Benefits! (Extra update for Monday's ranking push!)

Above the endless ocean south of the East Sea, a Green Phoenix streaked across the clouds.

"We are approaching the South Sea." A gentle voice rang out as a middle-aged woman in yellow palace robes turned to look at the black-clad girl beside her.

Even though she was a woman herself, a flicker of awe still crossed her eyes.

"Didn't I tell you, Qianxue, to stop cultivating?" the woman in palace robes said softly.

"Your Taiyin Constitution is best suited for the Dao; if you break through again, you will reach the middle stage of the Purple Mansion."

"If you don't lay a perfect foundation during this critical first step of expanding your Purple Mansion Primordial Spirit sea, wouldn't that be a waste of your natural talent and bone structure?"

"With nothing to do, what else is there to do but cultivate?"

The girl opened her eyes, her voice as cold and clear as water, just like the person herself.

She was none other than Motai Qianxue, whom Motai Xiao had previously sent to the Fire Worship Sect Main Altar.

"If you love cultivating, that is naturally good." The woman in palace robes looked at Motai Qianxue with eyes full of affection. "Once you enter the sect and take an immortal as your master, you will naturally be taught the methods of the Heavenly Immortal, and you may cultivate to your heart's content then."

"Aunt Huang, did Daoist Fire send me to the immortal sect just to make me some sort of Holy Concubine?" Motai Qianxue said indifferently, though a trace of sorrow flashed in her eyes when she spoke the words 'Holy Concubine'.

"Becoming a Holy Concubine is not as simple as you think!"

Aunt Huang reached out and gently smoothed the dark hair that the wind had blown across Motai Qianxue's face.

"The Holy Son has already reached the perfection of Myriad Phenomena, and his second Primordial Spirit has already achieved the status of a Void Return Earth Immortal."

"To be a concubine to the Holy Son, you must at least reach the perfection of Myriad Phenomena."

"This time, the subordinate sects of each prefecture are selecting concubines for the Holy Son; I hear there are over thirty stunningly beautiful women alone."

"The Holy Son has issued an edict: the candidates for Holy Concubine will first enter the sect to study under the immortals. Once the Holy Son completes his cultivation, he will choose one from among all the candidates to be his consort."

"Hmph, those painted ladies cannot compare to you, Qianxue. The position of Holy Concubine is surely yours!"

Aunt Huang spoke with great animation, but seeing that Motai Qianxue remained cold and indifferent, she could not help but sigh softly.

"I know you do not want to go, but the Holy Son will surely lead the sect in the future. As his Holy Concubine, you will have a path to becoming a Heavenly Immortal. Such an opportunity is once in a thousand years; others would beg for it in vain. Qianxue, listen to your aunt's advice—live well from now on, can you?"

"Haven't I always been living well?" Motai Qianxue said softly. "Aunt Huang, I have accepted my fate."

The cold voice and flat tone carried a trace of sorrow that made Aunt Huang's heart ache.

At seventeen or eighteen, she was in the prime of her youth.

Yet, Qianxue was first sent to a subordinate sect by her father, and now she was being sent to the main sect. Was this the destiny of a peerless beauty?

The two women on the back of the Green Phoenix said no more, only watching as island after island appeared at the edge of the sea and sky.

The South Sea had arrived.

East Sea, Crouching Ox Island waters, Red Dust Immortal Mansion.

Zhou Hao stood blankly before the Red Copper Statue.

At this moment, his mind was flooded with information—voices, scenes, text... It took a full half-cup of tea's time before he finally regained his senses.

"Senior Red Dust?" The space in front of Zhou Hao was empty; only the Red Copper Statue remained as it had been before. The phantom was nowhere to be seen.

"That was a lingering thought left behind by Red Dust; it dissipated after passing on the technique." Ou Huang lay on the statue's leg, speaking lazily.

"Dissipated?" Zhou Hao was stunned. "Did Senior Red Dust have nothing else to say?"

"Does he know you?" Ou Huang asked.

"No." Zhou Hao shook his head.

That was a joke.

Five thousand years ago on Earth, the first batch of Homo sapiens had only just appeared; there were no modern humans, so how could there be him?

"Then there you have it." Ou Huang shook his cat head. "He doesn't know you, so what would he have to tell you?"

"..." Zhou Hao was speechless.

"If you truly want to do something for Red Dust," Ou Huang said, resting his head on his two paws, "then help him track down the descendants of the Ling Clan."

"Is the Ling Clan the secular surname of Loose Immortal Hongchen?" Zhou Hao asked.

"No. They are the descendants of a woman."

"You could say she was a close confidante of Red Dust. He was already a Loose Immortal when he met the woman of the Ling Clan, so how could he have left behind any bloodline?"

Ou Huang said, "Back then, that woman was carrying a child and was saved by Red Dust after a shipwreck. Perhaps Red Dust was too lonely, so he let the Ling woman stay in this Immortal Mansion for decades. The child also looked at him like a father and often returned to visit...

If one speaks of Red Dust's life, it was indeed lonely and bitter; perhaps those few decades were the most comfortable he ever had.

Later, Red Dust was even regarded as an ancestor by the descendants of the Ling Clan.

It was only after the Ling woman died that he never left again, until he knew his end was near and refined a Signal Talisman of the Immortal Mansion, saying he wanted it to be taken out and given to the Ling clansmen."

So there was such a twist to the story.

Zhou Hao nodded: "I will certainly search for them carefully in the future."

The old man with the bulbous nose who had sold him the talisman statue was in Jade Dragon City; it shouldn't be difficult to investigate. However, he suspected that even if he could find information, the Ling Clan had likely long since perished.

Otherwise, how could such a family heirloom end up in a common market, bought by him for just a few pounds of Thunder Gold?

"Besides this secret technique, did Loose Immortal Hongchen leave anything else behind?" Seeing that Ou Huang seemed to have started snoring, Zhou Hao hurried over to shake it, taking the opportunity to stroke it a few times.

It was soft and truly comfortable, feeling no different from a real cat.

Ou Huang seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, stretching out on the spot. Without opening its eyes, it said, "Nothing else. If you were a descendant of the Ling Clan and hadn't learned any cultivation methods, I would have had the body-refining and qi-cultivation techniques he prepared ready for you, but alas, you aren't!"

"Then what about this Immortal Mansion?" Zhou Hao pressed, "And the five palaces floating above, aren't there any Dharma treasures inside?"

Although obtaining a complete secret technique was already a massive stroke of fortune, who would complain about having too many benefits?

"This Immortal Mansion is a Heaven-Tier Cave Abode Dharma Treasure; only a Primordial Spirit Daoist can refine it. If you can refine it, I'll acknowledge you as my master."

"As for the five palaces..." Ou Huang raised a cat paw and pointed to the space behind it, "This Weiyang Palace is an Immortal Artifact, requiring a Void Return Earth Immortal to refine. The other four palaces aren't Immortal Artifacts, but each contains a Five Elements Suppression Object. They count as Heaven-Tier level. If you have the ability, take them; if you don't, shut up and stop disturbing my sleep."

Fine.

Zhou Hao finally understood.

Unless he reached the realm of a Primordial Spirit Daoist, he could forget about getting any more benefits from this Immortal Mansion.

Seeing Ou Huang snoring away, he simply sat down on the stone platform, closed his eyes, and began browsing the secret technique passed down by Loose Immortal Hongchen.

The "Great Five Elements Extinction Divine Light" was a complete Immortal Dao secret technique. It was created after Loose Immortal Hongchen chanced upon a fragment of the "Five Elements Great Escape"—a secret technique of the Dao Sect—and spent tens of thousands of years optimizing it during his time as a Void Return Earth Immortal and Loose Immortal.

The "Five Elements Great Escape," much like the "Free and Easy Wandering" he learned from Master Jingzhi, was one of the supreme secret techniques of the Dao Sect in the Heavenly Realm.

However, compared to the "Free and Easy Wandering," which was merely an escape technique, the "Five Elements Great Escape" encompassed Myriad Phenomena and was hailed as the source of all Five Elements spells.

The "Five Elements Extinction Divine Light" was but one of its offensive secret techniques.

"What a brilliant mind." As Zhou Hao browsed the technique in his mind, he couldn't help but feel admiration for Loose Immortal Hongchen.

It turned out that the reason Loose Immortal Hongchen added the word "Great" to his creation was that practicing this technique didn't just involve refining the power of the five elements into an extinction light; it required nurturing various Sha Qi, such as cold Sha and earth fire, within the Purple Mansion, then condensing them through the secret technique to finally form the "Great Five Elements Extinction Divine Light."

Once unleashed, not only was its power far greater than the original, but it could also completely suppress all Five Elements spells and even Five Elements Dharma treasures, making it a top-tier secret technique without question.

Furthermore, Loose Immortal Hongchen revealed in the technique that, inspired by his own creation, he had intended to use Five Elements Spiritual Objects to condense his Heavenly Immortal Golden Core when he passed the Heavenly Tribulation, rather than relying solely on the power of heaven and earth.

To this end, Loose Immortal Hongchen had exhausted his efforts to collect five Five Elements Spiritual Objects, waiting to use them for his Golden Core upon becoming a Heavenly Immortal.

Regrettably, that vision turned to dust after he failed his tribulation. He refined the Earth Element Spiritual Object into the current Weiyang Palace and used the other four to set up the Five Elements Extinction Divine Light Array to guard this Immortal Mansion.

"Sigh, what a pity. Such a heaven-gifted talent, ending up in a life of solitude, only to die under an increasingly fierce Heavenly Tribulation," Zhou Hao lamented.

"To practice this technique, one must at least have opened the Purple Mansion in qi-cultivation. It's all Ou Huang's fault; if he were less narcissistic and had left me some Origin Liquid, even ten or eight pounds would have been enough."

Drip!

A drop of water fell from the air, landing behind the statue.

To Zhou Hao, that dripping sound was the most beautiful music in the world.

It was the Origin Liquid mist from the Weiyang Palace above that hadn't been fully absorbed; it had re-condensed into a droplet and fallen once more.

Zhou Hao glanced at Ou Huang.

Hmm, still snoring.

He carefully stood up and, following the sound of the dripping water, moved behind the statue of Loose Immortal Hongchen.

The stone platform behind the statue was quite large, its dark surface riddled with holes and gaps, made of some unknown stone.

He saw that because Origin Liquid had been dripping there for tens of thousands of years, those holes were already filled with the liquid. With a sweep of his divine sense, he saw that the smaller holes held a few taels, while the larger ones held several pounds.

Adding all those holes together, there had to be at least several dozen pounds of Origin Liquid.

There were also many droplets scattered around the platform, crystal clear like pearls rolling on the stone.

"Haha, finally, some real benefits!"

Overjoyed, Zhou Hao sat cross-legged directly above the holes filled with Origin Liquid and began circulating the sixth level of the "Water Source Sutra."

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~"

As he circulated the technique, the heaven and earth origin energy within the Red Lotus Flower Pond surged toward him like a river. Under the control of his divine sense, some of the Origin Liquid in the holes flew up and into his mouth, where he swallowed it.

Such pure origin energy rushed into his body, flowed along his meridians into his Dantian, and converted directly into true essence—it was seamless!

The sixth level of the "Water Source Sutra" reached perfection in less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick.

"Again." Zhou Hao opened his mouth and inhaled, swallowing more Origin Liquid.

"Rumble~~"

The water-green true essence in his Dantian surged endlessly. Under the constant infusion of Origin Liquid, it felt like an endless tide, gathering and accumulating frantically!

In front of the Hongchen statue, the white Feifei Ou Huang twitched its small ears, turned over, and continued to sleep.

"I have to give you some practical benefits so you can move faster. I've been bored playing with this statue for tens of thousands of years..."

It's a new week, time to push the new book rankings on Monday, adding an extra chapter at midnight!

My friends, if you have tickets—whether monthly or recommendation—please show your support.

Last week's best result was tenth on the signed author new book list.

Let's push hard this week and try to stabilize in the top ten, aiming for the top five.

I've received a six-frequency recommendation on the Qidian homepage, so maybe the Sanjiang list is within reach.

Wuwuwu, I've never been on the Sanjiang list, let me experience it once.

Suifeng thanks you all!