The red-clothed woman remained silent for a long time.
She gazed at the sculpture in front of her and after a long pause said, "The Qilin Poison Fire is far more complex than you think. The Ice and Fire Qilin Beast on Fire Qilin Mountain is merely a cub, so its strength is not powerful, but the poison fire it carries is passed down through generations. Regardless of how high your cultivation is, once the poison fire enters your body, it’s difficult to remove."
Chen Nan asked, "So after my cultivation improves, what exactly should I do to detoxify her?"
This was a question Chen Nan had asked Xuan Tianji more than once, but that old man just wouldn’t say, claiming he would tell him once his cultivation reached that level.
"Go ask your master, that old thing."
After saying this, the red-clothed woman stopped speaking.
Not long after, the Holy Girl Sculpture that had merged with Su Qingqing began to radiate brilliant light. Divine radiance swirled around it, and a dazzling white light shone.
The red-clothed woman used divine power to shield Chen Nan and the Black Feathered Chicken, floating backwards more than ten meters away.
The sound of shattering echoed, and cracks spread across the Holy Girl Sculpture.
Then there was an explosive sound, and the Holy Girl Sculpture shattered in an instant, countless pieces of white stone flying in all directions. Su Qingqing stood in the midst of endless white light, and with a leap, she stepped onto the Jade Lotus Platform and flew out.
"She has already accepted the inheritance of the Saintess."
The red-clothed woman said and then turned to walk out of the valley. With one step, she was at the mouth of the valley, and with a second, she vanished completely from everyone’s sight.
"Truly extraordinary!" sighed the Black Feathered Chicken.
Chen Nan, however, didn’t have time for admiration. He sprang up, heading towards Su Qingqing in the air: "Girl, how are you feeling? Is there anywhere uncomfortable?"
The originally closed eyes of Su Qingqing suddenly opened upon hearing Chen Nan’s voice.
It was as if two divine lights pierced through the void, her gaze exuding an aura as pure as a fairy’s. But the moment she saw Chen Nan, her dignified and elegant demeanor vanished instantly, and she laughed cheerfully, opening her arms and flying towards Chen Nan: "Dummy, where are we?"
In the mid-air embrace, Chen Nan stroked her smooth long hair and asked, "Do you feel any discomfort anywhere?"
"No, I just feel full of boundless energy," Su Qingqing laughed cheerfully, as they gradually descended to the ground: "I just felt like I had a dream, dreaming of many martial arts heart methods."
Chen Nan couldn’t help but smile, saying, "This is not a dream, you have just received your ancestor’s inheritance."
"The inheritance of the Immortal Spirit Saintess?" Su Qingqing exclaimed.
Chen Nan nodded and smiled, "Don’t you feel that there’s something different about you compared to before?"
Su Qingqing closed her eyes and circulated her inner strength.
A moment later, with a delicate shout, the Jade Lotus Platform suddenly carried her skyward, flying high into the air.
After gaining the Saintess inheritance, not only did her power greatly increase, but she also received the Saintess’ true legacy of cultivation techniques. After a flight around the sky controlling the Lotus Platform, Su Qingqing landed back on the ground, excited: "Dummy, I can fly, I can fly now!"
Chen Nan was dumbfounded.
He hadn’t expected that after receiving the Saintess inheritance, Su Qingqing would be capable of controlling the Lotus Platform for sky-controlling flight, a skill that even he envied!
"Is the Immortal Spirit Saintess a cultivator?"
Chen Nan looked at Su Qingqing in confusion, as only cultivators have the ability to control an artifact in flight!
Su Qingqing chuckled and shook her head, saying, "Kind of, but also not. In the cultivation techniques I inherited, besides the artifact control magic skills, there are also close combat skills. In their era, this kind of cultivation system didn’t seem to be called cultivators, but instead, it was called ’daoists’."
Chen Nan had read about this in ancient texts before.
In the endless ages past, daoists were a formidable cultivation system, comparable to his kind of ancient martial artist.
However, later on, those daoists focused on artifact refining, neglecting the physical body’s cultivation, evolving into today’s cultivators. It can be said that daoists are essentially today’s cultivators, just that daoists place more emphasis on the physical body’s cultivation and have stronger combat abilities than cultivators.
This is somewhat similar to how ancient martial artists evolved into today’s ordinary martial artists.
Ancient martial artists trained both the physical body and inner strength simultaneously, making their bodies as resilient as weapons, whereas today’s martial artists focus only on inner strength training, neglecting physical cultivation.
Chen Nan touched Su Qingqing’s cheek and smiled, "Now that you have inherited the Saintess’ Taoist lineage, your cultivation isn’t much weaker than mine. You won’t need my protection anymore."
"No, I want you to protect me my whole life," Su Qingqing said with a sweet smile.
Seeing her sweet smile, Chen Nan’s heart felt warm: "I just meant you have the strength to protect yourself now. I won’t need to worry about you like before. It doesn’t mean I’m unwilling to protect you. You’ll always be my girl, the most important woman in my heart..."
Originally, he intended to say ’one of the most important women,’ but he dared not say those two words, fearing she would get angry.
"In the future, whatever happens, I’ll be able to fight alongside you just like your junior sister," Su Qingqing said happily, her face beaming with a happy smile: "But now, I’ve just received the inheritance, and my realm is unstable. I need to seclude myself for a while to cultivate."
Chen Nan also sensed it; Su Qingqing’s current cultivation was very unstable, sometimes as powerful as the Fourth Level of Taoist, even Fifth Layer Heaven, but then it would drop as low as Qi Dao Ten Layers Heaven, fluctuating greatly.
"The Spiritual Energy in this Immortal Spirit Valley is abundant, so seclude yourself here, and I’ll protect you while you do," Chen Nan nodded and said.
"Dummy, you’re so good, I love you to death!"
Su Qingqing jumped up in excitement and, in the spur of the moment, forgot her shyness and gave Chen Nan a peck on the cheek.
Chen Nan pinched her nose and smiled wryly, "Alright, stop messing around, quickly cultivate and stabilize your realm. Once you’re completely stable, we’ll go home."
Su Qingqing nodded repeatedly, sitting cross-legged on the White Jade Lotus Platform: "Oh dummy, one or two days won’t be enough for us to go back. Before I seclude myself, let me make a call to my home, so my sister and others don’t worry."
Chen Nan took out his phone only to helplessly find there was no signal.
Su Qingqing stood on the Lotus Platform and extended her hand to Chen Nan, saying, "Come on, let’s fly out to find a place with a signal."
Chen Nan nodded and also stood onto the Jade Lotus Platform.
The Black Feathered Chicken shook his head and said, "You two lovebirds go ahead. The Spiritual Energy here is too rich; Uncle Chicken needs to cultivate the Demon Clan King’s cultivation practice."
Su Qingqing maneuvered the Jade Lotus Platform, flying out of the valley with Chen Nan.
As he looked at the beauty in his arms, Chen Nan felt a sense of disbelief. This girl, who once relied on him for protection, could now fly into the air carrying him.