“There isn’t any spiritual energy in the Wildlands,” Bai Xiaochun pointed out, “so how do the people there practice cultivation?”
“There is no spiritual energy,” Chen Manyao said softly. “But there are plenty of souls. Hunt them, absorb them, and that is how you can practice cultivation!”
After a long moment passed, Chen Manyao once again brought up the subject of Bai Xiaochun joining the Wildlanders. This time, Bai Xiaochun didn’t refuse outright. He thought about it for a bit, then turned and left.
As he walked along the paths of Sky Quarter Rainbow, he heaved sighs left and right. His intuition was telling him that this soul-hunting expedition was going to be very dangerous. And yet, there was nothing he could do to get out of it. Therefore, he had no choice but to accept his fate. Face grim, he flew back to his immortal’s cave.
Along the way, quite a few cultivators noticed him and called out respectful greetings. However, he was no longer in the mood to revel in their attention. Evening was falling, and the light of the setting sun reflecting off of the golden waters of the Heavenspan Sea made for quite a beautiful scene. Bai Xiaochun looked out at it, then sighed, thinking about how he already had a deva soul. If he really ran out of options, he could always find a safe place inside the Great Wall to hide for ten years, then come back to the sect, trade it for a set of deva beast souls, and then step into the Nascent Soul stage.
Feeling sorry for himself, and still wrestling with what decision to make, he walked up to his immortal’s cave and prepared to enter. However, just before stepping inside, he stopped and looked up, and his eyes flashed.
Unexpectedly, someone was waiting for him inside of his immortal’s cave!
He immediately drew upon the power of his cultivation base, waving his finger to cause the front door to swing open, revealing a young woman, standing there with her back to him!
As soon as he saw her back, a tremor ran through him, and he began to breathe heavily.
“You….”
As soon as the words escaped his lips, the young woman slowly turned, revealing a face that shocked Bai Xiaochun down to the core!
“Xiaochun….” she said softly, her eyes glistening.
“Du Lingfei!” he said. He had often thought about what it would be like to see Du Lingfei again. As of this moment, he realized that it was not as shocking of an event as he had imagined. Although it had come like bolt out of the blue, deep in his heart, he had long since prepared for their reunion.
His eyes flickered with complicated emotions as a quiet moment passed. All of a sudden, he thought about how the Sky Quarter peak lord had treated him, and how Feng Youde had taken him under his wing. During the entire time he had been in the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect, it had always seemed like someone was out there, secretly watching out for him. Although he had had his various speculations, now that he saw Du Lingfei standing there, everything made complete sense.
Her expression complex and filled with melancholy, she said, “Xiaochun, I’m sorry for–”
“Was that you in the Blood Stream Sect!?” he interrupted, speaking his words slowly and with force.
“Yes!” she replied without the slightest hesitation.
Staring at her, he continued with more questions. “Were you an agent of some sort? Why? What were you doing in the Spirit Stream Sect and the Blood Stream Sect? And what are you doing here?”
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Chapter
443: Boarding
“I had no choice in the matter,” she said bitterly, shaking her head.
The pain visible in her smile softened Bai Xiaochun’s heart a bit. Lowering his voice, he said, “Who exactly are you? Where are you from?”
After a long moment of silence, she took a deep breath and said, “I’m from the Heavenspan Sea, and that’s all I can say. Don’t ask any more about it….”
Shaken, Bai Xiaochun remained silent.
Outside, the sun was setting, and the sky was growing dark. It was quiet in the immortal’s cave, with the only sound being their breathing.
Eventually, the immortal’s cave grew dark, and finally, Bai Xiaochun decided to ask another question, a question which had been lurking in his heart for a long time, a question which he very much wanted to know the answer to.
“Back in the Luochen Mountains, the tears you shed, were they real, or just for show…?”
She didn’t directly answer his question. Instead, she extended her right hand, within which appeared a violet tongue of flame. As it burned, it released a shocking energy, something that surpassed the energy of the leaf Bai Xiaochun had received that contained the power of a deva. This made it seem like a deva was actually standing right there with them. Furthermore, within the burning violet flames was… a soul!!
Looking up at him, she spoke in a voice that was almost a murmur. “Do you think this deva soul is real, or just for show?”
To see Du Lingfei holding a deva soul shocked Bai Xiaochun to the core. He also had a deva soul, the wood-type soul that Patriarch Frigidsect had given him. He had been shocked when he was told how valuable deva souls were, but back then, their true value had been some abstract to him.
Now, on the verge of the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect sending numerous disciples on a soul-hunting expedition, he was more acutely aware than ever of how valuable deva souls were.
Anyone who wanted to achieve a Heaven-Dao Nascent Soul needed five deva souls, each one a different type. When it came to deva beast souls… any single deva soul could be traded for a set of five of them!
From that alone, it was easy to calculate how astronomically valuable any deva soul was!
Before Bai Xiaochun could even respond to her words, Du Lingfei sent the fire-type soul floating over to Bai Xiaochun. As it did, her body began to slowly fade away.
The entire time, her gaze was soft as she looked at Bai Xiaochun, and seemed to be filled with regret and sentiment.
“The Wildlands is a dangerous place. You… should make sure not to do anything risky. When you get back, trade that deva soul for a set of deva beast souls…. At that time, I’ll explain everything!” With that, she disappeared.
Bai Xiaochun simply stood there the entire time, declining to speak. After she faded away, he closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and reached out to take the fire-type deva soul. Then he sat down cross-legged to think, although he wasn’t sure about what.
Time passed. Half a month flew by, and the day of the trial by fire grew closer. Eventually, Bai Xiaochun had no choice but to rouse himself and start preparing. He got very busy, both concocting pills, performing spirit enhancements, and doing everything else he could to get himself in peak condition.
On the day before the trial by fire was to begin, he emerged from his immortal’s cave and went to the Hall of Devil Slayers to say goodbye to Big Fatty Zhang. Big Fatty Zhang had not yet awoken, but had recovered significantly. His aura was stable, and his cultivation base was growing stronger. Within two or three months, he would have successfully reached Core Formation.
He sat down in front of Big Fatty Zhang, feeling more than ever like he couldn’t bear to leave. “Eldest Brother… the next time we see each other will be in ten years. I really wish I didn’t have to leave.”
He spoke many more words from his heart, until the sun began to set. Worried that he might be disturbing Big Fatty Zhang’s Core Formation, he left the temple and went to see Feng Youde. Clasping hands deeply, he offered sincere thanks for the help Feng Youde had given him.