Chapter 477: Chapter 472: The Cunning Du Youqian

The cave mansion of that Immortal from the Ancient Celestial Court not only holds Spirit Medicine suitable for the Demon Race—especially Snake Demons—to ascend to Tier Five, but it should also contain Spiritual Objects required for Human Race Cultivators to reach Divinity Transformation.

’And even though Zhuge Qing didn’t say so, Du Youqian had a hunch. That Immortal’s spirit garden most likely holds the key to the evolution of the Snake Demon Race’s bloodline!’

This was a piece of information unknown to most Human Race Cultivators: for the Demon Race, advancement was often determined by bloodline, not effort.

A strong enough bloodline meant that even if they did nothing but eat and sleep all day, they could still naturally progress all the way to Divinity Transformation and Void Step.

But with a weaker bloodline, no amount of effort could break through their inherent limitations.

"The cave mansion should open in eighty years. You have these eight decades to prepare, Qingxu Taoist. You must be quite young. Qing Guan, judging by your bone age, you’re only a little over a hundred. While most of the top Human Race Cultivators achieve greatness in their youth, few reach the Tier Four Middle Stage as young as you. Being so young, if you can make further progress over the next eighty years, our gains within that Immortal’s cave mansion will be even greater."

Du Youqian nodded. "I will naturally strive for diligent progress. But... let’s say we enter the cave mansion together, and we only find the key item that allows you, City Lord, to ascend to Tier Five. Or, we only find the key item that allows me to reach Divinity Transformation. What happens then?"

Zhuge Qing looked puzzled. "Why would that be difficult? We’ll each swear an oath to help the other obtain the item they need to advance. If, after giving it our all, we still fail, then we simply accept our misfortune."

Du Youqian smiled. "Excellent. That’s perfect. Furthermore, City Lord Zhuge, you are of the Demon Race, while I am of the Human Race. This is actually a marvelous advantage. We can pretend to be on bad terms, perhaps even sworn enemies. We can then each seek out allies from our respective races, feign alliances, and enter the cave mansion separately. Once inside, we can secretly watch each other’s backs. Our chances of success would increase dramatically."

Zhuge Qing’s peach blossom eyes darted back and forth as a look of delight spread across her face. "You humans are so full of cunning schemes. Among the Ten Thousand Races, we of the Snake Race are considered intelligent, yet compared to you, it’s like the difference between a toddler and an adult. We’ll do it your way, my friend!"

’Is she complimenting me or roasting me...’

Du Youqian could only silently accept the "full of cunning schemes" assessment.

After discussing a few more details, the two fell into a tacit silence and went back to enjoying the music and dancing, drinking and celebrating as if nothing had transpired.

When Du Youqian had had his fill of the festivities, Zhuge Qing did her best to persuade him to stay, even offering to arrange for a beautiful maid to attend to him for the night. But Du Youqian politely declined.

Zhuge Qing looked a little displeased. "Do you perhaps want me, Qing, to attend to you personally? Although I can achieve Transformation, my body’s structure is different from yours. I would find no pleasure in such an act with a member of the Human Race."

The Snake Demon spoke not with a hint of lust, but with the detached air of an academic discussion.

Yet, to human ears, her words were impossibly alluring.

Furthermore, for a Demon King at the Tier Four Late Stage, nearing Perfection, to proactively offer herself showed just how much she valued Du Youqian. It was a gesture born not of human morality, which she lacked, but of a more straightforward way of thinking.

Du Youqian just smiled and replied with equal frankness, "City Lord Zhuge, our strengths are comparable. We are both at Tier Four. How could I possibly force you to do such a thing? It’s simply that my Cultivation requires discipline. I cannot afford to indulge myself, so there’s no need for you to arrange such... extracurricular activities."

Zhuge Qing wasn’t offended. "In that case, feel free to do as you wish."

"I will have to impose on your hospitality for a few more days. And when I leave, I intend to leave my young disciple here. I hope City Lord Zhuge can look after her."

Zhuge Qing let out a lovely laugh. "Are you planning to leave a hostage? That won’t be necessary."

Du Youqian wasn’t trying to sell out his disciple, nor was he leaving her as a hostage to reassure Zhuge Qing.

He simply had business to attend to, and it would be inconvenient to bring Ling Hua with him. It was actually safer to leave her here.

But since Zhuge Qing saw it that way, he didn’t bother to argue.

And Zhuge Qing, for her part, had no reason to refuse. "Then let her stay. I, Qing, will take good care of her."

With the matter settled, Du Youqian left the City Lord’s Mansion. For the better part of the following year, he dedicated himself to meticulously instructing Ling Hua.

Ling Hua was immensely grateful to Du Youqian for taking her away from Momenan and teaching her a True Scripture that would allow her to walk the Great Dao. It was nothing short of giving her a new life.

But sometimes, Du Youqian’s gaze on her was indeed a little too intense, transgressing the proper boundaries between master and disciple. It made her uncomfortable, and she even found herself complaining about it internally on occasion.

However, Du Youqian never took any further action, nor did he say anything untoward. Over time, she grew accustomed to it and began to see it as normal.

Du Youqian had been constantly trying to purge the wisp of indulgent, corrupting aura clinging to his Nascent Soul. But he had exhausted all his methods, even resorting to the Spring and Autumn Brush, and had failed to budge it in the slightest.

Fortunately, his will was firm. Even if he left the aura alone, it was unlikely to cause any serious consequences. So, for the time being, he decided to let it be, planning to deal with it after he advanced to the Nascent Soul Late Stage.

Ling Hua’s progress with her Scattering and Re-Cultivation was advancing by leaps and bounds. After all, when she performed the Dissipating Skill, she had used a Secret Technique taught by Du Youqian. Not all of her Essence Qi and Magical Power had dispersed; instead, it was stored throughout her entire body.

While there was inevitably some loss, enough remained for her to re-cultivate at a pace far surpassing even that of a Celestial Spirit Root. In just a single year, she was already nearing the Qi Cultivation Late Stage.

In an estimated six or seven years, she would be able to perform Foundation Establishment once again.

Du Youqian set up a small cave mansion in the city and commissioned Zhuge Qing to redirect a Tier Two Spirit Vein to it. He planned to leave Ling Hua there temporarily while he embarked on a long journey.

After all, the souls of Fang Hua, Lin Sha, and Luo Jinyu had been removed from the Array for a year. Though they were currently stored in a top-grade Soul-Imbued Jade, they hadn’t converted into Ghost Cultivators and thus couldn’t be preserved for too long.

Therefore, the most pressing matter was to take them to the Ghost Belly Cat. He needed it to remember the aura of their True Spirits before sending them off to be reincarnated.

Naturally, Ling Hua was reluctant to see Du Youqian leave, but she couldn’t possibly sway his decision.

As for Little Wukong, the novelty of the Immortal City had long since worn off. Now, he was utterly bored and couldn’t wait to leave, pestering Du Youqian daily with incessant chittering.

Hearing that they could finally leave, it got so excited it did several consecutive somersaults.

Du Youqian pointed out, "That’s not enough somersaults. It shows you’re not excited enough. Let’s stay another month."

Little Wukong had no choice but to dejectedly perform several dozen more somersaults, staring at Du Youqian with pleading eyes.

Du Youqian wasn’t actually bullying the monkey.

It was more like a friendly prank.

Little Wukong understood this as well, so he was actually enjoying himself.

Before setting out, Du Youqian purchased some precious materials and performed Artifact Refining to create a set of Long-distance Communication Treasures.

The Grade of this set of Treasures reached Tier Four. A typical Tier Four offensive Treasure cost around 300,000 Spiritual Jade, yet the materials for this set alone had cost Du Youqian over two million Spiritual Jade—nearly the price of a Tier Five Treasure.

If put up for auction, it would be impossible to acquire for less than three or four million Spiritual Jade.

It was precisely the successful creation of this set of Treasures that allowed Du Youqian’s Artifact Refining skill to break through its final barrier, advancing to Tier Four.

This became his second Tier Four Cultivation Technique.

Although he hadn’t actually tested them, Du Youqian, as their creator, believed that they could theoretically communicate across the entire Human World.

The principle was that after a signal was transmitted, it would propagate through the Spiritual Qi in the air. When it passed through the Spirit Stone Veins that were scattered across the land, the signal could be amplified and strengthened.

Of course, achieving real-time conversation was unrealistic.

A Tier Six Communication Treasure would likely be needed to achieve that kind of functionality.

This set of Treasures could only be used for communication like a Chat Room, and even then, the latency was quite significant.

Du Youqian gave one of the devices from the set to Ling Hua and taught her how to use it.

Ling Hua stared with great curiosity at the Communication Treasure. It was entirely black, shaped like a Round Mirror, and resembled a piece of smoothly polished obsidian.

After a brief tutorial from Du Youqian, she had it figured out. Even though they were only a room apart, she kept using the Treasure to send him messages—meaningless things like "Hahaha," "Master have you eaten," and "Master, smiley face."

She was just like a child who had just discovered instant messaging.

"Master, what’s this Treasure called?" Ling Hua was quickly becoming hopelessly addicted to online chatting.

The only thing was, her friends list currently consisted of one person: her master.

Du Youqian thought for a moment. "The Earth Book."

"Master, I may be uncultured, but don’t try to fool me! The Earth Book is a Tier Nine Top Grade Immortal Artifact!"

Du Youqian had to think of a new name. "Chat Group. The name of this Treasure is Chat Group."

"What a strange name, but it’s very straightforward. Master, when are you going to pick up my senior martial brother? You’ll give him one of these Treasures too, right?"

"Don’t worry, everyone will get one. This Chat Group is going to get very lively in the future."

Ling Hua was very satisfied to hear this. She was already fantasizing about chatting with ten people at once in the Chat Group...

"I’ll take on ten of them!"

Seeing that Ling Hua had settled down and was adapting to life and Cultivation in the Human World, Du Youqian bid farewell to Zhuge Qing. He prepared to first return to the Four Principles Sect to retrieve Li Fei’s soul, and then head to the territory of the Ghost Belly Cat.

However, upon reflection, he realized he had five souls to send for reincarnation: Luo Jinyu, Lin Sha, Fang Hua, Wu Ai, and Li Fei.

But the Ghost Belly Cat had only granted him three spots.

He would have to negotiate carefully and offer sufficient benefits to secure the other two spots.

There was another problem.

What if Lin Sha, Fang Hua, and Wu Ai were reincarnated into male bodies?

Du Youqian had pondered this question more than once.

In fact, many Cultivators and Great Powers of the past had been troubled by this very question.

According to the ancient texts Du Youqian had consulted, most cultivators retained their previous gender upon reincarnation.

But this wasn’t an absolute rule. Some men were reborn as women, and some women as men.

This gave Du Youqian a headache.

If Lin Sha were reincarnated as a man and called him "Qing Lang" in a sweet, delicate voice... should he deliver a flying kick, or should he deliver a flying kick?

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