Chapter 184 - 183: Picture Scroll

This young girl was dazed and confused, unable to speak. She only knew Chen Qingyang was her master and acknowledged him as such.

This indicated that while it had reached the realm of a Soul Artifact, it was only at the very beginning. It would require more tempering in the future to develop true spirituality.

This was not a place to stay for long. Chen Qingyang put away the Magical Treasure, wrapped himself in a gust of wind, and instantly returned to the outside of his small courtyard. The Conscious Fish remained in its original place to monitor any changes.

Taking a moment, he looked at the golden characters again. This time, he had stolen 6,112 Immortal Seedlings. Including his previous haul, the total was now 21,212. This was enough to advance the Danxia Nurturing Truth Sword Manual's progress by two-thirds.

Chen Qingyang held the Incense Burner in his hand again. With a thought, a stream of Wood Spirit Qi flowed into the ground. A small blade of grass sprouted, visible to the naked eye, piercing the earth and growing to four or five inches high.

What had just flowed out was but a minuscule fraction, yet it possessed such divine power. It seemed the Incense Burner in his hand had transformed into another piece of the Jade Peach Profound Wood.

Such a commotion naturally drew Xu Baoling's attention. "Senior Brother... why has the Incense Burner become so powerful?"

When she called out "Senior Brother," her voice held a trace of coyness. Paired with her flirtatious charm, any man who saw her would find it hard to resist.

Only the man before her kept his gaze fixed on the Magical Treasure. "This was originally Master Water Moon's opportunity. Now, I have stolen it all."

"Ah!" Xu Baoling exclaimed coquettishly. "So this is the Wood Spirit Qi from the Jade Peach Profound Wood. It seems you stole quite a lot. If Master Water Moon finds out, the consequences will be unimaginable. Isn't this a little too risky?"

Only then did Chen Qingyang raise his head and look at her. "I didn't steal 'quite a lot.' I took everything."

"Aah!" This time, Xu Baoling was even more horrified, covering her mouth with one hand. "Once Master Water Moon realizes, she will definitely investigate it to the very end. Senior Brother, do you have a way to deal with this?"

Chen Qingyang used a technique, and the Incense Burner shrank to the size of a speck before he tucked it into his sleeve. "She won't find out. At the very least, she won't suspect me. How could a mere cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm like me possibly break such an exquisite Array?"

"Besides, I did it without anyone knowing. As long as I don't use this item in front of her in the future, she'll never notice."

Seeing Chen Qingyang's confidence, Xu Baoling set aside her worries. "In any case, you must handle the aftermath properly, Master. After all, she's a Foundation Establishment Master. We have no idea what kind of methods she might have."

As Chen Qingyang paced back and forth in the room, pondering, an idea suddenly surfaced in his mind. 'You have a point. Why don't I make use of this situation again?'

The moment the thought formed, his mind traveled hundreds of miles away.

At this moment, Long Sheng was meditating in front of the Command Talisman. He regarded it as more important than his own life, keeping it with him day and night. Chen Qingyang maneuvered the Conscious Fish, and the Command Talisman floated up on its own without a sound. Even Long Sheng, who was face-to-face with it, didn't notice.

Then, the Conscious Fish traveled all the way to Master Jing Yuan's Dao Field. It found a deep pool and, PLOP, jumped in. The Conscious Fish then returned to its position before Long Sheng and began to wait quietly.

To Xu Baoling, Chen Qingyang only seemed to be in a daze for a moment. "Senior Brother... is something wrong?"

Chen Qingyang turned his head and smiled at her. "Nothing's wrong. You should hurry up and get back to your Cultivation."

"Okay, Senior Brother."

He watched as Xu Baoling stepped barefoot onto the altar, looking like a goddess. Chen Qingyang then focused his attention back on the golden characters. 'With so many Immortal Seedlings saved up, I need to think carefully about how to use them.'

'Until I officially announce my breakthrough into Essence Condensation, staying at the Essence Condensation Third Realm is the best choice. I can use most of them on Astrological Inference.'

'In the future, I'll use this method to get more Immortal Seedlings, save them all up, and then break through all at once when the time is right.'

Withdrawing 8,999 Immortal Seedlings, Chen Qingyang used them all on the Ziwei Scripture. The Dharma Gate realm reached Perfection in an instant, and the Star Power within his body multiplied several times over.

[Tai Xu Star Pivot Ziwei Scripture (Starlight Body): (1/12000)]

Looking again, he saw that only the cultivation progress had increased. The name "Starlight Body" remained unchanged. Chen Qingyang withdrew more Immortal Seedlings and pushed for another breakthrough in one go.

This time, the sensation wasn't just physical; a world-shaking change also occurred in his mind. His thoughts were once again pulled into the firmament, drawn to the boundless Star Map in the sky.

All the starlight gathered, seemingly forming a clear stream that flowed into his eyes. His eyes felt incredibly comfortable, and everything he saw seemed to become clearer. He began to comprehend the unknown secrets hidden within the stars...

He didn't know how long this lasted, but in the end, a starry imprint was left in his eyes. This was the Star Sand Pattern, cultivated upon the great success of the first volume, Starlight Body.

Following that, when he looked up at the sky with this Star Sand Text, the entire Star Map unfolded like a scroll. Everything in the world was connected, no longer just this constellation, that cluster, or that nebula.

Whether it was the familiar Big Dipper or any other constellation, all were on this scroll. To make an inference, he no longer needed to pierce through layers of fog.

Wherever he looked, he saw the Star Map.

This was the second volume—the Spiritual Constellation Scroll.

At this point, the Dharma Gate had finally undergone a qualitative change.

[Available Immortal Seedlings: (213)]

With few Immortal Seedlings left, Chen Qingyang decided to save them and turned his consciousness back to Long Sheng.

The Command Talisman was truly his most prized possession. He would glance at it every hour of meditation, even at the cost of his own Cultivation.

But when he opened his eyes this time, something extremely strange happened. The Command Talisman, which had been lying there perfectly fine, had vanished.

Finding it unbelievable, Long Sheng rubbed his eyes again, but the result was the same. His heart sank, a feeling worse than if his own father had died.

He racked his brain for a moment, then searched everywhere inside and out, but still couldn't find the Command Talisman.

He was a meticulous person, after all. He walked over to the peach tree for a look, but without the Command Talisman in hand, he couldn't see any flaws in the Array.

Under the starlight, the peach blossoms continued to flourish.

The first person he called over was Jiao Sheng. Jiao Sheng fiddled with the peach tree for a while, but it was as if the tree had completely lost its vitality, showing no reaction at all.

The two stared at each other in surprise, then immediately summoned everyone else.

"...From the looks of it, someone must have sabotaged us. Otherwise, the Command Talisman wouldn't have just disappeared for no reason!" Long Sheng first explained the situation before making his judgment.

After hearing this, the Six Immortals of Peach Valley each had their own thoughts.

Lu Sheng looked distraught, Hu Sheng was expressionless, and the other four also had heavy thoughts. A sudden thought occurred to Chen Qingyang: 'If they get punished by Master Water Moon because of this, causing their Cultivation to drop, will those Immortal Seedlings be credited to me?'

"Senior Brother Long, I agree that the item was stolen, but it disappeared on your watch. What does that have to do with us?" It was Lu Sheng who broke the silence.

Unlike usual, when the others spoke up, they all sided with Lu Sheng, terrified of being even slightly associated with the missing Command Talisman.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Long Sheng roared in anger, "Don't you all forget, this was a responsibility Master gave to the seven of us! Now that something has happened, none of you can escape!"

"Heh!" This time it was Hu Sheng who gave a smirk that didn't reach his eyes. "Senior Brother Long, I think you can stop with that act. It must be that you caused some trouble with the Command Talisman, or perhaps you colluded with someone, leading to today's situation!"

This was a vicious accusation, and it immediately gave the others an idea. Lu Sheng quickly followed up, "Brothers, Long Sheng is defecting from the sect! Don't let him escape! Junior Brother He, you're the fastest. Go inform Master to come at once!"

The remaining men surrounded Long Sheng, leaving him with no way to advance or retreat. They all chattered at once, each adding a few words, dead set on pinning the blame on him. He was truly unable to defend himself.

As the saying goes, a fish rots from the head down. The disciples under Master Water Moon were all skilled in this sort of treachery, which spoke volumes about the Master's own character. Putting aside the matter between Master Jing Yuan and Li Qianxue, Chen Qingyang had never heard of his master teaching such petty disciples.

Seeing He Sheng leave, the Conscious Fish didn't linger. If Master Water Moon were to arrive, it would be leaving evidence for her to find.

As for why Chen Qingyang had thrown the Command Talisman into Master Jing Yuan's Dao Field, he simply wanted to cause a little trouble for his own master. With his master's Cultivation, handling such matters should be more than easy.

He settled back down on the meditation cushion and sank his Divine Sense into his body. The Meridians throughout his body began to circulate according to the method of the Danxia Nurturing Truth Sword Manual.

As his Qi Mechanism passed through one Circulation after another, it would mix with the Sword Qi of the Cyan Nether Sword Embryo, finally settling in his Dantian and Spiritual Sea.

Chen Qingyang estimated that eventually, all the Sword Qi in his body would become identical to that of the Cyan Nether Sword Embryo. That would also be the moment the Sword Formulas awakened in his mind.

...

A few sporadic bird calls echoed through the forest. The sun rose and the moon set, and the white clouds swirling around Cyan Bamboo Peak were tinged with a purple hue.

At this time of day, the bamboo shoots in the forest grew extremely fast. Overnight, a newly emerged bud would grow to the length of a palm.

This was a huge nuisance for Zhang Ping, who was cultivating the Spirit Fields. He was already hard at work in the fields at this hour, while another young girl, Hong'Er, stood by and watched.

She didn't help, nor did she say anything. She just watched quietly.

Meanwhile, the boy in the Alchemy Room had already begun his Alchemy, and the entire courtyard, shrouded by the Star Disc, became a hive of activity.

The bird calls also woke Chen Qingyang from his meditation, and he slowly opened his eyes. He calculated the days. 'In just a few more days, I'll have to deliver the Elixirs to Fulu Workshop. After that, it'll be time for next month's tasks.'

He got up and washed his face.

Ever since he had Xu Baoling start calling him Senior Brother, she had completely transformed into a Maid, attending to his every need.

Chen Qingyang, who had just scooped up a basin of warm water, suddenly paused. An image of Long Sheng appeared in his mind.

Under that peach tree, Long Sheng's body alternated between ice and fire. Bone-chilling white and scorching red flashed back and forth several times in an instant.

The pain twisted his face, and he couldn't utter a single complete sentence.

His six brothers stood by, silent as cicadas in winter. Finally, the Daoist Nun in the dark Daoist robes flicked a speck of fire, and Long Sheng was burned to ashes.

Stealing Immortal floated above his head.