The sun rose and set with the turn of the Big Dipper.
Ye Que cultivated without moving on top of the Peony Pavilion for twenty-four hours.
Integrating with heaven and earth, he learned about heaven and earth as well as himself and the law of life. No one disturbed him.
The golden sunset glow enveloped Luoyang and cast its radiance on Ye Que"s face. When the sun disappeared into the mountains, Ye Que opened his eyes. The air around him froze in that split second before fiercely disintegrating. The rapidly spinning Spiritual Force, Imperial Qi, and Astral Force dissipated in the air. Ye Que"s silhouette slowly became clear, only this time his skin was clearer and his eyes were brighter. Even the curves of his body seemed to be imbued with a natural explosive force.
The mountains were still the same mountains, water was still the same water, and heaven and earth were still the same heaven and earth.
However, everything had changed to Ye Que.
"This Divine Book undoubtedly deserves its t.i.tle as a treasure that was born alongside heaven and earth, to be able to send me straight into the Pre-heaven Realm on the first day I"m cultivating. I"ve even surpa.s.sed the threshold of being a martial artist. This is at least a hundredfold faster than the cultivation technique of Qingqiu Sword Sect. Back when I first cultivated the Qingqiu Sword Art, I spent a whopping hundred days to enter the Pre-heaven Realm. If I improve at this current speed, I"ll be able to enter the Psychic Realm in three months at most." Ye Que was pleased to know he would be truly stepping on the road to immortality after entering the Psychic Realm. Everything had gone much smoother than he had imagined.
He stood up, closed his eyes, and carefully examined his internal state.
"What is this?"
"I didn"t see wrongly, did I?"
"Primordial Heaven Realm!"
When he saw the fine gold thread on the snowy mountain in his heart, he couldn"t help exclaiming aloud regardless of how calm he was. In fact, it was no wonder he was so surprised. One could only condense the Primordial Heaven Energy in the Celestial World. It would only appear after one pa.s.sed the Heaven-bridging Path and had the Immortal Qi of the Celestial World purify one"s body.
In the Human World, if the conversion of the Spiritual Force into the True Energy was considered electrical power, then the conversion of Divine Energy would be akin to nuclear power.
One could imagine just how great the gap between electricity and nuclear power was.
Even though there was only a tiny wisp of the Divine Energy, many little things would add up to something great. He would eventually achieve the Milky Way.
Clenching his fists, he suddenly exerted his strength. Suddenly, he heard a series of crackling sounds coming from all over his body. "It"s such a feeling to have power!"
If the present Ye Que was placed in front of the General"s Manor yesterday, he would surely react differently to Ye Yunhai"s threat and provocation. He would now make easy work out of those tall and big soldiers, even if they had been to the battlefield and had tasted blood. Strictly speaking, he had just entered the Pre-heaven Realm. However, one mustn"t forget that Ye Yue wasn"t a newbie whose cultivation soared overnight. He was the Demon-slaughtering Asura whose combat experience was madly off the charts.
Perhaps due to the fact that Ye Que comprehended heaven and earth in Luoyang City, it was yet another full moon night after sunset descended. Stars twinkled all over the cloudless night sky.
Instead of going to the lobby on the ground floor, Ye Que asked the waiter to send his meal to his room. On the one hand, he needed to stabilize his state and mull over the mnemonic chant of the Divine Book. On the other hand, he was also sorting out the large collection of fighting skills in his mind. Some of the sword arts, spirit-summoning techniques, formations, and the like were suitable for his use at his present stage while others weren"t. This was the process of selecting the essence of the matter to master the subject.
Ye Que knew better than anyone what the world was like.
The law of the jungle was that the weak were prey to the strong.
The one with the stronger fist would survive.
The resources of the three worlds were limited and everyone, regardless of human or demons, wanted the best. That was why humans would advocate slaying demons in the name of justice. However, if demons were slaughtered to the point of oppression, the Demon World would be cut off from its roots and would experience the danger of genocide. Even a panicked dog would jump over the wall, never mind demons.
"Invade the Human World, save our people, and recapture the homeland of demons." This had become the slogan of the Demon World that all the demons responded to. If he remembered correctly, the first batch of demons had arrived in the Human World when Ye Que left Luoyang to enter the Qingqiu Sword Sect in his previous life. After a careful calculation of the timing, he determined it would be these few days.
After a simple meal, Ye Que sat cross-legged on the bed and continued to cultivate. The strange phenomenon last night didn"t appear again. He a.s.sumed it was the reward for comprehending the Divine Book for the first time. It was reasonable as well. If it was so powerful every step of the way, the Divine Book would become too great an existence to stay in the three worlds.
It was getting dark. More and more diners filled the lobby of the Peony Pavilion. The 19 tables on the ground floor were occupied. In the innermost corner, one man and one woman occupied a table meant for eight. The table was covered in all sorts of exotic delicacies.
The man wore a silk gown, with a jade pendant and spice sachet tied at his waist. In his hand was a folding fan painted with green bamboo stalks and plum blossoms. The woman had an enchanting figure. On her oval face were red lips, white teeth, a tall nose, sculpted eyebrows that were vaguely knitted, as well as phoenix eyes that looked vaguely annoyed. She was a beautiful woman with a full face. Both of them could be called a beautiful pair. However, upon careful observation, one could see that the woman"s beauty was haunting. Unexpectedly, she was able to coquettishly provoke the man seven times in the time it took to finish two cups of wine.
They didn"t touch the dishes much even after 15 minutes later. The two pots of West Phoenix wine all entered the man"s mouth.
The man drew close to the woman"s ear and exhaled. "Miss Lin, a moment of spring night is worth a thousand pounds of gold. Let"s not waste our time," he whispered.
"Young Master Qian, you must think it over. There are some things you must take responsibility for." The woman reached out her slender finger and tapped the man on the forehead.
"I won"t disappoint your expectations."
The man surnamed Qian narrowed his eyes as he replied in a solemn manner. He abruptly stood up, grabbed the woman"s waist, and walked up to the first floor. "Waiter, give me the VIP room. Lead the way and put the drinks and food on my bill."
The short wooden stairs took them no more than a dozen steps and several minutes. The man"s hand constantly wandered on the woman"s body while the woman"s beautiful eyes never once left the man as she leaned on his shoulder amorously. The sight of them both invoked l.u.s.tful feelings in the diners below. To their surprise, Qian Shuxiao shook his head and recited poetry as he walked. "May I ask the pipe is played amid the purple smoke? I once learned to dance in my most beautiful years. Why do you hope to die when you have succeeded in your goal? I"d rather be a pair of mandarin ducks than an immortal."
"There Qian Shuxiao that perverted swine goes, ruining yet another an innocent woman."
"He"s clearly a hooligan."
"Well, he"s filthy rich. Where would he find the guts to call himself one of the four young masters of Luoyang otherwise?"
"The woman earlier looks really familiar."
"I heard she has just arrived in Luoyang today to visit her relatives."
"Sigh! Public morals are declining with each pa.s.sing day!"
When the diners gathered, what they coveted wasn"t wine but gossip. Qian Shuxiao"s behavior was precisely what they wanted and in a flash, he became their object of discussion.
Qian Shuxiao was born in the Qian family of Luoyang. His family had been engaged in trade, shipping, medicine, tea, silk, weapons, and the like for generations. They were involved in basically any business that would make them money. It was said their golds and silvers were so numerous they could be piled to form mountains. While they were far from having wealth that equal the royal coffers, they were still rich enough to rival a city"s coffers. Qian Shuxiao was the only son of this generation of the Qian family. It was apparent a n.o.ble son born with a silver spoon in his mouth was free to do whatever he wanted in Luoyang. He could basically dominate Luoyang as long as he didn"t provoke the powerful.
Just as Qian Shuxiao took Miss Lin to the first floor, Ye Que who was on the same floor abruptly opened his eyes.
"Demonic Qi?"
Ye Que"s Divine Energy was still weak and the area he could envelop was still small, no more than 10 meters at most. However, Divine Energy was nevertheless Divine Energy; it wasn"t something cheap like True Energy. Even a wisp of Divine Energy could be converted into a tenfold psychic force. Without the use of skills, it wouldn"t cause significant damage. However, it wouldn"t pose a problem for it to be used to snoop on others within a short distance.
With a turn of his mind, the invisible psychic force quietly flowed out of the door. Soon, the force detected the charming woman next to Qian Shuxiao.
"She"s a little fox that has recently gained human form?" Ye Que smirked. His piqued interest died in an instant. For him, she was the lowest form of the demon race and had negligible offensive power. He didn"t want to waste his strength to subdue her. Besides, small demons like her typically wouldn"t dare to really hurt people. She would absorb men"s Yang Qi at most before wisely leaving.
Ye Que thought there was no need to waste his energy on slaying a demon that wouldn"t truly harm people.
Heaven"s laws were capricious. When things reach an extreme, they could only move in the opposite direction.
There must be a bottom line in the pursuit of cultivation. The greater one"s ability, the more one mustn"t run amok.
Only one wall divided the VIP room and Ye Que"s room.
The moment Qian Shuxiao entered the room with the little fox, he immediately began to undress. If one were to carefully observe Qian Shuxiao"s eyes, one could see wisps of purple Qi in his pupils. Evidently, the little fox had charmed him. They didn"t even close the door before throwing themselves onto the bed in a few steps.
The waiter who followed after them watched with a smirk. He cleverly closed the door for them. However, he had just stepped out of the room when he spat on the floor. In a low voice, he said, "Beast!"
After thinking about it, he was still puzzled. He then added, "Prost.i.tute!"
Even Ye Que next door shook his head helplessly. "Little demons these days are really impatient. They"ve entered your house and climbed onto your bed. Do you think they"ll still run away? So unromantic."
In the time it took for Ye Que to deliver his lines, Qian Shuxiao had already waged war against the woman. It was incredibly erotic but the process was brief. In no time at all, Qian Shuxiao"s eyes lost focus and his limbs slowly drifted into the air.
The little fox lying under him stuck out her tongue to lick his lips. A snow-white tail brushed his skin and swirled around his body. Then, pure-white Yang Qi slowly flowed out of Qian Shuxiao"s seven apertures. In the blink of an eye, the little fox absorbed them all.
"Young Master Qian, I"ve already told you there are some things you must take responsibility for. A moment of spring night is worth a thousand pounds of gold. I"ve given you a spring night. This is a debt of grat.i.tude, and it must be repaid," the little fox said softly, her fingers sliding on Qian Shuxiao"s body bit by bit.
"I"ll refuse the thousand pounds of gold. I"ll just ask for your body as payment."
After finishing her words, the little fox sealed dozens of acupuncture points on Qian Shuxiao"s body as quick as lightning. Finally, her index finger struck the s.p.a.ce between his eyebrows. Qian Shuxiao"s complexion turned b.l.o.o.d.y red and he had also awakened. However, he couldn"t move at all. He widened his eyes and cried out in horror, "You"re, you"re a demon!"
"Save, save me. Save me." Even though Qian Shuxiao tried his best to yell, his voice seemed to be stuck in his throat and couldn"t be heard at all.
In the blink of an eye, a scalding drop of blood converged between his eyebrows. It was the Blood Essence that humans depended on for survival.
"Evil creature! Isn"t it enough for you to absorb someone"s Yang Qi? You still want to absorb his Blood Essence!"
"Don"t you know the rules?!"