Chapter 65: Gui Geng Returns to His Position

After dinner that evening, Chen Yan had Gui Geng hold a flashlight while he inspected each of the bluestone slabs of the Spirit-Gathering Array in the courtyard one by one.

He then took out the batch of Bai Yu plaques delivered that afternoon—that black-hearted boss had finally shown a shred of conscience; although the order was for one hundred plaques, this shipment contained a full one hundred and twenty, with the extras given as a free gift from the boss.

Chen Yan casually took out a few plaques, infused them with Yuan Qi, and handed them to Gui Geng.

"You are responsible for placing them in the Array Core—each jade plaque allows the array to run for two hours. Your job is to change the battery every two hours. Do you understand?"

"..." (Doesn't this guy need to sleep at all?!)

Gui Geng obediently agreed, though Chen Yan couldn't help feeling that the fellow's gaze toward him was slightly off.

(It was this thing that made this Seat run back and forth a few days ago?!)

After placing the Shanzhai-style artifact into the Array Core, the Spirit-Gathering Array, which had been stalled for many days, activated once more.

As threads of Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi were gathered into the villa courtyard, Chen Yan couldn't help but take a deep breath, feeling the increasingly dense Yuan Qi in the air, before turning to go back inside.

Upon entering, he saw Gu Qingyi leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, watching him.

"Gu Xiaoniang, please don't laugh. My conditions here are humble, and I lack good materials, so I could only create this Shanzhai-style Spirit-Gathering Array."

Gu Qingyi was stunned for a moment, likely savoring the meaning of "Shanzhai-style" before understanding it. He shook his head and said, "This Spirit-Gathering Array is well-made. I have seen the array runes—your magic must have been personally transmitted by the Venerable One, my lord. In your world, where Yuan Qi is thin, for someone your age, twenty-two, to cultivate to this level is truly remarkable."

Chen Yan raised an eyebrow... If I've been cultivating for less than a month in total, does that make me a child of heaven, the illegitimate son of the Heavenly Dao?

"Actually, using those broken jade plaques as the Array Core is somewhat wasteful."

"It's not wasteful; they didn't cost much."

"I mean it's too troublesome," Gu Qingyi shook his head. "Don't you know there is a better method?"

"Hmm?" Chen Yan's eyes lit up. He formally clasped his hands and said with a solemn expression, "Please instruct me!"

Gu Qingyi smiled lightly, walked outside, grabbed Gui Geng who was standing by the Array Core in the flower bed, and said, "Return to your original form!"

"..." "Yes, my lord." Gui Geng dared not resist; his body swayed a few times and instantly transformed into an old turtle the size of a millstone.

Gu Qingyi looked at it, frowned, and said, "It's too big. Make it smaller."

"..."

The old turtle slowly shrank in Gu Qingyi's hand. When it had shrunk to about the size of a palm, it stopped moving. "Master, my cultivation is insufficient; I can only shrink this small."

"That works; it's enough." Gu Qingyi quickly whispered a spell incantation near the old turtle's head, and the turtle's eyes immediately lit up with excitement.

Gu Qingyi said slowly, "Do you understand?"

"I understand!" The old turtle's tone was quite excited. "Thank you, Master, for transmitting the method!!"

Gu Qingyi placed the old turtle on the flower bed. The turtle slowly crawled into the Array Core, retracting its head, limbs, and tail into its shell...

The Yuan Qi of the Spirit-Gathering Array suddenly flowed entirely back into the Array Core. The patterns on the turtle shell immediately flashed with faint light. Then the light faded, and countless threads of Yuan Qi slowly released again, flowing to various positions within the villa courtyard.

Gu Qingyi clapped his hands, turned, and walked back into the room, looking at Chen Yan, whose eyes were wide open.

"What's wrong?"

"..." "This works too?"

"Without a suitable artifact, using it is fine. Actually, counting it up, it works better than an artifact."

Chen Yan said slowly, "Aren't you afraid of being cyber-bullied by animal protection organizations for doing this?"

Gu Qingyi didn't understand Chen Yan's words but roughly guessed the fellow was complaining. He shook his head and said, "It is a turtle clan demon cultivator. In this season, it would be hibernating anyway; one sleep can last for several months."

"Moreover, this Spirit-Gathering Array gathers Yuan Qi, condensing it at the Array Core before dispersing it. By serving as the Array Core hub, it is equivalent to having Yuan Qi gather and scour its body every moment. This is of great benefit to its cultivation. Besides, I just transmitted to it a method for tempering the flesh with Yuan Qi. Sleeping here for three months will be faster than it cultivating for several years."

Seeing that Chen Yan only half-understood, Gu Qingyi continued to explain, "Demon cultivators are not good at magic to begin with. Except for one or two innate divine arts, they are known for their powerful flesh. The method I taught him to temper his flesh was taught to me by a demon cultivator friend on the Prison-Subduing Platform; it is just right for it."

Seeing Chen Yan say nothing, Gu Qingyi frowned and asked, "What is it? Is there still a problem?"

"I was just thinking, the only one in the house who can work has been turned into an Array Core by you. Who will clean tomorrow?"

Gu Qingyi smiled, cracked his knuckles, and said, "I guess it's you."

"..." "Alright, you guessed right." Chen Yan nodded helplessly.

·

The three realms of Mortal Cultivation: Entering the Room, Returning to Origin, and Ascending the Stage.

According to Gu Qingyi, Chen Yan's current realm is the Returning to Origin Realm, the second realm of cultivators.

Chen Yan roughly guessed that reaching the second realm was all thanks to saving Lu Sisi previously, receiving a massive amount of Yuan Qi (Merit?) from the Heavenly Dao as feedback, which increased his cultivation.

If he relied purely on his own cultivation, it would probably take many years.

According to Gu Qingyi, the Yuan Qi in this world is thin; even with a good cultivation method, the speed of cultivation seems very slow.

And the Heavenly Dao of this world does not allow existences above the Heavenly Human Realm; this is probably one of the reasons.

·

Gu Qingyi cultivates combat techniques and is not good at magic—but with such a high expert of the Heavenly Human Realm by his side, Chen Yan certainly wouldn't miss the opportunity to ask about cultivation issues.

That evening, Chen Yan asked Gu Qingyi to guard him while he performed the Yuan Qi Transport Technique in front of Gu Qingyi, circulating Yuan Qi to cultivate, and then asked Gu Qingyi some questions about cultivation.

Gu Qingyi only frowned and shook his head, saying, "The cultivation method left for you by the Venerable One, my lord, is naturally top-tier—I actually don't understand much. The combat techniques of my Gu family differ greatly from the cultivation methods you have learned, so I'm afraid I can't help you much with cultivation issues."

Chen Yan was somewhat disappointed, but then heard Gu Qingyi continue, "However, you have already entered the Returning to Origin Realm. I feel your Yuan Qi circulation is slightly stagnant, likely because you just broke through to a new realm. At this time, what you need most is to cultivate diligently, spending more time circulating Yuan Qi with the cultivation method to firmly stabilize your realm."

Speaking, Gu Qingyi's eyes lit up: "There is also a method. You can go to the Array Core and lie down next to Gui Geng, letting the Yuan Qi scour your entire body. Just sleep like that for a month, and I guarantee your cultivation will increase by a step. However, there will be some side effects."

"Human flesh structure differs from demon cultivators. This method can temper the flesh, but it might cause significant changes to your body type and appearance. You might turn into an image that is ugly in face and robust and fierce in build."

"Moreover, the process is somewhat painful."

Chen Yan glanced at Gu Xiaoniang... Let me lie down with that old turtle and sleep for a month?

"Is there another method?" Chen Yan wasn't afraid of becoming ugly; he mainly didn't want to be a muscle man.

"Then spend more time each day cultivating the method and circulating Yuan Qi. Using the method to circulate Yuan Qi throughout the body is also a process of guiding Yuan Qi to scour and temper the flesh, but it is much gentler than lying directly on the Array Core..."

Chen Yan sighed.

To put it plainly, if you want good grades, you just have to do more practice problems...

"If you cherish your appearance, then you can only cultivate slowly," Gu Qingyi shook his head. "Cultivation is something with no shortcuts; in the end, it is just talent plus diligence."

Pausing for a moment, Gu Xiaoniang said slowly, "I began cultivating at five. One day after entering the sect, I reached the 【Inner Chamber Realm】. It took two years to reach the 【Return to Origin Realm】, but then it took a full six more years to reach the 【Ascension Platform Realm】. That year, I was thirteen."

After that, it took a full seven more years before I finally broke through the Heavenly Gate, ascended a rank to enter the extraordinary, and stepped into the 【Heavenly Human Realm】. I was only able to break through to a new realm by relying on five years of slaughter at the Prison-Suppressing Platform, nourishing my spirit through battle.

"Entering the Heavenly Human Realm at twenty is already considered among the top three in the Gu family genealogy."

Hearing this, Chen Yan asked, "Then, at my current cultivation speed, how long will it take me to go from the 【Return to Origin Realm】 to the 【Ascension Platform Realm】?"

"I took six years, but that was in the Domain Realm, and I had the Gu family's resources to support me."

"Your world has thin primordial energy, and there are virtually no cultivation resources. Even if your talent is top-tier, and you have obtained a cultivation method of Venerable level... if you can reach the Ascension Platform Realm within twenty years, you'd be lucky."

Twenty years later? That's still a very long way off... Chen Yan pouted; such a distant matter could be put aside for now.

"Alright, I'll start cultivating diligently today and first stabilize the Return to Origin Realm." Chen Yan glanced at the time; it was already past midnight. He stood up and said, "Let's go."

"Go? Where?" Gu Xiaoniang asked, somewhat nervous.

"To beat someone up. Didn't we agree on dealing with Luo Qing of the Luo Yun Zhai?"

Gu Xiaoniang pretended to be calm: "It's so late..."

"Of course, one must do bad deeds quietly in the dead of night. Do you think we should do them in broad daylight?"

Well, what he said made a lot of sense... Gu Xiaoniang was helpless.

When they went out, she wore a cotton-padded jacket, a hat, and a face mask.

Chen Yan studied this woman; dressed like this, she was almost unrecognizable. He couldn't help but say in a low voice, "Do you have a lot of experience doing bad deeds? You seem quite skilled at disguising yourself."

Gu Qingyi's face flushed red; fortunately, the mask hid it. She turned her head and said quickly, "Stop making unnecessary noise. Let's go, you're acting like you're sick."

·

The two went out and arrived at the commercial street where the Luo Yun Zhai was located.

It was already midnight. The streetlamps cast a dim yellow glow, and the cold night wind was fierce. The road was completely empty, without a single person in sight.

The two walked to the front of the Luo Yun Zhai. Seeing the shop doors tightly closed, Chen Yan led Gu Qingyi around to the outside of the courtyard wall on the left.

Checking left and right to ensure there were no surveillance cameras, the two leaped over the wall.

Chen Yan used the 【Decree · Escape Technique】; his body was light as a swallow as he cleared the wall. However, he didn't see clearly what method Gu Qingyi used; he just felt a flash before his eyes, and the girl appeared directly in the courtyard.

Standing in the courtyard, which was pitch black, Chen Yan unexpectedly saw that in the back courtyard, the west wing had collapsed into a pile of ruins, the main hall in the center had collapsed halfway, and even the roof had been pierced with a hole.

There should have been an osmanthus tree in the courtyard originally, but now only a large dirt pit remained, while that osmanthus tree lay horizontally across the courtyard.

"... What's going on?" Chen Yan was a bit dumbfounded.

"Hmm... perhaps they are renovating the house," Gu Qingyi said softly, gazing into the distance.

Who renovates a house during the New Year... Chen Yan rolled his eyes.

Looking left and right and confirming that no one was living in the courtyard, Chen Yan's heart stirred.

Regardless of whether Luo Qing is renovating the house or not, I'll just give it a good "renovation" myself...

·