Chapter 897: Chapter 896: The Truth Revealed
Hou Niao swiftly slashed with the sword, with no hesitation, refusing to accept Huang Yun Daoist’s offer of reconciliation, unwilling to keep such a huge threat close by.
Subsequently, leading a group of Grass Immortal Fruit spirits, he turned and joined Fei Bai Fairy’s battle, making the fairy’s heart pound, knowing that today would not end well.
"Your last name?"
Fei Bai Fairy forcibly calmed herself, cursing Huang Yun Daoist inwardly for harming others and himself, overestimating his own strength and underestimating the ruthlessness of the sword cultivator; failing to anticipate the enemy and not understanding himself either, digging a hole and burying himself in it.
It’s hard to say she’s in cahoots with Huang Yun Daoist. They hadn’t discussed it, but she knew Huang Yun’s intentions and didn’t stop them, tacitly agreeing in secret, which can’t be clarified now.
"Fei Bai, from the Green Elephant Constellation. Hou Daoist, I don’t deny I knew about this, but it’s a fact that Huang Yun is the mastermind. I just have one sentence: is there any room for maneuver?"
"Just the two of you?"
Fei Bai Fairy sighed, "Just the two of us. If these people were all Huang Yun’s associates, why would we wait for spirits, we’d just attack you directly."
"If I let you go, what benefits do I get? How can you guarantee you won’t harm me in the future?"
Although Fei Bai Fairy is a woman, being sent alone for a mission, she has extraordinary willpower and is a woman of great responsibility,
"I can’t guarantee that I will never harm you. In the Cultivation World, there are too many things we can’t control, but I can guarantee to turn enemies into friends within the Medicine King Furnace space. As for when we return to Jinxiu, it will have to be dealt with as it comes.
Benefits? I’ll give you half of the great cultivation elixir I refine in the future."
"Deal!" Hou Niao agreed swiftly and cleanly.
The longsword swirled around, hovering beside Fei Bai Fairy, "You perform alchemy, I’ll protect!"
Together, they faced nearly thirty Grass Immortal Fruit spirits, which tormented her, realizing that cooperation was the wisest choice instead of seeking vengeance.
One swift action is enough; more would be too much.
With Hou Niao providing close protection, Fei Bai Fairy’s alchemy cooking accelerated. The two were very close, each having opportunities to ambush the other covertly, testing who could resist such temptation.
Hou Niao could unleash a swarm of swords while she was focused on refining, and Fei Bai could set a trap while he was besieged by dozens of spirits. It was a game testing both parties’ will and attitude towards their promises.
Hou Niao had no other choice; he wanted all threats eliminated in the bud, but the current environment didn’t allow it.
If he killed Fei Bai, would this woman throw all caution to the wind and drag him down with her? No need for profound techniques, only to hold him for a few breaths so the spirits could help her resolve the issue.
How could he deal with so many spirits if he killed this woman? His method was to swallow the spirits alive, which seemed thrilling, but it needed a digestion process. He couldn’t swallow more than thirty in one go - he’d burst. This showed the benefit of refining with the Furnace; he could quickly swallow fewer than ten spirits, but faced with more, the Furnace was faster at refining.
In a six-person team, killing one was manageable, but what would the three others think if two were taken out? He was already accustomed to this pace. If he had to slow down to search alone, he might not stand it.
Moreover, the prospect of obtaining great cultivation elixirs was very tempting; his lone journey over the years left him frustrated due to inefficiency, unable to save a method for preservation of energies wasted through absorption limits, while spirits were limitless, such waste made him heartache.
He knew he couldn’t raise his Cultivation to Complete in the coming years, even with five or six more years. So, saving some great elixirs for leisurely consumption after returning to Jinxiu was an enticing idea.
Various reasons forced him into making peace with this woman. In the Cultivation World, compromise is everywhere. Whether she truly participated in conspiring against him mattered less.
In Cultivation, either you harm others, or others harm you; that’s the main theme.
Hou Niao had thoughts, but Fei Bai Fairy also had thoughts, yet both ultimately chose not to act radically. The thirty Grass Immortal Fruit spirits quickly perished under their increasingly skilled cooperation. But at that moment, one of the remaining three couldn’t withstand the pressure and was completely devoured by the spirits.
Only four remained, with less than twenty spirits left. The other two cultivators were strong, steady, and without mistake or flaw. They didn’t care about the fellow who succumbed nor about Hou Niao’s sudden killing, exhibiting the cold indifference of a cultivator facing life and death.
At this point, the battle process was controlled, and the four quickly cleared the remaining spirits. Hou Niao knew he should say something,
"I’m very sorry, although I didn’t start it, this matter is related to me nonetheless. We four, united have advantages, divided have harm, if you two Daoists have no objections, shall we continue?"
The two Daoists were like closed books, nodding in agreement; they were silent but discerning. They sensed something was wrong from Huang Yun Daoist’s initial mistake. Such dirty tricks couldn’t fool wise cultivators, and most importantly, the things exhibited by the sword cultivator in this upheaval were astonishing, measuring his strength merely by Realm was slightly inadequate.
Until now, they truly accepted him as their companion, not a disposable burden.
The journey recommenced. Despite fewer people, safety increased as the unstable factors had been eliminated. A revengeful Huang Yun and an unfamiliar, weak cultivator died here inexplicably, their origins unknown, even their names?
In Cultivation history, only glorious traces are remembered, while countless unnoticed individuals vanish silently into the corners of the Universe.
Worth it? Who knows?
"Regarding the opening of the Medicine King Furnace this time, what do you know?" While traveling, Hou Niao finally had someone to converse with. At least until now, both had kept their promises.
Fei Bai Fairy didn’t hide much, many were in the know, almost everyone who came.
"Our assessment is the Medicine King Furnace itself has issues. It was once used by an Immortal, but the Immortal fell before the New Era, and it landed in the human world.
One crucial point: the Immortal originally ascended to the Dao on the Jinxiu Continent, which was the Immortal’s homeland. This explains why Hell Star aligns with Jinxiu every sixty years. It’s not accidental, but the Medicine King Furnace’s remembrance of its old master.
Now there are signs of Jinxiu’s world reopening. I am unsure of the changes this might bring to the Medicine King Furnace, but there must be some, such as its internal Spirit Plant spirits being refined."