https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-171-Perfection-of-Elixir-Cultivation/12554270/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-173-The-Deeply-Cunning-Jiang-Qiuluan/12554272/
Chapter 172: The Crouching Dragon and the Fledgling Phoenix of Linjiang County
Chapter 172: The Crouching Dragon and the Fledgling Phoenix of Linjiang County
At this moment, Jiang Qiuluan sat quietly by the table, her entire body exuding a sharp aura, finally revealing the sharpest sword in Qingzhou.
Shen Yi withdrew his gaze without agreeing or disagreeing, reached for the small wine jar, and broke the seal of mud on it.
He took a slight sip of the medicinal wine.
It's fine to deceive a brother; after all, it won't cost a piece of meat...
If she truly had the confidence to look down on everything, why would she don this long skirt?
This is the price of having too much expectation. When everyone in Qingzhou regards her as their hope, it's as if she's been placed on a high fire rack. Every admiring glance is like adding a stick of dry wood to the fire.
Shen Yi did not offer any words of comfort. They were merely colleagues, and she had helped him a lot. If there was anything else he could do to help, he wouldn't refuse, but they weren't close enough to confide in each other.
Moreover, compared to the other people in Qingzhou, he only trusted the knife in his hand.
The room fell silent.
"..."
Jiang Qiuluan stared at the young man's face, her beautiful eyes flickering.
After a moment, the dense, sharp aura around her slowly dissipated.
Like a fairy from a painting stepping into the mortal realm, she seemed less distant and more real.
She always had to maintain an appearance of having everything under control in front of others, but in front of Shen Yi, he could always see through her true emotions with just a glance.
Jiang Qiuluan raised the wine jar and drank it all in one go. The amber liquid trickled down from the corner of her lips to her white neck, staining her clothes.
She closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly, "It's about to break through, and I'm a bit anxious."
The young lady didn't need a response; she just wanted someone to confide in, and the quiet young man before her was undoubtedly the most suitable candidate.
"But when I put on this dress, all these years of cultivation seemed like a joke."
"I will kill it."
Jiang Qiuluan opened her eyes again, and the pitch-black eyes that had held a deliberately sharp aura were now calm, yet they exuded a chilling murderous intent.
It might have been an illusion, but in the quiet room, a faint, almost imperceptible sound of shattering could be heard. If one listened carefully, it wasn't a sound at all, but a fluctuation of aura.
Shen Yi put down the wine jar and looked at her helplessly, "..."
Cultivation was a serious matter; it required a large amount of lifespan to build one's realm. Couldn't she be a little more solemn about it? How could she create such a disturbance with just a few casual words?
"Thank you."
Jiang Qiuluan calmed her mind and restrained her murderous intent. Her eyes, now gentle, turned towards the young man.
She was one step closer to becoming a Mixed Element Master.
"You're welcome. It would be the same if you put a log here," Shen Yi said casually.
But Jiang Qiuluan shook her head seriously, "It's not the same."
She had always been proud of her talent, and this was the first time she had felt crushed by someone else's ability. She was truly a bit stirred up.
Moreover, the young man's indifferent attitude towards everything, as if he didn't care about anything, also made Jiang Qiuluan envious.
That was why she had returned to this courtyard tonight.
"You should be at the perfect Pill Condensation realm now. With your intelligence, crossing the three hurdles might be countless times faster than me," Jiang Qiuluan said with a hint of emotion.
Planting the Dao seed, incubating the Dao fetus, condensing the Dao infant, and when the Dao infant accumulates enough depth, shattering the inner pill—that was the path to becoming a Mixed Element Grandmaster.
"Then how long would it take for someone who isn't intelligent?" Shen Yi suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.
"You don't have to worry about that," Jiang Qiuluan reassured him gently. Every martial artist felt a bit tense when they first entered the Pill Condensation stage. She suspected that he didn't even know how astonishing his innate talent and understanding were.
It was clear that Chen Qinkuan was the best example she could give.
The other man took the Yin Shen shortcut, which was much simpler than the Mixed Element path.
But after more than six hundred years, the Yin Shen still hadn't awakened and could only barely borrow some of its abilities.
"..."
Shen Yi glanced at the Xuan Jia on his body; it was quite a coincidence.
In the small Linjiang County, there were actually two Demon Generals with average aptitudes, which was quite remarkable.
However, thankfully, in the face of the vast lifespan of demons and monsters, a few hundred years wasn't considered too long.
After learning the Devouring Heaven Elixir Stealing technique, Shen Yi had a good understanding of the Qi Condensation phase. The difficulties lay in just three aspects.
First was having sufficient resources. For example, if one wanted to nourish their qi and blood, they would have to search for various precious medicines, refine them into qi and blood power, and finally infuse them into their inner pill. This process was incredibly slow, and the amount of precious medicine required was astronomical.
But Shen Yi already had an idea for this problem.
He planned to utilize the most readily accessible demonic energy to cultivate his inner core, leveraging the Heavenly Demon Elixir's overwhelming absorptive properties to instantly assimilate the demonic energy within his body. This approach eliminated the need for him to refine the energy himself, allowing him to directly channel it into his inner core, thereby streamlining the process.
The second difficulty was that once there was enough accumulation, how would one condense these things into a Dao seed? The third difficulty was that after condensing it, one would still have to infuse their divine sense into it.
The latter two were most likely the reason for General Chen's slow progress.
But for Shen Yi, all of this could be solved with the lifespan of demons and monsters, and the only problem now was that he didn't have enough demon pills.
After obtaining the treasure, it would be time to return to Qingzhou.
Just then, a figure rushed into the courtyard from outside.
Jiang Chengyun rushed into the courtyard and looked at the two figures sitting inside.
His expression gradually turned strange, "You two..."
No wonder he couldn't find anyone for half a day. So, in the end, he was the only one who went to the banquet? Jiang Chengyun wasn't blaming the two, he just felt... that this matter seemed to have gotten a bit out of hand.
He sidestepped slightly, revealing the androgynous youth in ink-green clothing behind him.
The Crown Prince of Jinjiang walked to the front of the house, his gaze sweeping over the two of them, and then landing on the empty wine jars on the table.
Shen Yi, clad in the Xuan Armor, and Jiang Qiuluan, in a black skirt, were clearly not speaking, but just sitting there quietly, giving off a very harmonious feeling.
"Miss Jiang." The Crown Prince of Jinjiang spoke, breaking the calm.
Jiang Qiuluan turned to look at him.
She didn't intend to have any more dealings with the Jinjiang Kingdom, but since she had broken her promise first, she calmly stood up, nodded slightly, "I've already asked someone to speak to the Princess Consort. There are still important matters in Qingzhou that require my attention, and I truly have no heart for anything else. Please convey my apologies to the Princess Consort, and forgive my rudeness, Crown Prince."
She had only agreed to help the Crown Prince with his martial arts, which didn't include drinking and dining.
However, after yesterday's meeting, it was clear that the Crown Prince's heart wasn't on martial arts at all, so she naturally had no reason to stay.
(End of Chapter)
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