The Journey of Immortal Cultivation
Chapter 45: Leave and Return

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Leave and Return

"Quan Shifang, it’s time to focus!" He forcefully suppressed the urge to look back.

In Ning Xiaoxian’s eyes, he extended his hand and waved goodbye, then slowly walked away, never looking back.

As he led his fellow disciples away, he did not wish to attract attention; naturally, they would go to the outskirts of Siping County before flying away on the leaf boat.

With their departure, in just fifteen minutes, Huang Mansion suddenly became much quieter. In Ning Xiaoxian’s heart, a faint sense of sadness couldn’t help but arise.

Eventually, she was left alone once again.

"This lad, he’s even more capable than I imagined," Changtian spoke for the first time today, his words filled with surprise, "It seems that he is destined for greatness in the future."

She thought: Hmm, that’s not right. She still had one company. "Aren’t you annoyed that I stole your script and gave it to him verbatim?" What she’d done was somewhat underhanded. Intellectual property theft is almost every author’s most hated issue.

"How does that matter? Without the guidance of an expert, at most he would’ve taken over as Sect Leader of Chaoyun Sect in his lifetime; dreaming of becoming a Daluo Golden Immortal is just wishful thinking."

It seems he was in a good mood. "You say he’s capable and destined for greatness; where do you see that from?"

Changtian saw it from Quan Shifang’s ability to "let go." Indeed, it was melancholic for the Human Clan—if wishing to cultivate to sanctity, one’s other desires had to fade, focusing solely on cracking the Heavenly Mechanism, seeking the path to eternal life. Loves, hates, passions, and resentments—if not resolved timely, could become a Heart Demon.

He had seen that Quan Shifang’s purpose in gifting such a valuable medicine to Ning Xiaoxian was to sever the nascent tendrils of affection. This would allow him to earnestly pursue his Dao and forge ahead. After all, the paths of immortals and mortals are separate, and any further entanglement would do him no benefit.

He was somewhat impressed by this lad. To be able to pick up and let go so easily—how many in the world can do that?

However, Changtian would not tell Ning Xiaoxian any of this, so what he said was: "My judgment is naturally extraordinary. With the words you relayed to him, he should soon break through the bottleneck at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Stage and enter the Golden Core Stage upon returning to the sect. Only then will he begin to glimpse the opportunity at understanding the Heavenly Dao." There are countless cultivators in this world, but most of them live mediocre lives, stopping at the Foundation Establishment Stage. For Quan Shifang to form his Golden Core at the age of twenty-two, his future potential is indeed unlimited.

Ning Xiaoxian automatically ignored the first sentence. Now that she was alone again, what should she do next? Without realizing it, she had come to rely on Changtian as her mainstay, so naturally, she asked him this question.

After thinking for a moment, he said: "Go to the workshop. When passing by yesterday, it seemed that there was a shop selling Pill Furnaces." Not only cultivators refine elixirs; some well-known apothecaries also do this business on the side, so it is not difficult to purchase a Pill Furnace. Of course, the efficacy of elixirs refined by cultivators versus mortals would be like day and night. Although mortals use large Pill Furnaces, there’s plenty of space to place one in the God Demon Prison.

Changtian’s eyesight was indeed good. In the busiest market street of Siping County, she spent twenty taels of silver to buy a Pill Furnace, made of bronze and only about half a person tall—in the Pill Furnace family, it’s considered quite miniature. Then she hired someone to deliver it back to Huang Mansion. Once she closed the door, she stored the furnace in the God Demon Prison, and with that, the matter was settled. Although the servants in the Huang Mansion saw her bringing in a large furnace, she had been associating with high-level cultivators coming and going these past few days, so having some special means was not considered strange.

Old Huang had just sent his grandson away and was feeling somewhat gloomy.

Although he was old, his eyes were not blurry. He knew his grandson was quite fond of this girl from the manor and saw that she was also planning to set off on a journey, so he ordered his servants to deliver some travel expenses and a few sets of clothing. Needless to say, the quality of the fabric was many times superior to the coarse clothes Ning Xiaoxian was wearing. She initially did not want to accept them, but Old Huang looked at her with such eager eyes, obviously unwilling to be refused, that she eventually gave in reluctantly, only thinking to herself that she would repay Senior Brother Quan’s family’s kindness slowly in the future.

She had just returned to her room when she heard the noise coming from outside.

Shi Jishan had come back.

It turned out that she, along with Quan Shifang and others, had boarded a leaf boat and flown towards the direction of Chaoyun Sect for less than a few hundred miles when she realized that the Cloud Sea East Pearl earring on her right ear was missing. She hastily made an excuse to her fellow disciples and rushed back in a hurry.

The East Pearl is a rare pearl harvested from freshwater mussels found in rivers of the Extreme North, legend has it that it requires a black swan to swallow the mussel and the pearl, which after being lubricated and rubbed by the swan’s gastric juice, can finally create an "East Pearl." It is far more lustrous, clear, round, and large than ordinary pearls, making it one of the rare treasures in the world. As a Commandery Princess, she only had one pair of such earrings, which were her treasured possessions. Now that one was lost, she naturally had to come back to look for it.

She still remembered wearing the earring during breakfast, so it must have been left in Huang Mansion. At this time, Quan Shifang was not around, and she would not act low-key any longer. Riding her flying sword, she descended directly into Huang Mansion, causing passersby to exclaim in admiration and cry out "Immortal!"

Receiving such praise, Shi Jishan snorted "ignorant mortals" with her lips, but she was quite pleased inside. Old Huang had already learned from Quan Shifang that the Bat King was still at large. Now that Shi Jishan had returned so ostentatiously to Huang Mansion, wasn’t she announcing to everyone that the cultivators who were on a Demon Extermination mission had been staying here? Who knows when the Bat King’s retaliatory strike might come? It might not be able to kill the cultivators, but to deal with the mortals of a manor house would be an effortless task.

However, Shi Jishan did have Divine Skills, and she was also a fellow disciple of Quan Shifang, so Old Huang couldn’t really rebuke her openly; he just looked very displeased.

Shi Jishan explained her purpose to the old man, but seeing his sullen expression and the servants in the manor not diligently searching, she felt quite dissatisfied. She circled the hall twice, not spotting the earring, but suddenly thought of someone.

"Ning Xiaoxian! Maybe she saw my earring and coveted it. After all, such an item is priceless, and its allure to a mortal woman like her is too great." Unable to find it elsewhere, she felt increasingly convinced of this possibility.

And so, in just a few moments, she was already standing at the door of Ning Xiaoxian’s room.

Why bother with respect for this annoying mortal woman? She did not knock, but pushed the door and entered, asking, "Ning Xiaoxian, have you seen the earring I lost?"

Ning Xiaoxian was packing her little bundle, intending to put the clothes and some broken silver into it, so as not to arouse suspicion by traveling alone and empty-handed. The noise outside had already reached her ears, and of course, she knew Shi Jishan had come back. However, this woman had always looked down on people, and since Quan Shifang had already left, Miss Ning had no reason to provoke her bad luck for no reason.

But it seems, when you don’t go looking for bad luck, bad luck will come knocking on your door.

－－－－－－－－－－Minor Spoiler Alert－－－－－－－－－－－－

Actually, it’s not really a spoiler, just something Shui Yun wants to tell everyone: starting from the next Chapter, this volume will enter its climactic part. It’s super interesting~ It’s a part that both my best friend and I really like! So~ those favorites, those recommendation tickets, let’s throw them at me and hit my face~

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