Second Primordial Spirit

"Disciple, you scared her!" Zhou Qing said with a grin. "That makes no sense! I'm so handsome and dashing, so refined and graceful—how could I scare anyone? Master, do you think her brain got eaten by bugs?" Having just been startled by the girl himself, Liao Xiaojin viciously mocked her.

"Your brain got eaten by bugs!" Ling Ruoshui huffed angrily. No one had ever dared speak to her like that in all her life. Without even asking how she had ended up here, she immediately snapped back at Liao Xiaojin.

"This young lady, my disciple was joking! Don't take offense, don't take offense!" Zhou Qing's half-classical, half-bastardized speech suddenly rang in her ears, and Ling Ruoshui's mind went blank. She seemed to remember going shopping with her close friends from school when several men in black suddenly sprang out near the campus. A young man in a white suit had flung a streak of golden light at her, and then she knew nothing. Hearing the words "young lady" and "disciple," Ling Ruoshui was greatly alarmed. "Could it be that I traveled through time and came to ancient times?"

Ling Ruoshui hurriedly looked around, only to see the mountain of banknotes piled on the bed where she had been lying. U.S. dollars—yes, U.S. dollars. Though Ling Ruoshui had been born into a wealthy family, even she rarely saw so many dollars stacked together. "Thank goodness! I'm still in modern times. How could ancient times have U.S. dollars?" As she spoke, she patted her chest. Her cherry lips parted slightly, and a faint flush appeared on her pure, lovely face. She was indescribably adorable.

Liao Xiaojin's eyes went rather straight. "Ahem! Ahem!" Zhou Qing coughed dryly several times before pulling Liao Xiaojin back from his wandering-soul state. Only then did Ling Ruoshui notice Liao Xiaojin and Zhou Qing beside the bed. She quickly asked, "Where is this? How did I get here? And who are you?" Liao Xiaojin said, "At the airport, we saw that you'd been hit by the evil arts of those Japanese devils, so we saved you. This is Las Vegas in the United States. As for us, this is my master, Zhou Zhenren, sect master of the Heavenly Dao Sect. I am Liao Xiaojin, the chief disciple of the Heavenly Dao Sect." Liao Xiaojin spilled all their secrets, while not forgetting to take a hard jab at Zhou Qing.

"Pfft!" Ling Ruoshui laughed. No matter how she looked at Zhou Qing and Liao Xiaojin, they were just two young men. "Heavenly Dao Sect? Zhou Zhenren? Hehe, are you filming a wuxia movie?" She then stood and extended her right hand. "My name is Ling Ruoshui. Thank you for saving me!" As expected of a young lady from a great family, Zhou Qing silently nodded. This girl's background is not simple. He stepped forward, slapped away Liao Xiaojin's outstretched hand, and lightly shook Ling Ruoshui's. Her hand was bonelessly soft, fragrant, smooth, and supple against his palm, yet Zhou Qing was utterly unmoved. He withdrew his hand with great ease and said, "Don't listen to his nonsense. He was joking. We came to Las Vegas for sightseeing, saw that something was wrong with you, and saved you. There is no need to take it to heart." A flash of surprise crossed Ling Ruoshui's eyes. She had met countless men, and most had been bewitched out of their wits by her. Why did this one seem not to care in the slightest? For the first time, Ling Ruoshui began to doubt her own charm.

What she did not know was that Zhou Qing had cultivated the Dao for five years. Though he had no famous master to guide him or spiritual medicines to support him, so his cultivation had progressed little, he specialized in talismans and formations, communicating with heaven, earth, and the universe. He emphasized using his own heart to commune with the heart of Heaven and wielding the power of heaven and earth. His heart might not have been as still as an ancient well or as unstained as a bright mirror, but he had long since mastered control over it. Let alone Ling Ruoshui, even someone ten times more beautiful could not have shaken his mind. Just consider how immense the power of heaven and earth was, how profound and boundless its spirit. Without a steadfast heart to control it, one would have long since lost oneself. And the consequence of losing oneself was being blasted into dust by the immense force of heaven and earth, leaving not even a soul behind. In the history of cultivation, there had been quite a few cases of people suffering backlash from the grand formations they themselves had set.

"Mm. 'The highest goodness is like water. Water benefits all things without contention, dwelling where all men despise; thus it is close to the Dao.' Miss Ling, what a fine name." Zhou Qing nodded. Seeing that Zhou Qing was only a few years older than her yet put on the air of an old pedant, Ling Ruoshui laughed again, like a hundred flowers blooming together, dazzling and radiant. "All right! Stop calling me Miss Ling this and Miss Ling that. Just call me Ruo Shui!" For some reason, Ling Ruoshui was in an exceptionally good mood. Ordinarily, she never spared the young men around her even a pleasant word, yet today she had actually taken the initiative to tell him what to call her. Even she found it a little surprising.

"Hey, Ruo Shui! Do you know why those devils wanted to kidnap you?" Liao Xiaojin immediately struck while the iron was hot. Ling Ruoshui did not dislike this handsome young man either. "I don't know. My family's business is rather large, and my father assigned bodyguards to protect me. Maybe they're enemies from my father's business," Ling Ruoshui told Liao Xiaojin.

"It definitely isn't as simple as business rivals. They even mobilized people from Japan's Nine Chrysanthemum Sect and Shadow Stream Faction. Especially that Grand Elder—his methods were quite formidable. Even in China's Daoist Sect, he would not have been an unknown figure. If he had not fallen into the grand formation I laid in ambush, I might not have been able to deal with him. But this girl does not look as though she is lying. What exactly is the truth?" Zhou Qing was somewhat puzzled. Whatever. As long as it has nothing to do with me, whether a horse beats a cow to death or a cow beats a horse to death, as long as it does not disturb my peace, why should I care?

"Miss Ruo Shui, now that you are awake, call your parents so they do not worry. They can come pick you up as well." Zhou Qing knew the matter was not simple and wanted to shake off this trouble as quickly as possible.

"I won't! My dad and mom are always keeping me locked up at home. I'm not even free to go to school, and my older brothers keep saying it's dangerous outside. I finally managed to get out this time. I'm not going back so soon! You two big brothers are here sightseeing anyway, and I want to play for a few days too. How about you accompany me?" "Sure, sure! We have nothing to do anyway!" Just as Zhou Qing was about to refuse, Liao Xiaojin rushed to answer first, leaving Zhou Qing speechless.

Zhou Qing secretly shot Liao Xiaojin a vicious glare, then made plans of his own. "Fine. It's getting rather late now. Xiao Jin, go get another room for Miss Ruo Shui."

Nothing happened that night. Early the next morning, Ling Ruoshui came running over and knocked on the door. When Liao Xiaojin opened it, she saw Zhou Qing sitting cross-legged on the bed. "Ah! You really know kung fu! You don't even need to sleep, just like my dad and my eldest and second brothers. Can you teach me kung fu? I've wanted to learn for ages! The taekwondo and karate clubs at school are so impressive, but my dad won't let me learn."

Ling Ruoshui clung tightly to Liao Xiaojin. Liao Xiaojin nodded again and again, and it was no wonder. Ling Ruoshui possessed an innate charm. Liao Xiaojin was originally of the Vampire Clan, and his inner demons were heavier than those of ordinary people. Although he cultivated Daoist arts, he had done so for only a short time. If not for his feelings for Jenny, he would long since have been bewitched out of his wits.

"Hurry up! I haven't been to the United States in ages, and I've never visited Las Vegas! You're really rich. Caesar's Palace isn't somewhere ordinary people can stay!" Ling Ruoshui urged Zhou Qing, who was unhurriedly sorting through his things. "You have to treat me later!"

"Master! You were right after all. We really should have shaken off this trouble back then!" Liao Xiaojin carried bags over his shoulders and in his hands, holding who knew how many packages of clothes and food. Even with his powerful physique, he was panting heavily. "This woman has shopped from dawn to noon, and from noon until now. How does she still have such energy? I think she's almost comparable to that Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal you mentioned."

Zhou Qing was carrying no fewer things than Liao Xiaojin. Hearing him speak, he could not help giving a bitter smile. "This little wench spent over a hundred thousand of my money in one day. Does her family run a bank or something? Good thing she has not gambled yet. Luckily, we made a windfall, or she would have cleaned us out. I'm done with this. Tomorrow she's your responsibility. I need to enter seclusion to refine a magic treasure. My flying sword needs to be reforged too." Liao Xiaojin was just about to cry out in misery when Ling Ruoshui called from over there, "Why are you two so slow? Hurry over! They're selling good stuff here!" "Damn it, looks like this little girl is treating us as servants," Liao Xiaojin said.

The three spent the day wandering through most of Las Vegas's shopping malls. When they returned to the hotel room that evening, Liao Xiaojin collapsed onto the bed like a dead dog and complained, "My dear Miss Ruo Shui, your energy is truly incredible. Aren't you tired after today?" Ling Ruoshui was sitting on the bed with a bag of snacks, eating while watching the huge plasma color TV. Hearing Liao Xiaojin's complaint, she turned back and stuck out her little tongue. "Sorry, people usually carry things for me. I forgot today!" At Ling Ruoshui's adorable smile, Liao Xiaojin's resentment vanished at once. Zhou Qing was greatly alarmed. Why does this girl naturally carry a trace of bewitching aura?

"Big Brother Zhou, are you going out?" Ling Ruoshui asked when she saw Zhou Qing get up and change clothes. "Mm. I have something to do outside and may return rather late. Xiao Jin, take good care of Miss Ruo Shui." Liao Xiaojin quickly nodded.

The area around Las Vegas was nothing but barren, uninhabited desert. The weather was scorching in the daytime, but once night fell, the temperature dropped frighteningly low. Rattlesnakes and venomous scorpions emerged one after another. Unless someone had grown tired of living, they would never stay in the desert at night. Zhou Qing stood silently atop a sand dune, gazing at the stars overhead. Success or failure rests on this one move. Zhou Qing took out the Nether Blood-Devouring Divine Saber. The blood-red blade, thin as a cicada's wing, trembled in waves. The four eyes of the two-headed wolf on the hilt grew ever more eerie, and their verdant light illuminated everything within a hundred feet with perfect clarity. Zhou Qing planted the blade in the sand, then moved seven boulders the size of bushel baskets into the positions of the Big Dipper. The handle of the Dipper pointed directly at the saber embedded in the ground, while the Nether Blood-Devouring Divine Saber lay precisely in the position corresponding to the North Star.

After arranging everything, Zhou Qing took the jade bottle holding the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm from his robe and stroked it. Having soaked in Liao Xiaojin's blood for an entire day, this Six-Winged Golden Silkworm had absorbed a trace of the Nine Li Sacred Blood contained within it. When Zhou Qing poured it from the jade bottle, it actually swelled in the wind. From slightly over an inch long and as thick as a chopstick, it slowly grew to over a foot long and as thick as an arm, its wings like palm-leaf fans. Its body had grown by far more than tenfold. Looking at the golden silkworm glittering brilliantly beneath the starlight, Zhou Qing thought to himself, What luck! Luckily I was clever and did not intend to raise this thing as a pet. Otherwise, if I released it just now, before taming it, and it turned on me, wouldn't I be dead as a doornail? Fortunately, I erased its consciousness. Now this thing is like a vegetable: its flesh keeps growing, but it has no thoughts. It is perfect for refining into a Second Primordial Spirit! Hahaha! Who in the Daoist Sect has materials as good as mine now—using a Primordial Prehistoric Exotic Species nourished by Nine Li Sacred Blood to refine a Second Primordial Spirit?

A Second Primordial Spirit was formed by using a powerful magic treasure as its core, one's divine consciousness as the guide, and special cultivation arts to refine it. In the end, it divided into a second self possessing the same divine abilities and magical power. Yet it used the magic treasure as its body, and its physical strength far surpassed the original body. Its speed of absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth also vastly exceeded that of the original body. This had originally been a method used by ancient immortals to evade the Nine Heavens Tribulation. When the heavenly tribulation arrived, the Second Primordial Spirit bravely charged up to receive it. Even if the magic treasure was ruined, the main body remained safe and sound. It was the classic tactic of sacrificing the pawn to save the king—the Second Primordial Spirit was the pawn. But Second Primordial Spirits were often difficult to refine. Not only did they require magic treasures of exceptional quality, but the better the material, the more resilient it tended to be. Trying to transform it into the shape of one's own body was harder than climbing to heaven. Magic treasures of inferior quality, meanwhile, were useless. Thus, throughout China over the past several thousand years, aside from the extraordinary figures of the Investiture of the Gods era, cultivators who had successfully refined a Second Primordial Spirit afterward were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. Yet once one succeeded, one was usually a figure whose methods reached the heavens and whose cultivation rivaled creation itself. That was not even mentioning the modern age, where materials, spiritual medicines, and magical treasures were all exceedingly scarce.

However, the method for cultivating a Second Original Spirit recorded in Zhou Qing's Refining Compendium opened up a new path. Some predecessor of heaven-reaching ability had actually combined Ancient Witchcraft with it, forcibly erasing the consciousness of animals or powerful demonic beasts before refining them into a Second Original Spirit through secret arts. Since both were fleshly bodies, cultivating a Second Primordial Spirit this way was much easier. Yet it had its drawbacks. Leaving aside how difficult it was to deal with stronger demonic beasts, even after subduing one, its body was often already badly damaged. Its consciousness was not easily erased either. Besides, no matter how powerful a fleshly body was, could it compare to a magic treasure? Still, Zhou Qing's luck had reached the heavens. He had actually obtained a Six-Winged Golden Silkworm larva. Even after evolving six wings, the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm possessed extremely low consciousness, let alone when it was still a larva. Zhou Qing easily erased its consciousness, and with the bloodline of the ancient demon god Chi You nourishing it, even Zhou Qing had no idea to what extent this Six-Winged Golden Silkworm would evolve.