Chapter 295: "Your Butler Seems to be in Hibernation"

Chapter 295: "Your Butler Seems to be in Hibernation"

"Furthermore—"

Fat Dragon, with utmost seriousness, wrapped his arm around the shopkeeper's shoulder, "Although your cultivation level isn't high, with the organization's nurturing these days, you've reached the Soul Transformation stage. Many of the seals here are designed for Golden Core or Nascent Soul cultivators. For you, breaking through them should be as easy as turning your palm, right? Just a sweep and they'll open up."

Breaking seals is a complex task.

If the cultivator's level matches the seal, it requires an extreme test of brainpower, delicate control over spiritual energy, and a deep understanding of various seals. If the cultivator's level surpasses that of the seal, it becomes even more challenging.

Conversely, if the cultivator's level far exceeds that of the seal and they have a good understanding of seals, breaking them becomes much simpler. A simple sweep can forcefully dismantle them.

"That's true," the shopkeeper weakly acknowledged, gazing at the city ahead of them. The entire city was uprooted, with blood and flesh swirling in the air before vanishing without a trace. "But the sheer number of them is overwhelming. There are at least hundreds of thousands of storage rings in this city alone."

"It will still take some time."

"Hmm..." Fat Dragon hesitated for a moment, speaking softly, "It does seem like there are quite a lot. But don't worry, Chen Qiu will definitely find some apprentices to assist you."

Chen Qiu then transformed into a robot, becoming more and more fluent in his actions.

Using the Pulling Stone, he sucked all the spirit stones scattered within the city into his miniature world. Then, he uprooted the entire city and stuffed it into his miniature world, planning to slowly calculate the city's wealth later.

For now, he decided to take everything with him.

As for the blood and flesh that fell to the ground, Chen Qiu used his spiritual energy to wrap them up and bury them in the deep pit where the city once stood, giving these unfortunate natives a proper burial.

The entire process was incredibly smooth.

The miniature world expanded rapidly, and the spirit stones at the rear mountain of Mock Heaven Sect accumulated, forming a small mountain.

This continued until dawn approached.

Without a moment's pause, Chen Qiu, at full speed, accomplished a great feat. With the efforts of Chen Qiu and the disciples of Mock Heaven Sect, they managed to collect all the spirit stones from this continent, specifically from the cities they were responsible for. They even transported the entire cities into their miniature world.

In total, there were 108 cities, now lying peacefully in the miniature world.

Expanding the miniature world with spirit stones alone had consumed over one hundred million middle-grade spirit stones.

The miniature world had undergone a complete transformation.

At the rear mountain of Mock Heaven Sect, a mountain made of spirit stones had risen from the ground. Looking into the distance, over a hundred cities stretched towards the horizon, one after another.

Dawn arrived.

The Heavenly Dao Shackles on this continent had gradually stabilized, indicating that the main force was about to enter. This was the best time to retreat and make a quiet fortune.

Chen Qiu arrived at the meeting spot, the same place he had seen when he first descended upon this continent—the sky above the city he had witnessed. He hadn't entered the miniature world to examine it closely, intending to wait until he returned to the Jiang Taiping Continent to truly savor the moment.

However, even without a detailed inspection, a mere glance at the mountain of spirit stones made it difficult for him to contain his smile. The number of spirit stones was astronomical!

With this, even if Scholar and the others provided him with increased cultivation speed, he could satisfy his needs with spirit stones.

His cultivation would soon see an incredible advancement.

This was the first time Chen Qiu had possessed over one hundred million spirit stones.

Even when Bai Jia Jiuzhu had displayed his astonishing wealth before, it didn't come close to this amount. They were not on the same level. Bai Jia Jiuzhu's wealth came from commerce.

Chen Qiu's situation was different. Although he hadn't killed anyone, from a certain perspective, this could still be considered plunder—pure plunder.

The wealth of an entire world seemed to be laid out defenselessly before him, ready for his taking.

When Chen Qiu had ascended from the Profound Heaven Continent, he had only managed to gather a few hundred thousand spirit stones from all the top powers there. This had led him to believe that the First Rank Continent was relatively poor.

Now it seemed that the First Rank Continent wasn't necessarily poor; instead, much of the wealth was hidden among the masses. Plundering a power's spirit stones and directly plundering an entire world's spirit stones were not comparable.

Just then, the ground began to tremble slightly. Chen Qiu looked up and saw the Maan Clan members rushing towards him in the distance.

The Maan Clan wasn't greedy. Perhaps there were still some unexplored cities, but they didn't show any greed. As soon as the sun rose, they gathered all their clansmen and rushed over.

Chen Qiu met the gaze of the Maan Clan's leader and nodded slightly. The Pulling Stone in his hand, which attracted unclaimed spirit stones, was given to him by Ba Dan. If Ba Dan had given him one, he would surely have kept some for himself. With this item, the process of plundering cities would be much faster.

Of course, the deeper layers of wealth within the cities would be difficult to handle, but there was no other choice. They couldn't take everything.

Suddenly, Chen Qiu heard heavy breathing in his ear.

He turned to see the Millstone, which had appeared beside him at some point. It was panting heavily, waving its hands and exhaling, "It's all here. Alright, if there are no issues, we can prepare to depart now."

Chen Qiu turned around and froze in place, witnessing an astonishing scene.

Behind the Millstone were tens of thousands of Deceptive Buddhas, all sitting cross-legged with blood-red kasaya draped over their bodies. Each held a string of Buddhist prayer beads, looking identical to one another. If not for their different movements, they would have seemed like clones.

"You all look the same, Deceptive Buddha."

Fat Dragon's eyes flashed with awe, voicing Chen Qiu's inner confusion.

"Where do we look the same?"

Millstone waved his hand, panting heavily, "It's clearly different, there's a huge difference. Alright, now isn't the time for chit-chat. Those people are about to come in, and I'm sure you don't want them to remember us as the ones who got here first."

"Then they'll hunt us down later."

"Although we're not afraid, it's still quite troublesome, right?"

"Mhm."

Chen Qiu nodded, releasing his six small teams again, "My disciples still need your help to send them back to their original world later."

"No problem."

Millstone waved his hand and was about to say something when suddenly, a jade slip containing Soul of Shadows' Fortune floated in front of him.

"This is the second strand of Soul of Shadows' Fortune. There's one more left, which I'll give you within the year. I'll leave these people to you, and I appreciate your efforts."

He heard the voice beside him.

Millstone took the jade slip seriously and looked up at Chen Qiu with a smile, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of these people. Every month, I'll send them to a new First Rank Continent, I've got it all planned out."

"Thank you."

Without further hesitation, he could already sense a large group about to enter this world.

He began the pulling process. After a few breaths...

Chen Qiu and the Maan Clan members appeared on the Jiang Taiping Continent. Just like last time, the moment the Maan Clan members landed, they covered their stomachs and started vomiting uncontrollably.

"It's like this again."

Fat Dragon hovered high in the sky, looking down at the scene below. Forcing down the nausea in his heart, he said, "Is this pulling process not a bit too torturous? It's like a cruel punishment."

During the entire pulling process, people would feel dizzy and disoriented. Although the process seemed to last only a few breaths, for some reason, it felt like it had gone on for years.

According to Deceptive Buddha, this was because the First Rank Continent was on the verge of collapse.

But the reason didn't matter; what mattered was that the feeling was truly torturous. Even Chen Qiu himself felt his stomach churning, especially as his consciousness was stretched to tens of thousands of years later. He even felt like the plunder of the Evergreen Continent had happened years ago.

However, it was evident.

Perhaps due to their large size, the Maan Clan members seemed to have poor resistance to this level of dizziness. Although they also felt uncomfortable, they could endure it, while the Maan Clan members below couldn't handle it and were all vomiting.

Maan Clan, Maan Clan. Although the name sounded like a savage race...

In reality, tens of thousands of years ago, the Maan Clan was just a branch of the Human Race. Later, they became an independent clan. Such situations were not uncommon.

After becoming an independent clan, their racial fortune would be completely severed from the Human Race. Even as a branch of the Human Race, they couldn't enjoy a shred of the Human Race's fortune. In this situation, everything started from scratch, both an opportunity and a crisis.

"Master Chen!"

Ba Dan, who had been waiting at the original spot, immediately flew over upon seeing the situation. Hovering beside Chen Qiu, he looked down at the young Maan Clan members with concern, "Is there any problem?"

He had thought it was some kind of mass poisoning, but after scanning with his Divine Sense, he found no signs of poisoning. It was more like... an uncomfortable feeling.

Although this term was a stretch for a Body Integration Stage cultivator, it was indeed the case.

"It's nothing serious."

Chen Qiu shook his head, "It's just my friend's pulling and teleportation method. Due to the special circumstances of the Evergreen Continent, there might be some ripples. They'll be fine after a few days."

"Alright."

Ba Dan took a deep breath. After confirming there was no major issue, he impatiently said, "In that case, Master Chen, I'll take them back to the Immortal World first. After tallying up our harvest, I'll bring seventy percent of it down and offer it to you."

"Mhm."

Chen Qiu waved his hand. At this moment, he didn't have much energy to speak. Although he hadn't vomited, he was close to it. That taste was truly overwhelming, and now he only felt dizzy and disoriented.

After seeing Ba Dan and his group off...

Chen Qiu returned to the secluded area he had found on the Jiang Taiping Continent. He set up the Heavenly Palace and laid down on the rocking chair outside, his body sinking heavily into it.

This secluded area was located in the center of a canyon.

The canyon's structure resembled a budding flower, and they were right in the middle of the flower's core. The spiritual energy here wasn't overly dense and was even a bit thin. From this perspective, it wasn't a very suitable place for seclusion.

But for him, it was just right.

He no longer lacked spiritual energy; with a large supply of spirit stones, he could ignore this amount. The biggest advantage here was its extreme concealment, which could prevent him from being disturbed by other forces.

His current strength wasn't invincible on this continent.

Some Great Dharmic Body stage powerhouses might come to challenge him, but they probably couldn't do anything to him. After all, the most powerful attack of a Great Dharmic Body cultivator was a Body Integration Stage killing move, and anyone using such a move against him, Chen Qiu, would have to kneel.

They weren't on the same level.

But if a Tribulation Transcender cultivator, stronger than a Great Dharmic Body cultivator, came to cause trouble, that would be tricky.

Although he had many solutions, like calling Ba Dan down—Ba Dan's current cultivation level he hadn't asked about, but it was definitely that of a true immortal—bullying a Tribulation Transcender cultivator would be simple, with no pressure at all.

But there was no need.

He couldn't always rely on others' strength; his own power was the real deal. The best approach was to avoid trouble first and wait until he had consumed all these spirit stones. Then, no one here would dare to bother him.

Midnight.

By the campfire, Chen Qiu lay in a rocking chair, his head propped up by his hands, gazing at the starry sky above and chuckling softly.

"I can start my closed-door cultivation soon."

"The Immortal World."

"I, Chen Qiu, am about to enter it!"

He still yearned for the Immortal World, and with the spirit stones as a foundation, it would significantly shorten the time needed for him to reach it. After returning from the Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm in the Third Rank Continent in a few days, he could begin his secluded cultivation.

Pure, secluded cultivation.

Even if the sky were to fall, it couldn't stop him from his cultivation. Once he had exhausted this batch of spirit stones, his cultivation level would surely soar to the peak of the Tribulation Transcender stage!

At this moment, the Mock Heaven Sect seemed a bit deserted. Only Chen Qiu, Fat Dragon, and Bear Gao remained by the campfire, while the maids and other servants were busy preparing desserts nearby. As for the shopkeeper and Xing Dou, they had already entered the miniature world to start breaking the seals.

Chen Qiu had originally planned to hold a celebration banquet with the shopkeeper.

But ever since he promised the shopkeeper that after clearing out all the cities, he would never let him break seals again, and that he could retire and focus on cultivating disciples, the shopkeeper had been so excited that he didn't even attend the campfire gathering. Instead, he immediately rushed into the miniature world and started working with great enthusiasm.

The dragon slayer had become an evil dragon, perhaps this was how it was meant to be.

The reason the shopkeeper had followed Chen Qiu so devotedly was because Chen Qiu had promised him that he would have an endless supply of seals to break. The shopkeeper, who was obsessed with breaking seals, was immediately drawn to this condition and joined the Mock Heaven Sect.

And Chen Qiu did indeed keep his promise.

But it seemed that the shopkeeper no longer had the same passion as before.

Indeed, people do change.

"The Immortal World?"

Fat Dragon lay in a rocking chair, swaying the wine glass in his hand, and said in a daze, "I wonder what the Immortal World looks like, but looking at Ba Dan, I feel like the Immortal World might not be that special."

"I even suspect that the Immortal World has hot and sour soup."

"Most likely."

Chen Qiu casually replied, "After all, the Immortal World isn't just filled with immortals; there are also mortals. They need to live their lives too."

"That's true happiness."

Fat Dragon expressed his envy, "We have to work so hard to go to the Immortal World, while some are born there. That's real luck."

"It's hard to say."

Sitting beside them, Bear Gao cautiously interjected, "Great Elder, I think it might not be a good thing for mortals to be born in the Immortal World."

"What's wrong with that?" Fat Dragon glanced at Bear Gao and said casually, "That's the Immortal World, a place many people yearn for. What's wrong with being born there?"

"I feel like the path to success might be even more blocked."

Bear Gao organized his thoughts and continued, "Here's how I see it. In the Profound Heaven Continent, the highest cultivation level is Soul Transformation, right? This means that if you offend an enemy, most likely they will be at the Core Formation or Foundation Establishment stage."

"You can't even come into contact with Nascent Soul cultivators because they are few in number. In this situation, the chances of you being casually killed are much lower. Even if you make a powerful enemy, their cultivation level will most likely be at the Foundation Establishment stage. As long as you diligently cultivate or encounter some fortuitous encounters, you can definitely take revenge and surpass them in cultivation."

"However, in the Immortal World, the cultivation level goes far beyond Soul Transformation. At the very least, there are Celestial Immortals, right?"

"In this situation, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, you will face not only Core Formation and Foundation Establishment cultivators but also Soul Transformation cultivators everywhere. Nascent Soul cultivators might be scarce."

"In this environment, the path to success is almost completely blocked."

"Because it's hard to compete with them. If you accidentally offend an enemy, their cultivation level might far surpass yours. They won't give you a chance to go back and cultivate. With just a glance, they can annihilate your soul."

"Although the First Rank Continent doesn't have as many opportunities and the spiritual energy isn't as dense, it has a power limit that ensures the enemies you provoke are mostly at your level, giving you a chance to climb up."

"In the Immortal World, this possibility might be much smaller."

"Hmm."

Fat Dragon furrowed his brows, thought for half a day, and then nodded, "Your reasoning makes sense. But no matter what, the Immortal World will definitely have more opportunities than the First Rank Continent."

"That's for sure."

Bear Gao said seriously, "But no matter how many opportunities there are, if they don't fall into your hands, they're useless. In that environment, the competition at the bottom will be even more intense because there won't be many opportunities for them."

"Plus, each person you compete with might have a background. It could be a small one, like having an ancestor who was an inner disciple of a major sect or a father who was a disciple of a certain power's Soul Transformation cultivator. But for a wandering cultivator, it's a deadly suppression."

"Wait a minute."

"So, I personally think that for a wandering cultivator without any background, the chances of success in the First Rank Continent might be slightly higher. If the situation is reversed, then the speed of success in the Immortal World might be faster."

"That makes sense." After hearing this, Fat Dragon turned his head to look at Chen Qiu and asked, "What do you think, Qiu?"

"Hmm."

Chen Qiu lay in the chair, waved his hand casually, and hummed lightly. After a few breaths, there was already the sound of light snoring, indicating that he had fallen asleep in the rocking chair.

As cultivators of their level, they wouldn't fall asleep like ordinary mortals unless they were severely injured and unconscious. Perhaps this journey had been somewhat exhausting.

Chen Qiu lay in the rocking chair, listening to the conversation between the two, enjoying the coolness of the night, and the warmth from the campfire. He felt a sudden wave of drowsiness and fell into a light sleep.

The long-awaited feeling of sleepiness suddenly overwhelmed him.

He didn't use his spiritual energy to dispel the drowsiness but allowed himself to drift off naturally.

".

Fat Dragon noticed Chen Qiu's state and let out a soft sigh. He took out a robe from his chest and covered himself with it, curling up to ensure his entire body, except for his head, was covered. Only then did he breathe a satisfied sigh, "You know, I really feel like a nap would help eliminate the fatigue from this journey."

"I'll take a nap too. Do you want to sleep as well?"

"There's no need to keep watch. Brother Qiu's Heavenly Palace has its own array, and it will alert us if anyone approaches."

With his cultivation level, he wouldn't feel cold if he didn't want to. Still, he took out a thick robe and wrapped himself in it. The warmth from the robe felt different from dispelling the cold with spiritual energy; it was more substantial and closer to the earth's energy, making it more comfortable.

After a few breaths, another soft snore joined the first. Fat Dragon, too, fell into a deep slumber.

The air was filled with two soft snores and the crackling sound of firewood burning. And then, snowflakes began to fall from the sky.

It was snowing.

The snow wasn't heavy; it was a light snowfall. The snowflakes landed on the ground, on the campfire, and on Chen Qiu and Fat Dragon, creating a beautiful scene. Even Bear Gao, who was a brown bear, felt a hint of drowsiness. He was the only one truly tired.

Brown bears loved to sleep, and during the last winter, when all the brown bears had hibernated, Bear Gao had stayed awake to guard the Spirit Gathering Array while Chen Qiu cultivated.

The Great Elder and the Old Master only slept when they felt like it.

Bear Gao was the only one who hadn't slept, and he was genuinely exhausted.

He could have held out a little longer, but the two soft snores and the crackling firewood created a soothing atmosphere. Pieces of snowflakes disappeared into the flames.

In the end, Bear Gao couldn't resist the urge to sleep.

He dug a deep pit in the ground and buried himself in it, just like Fat Dragon. He took out a heavy robe from his storage ring and covered himself, completely burying himself. Only then did he close his eyes with satisfaction and fall into a deep sleep.

He didn't like sleeping in a rocking chair.

His large size made it uncomfortable to sleep in a rocking chair, so he preferred sleeping in a pit, where every part of his body felt secure and comfortable.

Soon, Chen Qiu and the other two were all fast asleep. The campfire gathering had unknowingly turned into a slumber party.

In the distance, the maids who had prepared the ingredients were about to serve the food when they noticed that Chen Qiu and the others were all asleep. After some hesitation, they retreated at the head maid's signal, deciding not to disturb them.

These maids had spent the most time with Chen Qiu, and they knew this was supposed to be a campfire gathering. Although they didn't understand how it had turned into a slumber party, they wouldn't disturb the three masters now that they were asleep.

However, the food they had prepared couldn't be kept for long and had to be consumed within an hour. So, they decided to have their own campfire gathering.

The maids exchanged glances and carefully gathered around a smaller campfire. They raised their cups without a word, clinking them together in the air to share their joy while maintaining absolute silence.

Before long, dawn broke.

Chen Qiu, still lying in the rocking chair, exhaled a mouthful of turbid air and surveyed his surroundings without getting up. Snowflakes were floating in the air, indicating that it had snowed all night.

The entire canyon was covered in a blanket of snow, but it wasn't too deep, only about half a finger's width.

The campfire was still burning, having been replenished with firewood many times. The heat from the flames dispelled the cold.

Chen Qiu, who had felt tired after the journey, now felt refreshed after a good night's rest. He got up and sat in the rocking chair, holding the Heavenly Oracle Umbrella and tapping the sleeping Fat Dragon, who was covered in a robe, "Wake up, stop sleeping."

"Huh? Oh."

Fat Dragon, still groggy, lifted the robe covering his head and felt the cold air. He shivered and pulled his body back into the heavy robe, "Brother Qiu, did it snow yesterday?"

"Mm-hmm," Chen Qiu nodded, looking at Fat Dragon's appearance and suppressing a laugh, "Come on, wake up. It's time to go to the mini-world's rear mountain and take stock of our harvest. With your cultivation level, you shouldn't be this afraid of the cold, right?"

Fat Dragon took a deep breath and then vigorously threw off the robe, standing up on the ground, "I'm not afraid, but sometimes feeling cold can be comfortable. We can't be fearless all the time; we need to be afraid of something occasionally to find joy in life."

"By the way, with all this noise, why isn't Bear Gao awake yet?"

Fat Dragon walked to the side of the deep pit, lifted the robe, and roared a few times at Bear Gao. He even slapped him a few times, but Bear Gao remained asleep. After a moment, Fat Dragon turned to Chen Qiu with a complex expression.

"Brother Qiu..."

"Your butler seems to have entered hibernation."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end