Chapter 261: All Prepared, Only Waiting for the East Wind!

Chapter 261: All Prepared, Only Waiting for the East Wind!

"Ah."

Chen Qiu heaved a light sigh, without much thought, he continued to sit cross-legged on the Heavenly Sovereign Throne, operating his Heart Method and began cultivating. He had thrown all his remaining Spirit Stones into the Spirit Gathering Array.

The Mock Heaven Sect disciples did have some Spirit Stones, but when added together, they only amounted to a few tens of thousands, which wasn't of much use.

It wasn't that every disciple of the Mock Heaven Sect was a saint, and they weren't greedy at all. The main reason was that the sect's structure was slightly different from other sects, with a relatively singular source of income, and all of it was connected to him. It didn't pass through the hands of the sect's disciples or elders, so there wasn't even an opportunity to be greedy.

Unless, unless they went directly to the sect's treasure vault to take some.

This was indeed a good idea.

With only 0.4% of his Cultivation Progress remaining, it wouldn't take long. Two days later, Chen Qiu exhaled a mouthful of turbid air and slowly opened his eyes. At this moment, the Cultivation Panel above his Dantian had already changed.

-

"Cultivation": Body Fusion Second Level (0.0%).

-

Body Fusion Second Level!

He also took the opportunity to consolidate his cultivation realm. At this moment, two panels shrouded in clouds appeared above his Dantian.

One cloud was gray, while the other clearly seemed to have a hint of golden light, appearing more advanced.

The former was brought about by the Attribute "Steady Progress," while the latter was from "Gradual Progress." In fact, the effects of these two Attributes overlapped, and the former Steady Progress was no longer useful.

The effect was completely covered by the latter.

When two Attributes with the same effect were possessed simultaneously, the effects did not stack but instead, only one would take effect. Moreover, the Attribute "Gradual Progress" was a permanent version. In other words, the Attribute "Steady Progress" could be used as a self-destruct Attribute.

Self-destructing a Multicolored Attribute would have the same power as a White Attribute. After all, the power of a self-destruct Attribute was not determined by its grade, but at least using it would give a different feeling, a sense of luxury.

Chen Qiu shrugged and didn't think much of it. Instead, he took a deep breath and walked out of the Celestial Palace, standing on the cliff and stretching his muscles.

Even though the Attribute "Steady Progress" was no longer effective, he wouldn't have the slightest thought of self-destructing it. No matter the situation, after all, he had relied on this Steady Progress Attribute for a long time. A man might lose the wife who accompanied him through hard times, but it was highly unlikely that he would discard the items that had helped him rise.

It was a commemoration and a way to cherish the past.

Many times, reminiscing about the hardships of the past was the best side dish for drinking.

Just then—

Bear Gao cautiously approached and said respectfully, "Master, it's time to go to the Lower Continent to pick up Liu Zide and the others. It's been more than a month."

He used to call him Sect Leader, but Fat Dragon reminded him that since he was a steward, he should separate himself from the Mock Heaven Sect and not call him Sect Leader. Instead, he should think about how other stewards addressed their masters.

Chen Qiu thought it made sense, so he changed his address to Master.

"Yes."

Chen Qiu slapped his forehead. He had almost forgotten about this matter. It seemed that finding a steward was indeed necessary. Then, he glanced at the maid beside him. Since he had finished cultivating and left the Celestial Palace, there were seven maids waiting outside the palace gates, following him like shadows.

They had been kneeling by his side all this time.

Each maid held a tray with Spirit Fruits, Fruit Wine, Clear Spring, and other small snacks for mouth-freshening. Each maid wore a veil that partially concealed her face, making it difficult to see their exact features, but their beauty was still apparent.

As for their figures, each one was top-notch.

He had already forgotten about finding maids, but it seemed that Bear Gao hadn't, and he had done it perfectly. Chen Qiu was quite satisfied with these seven maids.

"Not bad."

Chen Qiu nodded with satisfaction and casually picked up a crispy peach from one of the trays, took a bite, and said with a smile, "You already know that I love crispy peaches, so why did you still prepare soft peaches?"

"Yes, Master."

Bear Gao bowed respectfully, and his originally robust figure gave off a petite impression in front of Chen Qiu, "This way, if Master wants to change flavors one day, he can enjoy it at the first opportunity."

"Hey." Chen Qiu couldn't help but shake his head and laugh, "That's quite thoughtful of you, kid. You're quite likable."

Indeed.

Bear Gao had thought it through.

He remembered that when he was in the Great Xia Kingdom and served as the national teacher, he had a preference for soft peaches. So, the Great Xia Emperor had all the peaches in the palace replaced with soft ones. From then on, not only could he not eat crispy peaches, but he couldn't even see a single one.

After eating soft peaches for several years, he became completely sick of them.

Only then did he start to love crispy peaches.

He called this behavior 'hostage-style goodwill.'

The other party was obviously flattering him to show respect, and if he asked for crispy peaches at this time, on the one hand, it would change his image, and on the other hand, it would reject the other party's goodwill and make them overthink.

He quite liked Bear Gao's approach. Although he now preferred crispy peaches, there were times when he really wanted to eat a few bites of soft peaches.

"But wouldn't this be a bit wasteful?"

Chen Qiu sighed, "With your arrangement and so many maids, I feel no different from those extravagant and wasteful young masters of noble families."

"It won't be wasteful."

Bear Gao shook his head respectfully, "These Spirit Peaches are produced by the Mock Heaven Sect and are carefully cultivated day and night by the Brown Bear Clan. There won't be any waste, especially since Master is already in a high position. When a person is placed in a high position, these things come naturally."

"If Master doesn't have these now, many people will put thought into sending gifts in this regard in the future. But if Master already has maids, transportation, and a grand style, then when others send gifts, they will only need to put thought into Spirit Stones."

"Phew!"

Chen Qiu, who had been feeling a little flashy earlier, heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this. He patted Bear Gao on the shoulder and said softly, "Bear Gao, you're really good at comforting people. Now I understand why those demons, despite committing heinous acts, speak as if they possess righteousness."

"They must have someone as talented as you by their side."

"I like that."

"Let's go. I'll take you to the Lower Continent. You haven't officially met Liu Zide and the others yet. I'll introduce you to them, and you'll likely have many opportunities to interact with him in the future."

Bear Gao's eyes lit up, and his voice trembled with excitement, "Thank you, Master."

He was familiar with Liu Zide and had even exchanged quite a few words with him. After all, before coming to the Vast Continent, Liu Zide was just an inconspicuous outer disciple of the Mock Heaven Sect, who would occasionally visit Bear Gao in the back mountains for a chat.

However, this time was different. Being led by the Master to meet someone was a significant gesture.

It meant that he had gained the Master's approval and that the Master was also informing others that Bear Gao was his steward. It was a way of endorsing Bear Gao's status, and others would have to consider how to treat him in the future.

In the following time,

It was as if the fast-forward button had been pressed. In the blink of an eye, two months had passed. During these two months, Chen Qiu's primary source of spirit stones was Liu Zide and the gradually diminishing income from the Qiu Clan Array Disk.

Together, they had accumulated nearly one million spirit stones.

Having experienced the feeling of having millions of spirit stones and cultivating freely, Chen Qiu now had less than one million spirit stones, which he considered a meager consolation. His cultivation progress had reached:

- Cultivation Level: Body Fusion Second Level (41.7%).

He was only 9% away from reaching the Body Fusion Third Level. His cultivation speed was increasing, as Liu Zide had been promoting him, but the spirit stones were not keeping up. No matter how fast his cultivation speed was, it was useless without sufficient spirit stones.

He had almost swept through all the spirit stones in the Mystic Heaven State, whether from major powers or individual cultivators. It would be challenging to squeeze out more spirit stones.

Why were spirit stones never enough?

Even with his rapid wealth-accumulating methods, he was running out of spirit stones. He wondered how other Body Fusion cultivators managed their cultivation.

Sensing Chen Qiu's frustration, the Sky Axe Sect Leader, standing beside him, spoke with a complex expression, "Senior, as far as I know, no other Body Fusion cultivator has advanced to the second level within a month."

To be honest,

Chen Qiu felt a bit disheartened. For the first time, he realized how vast the gap between individuals could be. In his memory, the senior had just broken through to Body Fusion, and in the time it took him to go home and change his clothes, the senior had reached the first level of Body Fusion. Now, two months later, the senior was struggling to break through to the third level due to a lack of spirit stones.

Frustration.

If not for the need to show respect to his senior, he would have blurted out, "What's there to be frustrated about?"

The senior had lived for thousands of years and had only reached the peak of Refining Void cultivation. Shouldn't he be the one feeling frustrated?

Normally, breaking through each minor realm in Body Fusion required years, if not decades, of hard work. Yet, the senior had advanced through a minor realm in just one month. What more could he ask for? If he still found it slow, why not just ascend to immortality directly?

But Chen Qiu couldn't say that.

He could only try to sound as gentle as possible, reassuring the senior that his progress wasn't too slow.

The senior had his own frustrations, which Chen Qiu found difficult to empathize with or understand.

"Phew!"

Sitting on the Heaven Sovereign Throne, Chen Qiu turned to the Sky Axe Sect Leader standing beside him, about to frown and say something, when a Heavenly Dao Edict suddenly echoed throughout the Mystic Heaven State!

- Heavenly Dao Edict: The Heavenly Dao has sensed that on the Vast Continent, in the Mystic Heaven State, the human cultivator Chen Qiu, the Sect Leader of the Mock Heaven Sect, the Heavenly Path Saint, the Heavenly Path Villain, the Human Race Protector Deity, the Supreme Heavenly Prodigy, the King of Xuantian, has been seated on the Heaven Sovereign Throne for a year and is now officially the King of Xuantian!

With the King of Xuantian crowned, the battle for the 'Sole King' in the other eleven states can commence.

"Hmm?"

Chen Qiu raised his eyebrows slightly, hearing the prompt in his ear, and felt a sense of liberation as if a binding force had disappeared. He was now free to enter and exit the mini-world and the Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm at will. It had been a year since he last visited.

There was no need to go to the Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm.

Instead, he remembered that Bear Gao and the others had discovered a pitch-black corridor in the back mountains of the Mock Heaven Sect. He decided to explore it, hoping to find some opportunities, preferably related to spirit stones.

He desperately needed a large amount of spirit stones, the more, the better. If he didn't break through soon, his timed Multicolored Entry, "Fortune Awaits," would expire!

Without the effect of reducing his cultivation progress to 50%, his breakthrough speed would be halved, and he couldn't refresh the entry indefinitely to find the perfect match for himself.

He hadn't even chosen the entry for breaking through the Body Fusion Second Level yet. He planned to pick a sunny day when he was in a good mood and take his time selecting it.

There was no rush.

Chen Qiu turned to Bear Gao beside him and casually said, "Tell me about that corridor."

"This..."

Bear Gao hesitated for a moment before turning to the Sky Axe Sect Leader, who quickly reacted and withdrew to stand at the Celestial Palace gate. Then, Bear Gao began his story.

"It was a corridor discovered by the Brown Bear Clan, deep underground. There are clear signs of artificial excavation, unlike something dug out by a terrifying giant beast with tentacles. The entrance to the corridor is guarded by a heavy iron door."

"The Brown Bear Clan sent people to probe the area, but they didn't go too deep. They just scratched the surface. In the area explored by the Brown Bear Clan, they didn't find anything special or any mechanisms."

"Hmm."

After a moment of thought, Chen Qiu didn't hesitate. He immediately took Bear Gao with him into the mini-world and headed to the back mountains. They stood at the entrance of the corridor on the ground, ready to enter, just the two of them.

And just as Chen Qiu appeared,

"Awoo!"

A rather excited howl reverberated throughout the entire mountain range. The ground seemed to tremble, and soon, a massive wolf demon could be seen rushing excitedly towards Chen Qiu and his companion.

It came to a sudden halt in front of Chen Qiu.

Using its head, it cautiously rubbed against Chen Qiu, indicating for him to reach out and pet it.

This wolf demon was as large as a small mountain, and its current demeanor seemed somewhat adorable in contrast.

"Long time no see," Chen Qiu said with a smile, lightly patting the wolf's head before gesturing, "Go play on the side, I have some things to do here."

This Night Moon Wolf Demon was a spirit beast that Chen Qiu had raised a long time ago, brought along from the Great Xia Kingdom. It had followed him for a long time, and its bloodline was quite exceptional, rumored to be a wolf king among the Night Moon Wolf Demons.

Chen Qiu had even given it a name, Xiao Lang (Little Wolf).

This year, Chen Qiu had been unable to enter the mini-world, and it had been a year since he last saw Xiao Lang. He did miss the wolf, but he could have let Xiao Lang out. However, he hadn't had any use for Xiao Lang this year, so he let it roam freely in the mini-world.

Xiao Lang also enjoyed the mini-world.

"Hey, wait a moment."

Just as Chen Qiu was about to wave his hand to tell Xiao Lang to go play, a strange look flashed in his eyes. After infusing a strand of spiritual energy into Xiao Lang's body, he confirmed, "When did your cultivation reach the Refining Void Realm?"

So far, not a single disciple or elder in the Mock Heaven Sect had reached the Refining Void Realm. Most of them were at the Primordial Soul Realm, while Ao Tian was at the Refining Void Realm, but he couldn't be considered a member of the sect. This wolf, which no one had paid attention to, had secretly reached the Refining Void Realm?

Although it was only the early stage, it was still the Refining Void Realm!

"How did your cultivation break through so quickly?" Chen Qiu asked with a puzzled expression.

He knew Xiao Lang had an exceptional bloodline, but no matter how good your bloodline was, it couldn't compare to the Twelve-Grade Five-Clawed Golden Dragon bloodline of Fat Dragon. Even with a superior bloodline, you still needed to cultivate with spirit stones and breakthrough by enduring tribulations.

Yet, Xiao Lang had achieved the Refining Void Realm without either of these.

Xiao Lang lay on the ground, looking at Chen Qiu innocently as if it didn't know anything.

Chen Qiu didn't say anything. He infused his divine sense into the sect master token in his hand and scanned the entire mini-world, but he couldn't find anything unusual. He waved his hand to signal Xiao Lang to leave and pondered for a while before speaking.

"Bear Gao, have someone search the mountain for me. I think there might be some heavenly materials and treasures that have grown there. Consuming them could lead to a significant breakthrough in cultivation."

This was the best explanation he could come up with.

Otherwise, he couldn't think of any other reason for Xiao Lang's rapid cultivation progress. In terms of speed, Xiao Lang's progress was several times faster than his own.

"Um..."

After hesitating for a while, Bear Gao pointed at the entrance of the corridor in front of them and said uncertainly, "Maybe there's no need to search. The entrance of this corridor has a strong smell of wolf urine. If I'm not mistaken, it's probably Xiao Lang's urine, marking his territory to prevent other spirit beasts from entering."

"This wasn't here before."

"If I'm not wrong, Xiao Lang probably found some opportunity deep within the corridor, which led to his rapid cultivation breakthrough."

"Is that so?"

Chen Qiu frowned slightly, "Xiao Lang is usually well-behaved. Why would he go exploring deep into the corridor on his own?"

". "

Bear Gao couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. He really wanted to say, "Master, when you're not in the mini-world, Xiao Lang bullies us."

As soon as they finished planting the saplings, Xiao Lang would come and urinate on them, killing them.

After they had plowed the fields with great effort, preparing to plant some medicinal herbs, Xiao Lang would come at night and destroy all their hard work.

It was pure torment.

They never complained to anyone. Who could they complain to? They had to endure it silently, suffering in silence. Talking about other things was fine, but saying that Xiao Lang was well-behaved was just nonsense!

This wolf was a scheming creature, acting one way in front of people and another behind their backs.

Soon—

Chen Qiu's divine sense detected Xiao Lang, who was frantically fleeing deeper into the mountains after his secret was exposed. He sighed lightly, and it seemed that Xiao Lang was indeed very bold. Xiao Lang had dared to venture to such a place by himself when he was only at the Nascent Soul Realm.

However, it seemed that there was indeed something good deep within the corridor, something that allowed Xiao Lang to breakthrough so much in one go, and there didn't seem to be any side effects.

Chen Qiu didn't say anything more.

His fingertips trembled slightly, and he sent out a sword qi, slicing off the parts of the cave entrance that were stained with urine. Then, he stepped into the corridor, heading downwards.

Although he wasn't a sword cultivator, forming sword talismans with spiritual energy was no problem for him.

This didn't increase the power, and it was even more troublesome due to the extra step, causing greater spiritual energy consumption. However, it looked much better, which explained why so many people aspired to be sword cultivators. Sword cultivators were indeed cool.

Especially those with high cultivation levels.

Lower-level sword cultivators still needed to wield swords in combat, but higher-level sword cultivators rarely engaged in close-quarters combat with their swords. Their techniques seemed much more flashy than those of formation cultivators.

Various sword formations and sword techniques were indeed dazzling. In the future, when his cultivation level was high enough, he wouldn't have to worry about anything and could cultivate sword techniques as well. But for now, he needed to focus all his resources on formation cultivation.

However, he wasn't sure how Xiao Lang, with its massive body, managed to enter the corridor. When did Xiao Lang gain the ability to freely control its body size?

Chen Qiu had a floating orb of light by his side, illuminating the entire corridor.

On the walls of the corridor, faint paw prints left by the little wolf could be seen. He really wanted to scold the wolf, as it was rather presumptuous, but upon careful thought, he couldn't bring himself to be angry. It was like throwing a man into a brothel and expecting him not to make a mistake.

Many men, after visiting a brothel, would return home and think, "They all had their fun, but I didn't. I find it dirty."

At this moment—

On the sea connecting to Xuan Tian State, the Dragon Clan Chief, who had been anxiously waiting, suddenly looked towards Xuan Tian State with brightened eyes. Although he couldn't hear the Heavenly Dao Edict ringing in Xuan Tian State, he keenly felt that the State Continent Constraint had weakened slightly.

Of course, it was only a slight weakening, and there was no difference from before. This didn't mean that he had the ability to break through or pass through the State Continent Constraint, but it at least indicated that the Xuan Tian State's King position had been firmly established.

Calculating with his fingers, from the start of the "King's Throne" competition to the present, it had been about a year. This meant that Chen Qiu had firmly secured the Xuan Tian State's King position. Now, they only needed to wait for the other eleven states to secure their kings, and the State Continent Constraint on the Vast Continent would be completely removed.

"Come on!"

The Dragon Clan Chief anxiously looked towards the other states, hoping that the other eleven states would be more efficient. In the best-case scenario, if it took another year, the State Continent Constraint could be completely lifted.

But if it took longer...

It could be two or three years, or even eight or ten years.

The reason was simple. In the past few months, Xuan Tian State had produced another batch of dragon offspring!

This was the first time he had heard that dragon offspring could be described as a 'litter'.

After much thought during this period, he had prepared a plan to retrieve this litter of dragon offspring. He had prepared three storage bracelets.

The first storage bracelet was filled with sparkling treasures to lure the dragon offspring.

The second storage bracelet was filled with spirit stones to offer as a tribute to the newly appointed Xuan Tian State King, Chen Qiu. If Chen Qiu had no connection with this batch of dragon offspring, he would only offer three-tenths of the tribute, as he believed there was a high chance that Chen Qiu would become the Sole King. Sending a gift in advance wouldn't be a mistake.

Even if he sent the gift, Chen Qiu would most likely not do anything for him, but if he didn't send anything and Chen Qiu found out that the Dragon Clan was wealthy, Chen Qiu would likely take action against the Dragon Clan.

Many times, sending gifts wasn't to get the other party to do something but to prevent them from having the idea of doing something.

If Chen Qiu had a connection with this batch of dragon offspring, he would offer the full tribute.

The third storage bracelet was prepared for the biological fathers of the dragon offspring, as there had been some conflicts between the main branch and the branch in Xuan Tian Continent. These conflicts could only be resolved with spirit stones.

He was worried that the spirit stones wouldn't be enough, so he had sent someone to Dragon Island to retrieve more. This time, everything should be in order. All that was left was to wait for the State Continent Constraint to be lifted, and he would lead dozens of his most trusted followers, carrying a large number of spirit stones, to storm into Xuan Tian State!

"This won't do."

In Tao Tian State, an elderly man wearing a white robe with golden embroidery looked helplessly at the eldest Miss Bai: "Miss, Chen Qiu is a once-in-a-million Supreme Heavenly Prodigy in a Third Rank Continent. Such a prodigy lacks nothing except spirit stones."

"On the contrary, if you directly give him spirit stones, he might even feel insulted."

"Generally speaking—"

"When the family interacts with such prodigies, they offer opportunities, such as the opportunity of Heaven's Favor Land, or some unique items like the Spirit Treasure Tea Set or Spirit Beasts."

"Giving spirit stones directly is too vulgar. Not to mention, Miss, if someone wanted to befriend you and directly gave you 100,000 spirit stones, wouldn't you find it vulgar too?"

"And you would think that such a heavy gift at the first meeting must have a significant purpose, and you wouldn't dare to accept it, right?"

"So, for the first contact, you should prepare a small gift, like a fruit basket or an inexpensive but finely crafted trinket. The main purpose is to get to know each other and make it easier for the other party to accept the gift. Then, for the second gift, you need to find a reason, like celebrating their breakthrough in cultivation or something, and you can start sending bigger gifts."

"If you send 500,000 spirit stones right from the start, it's easy for the other party to refuse."

"The first gift sets the tone. If you send such a large gift the first time, how will you send gifts in the future? It can't be smaller than the first gift, right?"

"Hmm."

Miss Bai nodded thoughtfully: "That makes sense. So, Grandpa, you mean we shouldn't send these 500,000 spirit stones? I was planning to send them as soon as the State Continent Constraint is lifted. I thought he would like it, as I heard he doesn't have a powerful family background and rose from humble beginnings. I thought he would need spirit stones."

"Miss."

The old man sighed: "The more humble one's origins, the more they care about face. He may lack spirit stones, but he doesn't want you to think he does. Otherwise, it would make him feel disrespected."

"We can offer him an opportunity where he can obtain many spirit stones. Even if he acquires a large number of spirit stones, he will still feel that it's all due to his own efforts and won't lose face."

Miss Bai nodded and, after hesitating for a while, still spoke with uncertainty: "But I still think it's better to send spirit stones directly. Why don't we find a young master from a noble family to test it out? Let him send 100,000 spirit stones, and if Chen Qiu accepts them, we'll send the rest."

"If Chen Qiu doesn't accept them and becomes unhappy, we'll consider other options."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end