Chapter 1758: Enlightenment
“I’ll be troubling the Prince of Blazing Sun then,” the blue-clad woman said, her cold expression finally revealing a trace of happiness. She asked, “Where are they right now?”
She was none other than Chu Chuyan. Previously, upon entering the daoist sects’ secret dungeon, they had discovered that it was completely different from the one recorded in their sect. They had taken far longer than expected to complete their given missions. Even so, they had gained great benefits. Eventually, they had gathered at the agreed-upon meeting place, where they waited to leave.
And yet, who would have thought that they actually couldn't leave? They had tried to think of all sorts of methods, but nothing worked. Later, a streak of white light had flown across the horizon, and a terrifying black hole appeared in the world, sucking them all in.
When she woke up again, she found herself in this world; the others were already gone without a trace. Thus, she spent some time in search of her companions. The others were one thing, but Pei Mianman was her good friend, and they had a certain awkward relationship too. She naturally didn’t want something to happen to Pei Mianman, or else she would have to explain things to Ah Zu. But then, she had discovered that this world was even more chaotic than she first imagined. Finding her companions was like looking for a needle in a haystack!
As time went on, she eventually passed through a valley and coincidentally ended up rescuing some people who were being attacked by bandits. The leader of that group was actually the Prince of Blazing Sun of the nearby country. Even though it was far from the Great Zhou Dynasty, it was still one of the most powerful countries in the vicinity.
Meanwhile, the Prince of Blazing Sun was the one who had the highest chance of succeeding the throne. The ‘bandits’ hadn’t been random thugs, but rather his rival’s elite deathsworn soldiers. When she came to his aid, the Prince of Blazing Sun had thought that Chu Chuyan was a goddess from the heavens. He wanted to repay her kindness, so he invited her back to the capital out of gratitude.
Chu Chuyan had initially planned to reject him, but she reconsidered after realizing that she didn’t know much about this world at all. If she had the help of a country, it would become much easier to find her companions. As such, she agreed.
However, the prince’s fawning since then had irritated her beyond belief. Furthermore, he had never provided any useful information, so she had already decided she would leave today.
“I have not been able to find out the location of the lady’s companions yet,” the Prince of Blazing Sun said. When he saw her expression become ice-cold, however, he quickly addedd, “But something major happened recently! A great tomb appeared by the Zhi River, and it is rumored to be the place where Immortal Ruler Baopu ascended to immortality. There are countless treasures stored there, and even his Baopuzi, which contains all of his knowledge, is highly likely to be there. It might contain an opportunity for immortal ascension!”
“Immortal ascension…” Chu Chuyan muttered, but refrained from commenting further. In her previous world, countless people had wanted to achieve immortal ascension, and yet in the end, all of their hopes and efforts amounted to nothing. She asked, “Does this have anything to do with my companions?”
The Prince of Blazing Sun quickly replied, “Of course it does! All sorts of powerful individuals are heading to the Zhi River to find a way into that great tomb and search for the immortal opportunity. The lady’s companions are all strong individuals too, so they will definitely be interested too. Rather than fishing a needle out of the sea, it might be better to just go to the Zhi River. I believe you will be able to reunite with them there.”
Chu Chuyan nodded inwardly when she heard that and said, “Thank you for the information, young master. I’ll immediately set out for the Zhi River.”
The Prince of Blazing Sun said with a smile, “There is no need for the lady to worry. I have already arranged for everything. I will accompany the lady to the Zhi River!”
Chu Chuyan shook her head and said, “Thank you for your good intentions, prince, but I’ve already troubled you a great deal as of late. I don’t wish to delay your important matters any further. Also, I’ve gotten used to traveling alone and am not used to being with others.” Even though her voice was gentle, her rejection was firm.
The Prince of Blazing Sun was stunned. He forced a smile and said, “In that case, I will not disturb Miss Chu anymore. I wish you a successful journey.”
“Thank you, young master,” Chu Chuyan said. She nodded slightly, then she quickly left. She had been planning to leave today anyway, and she didn’t have any luggage to speak of.
…
As the Prince of Blazing Sun watched her leave, the brilliant smile that had just been on his face disappeared without a trace.
His servant off to the side said angrily, “That woman is simply shameless! Prince, which woman can’t your respected self obtain? And yet, even though you cared so much for her, she actually ended up putting on such a pretense!”
Slap!
What he got in response was a bright red handprint on his face.
The Prince of Blazing Sun said coldly, “Either give me some constructive criticism, or refrain from speaking such brainless nonsense.”
The servant immediately became a yes-man and didn’t dare to say anything else.
On the other hand, when another servant saw that, he smiled delightedly and said, “Prince, actually, it’s not that hard to move a woman’s heart. This Miss Chu is different from the respected prince’s other women. She’s quite powerful herself and doesn’t need to rely on anyone else, so the prince’s earlier methods weren’t useful.”
The Prince of Blazing Sun nodded in deep sympathy and said, “Continue.”
His second subordinate looked at the other dumbstruck servant and said, “That’s why we need to crush her pride and the source of her confidence first.”
“So you are saying…” the Prince of Blazing Sun began, his eyes lighting up. However, he shook his head again soon after and continued, “Miss Chu’s cultivation is extremely high. It will not be that easy to deal with her. We must use our city’s strongest experts. However, if we are exposed, it will easily result in the situation turning on us instead.”
The servant’s eyes widened. He thought, Isn’t it enough as long as you obtain her body? If you want her feelings, you have to move her heart!
Of course, he didn’t dare to speak those words out loud and could only say, “We can choose not to use our men. The Zhi River’s great tomb is about to appear, so there will definitely be all sorts of powerful individuals gathering there. That Miss Chu is both beautiful and heroic in appearance, so there will definitely be endless powerful individuals who take an interest in her. Her two fists can only do so much and she’ll soon be forced into a desperate situation. If the prince came to save her at just the right time and saved the damsel in distress, wouldn’t everything work out perfectly then?”
The Prince of Blazing Sun immediately became much happier. He said, “Little Zhu, not bad! How did I not notice that you were clever before? You’re much better than Little Sha, at least.”
“It’s all due to the respected prince’s careful cultivation,” the servant surnamed Zhu said, giving Little Sha a proud look. Little Sha could only sulk in silence.
…
Meanwhile, Zu An’s group continued their journey to the Zhi River. They ran into all sorts of ghosts and monsters along the way, but Zu An’s sword was unstoppable, and Qiu Honglei was a powerful cultivator on par with the representative disciples of the daoist sects. Even though Wei Suo’s cultivation was a bit lower, the fact that he had been able to survive in the world of warriors for so many years meant he had quite a few unique skills too. On top of that, Jing Teng was a fiend, and she even had some unique and mysterious techniques. With their coordination, even though they encountered some tricky opponents, they still managed to deal with everything.
“I feel as if something isn’t quite right,” Qiu Honglei said as they defeated another monster. “Aren’t we running into too many ghosts along the way? The first day, we were able to travel two thousand miles, and yet now, we can’t even cover five hundred miles in a day.”
Jing Teng’s expression became unnatural. She said, “I already said that there are monsters everywhere. It isn’t too strange for there to be so many monsters.”
“Is that so? I even found some cultivators to talk to yesterday in that town, and they told me that even though it’s dangerous to travel and they encountered some ghosts too, it’s far from what we’ve experienced!” Wei Suo said with a chuckle, a sharp glint flickering in his eyes. After traveling together, he had already managed to develop a certain degree of immunity against Jing Teng’s beauty, and was able to think properly again.
Zu An circled around Jing Teng and said, “That bride ghost we met said she wanted you. At the time, you said that perhaps she wanted your body and wanted to absorb your fiend power, and then she’d use your body to fool more people. I believed what you said at the time. But since then, many more ghosts have come for you, as if you had something they wanted. Shouldn’t you explain this to us properly?”
When she saw that all three seemed to be surrounding her, Jing Teng looked hesitant.
Qiu Honglei said with a frown, “We’ve treated you as our comrade along the way, and yet you’re deliberately hiding things like this from us, and our lives have almost been put in danger because of it. How can we not feel a bit disappointed?”
Wei Suo nodded when he heard that. When he thought about the things he had needed to go through as of late, he felt an urge to cry.
Just then, Zu An said, “Just tell us if there’s some trouble you are going through. After what we’ve been through, I believe you have some understanding of our character. You should already have an idea of whether we deserve your trust or not.”
Jing Teng gave him an annoyed look. This guy already took advantage of me, yet he’s still acting like the victim.
In the end, however, she said, “They’re probably after Immortal Ruler Baopu.”
“Immortal Ruler Baopu?” the others repeated, stunned. The name was unfamiliar to them.
Even though a great tomb had appeared near the Zhi River and everyone in the entire world seemed to have heard about it, in reality, the news was being restricted through various means. Only the most influential and most powerful forces of this world were aware of the truth. It was really difficult for people like them who had just entered this world to find out.
“A long time ago, the path to immortality was severed. Countless years passed since anyone was able to ascend to immortality. And yet, a few centuries ago, there was actually someone who succeeded. He was Immortal Ruler Baopu…” Jing Teng explained.
Wei Suo raised his hand and asked, “What does that have to do with you?”
Jing Teng looked in a certain direction. She had a wistful expression as she said, “I previously told you that it was extremely difficult for plants to gain intelligence. They either have to absorb the essence of the world over an extremely long amount of time, or they have to receive the opportunity of enlightenment through an encounter with another. In my case, it was the latter.”
She paused for a moment, then added, “Back then, it was none other than Immortal Ruler Baopu who gave me enlightenment.”
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