Without the help of mimicry cultivation, he could not have done it.
Xu Qing stretched luxuriously and stood up from the stone slab.
He raised a hand and gently parted the swaying blue silver grass beside him, then leisurely left the cultivation grounds and walked back inside.
As soon as he entered, he saw Gu Yuena sitting quietly in the living room watching television, a bag of snacks in her arms. She ate in small bites, a few crumbs still clinging to the corners of her pink lips.
Looking at her, Xu Qing immediately called out, "Nana, I'm done cultivating. Let's go."
Earlier, Xu Qing had promised Gu Yuena that he would accompany him to the night market today.
Over the past year, Xu Qing had gotten a fair grasp of Gu Yuena's temperament. He could tell she would not hurt him, so he was determined to cling to this mighty thigh.
Thus, whenever Xu Qing discovered something fun on Parallel Earth over the past year, he would give it to Gu Yuena, hoping to grow closer to her.
Of course, simps never met a good end!
Unless they simped their way into having everything.
Gu Yuena had also awakened her Martial Soul half a year ago. Her Martial Soul was the Elementalist with innate full soul power that Gu Yue had possessed in the original story. In truth, it was her true form, the Silver Dragon King, but she had concealed it.
Even so, it had caused quite a stir at the time. Both the East Sea Spirit Pagoda and the Federation's upper echelons had been alerted, and they all wanted to invite Gu Yuena to join them.
After a moment's hesitation, Gu Yuena ultimately chose to join the Spirit Pagoda. After all, she had planned to join the Spirit Pagoda when she first took human form.
Just like that, Gu Yuena successfully obtained her first Soul Spirit.
Under the Federation's original arrangements, Gu Yuena was supposed to attend the Soul Master Academy over in Eastsea City.
However, at Gu Yuena's insistence, she stayed at Red Mountain Academy to study.
The East Sea Spirit Pagoda's higher-ups ultimately agreed to Gu Yuena's request.
This delighted Red Mountain Academy's principal and the Spirit Pagoda's Aolai City branch beyond measure. To win Gu Yuena over, they not only provided substantial financial support but also promised to give Xu Qing a hundred-year Soul Spirit for free when he reached rank ten.
Xu Qing could only say that living off a woman tasted wonderful!
Hearing him, Gu Yuena immediately put down her snacks, wiped her mouth, and looked up at Xu Qing, a faint smile in her eyes. "Okay."
With that, she switched off the soul-guidance television playing its program and left home with Xu Qing, heading toward Aolai City's bustling night-market street.
As night deepened, the entire night-market street blazed with lights and buzzed with voices.
All manner of stalls lined both sides of the street, vendors' cries rising one after another in a lively bustle.
A grilled-seafood vendor shouted at the top of his lungs, "Fresh squid! Smells amazing! Come and buy some!"
On the other side, another grilled-squid vendor called, "Yours smells good, mine smells good, but mine smells better than yours! If it doesn't taste good, you don't pay!"
The nearby fruit and snack stalls kept calling out as well, pedestrians weaving among them, filling the street with the smoke and bustle of everyday life.
Of course, the smoke and fire were real.
Gu Yuena's eyes brightened slightly at the dazzling array of snacks, and she pointed to several of them.
"Xu Qing, I want that, and that, and that..."
Seeing this, Xu Qing immediately smiled and nodded generously. "Buy whatever you want to eat. Take your pick. It's my treat today."
He had saved up quite a bit of pocket money over the past year, enough to treat Gu Yuena to a good meal.
Soon, Xu Qing had bought all sorts of snacks, and the two walked side by side along the street.
Gu Yuena held a skewer in each hand, savoring them in small bites.
Xu Qing ate skewers alongside her, unable to help marveling inwardly.
As he cultivated, Xu Yan discovered that his appetite was gradually growing. By now, he could actually eat almost as much as Gu Yuena.
The evening breeze brushed their faces, the lights along the street flickered, and the clamor of voices mingled with the vendors' cries.
The two strolled side by side through the bustling night market, the atmosphere relaxed and cheerful.
After eating their way along the street, both had full bellies and felt especially content.
Before they knew it, the night had grown late.
After arriving home, Xu Qing and Gu Yuena each briefly checked in with Tang Xue and Xu Yan.
Then they each took their toiletries and went in one after the other to wash up.
Once he had finished, Xu Qing said good night to Gu Yuena.
"Nana, get some rest early. I'm heading to my room."
"Mm, good night." Gu Yuena nodded gently.
With that, Xu Qing turned and went straight into his room, casually locking the door behind him.
Yet the instant he entered, his entire presence vanished into thin air.
Gu Yuena's expression in the living room instantly turned strange, her purple eyes narrowing slightly.
Her spiritual power was terrifyingly powerful; covering the entire house was effortless.
Yet shortly after Xu Qing closed his bedroom door, she could no longer sense any trace of his presence.
There were no soul power fluctuations, no spiritual fluctuations, not even any fluctuations of life.
It was as though he had vanished into thin air inside his room.
Even she could not detect the slightest trace.
The problem was that the next morning, he would walk out of his room safe and sound, as though nothing had happened.
Gu Yuena stood there, gazing at the tightly closed door, her heart filled with questions.
On Parallel Earth, in the apocalyptic town.
With a faint flash of white light, Xu Qing instantly appeared inside the apocalypse base on Parallel Earth.
This steel fortress, converted from an abandoned residence, was exceedingly quiet, the complete opposite of the lively night market in the Douluo World.
Rows of pots stood on the base's balcony, all planted with pale-blue blue silver grass.
The blue silver grass gently swayed its leaves, looking especially vibrant in this deathly still wasteland.
Xu Qing had specially cultivated all of it.
At first, he had also tried transplanting blue silver grass from outside in the Douluo World here.
But every time he planted them, the seedlings would wither before long.
Xu Qing went through several attempts before finally discovering:
The blue silver grass from outside simply could not withstand the violent energy in Parallel Earth's air.
Only the blue silver grass split off from his own Martial Soul remained unaffected by this energy.
Moreover, this blue silver grass grew especially vigorously compared with the blue silver grass outside.
After figuring out the pattern, Xu Qing had spent the past year continually splitting off portions of his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and cultivating them little by little.
Over time, pots of every size had filled the entire base, inside and out.
Vigorously growing stalks of blue silver grass spread their branches and leaves, silently purifying the murky air around them and bringing the only touch of life to this deathly still apocalyptic space.
Standing on the balcony, Xu Qing looked at the courtyard full of blue silver grass and sighed softly. He raised a hand and gently brushed the leaves in front of him.
Of course, there was a drawback: with Xu Qing's current soul power, producing more blue silver grass was still far too difficult.
Xu Qing picked up a map from the coffee table. It was a simple map of the town he had drawn himself based on what he had seen, marked with red dots of varying sizes representing the number of zombies and the degree of danger.