"By that logic, my Second Primordial Spirit counts as a demon too. It should be able to cultivate! All this time, I've just let it evolve on its own. Though Chi You's bloodline has nourished it, the effect becomes less obvious after using it too much. Cultivation would still be faster. I should find a cultivation art for demons sometime; cultivating my Primordial Spirit myself wouldn't be bad either," Zhou Qing thought.
After a long while, Zhou Chen opened her eyes. The white mist enveloping her body was sucked away completely. Ever since absorbing the Eight Extremes Wolf King's Inner Core, Zhou Chen's cultivation had advanced at a breathtaking pace, making even Zhou Qing nod repeatedly in approval.
"Master, you finally came out! Nothing happened, right?" The moment Zhou Chen opened her eyes and saw Zhou Qing before her, she hurriedly asked. Naturally, she was referring to the Esoteric Mantra he had suddenly uttered earlier.
"Mm... this... this. I was refining a Buddhist ritual artifact, and a small problem came up. It's resolved now; there's no issue anymore!" Even Zhou Qing found his own explanation absurd and had no idea how to steer the matter, nor did he want to drag out the topic. "Right, Chenchen! Master saw that you still don't have a magical treasure Flying Sword, so I specially refined one for you!" With a flip of his hand, a Flying Sword appeared, one and a half feet long and two fingers wide. Its entire body radiated a chilling gleam, while razor-sharp Geng Metal Qi faintly coiled and revolved around it. Zhou Chen stared blankly, knowing this Flying Sword was no ordinary item. "Master! What about you? This is your own sword!" During the struggle against the Tianxuan Blood Demon, Zhou Chen had already clearly seen what this Flying Sword looked like.
Seeing his lie exposed, Zhou Qing actually blushed a little. "This... Master has no use for it now, so I'm giving it to you. This Flying Sword was forged entirely from Prime Gold of Taiyi and is incomparably sharp. I also added Gold Spirit Talismans to it. Though it does not have as many functions as other Flying Swords, in terms of sheer sharpness, there are few under heaven that can compare. Its essence is especially pure, which will be of great benefit to your cultivation." He took a book from his robes and handed it to Zhou Chen along with the Flying Sword. "This is Shu Mountain's Soaring Sword Qi Art. I don't know whether your Demon Race can cultivate it, but since Xiao Jin can, you should be able to as well."
"Tsk, tsk! Sister, your master treats you quite well!" Little Fox had awakened and walked before Zhou Qing. Tilting her head up, she scrutinized him closely. "Why are you so young? You don't look like a master at all!"
"Then what do I look like, Little Fox?" Seeing how adorable she was, Zhou Qing could not help teasing her.
"How annoying. Don't call me Little Fox. Sister gave me a name already—I'm Zhou Can." As she spoke, Little Fox held out her hand. Zhou Qing froze. "What is this for?" "A meeting gift! You gave one to Sister just now, so I want one too."
"Can Can! Don't make trouble. Your cultivation is still shallow. Master's magical treasures are immensely powerful; you can't use them at all. Once your cultivation is higher, Master will naturally give you one." Seeing Zhou Qing's face darken, Zhou Chen hurriedly stepped forward and slapped Little Fox's hand down.
Who would have thought that Liao Xiaojin would lean in and say, "Can Can! It's fine. Master is the most generous person there is. He'll definitely give you one."
Zhou Qing suddenly felt his teeth itch. I only have a few things worth showing off in total. Are you trying to empty out my entire fortune? But prodded by Liao Xiaojin's words, Zhou Qing also felt that he could not lose face before a little girl. Gritting his teeth, he abruptly pulled a three-inch-square iron seal from his robes.
Liao Xiaojin's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Master, are you really giving her that?" Liao Xiaojin had long coveted Zhou Qing's Heavenly Seal. Not for any other reason—just the sheer imposing force of smashing someone with an iron block several yards wide made him feel exhilarated just thinking about it.
If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have provoked Master into taking out a magical treasure. Damn it, while it was in Master's hands, I might still have had a chance to get it. Now that it's fallen into Little Fox's hands, how can I possibly have the nerve to ask for it? Liao Xiaojin regretted it beyond measure; his intestines probably turned green with remorse.
"This seal is called Heaven-Turning. I made it in imitation of the ancient exotic treasure, the Heaven-Turning Seal. It is quite good for both defense and attack!" With a flick of Zhou Qing's hand, the three-inch seal expanded to more than a yard in size. Blue light swirled around its entire body, talismans appearing and vanishing. Little Fox's eyes were filled with stars.
Zhou Chen hurriedly thanked Zhou Qing on Little Fox's behalf. "Master, when it comes to refining artifacts, there are several experts among our people as well. We simply lack good materials. Even slightly better heavenly treasures and earthly gems are monopolized by those sects now. Demons with weak powers like us have no way to obtain them at all. Otherwise, our clan would not have been annihilated by the Blood Demon." Zhou Chen spoke through gritted teeth.
"Mm! But that Blood Demon is no simple creature. A demon formed from a thousand years of filthy blood that absorbed the deathly Baleful Intent beneath the earth—his cultivation art is vicious beyond compare. Even I am not confident of dealing with him. Seeking revenge will be very difficult for you!" Hearing Zhou Qing's words, Zhou Chen's expression turned grave. Even Little Fox fell silent.
In the Western Regions stood a mountain range stretching for thousands of miles. If one looked down from ten thousand zhang in the sky, one would discover that the range resembled an enormous dragon. Its dragon head faced the lands of the Central Plains, streams of five-colored clouds spraying from its mouth and descending upon the Central Plains before vanishing without a trace.
Kunlun Mountain—the Kunlun Mountain hailed as the foremost divine mountain of antiquity. The great ancient sage Primal Celestial Venerable had established his Daoist grounds here, founded the School of Enlightenment, and commanded the immortals. Countless myths and legends had been passed down from it. Upon the giant dragon's brow, an enormous Daoist temple flickered in and out of sight, as though it existed within a painting, impossible to see clearly. Several Daoist temples of varying sizes also stood atop the surrounding verdant peaks. Stranger still, Kunlun Mountain's terrain was extremely high, so its snow never melted throughout the year. Countless peaks towering into the clouds lay blanketed in white snow. Yet these few peaks were bursting with spring, without the slightest trace of snow.
If one entered the valley encircled by those verdant peaks and looked up, one would discover rolling white clouds beneath the enormous Daoist temple. It actually seemed to float in the air. A staircase seemingly formed of white clouds stretched endlessly into the distance, leading toward that great Daoist temple suspended at least several hundred zhang above the ground. The temple itself was strange as well, built wholly from massive blocks of white jade. It was entirely unlike an ordinary Daoist temple and instead carried something of the air of a palace.
The valley surrounded by those verdant peaks was exceedingly vast. A rich medicinal fragrance assailed the nose, wafting from several medicinal fields in the valley, each covering at least several hundred mu and planted entirely with rare medicinal herbs. Seven-colored streams of light flickered within the fields, clearly indicating that some heavenly treasure or earthly gem was about to mature. Countless palm-sized, five-colored butterflies danced around those seven-colored lights, yet no one tended the fields. The enormous ginseng, poria, purple lingzhi, and fiery-red vermilion fruits planted there were all rare and extraordinary medicinal herbs seldom seen in the world. Around the medicinal fields, spiritual qi so dense it was almost tangible churned constantly, pouring ceaselessly into the fields for the rare herbs to absorb and grow.
Above the medicinal fields, countless white cranes flew back and forth through the air around the Daoist temple, their clear cries spreading from time to time. Above the main gate of the white-jade Daoist temple floating several hundred zhang in the sky hung an enormous plaque carved from white jade, at least several dozen zhang wide. Three ancient, bucket-sized golden characters had been written upon it in some unknown substance. Any expert versed in ancient script would know that, translated into modern writing, those three characters read: Jade Void Palace.
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