Drawing Comparison

"Here. These are some Heart-cleansing pills."

Liana tossed a bottle containing various bluish-green pills to Aksai, which he caught effortlessly.

"Consider this as my birthday gift to you," Liana said in a neutral voice and turned around. After all, she had a reputation to protect as a scion of the Lakir family.

She was about to leave and approach the next Spirit farmer to settle the affair of annual compensation with them.

Aksai, on the other hand, was surprised by the generosity Liana had shown him. He put the bottle away and hesitated for a bit before speaking out.

"Thank you for the gift, Miss Liana. I… I wanted to ask what happened to that mongoo— I mean, what happened to Sir Haisha Lakir?"

Liana's demeanor turned cold when Aksai mentioned Haisha Lakir—the man who used to deal with the Spirit farmers before Liana. He had almost called him by the nickname he had given him due to the kind of eyes Haisha had.

"Uncle Hai… no, Haisha Lakir has betrayed the family and gone into hiding. Do you have any information related to him?"

Liana asked Aksai as she looked at him with an inspecting gaze. The latter almost regretted asking the question to Liana. However, he quickly adjusted his demeanor and cleared up the misunderstanding.

"No. I was just wondering where Sir Haisha Lakir could have gone off to. You see, he had told me to pay um… some 'additional compensation' this year. So I'm not sure if the clause still applies, and I have to hand over the agreed-upon spirit stones to you or if it has been removed."

Liana had stress lines on her forehead when she realized what Aksai wanted to but didn't dare to say outright. The mongoose—Haisha Lakir had been exploiting the Spirit farmers for a very long time before his acts of betrayal came to light.

Exploiting the Spirit farmers was fine in the eyes of the Lakir family elders as long as he served the family well. However, after his betrayal was known, he was bound to face persecution for everything he did or didn't do right.

"You don't need to worry about that additional compensation anymore. Remember to inform the Lakir family if you find any news related to Haisha Lakir's whereabouts. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave," Liana said as she tapped her feet on the levitating spirit boat. The spirit boat turned around and was about to soar into the skies.

'This girl is not so simple,' Aksai thought to himself as he saw the girl's back.

'She gave 1st Order Heart Cleansing Pills like it was some cheap candy. She must carry high enough authority in the Lakir family. I can't sense her breath for some reason.

Hehe. But with my fully functional Spirit Sense, she can't hide anything from me. Let me see what her cultivation base is.'

Aksai decided to use his newly unlocked Spirit Sense on Liana just before she was about to fly away from his farm on her small Spirit boat.

Swoosh.

Aksai released his Spirit Sense, and it washed over Liana like an invisible and intangible tide. Since Liana was still a late-stage Spirit Refiner without an outward Spirit Sense, she didn't sense that someone had used their Spirit Sense on her from a distance.

[Name: Liana Lakir

Age: 19 years (as per the bone age)

Estimated lifespan remaining: 117 years

Spirit Cultivation: 9th Stage Spirit Refining Realm

Cultivation Technique: Estimated to practice Stellar Greenwood Tantra]

As soon as Aksai used his Spirit Sense on Liana, brief information about her was presented to him on a Spectral Screen by the neural link fabric.

He opened his eyes in surprise when he found out that Liana was only a year older than him and yet had already entered the 9th stage of the Spirit Refining realm.

'Sure enough. The cultivation techniques and resources provided to the scions of well-established cultivation families aren't something that someone like me could imagine. I guess she will take another decade and a half to reach Spirit Refining Perfection.

She is on track to establish her foundation and enter the 2nd Spirit realm. If there are no accidents and her talent is enough, she will become a Foundation Building Expert by the age of 40,' Aksai thought to himself and sighed.

Compared to Liana, Aksai was far behind in his Spirit cultivation. He couldn't help but check his own progress on the Spectral Screen to compare it with Liana's.

[Name: Aksai Alden Everwood

Age: 18 years

Estimated lifespan remaining: 82 years

Spirit Cultivation: 7th Stage Spirit Refining Realm

Estimated Intra-stage Progress: 20%

Estimated Time Required to Break into the 8th stage: 8 years.

Spirit Sense coverage: Around 10 meters

Spirit Cultivation Technique: Basic Greenwood Tantra (Need more data to optimize the cultivation technique)

Spirit Root: Wood, Earth, and Water Triple Affinity Spirit Root

Spirit Root Aptitude: Low

Body Cultivation: Upper-stage Bronze Body realm

Body Cultivation Technique: Qi Fusion Arts

Martial Arts: Harmony Palm

Talisman Creation Expertise: 1st Order (mid-level. Needs more data to rank up to the high-level. Current estimated progress 65%)

Array Formation Expertise: 1st Order (Low level. Needs more data to rank up to the mid-level. Current estimated progress 32%)

Alchemy Concoction Expertise: 1st Order (Mid-level. Needs more data to rank up to the high-level. Current estimated progress 57%)

Artifact Creation Expertise: 1st Order (Low level. Needs more data to rank up to the mid-level. Current estimated progress 27%)]

Aksai was about to close the two distinct Spectral Screen windows in front of him, which only he could see.

However, he opened his eyes in shock when he saw that Liana's bodily form was rendered on the Spectral Screen in front of her stats, and that too without any clothes. 

When he closed the Spectral Screen and looked at her again, he subconsciously made use of Spirit Sense and saw her in her birthday suit as well.

'Damn,' Aksai quickly retracted his Spirit Sense when he realized that he had breached the maiden's privacy. He couldn't help but smile to himself in his mind, while a peculiar redness spread over his cheeks.

These developments happened within a fraction of a moment. Liana was about to soar through the skies using her Spirit boat. But suddenly, she turned around and looked at Aksai suspiciously.

"Did... did you say anything?" Liana's senses tingled with an inexplicable unease as if she had detected a distant gaze fixated on her.

"Um... no," Aksai collected himself before replying. "Well, on that note, thank you for your hard work, and have a good day, Miss Liana," he added courteously, his expression genuine.

"Al-alright." With a puzzled expression, Liana turned away, finally departing from Aksai's rental farm. A sigh of relief escaped Aksai as he heard a voice calling to him from his right.

"Haha, Big bro Aksai, we're here to congratulate you on your birthday." Aunt Reta's son approached Aksai, presenting a beautifully wrapped wooden box.

Following him, a group of guests, including Aunt Reta herself, whom Aksai had invited for his celebration, emerged. It appeared they had all waited for Liana Lakir to depart before making their appearance at Aksai's farm.

"Haha, welcome." Aksai extended his arms in the invitation to the guests.

The festivities were about to commence.

Little did Aksai know at the time, that Aunt Reta had prepared numerous gifts for his 18th birthday.

Among them was the second-order inheritance of talisman-making bestowed upon her by her late husband.

And the other gift—a proposal for marriage, on behalf of a young maiden. Aunt Reta felt that it was her obligation to act as a matchmaker in the absence of Aksai's late parents.

Now that the boy had come of age and the chances of establishing a foundation were slim, Aksai needed to consider starting a family.