Chapter 547: Wind Blows the Mingqiu Sand, Two Scholars in Black and White

Song Ciwan spent an hour committing the entire Fetal Breathing Saint Method to memory.

After awakening from her meditative state, she immediately selected the second strand of human desires from General Yu and traded it for cultivation time.

[You have sold human desires—the surprise, bewilderment, and confusion of a Celestial Pride Level Innate Acupoint Fusion Realm Martial Artist. Weight: one catty and one tael. You have gained one hundred and ten years of cultivation time.]

General Yu was not only at the Acupoint Fusion Realm but also a Celestial Pride Level; his human desires brought Song Ciwan a massive amount of cultivation time!

Song Ciwan entered the Cultivation Space and immediately immersed herself completely in cultivating the Fetal Breathing Saint Method.

Though only fifteen minutes passed in the outside world, a hundred years had already flown by for her within the Cultivation Space.

The Mingqiu Desert was anything but peaceful. Messages from Secret Sound Shells didn’t just fly wildly through the Ice Crystal Forest; refusing to be outdone, they zipped back and forth across the Mingqiu Desert as well.

And it wasn’t just Secret Sound Shells… Those were a communication tool unique to the Human Race. The methods used by the Demon Race were far more diverse, each unique to their own kind.

Deep within the distant sands, a sand scorpion gently twitched the tip of its tail.

The sand scorpion paused for a moment deep in the sand, then suddenly brandished its pincers and, SWISH SWISH SWISH, burrowed straight toward the surface.

Halfway there, it encountered a column of ants.

The ants and the sand scorpion met, but the usual battle between them did not break out. The sand scorpion’s tail swayed gently, the ants’ antennae twitched slightly…

Suddenly, the sand scorpion turned and burrowed back deep into the sand, toward its own colony’s nest.

The column of ants, however, suddenly scattered in all directions like loose sand. Their antennae swayed as a silent rhythm began to radiate from a central point, transmitting itself far and wide across the great desert.

This was a sound the Human Race could not hear; only certain creatures could perceive it.

Farther still, at the edge of the Mingqiu Desert, in a secret valley where it met the western Kunlun Mountain Range, two Scholars were using the valley’s creatures as game pieces in a brutal slaughter.

The Scholar in white was tall and slender, his face exquisitely beautiful, evoking the gentle caress of a spring blossom.

His waist was slender, and when the wind blew, his robes fluttered. He seemed so frail he could barely support the weight of his own clothes, making one worry that he might leave this Mortal World at any moment, riding away on the breeze.

Traces of blood stained the corners of his mouth. Against his pale lips, the blood was a stark crimson. This sharp contrast made his presence all the more intense, giving him an ineffable charm.

This was none other than Su Baiyi, renowned throughout the Nine Provinces Mortal World as the scholar who had taken third place in the imperial examination.

As the saying went: If Su Baiyi were not in the Mortal World, who then could be worthy of plucking the flowers of spring?

The imperial banquet, a triumphant ride through the Capital, the plucking of the osmanthus from the moon palace—he paraded through the streets for a day and filled the dreams of every maiden with yearning.

Such was Su Baiyi.

The other Scholar, clad in black and standing opposite him, was his complete antithesis.

This Scholar in black was tall and powerfully built, his handsome face marked by a wicked, unrestrained air, and his brows were as sharp as blades.

His robes were half-open, his firm chest spattered with dark red blood. His pectoral muscles rose and fell, their shadowed contours sharp and smooth, exuding an air of dissolute freedom that held worldly conventions in contempt.

At first glance, he was the very picture of a man handsome to the extreme, possessing a wild and arrogant bearing.

But upon closer inspection, one would discover that he might not be a Human at all.

That’s right. He was not Human.

He was clearly a demon!

This handsome male demon held a dark-red lantern in one hand. His other hand danced through the air, moving game pieces. Fine scales covered the sides of his exposed chest, partially concealed by the lapels of his robe, flashing in and out of sight.

He was the Demon Scholar, Night Traveling Lamp!

Su Baiyi and Night Traveling Lamp had been battling for over ten days, their conflict taking them from the skies to the earth, from the great Elemental Stone Ore mine to the Ice Crystal Forest, and now, to the Kunlun Mountain Range.

Su Baiyi had once torn a Golden-winged Roc apart with his bare hands, possessing a power that could seemingly annihilate all demons. With such a fearsome reputation, Night Traveling Lamp should never have confronted him so readily.

However, it was precisely because he had torn apart the Golden-winged Roc that Su Baiyi had suffered grievous internal injuries, from which he had yet to recover.

Some demons are far better at perceiving human weakness than Humans themselves.

And so, Night Traveling Lamp had come, drawn by the scent of weakness.

They had been locked in this struggle for ten days. One was determined to slay the demon but lacked the strength to do so; the other coveted his opponent’s flesh and blood but had yet to achieve his goal. Neither was willing to give up, but in truth… both were nearing their absolute limits.

If this continued, it would become a battle of pure endurance.

It was now a matter of who could seize a critical opportunity amid the torturous, drawn-out battle and kill the other with a single, decisive blow.

At this tense impasse, a message suddenly arrived from afar.

The shell of Night Traveling Lamp’s ear twitched…

At the same time, a Secret Sound Shell began to vibrate gently in Su Baiyi’s ear.

Su Baiyi flicked a game piece forward. “Knight!”

Opposite him, Night Traveling Lamp flicked a piece forward as well. “Knight!”

The two Knights collided, and a deafening BOOM suddenly erupted throughout the hidden valley.

A shrill, tragic neigh could be faintly heard. Amid the sound, Night Traveling Lamp spoke in the Great Zhou Language, “Su Baiyi, the time is not auspicious. It seems fate has decreed we cannot determine a victor tonight. Let us part ways for now! We will fight again if our paths are destined to cross…”

With that, he let out a long, drawn-out laugh, his voice carrying a distinctly demonic cadence.

Night Traveling Lamp departed into the distance. His dark-red lantern flickered in and out of view amidst the billowing dust, crossing an immeasurable distance in a single flash.

Su Baiyi didn’t pursue. He, too, had received a message compelling him to leave.

“Du Xingheng?” Su Baiyi’s voice was calm as he spoke. “I will get there as fast as I can. Please ask the Sixth Prince not to make a move. This venture is fraught with unpredictable danger, and the Dynasty cannot afford such a great expenditure of resources.”

He deactivated the Secret Sound Shell, coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, and wiped the stain from his lips. Then he took a Doubi from his waist, dipped the brush’s tip in the blood, and brandished it in the empty air, writing a single word: Light.

Moonlight streamed down from the sky, instantly piercing the dust and smoke to envelop Su Baiyi’s form.

In an instant, he vanished.

Wherever the moonlight touched, that was his path.

Su Baiyi headed toward the great sinkhole where the Ancient Divine Palace was located. He guessed that Night Traveling Lamp was also headed for the palace, unaware that the demon’s true destination was, in fact, the Mingqiu Desert.

Song Ciwan spent her one hundred and ten years of new time cultivating in the Cultivation Space. When she returned from the void to the real world, her first act was to open her Insight Technique panel and check her progress on the Fetal Breathing Saint Method.

In truth, she didn’t need to look; she already knew the result perfectly well.

She checked anyway mainly because one hundred and ten years of cultivation was an incredibly long time—so long that Song Ciwan had to do something mundane to ground herself and readjust her mindset.

Top-Tier Daoist Skill: Fetal Breathing Saint Method (Masterful Skill 2,356,419/10,000,000)

After a century of arduous cultivation, the technique had finally reached the Masterful Skill stage!

This technique was exceptionally difficult to practice. Song Ciwan was only at the Divinity Transformation Stage, yet she was forcibly cultivating the Fetal Breathing Saint Method, which required one to be at least in the Refining Spirit Realm. She could only do so by relying on her own profound foundation and powerful spirit.

Add to that one hundred and ten years of brute-force training—with that much time, even a dog tied to a post should have managed some results!

And yet Song Ciwan, who possessed a Primordial Spirit Dao Body, had still failed to cultivate the Fetal Breathing Saint Method to the highest level of Mastery.

The truth was, the further she progressed, the more the effectiveness of this brute-force cultivation diminished.

If Song Ciwan truly wanted to advance further with the Fetal Breathing Saint Method, she would need to temper it through actual combat.