Crone Qushan went to the ninth celestial river, sat cross-legged at the source of the stream, and thoughtfully pondered about the precept of heaven and earth. A crimson-red glow with a six-winged sacred crow floating inside appeared above her head.
The source of the divine stream was right under a 70-foot-tall massive rock.
Black Phoenix and White Zhuque were sitting by the streamside, one on each side, trying to achieve enlightenment.
Black Phoenix and White Zhuque stopped their cultivation and rose to their feet when Zhang Ruochen and the Fairy of Tianchu arrived at the ninth celestial river.
“This is Mistress Qushan’s place of cultivation. You two had better leave.” A smile spread across Black Phoenix’s face.
“You all really think Nine Carols Star is a sacred place of cultivation?” said the Fairy of Tianchu.
“No?”
Black Phoenix laid her eyes on the Fairy of Tianchu, carefully studying her.
Black Phoenix was one of the most, if not the most, beautiful women in Taibai Realm. Countless cultivators treated her as their dream woman. So she was confident about her appearance and aptitude in cultivation.
However, once she compared herself with the Fairy of Tianchu, she suddenly felt outclassed and a crushing sense of frustration.
That was the peculiarity; the more she knew she was outclassed, the more she felt the need to compare.
“It has not been a year since leaving the Celestial Domain of Truth, and you have already attained the Nine-Step Saint Kinghood. This could not have been if you were still in the Fane of Truth. I don’t believe that this has nothing to do with Nine Carols Star,” said Black Phoenix with her white chin raised.
“Then have you achieved any enlightenment here in Nine Carols Star?” asked the Fairy of Tianchu.
“Don’t you think it is still too early to talk about enlightenment when we have been here just for a few hours?” said White Zhuque faintly.
“It will not work if all of you can’t fit in with the precepts of heaven and earth of Nine Carols Star; your speed of cultivation will not be any faster than in other places,” said the Fairy of Tianchu.
“Then how can we fit in?” Crone Qushan suddenly opened her eyes upon hearing that.
The Fairy of Tianchu cupped her hands at Crone Qushan as a sign of respect. “Blood Wasp Ashuran King has come to Luoshui, trying to feed his blood wasps with the divine blood in Warsoul Star. I hope Ma’am and us could work together to get rid of him, after which I will surely tell Ma’am how to fit in with eh precepts of heaven and earth of Nine Carols Star.”
Crone Qushan burst into laughter, her voice getting colder and colder.
Her laughter possessed a horrible sound-wave attack. Even persons with such a high cultivation base as the Fairy of Tianchu and Zhang Ruochen were feeling pain in the ears as if thunder was roaring inside their heads.
“Are you threatening me or trying to use me?”
Crone Qushan’s voice was powerful and sharp. She faded into a piece of frosty dark cloud as she charged at the Fairy of Tianchu.
“Watch out!”
Zhang Ruochen shouted his warning. But too late, Crone Qushan had come in front of them.
A wrinkled hand struck out at lightning speed, aiming at the Fairy of Tianchu’s throat. But the Fairy of Tianchu was no slouch; she performed a Rain Sword and summoned a protective talisman at once.
Rain Sword formed into a web of light and struck at Crone Qushan.
Yet, Crone Qushan disregarded the attack of Rain Sword. Six translucent wings protecting her against Rain Sword’s attack as translucent feathered formed around her body.
Just when Crone Qushan was about to apprehend the Fairy of Tianchu.
Bang!
The talisman suddenly exploded and turned into 36 globs of light, as if 36 stars circling and protecting the Fairy of Tianchu in the center.
Crone Qushan’s finger and the 36 globs of light clashed.
The resulting sparks were so bright that it became a giant light ball illuminating the land within 50 miles radius.
Those cultivators in the far distance were uneasy.
“Not good! They must have angered Crone Qushan.”
“Judging by Crone Qushan’s temperament, she wouldn’t care less if you are the Fairy of Tianchu. You will die if you anger her.”
“No way Crone Qushan is afraid of the Fairy of Tianchu when she isn’t even afraid of Youshen.”
…
As Zhang Ruochen spread out his arms, 13 dragon souls and 13 elephant souls few out of his body in a Sky Soaring Dragon-Elephant, which was the 13th move of Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm Strike.
He summoned the Precepts of Truth, boosting his attack strength seven times higher.
His number of Precept of Truth had surpassed 60,000 after his cultivation practice in the Sundial.
He used to have six-time attack strength. Now, it was seven times.
Crone Qushan shot a glare at Zhang Ruochen as her hand formed into claws with a powerful Qi of Path, forcing Zhang Ruochen to fly out backward.
His body crushed into and smashed a small hill before grounding to a halt a few dozen miles away.
Yet he was still standing, his feet stepping on the cracked earth. He almost could not feel his arms as an excruciating them hit them.
His injury was not fatal as he had Divine Mark shielding his body. Without any delay, he flew toward the Fairy of Tianchu to save her before Crone Qushan defeated her protective talisman.
Black Phoenix stared at Zhang Ruochen’s legs, her black pearl-like pupils lighting up. “Look at his left leg. Isn’t it crippled?” she quickly said to White Zhuque.
Zhang Ruochen had refined over 20,000 crimson-red inscriptions on his left leg.
He could fully control it while walking, and it would not look unnatural unless one looked at his leg carefully.
But that disability was more obvious during combat, where he could not spare his effort to control his left leg.
“It really looks his left leg is crippled. Could it be… it couldn’t be!” White Zhuque shook her head.
Black Phoenix let out a smile of confidence. “Cripples of Saint King-level cultivation are rare. You will not find one in Lushui, let alone two. Besides, he looks just like a cripple with a high level of Path of Truth cultivation.”
“If he is Cripple, why is he pretending not to know us?” asked White Zhuque.
“Then you have to ask him,” said Black Phoenix.
Bang!
Crone Qushan defeated the 36 globs of light protecting the Fairy of Tianchu at last.
Silverish meal feathers shot out of Crone Qushan’s sleeves.
The metal feathers were as sharp as swords, but their energy was more brutal.
The Fairy of Tianchu had many protection techniques up her sleeves. She summoned a light shield to block those metal feathers as she fell back and struggled to keep the attack at bay.
“Tell me the method of fitting in with Nine Carols Star’s precepts of heaven, you rascal. Otherwise, I will extract your memories by force.” Crone Qushan’s voice sounded hoarse.
“Stop!” Zhang Ruochen had just made it back in time.
Crone Qushan and the Fairy of Tianchu looked at Zhang Ruochen in unison.
The Fairy of Tianchu looked surprised; she did not expect that Zhang Ruochen would rush back for her.
It also amazed Crone Qushan to see Zhang Ruochen standing back to his feet again—more so because he was risking his life by coming back for the fairy.
“Get the hell out of my sight, or I will kill you first!” Crone Qushan snapped.
But Zhang Ruochen was not intimidated. “Ma’am Qushan, please listen to what I have say.”
Crone Qushan controlled her silverish metal feathers with one hand and formed a glob of black light with the other. The shadow of a divine beast released destructive energy from inside the light glob.
“Getting cocky already because you have withstood my attack? You aren’t dead only because I didn’t want to kill you yet.”
Zhang Ruochen had sensed danger, and this danger was so close to death.
Apparently, Crone Qushan was really furious and having a murderous intent.
What a grumpy old woman! No wonder no cultivators dare to invite her. Zhang Ruochen thought to himself. He got his Spatial Domain out, getting ready to use the Power of Dimension to take on Crone Qushan’s attack.
Black Phoenix and White Zhuque had sensed the dimensional perturbation and were sure that it was Zhang Ruochen.
“Mistress Qushan, please hold on a second,” the two of them called out in unison.
Crone Qushan looked at them with an inquisitive look on her face.
“He saved me and White Zhuque before. We owe him a debt of gratitude,” said Black Phoenix.
Crone Qushan looked even more curious, and at last, she glanced at Zhang Ruochen. “What is going on here?”
“He is that cripple we have been talking about,” said White Zhuque.
Crone Qushan closed her fingers and retrieved the divine beast shadow from the light globe back into her body, followed by pulling back her silverish metal feathers.
The Fairy of Tianchu let out a sigh of relief after the silverish metal feathers were gone. She swept her eyes over Zhang Ruochen, Black Phoenix, and White Zhuque curiously.
“I am a personable person. Since the two of them owe you a debt of gratitude, and they have been putting in a kind word for you in front of me not once but multiple times, I will give you a chance to speak. But be careful of what to say and what not to say.”
Zhang Ruochen looked at Black Phoenix and White Zhuque in gratitude, then without being too submissive, he followed Crone Qushan and climbed to the source of the ninth celestial river.
“I guess you haven’t been to Warsoul Star, have you, Ma’am? There is a corpse of a divine beast on Warsoul Star. It is dead, but its divine soul seems to be still alive and chained up,” said Zhang Ruochen.
“Really?” Crone Qushan’s heart skipped a beat.
“I will and dare not lie to you, Ma’am.”
Zhang Ruochen knew very well that Crone Qushan could not care less about Blood Wasp Ashuran King, whether alive or dead. What was more important was she wanted to regain her immortal body and attain Supreme Sainthood.
However, for those cultivators who had their immortal bodies destroyed and wanted to reattain Supreme Sainthood, it was close to impossible. They could only achieve that with incredible luck.
Apparently, that divine corpse on Warsoul Star was the luck she was looking for.
If he asked Crone Qushan to kill the Blood Wasp Ashuran King, she would think that he was using her. But he was doing Crone Qushan a favor by telling her that the luck she needed badly was in Warsoul Star.
