Golden Core True Person

<>

Chapter 34: Golden Core True Person

Xu Ziqing froze for a moment, then blurted out, "You mean the Azure Spirit Newts aren't good enough?"

Chen Beiwu coughed twice.

What nonsense was this girl saying? They hadn't even left the Azure Spirit Newts' habitat yet.

"It's not that Azure Spirit Newts aren't good enough. Those five just weren't what I wanted," Chen Beiwu explained.

Xu Ziqing drew closer, bringing a waft of fragrance with her. "Oh, I see. So where are we going for our next date?"

Chen Beiwu picked up the jade slip and walked toward the teleportation array. "Gengshen District 39. Coordinates: Jade-Horn Spring."

Jade-Horn Spring.

Schools of Azure-Wave Spirit Carp swam freely through the crystal-clear spirit spring.

Every so often, a few lively carp flicked their tail fins, sending ripples across the surface and bringing a glimmer of delight to Xu Ziqing's eyes.

Yet Chen Beiwu stood by the spring with a slight frown, his eyes showing no interest whatsoever.

This carp is too skinny. It's clearly deficient from birth.

This carp lacks spiritual awareness. It's a spirit beast, yet it doesn't even have the instinct to draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

This carp has decent aptitude, but its luck is frighteningly low. It isn't even pale blue.

After carefully screening the entire school of young spirit carp, Chen Beiwu couldn't help exhaling a weary breath.

"Not a single spirit beast suits you?" Xu Ziqing turned to him in surprise.

For cultivators, choosing a companion beast was, in essence, weaving the net of their own Great Dao. They had to exercise the utmost caution.

Thus, before forming a contract with a spirit beast, every Qi Refining cultivator would use the [Three Meridians and Six Wheels Detection Method] taught at school to assess it and settle on a companion beast.

"Not one." Chen Beiwu shook his head regretfully.

Most of the Azure-Wave Spirit Carp in Jade-Horn Spring possessed exceptional spiritual awareness, but not one had given him a pleasant surprise.

"That's true. These carp are good, but they're still not worthy of you," Xu Ziqing said matter-of-factly.

She wasn't a shallow girl. She knew perfectly well how outstanding Chen Beiwu was; otherwise, she wouldn't have pursued him of her own accord.

In her eyes, Chen Beiwu had exceptional looks, outstanding talent, superb comprehension, and a gentle disposition.

Taken individually, none of these qualities would have amounted to much. Put together, however, they formed a pair of unbeatable jokers that Xu Ziqing simply couldn't resist.

Otherwise, she and her best friend Xu Lingling wouldn't both have fallen for Chen Beiwu.

Of course, Chen Beiwu wasn't without shortcomings. His family was relatively poor, and he lacked the cultivation resources needed to turn his talent and aptitude into strength.

Even so, his qualities made him an unquestionably excellent choice of husband even in Fallen Dragon Prefecture, let alone Far Sky County, one of the six counties under its jurisdiction.

It was no exaggeration to say that, had she and Xu Lingling not stood in front of him and used their powerful family backgrounds to stake their claims early, the pretty, wealthy girls of Shouhe No. 2 Middle School would have fought madly over Chen Beiwu.

"What does worthiness have to do with it?" Chen Beiwu waved a hand. "Outside the Spirit Beast Pavilion, these carp would be among the most sought-after beasts around. Forget buying one to form a contract-I'd probably struggle to afford even a fish head."

"Where are we going next?" Xu Ziqing asked with a bright smile.

"Renzi District 1. Coordinates: Four Seas Lake." Chen Beiwu looked toward the northern Kan water position.

The Darkwater Spirit Turtle was an exclusive spirit beast of the Cavern Mystery Immortal Sect, famed far and wide. He hoped it wouldn't disappoint him.

Four Seas Lake covered only a few hundred li, yet it gathered the essence of the four seas, drawing their waters together to form a lake of its own.

Strangely shaped rocks stood thick along the shore. Occasionally, a spirit turtle surfaced, swam leisurely toward the stone forest, and settled beneath a rock to rest.

"Are you hoping to form a contract with a Darkwater Spirit Turtle, young friend?" A gentle voice suddenly sounded beside Chen Beiwu's ear.

He looked toward the voice and saw a handsome young cultivator, standing tall and straight as a pine, approaching atop a turtle.

The man wore plain white Daoist robes with silver patterns embroidered on the cuffs. Those patterns wound like flowing water, coming together at his lapels to form an immortal turtle shimmering with spiritual light.

Beneath his feet, a colossal beast as massive as a mountain radiated a terrifying aura that inspired dread at a glance.

Its head is like a mountain, its gaze like lightning, its scales like gold, and its tail merges with mysterious yin. This is a third-tier upper-grade treasure beast, a Mysterious-Water Nether Turtle! Chen Beiwu's pupils contracted slightly as realization struck him.

If his guess was correct, the cultivator approaching atop the turtle was very likely a Golden Core True Person of the Cavern Mystery Immortal Sect!

Beside him, Xu Ziqing's expression changed slightly, and she bowed respectfully. "Greetings, True Person!"

Chen Beiwu had to guess the newcomer's identity. She did not.

The Fallen Dragon Xu Family had a Golden Core True Person presiding over it, who attended a lineage gathering once every hundred years.

The last gathering had been five years ago. Xu Ziqing had been fortunate enough to meet the lineage's Golden Core ancestor and witness the might of a Golden Core cultivator firsthand.

Thus, even though the man had deliberately restrained most of his Golden Core pressure, Xu Ziqing could still feel a suffocating trace of it-an instinctive fear born of life itself.

*So he really is a Golden Core True

Person!*

Chen Beiwu dared not be careless. He offered the salute of a junior and replied, "Greetings, True Person. The Darkwater Spirit Turtle's fame is renowned. Naturally, I would like to form a contract with one."

"You have a good eye, young friend. Unlike other spirit beasts, Darkwater Spirit Turtles are rather indolent and generally refuse to see outsiders. You need a token before you can approach them."

At that, Han Liangcai's figure flashed, and he appeared instantly before Chen Beiwu. "And only those with a fated connection can obtain this token," he said casually.

"May I ask, senior, what makes someone a person with a fated connection?" Chen Beiwu asked.

"Fate is fate. It cannot be spoken of, cannot be spoken of!" Han Liangcai shook his head. His Daoist robes fluttered gently in the breeze, making his figure seem ever more ethereal, like a banished immortal descended to the mortal world.

"Well..." Chen Beiwu froze briefly and looked toward Xu Ziqing.

Xu Ziqing blinked in confusion, indicating that she didn't know either.

Fate, fated connections-she normally hated people who spoke in riddles most of all.

Seeing Chen Beiwu remain motionless, Han Liangcai frowned and extended a hand toward him. Then he rubbed his thumb against his middle finger twice, and the air of immortal grace about him vanished without a trace.

"???" Chen Beiwu understood instantly.

So that was what he meant by a fated connection.

But he hadn't brought many spirit stones-only two. Even handing over every last one wouldn't move a Foundation Establishment cultivator, much less a Golden Core True Person from the Cavern Mystery Immortal Sect.

At the same time, a trace of bewilderment flashed through Xu Ziqing's eyes.

What's going on?

A Golden Core True Person's magical power formed a perfect, unified whole and possessed a trace of immortality. Such a cultivator could easily suppress dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators with a flick of a finger, let alone a Golden Core True Person from the Thirteen Immortal Sects.

If someone like that wanted low-grade spirit stones, he wouldn't need to ask for them himself.

He only needed to let slip the slightest hint, and the Foundation Establishment lineages throughout Far Sky County would scramble to make offerings.

Something was wrong. Ten parts out of ten, utterly wrong.

Young Lady Xu Ziqing could rack her brains to pieces and still fail to understand why a Golden Core True Person would ask an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator for spirit stones, so she dared not speak rashly.

And so the atmosphere stalled in awkward silence.

"You don't have even a little fated connection on you, young friend?" Han Liangcai sounded somewhat surprised.

He had made the hint so obvious, yet this youngster still didn't know how to play along.

(End of chapter)