Chapter 108: Be Good. Open Your Mouth. Eat It.
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
On top the mountain of the test area resided a wooden cottage.
The Sky Incense Valley’s seventh elder stood before the table as he scribbled onto a parchment, writing words of highest secrecy.
Soon after, he took out a square tile and submerged it into a violet colored spirit stone, thereby activating the spell.
Obviously, this was a spell which would delivery the parchment. After the spell had been activated, the seventh elder pointed his fingers at it. Immediately, the secret parchment was being absorbed into the tile as it was conveyed to another member of Sky Incense Valley.
The location of Sky Incense Valley’s monastery was within the sea of clouds. It was just like how one would imagine a mystical island where immortals hail from would look like.
At this point, within a secluded room in Sky Incense Valley, a white haired old lady was seated in the middle. Her eyes were closed as she was obviously meditating.
"Eh?" All of a sudden, the old lady was awakened.
She seemed somewhat astonished as she flipped her hands over. She then realized a piece of paper had appeared on her palms. This was clearly a report sent by the seventh elder.
"Why would old seventh elder send a secret report? Could something have happened within the test areas?"
She unrolled the parchment to take a look. Before long, her face turned into shock, "How… How was this possible?"
When the other three old ladies around her heard movements, they opened their eyes as well, "Sect leader senior sister, what happened?"
The Sky Incense Valley sect leader frowned as she picked up the report and replied, "Seventh elder had sent a secret report. He said that a test candidate was showing superb potential, although he was only in the Golden Core Full Foundation Stage. He even managed to cross into the eighth level of the Tower of Souls!"
"What?" The three old ladies exclaimed in shock and disbelief. .
Immediately after, their faces revealed looks of delight, "Sect leader senior sister, that is a good thing. If he joins our Sky Incense Valley, that would bring out sect great honor and success!"
The Sky Incense Valley sect leader shook her head grievously, "It was originally a good thing and was to be celebrated. But not at this point. Hong Yan has been in secluded meditation within seventh elder’s tower. She’s on the eighth floor as well!"
"The girl Hong Yan is there too?" The three old ladies were taken aback.
"That’s… That’s bad. That girl has been cultivating a whole new different skill set. She needed to use the pressures of the tower to refine her soul strength. This would in turn cause her core roots to be stronger. If she was interrupted at this stage, the consequences are unthinkable."
"And cultivating such techniques would mean that there mustn’t be anything around her while she was cultivating. That means she would have to be bare bodied. If anyone manages to enter…"
The few of them ran through the possible situation out loud, their faces turning into ugly grims.
Hong Yan was the Empress of the Water Nations. Her status was thus revered and almost sacred. How could her naked and exposed body be looked on by just anyone? The problems wouldn’t be limited to just Sky Incense Valley. It might drag the entire Water Nations into this as well.
The Sect Leader’s expression was grave as she muttered to herself before flicking her wrists gracefully. She withdrew an ancient mirror from her storage ring.
This ancient mirror was made of extremely uncommon materials. It was neither gold nor jade, having a certain ancient, antique feel to it. There were many magical inscriptions written all over it which were emanating green auras.
"My three sisters, a.s.sist me on activating the Clear Sky Lens so that we can look into the tower and observe the current situation!" The Sect Leader spoke out as she picked up the mirror-looking object. She then controlled the entire lens with her core energy, causing it to float in mid air. Then, she used both her index finger and pointed in the lens. This caused a thin sliver of energy to waft from the point of her fingers into the lens.
Seeing this happen, the other three old ladies emulated her and pointed their fingers into the lens, causing the core energy to strengthen and thicken.
Before long, the lens emanated a bright light as it swirled within. When it eventually stabilized, it was as clear as a gla.s.s, enabling them to see everything that was happening.
At the same time, on the eighth level of the Tower of Souls...
Xu Que had just swallowed a large block of smelly tofu and shouted out loud about how amazing that tasted.
He then cleared his throat immediately. Right after, the sound of someone collapsing to the ground could be heard.
This caused Xu Que to jump up from that sudden sound as he hurriedly turned his head back to get a closer look.
He saw the woman who had been extremely still and unresponsive the entire time, clutching her fair and soft stomach. Her face was extremely pale as her other palm was on the ground, supporting her weight. She spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Holy f.u.c.k. What’s the situation all about?" Xu Que was alarmed.
"Ding! Congratulations to host ‘Xu Que’ for successfully acting tough. The reward is 80 act tough points!"
"Ding! Congratulations to host ‘Xu Que’ for acting tough so superbly, you made an Infant Transformation Stage cultivator vomit blood. The fourth instance of this similar level of acting tough would make you attain ‘Miraculous Acting Tough’. The reward is 100 act tough points!"
"Ding! Tempering of soul strength completed. Congratulations to host ‘Xu Que’ for successfully gaining 100% increase in soul strength. The reward is 3 square meters of movement!"
"Boom!" Almost instantly, Xu Que’s mind seemed to have expanded once more as his soul strength and mental capacity exploded outwards, increasing another fold. The crus.h.i.+ng pressures of fog had receded away from him by another 3 square meters, allowing him to move further.
At this point, the crus.h.i.+ng fog between Xu Que and the Empress no longer existed.
The Empress still had a palm on the ground, obviously in pain. She looked at Xu Que and a certain iciness filled her heart.
"I failed to imagine… That I would come out empty handed, having lost to this vicious heart’s devil of mine. It’s just… How did the heart’s devil’s manifestation get so strong? According to theory, he should be pretty mild and was all an imagination. It’s impossible that he actually exists. However, it seemed like he could control the fog in this room and caused it to dissipate. In order to do that, one has to have extraordinary soul strength and mental fort.i.tudes. Even I won’t be able to do something like that!" Thinking this way, the Empress felt cold in her heart once more. She then looked at Xu Que with expression of suspicion.
Xu Que’s face was full of surprise as he stood to the side and resumed eating his smelly tofu. He then shouted out, "Little miss, what’s up with you? I only ate a block of smelly tofu, what are you spitting blood for?’
"..." The Empress didn’t reply. She glared straight at Xu Que as a whirlpool of emotions were running through her heart. "Could it be… Could I have been wrong? This person isn’t my heart’s devil? Wouldn’t that mean…"
Thinking up to this point, her heart trembled as she reacted. She hurriedly stretched out both hands to cover her body.
However, at the next moment, she realized that she couldn’t move a muscle. She couldn’t even open her mouth to speak.
"This is bad. After I was distracted, my concentration broke and my soul shattered. My strength was all tied up on this eighth level and now it was gone. If this person has evil intentions…" Her expression fell as she looked at Xu Que cautiously.
Right at this moment, however, Xu Que was confused as well. He thus turned towards the system for advice.
"System, what"s wrong with this lady? Was she hurt as a result of my acting tough?"
"After verifications, it can be concluded that the host’s actions had a direct consequence to her cultivation process and caused her grievously hurt. This is confirmed by your previous success in acting tough and was duly rewarded."
"d.a.m.n it. It was really caused by me…" Xu Que forced a bitter laugh and looked at the Empress apologetically.
Her face had lost all color and she was pale as a sheet. Xu Que looked at her and felt a certain pity rising up his chest.
"Forget it. On account of how beautiful she looks, I shall leave aside my pride and make the extremely difficult decision to save her. System, what methods are there for me to use and save her? It would be best if this method requires my physical contact with her. For example, that mouth to mouth resus nonsense…" Xu Que asked the system in all seriousness.
"Ding! After conducting a check, the system confirms that this host had never cultivated any healing techniques. Hence, there are no methods which involve physical touch that could heal her. The source of her injuries stem from her crushed soul. The system suggests you use medications or other items that would improve her soul strength!"
"Medications or items that would improve her soul strength? What about smelly tofu? Would that work?
"Ding! That would work!"
"This is going to be fun."
Xu Que’s eyes lit up as he picked up another piece of smelly tofu from the pan and walked towards the Empress.
Seeing such a thing happen, her pupils dilated in fear and shock, "What… What is he going to do?"
"Miss, come! Don"t cry. Once you eat this amazing home cooked delicacy, your strength will return soon." Xu Que was all smiles as he spoke out.
"No… I don"t want it..." Fear was written all across the Empress’ face as she started to turn pale. It seemed like she was about to cry from being so helpless and afraid.
After taking the throne for so many years, everything was at her beck and call. Even the rains and wind listened to her. She had authority and power over everything. At this point though, she was completely helpless.
However, she didn"t move and didn"t speak.
She could only look at Xu Que who was holding onto that black, steaming piece of ‘manure’. He walked up to her and even smiled at her as he whispered, "Be good. Open your mouth. Eat it."
As the distance between her face and the smelly tofu gradually decreased, everything in her vision went dark as she pa.s.sed out.
If she could only move, the first thing she would have done wasn"t to put on some clothes to cover her dignity but to rush forward towards Xu Que and bite him to death.