Chapter 234 (Part 1): The Older, the Stronger

“Like this first, then like this? Linglong, do you think I’m doing this right?”

“I don’t know.”

“How can you not know? You’re the Sacred Maiden of Yaochi, Saintess Daren. You should see through the Mimi at a glance, quickly master it, and then teach me to learn it in a simple and easy-to-understand way!”

Hearing this, a few veins bulged on the back of Linglong’s hand as she held the brush.

The slender jade brush trembled slightly in her grip, as if it would explode from her anger the next moment.

So what if she was the Saintess? A Saintess was still a Ren, all right?

Hua Jian hadn’t given her any time to prepare.

She now had to study this secret manual from scratch.

How could that be something solved in a moment?

If she could understand the Training techniques in this secret manual at a glance, then she would be the greatest Heavenly Talent of all time!

The kind that far surpassed the predecessors!

“Aren’t you also a Saintess? Stop joking. This secret manual is very unusual. I can’t understand it in a short time either.”

Linglong was trying to understand the secret manual in her own way, but with poor results.

She herself practiced Jade Pool secret manuals.

Compared with this Wanhuagu secret manual in front of her, Linglong’s secret manuals were somewhat simpler to practice.

But even when she had the Saint Master’s constant guidance during Training, Linglong had always stumbled through practicing these secret manuals.

This kind of secret manual related to Soulforce was just like that.

The wording was incomparably obscure and difficult to understand.

Without an elder’s personal guidance, juniors had no way to start at all.

Even with an elder’s guidance, juniors might not necessarily learn it.

If one day all the Cultivators in the entire Sect who could use this kind of secret manual were gone, or the Cultivators who could use it were not good at teaching others, then the inheritance of this secret manual would be severed.

Many supreme arts inherited from ancient times were lost in this way.

Everyone knew these supreme arts were powerful, but everyone also truly could not learn them.

Within the Jade Pool, there were many such lost supreme arts.

Nowadays no one could master these moves, not even the current Yaochi Sect Leader.

It was true the Sect Leader was a Saint, but the predecessors who created these supreme art moves back then were no worse.

Some were even staying in heaven as Immortals.

The secret manuals they created basically all shared one trait: they were filled with little clever notions like ‘If I can do it, then later generations definitely can too,’ ‘If I can understand these things, how could later generations fail to understand them?’ and ‘Oh my, this jade slip’s capacity is too small, so let’s delete some insignificant details.’

The predecessors must have been very high when they left behind these inheritances, but when later generations tried to learn them, they definitely wanted to kill the predecessors’ predecessors.

For example, the secret manual Hua Jian was holding now was a classic case of the predecessors thinking later generations must be very wise and definitely able to understand this content, only to never expect that later generations were not that impressive at all.

“Then why did Gu Zhu give this thing to me? Is she expecting me to become a self-taught talent?”

“Have some Confidence. She is exactly expecting you to become a self-taught talent.”

“Hey!” Finally it was Hua Jian’s turn to tell Linglong not to joke around. How congratulatory.

Linglong looked at Hua Jian’s somewhat flustered reaction and forcefully controlled the corners of her mouth that wanted to rise.

Occasionally teasing Hua Jian and seeing this kind of expression on her was quite interesting.

“Ahem, anyway, you should try practicing it yourself first. I don’t think the Valley Master of Wanhua expects you to master this content all at once.” Linglong straightened her attitude and gave Hua Jian serious advice.

If the Valley Master of Wanhua really expected Hua Jian to learn this secret manual by herself in a short time, then Linglong could only express admiration for the Valley Master of Wanhua.

As expected of the Demonic Sect Gate Leader, a Saint of her generation. Her courage really reached the heavens.

“True. How could something like this be self-taught? I’m not some Heavenly Talent.” Hua Jian nodded with deep agreement.

Not some Heavenly Talent? Linglong looked at Hua Jian, who really seemed to think so, and for a moment did not know what kind of expression to make.

Even to her ears, Hua Jian’s words were enough to make one’s heart flare with anger.

If you were not a Heavenly Talent, then who was?

In the entire Cultivation world, as far as Linglong was concerned, there was not a single Heavenly Talent who could be named alongside Hua Jian.

In the next few hundred years, perhaps the world would not necessarily produce another Heavenly Talent who could keep pace with Hua Jian.

As for why only a few hundred years, that was because in a few hundred years Hua Jian would most likely have undergone Ascension and become an Immortal.

After Hua Jian left, naturally everyone would have Hua Jian’s courage.

“This time I plan to use a Snow Crystal Rabbit as a medium to enter the Secret Realm. What do you think?”

As she spoke, Hua Jian took out a palm-sized little furball from her portable Spiritual Beast Space.

This was a Snow Crystal Rabbit, looking especially cute.

And this cute little creature had already been simply processed by Hua Jian.

It was now something under Hua Jian’s control.

Of course, it itself had no such awareness.

The Snow Crystal Rabbit’s species value was far too low.

Even after becoming a Spirit Beast, it rarely had self-awareness.

That little head had no complicated emotions at all, only primitive emotional reactions like fear, comfort, and liking.

To Hua Jian, this could not be considered bad news.

Slightly dumber little rabbits were much simpler to control.

They did not have so many schemes.

Whatever command Hua Jian gave them, they would execute without hesitation.

Even if the command was very dangerous and would threaten their lives.

Compared with the Wanling Sect’s method, Hua Jian’s method was more simple and crude.

After all, this was Hua Jian’s unique advantage that others could not envy.

“But these little guys also have some special traits. They are more like Elemental Life. A large part of their bodies is not Flesh-and-Blood, but Spiritual Power……”

Hua Jian held the little rabbit up before Linglong’s eyes while introducing these little guys’ special points.

Many rumors related to Snow Crystal Rabbits circulated in Beijing.

Regarding these little guys that could survive in extremely harsh environments, Cultivators used their brains and made up many stories.

Some even said these little guys were fragments of consciousness left on the Ice Plain after an ancient existence fell asleep.

Hua Jian definitely did not believe these stories, because these stories really had no logic at all!

But compared with other Spirit Beasts, Snow Crystal Rabbits were indeed more special.

They already had one foot across the threshold of Elemental Life.

It was unknown whether Spirit Beasts had cheated or Elemental Life had split apart.

In short, these little guys maintained this strange life state and continued generation after generation on the Ice Plain.

Though weak, they somehow could not be exterminated.

They did not even need mating to reproduce.

This kind of rabbit had no distinction of sex.

As long as the time came, they could give birth to offspring like ice crystal balls.

These little ice crystal balls would later absorb Beijing’s extreme cold Spiritual Power and grow into a new Snow Crystal Rabbit.

With this way of continuing, no wonder some Cultivators were curious about their origins.

After all, they were truly too different from ordinary Spirit Beasts.

But to Hua Jian, these were all negligible small matters.

She just used Snow Crystal Rabbits as tool people.

Why care about their origins?

As long as they were useful and filling, it was enough!

“I plan to rush over tomorrow. What about your side?”

Speed was precious in war.

Hua Jian could not slowly drag things out until the Wanling Sect’s support arrived before going to the Secret Realm, right?

If that happened, her help would be completely meaningless.

“I will also go along. Although I cannot directly enter the Secret Realm to help, we plan to sail the Tower Ship onto the Ice Plain, so if problems arise we can respond in time.”

Linglong’s “going along” naturally did not mean traveling together with Hua Jian, but going to one destination.

Once there, Linglong would probably spend most of her time on the Tower Ship and would not leave easily.

With Jade Pool’s floating ship holding down the scene on the Ice Plain, it could deter quite a few petty villains.

“That’s pretty good. Here, take this rabbit with you. When the time comes, I’ll use it to send you messages.”

Hua Jian stuffed the Snow Crystal Rabbit in her hand into Linglong’s arms.

“Wouldn’t it be better to directly use a Communication Jade Talisman? It probably can’t speak, right?”

Linglong caught the little rabbit with a cool touch and somewhat did not understand Hua Jian’s idea.

Since there was a better way to communicate, why use a troublesome method like a little rabbit?

It could not be that Hua Jian wanted to play at romance, right?

Or rather…… “You want to risk yourself?”

Linglong’s eyes suddenly became dangerous.

If Hua Jian planned to do that, then she would have to properly educate Hua Jian, and even lock Hua Jian in the Black House.

“No, no, I mean like this……” Hua Jian hurriedly explained.

After much coaxing, she finally got Linglong to half-believingly accept her explanation.

Although Linglong could not be considered completely a Ren either, compared with Hua Jian, who was not a Ren, she was still too humanlike.

This made her sometimes truly unable to imagine Hua Jian’s abilities, such as at this time.

“Just think of me as Bai Hua Zun Zhe. Those root systems I sent out are the White Flower that the Venerable scattered throughout the Shanmai. Even if these White Flower are damaged, it will not affect me.” Hua Jian gave a very vivid example.

“And the me you see now is like Bai Hua Zun Zhe’s physical body. Although losing it will not harm our foundation, wanting to recreate one will also be very difficult.”

Hua Jian wanted to use this example to tell Linglong that she did not need to worry about her safety.

Even if only a small sapling remained, Hua Jian could grow back!

“Don’t try to fool me!” Linglong’s eyes were dark and quiet. By saying this, wasn’t Hua Jian endorsing future adventures?

“I’m not fooling you. I really won’t enter the Secret Realm!” Hua Jian raised her hand and swore to heaven, “At least I won’t let this body go in!”

Stare…… Linglong continued staring at Hua Jian for a long time.

After staring until Hua Jian was drenched in sweat, she finally gave a light hum, which counted as accepting Hua Jian’s explanation.

Hua Jian was not someone who liked taking risks and gambling with her life.

On this matter, Linglong felt she could believe Hua Jian.

If she did not have enough certainty, Hua Jian would not act recklessly.

If Hua Jian started acting recklessly, then it meant that in Hua Jian’s view, there was no longer any meaning in not acting recklessly.

There were two possibilities here.

One was that she had no choice but to act recklessly.

The other was that there was no need to continue being conservative.

The current situation belonged to the latter.

“If you break your word……”

“If I break my word, I’ll obediently go back to the Central Continent with you and be your little wife!”

Ow!

The next moment, Linglong’s knife hand landed on Hua Jian’s head.

Was that any way to talk!

So infuriating!

Who wanted Hua Jian to go back with her for such a joking reason?

Also, was going back to the Central Continent with her such an unacceptable thing?

It was actually treated as the price for breaking a promise. That was too displeasing.

“What, you don’t want to?” Hua Jian looked at Linglong pitifully, with the expression of a little animal abandoned by its owner.

“Of course I don’t want to. I don’t want you to go back with me for such a joke-like reason.”

“Tsk, fake……”

“Hm?!” Linglong’s tone immediately rose.

“I said the Saintess Daren is broad-minded and does not take advantage of others’ difficulties. Truly a dragon among people, worthy of the admiration of all!”

Hua Jian said this whole long string of flattery without even pausing for breath.

Only then did Linglong nod with satisfaction. “Mm.”

……

“Sister Xin Yuan, does Wanhuagu really not have any dedicated transportation? Why do we always travel by flying ourselves?”

Held in Huaxinyuan’s hand and facing Beijing’s howling cold wind, Hua Jian could not help but complain.

They were now high in the sky.

Huaxinyuan was carrying Hua Jian and rapidly heading toward their destination at an altitude exclusively for Ling Emperor.

Compared with the bustling airspace Hua Jian had seen in the Central Continent, this stretch of sky seemed much more deserted.

If Huaxinyuan had not said so, Hua Jian would not even have known this was a designated flight altitude.

Looking around, there was no trace of living people.

They had flown in the sky for most of the day, yet she could not see a single passing Cultivator.

“The valley has a large ship bought from Jade Pool before, but it is rarely activated. It’s hard to say whether it can even fly now.”

Huaxinyuan indicated that Wanhuagu really did have transportation specifically for showing off, it was just generally not used.

Wanhuagu generally acted very covertly.

It was impossible for them to grandly run somewhere and shout things like ‘Wanhuagu is here!’

The lower profile they kept when doing things, the better.

Ideally, after finishing the matter, others would not even know they had come.

In addition, Wanhuagu’s reputation in the Cultivation world had always been not very good, which further meant they had no need to put on such superficial displays.

What, was there any Sect that wanted to have a social gathering with Wanhuagu?

“Don’t just look at how big Jade Pool’s ship is. Their people also fly by themselves when going out. At most, the Flying Artifacts they use are a little better than ours.”

The Flying Artifact Huaxinyuan used was a pair of colorful wings.

This was a very common Flying Artifact, just not as good at carrying people as the more spacious Flying Sword or flying boat.

You see, Hua Jian has now become the victim and can only be carried along by Huaxinyuan as they fly; if they had switched to a Flying Sword, this would not have happened.

“That big ship they sent to Beijing is no common goods; when it opens fire with full power, it can match more than ten Ling Emperors!”

Huaxinyuan felt Hua Jian might have some misunderstanding about the Tower Ship sent by Jade Pool.

Don’t really treat that Tower Ship as transportation, thinking it is just a cruise ship; in fact, when it fights, it is far more formidable than ordinary cultivators.

This is a mobile fortress; in essence, it is no different from the Floating Islands made by Jade Pool, and both are manifestations of Jade Pool’s military power.

Just one Tower Ship like this is enough to destroy more than ninety percent of the forces in the cultivation world; as long as a place does not have a Spirit Lord presiding over it, the ship can come and go unimpeded and crush everything with overwhelming firepower.