Chapter 90: You really had the nerve to ask for it?

Under the cover of the blood prison, Gu Changqing tossed a hundred spirit stones into the Turtle-Snake Eight Trigrams Lamp.

“A hundred spirit stones, just like that, gone...” Gu Changqing’s mouth twitched. Though he had expected it, the drain was still a little too fast.

Three days. Only three days!

After he had just entered the Qingjiang battlefield and fought the guards, more than half his spiritual energy had been beaten away, and he had spent over seventy spirit stones just to refill it.

And now, after only three days, another hundred spirit stones’ worth of spiritual energy had been exhausted.

No wonder no one bought this Turtle-Snake Eight Trigrams Lamp.

One had to know that the White Elephant Daoist, despite being a proper official cultivator, earned only a little over a hundred spirit stones a year, and even then he still had to buy pills and spiritual rice to cultivate; he could barely make ends meet.

At present, Gu Changqing had only a little over four hundred spirit stones left on him.

Yet the blood vitality and spiritual energy within his body were steadily growing.

As the rooftops and streets nearby became covered in a layer of white bones, the bones in the streets piled nearly level with the roofs.

The spiritual energy in Gu Changqing’s body also gradually approached the bottleneck of the fifth level of Qi Refinement.

Then Gu Changqing spent a great deal of blood vitality and effort, and it took him a full three minutes before he finally broke through.

Having devoured all the monsters in these two towns, he had just managed to break through to the sixth level of Qi Refinement.

The monsters surging in from the city were now few and far between. It took only another two minutes to clear away all the monsters rushing in from around him. A blood river more than a meter wide encircled Gu Changqing, while the streets around him were left with only mountains of white bones, and even the rooftops were covered in a layer of them.

Gu Changqing seemed to be standing atop a mountain of bones.

Even though it was not the first time seeing this scene, Ning Ze and the others on the distant city wall still felt awe. The sight was simply too shocking.

Gu Changqing felt a little hungry; this always happened after he broke through a realm.

Yet there was nothing nearby left for him to devour.

Only the few people from Brightness remained. Gu Changqing glanced over and felt that they probably tasted quite good...

Suppressing that thought as it rose in his heart, Gu Changqing waved them over.

The few of them leaped across, and with every step, the sound of bones cracking rang beneath their feet.

“You’ll search here for two days, then head straight back!” Gu Changqing said. The moment his words fell, the others were startled.

“Where are you going?” Ning Ze asked.

“I feel like I’m about to break through, so I need to spend some time consolidating it,” Gu Changqing said, grinning at them.

“What?”

“You’re about to break through?”

Hearing this, all of them wore disbelieving expressions.

The strength level of all Awakened ones was recorded at their respective branches, with only Gu Changqing’s still unregistered.

However, over this long period, everyone had confirmed that Gu Changqing was at the fourth level, and not just any fourth level, but one of the very best among the fourth level.

In other words... he was going to fifth level?

The news came too abruptly.

One had to know, which one of them had not awakened for several years?

And Gu Changqing had not even been awakened for two months yet.

That speed was simply terrifying.

Moreover, even among the guards, fifth-level Awakened ones were not many, let alone in Brightness.

A fifth-level Awakened one in a branch office would already be at the level of a division head; even in the Yongzhou headquarters, he would rank as a squad captain.

“In a place like this, breaking through is too dangerous. Why not return now?” Ning Ze frowned.

In truth, each advancement for an Awakened one was extremely difficult. One needed to make every kind of preparation, with the resources and support of Brightness, and most importantly, a sufficiently safe environment.

Even so, there was only a thirty percent chance of breaking through to the fifth level.

Where in the world was there someone as casual as Gu Changqing?

“It’s consolidating, not breaking through! What breakthrough? Can’t you understand human speech?” Gu Changqing said irritably. “You can wander around on your own. Stay two days, then go back. If you run into any danger, just leave!”

Advancing from third to fourth level, and from fourth to fifth, brought a considerable leap in strength for Awakened ones, but Gu Changqing had none of that. There was only the continuous accumulation of blood vitality and spiritual energy within his body, growing ever deeper and denser.

Thus, his path of power did not align with that of the Awakened ones in this world.

Still, according to his previous estimation, third- and fourth-level Awakened ones corresponded to the first through fifth levels of Qi Refinement, while fifth- and sixth-level Awakened ones corresponded to the sixth through ninth levels of Qi Refinement.

By that reckoning, he should already have one foot in the realm of a fifth-level Awakened one.

And with the Turtle-Snake Eight Trigrams Lamp and the Child-Mother Yin Soul Sword, he could even fight against a fifth-level Awakened one.

Still, since he had been back for several days, before leaving again he ought to return there first and contact the White Elephant Daoist about going to Lotus Ridge. That would probably delay him for several days.

After making the arrangements, Gu Changqing departed Jieshan County directly, leaving only the others staring at one another.

According to the original plan, this expedition was supposed to last about a week.

Now that there was no major issue with the timing, Gu Changqing had run off halfway through... They would not have an easy time explaining that when they returned.

But there was nothing else to be done.

...

Gu Changqing went to a forest some distance away, changed his clothes first, and had originally planned to put on his wig. But a thought suddenly struck him, and he recalled something.

He then controlled countless blood filaments to gather atop his head, making it look like a head of fiery red hair, even tied into a topknot.

Gu Changqing took out a mirror and looked himself over. It was indeed not bad, if one ignored the agonized faces squeezed out from within the hair.

“Damn it!” Gu Changqing cursed under his breath and took the blood prison back again.

It seemed he still needed to open his acupoints and nourish the blood spirit first.

Afterward, he put on the wig. With a mere thought, he appeared in the Traveling Immortal City.

“Young Master!” Upon seeing Gu Changqing, Li Yourling immediately bowed.

These past days, Li Yourling had practiced boxing every day in her room and lived on spiritual rice as food. Her blood vitality had improved quite quickly, rising by a fair amount compared with before.

“Young Master, have you eaten? Are you tired?”

“No need for all that trouble.” Gu Changqing found the flying letter left behind by the White Elephant Daoist earlier, had Li Yourling write the address on it, and then activated it.

The flying letter instantly turned into a streak of light and vanished out the window.

Barely two cups of tea later, there was a knock at the door.

“Daoist Gu!”

Gu Changqing opened the door, and standing outside was none other than the White Elephant Daoist.

“So Daoist Friend has been staying here all these days!” Seeing Gu Changqing, the White Elephant Daoist felt the ferocity about him grow even stronger, and his smile became all the more genial.

Though his expression revealed nothing, he was somewhat astonished inwardly. He had not expected Gu Changqing to possess such formidable wealth.

Just now, when he came upstairs, he had asked a question and learned that Gu Changqing had already stayed here for seven days.

Seventy spirit stones were not beyond his means, though it would pain him a little.

What mattered was that Gu Changqing had spent seventy spirit stones on lodging here, which said quite a lot.

“Is Daoist Friend Gu ready?”

“Just you?”

“There is also Daoist Friend Qu outside.”

Gu Changqing nodded and beckoned to Li Yourling.

“Let’s go!”

Li Yourling had long since packed her things and had been waiting off to the side.

After leaving the Jade Tower, they saw a gaunt middle-aged Daoist standing opposite them, his gaze somewhat cold and gloomy.

His attire was rather simple, and a horsetail whisk was tucked behind his neck.

His gaze lingered on Li Yourling for a moment before turning to Gu Changqing.

“This is Daoist Qu Cheng!” the White Elephant Daoist introduced with a smile. “This is Daoist Friend Gu Changqing!”

“By the time we reach Lotus Ridge, we shall count as fellow disciples.”

“This Daoist Friend Qu doesn’t look like a good sort,” Gu Changqing remarked with a tsk, his eyes roving over the man.

Very few people would look at Li Yourling first and then at him.

“Pot, meet kettle,” Qu Cheng replied with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

“You seem very interested in my maid. Want me to give her to you?” Gu Changqing said with a faint smile.

“Young Master!” Li Yourling was instantly alarmed, her lovely face paling, disbelief filling her eyes.

“What do you want?” Qu Cheng asked in return.

Giving away a human maid was no big matter for a cultivator; no matter how lovely the appearance, she was still just a mortal.

He had seen plenty of such things.

He had indeed taken a liking to Li Yourling’s looks; she was truly a beauty, delicate as a flower. Moreover, she seemed to be untouched.

But seeing the vicious aura around Gu Changqing, he knew the man was no easy character, and so he had to ask clearly first.

Meanwhile, the White Elephant Daoist’s expression changed slightly.

Though he had not had much contact with Gu Changqing, from Gu Changqing’s behavior along the way he could tell that he was not such a person.

“I was only speaking offhand. Would I really dare say it, if you’d actually dare take her?” Gu Changqing said, looking astonished.

“What the hell are you thinking?”

At first Qu Cheng was taken aback; then his expression darkened, killing intent flooding his eyes, and he said with a smile that was colder than any smile, “Good. Very good indeed.”

He then stepped back a few paces and said no more.