novelraw Chapter 309 : Quan Family
Chapter 309 : Quan Family
The others in the hall were also surprised to hear this and looked over. They saw Little Junior Sister rummaging through her storage bag, calmly taking out a fire-red crystal,
"Do you mean this?"
This was the mysterious stone she had obtained in the Beast Realm's Flame Plateau years ago. Perhaps because of her Fire Spirit Root, she was very sensitive to pure fire spiritual power. She happened to pick up this stone in the core of the Flame Plateau and kept it.
This crystal contained extremely pure and refined fire spiritual power. Even searching the entire Spirit Abyss Continent, one might not find a second such stone. She had her suspicions back then, and now hearing Master talk about these five spiritual treasures, her suspicions were further confirmed.
If this crystal didn't qualify as a fire spiritual treasure, she really didn't know where else on this continent could produce a fire spiritual treasure.
"Where... where did you get this stone?"
"The Flame Plateau in the Beast Realm."
"That makes sense. The Beast Realm is a feng shui treasure land. The purity of fire spiritual power in the Flame Plateau is indeed high..."
Master took the fire spirit stone into her palm, carefully examined it for a while, then her face lit up with joy. It was indeed a fire-attribute spiritual treasure.
Seeing this, Tang Yanling seemed to have a thought and also took out a water pearl, smiling, "I happen to have one here too. I wonder if this counts?"
"......"
They didn't know until they brought them out, but these little ones really were good at hiding things. Immortal Chanyu didn't know whether to be happy or... happy. The water pearl contained endless water, naturally also a water-attribute spiritual treasure. As for the remaining earth-attribute and wood-attribute spiritual treasures, Immortal Chanyu knew about them—they were the Celestial Spirit Earth on the back mountain of the sect and the Wood Essence Spirit in Chu Sang's possession.
They had accidentally gathered four of the celestial and earthly treasures.
Only the metal-attribute spiritual treasure was missing.
Everyone thought hard but had no leads. Chu Sang rubbed her chin, thought for a moment, and turned her gaze to Si Kou Qiu, tentatively asking, "Fourth Senior Sister, how much do you know about that mysterious family heirloom of your Si Kou family?"
She remembered Fourth Senior Sister mentioning before that the Si Kou family heirloom was a metal-attribute spiritual treasure. It could be said that the Si Kou family had risen to prominence and achieved their current status with the help of this spiritual treasure. She had reason to suspect that Fourth Senior Sister's family heirloom might very well be the metal-attribute spiritual treasure they had been looking for.
Si Kou Qiu was momentarily stunned, then understood and snapped her fingers, saying mysteriously, "To be honest, I think it's possible too. Why don't I... go home and stea—bring it out!"
Whether it's real or not, we'll know once we see it!
"But that's your family heirloom after all. Will your father allow it?"
"My father is getting on in years. I'm the next family head. Doesn't everything in the family depend on what I say?"
"......" Such filial piety.
Chu Sang wanted to give her a thumbs up. As expected of you!
Without further ado, Si Kou Qiu immediately packed up and returned home with Chengying. She didn't stay long and came back after a day, successfully bringing back the legendary metal-attribute spiritual treasure.
When Chu Sang saw the true appearance of this spiritual treasure, she couldn't help but wince and twitch the corner of her lips. The shape of this spiritual treasure was indeed quite distinctive, extremely plain and unadorned—a heavy, palm-sized large gold ingot.
Spiritual treasures don't have fixed forms. They can transform into various shapes according to their owner or other factors, hiding in the mortal world without being discovered... Well, this large gold ingot truly expressed the simple and honest wishes of the common people. She liked it.
"No wonder your family is so rich," Chu Sang sighed. There were quite a few great families in the cultivation world, but among those that could rank among the prosperous families with mortal power, only Fourth Senior Sister's family had achieved this.
"The prosperity of the Si Kou clan relies on business acumen, not on these illusory things." The only effect the spiritual treasure had on their family was luck, giving the Si Kou family an opportunity to rise. People with good luck are not few, but certainly not many, and not everyone can succeed.
The Si Kou family relied more on generations of climbing upward and accumulating downward over decades. Even without this luck now, their family could still continue for a long time.
"But if I remember correctly, Fourth Senior Sister, you're not good at accounting, are you?" she teased.
"With Chengying helping me manage the family assets, I don't need to fiddle with those round abacus beads."
Si Kou Qiu also knew that with her talent, ascension was likely hopeless. Even if she really had the ability to ascend, ascension didn't mean much to her. So since she embarked on the path of cultivation, she never planned to ascend from the beginning. She planned to stay safely in the lower realm after her strength increased, inherit the family business, overcome family obstacles, and expand the family's power. The Si Kou family patriarch also knew his daughter's nature and had cultivated a sufficiently loyal death guard and assistant for her since childhood to help her manage the complex affairs of the family, big and small.
Chu Sang's strength had long since broken through the limits of the lower realm in the Spirit Abyss Continent ten thousand years ago. She didn't have to wait too long before the final thunder tribulation arrived as expected.
This was not the first time in ten thousand years that the Spirit Abyss Continent had seen ascension heavenly thunder. Although the current cultivation world was gradually declining, over ten thousand years, there had been several geniuses who successfully broke through to the Tribulation Transcendence stage for ascension. But not a single person had successfully ascended.
The failed great cultivators naturally perished under the ascension thunder tribulation.
Now Chu Sang had in her hands the legendary key to open the passage—the five spiritual treasures. But whether she could succeed or not, to be honest, even she herself wasn't certain...
On the day of the tribulation for ascension, the inside and outside of the sect were cleared. A black dragon circled in the sky above and descended. Mu Changqing even came from afar from the Beast Realm.
Since he returned to the Beast Realm and became the Beast Emperor, busy stabilizing the forces in the Beast Realm, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he had a myriad of daily affairs. Chu Sang hadn't seen this Third Senior Brother for a long time. She didn't expect him to come personally on the day of her tribulation. He gave her a scale.
She seemed to sense something and blinked,
"This is..."
"My heart-protecting scale. Didn't you always want it?" He smiled, those beautiful narrow eyes carrying a familiar rippling flavor, but also showing deep hidden concern.
The importance of the heart-protecting scale to the dragon race was evident. Chu Sang had jokingly asked him for it before, but naturally didn't get it. She didn't expect Mu Changqing to take the initiative to give her the heart-protecting scale this time. "This ascension is likely a matter of life and death. We dragons are after all divine beasts that came down from the upper realm. This heart-protecting scale might be able to keep you safe. Just take it as my sincerity, no need to refuse..."
"Alright, Third Senior Brother. Thank you, Third Senior Brother!"
Having obtained the long-coveted heart scale, how could there be any reason to return it? Chu Sang readily accepted the heart-protecting scale. Mu Changqing laughed, amused. This Little Junior Sister was still as unceremonious as ever.
"Then... I wish you a safe journey."
The high-level members of other sects also came from afar to observe this grand occasion. Now, she was the key to breaking the deadlock.
At the moment the heavenly thunder fell, everyone was forced back hundreds of miles away by this terrifying pressure, without exception. Frost piercing the sky enveloped the entire world. No one could see clearly what was happening under the thunder tribulation, nor could they hear any sound. Their eardrums were shattered by the indescribable thunder.
Chu Sang felt as if her entire being was swallowed by the heavenly thunder. Previous tribulations had been painful to both flesh and soul, but this time, no pain came through. Or perhaps her physical body was almost completely crushed by the thunder tribulation, no longer able to feel pain. She didn't know where she was. The sounds around her had long since dispersed. She lost sense of the passage of time...
She narrowed her eyes and stretched out a hand, seeming to glimpse a heavenly gate through the dazzling white lightning. Was that the legendary gate of ascension?
She struggled towards that gate, intending to grasp it.
The light of the thunder tribulation seemed to be gradually weakening. The light gate opened, and she fell into another space. Beneath her feet was a barrier formed of light, or perhaps a water-like glass surface, shimmering with a transparent luster.
She instinctively looked down and saw her own appearance. She wasn't as miserable and battered as in previous tribulations. There were no visible scars on her body.
Suddenly, she seemed to sense something and touched her forehead. A golden divine pattern flickered faintly at the center of her brow. Did this mean... she had successfully ascended?
She raised her head again and looked at the passage before her. It was a series of stairs, even more exaggerated than the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine celestial steps at the sect. It was almost impossible to see the end at a glance.
Chu Sang roughly understood. She had successfully passed through the ascension heavenly thunder, which counted as completing half the process. But to truly go to the divine realm and become a newly ascended human god, she still needed to cross this torturous celestial stairway before her.
It was just climbing stairs. Apart from expending some physical energy, it didn't seem to have any other difficulties.
After passing through the thunder tribulation, her whole body was extremely excited. Never mind nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine celestial steps, even ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine steps wouldn't scare her!
She rolled up her sleeves and climbed halfway up, but then found it difficult to move forward another step.
It seemed there was a barrier blocking the way ahead.
At the same time, a voice that was neither male nor female slowly rose within the space,
"You cannot pass."
She frowned,
"...What logic is it that the ascension passage doesn't allow people to ascend?" Was it deliberately targeting her?
"Others can, but you alone cannot."
"What, am I not human?"
She snorted with laughter and slashed with her sword. Her power had completely broken through the limits of the lower realm, no longer suppressed cultivator power, but containing divine power, at least the power of a demigod.
The sword energy slashed towards a direction, forcing the person behind to reveal themselves.
Unexpectedly, it was someone about her age, between a youth and a young adult. However, the age of Upper Gods was even more mysterious than that of cultivators. Appearance alone wasn't reliable.
The man had long red hair falling to his waist, golden pupils containing a hint of amusement, and noble attire exuding an imposing aura. Most eye-catching was the obscure divine pattern on his forehead, symbolizing his extraordinary status.
Chu Sang swore she had never seen this person before, but there was an indescribable sense of familiarity about him. Not the familiarity of an acquaintance, but the familiarity of seeing a sworn enemy, making one's blood boil. When she saw clearly the divine pattern on his forehead, she understood everything.
Heh, so it was him.
What a "coincidence."
"We meet again. It's worth celebrating. This is our first real meeting, but it will also be our last."
He smiled and walked towards her. Chu Sang stared at him coldly, silent.
"Don't you want to ask why I appear before you?" The female cultivator's expressionless, cold demeanor seemed different from what he had imagined, unable to achieve his goal of pleasing him. The man in noble attire smiled more maliciously, "Thanks to you all. Fortunately, because of you foolish lower realm insects trying every means to open the passage, I was able to come down and appear before you to block your path of ascension."
She raised an eyebrow at him, pursed her lips, and said, "How come you don't dare to come in your true form? Are you afraid?"
"This time it's not an avatar, but my true self."
"Oh, true self? Then doesn't that mean I can thoroughly eliminate you now?"
Who can't laugh? She could laugh too. Chu Sang also raised a rather wicked and unrestrained smile, causing the other's expression to slightly darken.
In fact, Chu Sang wasn't as relaxed as she appeared on the surface. Couldn't Upper Gods not descend to the lower realm? Even if the passage was open, it was only a one-way passage for those ascending. Human gods had no way to descend because of the rules binding them.
Last time, the descending god could barely be considered as half-body descent. This time it was a true body descent... Such disregard for the rules, would they really not face punishment?
Or...
Did the rules no longer exist?
Chu Sang couldn't help but become vigilant, slightly alarmed. Even if she really killed this damned human god, would they go to the lower realm in anger to seek revenge?
"Why have you specifically targeted the Spirit Abyss Continent?" She could see that the other party didn't seem to intend to act for the moment, so she also slightly softened her tone, raising a pure and harmless smile on her face, asking sincerely.
There were three thousand small worlds below the upper realm. The Spirit Abyss Continent was just one of the three thousand small worlds, nothing special. But this group of human gods from the upper realm specifically picked on the Spirit Abyss Continent alone. There must be other reasons.
"To find something."
His attitude towards the life and death of an entire realm's beings was extremely casual and indifferent. "If they want to blame someone, blame their bad luck. That thing happened to fall on this continent. As long as we can obtain that thing, destroying a mere continent is insignificant. Even if it's destroyed, there will be another replacement."
"In your view, I'm also an insignificant human cultivator. May I ask why you specially came here to step on my path of ascension?" She raised an eyebrow and smiled, "It seems I'm more important than I imagined?"
"You are naturally different from those people. I came here specifically to find you because you have value." The man's eyes revealed a burning intensity. "By now, don't you understand? You are the seed of fire, the fire of creation."
"......"
"You are far more important than those insignificant mortals. I came down to the lower realm precisely to obtain you. As long as I possess your power, the entire upper realm will be in the palm of my hand."
"......"
"I will help you remove your mortal bones and flesh, turning you into a tool in my hands. How about that?"
He licked his lips, almost giving Chu Sang goosebumps. She gripped her sword tightly and smiled slightly, "You want to obtain me, huh."
"Dream on. Go eat shit."