Old People Really Do Become Forgetful. Bai Qiuran felt a pang of regret, but the pills had already been made, and there was no way to extract the ingredients from them now. He could only burn them up with a burst of spiritual fire. "What are you talking about? Apart from reaching Foundation Establishment, what other purpose could I possibly have in this life? I..." Seeing Fu Qianqiu shake his head, Bai Qiuran continued, "Are you clearheaded now?" Bai Qiuran's gaze swept over Tang Ruowei's chest, then he clasped his hands and asked, "Miss Tang, have you ever learned a technique called the Fortune Body Forging Technique? I created it long ago with an old friend of mine. He's no longer alive, so I wanted to ask on his behalf." Though Imperial Advisor Fu Qianqiu had reached the Foundation Establishment Stage, after seeing the destruction left behind at the Imperial Mausoleum, he didn't dare slight Bai Qiuran, despite Bai being only at the Qi Refining Stage. He answered Bai Qiuran's question with great deference. "Is this jade pendant something left behind by the Qingming disciple who taught you that technique?" "I don't know about anyone else, but I drink for the mood." Tang Ruowei stuck out her little tongue and fanned herself with one hand. Bai Qiuran asked. "It's passed." "Bai Qiuran!" Countless Underworld Emissaries and ghost soldiers suddenly emerged from the ground around them, their cultivation ranging from the Spirit Severing Stage to the Great Ascension Stage. Led by Xue Ling, they surrounded Bai Qiuran. Perhaps because she was a little drunk, Tang Ruowei slurred her words. "Emissary Xue." "Today, I'm definitely bringing you to justice!" "Anything at all?" Bai Qiuran couldn't make sense of it, so he could only shake his head and sigh. "Bai Qiuran, have you forgotten something?" Bai Qiuran set down his wine cup. "I suppose so." "Anything at all." "There's one more thing." Fu Qianqiu replied. Tang Ruowei looked thoughtful. Bai Qiuran asked in confusion, "Then what's with Your Highness the Princess's secondary sex characteristics changing so unpredictably?" "All right, I'll be off now. Since you've learned the Azure Nether Sword Sect's techniques, you can be considered half a member of the sect. I'll accept you as his nominal disciple on his behalf. Remember to assist the Shangxuan Emperor and uphold the righteous path." "How does it look?" "The Fortune Body Forging Technique?" The Grand Princess had the bold, heroic bearing of a woman who could hold her own against any man. She drained her cup of wine in one go, then immediately choked on the strong liquor and began coughing. "Um... what was my life expectancy again?" Xue Ling said coldly, "You came down the mountain this time. Apart from reaching Foundation Establishment, what other purpose did you have?" "But now, Miss Tang, your opinion of Cultivators and the Azure Nether Sword Sect should have changed, right?" Bai Qiuran smiled. "After all, they're people who cultivated their way up. It's only natural for them to have these flaws." "Huh?" Xue Ling sneered and swung the Soul Reaping Chain in her hand. Bai Qiuran wasn't afraid of her, but he didn't want to get entangled with a young woman either. So, leaving even his horse behind, he ran off. By now, he was several hundred miles beyond the borders of the Shangxuan Kingdom. "What a waste..." Bai Qiuran stepped back with a grave expression. "Xue Ling, you and I have known each other for two thousand years. How about putting it on my tab for now?" "Hey, Dao Heart Seeding Demon. So that incomplete scroll did have more than just shallow stuff in it." "Mm." He came to sit opposite Tang Ruowei. A maid led his horse away, and the two sat facing each other. The Grand Princess of the Shangxuan Kingdom had changed into women's clothes, revealing a beauty that could make fish sink and geese fall. She poured him a brimming cup of wine, still carrying herself as she had when she'd disguised herself as a man. "W-what's that? I never learned it." "Huh?" "A woman's heart really is like a needle at the bottom of the sea." This kind of jade pendant was like an identity card for the Azure Nether Sword Sect. Bai Qiuran had one himself, and it recorded the holder's information and permissions. Judging by the style of this pendant, its owner must have been a first-generation inner sect disciple of the Azure Nether Sword Sect. Two hundred years ago, when they went down the mountain to travel, some of them indeed never returned. Fu Qianqiu thought with a dazed look, then suddenly understood. "Right! The pills I made! I've never learned how, and I've never even seen them before. Why did I make those pills?" Fu Qianqiu was mortified. "This disciple will remember." "Well, this is indeed true." Walking along the official road, Bai Qiuran was puzzled. Tang Ruowei had suddenly attacked him like a madwoman, shrieking at the top of her lungs as she hit him, as though he'd harassed her. Fu Qianqiu asked in confusion, "Senior, aren't you going to punish this disciple?" Bai Qiuran tucked the jade pendant into his robe. Fu Qianqiu rubbed his head, bewildered. "Right, what pills did I make again?" Bai Qiuran asked in surprise, "Why have you come to see me again today?" It seemed Tang Zhouxie had spent so long in the dark Imperial Mausoleum that his kidney energy had grown a little weak. Accompanied by two maids, the Grand Princess sat in an open space beside the road. Someone had set up a sunshade there, with a table laden with fine wine and food beneath it. When she saw Bai Qiuran riding toward her at an easy pace, Tang Ruowei gave him a radiant smile and called out, "I knew you'd ride here... Bai Qiuran, this time I'm treating you. Get down and have a drink with me?" "Yes. I was just a farmer working the fields in the western borderlands of the Shangxuan Kingdom. Because I gave my late master shelter for one night, he bestowed the technique upon me." "I'll ask you once more: you extorted the people's hard-earned wealth to make pills for the Shangxuan Emperor. What pills did you make?" When he arrived, Bai Qiuran suddenly sensed an intensely cold yin aura shrouding the area. Surprised, he looked toward its source and saw Xue Ling standing there, her face pale as she stared at him. "I'll take this jade pendant. The technique he passed on to you is the most orthodox technique of my Azure Nether Sword Sect. Practice it well. With your aptitude, it's possible you'll reach the Golden Core Stage within your lifetime." "Clearheaded? Clearheaded about what?" "At least there are still people like you among the Cultivators." Tang Ruowei nodded. "But what pills did you make?" "What pills?" Afterward, the two drank cup after cup, their cups clinking as they finished the entire table of food and wine, thoroughly enjoying themselves. In the capital of the Shangxuan Kingdom, inside the Imperial Advisor's residence, Bai Qiuran sat in the place of honor, looking at a jade pendant in his hand. Seeing her like this, Bai Qiuran smiled and drained his own cup as well. Bai Qiuran crooked a finger at him. "Hand it over. Let me take a look." At last, the Grand Princess, her cheeks flushed with tipsy warmth, let out a fragrant breath and asked with a smile, "Bai Qiuran, as a parting gift, I can let you ask me one last question." ... Tang Ruowei nodded firmly. Tang Ruowei lifted her wine cup and said, "I know there's nothing in the Shangxuan Kingdom that can catch your eye, so this cup is a token of my gratitude. I drink to you!" "Then..." "Every group is the same; there are good and bad in all of them. Even the Righteous Path Alliance, the foremost orthodox sect under heaven, has hypocrites who deceive their superiors and those below them every so often. And even in the Heavenly Demon Sect, the largest branch of the Demonic Path, a straight-laced demon or two occasionally appears." "Where are the pills you made?" After taking care of the last of the matters at the Imperial Advisor's residence, Bai Qiuran left and began the journey back to the mountain. Riding a horse, Bai Qiuran slowly made his way to the outskirts of the Shangxuan Kingdom's capital. By the roadside, he saw Tang Ruowei in a goose-yellow dress. Bai Qiuran spoke, but as he went on, his voice suddenly dwindled and cold sweat trickled down his forehead. The Soul Reaping Emissary, who had been bound to Bai Qiuran by two thousand years of entanglement, flung out her chain, which spread into a huge net that blotted out the sky. "You're leaving. I won't try to stop you, but as the princess, I have to thank you for everything you've done for the people of the Shangxuan Kingdom." ... Dao Heart Seeding Demon was an advanced spiritual technique used by Demonic Cultivators. It had been created two thousand years ago by a peerless Demonic Path patriarch of the Yin Ling Sect. Unlike other techniques, which relied on cultivation and Spiritual Sense to forcibly crush a person's consciousness and control them, this one didn't take over the target's consciousness. Instead, it subtly changed their beliefs, guiding them step by step to do what the caster wanted. Fu Qianqiu brought Bai Qiuran the pills. Bai Qiuran opened the container and saw that they had indeed been made using the few ingredients he was missing. They were common pills that Demonic Cultivators often used to aid their training, and some of them even strengthened Primal Yang. Riding a horse, Bai Qiuran slowly reached the outskirts of the Shangxuan Kingdom's capital, then spotted Tang Ruowei in a goose-yellow dress by the roadside. Bai Qiuran stared at him for several seconds, then suddenly raised a hand and slapped him twice. After putting the jade pendant into his Storage Bag, Bai Qiuran continued, "On my way down the mountain, I heard that you urged the Shangxuan Emperor to levy heavy taxes on the people of the Shangxuan Kingdom, then used the money to make pills. Is that true?" Xue Ling smiled. "I don't understand why you like drinking this stuff." The sound of her voice faded, and Bai Qiuran suddenly sensed the slightly tipsy young woman across from him unleash a murderous aura and pressure that made even him secretly uneasy. "Cough, cough." After the two slaps, Fu Qianqiu was dizzy and seeing stars. But he assumed Bai Qiuran was punishing him for extorting the people to make pills, so he didn't dare resist. "You practice the righteous path, so aside from taking pills when you're breaking through, don't take them to boost your cultivation at other times, understand? It'll destabilize your realm." Then he heard that the Azure Nether Sword Sect had a personal disciple of the Qingming Immortal who had been stuck at the bottleneck of the Qi Refining Stage for over a thousand years. And after that, there was no more... ... As the saying went, it took three years to learn good habits and only three days to learn bad ones. Back then, that Demonic Path patriarch had used this technique to guide many cultivators stuck at bottlenecks into the Demonic Path, making him the talk of the Demonic Cultivator world for a time. Bai Qiuran asked. "At the very moment you were drinking and eating with that woman." Bai Qiuran taught him a lesson in an offhand tone, then asked, "And what pills did you make?" He always felt as though he'd forgotten something, but couldn't remember what. In the end, he put the matter aside and focused on the road.
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