Chapter 228 (Part 1): Why Bother Feeling Sorry for Her?

With such excessive stats and abilities, yet such crude and vulgar technique, the Lingcaifeng Master truly felt that Hua Jian in Wanhuagu was like a flower planted in a pile of cow dung.

Following Wanhuagu to learn those useless things was nowhere near as good as learning her Plant Spirit Technique, which fit Hua Jian’s attributes perfectly in every aspect, as if it were tailor-made for her.

After understanding the extent of Hua Jian’s current strength, the Lingcaifeng Master waved her hand and set a densely packed schedule for Hua Jian.

For the next few months, Hua Jian wouldn’t have a single moment of free time to go out and play.

She could only think about fun after finishing everything on the list!

“Th-this many? Peak Master, aren’t you going back to the Wanling Sect?” Hua Jian looked at the schedule that was longer than she was tall, and her whole body felt wrong.

This schedule was packed months in advance. The Lingcaifeng Master was one of the peak masters of the Wanling Sect.

Was it really okay for her to stay in the North for so long?

The Lingcaifeng needs you, the Wanling Sect needs you!

“The reason I came out this time is to search for that Spiritual Flower on the Ice Plain. I’ve already entrusted the sect’s affairs to others.” The Lingcaifeng Master said calmly.

The Wanling Sect was a Saint Sect after all. It wouldn’t stop functioning just because it was missing one Venerable.

Besides, the Lingcaifeng had more than just her as a Venerable.

She was only leaving the Lingcaifeng for a while. Pulling out an elder from the older generation to temporarily replace her in managing the Lingcaifeng wasn’t a big deal.

Moreover, she still had quite a few Ling Emperor disciples remaining at the Lingcaifeng.

Those Ling Emperor disciples could handle the daily affairs, and the senior Spirit Lords who were dragged out to work overtime wouldn’t be too busy either.

In other words, even if the Lingcaifeng Master roamed outside for four or five years, it wouldn’t be a problem.

If she could truly bring the Spiritual Flower back to the Wanling Sect, this long trip would be well worth it.

“Spiritual Flower… which Spiritual Flower is the Venerable looking for? Is it the Ice Condensing Seven-Leaf Flower?” Hua Jian asked curiously.

Among the top twenty Spiritual Flowers in the Hundred Flowers List compiled by the Lingcaifeng Master, four were ice-type Spiritual Flowers, but two of them were ranked in the top ten.

Hua Jian felt that the Peak Master definitely wasn’t looking for those two this time.

And among the two ice-type Spiritual Flowers ranked between twenty and ten, the one ranked higher was the Ice Condensing Seven-Leaf Flower.

“No, the Ice Condensing Seven-Leaf Flower hasn’t appeared in the world for a long time. There are only rumors that the Jade Pool might possess a lone seed left behind by an Immortal from ancient times.”

The Lingcaifeng Master shook her head, indicating that her target this time wasn’t the Seven-Leaf Flower, but another Spiritual Flower ranked a few places lower.

“Then it’s… the Heavenly Nether Snow Lotus?”

“Correct. This thing has appeared a few times in the past ten thousand years, making it one of the Spiritual Flowers our sect understands relatively well.”

The Lingcaifeng Master nodded. Hua Jian being able to name these two Spiritual Flowers made her quite satisfied.

It showed that Hua Jian had at least done some homework.

“Legend says that even an immature Snow Lotus can manipulate the blizzard, burying any living being that dares approach beneath ice and snow. Once it matures, it has a very high chance of developing sentience, and can even transform into human form, with strength no less than an ordinary Venerable.”

Every one of these Spiritual Flowers ranked at the top of the Hundred Flowers List was no pushover.

Each one, upon maturing, could rival a Venerable. What was even more terrifying was that their talent wasn’t limited to that.

If they continued cultivating, becoming a Saint or an Immortal like the Human Clan wasn’t just a fantasy.

Take the Illusory Dream Flower that Hua Jian absorbed, for example.

It didn’t sound as imposing as the Heavenly Nether Snow Lotus, but when comparing mature strength and how troublesome they were, the Illusory Dream Flower was definitely superior.

No matter what, the Snow Lotus still had a physical entity in reality.

But the Illusory Dream Flower itself was like a reflection in a mirror or a flower in the moon—an illusory existence.

Upon maturing, it used the Soulforce as its soil, blooming as a phantom flower within the soul.

Such intangible things were extremely difficult to deal with.

Even Saint Sects would find handling such things a headache.

“The disturbance on the Ice Plain this time should mean a Snow Lotus seedling has appeared. Unfortunately, all sorts of information are jumbled together, making it hard for us to distinguish truth from falsehood.”

The Wanling Sect also wanted to dig up the Snow Lotus and get out of there quickly.

Unfortunately, the news about the Snow Lotus right now was too hard to tell real from fake.

With all sorts of information piled together, they could come up with tens of millions of possible locations.

This was also why the Lingcaifeng Master wasn’t in a hurry right now—because being in a hurry was useless.

She couldn’t exactly do a carpet search of the entire Ice Plain.

“Moreover, there are powerful Spirit Beast Venerables stationed on the Ice Plain, so we can’t conduct large-scale operations.” The Peak Master sighed softly.

Although the Saint Sect was powerful, it couldn’t just run rampant, barging into other people’s homes and taking their things.

Human influence on the Ice Plain was weak. The ones occupying the dominant position were those Spirit Beast Experts.

These Spirit Beast Experts occasionally had friction among themselves, but once they encountered an external invasion, they would unite as one to fight the enemy.

With the terrain advantage of the Ice Plain, these Spirit Beast Venerables could hold off a slightly larger number of Human Clan Venerables.

And Human Clan Venerables certainly wouldn’t go out of their way for such trivial matters, traveling to this freezing cold place just to make trouble for themselves.

In other words, the Lingcaifeng Master coming here this time was purely to serve as a backdrop.

Only if something major happened would she step forward to suppress the situation.

For everything else, it was up to the Ling Emperors and Ling Kings below.

If a Spirit Lord randomly ran onto the Ice Plain, it could easily cause misunderstandings.

But Ling Emperors and Ling Kings wouldn’t.

Even if a conflict broke out, the scale could be controlled to a certain degree, preventing it from triggering a chain reaction that turned into a Great War between the Human Clan and Spirit Beasts.

The Right Path didn’t want to waste strength, and the Spirit Beasts were even less willing to fight to the death with humans.

After all, if the humans were truly pushed to the brink, they really could wipe out the Spirit Beasts entirely.

“So the Peak Master plans to have the Imperial-grade senior brothers and sisters search for the Snow Lotus?”

“Correct. They can hide their identities, making their movements more convenient. Besides, since I’m right here, they can contact me promptly if they run into any problems.”

Although the Lingcaifeng Master couldn’t directly go out searching for the Snow Lotus, the intelligence support and various judgments she provided would definitely increase the success rate of the expedition by a large margin.

And while waiting for reports from the front lines, the Lingcaifeng Master could also train Hua Jian.

Killing two birds with one stone—how satisfying.

As the poor little bird that got hit, Hua Jian could only accept this miserable reality and begin receiving meticulous personal instruction from a Spirit Lord, rapidly improving her strength amidst a tragic life of working year-round without a single day off.

Ugh, when will this end? Damn this doting care, I don’t want any of it!

Of course, Hua Jian was just saying that. In reality, she quickly adapted to this life and even enjoyed it.

As a Cultivator, she cared a lot about increasing her strength.

After all, only by being able to beat others could she have the confidence to voice her opinions and stick to her own path.

Once she became invincible under heaven, wouldn’t she be able to do whatever she wanted?

Hua Jian started studying seriously, and the one who couldn’t adapt turned out to be Linglong.

Back when Hua Jian had nothing to do, the two of them could spend most of the day together.

Even if they were just sitting together doing their own things, they could see each other at a glance, full of security.

But now, Hua Jian could disappear for days at a time.

When asked, she was either studying at the Wanling Sect or back at the Red Flower Building doing research.

The frequency of their meetings plummeted to once every few days!

And worse, the Jade Pool Flying Ship had secretly flown back to the skies above the Frozen Winter City.

This time, the Saintess of Yaochi had become an assistant to the Lingcaifeng Master in obtaining the Spiritual Flower.

Yes, this mission had been tacked on halfway through.

But thinking about it, it made sense. The Lingcaifeng Master had just extorted a huge sum from the Jade Pool not long ago.

Now the Jade Pool was at the Lingcaifeng Master’s disposal.

It also conveniently gave the Jade Pool members a legitimate reason to stay in the North.

This should have been a good thing, but after the Jade Pool Flying Ship returned, Linglong couldn’t stay at the Qian family’s place anymore.

As the Sacred Maiden of Yaochi, what would it look like if she kept living in someone else’s home?

So she was forced to move back up into the sky and resume her duties as Saintess.

If anyone was most satisfied with these changes, it was naturally our Miss Qian Feixue.

With Hua Jian and Linglong successively leaving, she was finally released from house arrest, regaining her freedom after being locked up for over a month.

On the day she regained her freedom, she happily ran several laps around the Qian estate, cheering and shouting, saying the air of freedom was truly sweet.

This made many watching Qian family members feel that this girl might have actually gone crazy from being locked up.

Qian Feixue’s little run did have an unexpected benefit.

Originally, she was worried someone might suspect that her long house arrest had some hidden reason.

Now, after her little display, no one suspected anything anymore.

With Qian Feixue’s house arrest lifted, the Qian family and the Frozen Winter City finally returned to their usual state.

Only occasionally would Qian Feixue go out for a walk, meeting a friend in a place no one would know about.

Like, today.

“You busy person finally have time?”

Sitting down at the table where tea and pastries had already been set out, Qian Feixue rested her chin on her hand and smiled at Hua Jian.

“Phew, the Peak Master has business today and gave me a day off.” Hua Jian picked up the teacup, blew on it, and elegantly took a small sip.

Qian Feixue’s expression immediately turned strange. This was nothing like the Hua Jian she knew.

The word “elegant” had never been applicable to Hua Jian.

Even if Hua Jian occasionally displayed an elegant demeanor, she would break character within a few sentences.