Chapter 356

"Lord, it is indeed this child. His name is Xu Qing."

"In addition, he has a companion, who has been investigated to be his senior brother, named Chen Chen Erniu. As for the third person, it has also been clarified; she is the Saintess of the Litu Dao Altar in Yinghuang Prefecture, named Qingqiu. She is also on the way and will arrive in the next few days."

A strange look appeared on the old man's expression as he continued to speak.

"The things these three have done have accelerated the madness of Youjing, so according to my judgment, they should be the people Youjing hates the most right now."

The middle-aged man nodded.

"No rush. Let us try it ourselves first. If we still cannot make Youjing's emotions collapse and allow us to successfully search his soul, we will take them three over to stimulate Youjing."

"Also, this Xu Qing is not bad, his disposition is also okay. If he has the ability to become a Sword Holder, he would be a good seedling."

"Recently, the Upper Prefecture is preparing to restart the Ancient Immortal Prohibition to deal with the frequent signs of revival in various prefectures. So for this assessment, you can add some bloodiness. The era is different; what we want are wolf cubs, not house dogs."

Hearing the four words "Ancient Immortal Prohibition," the old man's expression changed.

"Restart the Ancient Immortal Prohibition? Isn't it rumored that unknown gods are sleeping there?"

"That's right. The world thinks the catastrophe of the Eastern Wanggu Continent only comes from the remnant face of the god in the sky, but they don't know... according to records, in that era when the Ancient Emperor had to leave, the gods that arrived were not just the remnant face, but more had hidden themselves."

"I don't know what they are waiting for. The Upper Prefecture has this intention to restart, perhaps it is also acting under orders to verify it." The middle-aged cultivator shook his head and turned to leave.

Only the old man stood where he was, his expression complex. He sighed softly, and his body slowly dissipated.

Time passed gradually, and seven days went by.

During these seven days, Xu Qing returned to his past life. Every day, he went to the Dao Altar, listened to lectures earnestly, and learned more knowledge about plants and trees.

No one challenged him again, which made Xu Qing the second person among the various sects whom no one dared to fight.

During this period, the Dao Child of the Taisi Immortal Gate also returned.

His return set off clouds of rosy light in the sky. It seemed his techniques had just reached perfection and he couldn't fully restrain them, which attracted countless attention. Xu Qing also looked up at the firmament.

He felt a trace of pressure in the rosy light outside the Dao Child's body.

After this Dao Child returned, everything in the Taisi Immortal Gate remained as usual. He didn't show any behavior because of Li Li Ziliang's death; it seemed that in his heart, Li Li Ziliang had nothing to do with him.

"Is it him?" Xu Qing pondered. He wasn't sure, but this didn't affect his vigilance and guard.

In addition, during these seven days, Xu Qing's greatest gain was his improvement in alchemy.

Especially the old man at the Dao Altar, who proposed a concept in a lecture. The other party frankly stated that this concept wasn't very mature and could only be considered an auxiliary tool.

That was the identification of unknown medicinal herbs.

Analyzing the subject according to its veins, analyzing the habits according to the subject, analyzing the medicinal effects according to the habits, and deciding the yin and yang according to the medicinal effects—this series of identification methods opened up an unknown train of thought for Xu Qing.

And recalling the knowledge of plants and trees he had mastered, he found that although this identification method wasn't completely correct, it could at least achieve eighty percent accuracy.

Although in the path of alchemy, a slight difference is a world of difference, for alchemists, having more identification methods has a great effect on exploring new medicinal herbs.

Besides this, Xu Qing also heard the term "divine plant" from the old man at the Dao Altar.

Divine plants—Xu Qing was both unfamiliar and familiar with them. Unfamiliar because in Master Bai's plant classics, there weren't many records of them. Familiar because from the moment he started coming into contact with plants, he had always been looking for a divine medicinal herb.

But until the Captain's death, and until now, he still hadn't found it.

That was the Heavenly Fate Flower, which could extend a life for one lifetime.

"The Heavenly Fate Flower, also known as the Life-Extending Flame or God Herb, is a variant of the divine plant 'Fumu'. There are seventy-three types of this mutation according to records, but only the first type can be used as medicine. It can grow in any area within the forbidden zone, has no pattern, and is rare in quantity."

"Its power can regenerate severed limbs, reignite a life hanging by a thread, and treat all branches except for injuries to the divine soul."

At the Dao Altar in front, the old man sitting cross-legged spoke calmly, teaching the seven or eight cultivators listening to his lecture on plants and trees.

To him, knowledge of plants and alchemy was both his own and the human race's, so even if there weren't many people listening, he still insisted on preaching.

In his earlier years, he would even travel around, popularizing knowledge of plants and alchemy in different human areas. It was just that in recent years, he was too old, his lifespan was approaching, and he was somewhat powerless, so he hadn't gone out.

Instead, he stayed at the Sword-Holding Court to teach plants and trees to the rogue cultivators here.

Because he had seen too many students, he didn't pay too much attention to these cultivators coming and going to listen to his lectures. Whether they came or left, he didn't care.

"The so-called divine plants, fundamentally, are a change in the level of life. In fact, I have been researching a topic for these years, which is that plants, as a category, seem to be better at adapting to the world after the arrival of gods than flesh-and-blood races."

"So I often think that perhaps divine plants will be the direction for other races to research gods."

Hearing this, Xu Qing's body shook. He suddenly thought of Zhuzhao and the Bai Li from back then.

On Bai Li's body, there was a spirit plant, and eventually, he merged with the spirit plant and also erupted with a certain divine fluctuation. Then he thought of Saint Qing Yunzi.

He didn't know if that divine test subject in the Battle of the Taisi Immortal Gate also had a spirit plant in its body. He planned to ask his Master about this later.

After all, that divine test subject was now at the Seven Blood Eyes and was being researched by his Master.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing continued to listen earnestly. Sometimes when he encountered content explained by the old man that was too much and profound, and he couldn't ask, he would take out his plant pharmacopoeia and record it down to study later.

Other cultivators listening to the lecture here also mostly did the same, recording from time to time.

Just like this, another half a month passed.

Xu Qing had already completely immersed himself in learning, but there was an end after all. This evening, as the old man finished explaining divine plants completely, he raised his head and looked at the seven or eight cultivators listening to the lecture, including Xu Qing.

"You don't need to come here anymore. I have finished explaining the basic chapters of plants and trees. When your alchemy breaks through to a higher realm, come find me again, and I will explain the advanced chapters for you."

"In addition, I will not take any disciples in this life, because what I teach is not hidden, so there is no difference between being a disciple and not being one, and it also reduces karma."

The old man spoke calmly, his gaze sweeping over the crowd below, not stopping on anyone, except for the pharmacopoeia in Xu Qing's hand, which he seemed to look at for an extra moment.

Xu Qing and the others here all stood up quickly, bowing respectfully toward the old man.

Although they weren't true master and disciple, this month or more of teaching was also a kindness.

But vaguely, there were three cultivators among them whose expressions carried some regret. Clearly, they wanted to strive for the opportunity to be taken as disciples through their earnest performance.

After all, those who could listen to the lecture here until now were all people with cognition of plants and trees. They knew very well that the old man's attainments in alchemy were already at the peak.

And such a person, teaching here at the Sword-Holding Court, must be extraordinary within the Sword-Holding Court.

In fact, it wasn't just this Dao Altar that was like this; the listeners at other Dao Altars in Tai Chu City explaining techniques, cultivation, or artifact refining all held similar thoughts.

But now, with the old man's words, they knew there was no hope.

"Thank you, Senior." Everyone spoke in low voices one after another, and after three bows, they left.

Xu Qing was the same, bowing three times and leaving.

Until their figures disappeared in the distance, the void beside the old man on the Dao Altar twisted, and a Sword Holder walked out.

This person's cultivation was not bad, and his body fluctuated with the aura of a Nascent Soul. He looked respectful and bowed toward the old man.

"Lord, I have come to take you back."

The old man nodded and stood up slowly. Just as he was about to leave, he glanced at the direction Xu Qing left in. The plant pharmacopoeia Xu Qing took out when recording surfaced in his mind. After pondering, he raised his finger and pointed.

"Check the origin of this child."

The Sword Holder was stunned. After scanning with his gaze, he took out a jade slip, asked a few questions, and quickly spoke in a low voice.

"This child is named Xu Qing, from the Seven Blood Eyes of the Eight Sect Alliance. He is a prospective Dao Child of the Eight Sect Alliance and once killed a genius of the Taisi Immortal Gate outside the city."

"Seven Blood Eyes? Is that the small sect in Nanhuang Prefecture?" The old man's eyes revealed memories.

"It is Nanhuang Prefecture." The Sword Holder spoke respectfully.

"Nanhuang Prefecture, huh? No wonder he has that pharmacopoeia." The old man muttered. He didn't know Xu Qing, but he knew that pharmacopoeia.

Many years ago, he had been to Nanhuang Prefecture. While traveling and teaching plants and trees there, he met a boy in the Purple Earth.

That boy was very eager to learn and had high natural talent, which made him have a trace of the thought of taking him as a disciple. But when he asked if the other party was willing to follow him away, the other party politely refused, saying he wanted to stay in Nanhuang Prefecture, stay in the Purple Earth.

He didn't force it, but when he left, he gave the boy a plant pharmacopoeia as encouragement.

Now, sixty years had passed. Seeing that plant classic appear in Xu Qing's hand a few days ago, he felt it looked familiar, and at this moment, he completely remembered that past event.

The old man felt some emotion, but he didn't have any thoughts of asking Xu Qing. After all, it was all in the past. At this moment, he shook his head, took a step forward, and headed straight for the Sword-Holding Court.

As for Xu Qing, after returning to the residence, he reorganized what he had learned during this period of alchemy, kept it firmly in his heart, and reinforced his memory. Only then did he sit cross-legged, close his eyes, and begin to meditate.

At the moment of dawn, Xu Qing opened his eyes and looked toward the Tai Chu Li You Pillar.

"Time to climb."

Having been here for more than a month, he already had a very detailed understanding of the upcoming trial qualifications and the true trial. Among them, the acquisition of the first stage of trial qualifications had many bonus items.

For example, comprehending the nine War Spirit Seals, as well as the height on the Tai Chu Li You Pillar.

The more he comprehended and the higher he climbed, the more bonus points he would get.

In addition, the Geng Metal Qi of the Upper Chapter, although there were some for sale in the market, the price was too high, and Xu Qing was reluctant to buy it, so no matter what, he felt he had to try the Tai Chu Li You Pillar.

After all, the disciples of the Eight Sect Alliance, except for him and the Captain, had all climbed to a certain height.

"Did the Captain go missing?"

Xu Qing walked out of the residence and looked around on the way to the Tai Chu Li You Pillar. He had been looking for a long time during this period but couldn't find the Captain's tracks.

Seeing that the Captain never appeared, Xu Qing could only put away the thought of searching and gradually arrived at the Tai Chu Li You Pillar.

And his appearance immediately attracted the attention of everyone here.

"It's Xu Qing!"

"He finally came here!"

"I wonder how high this Xu Qing can climb!"

Amidst the discussions of the crowd, they stepped aside one after another. Xu Qing walked past calmly until he reached the bottom of the Tai Chu Li You Pillar.

Compared to this pillar, the cultivators on the ground were like ants, incomparably small.

Xu Qing raised his head, looking at this heaven-shaking, earth-shattering huge pillar in front of him, and the rules for climbing the Tai Chu Li You Pillar that he had learned during this period surfaced in his mind.

On this Tai Chu Li You Pillar, two things affected a cultivator's climbing.

One was the impact of resentment.

Tai Chu Li You itself was a fierce weapon. The Ghost Emperor had killed countless living beings with this fierce weapon in his life, which caused the Tai Chu Li You Pillar to be filled with the resentment of countless ten thousand races before their deaths.

These resentments were incomparably intense, but they were suppressed by the fighting intent, so the exposure wasn't that terrifying. But if the body touched it, it would still bear some impact of resentment.

And the higher one went, the more intense this impact of resentment became.

Until it reached the extreme, a resentment soul of an ancient cultivator who died in the hands of the Ghost Emperor would form in the cultivator's sea of consciousness.

This was the second difficulty.

Only by driving it out of the sea of consciousness could a cultivator continue to climb.

If the driving out failed, the cultivator wouldn't be possessed, but would be shaken off the Tai Chu Li You Pillar, and the attempt would be considered over.

And the higher one went, the more realistic the ancient cultivator's resentment soul formed, the harder it was to drive out, and they themselves were born attached to the Tai Chu Li You Pillar, as if they were one, so they were all in a state of near-immortality.

Thus, once too much time was spent, the cultivator would surely fail.

This information surfaced in Xu Qing's mind. He looked at the Tai Chu Li You Pillar in front of him and took a deep breath.

And the vast pressure from this pillar also made Xu Qing, standing here, feel it very clearly. The Ghost Emperor Mountain in his sea of consciousness emitted light at this moment.

After a while, a sharp glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. Under the gaze of everyone, his body swayed and he soared into the air, stepping onto the Tai Chu Li You Pillar.

With one step, he reached a distance of ten zhang. Xu Qing's eyes revealed a strange glint. He felt the impact of resentment, but it was very weak and not to be feared.

So his footsteps didn't pause, and he moved upward rapidly, continuing forward.

Forty zhang, eighty zhang, one hundred and thirty zhang...

In just three or five breaths of time, Xu Qing's figure appeared directly at a height of two hundred zhang. Here, his body paused for the first time.

In his mind, countless resentments from the Tai Chu Li You Pillar rapidly gathered into a blurred figure at this moment.

The ancient aura carried madness and greed, emanating from this figure, and bursts of terrifying roars echoed in his sea of consciousness.

Seeing that this figure was about to form completely.

But the next instant... with a shake of the Ghost Emperor Mountain in Xu Qing's sea of consciousness, this figure suddenly trembled and collapsed directly. Vaguely, shrill screams echoed from within, as if this resentment soul had been changed from its immortal state and was completely extinguished.

"Ghost Emperor!

"