Chapter 229 (Part 2): Judging Based on Experience

After all, Jade Pool specializes in water and wood, and ice and snow are an important branch of Shui Element Spiritual Power.

Legend says an Ice Condensing Seven-Leaf Flower is hidden in Jade Pool.

Now that this You Xue Lian has appeared, there is no way Jade Pool would not have ideas about it.

In short, Wanhuagu does not have much interest in You Xue Lian.

It would be better to take out the intelligence about this Spiritual Flower and give it as a favor.

A few years ago, they tricked the Right Path once.

Wanhuagu needs to put in some effort to make amends, lest the relationship fall to rock bottom.

That would not be good.

Now their various cooperation and help for the Right Path’s operations are all based on this purpose.

Basically, anything that can be given as a favor has been given out.

“No need to suspect we have any ulterior motive. This time we really have no private plans.”

Huaxinhu propped her chin with both hands and leaned on the table, putting on a pitiful look.

It must be said, this Wanhua Valley’s Fox Spirit is much higher ranked than Hua Jian when it comes to acting.

With Hua Jian, one can still see obvious traces of performance, while Huaxinhu’s expression changes are so natural that one cannot tell she is acting at all.

Hua Jian could only guess that Huaxinhu was acting through her understanding of Huaxinhu.

If someone who did not know the truth came over, they would not be able to see the trick at all.

“Wow, that look is so hurtful. Do you distrust me that much?”

“Why don’t you first think about what you did before, then come ask me this question.”

Hua Jian glared at Huaxinhu, and an idea popped into her mind.

“By the way, if you have time, you can also go see Youye.”

“Me?” The pity on Huaxinhu’s face was replaced by confusion. This time she was truly confused.

Before, Hua Jian wished she could lock Youye in a large iron cage and let no one contact her.

Now that Youye has awakened, why is she instead willing to let people out to contact her?

Something is wrong. Nine out of ten parts wrong!

Hua Jian must have some unspeakable scheme!

“Mm, someone has to play the villain to set off my kindness.”

Hua Jian blinked at Huaxinhu, indicating that after much thought, she still found Huaxinhu most suitable for this important task.

Now that there is already her, the positive character, there must be a negative character who can stand against her. Only then can there be plot conflict!

But letting an ordinary Wanhuagu cultivator compete with Hua Jian on the Arena is a bit too unqualified.

Instead, it would lower Hua Jian’s class.

Something like a servant boy in a mansion looking down on the poor person the Miss brought into the house, trying every possible way to make things difficult, and finally being scolded and punished by the Miss.

That kind of story is an Old Calendar that was abandoned long ago!

Now it has to be the original second young lady of the mansion coming out to make things difficult, okay.

And Huaxinhu is a very perfect candidate. She has both a reason to oppose Hua Jian and the identity to oppose Hua Jian.

She does not even need to act very vicious. She only needs to perform the way a normal Wanhuagu cultivator should.

For example, complaining that Youye lies here eating and drinking for free and is useless, complaining that Youye cannot complete the mission and still needs Hua Jian to save her…

There are far too many things to complain about.

As long as Youye can feel the difference between people and know how good Hua Jian is to her, it is enough.

“I play the big villain, you play the great good person. Then shouldn’t you give me some compensation?”

Huaxinhu rubbed her fingers toward Hua Jian, clearly indicating that Hua Jian should give her some appearance fee.

She, Huaxinhu, is a famous Darenwu in Linquan.

Normally she would not take this kind of role that would damage her reputation.

“What do you want? Say it, and I will write to the Gu Zhu to ask for it.” Hua Jian chuckled.

She currently had nothing on her, so how could she compensate Huaxinhu?

Fortunately, the Valley Master of Wanhua was her backing.

Whatever Huaxinhu wanted, she would add fifty percent and get Wanhuagu to reimburse it!

If asked, it was just that Huaxinhu wanted this much. It had nothing to do with her.

She was a tender and innocent little White Flower.

“You really are something, Hua Jian, playing this trick on me.” How could Huaxinhu not hear Hua Jian’s implication?

In the end, Hua Jian still wanted to exploit her for free.

Sigh, there was no helping it. Right now Hua Jian was their own Gu Zhu’s favorite.

What could she do? If she was going to be exploited for free, then so be it.

At worst, afterward she would write a note herself to request things.

That would cut out Hua Jian, the middleman taking a cut, and she could swallow 150 percent of the resources herself.

“Fine, I will help you out. Who told you to be Saintess Daren?” She sighed softly and said with feigned helplessness.

This time the traces of performance were very obvious, deliberately so.

Hua Jian could tell Huaxinhu was teasing her, but her skin was thick enough.

She accepted this remark without changing her expression.

“Yes, yes, this is the Saintess Daren’s order. Moreover, sending her into Tianmomen has endless benefits. For the future of our Wanhuagu, Xinhu Shijie absolutely must not muddle through!”

With these big hats placed on her head, what else could Huaxinhu say?

In this shameless war, Hua Jian still came out superior thanks to her identity advantage.

“Get lost, get lost, get lost. I get annoyed just looking at you.”

“Understood. Little sister will get lost now and stop bothering Elder Sister’s eyes~” Hua Jian giggled, knowing Huaxinhu was embarrassed into anger.

She skipped to the door with cheerful steps, playfully waved at Huaxinhu, and after earning a roll of the eyes, she left Huaxinhu’s room even more happily.

Watching Hua Jian leave, Huaxinhu took a deep breath and cursed at the tightly closed door with a Beijing-style profanity.

This little girl was getting more and more infuriating.

However, it was not entirely a bad thing.

Being infuriating also meant that Hua Jian was gradually blending into the atmosphere of Wanhuagu… at least the atmosphere of her part of Wanhuagu.

“Aiya, she even called me Shijie, so I will help her out. As for me, I am just softhearted and cannot resist pleading~”

……

“The direction is becoming clearer and clearer. It seems the day when You Xue Lian formally appears in the world is very close.”

After reading the jade slip Hua Jian sent, Lingcaifeng Master returned the jade slip to Hua Jian, then carved another light point on the Ice Plain Map behind her.

At this time, the three-dimensional map formed entirely from Spiritual Power was already covered with dense light points.

It could be clearly seen that these light points formed a very regular radial structure.

The closer to the center, the more sightings; the closer to the periphery, the fewer sightings.

This also meant that the approximate location of You Xue Lian could already be determined.

It was basically on the stretch of Ice Plain with more sightings.

“But is a Spiritual Flower not a flower? Why has it been seen in so many places? Could it be that this Spiritual Flower actually grew legs and can run by itself?”

Hua Jian was even more curious about how a flower could be sighted in so many places.

You have to know, on the map these light points look very dense, but in reality, this large area is unimaginably vast!

This Spiritual Flower cannot possibly blink, right? Even if it grew two legs, it could not run this fast.

“Naturally it did not grow legs. I now suspect this Spiritual Flower is not on the Ice Plain, but located in a Secret Realm we have not discovered.” Lingcaifeng Master shook her head.

In this situation, that was the only explanation.

Just as Hua Jian thought, even if the Spiritual Flower grew legs, it could not run that fast.

And if the cultivators who sighted the Spiritual Flower had encountered the real You Xue Lian, so many of them should not have survived.

All of this suggested that the You Xue Lian those cultivators saw was very likely not You Xue Lian’s true form, but something like a mirage.

Only this way could it match the characteristics of appearing everywhere and almost no one being harmed.

What those cultivators encountered was not the true form but a phantom.

What was deep in the Ice Plain was not the Spiritual Flower itself, but the Secret Realm where the Spiritual Flower resided.

“A Secret Realm again?” Hua Jian had a headache. Why did everything have to be connected to a Secret Realm?

Is there no Spirit Item in this world that can grow normally? Why have they all crowded into Secret Realms?

“Inside a Secret Realm, the Rules are incomplete, making extreme conditions more likely. And the growth environment required by high-grade, high-rarity Spirit Items is exactly that harsh.”

Lingcaifeng Master was already unsurprised by this.

Powerful Spirit Items cannot grow just anywhere. They need very special natural environments.

Such environments are hard to find in the cultivation world, but are plentiful in the countless bizarre Secret Realms.

The Great War back then practically plowed through the entire cultivation world.

During that time, who knows how many fragments of the cultivation world broke off and became Secret Realms.

With such a vast sea of numbers here, plus environments suitable for high-grade Spirit Items to grow, it is truly not surprising that corresponding high-grade Spirit Items appear.

“Then since it lives inside a Secret Realm, why does it show phantoms on the Ice Plain? Is that not telling people who have ideas about it to come catch it?”

“Although Secret Realms have environments suitable for their birth, they lack the foundation to support their growth. If these high-grade Spirit Items are to truly become complete forms, they can only risk entering the cultivation world. Only here can they truly be reborn.”

Secret Realms also differ in size and strength.

Secret Realms that can give birth to high-grade Spirit Items are basically small Secret Realms with insufficient foundation.

Otherwise, the environments within them would not be so extreme, so extreme that they can nurture high-grade Spirit Items.

Speaking of it, this matter is a bit of a catch-22.

Because the cultivation world and large Secret Realms have complete Rules, extreme environments are not easy to produce, and high-grade Spirit Items are therefore hard to produce.

But small Secret Realms prone to extreme environments cannot support the growth of high-grade Spirit Items.

If high-grade Spirit Items had consciousness, they would surely curse: what kind of trash setting is this?

Can you not let me level up peacefully to max level in one place?

“Under normal circumstances, this kind of high-grade Spirit Item will gradually gain control over the Secret Realm and become a symbol of the Secret Realm itself. When they realize that continuing to grow inside the Secret Realm will leave them stuck in place, they will instinctively drive the Secret Realm to begin merging with the cultivation world.”

“This situation is what cultivators call the opening of a Secret Realm. Everyone can enter and search for treasure.”

“Most of the foundation in the Secret Realm is indeed absorbed by that kind of Spirit Item, but quite a few good things that the Spirit Item cannot absorb remain inside the Secret Realm. Those things are the cultivators’ goal.”

“But are they not afraid of being caught and turned into Alchemy Pills before they grow up?” Hua Jian was somewhat puzzled.

This is a high-grade Spirit Item, after all. If it is caught by someone, is it not finished?

Just as she finished speaking, Lingcaifeng Master raised her hand in annoyance, scaring her into quickly hugging her head.

Had she said something wrong?

“After spending too long with Wanhuagu people, has your brain stopped working?” Lingcaifeng Master’s raised hand still landed on Hua Jian’s head.

The force was not heavy, just enough to daze Hua Jian without injuring her brain.

“At this stage, Spirit Items have almost only instinctive thinking ability, and immature ones do not have much use. Do you think I came here to take You Xue Lian away for pill refining?”

Hua Jian quickly shook her head. Lingcaifeng Master definitely had not come to find pill-refining materials.

With that said, she somewhat understood. If high-grade Spirit Items are obtained by Big Factions like the Saint Sect, then their own lives are actually safe?

“Would Fengzhu instead cultivate You Xue Lian and raise it into a mature form?”

“Naturally. A living You Xue Lian that can continuously produce materials is definitely more valuable than draining the pond to catch all the fish by refining it into pills.”

Only then did Lingcaifeng Master nod in satisfaction.

This is the difference between being full once and being full every meal.

The Saint Sect cannot possibly lack one such pill.

Raise You Xue Lian in the sect and cultivate a good relationship with it, and the future benefits will be many.

After this Spirit Item grows up, it can not only regularly provide rare materials, but can also guest-star as an Elder and serve as combat power when foreign enemies invade. This is a win-win deal.

“Not just our Saint Sect. Some Demonic Sects also do this, but not many Demonic Sects can see so far ahead.” Lingcaifeng Master continued.

Here she specifically named Tianmomen.

That was the kind of short-sighted Demonic Sect that, after getting a Spirit Item, ignores everything and directly refines it into pills.

Even more wasteful of heavenly resources than Wanhuagu.

“So that is how it is. Then what we need to do now is wait for the Secret Realm to open, then go inside and snatch the Spirit Item?”

“Correct, but it has nothing to do with you. You just stay by my side and study well.”

Lingcaifeng Master had never thought of letting Hua Jian go into the Secret Realm as a laborer.

She had already brought enough Lingcaifeng Disciples to Beijing; there was no need for Hua Jian to follow them in.

Missing one Hua Jian would not make much difference.

After all, Hua Jian was ultimately only a Ling King, while among the Disciples Lingcaifeng Master brought, there were even several Ling Emperors.

With these Ling Emperors present, the difficulty of this Secret Realm treasure hunt was very, very small.

It was basically impossible for any accident to happen.

Even if they encountered Magic Path troublemakers halfway, Lingcaifeng Master was confident that her Disciples would not be inferior to those Demonic Cultivators in the slightest.

“Ao!” Hua Jian responded with a drawn-out sound, but she felt a little prickly inside.

She did not quite dare to say her thoughts aloud. After all, the Secret Realm had not even opened yet.

If she said discouraging words, it would feel like she was hoping for the Lingcaifeng Disciples to get into trouble.

But… she and Linglong were both in Beijing now.

According to the law that trouble happens wherever the Main Character goes, she felt that this Secret Realm she already knew about would definitely have problems, and in the end she would have to step in to solve them!

This was not her imagining things, but a conclusion she had drawn from her own experience!

The kind with an accuracy rate above ninety percent.

“Fengzhu, you must tell the Shixiong and Shijie to be careful!”

“Hm?” Lingcaifeng Master frowned.

Hearing Hua Jian’s words, why did she suddenly feel a bit panicked?