Chapter 323: Qilin Immortal, I’ll Remember You!
Chapter 323: Qilin Immortal, I’ll Remember You!
“By the way, this is the soil I found—Self-Renewing Soil.” The Qilin Immortal Medicine snapped out of the shock from the story of the Immortal Battle and remembered its purpose.
(TL Note: The soil was a magical soil in Chinese mythology with the ability to self-expand and grow continuously. Its properties made it particularly effective for use by Gun and Yu the Great in fighting the rising waters of the Great Flood. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xirang)
“Self-Renewing Soil, the legendary soil that can block rivers with just a small amount?!” Lu Yang had only read about this precious soil in books. Because of its miraculous properties, it was called “Immortal Soil” by the world.
Everlasting Fairy circled the Self-Renewing Soil a few times, recognizing its origin: “Ah, this is something the Nonuple Immortal created. It expands when it comes into contact with water and was used to control river flooding.”
“Back then, the river channels were chaotic, and floods were frequent. Settlements were often near rivers, which were the most densely populated areas. Every time a flood occurred, it caused massive casualties, and post-disaster reconstruction was very difficult.”
“Large tribes were fine because they had powerful cultivators who could control the river flow with water control techniques, preventing the tribe from being endangered. But small and medium-sized tribes suffered; their cultivators weren’t strong enough to control the vast amount of river water.”
“Although the Nonuple Immortal came from the largest human tribe, the Lian Shan clan, he treated all tribes equally well.”
“After becoming immortal, he worked on solving the flood problem and refined a type of soil that expands upon contact with water, which is the Self-Renewing Soil in your hand.”
“Oh, and Lu Yang, you can’t eat Self-Renewing Soil,” Everlasting Fairy reminded.
“Is there a problem with it?”Everlasting Fairy looked at Lu Yang with pity: “Self-Renewing Soil expands upon contact with water, including saliva. If you eat even a bit, it will expand and envelop you.”
“Then forget it.” Lu Yang quickly distanced himself from the Self-Renewing Soil.
The Three-Leaf Star Grass and the Flower of Time’s End brought two other types of precious soil. Lu Yang ate them in turn but experienced no effects.
“They don’t work.”
The effects of the three types of soil couldn’t all be just about improving physical attributes.
“Try eating a bit more?” Everlasting Fairy was still skeptical.
Lu Yang ate all the soil they brought, but there was still no change.
Thinking he hadn’t eaten enough, Lu Yang continued asking the Little Medicine Kings to find more soil. He kept eating until dawn, but still, he felt no change.
“Fairy, is this Swallowing Heaven Devouring Earth reliable?” Lu Yang began to suspect that Everlasting Fairy was playing a trick on him.
“How could it be unreliable? This is a great Taotie divine ability taught to me by Qilin Immortal!”
Lu Yang immediately had a bad feeling: “Wait, it was Qilin Immortal who taught you?”
“Yes.”
“When did he teach you? Was it after his wedding?”
Everlasting Fairy was quite surprised: “How did you know?”
“Not long after the wedding, Qilin Immortal came to me and asked if I wanted to learn an ancient divine ability of the Taotie clan. I said learning wouldn’t hurt.”
“Swallowing Heaven Devouring Earth wasn’t difficult to learn; I mastered it quickly. Afterward, Qilin Immortal asked if I wanted to try eating dirt. I said I was already immortal, how could eating dirt be useful? Hearing that, he walked away disappointed.”
Lu Yang was silent for a while before tentatively asking, “Fairy, you mentioned you’ve read about the Taotie clan in books. Did the books say that eating dirt could improve cultivation talent?”
“No, that was something Qilin Immortal told me.”
Lu Yang: “…”
Lu Yang finally understood. Swallowing Heaven Devouring Earth was indeed about eating dirt, and the Taotie clan did rise by eating dirt, but there was no saying that eating dirt could improve cultivation talent!
Qilin Immortal had wanted to take revenge on Everlasting Fairy. He intentionally taught her this divine ability and used the claim of “improving cultivation talent” to pique her curiosity, hoping she would eat dirt.
This way, Qilin Immortal could spread the word about the fairy eating dirt and ridicule her.
But Everlasting Fairy, simple as she was, didn’t fall for it!
Three hundred thousand years later, the pit that Qilin Immortal dug was stumbled upon by Lu Yang, making him the unlucky one who spent an entire night eating dirt.
Qilin Immortal, you couldn’t fool Everlasting Fairy, so you decided to fool me instead? I’ll remember you!
…
When everyone arrived at the rendezvous point, Lu Yang was still nowhere to be seen.
Just as they were about to go look for him, they saw Lu Yang trudging over, his face looking somewhat ashen.
Meng Jingzhou was startled by Lu Yang’s appearance: “What happened to you? Did you fall into a mud pit while sleeping?”
Lu Yang waved his hand nonchalantly: “It’s nothing, just a small setback while learning a divine ability. This is quite common on the path of cultivation.”
Fortunately, being at the Golden Core Stage meant he didn’t need to sleep; otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to keep his eyes open right now.
The Fifth Elder also expressed concern for Lu Yang: “Are you really okay?”
“Really, I’m fine.”
“That’s good.”
The Fifth Elder took out a flying shuttle from his sleeve and gently tossed it up. The shuttle expanded to the size of a commercial flying boat.
The shuttle opened, revealing seats and various exquisite facilities inside.
This was the Fifth Elder’s favorite flying artifact. In terms of cost, it was far more expensive than a flying boat.
“Get on.”
Everyone jumped onto the shuttle one after another, and it closed up.
“Is everyone seated and strapped in?” The Fifth Elder stood at the front, asking calmly.
Everyone, not understanding the intent, obediently sat down and replied in unison that they were ready.
“Good.”
The Fifth Elder nodded, raised his index and middle fingers, and activated the shuttle.
The shuttle broke through the air barrier with a sonic boom and accelerated rapidly.
It felt like a heavy force was pressing against them, pinning everyone tightly to their seats, rendering Lu Yang immobile.
The force was so immense that even if Lu Yang gritted his teeth and used all his strength, he couldn’t move. He tried to form a protective barrier of spiritual energy around himself, but at this speed, the energy shattered instantly and couldn’t form a shield.
Finally, the pressure disappeared, and the four of them leaned forward, resting their arms on their legs and their heads hanging down to stabilize themselves.
They felt a sense of relief as if they had survived a great ordeal.
Facing the Nine Nether Sect hadn’t even felt this intense.
The Fifth Elder paced in front of them, teaching: “I accelerated suddenly on purpose to train your reflexes in unexpected situations. Remember that feeling. As cultivators, you must always be alert to potential dangers around you.”
“When I was young, I often raced flying boats and had to evade law enforcement cultivators coming from all directions. Not once did they catch me.”
The four looked warily at the Fifth Elder, feeling that the biggest danger was now him!
The flying shuttle’s speed was incredibly fast. Originally, Lu Yang had wanted to show off his newly learned “Devouring Heaven,” but before he could speak, the Fifth Elder announced.
“We’re here.”
Meng Jingzhou looked down and saw Yanjiang County below.
The shuttle hovered directly above Yanjiang County, completely invisible to the naked eye.
“Let’s get down.”
The four of them looked at each other, searching in vain for a way to descend.
Only Golden Core Stage cultivators could fly, and Li Haoran and Qin Yanyan were not yet at that stage. Lu Yang was afraid of heights.
How were they supposed to get down?
The Fifth Elder slapped his forehead: “I’ll take you down.”
With a wave of his sleeve, Lu Yang didn’t have time to react before everything went black. When he managed to open his eyes, he found himself lying on the floor of the barbecue shop, with Li Haoran on his left and Qin Yanyan on his right.
“What happened? Does the Fifth Elder also know the Universe in Sleeves Art?” Lu Yang was surprised, as this was supposed to be an extremely difficult divine ability to master.
Everlasting Fairy spoke softly: “No, he just knocked you all out and carried you here.”
(End of the chapter)