After returning to Xiao Simeng’s room, Shucao took out the jade bottle given to her by Bai Yumo and brought the golden-yellow pill from within it to Xiao Simeng’s lips.
“Just eat this, and you’ll get better.”
Shucao said as she placed the pill into Xiao Simeng’s mouth.
As soon as it entered, the pill transformed into a sparkling golden airflow that flowed into Xiao Simeng’s dantian.
Then, through the meridians connected to her dantian, it spread throughout her limbs and bones.
Under the pill’s medicinal power, a faint golden light surfaced on Xiao Simeng’s body.
The surrounding spiritual energy surged toward her.
Without the help of the Qi Induction Technique, it naturally flowed into her body and converged at her dantian, forming a small vortex there.
The vortex spun continuously.
Guided by the pill’s power, the spiritual energy within it steadily repaired her overdrawn essence.
About an hour later, Xiao Simeng’s delicate eyebrows twitched slightly, and she opened her eyes.
“Shu…cao?”
“Simeng, you’re finally awake!”
When Xiao Simeng opened her eyes, Shucao’s slightly anxious face filled her vision.
A soft, smooth sensation came from the back of her head.
“Um, why am I lying on your lap?”
“Uh, a friend told me before that this would make waking up feel more surprising. So I thought I’d give it a try…”
Of course, this was something An Qianhua had coaxed Shucao into before Xiao Simeng woke up.
“I see.”
Xiao Simeng smiled and added.
“Opening my eyes to see a good friend is quite the surprise.”
She then got off Shucao’s lap and sat up.
“Did something happen? Why am I here?”
“Do you remember what happened at that time?”
“Let this young lady think…”
Xiao Simeng rubbed her forehead, closed her eyes to ponder for a moment, then spoke.
“At that time, this young lady seemed to have fallen off the cliff and gotten buried under some rubble. I tried to recover some spiritual power, but I couldn’t absorb spiritual energy properly no matter what, and then I passed out. Later, I think I woke up briefly. What happened after that?”
“Oh, right. At that time, this young lady saw someone digging me out from the pile of stones. I thought it was you at first, but then I realized it was a boy who saved me. That boy seemed somewhat familiar too. Do you know what happened, Shucao?”
After listening to Xiao Simeng, the corners of Shucao’s mouth twitched slightly before she replied.
“Uh, actually, after you sent me out, I encountered a boy who came in to investigate because he heard a loud commotion. My spiritual power hadn’t fully recovered yet, so my movements were limited. I asked him to help me look for you. After he found you, I brought you back.”
“I see. Looks like we were pretty lucky to run into such a kind person.”
With that, she sighed again and continued.
“Ah, but we went through so much trouble dealing with those two Spiked Demon Spiders and nearly lost our lives! Yet we didn’t even get a single strand of spider silk. What a huge loss!”
She waved her arms a little, expressing her strong dissatisfaction.
“Those demonic beasts are so annoying. Why do they have to make themselves so strong?”
Seeing this, Shucao couldn’t help but laugh. She patted her chest and said to Xiao Simeng.
“Hehe, look at this.”
She shook her storage pouch.
A ball of light flew out from it.
When it landed on the ground and the outer glow faded, what appeared was the body of the Spiked Demon Spider that Shucao had disassembled that day, emitting a strong, foul stench.
“Ah, this is!”
Seeing the massive body, Xiao Simeng’s eyes suddenly lit up. Ignoring the intense odor, she rushed straight over to the corpse.
“The corpse of a Spiked Demon Spider! How did you get this?”
“When I was rescuing you, I took the chance to search for the one we killed first. I found its body in their nest, disassembled it, and brought it back.”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Simeng immediately turned around, hugged Shucao tightly, and said excitedly.
“That’s wonderful! Thank you, Shucao! Now we finally have materials to make clothes! Although the disassembly was poorly done and some materials got damaged in the process, and the improper handling left a strong smell, it’s fine. Bringing it back is more than enough!”
Being hugged tightly, Shucao gave a wry smile and said.
“I didn’t know how to properly handle demonic beast corpses either.”
“No problem!”
Xiao Simeng released Shucao and stood in front of the Spiked Demon Spider’s corpse.
“This young lady will handle the second processing. Let me show you one of the most important skills for a cultivator: disassembling demonic beast corpses. I’ll carefully take apart every usable part on its body, bit by bit.”
With that, Xiao Simeng took out a silver-white short knife from her storage pouch and began disassembling the corpse that Shucao had already worked on once more.
After some time, she piled the shell-like materials from the body to one side.
She extracted the white spikes brimming with abundant spiritual energy and the demonic core from its head intact.
She also cut out the organ used for storing spider silk from its massive abdomen.
The remaining chunks of meat, due to their strong odor, were wrapped up and placed back into her storage ring to be dealt with later.
“All done.”
Xiao Simeng proudly placed her hands on her hips and said to Shucao.
“In the future, when you handle demonic beast corpses, Shucao, prioritize separating the outer layer materials and flesh first. Then remove the parts with special abilities, and finally extract the internal materials however you can.”
“Oh, I’ve learned something.”
“Hehe, then without further delay, let’s think about how to design the clothes we want to refine now.”
“Okay, but…”
Shucao pinched her nose and said.
“The smell in this room has gotten quite strong. How about we switch to another room?”
Only then did Xiao Simeng realize it.
They moved together to Shucao’s room, where Xiao Simeng provided paper and ink, and they began designing the clothes.
“Sister Qianhua, Simeng said she wants to make a set of clothes similar to the magical outfit I’m wearing. Since you’ve seen so many magical girls, could you give us some ideas?”
Shucao asked An Qianhua within her Heart Realm, hoping to get some suggestions on designing magical outfits.
An Qianhua immediately replied.
“Oh, you mentioning this wakes me right up. How about this: I’ll describe some designs, and you draw them out for her to see.”
Thus, with An Qianhua’s suggestions and Shucao’s own aesthetic modifications, they drew out several different design sketches for the clothing pieces together.
“What do you think of this, Shucao?”
After several revisions, Xiao Simeng completed the full design drawing of the outfit and showed it to Shucao.
“It looks really good.”
It was a strapless pink-purple gradient dress inspired by some of An Qianhua’s suggestions. The skirt used a multi-layered design, with abundant ruffles and floral decorations on each layer’s hem.
The outermost layer had a primarily silk-like texture, and a large bow modeled after the one on Shucao’s clothes adorned the center of the chest.
In addition to the main dress, there was a pair of separate translucent silk sleeves, a choker featuring a pink flower matching Shucao’s hair accessory, and a pair of pure white knee-high socks with some patterns along the edges.
The choice of knee-high socks was naturally because An Qianhua felt that since tights already existed, they needed to switch to knee-highs to add more variety.
Although Shucao herself had not seen many clothes like this, she felt from the bottom of her heart that the design was very beautiful.
“Great! Then let this young lady start refining it.”
Xiao Simeng first opened the organ storing the spider silk and used her spiritual power to extract the unformed spider silk mucus from within.
Once the mucus was taken out, scorching fire-attribute spiritual power surged forward, rapidly enveloping it and continuously changing its properties.
“Generally, refining items requires a dedicated room. However, I previously spent some spirit stones to purchase a set of isolating arrays and arranged them throughout these floors. Plus, what we’re refining isn’t a particularly powerful artifact, so doing it here is fine.”
As she refined, Xiao Simeng explained some knowledge about artifact refining to Shucao, giving her a basic understanding—though Shucao’s magic power couldn’t be used for refining anyway.
After a while, under the influence of the spiritual power, the mucus transformed continuously and was ultimately refined into bundles of tough, spirit-energy-rich silk threads.
“The results are quite good, as expected of this young lady.”
Xiao Simeng said proudly as she stroked and tugged at the silk threads.
She then took out many pre-prepared materials and the Red Cloud Needle from her storage pouch.
After threading the silk through the Red Cloud Needle, she began sewing the clothes according to the design.
“First, I’ll sew the basic shape of the clothes. Afterward, using spiritual power to refine it will allow it to take on the designed appearance. The process might take some time, though, so I’ll have to trouble you, Shucao, to guard me for a bit.”
“Mm, just focus on it without worry.”
After speaking, Xiao Simeng instantly entered a highly focused state.
Under her control, the silk threads continuously wound, wove, and combined with the fabric, slowly transforming into the appearance from the design sketch.
As night fell, Xiao Simeng completed the final section of weaving the clothes.
She then released a large amount of spiritual power to envelop the garments layer by layer and added some additional materials to grant the clothes new abilities.
Time passed second by second. Shucao watched the focused Xiao Simeng from the side.
A full day later, she finally completed the refinement, turning the clothes from ordinary garments into proper artifacts.
“Haa, it’s finally done!”
After setting the clothes aside, Xiao Simeng stretched lazily as if relieved of a heavy burden. She then lay directly on the floor and said slowly.
“You’ve worked hard. Does this count as a successful refinement?”
Shucao came to Xiao Simeng’s side, helped her up, and led her to her own bed. Looking at the two differently colored clothes on the table, she said.
“Also, why are there two?”
“Of course it’s a success! Now when I go back, I can show Father that this young lady can design clothes, cultivate properly, and even combine the two! As for why there are two, the pink-purple one is for you, and the light blue one is for myself.”
Looking at the two clothes on the table, Xiao Simeng revealed a sweet smile and said to Shucao.
“Hehe, this is the dream that the two of us wove together.”
Upon hearing Xiao Simeng’s words, Shucao was slightly stunned, then smiled and said.
“Mm, it’s wonderful that we could fulfill this dream!”
“In the future, I’ll make even more of these artifacts to show the cultivation world what the new trend looks like!”
Xiao Simeng waved her fist and said to Shucao.
“I want you, Shucao, to see the clothing artifacts I designed even when you travel to other places later.”
“Then, Simeng, you have to work hard.”
“Mm, definitely!”