Chapter 160: Everything Is Under Control! (Two-in-One Request)

Su Ping understood the full sequence of events.

After giving Da Hei a reward, he retracted it back into the Spirit Light Fish Pond within the Pot Heaven.

After replenishing it with new False Dragon Blood, he considered it a way to give it time to slowly digest its recent accumulation in a place rich with Spirit Qi.

Afterwards, Su Ping arrived at the Granville Sea.

Floating in the air above the sea surface, Su Ping looked out at the boundless Dahai.

He contacted the young Black Tortoise who spent all day slacking off inside a volcanic crater.

Sensing its master's summons, the young Black Tortoise immediately perked up, its body size instantly growing from the size of a palm to that of a humpback whale as it rapidly surfaced.

In the blink of an eye, the sea surface was forcibly parted, and a large turtle comparable to a whale quickly floated up.

"Is this glutton only growing in size without increasing its cultivation?"

Looking at the Black Tortoise, which had grown another circle larger, Su Ping hadn't expected that staying on Water Blue Star would have such benefits.

With a thought, the young Black Tortoise opened its mouth and spat out two Ice Crystal Stones.

"This is... Ancient Cold Crystal!"

"This is a rare treasure of heaven and earth that is on the Immortal Sect Treasure List in the Cultivation World!"

"I remember that many Array Tools for large-scale Arrays can use this kind of material!"

"I didn't expect that there would be such a rare object in the Arctic Circle, and it's not a one-of-a-kind item either!"

As Su Ping whispered, he recalled the relevant information in his mind and felt relieved.

This Ancient Cold Crystal was a rare object formed by the great power of nature over long ages through sheer coincidence, unrelated to the Spirit Qi environment.

That Water Blue Star could form this item was unexpected, yet also within reason.

After all, Water Blue Star has no cultivators, so no one goes around collecting these rare treasures of heaven and earth.

The reason these things are extremely rare and precious in the Cultivation World is mainly due to the long-term searching and mining by cultivators.

Because there was no more Foundation Establishment Demon Beast meat, Su Ping simply let the Black Tortoise sink back to the seabed to continue growing.

It just so happened that the Black Tortoise looked lazy and sluggish, knowing only how to slack off in the volcanic crater, so there shouldn't be any major problems.

However, this Ancient Cold Crystal... is worth wasting a little time to trace its origin!

Thinking of this, Su Ping moved his body directly and vanished above the Dahai.

Granville Sea.

On a small-to-medium-sized island named Hope.

Flower Flag Country and Ouluoba had a joint research base here.

The red-jacketed expert and his miserable team members, after experiencing a plane crash, entering the water, and praying while waiting for rescue, were finally picked up by rescue personnel and transported to this base.

Upon arriving at the base, after eating a simple hot meal, they were taken for physical examinations.

Afterwards, they were separated for questioning.

This questioning lasted for over two hours.

It left the red-jacketed expert exhausted.

His heart was also filled with resentment.

However, he soon learned the news that a large cruiser from Flower Flag Country had been rammed and sunk by a sea monster.

For some reason, he thought that the fact that he and his team were saved was likely thanks to that sea monster.

This red-jacketed expert instinctively felt that Flower Flag Country must have done something wrong, which angered the sea monster and led to the punishment.

And judging from the subsequent news received.

Only that large cruiser was attacked, while the ships of various sizes nearby were all safe and sound.

The red-jacketed expert became even more firm in this belief, feeling that the sea monster actually had no malice toward humans, and might even like humans.

Otherwise, with the means the sea monster displayed, let alone that large cruiser, the entire fleet would have been sunk into the Dahai!

When he was free to move around, it was already late at night at the base.

The red-jacketed expert now only wanted to take a hot shower.

He returned to the single room allocated to experts and was just about to change into a bathrobe.

The lights in the room suddenly flickered.

"Who's there!"

The red-jacketed expert was startled, and just as he turned his head to look back, he discovered that a red-haired man wearing red armor was standing in front of him, though he didn't know when he had arrived.

The man's temperament and appearance perfectly matched the red-jacketed expert's aesthetic image of the most perfect knight in his heart.

While feeling ashamed of his own inferiority, the red-jacketed expert, having read supernatural data from other regions, immediately realized that this was a supernatural being outside of the records who had found him!

He did not shout loudly or press the alarm.

Instead, he followed the ancient etiquette from the books he had read and bowed to this red-haired knight.

Only then did he say with a slight tremor in his voice:

"This noble existence whose name I do not yet know, I wonder if I... can be of any help to you?"

Su Ping, controlling Fire Knight Alwin, looked at the red-jacketed expert's performance and smiled faintly:

"Do not be nervous. I come from Dawn City on the side of Order. If it is not necessary, I will not bully you."

Hearing this, the red-jacketed expert lowered his head, his mind unable to stop running wild:

There is a side of Order, which means there is also a side of Chaos?

Does "if not necessary" mean that when it is necessary, they can still take action against us?

But that makes sense; this is what a supernatural being who masters great power in their own body is like!

The red-jacketed expert more or less guessed the other party's intention.

After all, they had already been robbed by the sea monster twice.

Having not seen anything mysterious or extraordinary for most of his life, he had encountered them consecutively after digging up the Ice Crystal Stone.

Even a pig could guess the other party's intentions, right? Otherwise, how could there be such a coincidence?

Could it be that in the first half of his life, there was actually no mysterious power existing on Water Blue Star?

The expert in the red jacket did everything he could to tell all he knew, and he also gave Su Ping all the information he had provided to his superiors during questioning.

Regarding this expert's honesty, Su Ping nodded slightly and gave him a reward.

After letting him swallow a Blood Qi Pill, Su Ping's Divine Sense entered his body to help him quickly absorb the medicinal power while protecting his meridians.

Afterward, Su Ping took out the opening chapter of the Blood Qi Technique from the Side-Door Path and gave it to the expert to mobilize the Blood Qi in his body.

Fire Knight Alwin grabbed this red-jacketed expert, cast an invisibility talisman on him, and then flew away with him rapidly.

As soon as they left the camp.

The expert noticed that the entire base's alarm bells were already ringing.

Clearly, they had discovered that someone had intruded.

But by the time Fire Knight Alwin had carried the expert away to the Dahai.

The security personnel in the base still could not understand how their monitoring equipment had broken down.

And whether there were any intruders, or what the purpose of the intrusion was.

Security was tightened, and all armed Drones were even launched.

More than ten minutes later, these people realized that the red-jacketed expert had gone missing.

Precisely because of the failure of the surveillance, they could not obtain any more information other than being unable to find the other party.

There was no help for it; under the Divine Sense of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, various monitoring equipment as technological products were still too fragile.

Yet with a sweep of Divine Sense, no matter where or how hidden the monitoring equipment was, it could not escape the fate of being discovered and destroyed.

After Su Ping flew with the red-jacketed expert for a while, he released a high-grade Dharma Artifact in the shape of a Flat Boat from the Song Family Old Ancestor.

After infusing it with Dharma Power, this high-grade Dharma Artifact immediately traveled by Water Control, and automatically absorbed the surrounding water force to form a Water Origin Shield to block the Wind Technique while moving at high speed, while also maintaining the stability of the environment inside the boat.

This made the red-jacketed expert click his tongue in wonder, feeling that the speed had already exceeded that of a transport plane, yet he felt no discomfort at all.

Soon, Fire Knight Alwin arrived at an iceberg with the red-jacketed expert.

And through the expert's recollection and identification, he found the two excavation sites.

"This place is an anomaly of a certain geographical environment on Water Blue Star."

"In the Cultivation World, it is a key node of a natural Heaven and Earth Array."

"No wonder it could form Ancient Cold Crystal!"

Fire Knight Alwin raised his right hand.

Flames condensed in mid-air to form a great sword blazing with intense fire.

Afterward, the Fire Knight, holding the hilt with both hands, plunged the great sword into the icy ground.

Boom!

In this instant, the entire ground began to tremble slightly.

The red-jacketed expert widened his eyes and saw spiderwebs appearing on the ground where the great sword was inserted, and as time passed, the cracks became more numerous and spread wider and wider...

So much so that soon, cracks appeared under his feet, making him unable to help but retreat out of fear.

Tens of seconds later.

The ground where the Fire Knight stood shattered abruptly!

Afterward, a bottomless sinkhole actually formed below!

The red-jacketed expert stood at the edge of the pit, scared into sitting on the cold ground, watching the Fire Knight who had disappeared from sight.

After hesitating, he chose to wait in place without doing anything.

Although the appearance of this sinkhole was unexpected, in the eyes of the red-jacketed expert, since the other party could bring him here overnight and perform these unbelievable acts, these developments should all be within the other party's plan, right?

Deep in the sinkhole.

From the shattered underground soil layer, Su Ping found more than ten pieces of Ancient Cold Crystal of varying sizes.

And in the deeper underground, he saw a pool of Cold Ice Heavy Water under this naturally formed Heaven and Earth Array.

If this heavy water were discovered by Water Blue Star experts, they would probably only think it was radioactive water with too many rare elements.

But in the eyes of a Cultivator in the Cultivation World.

This Cold Ice Heavy Water could be called a priceless treasure.

It could be used to make a Treasure Vase to store precious Spirit Objects, or it could be used to make Spirit Tools for offense and defense.

Many types of ice-attribute Spirit Pills could also use this heavy water as a main ingredient.

There were even those who practiced ice-attribute divine abilities who would pay thousands of Spirit Stones just to obtain a single drop as a primer.

And the Cold Ice Heavy Water here was likely accumulated over hundreds of millions of years.

There were at least ten thousand drops!

In terms of quality, it was also the best of the best!

"Mine, mine, these are all mine!"

Even for Su Ping, seeing so much Cold Ice Heavy Water, he could not help but have greed flash through his mind.

He hurriedly took a deep breath to calm his mood.

Su Ping took a celadon Gourd from his Storage Bag, and after silently reciting the incantation, he began to suck away the Cold Ice Heavy Water.

A short while later, after collecting the last drop of Cold Ice Heavy Water, Su Ping, remembering the red-jacketed expert above, controlled Fire Knight Alwin to fly back to the surface.

Afterward, the in-high-spirits Su Ping sent the red-jacketed expert to a research station near the Arctic Circle and left quickly.

And so.

The bureaucrats at the Hope Island base who received the news finally learned that they had encountered a myth from a legendary story.

To have an expert disappear from their own base overnight and run off to a scientific research station thousands of miles away.

While surprised that a transcendent could enter and exit their base as if it were an uninhabited land, they had no choice but to hold their noses and dispatch a transport plane to retrieve the other party.

Yet they did not expect to soon learn that a blizzard had appeared at the research station.

Although technology had progressed somewhat over these twenty years.

Transport planes still had not evolved to the point of ignoring blizzards, let alone blizzards in the Arctic Circle.

Fortunately, the research station had sufficient resources, and the researchers were very polite after seeing the red-jacketed expert lift hundreds of pounds of heavy objects by himself.

The Flower Flag Country side could only wait for the blizzard to end before retrieving the other party and figuring out exactly what had happened.

The red-jacketed expert was also very sensible; aside from informing them that he had been taken to the Arctic by a transcendent, he did not say anything else.

That sinkhole, moreover, was something this expert had determined to keep hidden for the rest of his life.

After receiving the transcendent's gift.

This red-jacketed expert had already realized.

His previous pursuits were truly too tacky, too unbearably vulgar!

From now on, what he sought should be to become a dog for the transcendent, or for his descendants to be called such!

…………

Pot Heaven.

After obtaining the Cold Ice Heavy Water, although it could not be cashed in for the time being, the feeling of having a large sum of savings still made Su Ping feel good.

Furthermore, those Ancient Cold Crystals could still be sold or used to find someone to help forge an Array Tool.

As an Array Master with the knowledge of a peerless genius.

Su Ping was very clear in his heart.

If an Array Tool forged with Ancient Cold Crystal as a material were to be soaked in Cold Ice Heavy Water from time to time.

Supplemented by an auxiliary Spirit-Raising Array, it might be possible to create an Array Spirit hundreds or thousands of years ahead of schedule!

Once an Array Spirit emerged, not only would the power of the array be multiplied.

Many miscellaneous tasks would no longer require his personal attention.

"The number of purified Sealed Dharma Artifacts has also increased quite a bit during this period."

"It is indeed time to visit other large Markets or even an Immortal City."

Su Ping finished taking stock of his assets.

After taking a Pill to enhance Dharma Power and resting for a night.

Early the next morning.

Su Ping first returned to Jiuye Mountain Market.

He checked the messages left by various people.

And discovered an Invitation Letter sent by Xiao Mu Zhenren.

It turned out that at Yunshan Market, a Foundation Establishment cultivator who was on good terms with Xiao Mu Zhenren had broken through to the Foundation Establishment Mid-Stage.

Thus, after exiting seclusion, they immediately invited fellow practitioners to celebrate and, incidentally, exchange breakthrough experiences.

"Breaking through from Foundation Establishment Early Stage to Mid-Stage?"

"This experience should be useful to me, right?"

"Relying on the continuous consumption of Pills, plus the use of Purification Spirit Medicine to drive away side effects, my Dharma Power growth is still quite fast."

"I estimate that in at most half a year, I should be able to attempt a breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Mid-Stage."

Su Ping thought to himself, checked the time, and set off for Yunshan Market.

Only this time, he was not heading to the mountaintop, but to the Guest Minister residential area on the mountainside.

There were not many guests attending, just enough to fill one table.

On the table, besides Spirit Wine, there were mostly delicacies made from various Spirit Rice.

It was not that they could not afford Demon Beast meat.

It was just that everyone was at the Foundation Establishment stage, so they naturally knew some secrets of the Cultivation World.

Under the premise that one could not guarantee whether that Demon Beast meat might contain certain things, not serving it was the safest option.

At the banquet, Su Ping saw many female cultivators performing on the Stage.

And inadvertently, he discovered an acquaintance.

A female cultivator who appeared in the corner of a certain performance, acting as a background prop.

It seemed... to be the very Luo Xian Zi that Junior Brother Yun Jiu was obsessed with?

What a pity, this Immortal who made his Junior Brother borrow money to send Dharma Artifacts even after breaking up, was, at this banquet, merely an inconspicuous extra...

Su Ping drank silently, responding with a word or two from time to time.

Xiao Mu Zhenren's good friend, the host of this banquet, True Person Zhang, was currently full of heroic spirit.

The joy and pride on his face were not concealed in the slightest.

This True Person Zhang was also an Inner Sect Disciple from the Artifact Heart Sect.

Possessing a Superior Grade Spiritual Root, his cultivation had always been quite unsmooth.

Clearly, he had reached Qi Refining Perfection a few years earlier than Xiao Mu Zhenren, yet his Foundation Establishment success was more than ten years slower.

This time, breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Mid-Stage only took twenty years; while he had finally caught up to Xiao Mu Zhenren, it also served to prove that his talent was not poor.

He was only one hundred and twenty-three years old this year.

Barring any accidents, there was a high probability he could reach the Foundation Establishment Late Stage before the age of two hundred, thereby obtaining a life-extending Spirit Object and living for another seventy or eighty years to serve the sect.

And if he could reach Foundation Establishment Yuanyuan, there might be a glimmer of possibility for a Golden Core breakthrough.

He would be able to receive even more care from the sect's resources, and might even live longer!

Compared to the high spirits of this host, Su Ping noticed that several Foundation Establishment cultivators, especially those Guest Ministers, had somewhat unnatural expressions.

These Foundation Establishment cultivators were all at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage, just like him.

It was just that... not coming from major sects, they had clearly ascended by relying on pills that were not Superior Pills.

Even if their Spirit Roots were not inferior to this True Person Zhang.

Most of their potential had long since been overdrawn; without some great fortuitous encounter, they would likely be trapped at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage for their entire lives.

As for any life-extending Spirit Objects, one only had to think to know that they were queued based on cultivation and contribution.

And under equal conditions, priority would certainly go to the homegrown disciples of the sect.

As the food and wine were finished, the female cultivators' performance also ended, and they left the venue with lingering reluctance.

Xiao Mu Zhenren began the main topic.

He let that True Person Zhang open up to share cultivation experiences.

Su Ping pricked up his ears and listened attentively.

This was also the reason he had come to give a gift.

True Person Zhang spoke in great detail, especially describing the breakthrough process vividly.

However, halfway through speaking.

Su Ping also realized the purpose of the other party inviting everyone.

"Cultivation is difficult; one wrong step leads to wrong steps at every turn!"

"This great change in Yunshan Market further shows that the changes in the external environment are far beyond what we imagined!"

"We are all Foundation Establishment cultivators practicing near Yunshan."

"We should naturally help and support each other!"

When True Person Zhang finished speaking, Xiao Mu Zhenren also chimed in to agree.

It could be considered the reveal of their true intentions, stating their purpose.

It was a hope to form a small team among the Foundation Establishment cultivators, with Foundation Establishment as the core.

Regarding this, the attending Foundation Establishment cultivators nodded and agreed after hearing that there was no mandatory requirement.

Su Ping naturally would not stick his neck out; in any case, he was just a Loose Cultivator who had just reached Foundation Establishment, and he had legitimate reasons to avoid trouble for these few years.

And as for waiting until a few years later, that would be a matter for then.

Seeing that the goal was achieved, Xiao Mu Zhenren was in a great mood and let True Person Zhang share more cultivation insights.

He even revealed some Inner Sect insights of the Artifact Heart Sect.

This caused those Foundation Establishment Guest Ministers' expressions to change, and they bowed one after another to thank him for the grace of imparting the Dharma.

Su Ping also followed suit and thanked him.

Yet, after comparing them in his heart, he felt that these Inner Sect insights of the Artifact Heart Sect... were inferior to the North Star Divine Art!

Afterwards, Su Ping made an excuse that he felt a stir in his heart and needed to go into seclusion, declining the kind offer from Xiao Mu Zhenren to have the previous dance troupe come to entertain him.

After leaving Yunshan Market.

He transformed into Exorcist Mage Yunkong and galloped toward the direction of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

It was not that Su Ping was bold and skilled enough to go to the Ten Thousand Mountains to hunt Second Tier Demon Beasts.

Rather, Su Ping was preparing to head to the Immortal City guarded by the Chiyuan Immortal Sect over there.

There, there were branch offices of many major forces, including the Great Golden Light Temple.

There was a Merit Stele where one could exchange for Sealed Dharma Artifacts for purification.

There was even the Qianqi Wanfa Pavilion, one of the top sects, which undertook various commissions for the refining of Spirit Tools and even Spirit Treasures.

Su Ping wanted to use the Ancient Cold Crystal to make an Array Tool.

Only by going to such a big place could he minimize disputes and conflicts as much as possible.

As for whether he would be targeted after leaving the city with it in hand.

Su Ping felt that he could still put up a fight against anyone below the Golden Core stage.

As for those above the Golden Core stage, he would naturally teleport away directly, letting the other party waste their efforts.

However, looking at it reasonably, a Second Tier Array Tool shouldn't be enough to make a major sect's Foundation Establishment cultivator shamelessly invite a Golden Core cultivator to come and snatch it, right?

Furthermore, that place was an Immortal City, the front line for the human race to resist Demon Beasts.

The Golden Core cultivators who could go there... should at least want some face and legitimacy, right?

Su Ping followed the map and chose to walk along the main road.

He did not intend to tire himself out by rushing day and night.

Instead, he was prepared to visit various markets along the way to see, buy some local specialties, and taste the local delicacies.

If he could collect new books, he could naturally do so while he was at it.

Just like that, three days later.

Su Ping arrived at a large market near the edge of the Jinzi Domain bordering the Earth Character Region.

As a registered Foundation Establishment cultivator, Su Ping easily entered the Barrier of this market.

He noticed that it was the same here as it was on his side.

Mortals were also basically gathered to live within the range protected by the Array.

It was just that the quality of life could not compare to Nine Leaves Mountain.

Especially for the lower and middle classes, life was difficult and management was in Chaos.

They relied on Loose Cultivators and martial artists to maintain basic Order.

It was just that these Loose Cultivators and martial artists themselves were also creating Chaos and evil.

With a sweep of his Divine Sense, Su Ping frowned slightly.

Su Ping had already discovered in the residential area that certain regions were condensing Evil Qi.

These Evil Qi were not from evil cultivators or evil objects.

Rather, they were the grievances of the masses, the cursed thoughts toward heaven, earth, and all things emitted from their subconscious during sleep.

Su Ping would never have discovered these thoughts in the past.

But having come into contact with the Nether Ghost Body and performed multiple incense deity summonings, Su Ping was now able to keenly perceive these imperceptible and overly weak powers that would otherwise be ignored.

Su Ping found the Foundation Establishment cultivator guarding the Market.

After speaking of this matter, he discovered that the Foundation Establishment cultivator also knew a thing or two about such things.

But he did not know what kind of trouble those lowly mortals could stir up.

After all, this was not some mortal town with nothing, but a large-scale Market with a perfected Array.

This guarding Foundation Establishment cultivator even felt that Su Ping was too young and did not understand the wonders within this.

Even if the Evil Qi erupted, so what?

With the help of the Array.

The Evil Spirits produced by the mortals in these residential areas were simply free merits to be picked up.

Even if casualties occurred due to the Evil Qi eruption, it could still shock the other surviving mortals, making them more obedient and allowing them to be more pious during purification prayers.

After all, this was to protect their own lives!

In this way, it was much better than preaching grand principles or even giving out rewards!

After this analysis, Su Ping had to admit that he had been shallow...

After buying some supplies, he declined the offer to stay and left quickly.

Even if there was a 99 percent probability that it was indeed as that great Foundation Establishment cultivator said and there was no major problem, everything was under control!