Evolution - Chapter 156
Chapter 156
It felt like a lifetime ago, yet she had keenly experienced it for many years—the standard-issue poverty of Lingyun Peak!
Ji Changqing’s heart trembled. First came a surge of joy—Yu Zhiyao’s genetic conflict could be resolved! But then her heart leaped into her throat. Where was Yu Zhiyao? Had she been rescued along with her?
Her heart was in turmoil.
She tried to move her limbs. They seemed to work freely; she wasn’t crippled. Just as she was stumbling toward the exit, Chu Ci deactivated the restriction on the cave dwelling and walked in.
They met unexpectedly at the entrance, both looking a little startled.
Big Sister, ever composed, raised an eyebrow and looked her up and down. “Not bad. You’ve recovered better than expected.”
Waking up several days earlier than anticipated meant she had a good constitution. Durable. She could be trained rigorously in the future!
Unaware of the devilish thoughts brewing behind her Big Sister’s kind and benevolent expression, Ji Changqing felt a little reserved. She asked hesitantly, “When… when you rescued me, did you see the person who was with me?”
Chu Ci nodded. “Her spiritual soul was injured. Another location is better suited for nurturing it, so I placed her there.”
A look of delight spread across Ji Changqing’s face, dispelling even the natural awkwardness of seeing an NPC she had spent over two hundred years with in the game instance appear before her in the flesh—a mix of innate closeness and the reality of being strangers. She asked eagerly, “Can I go see her?”
Why not?
Big Sister briefly scanned Ji Changqing’s current physical condition. Deciding she was tough enough to handle it—after all, she was just going to see another patient, not heading into battle—she figured if Ji Changqing could stand and walk, then she could go.
But when they ran into Gu Jiawen on the path and he shot them a look full of reproachful resentment, Big Sister felt a little sheepish.
This future goddess of wealth—rescued at great expense by everyone on Ten Thousand Swords Peak, who had to sell everything they owned and fleece the divine dragon Yazi—probably deserved more careful treatment.
In truth, that wasn’t what Gu Jiawen was thinking at all. He lowered his head, thought for a moment, and sent a secret voice transmission to Big Sister: “Big Sister, we haven’t drawn up the bill yet, have we?”
The main thing was, he hadn’t expected Ji Changqing to wake up so quickly. A miscalculation!
Chu Ci glanced coolly at her junior brother. That inherited, identical aura of poverty… “What’s there to be afraid of? She’s only woken up. It’s not like she’s run away.”
Judging by how much Ji Changqing cared for that girl with the far more troublesome condition—so much so that she looked ready to crawl to her side the moment she woke up—even if you told her to leave, she probably wouldn’t want to!
Gu Jiawen understood. As long as she didn’t run, it wasn’t a problem. He cast what he thought were surreptitious glances at Ji Changqing—one, then another, and another.
He recalled the happy times in the game instance, when Lingyun Peak was rolling in wealth. As an alchemy cultivator, he had access to any medicinal ingredient he wanted, of any age he desired. He could even splurge spirit stones at auctions to buy interesting ancient alchemy recipes. He shed a tear of envy for his game-instance self.
His staring gave Ji Changqing the creeps, and she subconsciously edged closer to Big Sister. They may have been companions who grew up together in the game, but this kind of look was just plain weird, wasn’t it?
If he saw her as a long-lost friend, he should just look openly and forthrightly. They could even reminisce a little. But this secretive observation was just… perverted!
Noticing Ji Changqing’s movement, Chu Ci shot Gu Jiawen a glare: Take it easy!
The three of them pushed aside flowers and brushed past willows as they made their way to the cave dwelling on the back mountain where Yu Zhiyao was recuperating. Along the way, Big Sister and Gu Jiawen composed themselves and occasionally spoke to introduce Ten Thousand Swords Peak to Ji Changqing.
“Our sect is now the Xuan Tian Sect, and Ten Thousand Swords Peak is one of its thirty-six main peaks.”
They were currently walking along a cliff near the summit, a prime location that overlooked the entire Sword Terrace—the main training ground of Ten Thousand Swords Peak. It was indeed vast and open, majestic and imposing, solemn and orderly.
Ji Changqing couldn’t help but marvel silently. It looked much better than the dilapidated Lingyun Peak of the old days!
“Ten Thousand Swords Peak currently has one main peak and seventeen auxiliary peaks. They are all excellent places brimming with spiritual energy, and many areas are well-suited for cultivation as spiritual herb gardens or spiritual fields.”
Ji Changqing nodded frequently. The concentration of spiritual energy here was incomparable to Lingyun Peak’s. With such abundant energy, it was sure to be prosperous…
She raised her eyes to look around, and then she could no longer bring herself to nod.
The place was indeed brimming with spiritual energy, but what was all this overgrown mess?! She had expected to see neatly planned, thriving spiritual plant gardens and vast, rolling spiritual fields. But as far as the eye could see, everything was patchy, like a mangy scalp, with plants growing wild wherever they could. Were these spiritual gardens?! Were these spiritual fields?!
Big Sister remained perfectly calm, while Gu Jiawen awkwardly tried to patch things over. “We only got Ten Thousand Swords Peak back a little over ten years ago. Before the previous occupants left, they took everything they could.”
Ji Changqing understood instantly. What she didn’t understand was, “Someone actually dared to snatch things from Big Sister?”
A bitter expression crossed Gu Jiawen’s face. “Big Sister’s Dao heart collapsed before. She couldn’t use her true qi. It was only twenty years ago that she broke through her old limits to achieve a new breakthrough.”
Ji Changqing’s heart skipped a beat. That unit of time… it was all too familiar!
But Gu Jiawen fell silent and said no more.
Ji Changqing couldn’t exactly grab him by the collar and demand he spill the juicy gossip. She could only silently try to imagine the dramatic, convoluted story behind it all as she took in the scenery of the peak.
The farther she walked, the more her heart sank. This was it? This?! One of the thirty-six main peaks? The main peak of Ten Thousand Swords Peak? It was desolate as hell, with more birds and beasts than people, and far more weeds than spiritual herbs and grains!
The three of them weren’t moving slowly and soon rounded the back of the mountain. From a distance, they heard Shen Guiqing’s gentle voice speaking to someone. “Yunbao, be good. Don’t you want to eat Phoenix-Turns-Its-Head? The dish would taste even better if it were seasoned with Starcloud Water Caltrop.”
A clear, childish voice exclaimed in delight, “Really? Really? Qingqing, you’re so good to me!” It generously took out a jade box, drooling. “This is all the Starcloud Water Caltrop I have left. Qingqing, use it sparingly!”
Shen Guiqing, with her gentle demeanor, showered it with all sorts of praise—“Yunbao, you’re truly amazing”—while her hands moved swiftly to take the jade box and tuck it into her storage ring. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief. With this box of Starcloud Water Caltrop, they could save a lot of medicinal ingredients on Ji Changqing’s subsequent recovery and body tempering.
Watching from the side with envy, Luo Mingsheng chimed in, “Yunbao, Gengjiu and I are about to go hunt the spirit beast for your Phoenix-Turns-Its-Head, but we’ve run out of usable talismans.”
Yunbao—the divine dragon Yazi—furrowed his little brow and hesitantly extended a short, chubby claw. “Then… then you have to hunt a bigger one this time. Drawing blood hurts!”
“Okay, okay!” With swift eyes and quick hands, Luo Mingsheng took out a small silver knife glinting with a cold light, one capable of piercing Yunbao’s skin. She made a light cut and filled a small, thumb-sized jade vial.
Luo Gengjiu stood silently to the side, hugging her sword, watching Shen Guiqing and Luo Mingsheng swindle and deceive Yunbao.
Just as Ji Changqing was feeling relieved that there was at least one normal person here, Luo Gengjiu silently extended her sword toward Yunbao, who had just had his blood drawn.
Yunbao sighed and expertly produced a dragon scale. Dragon scales shed naturally anyway, so he was quite generous with this. As he handed it over, he lectured in a world-weary tone, “Your sword is dull again? Sigh, the materials you humans use are really terrible!”
It was a large-scale scene of deception, so practiced, with everyone taking turns in perfect coordination.
Ji Changqing fell into a deep silence.
They seemed even more destitute than Lingyun Peak had been back in the day.
Catching Ji Changqing’s grave expression out of the corner of her eye, Chu Ci opportunely released a sliver of her aura.
Yunbao, the little wealth-scattering boy who was being coaxed and tricked into generously giving away his treasures, immediately turned his head in pleasant surprise and shouted, “Chu Ci, I… I wasn’t wasting things recklessly! The star beast is gone, but the scales and dragon blood are fine. Take them all to trade for things. You’ll definitely be able to heal those two juniors!”
Ji Changqing’s heart took a critical hit. So, they were all the same. The pot calling the kettle black. They were all in the same boat.
She and Yu Zhiyao were also dragon-gnawers!
Chu Ci patted the adorably clueless divine dragon Yazi and showered him with effusive praise. “Yunbao is acting more and more like an elder!”
As an elder, Yunbao proudly puffed out his little chest.
Ji Changqing couldn’t bear to watch and looked away. Of course, he was carrying the heavy burden of Ten Thousand Swords Peak’s livelihood on his tender shoulders!
Since they had run into each other on the path, Chu Ci had everyone formally re-introduce themselves to Ji Changqing. “You and your companion were severely injured and unconscious. To trade for the spiritual medicines and materials for you, they emptied their coffers. But we all belong to the same peak, so it’s only right that we support one another.”
Wait, when did I rejoin the sect?
Luo Mingsheng explained at the right moment, “Back then, Big Sister entered the game instance at the last moment. She placed a soul imprint on you and He Yi and gave you a Great Virtue Medal.”
“With those two things, as long as you returned to the cultivation world, you would automatically be considered disciples of Big Sister’s peak.”
The whole group proceeded in a grand procession to visit Yu Zhiyao.
Yu Zhiyao, still deep in sleep, lay on a bed of black jade, her brow furrowed and her face pale.
Chu Ci explained gently, “Her spiritual soul is injured, and her spiritual body is damaged. This black jade bed is inscribed with a Dust-Cleansing Purification Array. Sleeping on it will help resolve the issues with her spiritual body later on.”
“Her spiritual body is damaged?” Ji Changqing keenly sensed there was more to it. Having spent two hundred years in the cultivation world of the game instance, she knew Big Sister wouldn’t mention this for no reason.
Chu Ci smiled faintly and said, enunciating each word, “Glazed. Immaculate. Spirit. Body.”
This was a super-cheat spiritual body that allowed for cultivation without bottlenecks! For some reason, though, it had never awakened or been discovered. Instead, due to the planet’s comprehensive evolution, the two conflicting forces had clashed for nearly twenty years, causing some rather severe damage.
Gu Jiawen pointed to a lotus flower planted in a spiritual spring inside the cave dwelling. “That’s a Pure Grade Lotus. Its aura can soothe and nurture the spiritual soul and also purify the spiritual body. Because it can only be grown in a cold spring, we had to place her here to recuperate.”
With a swish, he produced a long, long, long list, on which were itemized all sorts of pills, spiritual materials, spiritual springs, spiritual plants, and so on.
This was the fruit of his labor on the way here!
Ji Changqing looked at the required spirit stones listed next to each item, then at the grand total, and a wave of dizziness washed over her.
After all, she and He Yi had once been up to their eyeballs in debt for their research, leading their companions in hard work to escape poverty and build wealth. Not to mention, with Big Sister’s strong support later on, she had led all of Lingyun Peak in a poverty alleviation campaign that took several hundred years, turning the destitute sect into one that was rolling in wealth.
She had an ominous premonition. Surely she wouldn’t have to walk that same old road all over again, would she?!
Once she saw it from that angle, what was there not to understand? From the moment they left the cave and started walking this way, it had all been a setup to make her see the truth of Ten Thousand Swords Peak’s poverty.
The desolate-as-hell peak, the dirt-poor Big Sister and companions, and then everyone debuting as a group to jointly fleece the idiotic divine dragon, becoming a band of crazed dragon-gnawers.
Big Sister, you’ve changed! Ji Changqing looked at her resentfully. The old Big Sister hadn’t been so full of schemes.
Chu Ci wasn’t fazed in the least. With a solemn face, she righteously lectured the resentful Ji Changqing, “We all belong to the same peak. It is our duty to support one another. Since we have already helped you in your time of need…”
…could you please save us from our poverty?!
How could Gu Jiawen, Shen Guiqing, and the others let Big Sister say something so damaging to her image?!
They hurriedly made their presence known, pointing to the long, long, long list floating in the air. They rushed to speak, bravely exposing their own situation: “Everything on this list… we’ve only managed to gather enough spiritual medicines and materials for your initial treatment. The things needed later to improve her spiritual body and resolve the self-consuming conflict in her constitution—we can’t afford any of them right now.”
Gu Jiawen’s voice grew quieter as he spoke, so Shen Guiqing finished for him: “These things are not only rare, but also expensive.”
Big Sister nodded slightly, looked at Ji Changqing with encouragement in her eyes, and cheered her on. “So, you have to work hard and earn money!”
Debt is a great motivator, you know?
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