ASER - Chapter 183
Chapter 183: A Bit of a Gigolo
Of course, she wasn't here to buy food. A'Diao felt she was quite capable of distinguishing her priorities; eating was just her way of adjusting to life... If she was in a bad mood, eating would fix it.
"This one, this one, and this one, and that one, I want them all."
A'Diao ordered a pile of snacks, then turned to Li Cangxue and casually handed her two bags of snacks.
Li Cangxue was very surprised, but also a little flattered.
"For me?"
"And for this older sister next to you."
She must be a powerful backer. How envious she was of people like Li Cangxue who had such backers in their families. Unlike her own family, where the old ancestor not only died but also left behind a cursed legacy. So frustrating!
Li Cangxue looked into the Chief's eyes, as if transported back to the day this person had kindly and amicably reminded her about returning a book... She had targeted her because she had value. Surely, she wasn't targeting her now.
"This is my maternal aunt."
A'Diao: "Hello, Auntie."
Li Cangxue: "..."
The aunt beside her paused for a moment, then said, "Hello."
Her voice was so cold, colder than an iceberg.
A'Diao almost shivered from the cold. Looking at the other party's ordinary appearance yet undeniably extraordinary bearing and grace, she dared not probe further and quickly left, feigning a nonchalant air.
As soon as she left, Li Cangxue couldn't help but ask the person beside her, "Auntie, what do you think of this Chief? Did you realize early on that she controlled those four people?"
"No." She didn't explain that it was because she couldn't sense Chen A'Diao's energy.
It was restrained. Such restraint was either due to extraordinary control techniques or because—her energy level was extremely high, its density too strong.
However... she soon heard the following conversation from the alley Chen A'Diao had entered.
"Is it filmed well?"
"Yes, yes, is this okay?"
"Okay, my foot! Where's the coolness of me throwing the bamboo hat? This was a move I specially designed."
"Filmed, filmed, the full version later has it..."
The aunt: "..."
In the alley, A'Diao excitedly watched the recording, all the while hitting Xia Sanlu, who had skipped class to help her film an MV. She felt he needed to practice his filming skills.
"I know, I know, Chief, rest assured. Whatever you instruct, I'll do it beautifully for you. Do you need special effects?"
Effects my foot! We're spiritual cultivators, what special effects do we need!
A'Diao complained internally, but said aloud: "Then just casually add some falling cherry blossom effects. And there must be a big close-up. It needs to be fresh and natural, so it doesn't look like special effects, making people think I'm just that peerlessly elegant, infinitely charming, and unique in all the world."
Xia Sanlu: "..."
A group of people attending a Daoist law class soon learned about the incident in the First Heaven. At that moment, their feelings were complex, but soon they saw the video Xia Sanlu had deliberately posted on his social media, praising it with the gushing admiration of a die-hard fan of a proxy photographer.
Artificial, exaggerated, but truly... Shen Huajing watched the video and couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Our Chief is really quite photogenic."
More than just photogenic; with peach blossoms blooming enchantingly, she was truly stunningly beautiful and elegant.
It was just that Lan Yi and the others were so pitiful, truly pitiful.
A'Diao had reaped three to four hundred billion mental power points from one video and was ecstatic. But as she walked out of her courtyard, she glanced at a list and noticed two names at the very top.
Daoguang Jingci, Dantai Ye.
They had both contributed mental power before she even posted the video.
One was the Empress, the other... the Crown Prince.
"Could these two... could they both have come to Lushan?!"
A'Diao was astonished. Was it such a coincidence, or... did the stepmother and the Crown Prince come together?
That seemed unlikely. The imperial family wouldn't allow both of them to travel outside at the same time.
Thoughts of scandalous literature immediately churned in A'Diao's mind. However, she stuck to her original plan and headed to the Demon Spirit Abyss office in the First Heaven.
Time to accept missions!
The hall was crowded. After A'Diao entered, she directly used a machine to filter missions. Soon, she locked onto several missions currently marked with a red line.
She needed points to exchange for materials for the upcoming Hidden Dragon formula, and also a large number of spirit cores to make talismans. All things considered, she had to go to the Demon Spirit Abyss.
A blade untempered will grow dull.
Currently, a large portion of these missions were related to several border cities, especially the main northern border city, Blood Abandonment City.
This indicated that Lushan currently considered these areas extremely dangerous.
A'Diao looked around and accepted two missions.
First, to assassinate the sect master of the newly emerged evil cult, the Demon Sound Sect, who was hiding in Blood Abandonment City. Reward: 5000 points.
Second, to kill a level 12 Grotto Demon King. Reward: 5000 points.
A'Diao left quickly after accepting these two missions.
However, as soon as she departed, her information was spied upon from the Demon Spirit Abyss's internal system and subsequently reached the imperial family.
"She's leaving Lushan, her target is Blood Abandonment City? The city where her brother Chen Xun is?"
"No, she couldn't possibly be unaware that we're watching her. To accept missions so openly is tantamount to telling us her whereabouts."
"Her target is likely not Blood Abandonment City. Continue to monitor."
After A'Diao left the First Heaven, from the small riverside pavilion where she had previously caused a stir, Crown Prince Dantai Ye emerged. He watched her leave, joking and tussling with Xia Sanlu, and was momentarily lost in thought.
The old eunuch behind him stepped out and said hoarsely, "Your Highness, what His Majesty requires you to do, you must not disobey, otherwise..."
The Crown Prince remained silent, merely looking down at the red string tied to his wrist.
Red candle weeping blood. Back then, that delicate and gentle Crown Princess had blushingly tied it to his hand, but later... she died.
Died so tragically.
His lofty, imperial father had told him that spiritual energy had revived, and he needed a new Crown Princess, preferably from the Duanmu family. As for this old one, he, as the father, had taken care of her for him.
Taking a deep breath, the Crown Prince composed his gaze, his expression gentle and melancholic.
"Alright."
Spiritual energy had revived. He, a Crown Prince of insufficient aptitude, was already a grasshopper dancing on a knife's edge.
A'Diao and Xia Sanlu soon returned to the classroom one after the other. It was break time. Since she was the last to arrive, only the seat next to Cang Wu was available, so... Xia Sanlu delightedly sat next to Cang Wu, while A'Diao naturally took the Chief's seat at the front.
But when Xia Sanlu learned that Cang Wu was A'Diao's roommate and also lived in Langya Courtyard, his expression immediately changed.
"Brother Cang Wu, hello, I'm Xia Sanlu. Please look after me in the future."
Cao Juanzhi also fanned himself and took the opportunity to approach. "Young Lord Cang Wu, hello, I am... Please look after me in the future."
Cang Wu: "?"
He felt as if they were paying respects to a gang leader, or perhaps forming a clique. The way they looked at him was also rather odd.
A hint of competition, probing, and ingratiation?
Strange.
And in the eyes of Handan Jidao and others, the three of them looked entirely like... three spare tires, or three gigolos.
After class, A'Diao and Cang Wu had just returned to Langya Courtyard when they found a guest.
To be precise, the Empress-sister had arrived.
Her purpose was very clear.
"Chief A'Diao, could we talk?"
Cang Wu did not disturb them and went to the kitchen area. Just as the two sat down, while the outwardly respectful A'Diao was pondering the other's intentions, Daoguang Jingci got straight to the point.
"A Lesser Spirit King Dao Tablet in exchange for the principle behind your bloodline creation."
Her opening left A'Diao no room to refuse.
A'Diao was shocked, but she still uttered the standard reply, "Your Highness, you are, after all, a member of the Heavenly Spirit Clan. I'm afraid you wouldn't need this."
The implication was: you're from the Heavenly Spirit Clan. If I sell this secret to you, wouldn't that be an indirect betrayal of the human race?
I don't care personally, but if I get caught, I'll be done for. Even Lushan wouldn't be able to protect me.
Daoguang Jingci leaned against the soft couch, not putting on any airs with her. Faced with A'Diao's deliberate humility, she didn't force any warmth, but maintained a calm and level demeanor.
"Firstly, this method has exceedingly high requirements regarding aptitude and various other aspects; it cannot be widely applied. Therefore, it offers little benefit to my Heavenly Spirit Clan.
Secondly, the old relics in the imperial family have already uncovered the secrets of your Chen family ancestor, Chen Gui."
Chen Gui?
A'Diao mentally filtered through her memories but couldn't recall seeing this ancestral tablet...
"It's a past buried by history, much like the Xu family's affairs. After the cataclysm three hundred years ago, too many families were annihilated or had their lineages severed. Let alone yours, many of us other races experienced the same. Thus, no one knew before that you are descendants of Chen Gui."
A'Diao couldn't help but ask, "Who is Chen Gui? Which 'gui'?"
"The 'Gui' from 'Yugui' (jade tablet)."
"Oh... that's a good name. Was my ancestor a very formidable figure?"
"Yes."
Daoguang Jingci rested her chin on the back of her hand. "As far as I know, back then the world was divided into three. The 'world' I speak of refers to three spatial layers. The first layer is the main world, which is the human realm where we currently reside. The second is the Heaven Realm, and the third is the Demon Cave. The Demon Cave is easy to understand; it's the world inhabited by demon kings and their demon spirit descendants. The Demon Cave has the harshest living environment, with few energy resources. But the terrifying aspect of demon spirits lies in their reproduction and survival capabilities. Do you know how they initially grew and fought their way to become demon kings?"
A'Diao pondered for a moment. "Gu cultivation?"
"Correct. Constant reproduction. Through this ability to reproduce, they bring life forms into being. Then, through simple growth, they rapidly mature these demon spirits. Subsequently, the demon spirits devour each other, evolving into increasingly stronger demon spirits. These demon spirits also mutate and upgrade their genes through continuous transformation, breeding larger and more terrifying demon spirit populations, ultimately giving rise to generations of demon kings and countless powerful demon spirits."
"But they are never satisfied. Greed is the essence of living beings. So, they spent countless years and finally found a way to open the realm gate—the human realm's spatial gate was the weakest, and at that time, the source of spiritual energy was located in the human realm. Thus, they came to the human realm, which led to the unending generational slaughter between humans and demon spirits."
A'Diao frowned slightly. She had never read such history in any book. Logically, such matters should be common knowledge. Why was it not widely known?
"But the biggest problem came from the Heaven Realm?"
Daoguang Jingci knew this person was perceptive and wasn't surprised. "Yes. At that time, the rulers of this universe were not the human race, but the Celestial Clan from the Heaven Realm. The power of the Celestial Clan... you can basically equate them to the omnipotent god clans in human myths and legends. You can also understand my 'other races' as an intermediate entity between the human race and the Celestial Clan."
A'Diao raised an eyebrow. "Intermediate? Your 'other races' are a mix of humans and the Celestial Clan?"
"No." Daoguang Jingci denied it, but then said subtly, "The Celestial Clan has reproductive barriers with other races; they inherently cannot produce offspring with them. They can only reproduce internally. And it's like the opposite of demon spirits: demon spirits are born weak and lowly, but the Celestial Clan are born noble. A pure-blooded Celestial Clan member is born at the Spirit King level. Can you imagine?"
A'Diao's expression was filled with question marks.
Daoguang Jingci chuckled lightly. "Inconceivable? Yet, that is the truth. However, their fatal weakness also lies in this aspect. Their reproduction is exceedingly difficult. The more powerful they are, the less likely they are to bear offspring. Thus, their numbers are extremely small. While humans are counted in units of billions, and demon spirits in tens or hundreds of billions, the population of the Celestial Clan never exceeded five digits."
A'Diao couldn't help but sigh: This is the core law of the universe's operation—balance. It will not grant any single race supreme and perfect everything, because such a race would exhaust all resources through infinite expansion.
"Initially, the human race was weak and utterly incapable of withstanding the slaughter by demon spirits. The Celestial Clan, fearing that the demon spirits would breach the human realm's barrier and subsequently attack the Celestial Clan, bestowed many secret cultivation methods, aiding human cultivation. Indeed, armed with these secret methods, the human race rose, successfully repelling the demon spirits. However, concurrently with the rise of the human race, and because humans possessed a balanced talent that seemed to perfectly align with the universe's constraints on living beings, it meant that the human race was highly likely to receive the fortune of that era. Consequently, the Celestial Clan perceived a threat and attempted to annihilate the human race, which led to the subsequent cataclysm."
A'Diao was slightly stunned. Everyone talked about the cataclysm, but due to missing documents and historical gaps, she had always believed it was caused by internal strife within the human race and their battles with demon spirits, which ultimately led to the disappearance of the spiritual energy source.
She hadn't expected it to be the Celestial Clan's fault.
"What did the Celestial Clan do?"
Daoguang Jingci: "It turned out the Celestial Clan could control the opening and closing of the spiritual energy source, that is, the first-generation Spirit Gate. At that time, the Celestial Clan did two things. First, they opened the exit from the Demon Realm, allowing demon spirits into the human realm. Second, they closed the Spirit Gate."
"Humans fought that war with immense difficulty, attacked from both front and rear. In the end, they managed to reverse the situation, exterminating the Celestial Clan and driving out the demon spirits, ultimately establishing their dominant position."
Oh, so that's how it was.
A'Diao: "Then what does this have to do with my Turtle Ancestor?"
Daoguang Jingci: "..."
She was momentarily stumped by A'Diao's question.
Let me think.
"He infiltrated the Celestial Clan, gained their trust, obtained confidential information from within, and helped the human race turn defeat into victory."
Chan Wing-yan from Infernal Affairs?
A'Diao: "???"
"Err... the Celestial Clan could trust him?" A'Diao felt that either the Celestial Clan's brains were waterlogged, or her Turtle Ancestor possessed superb acting skills and extraordinary charm.
"He seduced a Celestial Clan woman."
A'Diao: "!!!"
Her worldview was cracking a little. She couldn't help but ask weakly again, "May I ask what happened to that Celestial Clan woman? Did my Turtle Ancestor comfort her while exterminating her clan, telling her he had no choice, then engage in some domineering CEO-style forceful love, where she had no choice but to forgive, he made her lose her memory, then got her pregnant, and finally took her to live in seclusion in the mountains?"
She was completely speculating the ending using the most toxic idol drama clichés.
Daoguang Jingci remained silent for three seconds before saying, "If you were Chen Gui, perhaps this Chen family curse wouldn't exist."
Are you praising me? It doesn't sound like it.
A'Diao facepalmed.
Damn it!
"Her soul probably dispersed. Your family's curse was likely cast by her. The bloodline of a direct Celestial Clan descendant is no laughing matter. She was at the peak of the Great Spirit King realm back then and cast the curse as she was about to die in battle... However, it was also mainly related to Chen Gui having another wife and children among the human race at that time."
"As soon as the curse manifested, all of Chen Gui's direct blood relatives died tragically."
A'Diao asked, somewhat trepidatiously, "How did they die tragically?"
Daoguang Jingci: "Their flesh rotted away, and their souls scattered."
A'Diao: "..."
The Celestial Clan, the Celestial Clan, ah! She had thought it was some old enemy, but it turned out to be something that transcended human limits, a cross-species affair.
Peak Great Spirit King!
My ancestor, you had some nerve!
What a Celestial Clan Li Mochou.
A'Diao: "..."
She was almost speechless, with too many complaints welling up. Finally, she blurted out, "Although the Celestial Clan deserved to be killed, I still have to say—what a dog of a man!"
Daoguang Jingci: "Who could say otherwise."
Cang Wu, who was just bringing over a plate of fruit: "..."
A'Diao still had one question. "What did my Turtle Ancestor look like? To be able to charm a celestial woman like that... Do you have a photo or a portrait?"
Daoguang Jingci actually had one.
As the portrait was unrolled, A'Diao glanced at it, remained stunned for several seconds, and then said, "Not a dog, just a bit of a gigolo."
Refined and handsome to the extreme, with an elegant bearing, delicate yet magnificent, dignified and gentlemanly.
What a peerless, beautiful gigolo.
So handsome, devastatingly beautiful. Forget celestial women, even celestial men wouldn't be able to resist.
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