Chapter 92: How Are You Supposed to Improve Like This?

Gu Changqing collected his spoils and returned to where Li Youling was waiting. Seeing him come back unharmed, she finally felt at ease.

Still, she could not help thinking that their young master treated her rather well, but around others he was truly capricious; no one knew when they might offend him and be slain on the spot.

The White-Elephant Daoist stood at a distance in silence for a long while before letting out a sigh. “Fellow Daoist, why must you make things so difficult for me like this?”

He was deeply displeased with Gu Changqing’s behavior, yet did not dare show it.

Gu Changqing grinned. “Why do you say that, White-Elephant Daoist? This man coveted my maid and bore murderous intent toward me. He deserved to die in the first place. If someone like him went to Lotus Ridge, who knows what kind of trouble he might cause?”

The White-Elephant Daoist could only feel that these words fit Gu Changqing himself all too well.

Gu Changqing casually tossed the whisk over, then took out a hundred spirit stones, stuffed them into a pouch, and threw it to the White-Elephant Daoist with a smile.

“White-Elephant, we clicked the moment we met. I’m treating you like my own brother. Since this demonic scoundrel left behind some things, I should naturally share a portion with you, fellow Daoist! It’s a pity he was truly poor. Aside from a flying sword and this whisk, he had almost nothing on him. Otherwise, you could have gotten even more.”

The White-Elephant Daoist looked stunned. After inspecting the contents of the pouch, his expression flickered uncertainly.

“What now? You don’t want it, White-Elephant Brother?” Gu Changqing narrowed his eyes. “Don’t tell me you have some objection to me?”

Though Gu Changqing’s tone remained playful, the hairs on the White-Elephant Daoist’s back stood straight up. He hurriedly cupped his hands and said, “Then many thanks... Brother Gu!”

Gu Changqing laughed heartily. “From now on, we’re brothers! If there’s any benefit for me, there’ll surely be some for you too. Cultivation is never easy; wealth, technique, companions, and a place to practice—one of these and you cannot thrive. That was what you told me, after all! How about you introduce some demonic villains to me, White-Elephant Daoist?”

“The thing I enjoy most is eradicating demons and defending the right path!”

Gu Changqing felt that the White-Elephant Daoist had broad connections and well-informed ears.

“Brother Gu... that absolutely will not do!” the White-Elephant Daoist said hastily.

“What, you don’t want to eradicate demons and defend the right path?” Gu Changqing’s eyes narrowed further.

“I do, of course I do. It’s just that such work is far too dangerous. I truly wouldn’t be able to withstand it...” the White-Elephant Daoist said with a bitter smile.

For a brief moment, he had indeed been tempted. The two hundred spirit stones Gu Changqing had just given him would have taken him two years to earn.

But he did not have Gu Changqing’s courage.

One day he might kick an iron plate and lose his life for it.

“You’re always hesitating, fearing this and fearing that. What are you cultivating immortality for? What are you seeking the Dao for? Cultivation is contending with heaven, contending with earth, contending with men! If you don’t contend, how do you cultivate? If you don’t contend, how do you advance?”

Seeing that his expression was not feigned, Gu Changqing also understood that the man lacked nerve, and he sneered with contempt.

“If I ever run into... that sort of great demon, I’ll be sure to notify Brother Gu!” Seeing Gu Changqing’s displeasure, the White-Elephant Daoist could only brace himself and reply.

Only then did Gu Changqing nod slightly. “You two wait here for a moment. I’m going back to the city.”

He had to sell that flying sword and replenish his spirit stones.

So he retraced his steps back into the city and headed straight for the Treasury Pavilion, where the same maid from before was still there.

“Why are you here every day?” Gu Changqing asked, somewhat surprised. Didn’t she need to cultivate? He himself devoted himself to cultivation every day, spending who knew how much effort to reach where he was now.

“If I’m not here, where else would I be, sir?” the maid asked with a light laugh.

“Tsk.”

Gu Changqing did not bother asking further and tossed the flying sword over.

The maid at the Treasury Pavilion gave it a slight glance, and with no need for further thought, she understood where these random visits to sell magical items were coming from.

But after spending so long in the Treasury Pavilion, what kind of people had she not seen? Such matters were naturally something she encountered and heard of often enough.

After a brief inspection, she said, “This flying sword was refined with a hundred poisons. The craftsmanship is not impressive, but the venom is decent. I can value it at eight hundred spirit stones.”

After that, Gu Changqing bought several high-grade wind-walking talismans, casually tossed a few spirit stones to the maid, and then strode off grandly.

The maid toyed with the spirit stones in her hand, smiled, and then slipped into the back room.

After all, the Treasury Pavilion was her family’s business. If she was not here, where else would she go?

...

When Gu Changqing returned to the foot of Ancient Barbarian Mountain, he saw the White-Elephant Daoist and Li Youling together.

“Brother Gu, are we ready to depart?” the White-Elephant Daoist asked with cupped hands, his attitude noticeably more respectful and his manner increasingly deferential.

“Let’s go.”

Among the Nine Mountains and Twelve Ridges, Lotus Ridge was relatively close to Roaming Immortal City.

After all, the deeper one went into Ancient Barbarian Mountain, the richer the spiritual energy became, while nearer the outer edges it grew increasingly thin.

Of course, even the thinnest spiritual energy here was still several times greater than that of ordinary county towns.

There was another reason as well: the deeper one ventured into Ancient Barbarian Mountain, the denser the spiritual energy and the more spiritual plants, medicinal herbs, and rare resources there were.

If conflict ever arose with the Green Cloud Dao Sect, the Twelve Ridges outside would serve as the first line of defense.

Thus, from entering Ancient Barbarian Mountain to reaching Lotus Ridge, the journey took only two days and nights of nonstop travel.

Gu Changqing directly produced a high-grade wind-walking talisman and handed it to the White-Elephant Daoist. “That should get us there in a day and a half.”

After receiving the talisman, the White-Elephant Daoist could only smile bitterly.

He also had one such high-grade wind-walking talisman, but he kept it for saving his life in a desperate escape. It was nothing like Gu Changqing, who used one solely for travel.

Still, by now he understood that Gu Changqing was obscenely wealthy, and he also knew why.

“Brother Gu, there is one more matter. Regarding Fellow Daoist Qu’s arrival, I have already informed the mountain. When we return this time, I don’t know how I should explain it.”

“That’s simple enough. Just say he was staring at another man’s maid on the road and got beaten to death!” Gu Changqing said with a grin.

The White-Elephant Daoist thought it over and sighed. “Then I’ll do as Brother Gu says.”

Gu Changqing tucked Li Youling under his arm and hurried on. Along the way, he did come across some beasts, so he sent the White-Elephant Daoist off to the side, broke the creatures’ spines, and had Li Youling finish them off with her jade blade.

These actions took quite a bit of time, but the spiritual energy in Ancient Barbarian Mountain was abundant, and so was the beasts’ vitality. Over the course of the journey, Li Youling killed more than twenty wolves, two tigers, and several wild boars, and her blood energy rose another notch.

It had even begun to approach its limit.

Watching one wild boar gradually wither into a skin-and-bones corpse, Gu Changqing mused that he would need to find some marrow-cleansing and blood-exchanging resources for Li Youling.

Once her blood energy reached its peak, he had no intention of letting her continue using the Blood Flesh Refining Spirit Method.

After all, he did not even have enough to feed himself—how could he spare any for her?

He would get her some marrow-cleansing and blood-exchanging resources, then let her cultivate on her own from there.

In any case, having a maid at the Qi Refining stage was already enough. Gu Changqing could not be bothered to care how far she might go.

A little more than a day later, after noon had passed, the three of them arrived before a mountain ridge.

The ridge towered a thousand meters high and stretched for more than a hundred miles, with strange peaks rising and falling in layered majesty.

“From a high vantage point, Lotus Ridge looks just like a lotus blossom. But only those who have reached Foundation Establishment, or who possess a cultivation artifact, can fly through the air,” the White-Elephant Daoist said with a sigh.

At the base of the ridge stood a white jade stele several dozen meters high, engraved with the words Lotus Ridge.

Beyond the stele, stone steps led straight into the mountains.

“Once we enter Lotus Ridge, Brother Gu, you must really keep your temper in check!” After thinking it over, the White-Elephant Daoist could only offer a warning.

“Relax. I’ve always been friendly to others.” Gu Changqing smiled so broadly his eyes nearly curved shut. If one ignored the vicious aura about him, he truly seemed exceedingly amiable.

Then the three of them climbed the stone steps up the mountain. After walking for more than an hour, they entered the mountains and saw that beyond the outer ring of strange peaks lay a somewhat lower mountain, though its expanse was enormous.

There were pavilions and terraces upon the mountain, white clouds winding around it, and iron chain bridges stretching out to the surrounding peaks.