Friends are Friends, But Caution is Still Necessary

Nuwa silently recited this name in her heart, a complex light flickering in her eyes.

Disregarding her usual poise, she bowed deeply toward the immensely thick light curtain of the array, performing a Daoist salute as one would to an equal.

"Fellow Daoist Changsheng."

Nuwa's clear, ethereal voice traveled through the spiritual fluctuations of the array, drifting unhurriedly into the depths of the cave dwelling.

"For these past eight hundred years, this poor Daoist has been in seclusion, contemplating the Dao."

"It is all thanks to those deafening words you spoke that day, which were like a sudden enlightenment, clearing the fog from my mind and allowing me to finally break through the barriers and step half a foot into the realm of Daluo."

"This grace of preaching is something this poor Daoist will keep etched in her heart."

Inside the cave dwelling.

Lu Changsheng, who was lounging on his White Jade Cloud Bed with his legs crossed, munching on a Red Sun Fruit, nearly choked to death on the pit when he heard the transmission from outside.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

He bolted upright, clutching his chest, his eyes wide as he stared at Nuwa in the water mirror, who was still bowing to him.

"Half-step Daluo?!"

Lu Changsheng felt his brain struggling to process this.

What the hell? Back then, I was just spouting a bunch of survivalist theories to scare her off. Not only did she not think I was a coward, but she actually had an epiphany from it?

Are the mighty figures of the Primordial Land all this good at overthinking things?

After a brief moment of shock, Lu Changsheng's heart suddenly blossomed with joy.

Regardless of how this woman had misinterpreted things, the result was favorable.

She had broken through, and she was attributing the credit to him.

This was a massive cause and effect!

In the Primordial Land, cause and effect were the most mysterious of things.

If one owed a debt of cause and effect and failed to repay it, the best case was stagnant cultivation, and the worst was the birth of inner demons, leading to one's soul being scattered and body destroyed.

"Hehe, it seems I have no choice but to fleece her today."

Lu Changsheng immediately cleared his throat, wiped away his sloppy demeanor, and sat upright on the White Jade Cloud Bed. He formed a Taiji hand seal, putting on the air of an otherworldly expert.

He leaned toward the Sound Transmission Array Eye, his tone indifferent, as if everything were under his control.

"Fellow Daoist Nuwa is too polite."

"The Great Dao is vast, yet all paths lead to the same destination. That you could have such an epiphany and cross the threshold of Daluo is entirely due to your own good fortune and exceptional comprehension."

"This poor Daoist merely offered a few casual pointers; it is not worthy of such a grand gesture from you."

Despite his words, Lu Changsheng's tone clearly carried a thick-skinned implication: That's right, it was I who enlightened you.

Outside the array.

Nuwa heard the meaning behind his words but did not expose him, merely offering a gentle smile.

"Fellow Daoist is truly noble, bestowing grace without seeking reward. However, as a practitioner, I cannot ignore the cause and effect of heaven and earth."

After speaking, Nuwa gently raised her slender hand.

In her palm, a mass of yellow soil, radiating an infinitely heavy aura as if it could support a thousand worlds, slowly floated out.

This mass of soil was only the size of a fist, but the moment it appeared, the Earth Veins for ten thousand miles around seemed to resonate, emitting a series of low, humming sounds.

"This is the Nine Heavens Breathing Soil."

Nuwa's voice carried a hint of solemnity.

"It is a supreme treasure of earth, birthed from chaos when the great god Pangu opened the heavens and split the earth. A single grain can transform into a continuous range of divine mountains, containing supreme vitality and the defensive power of the thick earth."

"I have observed your mountain-protecting array, Fellow Daoist. While it is based on the Earth Veins, it seems to lack something to suppress the eye of the array, causing the flow of spiritual energy to appear slightly obstructed."

"I gift this scrap of Breathing Soil to you to stabilize your array. Consider it a small token of my heart to repay the grace of your preaching over these eight hundred years. I hope you will not decline."

Deep inside the cave dwelling.

"Bang!"

The cup of spiritual spring water Lu Changsheng had just picked up shattered into pieces as it hit the white jade table.

His eyes instantly erupted with an incredibly greedy golden light, staring fixedly at the yellow soil in the water mirror, his mouth nearly watering.

"Nine Heavens Breathing Soil!"

"It's actually the Nine Heavens Breathing Soil!"

Lu Changsheng roared crazily in his heart.

He certainly knew what this thing was! This was the supreme innate divine object that Nuwa would use in the future to mold earth and create humans, and even what Great Yu would use to control the floods!

This was the ceiling of earth-attribute spiritual materials!

If the Earth Dragon Pearl was a river, then the Nine Heavens Breathing Soil was a vast ocean!

As long as he integrated this mass of Breathing Soil into his array, the defensive power of his three-thousand-layer turtle shell would skyrocket at least tenfold!

Even a true Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal would have to shed a layer of skin to break through the defenses constructed by the Breathing Soil!

"Fellow Daoist?"

Outside the formation, seeing Lu Changsheng's long silence, Nuwa raised her voice slightly and called out.

"Cough cough... I'm here, this Daoist is here."

Lu Changsheng quickly snapped back to attention, forcefully wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, trying his best to make his voice sound less eager.

"Fellow Daoist Nuwa's karma... is truly heavy."

"Since Fellow Daoist insists on giving it, if I were to refuse again, it would seem pretentious and would only disturb Fellow Daoist's state of mind."

Lu Changsheng's eyes darted around, and that ingrained instinct for self-preservation, deeply rooted in his bones, once again took the upper hand.

Even if it was a treasure given by Nuwa, even if it was to settle karma.

He absolutely could not accept it with his bare hands!

"Old rules."

Lu Changsheng's voice drifted slowly from the depths of the formation.

"This Daoist will put out the box now. I trouble Fellow Daoist to place that Breathing Soil inside and then step back three paces."

Nuwa outside the formation heard these familiar words and couldn't help but feel a deep sense of helplessness.

Eight hundred years had passed, and she had already broken through to half-step Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal. He also knew that she was repaying the favor of his teachings.

Yet, this wariness had not diminished one bit.

"Rumble..."

It was still the same fist-sized gap in the formation, still the same rough vine that showed no fluctuation of spiritual power.

The dilapidated wooden box, plastered with inferior talismans for warding off evil, was pushed out, swaying in the breeze.

Nuwa sighed and couldn't be bothered to argue with this timid fellow.

She gently placed the mass of Nine Heavens Breathing Soil into the wooden box.

Then, after a moment's thought, she took out a jade slip emitting a faint green light from her sleeve and placed it beside the Breathing Soil.

"What is this?"

Inside the cave dwelling, Lu Changsheng keenly noticed Nuwa's superfluous action and immediately asked with vigilance.

"Fellow Daoist, do not panic."

Nuwa stepped back three paces and patiently explained.

"This is a sound transmission jade slip that this Daoist condensed using the Law of Creation."

"This Daoist has been in seclusion for eight hundred years before this nameless mountain. The karma is settled, and it is time for me to leave and continue my travels in this Primordial Land."

"This jade slip contains no tracking or offensive formations. If Fellow Daoist ever feels bored in this formation in the future, or encounters any difficult matters, you may crush this jade slip, and this Daoist will sense it."

Nuwa paused, her tone becoming exceptionally serious.

"Furthermore, the jade slip also records a secret place that this Daoist discovered inadvertently during my travels."

"Eighty thousand li to the east of this place, there is a dangerous area called Phoenix Fall Valley."

"It was once an ancient battlefield where powerful beings of the Dragon Phoenix Clans fought. Not only did it shatter the local Xiantian Micro Spiritual Caves, but it also caused the Earth Veins to break and Sha Qi to surge to the heavens."

"The environment there is harsh, and ordinary cultivators dare not approach. But this Daoist observed it from afar that day and found that deep within the shattered spiritual caves, there seemed to be a faint, incomplete treasure light of an Innate Spirit Treasure flashing."

As she spoke, a hint of a smile flashed in Nuwa's eyes.