Vol 3 Chapter 65: Old Friends
After helping Gu Qianqiu freeze her age, Lin Jing no longer disturbed her cultivation.
For Gu Qianqiu, Xu Qingyao’s palace was now the best place to cultivate. Though the place was frequented by demons, her current physical condition meant she no longer attracted them. As for their mutual enemy, the Sky Lion Ancestor, even if it had the audacity to steal someone from the Demon Court Holy Maiden’s territory, it would have to think twice. Killing a Demon Court ancestor might not cause much of a stir, but if it harmed one of the three remaining half-demon Holy Maidens responsible for the Demon Race Revival Plan, it might just receive a slap from the Demon Emperor.
While Gu Qianqiu focused on cultivation, Lin Jing refused to fall behind.
First, he tossed all the spiritual plants he had snatched from the Sky Lion Clan to the Pine Leaf Mouse, letting it pick out the useless ones for practice. Then, he gave the Heavenly Thunder Flame Source to the Dragon Carp, allowing it to refine another top-tier exotic flame. As for the Ice Soul Gu, Lin Jing currently had no special resources for it, so he put it back into slumber—though it was reluctant.
He believed that by the time it woke up again, he would have found the perfect resource to help it form a Core.
With his three pet beasts settled, Lin Jing also started using this time… to deduce the formula for the Treant Pill using Dragon Fortune.
Some time later, Senior Sister finally completed the spirit pill for repairing Golden Cores and Monster Cores.
“Thank you, Senior Sister.” Lin Jing took the storage bag from her.
Xu Qingyao asked, “How’s Gu Qianqiu doing?”
“She’s alright. Her body has mostly recovered, and with the help of the Ice Soul Lesser Gu, she’s managed to slow her life force from depleting. She should have around twenty years left to cultivate.”
“I also looked into it—apparently, the Sky Lion Clan fed her a lot of life-extending resources and cultivation techniques in the past, which made her body highly resistant to such methods. It’s unlikely she’ll be able to extend her lifespan any further with external resources.”
“Oh. I just hope she can successfully reach the Nascent Soul stage in the end. Otherwise, all these resources will have been wasted.” Senior Sister shook her head. Even she had never been so extravagant with spirit stones for cultivation.
“By the way, Senior Sister, you came at just the right time. I have a few more favors to ask of you.” Lin Jing pulled out another storage bag. “Inside are the Monster Cores the Sky Lion Clan had stored externally—about ten thousand of them….”
“I want to refine them all into ‘Ascension Pills’ to help Gu Qianqiu cultivate. But I don’t have the time to handle it all myself. Could I borrow your Crane Cauldron and its alchemists?”
Senior Sister cut him off. “They’re still researching the Transformation Pill. They don’t have the time to work on this.”
Lin Jing grinned. “Haven’t they been researching it for ten years now without making any progress? They should take a break, clear their minds. Refining some simple Ascension Pills would be a nice change of pace.”
“Consider it a vacation for them.”
Xu Qingyao’s lips twitched. “Since when did you start researching the Transformation Pill?”
“Soon, soon.” Lin Jing explained, “Once my squirrel reaches Core Formation, I’ll need it to cultivate a new variety of Transformation Grass. I prefer to start with materials first, rather than alchemical theory—that’s always been my approach to pill refinement.”
“Fine, fine. Do as he says. That task will go to the Crane Cauldron for now.” The junior sister accepted the Monster Cores, then turned back. “By the way, there’s something else.”
“Regarding the investigation He Weilan asked us to conduct on the Gu Clan, I used the Demon Court’s intelligence network and found some things.”
“Before the intelligence on Gu Qianqiu’s Longevity Body was exposed a thousand years ago, the entire Gu Clan mysteriously disappeared. Because it happened so long ago and the Gu Clan was a major family, we still haven’t identified which faction was responsible. However, there was one person—Gu Gantong—who survived because he had married into the Misty Immortal Clan of Piao Miao Dao.”
“If we trace the bloodline, this Gu Gantong should be Gu Qianqiu’s half-brother.”
“Misty Immortal Clan?” Lin Jing mused. “The top clan of Piao Miao Dao? Senior Sister, didn’t you mention that a Misty Immortal Clan princess is getting married soon?”
“Yes. The Misty Immortal Clan never allows their women to marry outside the clan. Even those with mediocre talent would still have their husbands marry into their family. Gu Qianqiu’s brother fell in love with an ordinary female clan member and married into the Misty Immortal Clan.”
“But a thousand years have passed. Since their talents were mediocre, they long turned to dust, never breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage. However, one of their descendants showed great potential and has reached Nascent Soul. That person is still alive today.”
Lin Jing nodded. “Got it. Keep investigating. Most likely, some faction saw the potential of the Gu Clan’s bloodline and decided to conduct experiments on them. No need to tell Gu Qianqiu yet. Once we uncover the full truth and she reaches Nascent Soul, we’ll inform her then.”
By then, in addition to the Sky Lion Clan, another major force would be added to their revenge list.
The treasures of the Sky Lion Clan were just too tempting—he wasn’t done plundering them yet.
Coming from a peaceful country in his past life, his favorite saying had always been: A just cause always has justification.
“You…” Xu Qingyao observed him and realized that his violent tendencies might even exceed her own. Was he already scheming how to provoke Gu Qianqiu into seeking revenge for her clan?
But which faction had destroyed the Gu Clan?
“I’m leaving,” Xu Qingyao said, departing.
Lin Jing remained, gazing into the sky before preparing for another trip.
This time, he wasn’t going out to stir trouble—he needed to capture some live demons to test the effects of the Myriad Flames Cauldron.
Not long after, the Pine Leaf Mouse, in the middle of cultivating the Longevity Technique, once again had a year of its lifespan drained by Lin Jing to form a Treant clone embryo.
Using this humanoid wood clone as the foundation, Lin Jing applied illusion techniques to mold it into a different figure. However, this time, it wasn’t Lin Jing’s own duplicate, nor the Fire Dragon Pill’s clone, nor the appearance of Huang Yu.
It was a completely new identity.
Tall and imposing, with a strikingly handsome face.
Teeth as white as carved silver, lips red and perfectly shaped.
Dressed in a monk’s robe and holding a meditation staff—he had transformed into a bald monk.
“Let’s see… where are the demons causing havoc among the people?”
Concealing two Myriad Beast Circles within his robes, his illusionary form left the area, heading out to capture demons.
First, he arrived at the Rogue Cultivator Alliance in Shuangxian City, located in Chenghua Dao, one of Qingzhou’s sixteen provinces.
The main hall served as an intelligence hub where rogue cultivators gathered and exchanged information.
Lin Jing intended to capture demons of different cultivation levels—Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Monster Core, and Monster King—to conduct comparative alchemy experiments. To ensure he captured the right ones and didn’t accidentally harm any Demon Court allies, he first gathered intelligence.
As soon as the monk entered, he overheard a few rogue cultivators complaining nearby.
“What’s up with those monsters in Soul-Cleansing Mountain? It’s pitch black, and even Golden Core cultivators are getting sucked dry like mortals.”
“No idea! Where the hell did those mosquito beasts come from?”
“I heard that years ago, some unknown mosquito beasts were spotted in Soul-Cleansing Mountain. Their cultivation was weak, and they didn’t seem valuable, so no one paid them any attention. Who knew that after a few years, they’d multiply into such a terrifying swarm? Harvesting Soul Restoration Grass from the mountain is going to be nearly impossible now…”