Chapter 146 - 139: Difference

Chapter 146: Chapter 139: Difference

Elder Qing withdrew his finger and praised, "Such a complete mark. Such perseverance and spiritual resonance. You are truly worthy of being called a genius."

Hearing this, a hint of smugness flickered in Lan Cai Shen’s eyes.

The Cultivators of the Beast Soul and Blood Fusion lineages also looked at the young man before them with curiosity.

Elder Qing smiled and asked, "What is your name?"

"To answer the Elder, this disciple is named Li Changsheng."

"Good!" Elder Qing nodded with a smile.

With a gentle wave of his hand, wisps of pale cyan breeze surged and converged into Li Changsheng’s body.

A loud BUZZ rang through Li Changsheng’s head.

He felt as if his entire body was suspended high in the sky. As the wisps of breeze poured into him, they brought a transparent, purifying sensation from the inside out. It was extremely comfortable.

A moment later, the clear breeze slowly condensed into a crescent mark the size of a baby’s fist on his arm, which then faded into his skin and disappeared.

When Li Changsheng regained his senses, Elder Qing frowned and said, "Why are you practicing such an inferior Cultivation Technique? Do you not know that advancing to the Pulse Condensation realm with this will not only leave you with feeble power, but also destroy any hope of advancing to the Dao Foundation?"

Li Changsheng hurriedly replied, "To answer the Elder, this disciple has been busy with matters in the Spirit Field lately and hasn’t had the time to switch Cultivation Techniques."

Elder Qing shot a glance at Lan Cai Shen and let out a cold snort. He then turned back to Li Changsheng and spoke softly, "Cultivating Spirit Plants is not achieved overnight. Do not get your priorities twisted and put the cart before the horse." He paused before asking, "What Cultivation Technique do you plan to switch to?"

"To answer the Elder, it is the Blood River Refining Yang True Skill," Li Changsheng replied respectfully.

Elder Qing’s eyes lit up slightly. He stroked his beard and smiled. "Ah, that manual. Not bad, it is quite suitable for you.

"However, your priority right now is to switch Cultivation Techniques. Just take a more casual approach to planting the Spirit Plants; don’t take it too seriously."

"Yes, this disciple thanks the Elder." Li Changsheng could feel the goodwill in Elder Qing’s words and accepted respectfully.

Off to the side, Lan Cai Shen’s forehead was drenched in cold sweat. His earlier smugness was completely gone.

Elder Qing nodded with a smile, shot another glance at Lan Cai Shen, and walked up to a Demon Hunting Corps Cultivator, placing a hand on his head.

Just as the crowd wondered what Elder Qing was about to do, a HUM echoed. A faint screen of light, condensed from Spiritual Power, floated above the Cultivator’s head.

A chaotic flurry of images flashed by rapidly. A moment later, scenes appeared showing the Demon Hunting Corps battling the dark red demonic creature, Luan Jian and the others being defeated one after another, and the death of Steward Ye.

"How incredible!" Li Changsheng thought, a sense of horror welling up in his heart as he watched the light screen. Elder Qing’s methods were nothing short of miraculous; with this Magic, how could anyone keep a secret?

Meanwhile, the Cultivator subjected to the Magic gradually grew listless and soon fainted.

Elder Qing probed several people in a row. Finding that their memories were largely identical, he waved his hand, releasing the Spiritual Power seals within their bodies. He then fed a few pills to the unconscious Cultivator.

The Cultivators of the Demon Hunting Corps all looked anxious, unsure of how Elder Qing would deal with them.

The sect provided for their cultivation, which meant they had essentially sold their lives to the sect. When the Power Demon Sect breached the Spiritual Land, they had seen things going south and fled. The matter wasn’t necessarily massive, but it certainly wasn’t small either. Everything depended on how Elder Qing viewed it.

After pondering for a few breaths, Elder Qing shook his head and sighed. "Forget it. Given the situation at the time, even if you had stayed, you would have only added a few more corpses to the pile. Let’s just leave it at that."

"Thank you, Elder!" the Demon Hunting Corps Cultivators bowed and shouted, their faces revealing wild joy.

Elder Qing shook his head and looked at them. "Do any of you know where Tong Zuo went?"

If Tong Zuo had been overseeing the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land, it wouldn’t have been breached so easily, let alone suffered such heavy losses.

Although the final outcome was good—the Miscellaneous Peak had gained another Dao Foundation combatant, deepening their roots in the Wanzhong Mountains Range—Tong Zuo’s crimes could not be pardoned. If all Cultivators acted like him, the Cyan Yang Sect would have perished long ago, and the Miscellaneous Peak would have been trampled flat.

Below him, the members of the Demon Hunting Corps exchanged glances. No one knew where Tong Zuo had gone.

Elder Qing frowned. He turned to Lan Cai Shen and said, "The Demon Hunting Corps is temporarily abolished. Return to the Miscellaneous Peak and have Luo Fang bring the Patrol Guard over. Also, summon a few Spirit Field Stewards."

"Yes, Elder," Lan Cai Shen agreed respectfully.

"Oh, right. I heard you’re looking for a mutated spiritual mechanism for Li Changsheng’s Pulse Condensation?" Elder Qing asked again.

"Yes, Elder," Lan Cai Shen replied respectfully, not knowing why Elder Qing was asking this.

Elder Qing nodded slightly. "I will temporarily oversee the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land. For now, you will be responsible for rebuilding the Demon Hunting Corps and searching for the mutated spiritual mechanism.

"You may return to the Spiritual Land once you have found the spiritual mechanism."

"I..." Lan Cai Shen didn’t want to give up the Spiritual Land. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Elder Qing’s voice suddenly rang in his mind.

"I granted you three years of the Spirit Field, but not for you to work Li Changsheng like a beast of burden.

"He will be of great use in the future... Do you understand?"

Lan Cai Shen snapped back to his senses. Upon seeing Elder Qing’s half-smiling face, he hurriedly cupped his hands and agreed.

Then, he cupped his hands toward Li Changsheng, took out his jade boat, and departed the Spiritual Land, carrying the members of the Demon Hunting Corps along with the Cultivators of the Beast Soul and Blood Fusion lineages.

Elder Qing gave him a slight nod before his figure transformed into a gust of clear breeze and disappeared.

Li Changsheng looked around. There were only a few people left beside him. Xu Li, Dong Yao, and Wu Yong were staring at him with eager eyes.

Li Changsheng hesitated before asking, "Would you like to come to my place for a bit?"

"Sure!" The three nodded in agreement without the slightest hesitation.

Are you kidding? If they didn’t latch onto such a massive pillar of support, they would truly be missing a few marbles.

Soon, the group set off together toward Ten Thousand Serpent Lake.

Upon arriving at the island, Li Changsheng summoned Xiaohua, lifted the two little girls onto its back, and headed toward the mountain peak. As he looked around along the way, Li Changsheng’s heart sank slightly.

Just within his line of sight, five Tier Two Spirit Fields had been reduced to wasteland. What about the peak?

At this thought, his pace quickened. When he reached the summit, his eyes revealed pleasant surprise. To his astonishment, not a single piece of the Spirit Field on the mountaintop had been ruined.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Li Changsheng chatted cheerfully with the three as they walked toward the small courtyard in the center of the peak.

Upon returning to the courtyard, frantic cries echoed from the beast pens.

"BAA! BAA!"

"AWOO!"

The snow sheep were bleating urgently, and even the Red Foxes—who rarely made a sound—were howling along. Every now and then, there were THUDS of impact. Only then did Li Changsheng remember that the snow sheep and the Red Foxes had been starving for two days.

"Make yourselves at home. Go inside and have a seat first," he said to his guests. After waving his hand to release Big Flower, Little Xiaohua, and the cubs, he hurriedly walked to the kitchen.

Under the peculiar gazes of the three, he emerged again, carrying a Bone-Chopping Knife.

"Don’t just stand there in the courtyard, go inside and sit," Li Changsheng called out as he walked out of the courtyard to the edge of the mountaintop.

With a slight shift of his thoughts, a BUZZ sounded in the air. A swarm of insects materialized and, led by Big Bro and Little Bro, charged into the surrounding grass. Li Changsheng waited for a moment, then bent down to cut the ubiquitous stink fern.

In no time at all, he had harvested a large armful. Gathering the stink ferns, Li Changsheng turned and went back into the courtyard, immediately burying himself in the kitchen.

An hour later, having finished feeding the Spirit Beasts, Li Changsheng breathed a sigh of relief.

He used his Spirit Binder ability to have the insect swarm pick some melons and fruits, chilled them with a Frost Condensation Magic, and carried them out of the kitchen. Just as he reached the door, he heard crisp laughter coming from inside.

Li Changsheng paused for a moment before entering the room with a chuckle. "What are you all so happy about?"