Chapter 115
Su Qinian walked up to the bronze cauldron, tracing the dragon patterns on its surface, and said with a bitter smile, “Old Liu, that senior is from the Dongxu realm. Even if he can only descend in a physical form, he’s not to be underestimated. Do you think our formation can stop him from probing?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. You know my skills in setting up formations,” Liu Yuanqing replied, glancing at the small stone house and then at the worried Su Qinian. He scoffed, “Look at you, all indecisive! If you want to save that elder from the Dongxu realm, there’s no other way. Even Qingran, a junior, has the resolve to sacrifice herself. Don’t hold us back!”
“Looks like it can’t be helped,” Su Qinian gritted his teeth, gripping the hilt of his sword, his expression darkening. “Zhou Xuanzizi, just you wait. Don’t let me catch you alone…”
Clang—!
As his killing intent surged, the ground around Su Qinian was sliced with intricate lines of sword energy.
The overwhelming sword intent and murderous aura even made Liu Yuanqing shiver. “Hiss, Old Su… just how many people have you killed?”
“Can’t remember.”
…
“Chen Huai'an!”
Lin Lingling burst through the door and saw Chen Huai'an sitting calmly on the sofa, instantly feeling relieved.
She hadn’t even waited for the elevator and had rushed up the stairs.
Though she was no longer an ordinary person, she was still exhausted.
Chen Huai'an turned to look at the little girl and chuckled, “What’s wrong with you? Is it raining outside?”
“Chen Huai'an, why are you taking on random missions?” Lin Lingling pushed her damp hair away from her forehead, stomping her foot as she approached him, hands on her hips. “Do you have any idea how troublesome this mission is?”
Chen Huai'an nodded. “I know.”
“Then why did you accept it?”
“Because the reward is high.”
“Do you know that three White-level cultivators have gone missing? The key is, there’s no solid intel on this mission; it’s a bottomless pit!”
“The reward is high.”
“Ahhh! Once you take a mission, you can’t cancel it! What do we do, what do we do…”
“High. Reward.”
“High reward, high reward! You’ll die without money!” Lin Lingling looked at Chen Huai'an, who remained calm and clear-eyed, and felt utterly helpless. She slumped against the sofa cushions, weakly saying, “No matter how high the reward, you need to be alive to spend it…”
“You’re right about that. Without money, where would I find life? Earning money is just to pay for medical expenses.”
Chen Huai'an stood up, put on his jacket, and gazed out at the buildings on the balcony, presenting Lin Lingling with an enigmatic silhouette. He said lightly, “If you’re scared, you don’t have to go.”
He had already reached the first level of Qi Refinement.
With the Black Scale Sword and some unused Thunderfire Talismans, he finally understood how to use the talismans and that he must avoid letting the vermilion powder on them get contaminated with blood—now he felt terrifyingly strong.
“Who’s scared?!” At her age, she couldn’t stand being provoked. Chen Huai'an’s words made Lin Lingling explode. “Let’s go! We’re off! Whoever’s scared is a dog!”
…
The two of them hailed a cab.
After stating their destination, the driver’s expression turned strange.
“Why are you going there? That construction site has been shut down recently; they say it’s haunted.”
“Ah… we’re just going to the area for a walk, not to the construction site.” Lin Lingling turned pale at the mention of ghosts.
She didn’t mind encountering wolf demons or rat demons, but she absolutely detested ghosts and evil spirits. Even weak spirits made her want to run for her life.
Could the disturbances at that construction site be caused by evil spirits?
“Alright then, buckle up.”
Lin Lingling glanced at Chen Huai'an, who had already started playing with his phone again, wondering what was so interesting about it.
She didn’t know that this device was a companion spirit artifact.
The bearded man hadn’t told her.
Chen Huai'an saw Li Qingran organizing spiritual herbs on his phone, noticing that a large cauldron had appeared outside the small house, but he didn’t know what it was for.
If it was for refining spiritual herbs, it seemed a bit too large, didn’t it?
He didn’t interrupt Li Qingran.
Instead, he opened the Battle Command system.
As Li Qingran entered the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, the advanced rewards of the Battle Command refreshed.
It was a gift box radiating purple light, marked with a question mark. When he chose to claim it, the box opened, and a vein-like crystal burst forth.
【Five Elements Spiritual Root Blind Box】
【Open the blind box to randomly obtain one type of single-element spiritual root, with a chance to receive a rare spiritual root (if a rare spiritual root is obtained next time, it will automatically upgrade a common root)】
“Wow, a spiritual root!”
Chen Huai'an’s eyes narrowed, his heart racing.
Upon entering Qi Refinement, he realized one fact.
He had no spiritual root.
In the cultivation world, that placed him in the lowest tier of aptitude.
Forget about entering major sects like the Sword Pavilion or Qingyun Sect; even small sects were out of reach. His ability to refine Qi relied entirely on the usefulness of the Tideborn Technique and Li Qingran breaking down knowledge and feeding it to him.
But so what?
He didn’t have a spiritual root.
Yet his companion spirit artifact was quite capable!
“Let’s see what this is all about!”
Chen Huai'an tapped the blind box.
…
…
After encountering a nitpicker and being unable to win, he adjusted his age to that of a middle school student. Just so you know.
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Chapter 122: Haunted Construction Site?
The moment the blind box opened, a golden arc of electricity flashed out.
【Rare Spiritual Root: Thunder (Single)】
“Huh? Isn’t it supposed to be a Five Elements spiritual root?” Chen Huai'an was taken aback.
If he understood correctly, the Five Elements referred to metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, and thunder wasn’t one of them. If he had to stretch it, it could be considered a derivative of the Five Elements.
But it didn’t matter; a thunder spiritual root was even better.
He glanced at Lin Lingling, who was clearly nervous but trying hard to appear calm, and thought, wouldn’t it be great if this spiritual root just appeared in my hands? If only it could be directly integrated into my body…
That thought had barely formed when a prompt popped up in the game.
【Thunder Spiritual Root has been delivered!】
Chen Huai'an froze, a thunderous roar echoing in his mind, fading away in an instant.
Looking inward at his dantian, he saw a seedling made of thunderlight growing in the karst-like landscape of his dantian. It was indeed the single thunder spiritual root he had just drawn.
“So this is what a single spiritual root is…”
Chen Huai'an watched as the spiritual energy in his dantian naturally gathered towards the thunder spiritual root. Nourished by that root, the spiritual energy began to shimmer with arcs of electricity, its properties clearly altered.
Comparing this single thunder spiritual root with the dual earth-wood spiritual root he had drawn from Mu Baishuang, he understood why a single spiritual root was superior.
A tree that blooms only one type of flower is a single spiritual root, representing ultimate purity. A dual spiritual root is like a tree that blooms two types of flowers; while it’s still good, its purity is inherently lower.
This is different from two trees blooming different flowers.
After all, if two single spiritual roots could coexist in the dantian, the effect would surely be greater than the sum of its parts.
At this moment, Li Qingran had already sorted the spiritual herbs, grinding ten portions into medicinal paste, and was walking towards the large cauldron at the door.
Seeing this, Chen Huai'an closed the personal talent page and sent a message:
【Qingran, what are you doing?】
“Master!” Li Qingran looked towards the void, instinctively trying to hide the medicinal paste behind her, a hint of panic flashing in her eyes. But she quickly composed herself, smiling innocently, “I’m going to refine medicine for you, Master. I’m just preparing to make the Hundred Herbs Detox Pill.”
【Using that big cauldron?】
“Yes, the process of making the Hundred Herbs Detox Pill is quite complicated. I need to enter the cauldron and use my spiritual energy as fire to eliminate the impurities in the herbs.”
【Is it dangerous?】
“How could it be dangerous?” Li Qingran glanced sideways, her expression serious. “It’s just a bit tiring; I’ll exhaust my spiritual energy. Don’t worry, Master. I still need to go to the Central Continent’s secret realm to find two more medicinal ingredients for you. I won’t put myself in danger.”
Seeing the silence in the void, her hands, which were sweating from nervousness, tightened around the medicinal paste. With a hint of shyness on her fair face, her voice trembled slightly, “Master… I want to stay by your side forever. You must work hard to fight off the monsters and make them lose their teeth!”
【Alright, I’m about to go kill monsters. I’ll make sure they’re left in tatters!】
The two exchanged smiles through the phone screen.
The taxi arrived at their destination, and Chen Huai'an turned off his phone as he and Lin Lingling got out.
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