Chapter 329: The Function of the Sacred Roots and the Spy
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
“You are still young. You don’t understand the importance of the fate. A person with the great luck, just like you and Ye Qingtian, even you are facing a great danger, there will be no worries of death. Both of you with the great fate met each other this time, though you were just upon him. With the help of the fairy weapon, Ye Qingtian escaped from death as well. Moreover, he might encounter some lucky chances after leaving the hollow. His strength will increase to compensate the loss of the Pure Yang Celestial Device—the Sky-measuring Star Ruler.” Green Spirit stopped and then looked at Zhou Bao with a complex expression. “In this world, the most troublesome was that one meets another person with a great fate like you, especially at the peak of his fate. He then will suffer a tragic ending. However—”
Speaking of that, Green Spirit paused and glanced at Zhou Bao. “The fate is something invisible, and no one knows the time it comes or vanishes. No matter how great your luck is, you shouldn’t be too arrogant lest you should start too many feuds, which will bring the misfortune once your great fate leaves!”
“I know what you mean, I shall value my good fortune. Am I right?” Zhou Bao smiled. “You should also know that these days everything that happened can be regarded as big events, but none of them were provoked by me. Instead, they came to me step by step and gave me no space to back off!”
“I understand that as well. I just want to remind you. I need to comprehend the Great Way of Stars and refine the body with the help of the star force of your Sky-measuring Star Ruler, so there will be some time when I won’t bother you. I’m just afraid that, in my absence, you may grow dizzy with success and run out of your fate!”
“I won’t! I know the limits!” Zhou Bao smiled. “Take it easy. Go and refine your body! Hope you succeed soon!”
“I’ll take your blessings!” Green Spirit chuckled and squeezed into Zhou Bao’s Space of Segmented Realms.
“This wordy guy finally is gone!”
Soon after Green Spirit left, Zhou Bao curled his lip a little bit. Of course, he would not believe in the fate which could be neither seen nor touched. He believed in strength. Once there would be a chance to get promoted, he would not miss it.
This time, he fought very hard with Ye Qingtian, and in the end, he was nearly hurt by the fairy weapon, which indicated that his strength still couldn’t sweep away all the enemies. Same as Zhou Bao, Ye Qingtian also enjoyed a combat capability which far exceeded the Level Nine but hadn’t reached the Mysterious Realm yet. The star force from his Star River Essential Gang could never rival the Real Essence as well, which was only similar to the Real Essence’s quality just like Zhou Bao’s Internal Qi.
But now, after absorbing the power of Sacred Roots from Yan Yunfei through the Dual-cultivation Method, Zhou Bao could strongly feel the mysterious power which was called the Divine Qi by Green Spirit within the Sacred Roots.
The Divine Qi!
That was a unique energy carried by every female body with the Sacred Roots. However, it could not be employed by those females themselves and could only be absorbed somehow. That was called the Dual-cultivation Method.
To be frank, those females with the Sacred Roots were only the containers of the Divine Qi.
The reason why such a thing existed could be explained by no one, even those necromancers with the Divine Sense in antiquity times.
The Sacred Roots could only exist in female bodies and be absorbed through the Dual-cultivation Method, so females with the Sacred Roots were also the most popular candidates for Dual-cultivation Method even in antiquity times. In fact, there was a special method of identifying and hunting those females, who were then selected as concubines by the great emperors. Thus, ordinary practitioners had no opportunities to be their Dual-cultivation Method partners. If Yan Yunfei were born in antiquity times, she would have naturally been the concubine candidate. How could Zhou Bao enjoy this great deal?
Then, what was the Divine Qi?
Green Spirit’s explanation was very vague. He just mentioned that the full name of the Divine Qi was Primordial World Divine Qi, a powerful pneuma only could be found in the Primordial Time. Zhou Bao also had no idea about how powerful it was. All the fairy weapons carried the Divine Qi, no matter they were Taihao Fairy Weapons, Heavenly Fairy Weapons or even the Supreme Fairy Weapons. A would-be fairy weapon must be transformed by the Divine Qi.
Taking the Sky-measuring Star Ruler snatched by Zhou Bao for example, it had been purified in the Constellation Sea for many years and was never inferior to some common Taihao Fairy Weapons. However, it was still a Pure Yang Celestial Device because it lacked the Divine Qi. If it were transformed by the Divine Qi, it would become a Taihao Fairy Weapon at once.
Unfortunately, Zhou Bao had only one wife with the Sacred Roots. The Divine Qi he obtained through the Dual-cultivation Method was only enough for himself. Then, how could he find some other Divine Qi for the Pure Yang Celestial Device?
The Divine Qi could transform the Pure Yang Celestial Devices into the fairy weapons. To human beings, it was also extremely beneficial. However, that did not mean one could become untouchable or increase the intelligence of his Internal Qi without limit once absorbing the Divine Qi.
The intelligence of Zhou Bao’s Internal Qi was extremely high, but he never attributed it to his aptitude. Instead, it was because that he had drunk the water in the Golden Goose Cup. It was with this great intelligence that he could easily evolve two forms of the Real Dragon when he practiced the Nine Dragons Heavenly Fire Technique. After all, the reason was just the water in the Golden Goose Cup instead of his aptitude.
However, the Divine Qi was much more powerful than the water in the Golden Goose Cup. It could directly transform the Internal Qi into the Dharma power!
Then what was the Dharma power?
The common fighters and experts practiced their Internal Qi. After they reached the Mysterious Realm, their Internal Qi then transformed into the Real Essence. The differences between the Internal Qi and the Real Essence were their quality and energy density. It was a qualitative change from one to another. The Real Essence Source which was born in the Internal Qi then produced the Real Essence in the end. In this qualitative change, the Real Essence Source then possessed some Dharma power.
The most important feature of the Real Essence was its similarity to the Dharma power, which explained that people who reached the Mysterious Realm were called Individual Immortals. The Dharma power was typical of the immortals, and only those who possessed the Dharma power could be named as Immortals.
However, Individual Immortals were still different from Genuine Immortals. When reaching the Mysterious Realm, they were just breaking the Three Small Realms and still in the Three Big Realms, while Genuine Immortals had already been out of the three realms and the five elements. Only after reaching the Mysterious Realm and then purifying the Real Essence through the Thunder Tribulation, one could transform his Real Essence into the Dharma power gradually. Only such a person could be called a Genuine Immortal!
In this world, only the thunderbolt in the Nine Heavens could carry a wisp of the Divine Qi. That was the reason why one must undergo the Thunder Tribulation after reaching the peak of the Marrow-cleansing Realm. One could purify his body by the thunderbolt, during which the Real Essence tried to get inflicted with the Divine Qi. However, the total amount of the Divine Qi in the thunderbolt was not enough. Generally speaking, the Divine Qi in the Heavenly Thunder could only serve as a trigger. And after that, it should carefully nourish the Real Essence for some time so as to transform the Real Essence into the Dharma power in the end. The whole process would always take several decades or even hundreds of years.
In addition to the Nine Heaven Thunder, another place where one could get the Divine Qi was the Sacred Roots.
It was exactly the Sacred Roots in Yan Yunfei’s body.
At this time, Zhou Bao already understood the anger of the Third Prince from the Li Dynasty. If Zhou Bao were him, he would certainly be very angry as well.
The surveillant of the Li Dynasty in Jin was subordinated to the Third Prince. Once he discovered that Yan Yunfei carried the Sacred Roots, he secretly informed that to the Third Prince. The Third Prince would not spread this information to others, so he kept planning to marry Yan Yunfei. After years of planning, the marriage became very hopeful, and he even could make sure of marrying her without others’ suspicion. In fact, what was left at last was only to propose a marriage to her officially, however, he did not expect that everything would be stuck at this stage because of Zhou Bao.
It was a swift and ruthless action, which did not give him any time or opportunity to counter. When he planned to counter it, things had been done already, so how could he not be angry?
In a world where the power was much preferred, Zhou Bao not only snatched his hope of possessing the Dharma power overnight but also grabbed his predetermined wife. So it would be easy to know that the Third Prince of the Li Dynasty who never met Zhou Bao had already hated him to the bone.
“As you like. I’ve gained this bargain anyway. Your hatred can only make you lose control.” Zhou Bao thought to himself.
The amount of the Divine Qi absorbed from the Sacred Roots was equal to a Genuine Immortal experiencing nine Thunder Tribulations. However, if somebody said that he could become a Nine-tribulation True Immortal or even reach the Human Immortal Karma Rank only through the Dual-cultivation Method, that would be total nonsense.
How could so many lucky things happen in the world?
The Divine Qi itself was only a special pneuma with no strong power at all. It had a low requirement of the bearing capacity, so even the tendons and meridians of an ordinary person could bear this mysterious pneuma. However, once the Divine Qi touched the Internal Qi or the Real Essence, it could nourish the Internal Qi and the Real Essence carefully and turn them into the Dharma power. Frankly speaking, the Divine Qi was actually the nutrition and tonic.
Once the Real Essence and the Internal Qi were turned into the Dharma power, the requirement of the body would be immediately changed. It was still very difficult for Zhou Bao to bear the Real Essence, let alone bear a higher one—the Dharma power.
Therefore, what Zhou Bao could only do was to store it up in his body after absorbing the Divine Qi from the Sacred Roots in Yan Yunfei’s body and to nourish his Internal Qi slowly, instead of infusing it into his Internal Qi at once. Otherwise, it would definitely turn Zhou Bao into a pile of flesh and blood in a very short time.
Even if there was only a little Divine Qi to nourish the Internal Qi, the effect would be very obvious as well.
Zhou Bao’s Internal Qi had been totally turned into the secretive Demonic Fire of the Primitive Dragon Chimera. Now, with the nourishment of the Divine Qi, it was changed into the current jade-like form immediately from the rampant flame. Without the previous arrogance, it was like a blazing sun, which was less worldly but more mysterious.
The change did not only happen to the form. The third form of the Nine Dragons Heavenly Fire Technique and two of the Nine Forms of Real Dragon also disappeared. They were all engulfed as well as the form of the nine Fire Dragons. Instead, what was left with his Internal Qi was a Primitive Dragon Chimera’s shadow whose appearance was similar to that of the one Zhou Bao had seen. Compared with that one, this one had thicker scales and fiercer appearance, carrying a Fierce Qi of the primitive times.
Yes, it was the Fierce Qi!
It was a Qi Power that could hardly be described by words. It was monstrous.
By such a monstrous Fierce Qi, Zhou Bao could make sure that masters of martial arts below Level Seven would shake with fear and retreat when facing him, and he did not need to move even one finger to accomplish that.
“The Nine Forms of Real Dragon has disappeared, yet my Internal Qi could be changed into any shape I want with ease!” Zhou Bao was thinking of his gain and loss. After that, a dozen black fireballs appeared in front of him and flew forward swiftly, melting the wall in front of him into lava quietly. Later, the black Internal Qi changed into a lissome long black whip as if it was a living being. When it moved, it cut the wall behind Zhou Bao into chunks silently, and the cut had been totally melted by the high temperature already.
“The functions of two forms of the Nine Forms of Real Dragon have been absorbed by the Dragon Chimera, but it’s a pity that I can’t grasp more forms of the real dragon. Otherwise, the Dragon Chimera will greatly increase its strength after absorbing them!” Zhou Bao pondered. He looked at the Dragon Chimera’s indistinct phantom in his Internal Qi with a myriad of thoughts crowding into his mind.
As for his Gang Qi—the Nine Dragons Heavenly Kylin Gang, also changed with his Internal Qi. Its color had totally turned into the black from the gold originally. Besides, the nine black dragons of the Nine Dragons Heavenly Fire Shield had disappeared as well. Instead, there were nine wisps of black smoke, which formed a translucent black shield. This shield was over 10 times stronger than the Nine dragons Heavenly Fire Shield.
It could be said that through the nutriment of the Divine Qi, Zhou Bao’s strength had reached a new stage and overmatched Individual Immortals at the Mysterious Realm.
His Internal Qi was no longer the common one. Its quality had exceeded the Real Essence, and it could not be called the Dharma power as well. Although it enjoyed some characteristics of the Dharma power, it could only be considered as the fake Dharma power.
His body had also been improved a lot by the Divine Qi and overmatched those common experts at the Mysterious Realm. However, he clearly knew that after turning into the fake Dharma power, his Internal Qi had become stronger, yet it still could not be called the Real Essence.
Once his Internal Qi was transformed into the Real Essence successfully with the Real Essence Source totally evolving, there must be a soaring of his strength. In other words, as long as he reached the Mysterious Realm, his strength would immediately reach the peak of the Marrow-cleansing Realm and even enabled him to become a Genuine Immortal by undergoing the Thunder Tribulation.
To the practitioners at the Mysterious Realm, their practice was to temper the Real Essence to be able to feel the change of the pneuma, to comprehend the “Dharma power” of their Real Essence and to transform the Real Essence into the Dharma power gradually. But, to Zhou Bao, whose Real Essence had been improved by the Divine Qi, he was able to transform the Real Essence into the Dharma power directly without tempering his Real Essence patiently at all. Nevertheless, the premise was that his body must be strong enough.
In other words, the most important task for Zhou Bao was to increase his physical strength step by step, adapting his body to his future Dharma power. That was not easy.
“It seems that I still need to suppress my cultivation and to spend more time looking for those exotic medicinal herbs for refining the Pulse Setting Pills, the Blood Exchanging Pills and the Marrow Cleansing Pills. It’s impossible to collect all the medicinal herbs that those pills needed in this world definitely. The Azure Secret Area is a good choice. I went there for careful checking last time. There were some precious herbs at the entrance, a few of which could match the three pills. Even if I pick all of them, I can only make a heat of Pulse Setting Pills and a half heat of the Blood Exchanging Pills. There were only several plants for the Marrow Cleansing Pills as well. Except for the entrance which is only a small island, there are some other places with those materials in the Azure Secret Area as well, but it may take me much time and energy looking for them. So many evil beasts inhabit the Azure Spirit Sea, and it won’t be easy to cross it. If I really get the chance to Taiyuan Heaven this time, I should take back more herbs. Currently, I have two Pure Yang Celestial Devices and one fairy weapon, but those possessions aren’t important any more and the medicinal herbs are important, instead. With those medicinal herbs, I can make the elixirs to build my body and greatly improve my strength.” Thinking of that, Zhou Bao clenched his fists. He made up his mind that by any means, he must find ways to enter Taiyuan Heaven.
After that, Zhou Bao practiced in the secret room for several days. He got free then and was going to walk out with Yan Yunfei. Suddenly, Jiang Xiao reported that the Princess Heyang came.
Hearing that, Zhou Bao was slightly surprised. As far as he knew, the Princess Heyang Yan Yunyan’s relation with the Princess Qingyang Yan Yunfei was not very close. In fact, they were not like sisters. Yan Yunyan was a busy woman. She stayed close with several Princes who were capable of obtaining the throne. Her backer was strong as well, otherwise, such kind of person like Shui Hongyan would not follow her. Yan Yunfei was totally different. As the queen’s daughter, she enjoyed a status much higher than that of concubines’ offsprings. The queen had only one daughter, that was her. From childhood, she had got intensive care from the queen and her elder brothers. No one dared to offend her, and no one dared to apply the disgraceful intrigues and conspiracy on her. That made Yan Yunfei more simple-minded than Yan Yunyan, and that was the reason why Zhou Bao refused to marry Yan Yunyan but preferred Yan Yunfei.
As for Yan Yunyan, Zhou Bao had neither positive nor negative opinion of her. He just thought that this woman was very annoying and fond of meddling in others’ business. The dispute between the Kunlun Mountain and him could be left to themselves to solve, but Yan Yunyan, an unrelated woman, interfered. “Who are you? Do I know you? For what can you mediate?” Zhou Bao thought.
That was exactly the main reason why Zhou Bao disliked this woman.
However, visiting her sister was very reasonable, which Zhou Bao had no reason to impede. Moreover, she was also a princess!
“Humph, to visit your sister… I don’t think your purpose is really pure!” Zhou Bao thought. He stood off the chair with a sneer on his lips.
“Jiang Xiao, let her wait in the parlor. I’m going to change the clothes. I’ll go with Madam!”
“Yes, Your Excellency!”
…
…
After one hour, Zhou Bao and Yan Yunfei showed up together in the parlor. He frowned the moment he entered.
It was because, besides Shui Hongyan, there was another person with Yan Yunyan, a court eunuch.
His spirit was gloomy as if he only had a cultivation of Level Four or Five, but he gave a feeling of extreme danger to Zhou Bao, or perhaps, at the first sight of this eunuch, a sense of crisis came to Zhou Bao immediately.
Seeing Zhou Bao and Yan Yunfei entered, the three people, including Yan Yunyan, also stood up.
“Sister Yunfei, it’s been a long time that I haven’t seen you!” Yan Yunyan walked toward Yan Yunfei riantly and held her hands as if their relationship was very close.
“Princess Heyang, long time no see!” Zhou Bao smiled. “As a woman of eminence, you never went to the temple for nothing. What’s the purpose of today’s visiting?”
“Oh, my dear brother-in-law, you have wronged me. Isn’t it natural for me to visit my sister? We haven’t seen each other for several years. Judging by your words, you are going to impede my visiting?”
Saying that, she looked Zhou Bao up and down several times. Her eyes revealed some puzzlement.
Zhou Bao’s wearing today was simple, it was a blue robe.
“How dare I? She is my wife as well as your sister. You can come whenever you want of course, but—”
Before he finished his words, he suddenly felt his eyes heating up. Meanwhile, a huge greedy desire came from his eyes. Zhou Bao was shocked at once, and all of his Spiritual Strength was fixed on the old eunuch together with Yan Yunyan.
“Eh?”
Thanks to his spiritual strength, Zhou Bao found that there was a strange wave hidden in the old eunuch’s eyes. It was such a wave that Zhou Bao had never felt before, but the feeling from his Fiery Eyes was very familiar. It was the desire and greed when his Fiery Eyes were eager to engulf the power of Zhu Ba’s eyes.
“Something is wrong with the guy’s eyes!” Zhou Bao thought. He got nervous and his gaze became fierce at the same time. That old eunuch seemed to feel something as well. He suddenly raised his head and cast his eyes at Zhou Bao.
“You, oh—”
Zhou Bao would never give him any chance to open his mouth. The moment he said “you”, Zhou Bao raised his hands, and soon an invisible power lifted the eunuch’s body up.
“Zhou Bao, you—”
Seeing that, Yan Yunfei, Yan Yunyan, and Shui Hongyan all got shocked. Shui Hongyan, with a swift move of his body, stood in front of the eunuch.
“You’d better stop, otherwise, I’ll kill you too!” Zhou Bao cast a cold glance at Shui Hongyan. A strong Fierce Qi burst out afterward.
Shui Hongyan was an expert. But facing Zhou Bao’s fierce Qi Power, he could not help trembling.
“This guy is the spy from the Li Dynasty. It was him that led the assassins to the Jin Dynasty. I’m killing him today to eradicate one scourge!” Zhou Bao said coldly while his hands hold harder. “Crack!” He broke the eunuch’s neck.
…
…
“Zhou Bao, how conceited you are!”
After a few breaths, Yan Yunyan finally reacted to it and screamed out!