Chapter 141: Chapter 30: Perfection of the Spirit Communication Talisman

In the red and blue room.

Hu Qianqian sat on her favorite cloud bed. This was the first time she truly felt like she had a master; before, she had only been using the title for convenience.

At this thought, she turned her head to look at the gradually darkening sky outside the window.

Suddenly, she felt a pang of homesickness. A moment ago, she had been meditating with a serious expression, but now she flopped onto the bed and began to roll around, as if to release the joyful feelings in her heart. Then, she sat up on the edge of the bed and habitually ran her fingers through the fur on her head. All the while, her fluffy ears twitched back and forth.

She continued like this until her emotions stabilized, and only then did she resume her meditation.

「Two hours later.」

Moonlight flooded the world outside the window. Hu Qianqian opened her eyes, first glancing at the beautiful moonlit scenery before taking out a special Elixir and placing it in her mouth. Then, she formed Magic Formulas with her hands and circulated all the demon qi in her body, gathering it toward the center of her Qi Sea.

「In the small courtyard outside the room.」

Wang Ping sat upright in a pavilion full of wind chimes, gazing at the Shrimp Soldiers and Little Demons waiting in stern formation under the moonlight on the lakeshore.

"Will she succeed?" Yu Lian asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

"It’s rare to see you worry about someone, isn’t it?" Wang Ping said with a smile. Yu Lian’s emotions had, to some extent, changed his perception of Hu Qianqian.

"As a Fox Demon, it was incredibly difficult for her to survive in Zhongzhou and gain the acknowledgment of the Daoist Scripture Hall. For instance, if she were to eat just a little bit of meat, some people would assume it was either scraped from the body of another demon or stolen from a human somewhere."

Yu Lian spoke softly, but Wang Ping heard in her words the hardships a Little Fox Demon had faced on her journey. What was even more commendable was that she had always managed to maintain a peaceful Dao Heart, dedicated to the path.

"Do you think she can succeed?" Yu Lian asked again.

Wang Ping didn’t answer. Instead, he took out a pair of divination blocks from his robes and cast a divination. It was alright—no danger. Just then, a dense demon qi began to emanate from Hu Qianqian’s room.

"Has it begun?"

Yu Lian rode a cloud into the air, flying above the pavilion to overlook the entire Dao Field and prevent any troublemakers from causing problems.

On the surface of the nearby lake, the Little Demons grew ecstatic from the rising demon qi. They waved the crude weapons in their hands and shouted in an unknown language.

The Fake Pill condensed by the Demon Race uses the cosmos within their body as a foundation. It refines hundreds of years of absorbed demon qi into a self-sustaining energy source. From then on, their demon qi can flow through all the meridians in their body, not only making the Demon Race’s body incredibly tough but also awakening special abilities within their bloodline.

This step was not life-threatening, but failure meant at least another sixty years of ascetic practice. A second failure could result in damage to one’s bloodline, making it impossible to ever condense a Fake Pill again.

「An hour later.」

As a pure white Dharma Seal shot out from Hu Qianqian’s room, a Spirit Gathering-like Array appeared on the ground of the entire Dao Field. The Array extended over the surface of the lake, where the gathered Shrimp Soldiers formed another, larger Array, using their unique method to absorb the Sun and Moon Qi.

The absorbed Sun and Moon Qi was then completely converted into demon qi, which gathered toward Hu Qianqian’s room, guided by the Array.

Before long, a purple Energy Light Pillar converged in the dark night sky and descended upon Hu Qianqian’s room, sending out faint purple ripples that spread outward.

"We have some uninvited guests..." Wang Ping’s gaze shifted to the south. A hundred li away, on the edge of a shoal, hordes of the Demon Race jumped into the lake and started heading toward the Dao Field.

"Let’s wait for them to get closer," Yu Lian replied. "I can’t be bothered to fly over there."

By the time these wild demons got close, the sky had already brightened. Yu Lian directly controlled the water and sank them to the bottom of the lake.

During the day, the Energy Light Pillar in the sky was no longer visible to the naked eye, but in the world of Spiritual Energy, the pillar was even more dazzling, and its color had changed from purple to orange.

The day passed without notice. At night, the Energy Light Pillar turned purple again; when day broke, it returned to orange.

This went on for half a month. Yu Lian had sunk no fewer than two hundred intruders to the bottom of the lake, yet the Dao Field remained as quiet and silent as it was on the first day. In the world of Spiritual Energy, however, this place was now overrun with demon qi.

「One morning, at the break of dawn.」

All the demon qi that permeated the area was sucked into Hu Qianqian’s room all at once. Afterward, the Energy Light Pillar descending from the sky also poured into the room.

Soon after, everything vanished without a trace.

"Did she make it?" Yu Lian’s voice was filled with excitement.

"I believe so." Wang Ping’s Wood Spirit Qi was particularly sensitive, and he quickly sensed the change in Hu Qianqian’s aura. Probing her aura now felt like standing in a vast Snowfield.

The Little Demons on the nearby lake, who had worked hard for half a month, were even more excited. Driven by hunger, they grabbed fish and shrimp and stuffed them into their mouths, all while they danced and flailed about.

「Half an hour later.」

Hu Qianqian walked out wearing a loose-fitting Daoist Robe. When she saw Wang Ping in the pavilion, she twitched her fluffy ears and then hurried over.

"Master!"

"Very good. It wasn’t easy for you to reach this step. From now on, you must firmly guard your Dao Heart, lest your hundreds of years of cultivation go to waste."

"I will heed Master’s teachings."

"Mm..."

Wang Ping nodded. After looking Hu Qianqian up and down, he wrapped himself in his True Essence and departed in the direction of Qianmu Mountain.

This time, Yu Lian didn’t follow him. She flew two circles around Hu Qianqian and asked, "So, how does it feel now? Did you awaken any cool abilities?"

...

For Wang Ping, who was engaged in ascetic practice, Hu Qianqian’s condensation of her Fake Pill was merely a bit of spice in his routine. With her matter concluded, what awaited him was once again endless Qi Cultivation and meditation.

The years were relentless.

Wang Ping once again outlived an Emperor. The progress of fusing with the ’Spirit Communication Talisman’ had reached (62/100). During these years, his Dao Field was almost always deserted, except during the Spring Festival.

「In the fifth year of the new Emperor’s reign.」

A major event occurred in Yongshan County: the reigning Duke, Wang Yongxi, had returned to worship his ancestors. He then purchased a large amount of farmland outside Yongshan County Town and planned to build a great estate for future generations to recognize their ancestral roots.

Emperor Wanfeng’s deathbed scheme had, after nearly sixty years, come full circle.

Wang Ping didn’t feel much when he heard about this matter. Years of Pure Cultivation had nearly exhausted his human emotions. Fortunately, he had Yu Lian’s companionship. Occasionally, he would go to the southern islands to fish and barbecue, and if he was truly bored, he would go and chat with Guangxuan.

The realm was still at peace, and the prosperous age continued. And so, the Emperor had a different idea—he actually wanted to gather a large army to expand their territory to the north!

But his call was not answered by his subjects. The common people, on whom he relied the most, were clearly weary of war. The empire had become extravagant, and the Court ministers were mostly accustomed to a life of comfort and privilege, while the Emperor himself was overly confident.

None of this had anything to do with Wang Ping. He continued his daily routine of closed-door ascetic practice, occasionally going out to fish, hunt, or chat with Guangxuan over tea. Sometimes he would go to the Daoist Scripture Hall to listen to one or two important live reports.

And so, another twenty-some years passed.

Thanks to the Nine Extremes Array, Wang Ping’s fusion with the ’Spirit Communication Talisman’ was completed in just over eighty years.