Volume 1, Chapter 488 – Meeting Again

Inside the pendant, Shi Lan slowly opened her eyes.

Time flowed much faster in the Xiongming King Realm than in the Lingyang Realm. Since the day she took away the Scarlet Crow War Halberd, nearly eight years had already passed.

This pendant was a rare treasure, forged from Nether Jade and saturated with exceedingly dense yin energy. It had not only preserved her divine sense, which had been on the verge of dissipating, but was also constantly nourishing it.

She held the introductory chapter of the Secret Canon of Spirit Refinement in her hands. With the aid of the Nether Jade and a cultivation method capable of strengthening the soul, after nearly eight years, this strand of divine sense had already grown powerful enough to rival an ordinary sixth-tier primordial spirit.

This strand of divine sense was completely different from Qinglan’s existence. Unlike an incarnation, it was merely a portion of her consciousness, and it could fully serve as a fairly good path of retreat.

Judging from what she had seen over the past eight years, the power level of the Xiongming King Realm was not especially high. At the very least, there were no figures on the level of Supreme.

Although there were many tribes in this world, only a handful were truly powerful.

Even those lofty experts who wielded divine and demonic weapons and looked down upon all living beings were, at the very most, only eighth-tier lifeforms, roughly equivalent to the Qiongluo Realm before it had been slaughtered by the Reincarnation Hall. Relatively speaking, it was a fairly safe place to survive.

The only drawback was that it was far too distant from the Lingyang Realm, and the transmission of information required time.

What happened at this moment would only reach the Lingyang Realm a month later.

If this strand of divine sense continued to grow stronger, it would be able to reduce that gap to some extent.

The girl who had been cultivating noticed the change in the pendant and immediately withdrew from cultivation, raising a hand to her chest.

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“Master, you’re awake?”

Shi Lan gathered her thoughts and stepped out of the pendant, her figure manifesting in midair. Apart from a slight ethereal quality, she looked almost no different from an ordinary person.

Over the years, the High Priestess of the Azure Ghost Rakshasa clan had always addressed her as Master, but Shi Lan had never once acknowledged it.

Shi Lan had no intention of taking on disciples, not now, and even less so in the future. To pass on the Dao and teach one’s arts was no trivial matter. Once she accepted this disciple, she would have to spend a great deal of time, energy, and even cultivation resources to guide her.

For someone like Shi Lan, whose own path of cultivation was hardly an easy one, that would be a burden. Moreover, before such disciples had truly grown, they would also become her weakness.

No matter how one looked at it, it was an extremely unprofitable arrangement.

Thus, although she had taught Bian Qin many things, she had never addressed her as master and disciple.

When no response came, Bian Qin, who had risen excitedly at Shi Lan’s appearance, could not help but let her eyes dim. But she quickly cleared away the distracting thoughts in her heart, and a smile once more rose on her face as she began recounting her progress in cultivation.

“The secret arts you taught me before your last seclusion, I’ve already finished cultivating. The Jade Tempering Art has reached major accomplishment in the ninth layer, and I’ve learned half of the arrays…”

After listening, Shi Lan nodded. By her standards, that cultivation speed could only be considered acceptable, but for Bian Qin, it was already quite remarkable.

When they first met, Bian Qin’s strength had only been around the upper-middle level of the second tier. Now she had already stepped into the middle stage of the fourth tier. For an ordinary person, that speed was enough to warrant the title of gifted.

The praise she had been hoping for failed to come. Bian Qin unconsciously clenched her hand, and the smile on her face grew somewhat awkward.

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“Can the material of this pendant be found anywhere else?”

Lost in thought, Shi Lan had not noticed Bian Qin’s disappointment. Seeing that the girl had stopped speaking, she immediately asked.

After being continuously absorbed over all these years, the energy within this pendant was already close to drying up. Finding a replacement had become urgent.

“This is a token passed down from generation to generation among the High Priestesses. It seems it was taken from the tomb of some powerful expert, but I don’t know exactly what material it is.”

Bian Qin shook her head somewhat blankly. Back then, her cultivation had been far too low. Even among the Azure Ghost Rakshasa clan, there had not been a single expert of her current level for nearly a thousand years. The clan had long since declined.

“This material should be Nether Jade. Help me keep an eye out for it. It’s very important to me.”

Without this kind of resource, even with the Secret Canon of Spirit Refinement in hand, the growth rate of her divine sense would be much slower.

“Rest assured, Master, I’ll arrange for people to investigate it at once!”

Bian Qin brightened immediately, somewhat delighted. She had long wanted to repay Shi Lan’s kindness. If there was somewhere she could be of use, that was naturally a good thing.

…

The Lingyang Realm, Haotian Domain.

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On the summit of a towering peak, with Buddhist pagodas clustered like clouds, a bonfire had been set up in a secluded clearing. Over the fire, an unknown beast was roasting, its skin already golden-brown. Fat dripped into the flames, and thread after thread of fragrance rose into the air, spreading in all directions.

“Benefactor, just help yourself. There’s no need to stand on ceremony with this poor monk.”

A gray-robed figure sat by the fire, tearing off pieces of roast meat from time to time and stuffing them into his mouth. Beside him, the open mouth of a gourd gave off a rich aroma of wine.

Looking at the little monk in front of her, his mouth glistening with grease, Shi Lan shook her head slightly. In the past, to satisfy her appetite, she would occasionally eat something. But at some point, she had gradually forgotten to eat at all.

Even when she sometimes devoured fierce beasts to replenish her blood and qi, she did so through the Black Domain. Compared with eating, the efficiency of the Black Domain was undoubtedly many times greater.

It had been a long time since their last parting in Xianwu City, yet Wuya’s appearance had not changed at all. He still looked fifteen or sixteen, his youthful air not yet gone, as though he would never grow up.

After checking on the situation in the Xiongming King Realm, Shi Lan had originally intended to return directly to the Central Heaven Domain. But then she thought that with the Buddhist incense and faith in this place being so flourishing, there might be news of Wuya or Leiyun Temple here, so she decided to ask around.

She had not expected that Leiyun Temple’s reputation in the Haotian Domain would be so widespread. She had found this place with almost no effort at all.

And after that, this scene had come to be.

Drinking wine and roasting meat so brazenly in a Buddhist sacred land, even if it did not quite count as breakinga precept, was still somewhat disrespectful.

But since this was Wuya, Shi Lan did not find it strange.

Ever since they first met, she had never been able to understand this little monk. Even the words unfathomably profound were not enough to describe him.

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“Have you found the Mahayana Dharma?”

Thinking of what Wuya had said the last time they met, Shi Lan felt somewhat curious.

The little monk shook his head, swallowed the roast meat in his mouth, and said seriously,

“The Buddhist Dharma within the Lingyang Realm has merely been passed down by those who came before. It is difficult for it to transcend.”

“Then are you going beyond the outer heavens?”

At Shi Lan’s question, Wuya seemed somewhat dispirited.

“This poor monk cannot leave the Lingyang Realm. I once asked a Bodhisattva to send me beyond the realm, but it failed.”

“Why is that?”

Shi Lan was somewhat surprised. Although the sealing of the Lingyang Realm was extremely strict, for a Human Emperor-level expert, sending a few people out would be no more than a casual matter.

“This poor monk does not know either. Not only was I unable to leave, but the Bodhisattva who tried to send me out was also struck by heavenly punishment. If not for the deep merit he had accumulated in the past, he likely would have perished as well.”

Having touched on a troubling matter, Wuya stared blankly into the fire, and even the roast meat in his mouth seemed to lose its flavor.