was already heaven-defying. This Fate-Seizing Physique was practically a backdoor opened by the Heavenly Dao for a cultivator. So long as the bearer did not go overboard, ordinary cultivators would never detect it.
She ground her teeth lightly. This was exactly something the fake Heavenly Dao would do. Afraid that once Wei Yunqing was crippled there would be no successor, it had already begun funneling resources to Mu Zijun, and used darkness under the lamp to avoid drawing attention to him.
If Mu Zijun had not been greedy enough to covet a contract with Li Li, she might never have paid attention to him. Thinking back now, Mu Zijun always subconsciously chose what benefited him most.
And Li Li's eyes could see the essence of a soul. That would be very useful to Mu Zijun. If they clashed with evil cultivators again, Li Li would be invaluable. No wonder he coveted Li Li.
[Fleeting Cloud]: Senior, I cannot kill him for now. Is there a way to curb this physique?
Yunxi did not want the fake Heavenly Dao opening yet another account. She wanted a gentler way to stifle Mu Zijun's growth and deal with it after ascending to the Spirit Realm.
[Ethereal Grace]:Simple. Seal his special physique.
[Fleeting Cloud]: Senior, what kind of seal should I use that will work without alerting him?
[Ethereal Grace]: You are a descendant of the ancient Wu clan. In the Wu inheritance you acquired by chance, there should be sealing arts.
With that reminder, Yunxi thought of the beastskin booklet. She had already studied all the special inscriptions on it. There was indeed a sealing inscription identical to the runes that sealed evil souls and Long Ya within the Shanhe Scroll. She had even compared them at the time.
Other cultivators had made rubbings of the seal runes, but only she could recognize those special inscriptions. Because the circumstances were sensitive, she had not brought it up. Now it seemed Ethereal Grace was pointing to that very sealing inscription.
[Fleeting Cloud]:Many thanks for the guidance, Senior. I know what to do. I will handle it now and report the result shortly.
After giving thanks, Yunxi left the chat and withdrew her consciousness from the space.
When she finished processing the day's jade slips, Yunxi left the Hive and appeared outside Mu Zijun's cave dwelling on Spirit Beast Peak.
Mu Zijun was sitting in meditation, circulating his cultivation art. Beneath his cushion lay a high-grade spirit-gathering array, a gain from his last expedition. He had felt a constant urgency to raise his realm as quickly as possible.
Especially after the incident on Doufa Peak when Ran Xi Zūnzhě made things difficult for him. It was true he had let a greedy thought stir, but the contract attempt had not succeeded. Instead he was injured in the soul by the Zūnzhě's spirit beast, and it ultimately implicated the backhand that the fallen evil Divine Transformation cultivator Zuo Qiu had left on Spirit Beast Peak.
He had avoided punishment by framing himself as the victim, but many fellow disciples began to keep their distance. He had been thoroughly stifled. Fortunately, his luck seemed to hold. He found a treasure at a street stall in Haoran City and repaired the damage to his soul.
He had taken it as proof that heaven was on his side, letting him get past that hurdle easily. Later he partnered with a loose cultivator on a training trip and picked up more benefits, quickly advancing to mid Golden Core. As the Doufa Peak incident faded from memory, he began teaming up with fellow disciples for tasks again.
After reaching mid Golden Core, he made another discovery. If a fellow disciple strongly resonated with him at first sight, then once he teamed with that person, unexpected gains would follow. The key was gaining acceptance and a degree of trust. The stronger the trust, the greater his rewards.
He told no one and experimented in secret, teaming with different people. He confirmed that when he worked with two particular same-sect disciples and one loose cultivator, his gains were the greatest.
Later, that loose cultivator's realm remained stuck at early Golden Core. After Mu Zijun advanced, he rarely teamed with him. The man understood. After all, once Mu Zijun advanced, the places he chose for training were not suitable for early Golden Core.
His most recent smooth breakthrough to late Golden Core also came from an unexpected windfall while teaming with the two same-sect disciples he resonated with the most. One of them was badly injured this time. Over the past year his own heart had often thudded with nameless alarm. Since his teammate needed to recuperate, they returned to the sect. Mu Zijun planned to settle down for a while and consolidate his realm.
Today, however, Mu Zijun was especially uneasy, as if calamity were at hand. In the next instant, he felt his spiritual power snag for a heartbeat. He snapped his eyes open.