Li Che finished speaking, patted Meng Qi’s shoulder, and seeing her tightly furrowed brows, he couldn’t help but chuckle, “Meng Qiqi, be decisive.”
“It’s settled then,” he continued, “Now let’s talk about something else. If Yan Xuan’s spiritual sea can be successfully repaired, what do you plan to do about the inner core?”
Meng Qi hesitated, remaining silent.
“The Netherworld Thorn and Stardust Stone,” Li Che said again, “We have both of these now; this is an opportunity, Meng Qiqi.” His tone grew excited. For a medical cultivator, encountering a situation as complex as Yan Xuan’s and having the chance to heal him was definitely something to look forward to.
“First, let’s figure out how to get the Netherworld Thorn,” Meng Qi said after a moment of contemplation. She reached into her storage pouch, her silver knife gripped horizontally in her other hand.
“Do you have a plan?” Li Che asked curiously, following her closely to see what she was about to do.
“Yes. Let’s give it a try,” she said, bending down to start drawing on the ground.
…
“Hehehe,” the black-robed sword cultivator on the cliff’s edge suddenly brightened up and said, “She’s planning to use an array.”
“Hmm…” The red-clad woman quickly walked over to join him, looking out toward the direction where Meng Qi and Li Che were. The mountain wind blew, and she tucked a strand of wind-blown hair behind her ear, her lips curving into a slight smile.
“I’m not surprised she got the idea of using an array,” the black-robed sword cultivator curled one leg up, his lazy smile deepening, “After all, she did study under a talented master and has a natural talent for this field.”
“But unfortunately…” He shook his head, sounding regretful, though the smile on his face didn’t fade, and there was even a glint of coldness in his eyes, “Unfortunately, her cultivation level is too low. To control an array with such precision and subtlety, her spiritual sense and cultivation aren’t up to it.”
“Heh.” The white-haired man suddenly let out a sneer.
“What are you laughing at?” The black-robed sword cultivator glanced at him, clearly displeased. “Am I wrong? If she were at least at the Spirit Severing stage, there might be a slim chance. But she’s just a Nascent Soul cultivator… Even if her spiritual sense is strong, what difference does it make?”
The black-robed sword cultivator smirked with schadenfreude, “Do you think she can split herself in two, one half controlling the array and the other healing?”
“There are several major cultivation paths. When it comes to combat prowess, sword cultivation, array cultivation, and spell cultivation are naturally superior to medical cultivation.” The white-haired man said calmly, “But don’t forget that we medical cultivators have always been outstanding when it comes to spiritual consciousness.”
“And what of it? She’s just a Nascent Soul cultivator. No matter how strong her spiritual consciousness is, can she split it like a Spirit Severing cultivator?”
“Besides, while it’s true that medical cultivators have stronger spiritual consciousness than others, it’s not enough to erase the gap of power between Nascent Soul and Spirit Severing.”
“They won’t dare touch the Netherworld Thorn, so they’ll have to use the array to control a puppet to pluck it. However, the Netherworld Thorn withers and loses its potency quickly after being plucked. And then there’s the Stardust Stone.” The black-robed sword cultivator’s smile grew even more malicious as he left his leg dangling over the cliff, swaying in the wind. His robe fluttered in the breeze as he continued, “Do you think her spiritual sense is strong enough to split again and control another puppet to fetch the Stardust Stone?”
“That’s the Nether River!” The black-robed sword cultivator leaned back, resting his hands behind his head as he looked up at the white-haired man, concluding, “Her cultivation is too low, what a pity.” He went on, “If she were at least at the Spirit Severing stage, she could split her spiritual consciousness into many parts—one to retrieve the Netherworld Thorn, one to fetch the Stardust Stone, and one to heal Yan Xuan… That would indeed make an interesting scene. But alas, it’s a pity…”
He sat with his leg swinging at the edge of the cliff, his eyes narrowing with a smug, malicious grin, “It’s a pity she’s just a weak Nascent Soul.”
“Hmph.” The white-haired man snorted, not bothering to argue further with this pointless endeavor. He, like the red-clad woman who had been silent the entire time, kept his gaze fixed on the distant figures. After a long while, the white-haired man finally spoke softly, “You don’t understand.” His tone became somber, “Didn’t we all think, back then, that Xiao Yan couldn’t do it either?”
At first, the black-robed sword cultivator was ready to retort, but the mention of ‘Xiao Yan’ made him close his mouth again. He let out a small, discontented grunt, clearly still somewhat dissatisfied with the white-haired man, but this time, he said nothing.
“Enough,” the only female cultivator among the trio glared. “Stop arguing. We’ve been trapped here for so many years, and we can only learn about the outside world through the cultivators who enter once every ten years. More than ten thousand years have passed, and the outside world has undergone drastic changes. But aside from that…”
The red-robed woman paused for a moment, then continued slowly, “Have you ever seen anyone as powerful or as talented as the current Demon Monarch?”
The black-robed sword cultivator seemed on the verge of another argument. His mouth opened, but he quickly shut it again. In a display of discontent, he harrumphed and swung his leg back and forth over the cliff, with his other leg lazily bent. After a long silence, he spoke again, “You’re so strange. So what if ten thousand years have passed? Haven’t we noticed the decline in aura across the Three Realms for thousands of years now? If that Demon Monarch had been born ten thousand years ago, then he would have been a true genius, one whose name could have spread across the Three Realms, perhaps just one step away from a true ascension.”
“The Three Realms will always produce geniuses,” the red-robed female cultivator said with certainty.
“Then tell me what still remains of the great legacies of the Three Realms?” the black-robed sword cultivator countered, unwilling to concede. “You’ve seen it too. Over the last ten thousand years, the cultivators entering the Ten Absolute Mountains have been increasingly disappointing. In the beginning, there were still those who could surprise us; nine thousand years ago, a few talents emerged that caught my eye. Even seven thousand years ago, there were occasionally some outstanding youths…”
At this point, the black-robed sword cultivator suddenly sneered, “And that was the last. After that, all we have been seeing is just one round after another of increasingly ruthless scheming and deceit. Because no one could remember what happened here after leaving, those so-called young geniuses act with even more abandon. The path toward the Dao is arduous, and yet they lost their original intentions from the start. With a heart clouded by greed, the Dao heart becomes weak, tarnished, and eventually lost…” His voice grew quieter, and even the lazy smile that had lingered on his lips faded away.
The mountain wind howled, ruffling the black-robed sword cultivator’s hair and seeming to carry away his voice as well. After a long pause, he slowly said, “Year after year, time after time, and now…”
He turned to look at the red-robed female cultivator and the white-haired medical cultivator, saying, “I don’t even know what we’re waiting for here, what we’re hoping for. All of us know very well that these guys are supposed to be the best talents selected from Three Thousand Worlds leading sects.”
Before the red-robed female cultivator could respond, he quickly added, “That Demon Monarch is indeed a genius, and the competition for the Demon Monarch’s Order was more exciting than anything in the past few thousand years. But so what?”
“Don’t forget…” The white-haired man, who had been mostly silent, suddenly opened his mouth, “This is the third time in tens of thousands of years that the Seven Emotions Array has appeared.”
He paused, then slowly continued, “The first two times were in ancient times. After the ancient legacies were severed, this is the first instance the Seven Emotions Array has reopened.”
< Previous | TOC | Advanced TOC | Next >
Wants more chapters?
Click this page for the status of sponsored chapters.
Click this page for advanced chapters TOC.