Chapter 187: Painting the Dragon and Dotting the Eyes, But No Summer to be Seen

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It was as if he had returned to that dimness, only within the dimness were fragments of the illusions from just moments ago, either drifting or spinning. And at the end of the dimness, it seemed as if streaks of firelight were mixed in, accompanied by bursts of piercing wails, just as when he had first fallen into the illusion.

Rendong continued to grope his way by sound, but this time the wooden door from before was gone; in its place were two white jade stone gates, as huge as mountains, glowing with fluorescence. Strange patterns were carved upon the stone gates, winding and twisting like curse seals.

He reached out toward the curse patterns on the gate, and for some reason, a violent grief suddenly surged in his heart, tearing at his soul.

Just as Xin Yiyou, you might not be able to come out safely, so..."

Lingxiang said, then stood together with the group of Elders again.

"Given that some of you are already the personal disciples of sect Elders, and even those who are Inner Sect Disciples are promising talents, they naturally do not wish for you to have any mishaps, yet they also hope you can be more successful on your future path of cultivation, which is why they agreed to my willfulness. So, I will say the ugly words first: if..."

Long Qi looked at Xin Yi, suddenly feeling that he was stupid to death; this person was just a loner, what good ideas could he possibly give.

Xin Yi glanced at Long Qi, who was scratching his head in deep thought, and laughed softly—he really was just a greenhorn.

"How can this be!? How could someone capable of setting up such a miraculous array have the aptitude of a Five Elements False Spiritual Root?" Rendong looked incredulous.

"Hahahaha!" Zhuzhang Laoren stroked his beard and laughed: "Why not?"

A single counter-question left Rendong speechless. Seeing him like this, Zhuzhang Laoren continued:

"The world is full of wonders, and there will always be things you cannot imagine. Take me, for example; back in the day, I practiced alongside your Yuanqing Sect's founding ancestor, Wuwei. Now, hundreds of years have passed, and although I only have the cultivation of a Loose Immortal, I have achieved longevity. Isn't that what cultivation is for?"

Hearing this, Rendong was even more astonished. Someone with a Five Elements False Spiritual Root could actually cultivate to the Loose Immortal realm?!

"Not to mention the distant, let's talk about the girl Lingxiang. Have you ever wondered why she has the lowest cultivation among the Yuanqing Nine Sons? Even her disciple Shoucheng has a higher cultivation than her. Could it really be because she is young? That little girl was already at the Foundation Establishment stage at seven years old! Looking across the world, only the ancient Nezha ever had such aptitude!"

Rendong did not know how to answer for a moment. After entering the Yuanqing Sect, although he had heard some things about Fucang Elder, he had never understood much. Could it be that she also had a Five Elements False Spiritual Root? These past two days had also been difficult; she no longer visited the peaks of her fellow disciples as she always did before, and in the cold weather, she didn't even hide out at Qiuyun Peak to avoid the winter.

Although this made the group of Elders very strange, Zhaoming Zhenren breathed a huge sigh of relief: this little demon king could finally be at peace for a few days, and he wouldn't have to worry about the treasures in his hall for the time being.

To ask why Lingxiang was like this: firstly, she had decided to open the furnace to refine a batch of Inner Fire Pills using the Great Fu Formula, and secondly, it was because what Long Qi did that day always made her absent-minded.

In recent days, no matter what she did, she would often think of that day's events, as if Long Qi's kiss had become her inner demon, always lingering in her heart and unable to dissipate, which was why she decided to refine pills to clear her thoughts.

But even with Alchemy, which she was most skilled at, she could not concentrate. Even when tempering the fire for the medicinal ingredients in that old pill furnace, she lost focus while adding the Yellow Tooth Powder, her bamboo stick poking at the powder bit by bit, while her mind drifted to who knows where.

This day, she was in the courtyard fueling the furnace fire when she saw Fuyin Zhenren arrive with two disciples.

"Oh! Isn't this the Sixth Senior Brother? A rare guest! Why, since I don't go to Qiuyun Peak, you've been thinking of me, coming all the way to my Xianyun Abode to visit in this cold weather?" Lingxiang said, putting away her cultivation technique and standing up.

Fuyin Zhenren, hearing this, merely glanced at her, then instructed the two disciples to wait in the courtyard before walking into the house with his hands behind his back.

Seeing this, Lingxiang knew he had something to say. She instructed the two disciples to watch the furnace fire well and followed him inside.

As soon as she entered the door, Fuyin 【said】 kill or skin, to vent the Superior's anger."

"No!" The white-clothed person hurriedly spoke to stop him, "Not to mention that the Yuanqing Sect has a Mountain Guarding Array that we of the Demon Race cannot enter, just the fact that that girl can refine the Life-Prolonging Pill means we cannot do anything to her."

"Then kidnap her to refine pills for the Superior every day. If she doesn't listen, she can also amuse me in my spare time." The enchanting woman toyed with the dagger in her hand, looking intriguing.

"No!"

The white-clothed person spoke again to stop her, and the enchanting woman could not help but feel stifled.

"This won't do, that won't do. Could it be that you have other ideas about her?" The woman said this with a provocative look.

"I am different from you; not everything can be used as a plaything." The white-clothed person looked at the enchanting woman with contempt, then turned to bow and cup his hands toward the person on the seat: "That woman back then indeed used this girl as a sacrificial curse to harm the Superior. Now, I don't know why she is still alive, and according to my investigation, that woman back then..." 【He】 glanced at Maidong, and the latter immediately understood.

That night, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Everyone in the City Lord Mansion had fallen asleep, and even the City Lord, who accompanied his wife every day, had been persuaded by Lingxiang and the other to return to their room.

Outside, the third watch had just been struck by the clapper, when a shadow crept into the City Lord's wife's room. Before long, a figure was seen standing before her bed.

That person watched the wife for a long time, then took an object from his mouth with his finger. A clear light flashed, and he sent it into her mouth.

"No wonder the wife has been bedridden for so long without showing signs of decay; it turns out it was nourished by cultivation."

Lingxiang flashed out from behind the door, startling the person, who hurriedly tried to escape through the window, but did not anticipate Maidong's Flying Leaf Palm outside, which slapped him back into the room.

"Tsk, why hit so hard? What if you slap him stupid?"

"Oops, I forgot in a moment of carelessness." Maidong scratched his head with a giggle.

The person sat up from the ground, dressed in black, with fair skin and a guarded expression.

His eyes were actually—

Red-gold!

"How did you know it was me?!"

"Blame it on you being a tomcat; you don't know how to adapt." Maidong laughed, and the man in black looked blank.

"Regardless of how long you followed your wife before she was married, it has been fifteen or sixteen years since the City Lord and his wife were wed, and you were brought by the wife from her maiden home. How could a cat live that long?" Lingxiang explained.

"Even if it really lived that long, it wouldn't be as agile as you; it should have been decrepit long ago." Maidong added.

That's right, this person was Ajin. "What a sharp-tongued little girl, actually calculating against this old man like this; it really is time to teach you a lesson." Saying this, he raised a hand and flicked Lingxiang on the forehead.

Lingxiang felt the pain, covered her forehead, and complained: "You're thousands of years old, yet you're still like a child. It's a pity you still call yourself 'this old man'; you truly don't have a shred of an elder's demeanor."

The Spirit of the Eternal Firmament laughed up at the sky upon hearing this. Although everyone knew who he was, he was occupying Zhao Wuyang's body, and this looked truly incongruous.

"You'd better stop laughing like that. My Wuyang is very cute. You've only occupied his body for how long, and he's already as tall as me. If this continues, I won't be able to bully him in the future." Lingxiang said, lowering the hand she was rubbing her forehead with, only to see a red mark there.

"Forget it, forget it. You bunch of kids, at least two hundred years old, yet not as fun as a ten-year-old girl." The Eternal Firmament said, dusting off his robes and sitting down on a large rock, "This old man won't bother to argue with this yellow-haired girl. If I did, I'm afraid this whole mountain wouldn't be enough for me to play with."

Qianyuan Zhenren felt relieved upon hearing this; it seemed the Spirit of the Eternal Firmament had no hostility, but this disciple of his...

"Forget it, after all, it's a mortal body; I'm afraid he can't use any strength, which is why he says that. To actually use such high-sounding words, it's truly as the folks say: the older one gets, the more like a child one becomes." Lingxiang said, also sitting down next to the Spirit of the Eternal Firmament.

"You girl, you really won't give this old man even half a shred of face. Even if they are high-sounding words, so what? Anyway, I'm currently occupying your person's body; what can you do to me?"

Banxia looked at Zhao Wuyang, who was sitting with his legs crossed, and was extremely surprised. How could this still be the gentle Zhao Wuyang from before? This was clearly one of those rascals from down the mountain.

"Naturally, there's nothing I can do," Lingxiang said, sitting just like him, "But anyway, you can't use your strength in this body, so you'll just have to put up with my anger every day from now on. Time is long, this body will eventually decay, and you will eventually change back. There is plenty of time, no rush, no rush. If I am lucky enough to succeed in my cultivation, I'm afraid you'll have to be angry for a few hundred years."

The Spirit of the Eternal Firmament laughed loudly upon hearing this: "Ascending to heaven is but a somersault. With just your Residual Spirit Root, you want to succeed in cultivation? I'm afraid that's even harder than the Divine Envoy attaining the Dao. To actually speak so boastfully about making me angry, let's see who ends up angry."

Lingxiang immediately jumped to her feet, pointing at the Spirit of the Eternal Firmament and shouting: "You wretch, Eternal Firmament, actually picking at my sore spots! Anyway, you are occupying Wuyang's mortal body now, so in any case—" "Yes," Chengxin Zhenren spoke up at this moment: "These days, we have also arranged for a group of disciples to step up patrols, all to catch the real culprit, but who could have thought that even so, they still succeeded. It seems this matter definitely has members of the Demon Race behind it."

The words of the two Senior Brothers were indeed not false; it seems the Demon Race must have had a plan in mind to evade the patrols.

"Could it be..." Lingxiang said, weighing her words: "Could it have something to do with Bai Wuchang..."

"I have to eat, and while I have no other skills, I am quite an expert at alchemy. Just watch me put some 'seasoning' in your meals every single day, so you can properly realize whether my cultivation can truly attain the righteous fruit!"

If it were not the body of Zhao Wuyang that the spirit of the Eternal Firmament was occupying, Qianyuan Zhenren would actually be happy to see this; after all, there are truly few people who can make Lingxiang suffer defeat like this in a war of words, but...

"Immortal Venerable, please," Qianyuan Zhenren stepped forward and performed a Daoist salute, "Although my disciple has excellent Spirit Root aptitude, she is still young after all, and her cultivation is still shallow. I fear she may not be able to withstand the Immortal Venerable—"

"We do not understand the time of the human race..." Ajin said as he stood up; he was actually eight feet tall, with a lean build and a refined appearance.

"No wonder you look so 'cat-refined,' cats are actually this good-looking!" Lingxiang exclaimed.

Maidong rolled her eyes at her and flipped into the room from outside the window.

"Then, tell me, you arrived at—"

"... after that, they will perish in the Yellow Springs. In this subordinate's humble opinion, it is better to wait for a while."

The person on the seat moved slightly upon hearing this, and after a moment, waved their hand toward the space below; the person in white bowed and vanished from sight.

The accumulated snow on the mountain melted by seventy or eighty percent after a few days, leaving only a little, as if reluctant to leave the world, huddled together in a last-ditch resistance.

After a snowfall, the mountain seemed as if it had been washed clean; it was moist everywhere, and even the stream had gained a torrential momentum.

This snow had delayed—

Fuyin Zhenren tossed a book to her, and Lingxiang looked down to see it was indeed that book, "Joyous Secret Play."

"You! A young girl like you, where did you get this book? And you even gave it to Maidong, what kind of behavior is this!?" Fuyin Zhenren questioned her with an expression of hating that she could not be improved.

Lingxiang flipped through it casually and replied with a smile: "I thought it was something serious; it's just a little book of night tales, why is Senior Brother so angry? It's no big deal."

"You must surely think that Lingxiang also has a Five Elements False Spiritual Root; it is true, she can perform a bit of every kind of witchcraft, so it really does look a bit like it," the Zhuzhang Laoren said, turning his back.

"C-could it not be?"

"For her, if she really were a False Spiritual Root, that would be fine, but it is a pity..."

A pity? A pity for what?

"It is only a pity that she is actually a Residual Spirit Root," the Zhuzhang Laoren turned around, his face full of pity.

"Residual Spirit Root? What kind of Spirit Root is a Residual Spirit Root?" This was the first time Rendong had ever heard of such a thing.

"Speaking of which, you should have already experienced the Dust-Peering Mirror to test your Spirit Root, right?"

Rendong nodded upon hearing this, and the Zhuzhang Laoren sighed when he saw him do so.

"That little girl, even the Dust-Peering Mirror cannot test—"

"Whichever of you does not wish to risk your life, you do not have to enter again. The Elders will naturally arrange suitable divine weapons and treasures for you, and no one will think you are the type who fears death; after all, 'Wuwei' is also one of the paths of Dao cultivation."

Saying this, Lingxiang turned to look at Qianyuan Zhenren.

"Senior Brother, do you think there is anything improper about this arrangement of mine?"

Qianyuan Zhenren smiled at these words. Do not look at how Lingxiang just made the Fifth Junior Brother unable to step down; now she was speaking like this, with every word full of protection. He really did not know what to do with this Junior Sister.

"It is exactly as your Aunt Fucang said; you should all make your decisions boldly."

Zhaoming Zhenren naturally did not think too much about it. Although Lingxiang was always baring her fangs and brandishing her claws at him on ordinary days, she would still protect him in front of the sect disciples and help him establish his prestige. He naturally knew this in his heart and would never take it to heart—he doted on this Junior Sister too much to ever be willing to blame her.

However, it was still extremely heart-warming that his Junior Sister could think for him.

Thinking this—

Not knowing why, a "knock-knock" sound was heard, and before long, a deer appeared from the darkness.

The deer had black, shiny fur with golden spots; it was heroic and upright, its gaze like a torch, and the antlers on its head were as sturdy as ebony, with a faint, brilliant light that drew everyone's attention.

It stared at Xin Yi without moving, and Xin Yi only felt as if he were being gazed at by an elder, and this elder had already seen through the darkness in his heart.

After a long while, the deer let out a long cry and actually began to speak.

"Behind this stone gate lies a purgatory, yet it is the truth you seek. But if it is opened, it will tear open a person's heart-wound, causing her heart-defenses to collapse, never to recover. Do you want to open it?"

Heart-wound? Heart-defenses? Who was it talking about?

Xin Yi was very confused, and the old deer seemed to see through his thoughts, turning to look at the White Jade Stone Gate. He saw the Curse Seal patterns on the gate twisting and changing, and after a moment, they turned into three oracle bone script characters—

Cheng Gui...

Guining!