After the discussion ended, everyone planned to leave.
Li Miaozhen asked suspiciously:
“You’re not coming back again, are you?”
“No, no…” Everyone waved their hands repeatedly.
“We’re not that boring. We were only concerned about your situation earlier.”
Li Miaozhen looked left and right. She still didn’t quite trust the moral character of the Earth Book Society members, and said:
“You lot go first. I’ll leave last.”
Xu Qi’an nodded as he spoke:
“Miaozhen, I’ll keep an eye on them for you. I’ll take them all with me.”
You’re the least trustworthy one here… Li Miaozhen said flatly:
“Many thanks, Silver Gong Xu.”
Xu Qi’an’s body swelled and turned into a “curtain of shadow” that covered everyone, wrapping up the orange cat al-Asura and the others before vanishing from the room.
Li Miaozhen didn’t leave. She sat by the table and drank a cup of tea. Seeing that no one returned the whole time, she finally left at ease.
About a quarter of an hour after she had gone, a great mass of “shadow” swelled up from beneath the table, and the same group returned.
Protector Yuan was dumbstruck.
Xu Qi’an rubbed his hands together.
“Quick, quick, tell us, what was Miaozhen thinking about when she fell into inner demons?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’d really like to know what Lady Flying Swallow was thinking after falling into inner demons,” Miao Youfang chimed in.
Once again, the big shots silently fixed their eyes on Protector Yuan, applying wordless pressure.
As expected… Protector Yuan sighed, then reached out and took out another sachet. Under everyone’s stiff gazes, he opened it.
A wisp of azure smoke rose and turned into Susu’s appearance.
Susu glared at the people in the room, and from her mouth came Li Miaozhen’s roar:
“Fuck off all of you!”
Controlling yin spirits was a very common Daoist method. In truth, the brocade pouch Li Miaozhen had given Protector Yuan had been two pouches.
Run, run… The Earth Book Society members scattered in all directions.
…
Xu Manor.
Xu Qi’an returned to the room belonging to him and Lin’an. Tall lanterns were lit at the four corners of the room, and on the desk sat a bowl of chicken soup that had long since gone cold.
Lin’an was covered by a thin blanket, curled on her side, breathing evenly as she slept deeply.
Her cheeks were round and soft, and felt very good to pinch. Her long eyelashes were thick and slightly curled. With those flirtatious peach blossom eyes closed, she looked much more dignified.
Xu Qi’an didn’t get into bed at once. He walked to the desk and sat down, picked up the chicken soup and was just about to take a sip when he froze. He could smell several medicinal ingredients in it for strengthening the kidneys and boosting virility.
Is it because we’ve been opening up new fields a bit too often lately, so she’s worried my kidneys are weakened?
Who does she think she’s looking down on… Xu Qi’an gulped down the chicken soup.
Men never refused this sort of food, even if it was completely useless to a first rank martial artist.
After finishing the soup, he spread out a sheet of xuan paper and wrote down, exactly as they were, the characteristics of the beyond-mortal Buddhist experts. Then he blew the ink dry and folded it up.
Next he pushed open the window and gazed calmly into the night. A moment later, a wild bird fluttered down onto the window ledge.
Xu Qi’an handed over the folded sheet of paper. The wild bird took it in its beak, then flapped away.
The bird’s destination was the Tower of Noble Spirit.
He intended to ask Wei Yuan for his opinion. Although the man in azure robes was now a “weakling”, his strategy, insight, and intelligence were still there. Given enough information, he could still make deductions.
And then give advice worth considering.
Watching the bird disappear into the night, Xu Qi’an sat back down at the desk and sank into thought.
First, Shenshu’s head must be rescued. This directly concerns our side’s ability to withstand pressure when the great calamity arrives. Without a half-step Martial God standing guard, the Central Plains will just be wild garlic, free for the Western Regions and the Church of the Warlock God to harvest as they please.
Second, before the great calamity, I must raise my cultivation to half-step Martial God. Shenshu alone would still be a bit strained if he had to deal with a Beyond-rank. So if there’s a chance, I must devour Agaruka Bodhisattva. But that would very likely provoke the Buddhist sect into a frenzied counterattack.
In his earlier judgement, the Buddhist sect might not necessarily be willing to fight the Great Feng’s beyond-mortal experts to the death over Shenshu’s head. That would only let the Church of the Warlock God reap the benefits.
So they would likely make certain compromises.
But if the Great Feng’s beyond-mortal experts were after Agaruka Bodhisattva, then it would probably be a fight to the bitter end.
If we fail to kill Agaruka Bodhisattva this time, then I’ll have to find another way. There are two paths. One, raise a Strength Gu-type beyond-mortal Gu beast. Two, go out to sea and search for a descendant of gods and demons in the same domain.
Lastly, uncover the relationship between the Buddha and Shenshu, and thoroughly find out what secrets this Beyond-rank is hiding.
The Buddhist sect has bullied me time and again and gone too far. It’s time to collect the debt.
The conflict between him and the Western Regions ran very deep. It could be said that ever since Xu Qi’an stepped into the beyond-mortal realm, every crisis he had encountered had involved the Buddhist sect.
This grudge had to be repaid.
As for failure, he had never considered it, because failure meant he would die in Ananda.
In other words, if he couldn’t seize back Shenshu’s head, then he would perish together with the Buddhist sect and leave the Buddha a commander without an army.
This was the confidence of a first rank martial artist.
…
At first light the next day, he opened his eyes, moved Lin’an’s long leg off his stomach, got up, walked to the window, and opened it.
Flap, flap…
A wild bird landed on the sill, a sheet of xuan paper folded into a little cube clenched in its beak.
Xu Qi’an took the paper and unfolded it to read:
“At this level, schemes no longer mean very much. In terms of coordination and layout, you’ve already done very well. But have you ever considered using cooperation between different systems to target the Buddhist sect and the Church of the Warlock God?
“The enemy can do the same. If the Church of the Warlock God and the Buddhist sect were merely to swap one second rank each, that slight adjustment alone might decide the battle in the capital, or even the battle in Ananda.
“Sarun Agu won’t personally go to the Western Regions to take such a risk. A third rank would be of limited use. As for who will go, I think you already know.
“As for the Buddhist sect, their third ranks and second ranks have all but withered away. There is only one second rank Arhat Du’e left.
“If I remember correctly, he greatly admires Mahayana Buddhism and wishes to become the founder of the Mahayana Buddhism discipline. He can be tempted with profit.
“The Church of the Warlock God hates the Great Feng to the bone. Unless the benefits are considerable, they will never cooperate with the Great Feng, so don’t bother thinking about allying with Sarun Agu.
“Go west with peace of mind. I am here in the capital.”
Hah. Although Duke Wei is a weakling now, his promise somehow always puts people at ease… Xu Qi’an let out a breath.
After a simple wash, he used a shadow jump and went straight into Yeji’s room.
The fox spirit was sitting before her dressing mirror, combing her glossy black hair. Sensing the qi barrier sealing off the room, she smiled charmingly and said:
“Won’t Her Highness Lin’an have objections?”
Xu Qi’an curled his lip. “Then I’ll go?”
“It’s only idle chatter.”
How could Yeji bear to let him go? She promptly swayed her slim waist over, settled her round, perky bottom onto his thigh, and looped her arms around Xu Qi’an’s neck. Watching the water clock, she said:
“Only an hour, mind.”
As she spoke, she knowingly twisted her pert bottom in a way that stirred desire, letting her lover feel her fullness.
At worst, one second, six strokes. If the total time can’t change, speeding up the normal attacks would do the same… Xu Qi’an wrapped his arms around Yeji and toppled with her onto the big bed.
An hour later, morning exercise over, Xu Qi’an ate breakfast and headed for the Sitianjian.
He went to the alchemy room on the seventh floor to find Song Qing. Unexpectedly, Song Qing, who treated the alchemy room as his home, wasn’t there.
“Where’s Senior Brother Song?”
Xu Qi’an asked an Arcanist in the alchemy room.
“No idea. Senior Brother Song didn’t come today. Strange, he usually lives in the alchemy room.”
The white-robed Arcanist said he didn’t know either.
“You didn’t go look for him?” Xu Qi’an found it odd. If someone suddenly vanished out of character, wasn’t that something worth being wary of?
“Looking for someone wastes too much time. It affects alchemy experiments,” the Arcanist replied.
… Xu Qi’an cupped his fist to him, then used a shadow jump to arrive at the kitchen, where he saw the food-loving Chu Caiwei.
Chu Caiwei looked blank.
“Ah? I don’t know. Maybe Senior Brother Song went out to buy breakfast.”
He’d never spend a quarter of an hour or more running outside just for a bite to eat… Xu Qi’an grumbled inwardly. Then he went to see Sun Xuanji, and only then did he learn from Senior Brother Sun, no, Protector Yuan, that Song Qing was in the library.
The library was on the eighth floor. It contained works on geography, feng shui, medicine, medicinal herbs, smelting, materials science, and so on.
It had been established six hundred years ago. Starting from the first Jianzheng, generation after generation of Sitianjian Arcanists had relied on their own learning to “build” this library.
Xu Qi’an found Song Qing in the innermost part of the library. Senior Brother Song was sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by piles of books.
“Senior Brother Song, there’s something I’d like to ask you…”
Before Xu Qi’an had finished speaking, he heard Song Qing say, head lowered as he turned pages:
“How do you refine the life essence of a first rank martial artist?”
“You already know?” Xu Qi’an was startled. He hadn’t expected old Song to be this efficient.
“Senior Brother Sun told me last night already. What an exciting, hair-raisingly difficult task.”
The alchemy maniac had dishevelled hair, heavy dark circles under his eyes, and an idiotic grin on his face.
He hadn’t slept all night. Xu Qi’an pressed, “Any results yet?”
Song Qing shook his head.
“What’s the difficulty here?” Xu Qi’an asked, not ashamed to seek instruction.
“The formation for refining blood pills can only extract the life essence of ordinary people, which is relatively easy. But the life essence of a first rank expert has been condensed to the utmost degree. Trying to extract it is far too difficult.
“It’s like how removing impurities from iron ore is easy, but removing impurities from refined iron is very hard. We need to start with the formation patterns, materials, and so on…”
Song Qing went on and on, but Xu Qi’an didn’t take in a single word.
Song Qing licked his lips unsatisfied and directed:
“You’ve come at just the right time. Help me pull out everything related to alchemy, life, and formations. I’ll do my best to think of a solution.”
Without another word, Xu Qi’an pushed open the window. After a while, a dense flock of birds flew in. They shared Xu Qi’an’s vision and pulled out books from one relevant field after another. Very quickly, the stack before Song Qing was taller than a person.
“Don’t just stand there looking.” Song Qing lifted his head, displeasure written across his face.
“Young Master Xu is also a prodigy in the field of alchemy, no worse than me. With the strength of both of us combined, we’ll definitely come up with a way to refine the life essence of a first rank martial artist.”
As he spoke, he revealed an expectant expression, as though Xu Qi’an really were some leading authority in alchemy.
I’m just a fraud, I can’t even recite the full periodic table… So he pretended to be an expert and focused on leafing through the books.
Time passed little by little. Then Xu Qi’an suddenly said:
“Are there any writings by the Jianzheng here?”
“No.” Song Qing shook his head.
“Why not take a look at the Jianzheng’s books, then?”
At this, Song Qing gave a snort of disdain.
“That old fellow insisted that the biological alchemy I yearn for is an evil path. I refuse to accept it. I insist on defeating him in the field of alchemy. So I don’t read his books.”
You won’t read them, but I will… Xu Qi’an gave him a few insincere words of praise and then asked:
“Where are the Jianzheng’s works?”
“Turn right, then go straight to the end. Everything up there is by Teacher Jianzheng,” Song Qing said.
Xu Qi’an followed his directions and walked to the bookshelf. His gaze swept over it, then suddenly froze.
He saw a book titled:
Method for Advancing to Half-step Martial God
Xu Qi’an turned his head and silently looked at Song Qing, who was immersed in his own world, intent only on surpassing the Jianzheng.
What exactly are you messing around for?
Is there anything in this world better than getting something for free?
At the same time, an inexplicable chill rose in Xu Qi’an’s heart.
The Jianzheng even knew the method for advancing to half-step Martial God…
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