Bang-
Ao Ding had only just landed when a beam of golden light inexplicably shot out beneath his feet, nearly making him lose his footing.
"Haha-still trying to show off? Settle your mind and rein in your magical power."
Pop!
Ao Ding was about to speak when another beam of golden light involuntarily emerged from his shoulder, blooming like a golden lotus.
Sun Chen watched in amusement and reached out to pinch the boy's smooth, pink cheek.
He had to admit, that baby-soft skin felt quite nice to play with.
Then he recounted something that had happened when he had first become a True Person.
"When you reach the initial stage of a realm in the future, you'd best remain in seclusion for a while rather than venture out. When I first became a True Person and sensed heaven and earth, I rushed out excitedly to tell my master the good news. Who knew I'd accidentally trip over a crawling turtle on the way? Without thinking, I cursed, 'Why don't you have eyes? How could you be so careless?' With that single sentence, the turtle's eyes were simply gone."
Lu Xiu said, "Huh? That's..."
Ao Ding, however, understood perfectly. It was much like his current condition.
During the initial adjustment period of a realm, one could not keep one's power in check.
Sun Chen sighed. "A True Person's arts reach the heavens. Newly advanced as I was, I couldn't yet control them freely, so my words carried the force of heavenly law and harmed that poor creature. Afterward, it took me three days to restore the turtle's eyes. Creation is far harder than destruction-you are nowhere near my level of attainment yet, but you must still be careful. Don't approach living creatures recklessly. Who knows? One glance might send golden light shooting from your eyes and kill them."
Ao Ding nodded silently.
He was only in the Profound Gang Realm, so the destructive force of his uncontrolled magical power was not great. It merely meant that while standing, sitting, or lying down, his magical power might suddenly discharge involuntarily and damage his surroundings. After three to five days, he would grow accustomed to it.
This was another reason cultivators at the pinnacle of their respective realms rarely showed themselves. What if they suddenly advanced while outside and entered the initial stage of the next realm, then accidentally caused trouble while adjusting?
Ao Ding looked at the sky.
This burning of his had lasted an entire day and night.
Although he had successfully broken through, he had also destroyed that handy magical implement of his.
Without the wooden staff in hand, casting spells might be a little slower...
"Thinking about that wooden staff? It was only the wooden core of a broom. Look-" Sun Chen pointed at the place where Ao Ding had hung suspended.
Ao Ding looked over. Through his left eye, he saw five-colored rosy light flowing around the branch that had bound him yesterday, and he could vaguely sense a connection to it.
With a flash of inspiration, Ao Ding raised his hand and sent a strand of True Heaven Golden Gang toward the branch.
The golden Heavenly Gang swiftly wound around it. That section of branch fell at once and flew straight toward Ao Ding.
As it reached his hand, the branch immediately became a short staff three feet long, and he felt as though they were linked by blood.
"You burned for an entire day and night. Your vital essence unwittingly seeped into the treetop and gave this branch a spirit-a rather unconventional way of refining a magical implement, I suppose. Come, give it a name?"
"Since it came from the Xuanjia Immortal Tree, let's call it the 'Xuanjia Spirit Staff.'"
Speechless, Sun Chen asked, "Then if you encounter other immortal trees in the future and gather their heartwood to refine implements, you'll also-"
"Right, just name them after the trees. Simple and straightforward."
"..."
Not a shred of elegance!
Sun Chen shook his head silently and said nothing more.
"You two, it's getting late-" Lu Xiu urged. "Let's go to the Jiaxia Kingdom. If we go now, we can still make it for the weddings!"
"Weddings? Oh, He Wenchang and the other two?" Ao Ding was somewhat surprised. "So soon?"
Sun Chen said, "After the demonic bird was eliminated, the ruler promised to hold the grand wedding ten days later. But upon hearing that you and I intended to leave immediately, the Jiaxia Kingdom hurried its preparations and is holding the ceremony today-merely taking the opportunity to cultivate some goodwill."
Anyone could see that Ao Ding had a great future ahead of him. If they did not forge a connection now, when would they? He Wenchang and the other two might fall far short of Ao Ding, but through their friendship from slaying the demon together, the Jiaxia Kingdom might find a use for that connection someday.
Thus, the three soon set off from beneath the tree toward the Jiaxia Kingdom.
Since his left eye had not closed, Ao Ding could clearly discern something of the workings when he watched Sun Chen cast his spell this time.
Circling the tree was a ritual step, much like his own act of hanging upside down to observe the water.
Was he using "circling" to locate the dharma realm?
Recalling his two experiences with the ghost immortal's residence and the Jiaxia Kingdom, Ao Ding formed a few guesses.
When the three reappeared in the Jiaxia Kingdom, the city was festooned with lanterns and decorations, its streets covered in red finery and scarlet silk.
Because he was in the initial stage of his realm, it was inconvenient for Ao Ding to remain among people for long.
After visiting the Prince Consort's Residence to congratulate the three bridegrooms, he went up to the gate tower to enjoy the breeze and gaze into the distance.
Lu Xiu was a young boy who had little to discuss with a group of adults, and with the eldest princess hovering around him, he too found an excuse to slip away.
He found his way up to the gate tower and joined Ao Ding in the breeze.
"Brother Ao, I spoke with Senior Sun. On my way to the Heavenly Stone Sect, I may travel with you for a stretch-apparently he needs to buy you some things?"
Sun Chen was about to undergo Liberation by Violence and had no need to worry about his own cultivation. But he still had to consider Ao Ding's cultivation for the period before he found a master and prepare all manner of supplies. Some things truly were easy for the Seven Spirits Sect to procure but troublesome for an individual.
"Yes. Just call me Ao Ding. I'll call you by name too-neither of us has a courtesy name yet, anyway."
"All right, Ao Ding it is."
Lu Xiu readily agreed, and the two chatted about their respective experiences while discussing questions of cultivation.
Suddenly, Lu Xiu brought something up.
"Speaking of which-Brother He and the other two are marrying Beauty Ants... Can humans and demons have children together? Those ants all have human forms inside the Jiaxia Kingdom's dharma realm."
And neither of you cultivators made any move to stop them, either?
"Spirits mingling among humans and marrying mortals have persisted despite repeated bans-the immortal sects once forbade it, but it did little good. It still happened, so they simply gave up. In any case, there is a taboo between humans and demons, making it difficult for them to produce offspring. Even if they force the issue and defy heaven, the demonic fetus they conceive will suffer heavenly punishment. This is common knowledge in the cultivation world."
After a pause, Ao Ding hesitantly mentioned a conjecture circulating in the cultivation world.
"In the savage age, when humanity first rose, legend has it that divine beasts of every kind could freely have children with mortals, and their offspring would receive special gifts. Many of humanity's earliest Aristocratic Clans originated this way. But apparently something later happened that angered a certain True Lord into laying a curse, creating the taboo between humans and demons-but that's only a rumor, not something to be trusted."
Was it really untrustworthy?
Judging by the idle chatter and jokes among the people at the Seven Spirits Outer Court, they seemed to suspect that the True Lord patriarch of the Purple Sun Sect had done it.
Lu Xiu only half understood. "So it's absolutely impossible between humans and demons?"
"Not absolutely. Since it's a law, there must be ways around it."
Ao Ding's little head turned, and he immediately thought of three methods.
"First, if you can find a world that evades the laws of the true realm, you naturally won't be bound by such laws. That would probably-require a True Person to create a 'True Image Mortal Realm.'"
"Second, once you cultivate to become a True Person, you can alter the origin of your bloodline. Taboos like this won't have much effect then."
"Third, it won't work between humans and demons, but what if the demon isn't a demon anymore-extract the demonic soul, wash it, burn it, then mold a human body and stuff it back in. Would there still be a taboo between two humans? Conversely, couldn't the human stop being human? Inject them with demon blood or have them swallow a demon core and become a 'demonic human,' and wouldn't that do it?"
The more Ao Ding thought, the wilder his ideas became.
"They could even both go die-after dying, they could switch to the ghost path. If it's true love, there's nothing wrong with being a ghost couple."
Lu Xiu's mouth opened wider and wider. He was having trouble keeping up with Ao Ding's train of thought.
This-wasn't this a little sinister?
It hardly seemed like the human path.
"You two-you've had enough breeze. We're getting ready to leave." Having eaten at the wedding feast, Sun Chen strolled over.
He was followed by He Wenchang's companion, Lin Bai.
"When we go shopping for supplies, we can stop by Lin Bai's home and take a look at his gravely ill father."
With a casual motion, Sun Chen tossed a jade box to Lu Xiu.
"Here, Cloud Immortal White Fruit. Ao Ding took one portion, so this one is yours."
Wasn't this Lin Bai's portion?
Ao Ding looked at Lin Bai in puzzlement.
Lin Bai hastily explained, "I sought the longevity medicine to save my father. Now that I know the white fruit cannot save him, I asked Senior Sun for help. He said we happened to be traveling the same way and could visit my home first."
Sun Chen said, "It's a fortunate coincidence. His home is only two thousand li from here. There's a Spirit Market there where we can purchase your cultivation supplies. Once we're there, we can also send young Lu Xiu to the Heavenly Stone Sect."
With a wave of his hand, he swept the three out of the Jiaxia Kingdom, and they appeared beneath the Xuanjia tree.
"Come, come-young Ao Ding, I'll teach you a spell. Try summoning a Qingji to take us to his home."
Qingji were strange spirits of the Savage Wilderness. They belonged to the spirits of mountains and marshes, resembled humans, and stood four inches tall. Clad in yellow clothes and wearing yellow caps, they drove yellow horses and could travel a thousand li a day.
"The Thousand-Li Marsh Spirit Spell?" Ao Ding's eyes lit up with interest.
He had heard people at the Seven Spirits Outer Court mention this spell. Many formal disciples of the Seven Spirits Sect used it when traveling.
Sun Chen nodded with a smile and, in front of Lu Xiu and Lin Bai, taught him the incantation for summoning a Qingji...
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