Chapter 129: Inadvertently Making A Breakthrough
"The Baize youngling's appetite is increasing...?"
In the Hall of Alchemy, several senior attendants immediately became nervous upon hearing the news about Baize from two junior disciples.
The Alchemy Master[1], who was one of the Four Guardian Elders, was in charge of many matters related to alchemy, spirit plants, spirit beasts, and the like all over Mount Shu. Raising the Baize youngling fell under his responsibility as well.
However, the Alchemy Master had a high status in the sect, so he didn't handle such trivial matters personally. He had entrusted the care of the Baize youngling to some trustworthy disciples, and every little thing that happened with the Baize youngling was a big deal to them. Even something like the youngling eating more or less than usual for a meal would put them on alert.
"It's definitely abnormal that its appetite is doubling all of a sudden. Could it be that Little Baize is about to break through to the next realm?" one of the attendants speculated.
"That's possible..." another attendant nodded in agreement. "Let's increase the quantity of the Spirit-Energy Raising Pills tomorrow to see if Little Baize's doubled appetite was just a one-time thing. If its increase in appetite isn't temporary, then it is indeed possible that Little Baize is about to break through to the next realm!"
The attendant spoke rather excitedly because it would be a great thing if the Baize youngling's appetite had truly increased. The youngling's greater need for spiritual energy indicated that it was growing. In that case, the attendants in charge of raising the youngling would receive the credit for having nurtured it well.
"Is it possible that there's a thief?" a third attendant asked quietly. "Even if it needs more spiritual energy for a breakthrough, it wouldn't suddenly double like this, right?"
"Hmm..." The other attendants considered the possibility for a moment but waved their hands dismissively soon after. "That's impossible, absolutely impossible!"
It was unsurprising that they were so certain that it couldn't have been the work of a thief.
Baizes were extremely territorial spirit beasts. The Hall of Alchemy's attendants were only able to deliver food for the Baize youngling once a day every day because the Alchemy Master had repeatedly instructed the Baize youngling not to attack them. Normally, no one in the Mount Shu Sect dared to approach Guardian Peak without careful consideration, as the Baize youngling was very aggressive. The moment it discovered an outsider on the peak, it would ram them with its head.
Furthermore, there weren't many people in the sect who had a higher level of cultivation than the Baize youngling. Why would one of them even want to steal Spirit-Energy Raising Pills? Even if they did, the Baize youngling definitely wouldn't remain calm.
As for the possibility of one of the youngling's acquaintances committing the crime... Everyone in the Mount Shu Sect knew that the Baize youngling had an arrogant personality. Over the years, it seemed to have only befriended Jiang Yuebai from Azure Falling Peak. Why would Fairy Jiang do something as absurd as stealing feed?
This ridiculous speculation made everyone burst into laughter, and a jovial mood filled the Hall of Alchemy.
...
"Uuuuuurh."
Feeling drowsy from eating its fill, the Golden-Furred Hou lay lazily on the ground. It stretched out its large head and let out a deeply satisfied burp. The burp was so loud that its reverberation reached the sky.
Chu Liang furrowed his brows.
"Go, go, go. Get away from me," Chu Liang said, pushing the Golden-Furred Hou's large head away. "Go play by yourself."
Nonetheless, the Golden-Furred Hou stubbornly continued to push its head toward Chu Liang. It was acting extremely affectionately, even snuggling up and rubbing its head against him.
Chu Liang's position in the Golden-Furred Hou's heart had soared to first place; he was now the Golden-Furred Hou's most beloved master. As for the woman who dealt very painful hits... she probably wouldn't notice that she had been secretly moved down to second place in the Golden-Furred Hou's heart, right?
Big Head turned slightly to sneak a peek at Di Nufeng's pavilion.
Meanwhile, Chu Liang was currently in his little garden, tending to his Golden Vein Berry plants.
After a few days of cultivating the area of land where the garden was located, the soil in the garden managed to recover its initial level of fertility. He'd sprinkled a powder fertilizer over the plants, and now, he was watering them in anticipation of the harvest.
There would be dozens of berries for Chu Liang to harvest the next day and sell at the market. Consequently, he was currently contemplating the best pricing strategy for that.
The berries he'd used to test the waters at the market were the Dragon Breath Golden Vein Berries. However, the ones he intended to sell the next day were just regular Golden Vein Berries, so there would, unfortunately, be a difference in taste.
Just as Chu Liang was pondering about this, Big Head lurked closer again.
This time, it wasn't to snuggle with Chu Liang but to get close to a newly formed berry. Big Head was panting and whimpering, clearly greedy for a bite.
The spirit fruits that Big Head had eaten on Guardian Peak earlier were not as delicious as the Golden Vein Berries. So, it was no surprise that Big Head was drooling at the sight of these berries.
"No touching these." Chu Liang pressed Big Head's nose, throttling the spirit beast's criminal intention in advance. "I've already taken you to feast on so much delicious food. I'm reserving these berries to sell them. If you dare to eat them, I'll neuter you."
"Aoooo—"
Who knew if the Golden-Furred Hou understood what Chu Liang said, but it quivered, scrambled to its feet, and then ran off into the distance with its hind legs pressed together.
Nevertheless, the Golden-Furred Hou enjoyed a good life on Mount Shu with lots of delicious foods to eat. Moreover, it lived freely in the outdoors, instead of being locked up in a cage. Its bounding steps showed just how happy it was.
As soon as Big Head ran off, a continuous string of thunderclaps rang out in the sky, followed by a drizzle of rain. Against the backdrop of the night sky, the raindrops shimmered like golden threads.
"Again?"
Chu Liang felt quite bewildered as he gazed up at the rain clouds in the sky.
Liu Xiaoyu'er had said that there hadn't been any rain the last couple of days on Silver Sword Peak, yet the rain came once Chu Liang returned to the peak. He wondered if it was following him...
It's really strange.
Chu Liang didn't think that the rain was following his teacher because she wasn't there at the moment. Di Nufeng had just gone to Azure Falling Peak to return the Heavenly Cloud Ancient Sword.
Chu Liang gazed in the direction of the distant Dragon Fishing Pond.
True Dragon, why are you doing this?
...
In front of Di Nufeng was a deep pool of silver water with azure ripples. Under the moonlight, it resembled a piece of smooth white jade. Di Nufeng was indeed at the Fishing Dragon Pool on Solitude Peak.
She'd initially gone to Azure Falling Peak to return the sword. However, upon learning that Daoist Yan had gone to Solitude Peak, Di Nufeng went over to Solitude Peak too.
Di Nufeng's Divine Phoenix fire, which was constantly ablaze, caused ripples to break out in the tranquil Dragon Fishing Pool.
Old Man Sikong chuckled and said, "You'd best not disturb the True Dragon with your fiery Divine Phoenix qi."
Di Nufeng proceeded to give a one-sentence response.
"True Dragons or fake dragons, if they dare to provoke me, I'll punch them and make them earless dragons," Di Nufeng declared nonchalantly with a voice that was tranquil like clouds drifting serenly in a breeze.
No one knew if the White Dragon in the pool had heard Di Nufeng's words, but the surface of the water returned to a calm state.
"This True Dragon suppressed our sect's fate[2]. All members of our sect have to be more respectful to the White Dragon than we are to Baize," Old Man Sikong stated. Nevertheless, he didn't bother arguing with Di Nufeng. He just said slowly, "Did you once again forget the strict orders that the sect leader gave you?"
"Oh, enough with that. I can't be bothered with your long-windedness," Di Nufeng replied, casually waving her hand to end the conversation. Then she placed a sword box on the ground. "Yan Zi, I brought your precious sword back."
Daoist Yan, who was dressed in Daoist robes, was sitting on a large pure-white lotus flower. With a wave of her hand, she moved the sword case over to her. She opened it and saw the Heavenly Cloud Ancient Sword inside.
Daoist Yan nodded. "I was truly worried you'd keep the real one and give the fake one to me. It seems you're not that vile yet."
"Ah," Di Nufeng gasped and held her forehead with her hand. "Why didn't I think of that?!"
"Good thing you didn't," Old Man Sikong remarked with a laugh. "Otherwise, we'd finally have an answer to something we've been curious about for so many years. Which of you is the Mount Shu Sect's top peak master?"
"Hmph." Di Nufeng rolled her eyes at Old Man Sikong. "I'm so close with Yan Zi. There's no way I would ever hit her! I believe Yan Zi feels the same way about me."
All Daoist Yan did was blink; she didn't say a word.
"..." Di Nufeng's smile gradually disappeared.
"Haha, okay, let's stop joking around," Old Man Sikong said, shaking his head. "I and Daoist Yan were discussing an issue earlier. You can listen in."
"What's the issue?" Di Nufeng asked.
"We have a traitor in our sect," Daoist Yan answered.
"Eh?" Di Nufeng uttered in surprise.
"Some time back, my disciple Jiang Yuebai was attacked by a demonic beast despite being on Mount Shu. Obviously, that means that someone had deliberately arranged for this to happen. I investigated the incident, but I couldn't find out who did it," Daoist Yan explained. "Later on, Old Man Sikong succeeded in fishing out a dragon, so I asked him to use divination to look into the matter."
"The divination results were somewhat vague. I could only see signs of discord and evil intentions being harbored within the sect," Old Man Sikong told them. "Considering that the person in question has such a high cultivation level to prevent me from making a complete deduction, they are very likely a cultivator of a high level, perhaps at the sixth or seventh realm. They might even be as powerful as our sect's peak masters."
"In that case, my number one suspect is Wang Xuanling," Di Nufeng stated immediately.
"Don't use this as an opportunity to get rid of people you don't like..." Old Man Sikong replied while looking at Di Nufeng helplessly.
"Anyone could be the suspect, so I'll just suspect whoever I want," Di Nufeng said with a laugh. Then she asked, "Why aren't the two of you suspecting me?"
Old Man Sikong didn't say anything and instead glanced at Daoist Yan.
Daoist Yan explained without reservation, "We unanimously think that... to play an undercover agent, you need to have a brain."
...
Later that night... Chu Liang sat cross-legged on the bed and activated his cultivation techniques, circulating his qi.
He'd been relying on the Large-Headed Doll to cultivate for him, but he'd never slacked off on doing it himself. This was because he knew that working on his cultivation would not only advance his cultivation level but also lay down the foundation for his future cultivation.
If Chu Liang didn't have sufficient mastery of his cultivation techniques, then it didn't matter if his cultivation level was high. It would just be like a castle in the air, a mere illusion that he wouldn't be able to utilize. He believed that shortcuts could indeed be used for everything, but he still needed to do the groundwork to achieve his goal.
The Divine Nine's Profound Mental Cultivation Technique didn't just bring about a sense of peace and harmony; it embodied the profound principles of the Great Dao. Studying it intensively might help him make a breakthrough from the Heavenly Gate to the Dao Attainment Realm in the future.
However, Chu Liang's cultivation seemed a bit strange today. There was no advancement in his cultivation progress no matter how he circulated his qi. His cultivation had been progressing extremely slowly of late, but he'd still experienced a clear sensation of his foundational qi being compressed when it entered the Sea of Qi in his Dantian. Yet, today, it seemed to be dispersing.
It was the same with the foundational qi that the Large-Headed Doll was circulating. The Qi Circulation Puppet was working so hard that it was surrounded by smoke that it emitted, but there was still no progress in Chu Liang's cultivation.
Chu Liang did a brief examination of his body and confirmed that he was perfectly fine. There was nothing wrong with his cultivation techniques either.
In that case, there could only be one reason for the stagnant progression. He'd already reached... the pinnacle of the Spiritual Awareness Realm.
"Haaa..." Chu Liang let out a soft sigh.
He'd inadvertently made another breakthrough in his cultivation.
1. He’s in charge of the Hall of Alchemy. ☜
2. The author didn't specify what kind of fate this is, but from what was mentioned in ch102 (B2C1), it sounds like it's a good thing that the sect's fate was suppressed, so I guess it was a bad fate. ☜
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