The head master has a new female apprentice

Chapter 86: Level 4 Cultivation Country (6k)

When Zhou Qing turned around, he saw Lu Yaoyao and Shi Zhen talking under a tree not far away. After seeing Zhou Qing, Lu Yaoyao happily ran over to say hello.

Zhou Qing quickly looked around and after confirming that Li Daoxuan, He Han and others were not nearby, he hurriedly handed the jade slip back.

First of all, he really didn't need this thing. His master had already passed on to him all the experiences and insights about the Foundation Establishment Realm, and then the eldest brother, second sister, and third brother did the same.

He already had a clear understanding of all the cultivation matters in the Foundation Establishment Realm.

What's more, he is now building the foundation of the Heavenly Dao. Based on their foundation, it is time to find a path of his own.

"Thank you very much. You should return it as soon as possible!" Zhou Qing expressed his sincere gratitude.

Lu Yaoyao nodded obediently.

Shi Zhen said with admiration, "I've heard Junior Sister Lu recount all the events of our time in Qingmu City. I never thought you were so knowledgeable, even knowing about something like the Blood Tai Sui. I'm so clueless, let alone knowing about it, I've never even seen it."

[Heart Judgment Points +9]

As soon as he finished speaking, the note above Shi Zhen's head, "The pitiful Junior Brother Zhou," instantly changed to "Junior Brother Zhou who is as smart as him."

Seeing this, Zhou Qing couldn't help but feel happy.

It seems that the eldest senior brother holds an extraordinary weight in Senior Sister Shi Zhen's heart.

"Thank you for the compliment, Senior Sister. I just happened to have seen some information about that thing. It was purely a case of a blind cat catching a dead mouse." Zhou Qing said with a smile.

Lu Yaoyao quickly said, "Senior Brother Zhou is not only knowledgeable, but he also has a very keen nose. Believe it or not, he can even smell what kind of powder we put on today."

Shi Zhen's pretty face suddenly turned red, and Zhou Qing felt even more embarrassed.

"My nose isn't that sensitive, don't listen to her." Zhou Qing explained hurriedly.

Shi Zhen's expression remained normal. After a moment's thought, he said, "How's your sleepwalking been lately? I've been searching for a solution for a while now, and I've come up with some ideas."

Zhou Qing felt warmed when he heard this.

Then he bowed solemnly and said, "Thank you for your concern, Senior Sister. I'm much better now."

"Why don't we go have a meal together? It's very close to the Jade Kitchen anyway!" Shi Zhen suggested.

Zhou Qing quickly waved his hands and said, "No, no, I still have some things to take care of here. You guys go eat. Junior Brother will take his leave first!"

After saying that, Zhou Qing turned and left.

…………

"Zhou Qing!"

Just when Zhou Qing reached halfway up the mountain, a familiar figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

When Zhou Qing saw who it was, his heart tightened and he hurried to greet him.

"I've met my uncle!"

Gao Xuan nodded slightly and said gently, "How's your practice of the Cang Lei Sword Technique going? I'm about to send a batch of lightning-inducing talismans to the exchange hall. If you need them, I can secretly give you two."

Zhou Qing quickly waved his hand to refuse.

You are really too nice to me. Although I can't hit you, I can avoid you.

"Thank you for your concern, Uncle Master. I may not be talented enough in practicing this method. I haven't been able to get started for such a long time, so I gave up. Besides, being struck by lightning really hurts."

Zhou Qing acted weak and embarrassed, looking like a hopeless case.

At present, "Cang Lei Sword Art" can be regarded as his greatest reliance, and he must not let others know it easily.

Even in the ghost town, it was performed in an underground space, and no one including the third senior brother had ever seen it.

Hearing what Zhou Qing said at this moment, Gao Xuan's face was full of regret.

"It's really a pity. After all, this 'Cang Lei Sword Technique' is a first-class martial art. It can show its power even when you reach the Nascent Soul stage." Gao Xuan shook his head and said.

Zhou Qing looked at Gao Xuan with a little surprise, as well as the note above his head: "Lamb to be slaughtered."

This "Cang Lei Sword Technique" has three moves, corresponding to the three realms of Foundation Establishment, Golden Elixir and Nascent Soul. I didn't expect Gao Xuan to know so much about it.

Zhou Qing could only smile and say, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Master. Perhaps I'm just not cut out for that."

Gao Xuan said, "Don't underestimate yourself. If you don't try, how can you know you're not capable? The Jin Lei Sect actually has a man-made thunder pond, and the elder who guards it owes me a favor. If you're willing, I can help you negotiate."

When Zhou Qing heard this, his face was full of disbelief.

What surprised him was not the thunder pool. After all, the thunder-shaped sword embryo had already condensed and he had no use for it anymore.

What he didn't understand was why this fake Gao Xuan was so kind-hearted that he would use a favor just like that?
I'm not your direct disciple, is it necessary to be like this?

Could it be that the other faction is really the Golden Thunder Sect? Are you trying to send me into danger?

He's just a pawn, is it necessary to be like this?
Zhou Qing hurriedly said, "Thank you for your kindness, Master. I am really a hopeless case. There is really no need for this. I have something else to do, so I will take my leave now."

After Zhou Qing finished speaking, he turned and left.

【Heart Judgment Points + 8】.

A prompt sound suddenly rang out. Zhou Qing, who was walking quickly, turned around and saw the entry note above Gao Xuan's head, which had changed to [The doll who missed the opportunity].

At this moment, Gao Xuan was still looking at him, so Zhou Qing could only smile slightly and speed up his departure.

No way, it looks like he really wants to find a thunder pool for me to help me practice the "Cang Lei Sword Technique".

What is the intention of this fake Master Gao Xuan?

First there was [dead man], [scapegoat], [lamb to be slaughtered], and now [the doll who missed the opportunity]. Your impression of me is totally random.

Crazy!

Zhou Qing returned to Xiaoling Peak and looked at the red token in front of him, lost in thought.

Since there is no relevant record in the Collection Pavilion, it is obvious that this thing is not something that Taiqing Sect can access at all.

After all, even though the skeleton had fallen for so many years, the pressure it exuded seemed to be stronger than that of the master. As for the person who robbed it, he was so angry that he didn't fear the consequences of killing and massacred the entire city to vent his anger.

"This thing must be hidden well, otherwise it might bring disaster to the entire Taiqing Sect!" Zhou Qing made a decision.

But Zhou Qing felt quite regretful that he had a mountain of gold in his hands but didn't know how to get it.

Just when he was about to put the spirit tablet into the storage space, he suddenly had an idea.

I don’t know if the same thing can be appraised twice?

Anyway, I haven’t used today’s [Daily Review] yet, so I might as well give it a try.

As Zhou Qing looked at the token again and identified it, another line of information different from the previous one came back.

[Unactivated Key: As one of the nine keys to the Shenxu Heavenly Palace, it is still in an unactivated state. Simply place it in your own spiritual core to nurture it for three days, then mark it with your essence and blood, and you will become its new owner.]

Seeing this scene, Zhou Qing's eyes suddenly lit up.

I didn’t expect it to actually work. I wasted so many opportunities for [Daily Review].

It would be a shame to throw this thing away, but if I don't throw it away, if someone else has other special means to sense it, then I will be courting death.

Only by mastering it thoroughly can people feel at ease.

Zhou Qing did not hesitate and quickly sent it to the spirit core. Sure enough, strands of black and white air seemed to be pulled and slowly wrapped it up.

"Old Four, Old Four!" Just as he finished all this, Yan Xiaohu's knock on the door was heard outside.

When Zhou Qing walked out and opened the door, he saw Yan Xiaohu with an excited look on his face.

"Why, did the head teacher reimburse you too much?" Zhou Qing joked.

Yan Xiaohu waved his hand. After all, the reimbursement was a few days ago.

"I have a piece of inside information. In a few days, the seventh prince and the ninth princess of the Shengwu Dynasty will come to visit our Taiqing Sect." Yan Xiaohu was very excited.

Zhou Qing was a little surprised, then seemed to think of something and asked, "Then the Ninth Princess came to see you?"

"Looking for a fart? Don't be ridiculous. How could she like me... No, how could I like her? Remember, I'm the man she'll never get. What I mean is that by then, the eldest brother will be out of seclusion. After all, this seventh prince is here to find him."

Yan Xiaohu said mysteriously.

Zhou Qing was puzzled.

Yan Xiaohu said, "You may not know this, but this Seventh Prince and the eldest brother are also acquainted with each other through fighting. They have even competed with each other many times. I guess he came here this time because he has achieved success in his training and is ready to compete with each other."

Zhou Qing pondered for a moment, then asked doubtfully, "I see. So, our Taiqing Sect is connected to the royal family. How dare the Cang Yan Dao Palace secretly harm us?"

After hearing this, Yan Xiaohu patted Zhou Qing on the shoulder, sighed, and said, "You're still too young to understand the intricacies of this. It's just right, Senior Brother, let me explain it to you."

Afterwards, Yan Xiaohu gathered his thoughts and said, "The levels of cultivation are divided into Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, and Soul Severing. Of course, I heard that there are higher realms above Soul Severing. These are too far away for you and me, so I won't mention them."

"You should know that everyone is part of the Cultivation Nation, including us in the Taiqing Sect. The Cultivation Nation also has different levels. Do you know which level we are in?"

Zhou Qing nodded: "Level 4 Cultivation Country!"

Yan Xiaohu said, "That's right. If a cultivator in a country reaches the Soul Severing Stage, the country will automatically be promoted to a fourth-level cultivation nation, enjoying more resources and territory. Speaking of which, our Shengwu Nation was only promoted three thousand years ago when our old emperor was lucky enough to enter the Soul Severing Stage."

"But with only one Soul Severing Realm, our Shengwu Dynasty has become the weakest fourth-level cultivation nation. To prevent being annexed and to help each other, the old emperor mobilized a large amount of resources and shared his cultivation experience, helping the ancestors of some top sects to successfully enter the Soul Severing Realm."

"As of today, our Shengwu Dynasty has at least thirteen Soul Slayers, firmly securing the title of a fourth-level cultivation nation."

Zhou Qing was also filled with emotion after hearing this. After all, before he became a disciple, he was alone and had some understanding of the environment he was in.

After entering Taiqingmen, I gained a more detailed understanding with the help of the sect’s platform.

As for the Taiqing Sect, the headmaster and the master were all at the Spiritual Transformation Realm. Several of the Supreme Elders were at the Great Perfection of the Spiritual Transformation Realm, so there was probably little hope for them to break through to the Soul Severing Realm.

On the path of cultivation, the further you progress, the more difficult it becomes. This is closely related to the different levels of foundation building at the beginning, your own talents, cultivation resources, etc.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so few people in the Soul-Slaying Realm in the huge Shengwu Dynasty, and they were only born in the past few thousand years.

Yan Xiaohu continued, "Our Shengwu Dynasty is vast, and there are countless sects like our Taiqing Sect. Almost all of them are centered around the Shengwu Dynasty."

"As for the question you just raised, it can be explained now. Because the current emperor has many children, almost every prince has his own forces behind him, but they are only those of the military generals or his mother's side."

"The new emperor has clearly stipulated that the princes are not allowed to have any connection with the major sects, to avoid being too involved. For example, if the Seventh Prince were to avenge our Taiqing Sect, would the Cang Yan Dao Palace easily let it go?"

"You have a background, so why can't I find someone with the same background? Or maybe, before you even find one, someone will come to you. God knows how fierce the competition among these princes is."

After hearing this, Zhou Qing seemed to understand something.

When will the cycle of revenge end? This is probably how it can be understood.

This prince dealt with that prince, and the other prince, seeing this, also took advantage of the situation to intervene and add fuel to the fire, resulting in both of them suffering losses.

By then, Taiqing Sect and Cangyan Taoist Palace will just be sacrifices for them to eliminate their competitors.

If everyone does this, how can the entire Shengwu Dynasty develop? It will be almost dead.

Seeing that my family's foundation and relatives have been destroyed by your sons, if foreign enemies invade, do you think I will still have a sense of belonging?
Will you respond to the call to help?

If other cultivation nations secretly give me some sweet treats, do you believe that I will stab you in the back at the critical moment?

Seeing Zhou Qing's thoughtful look, Yan Xiaohu knew that Zhou Qing understood.

"So, we will not cross this line easily, because it is not good for anyone, especially for the sect. But simple communication among the younger generation is acceptable. Otherwise, no one will know each other, and it will be very embarrassing." Yan Xiaohu said.

Zhou Qing nodded, then looked at Yan Xiaohu and said, "Brother, I'm actually very curious, where do you get all these gossips?"

Yan Xiaohu immediately chuckled and said, "There's nothing I can do. I don't have anything else but a lot of friends."

"Then should we send a message to Senior Sister Shi Zhen?" Zhou Qing said after thinking for a while.

Yan Xiaohu said, "It's necessary, otherwise our meal would be wasted. Moreover, instead of giving her a surprise, it's better to let her be happy for a few days. After all, we don't know what the eldest brother thinks now, so we just need to stop here."

Zhou Qing readily agreed to this.

In the next two days, Zhou Qing used [Daily Inspection] to identify old hens twice in a row, and the information he obtained was almost the same as the first time.

It can be seen that the identification results are different for different things.

On the third night, Zhou Qing, who was practicing, felt something in his heart. When he opened his eyes, the token floated out from his spirit core.

Seeing that it seemed even redder than before, Zhou Qing took a deep breath and slowly bit his fingertip. A drop of bright red blood oozed out of the wound and dripped onto the token.

After the token absorbed the energy, a strange heat flow came from the token in an instant and quickly spread to Zhou Qing's whole body.

He could clearly feel that he seemed to have established a wonderful connection with the token.

But in the next moment, the token in his hand suddenly released a strange red light, followed by a terrifying suction force.

Before Zhou Qing could react, his consciousness seemed to penetrate endless nothingness.

Until the surroundings suddenly became cold, he subconsciously became alert.

But only then did he realize that he was now a red spherical object, floating in the air.

The surroundings were pitch black, and in front of him was a huge vortex that was slowly spinning, emitting a mysterious aura.

The vortex seemed like an endless abyss, deep and dark, daunting to look at, and no one knew where it led to.

In addition, there are three giant screens floating around the vortex, which seem to be freezing the picture.

Zhou Qing was secretly shocked.

But at this moment, a green ball of light suddenly appeared in the darkness.

"Wow, after all this time, there's finally a new person!" The next moment, a surprised voice came from the green ball.

However, the voice seemed to be deliberately masked, and it was difficult to tell whether it was a man or a woman.

At the same time, on the green ball, there is an ancient character "Four" on it.

Before Zhou Qing could react, another blue ball of light suddenly appeared not far away.

"Red? Looks like someone got a red token. But this is too slow. When will we be able to collect all nine tokens?"

This cyan ball of light also emitted a voice that was neither male nor female, and the words were full of sighs.

And above it is the word [Five].

"Hey, my name is Gongsun Liu. May I ask your name? Where are you now?" The green ball that appeared first couldn't help but ask.

Zhou Qing frowned, then looked at the colors of the two light balls, and seemed to understand something vaguely.

It turns out that the keys to this [Shenxu Heavenly Palace] are of different colors. Once recognized as the master, the spiritual consciousness will be sucked into this strange space and appear in the corresponding color.

He quickly looked in the direction of his red ball of light, and sure enough, there appeared a character "一".

Is it arranged in the order of red, orange, green, cyan, blue and purple?
"He lied to you. Once you tell him your name and location, it won't be long before the token in your hand has a new owner!"

Another voice sounded, and Zhou Qing noticed that in the darkness on the left, a blue ball of light appeared, with the word "Six" written on it.

Four, five, six, this order is really...

Green Ball Number Four was speechless for a moment, then said, "Number Six, this is boring. We finally have a newcomer. Of course, I was just joking with him."

Hearing this, Zhou Qing immediately became wary of green ball number four.

Green Ball No. 5 said, "Since he knows how to open the token, do you think No. 1 is an ordinary person? How could he not know about the first floor of the Shenxu Heavenly Palace? No. 4, you are asking for trouble, haha~~"

Number Five laughed, while Number Four fell silent, seemingly too lazy to argue.

The blue ball number six, which had kindly reminded you earlier, said, "This is the first floor of the Shenxu Heavenly Palace. You should know that it will then extract the most mysterious place you have ever seen and project it onto the screen."

After hearing this, Zhou Qing looked thoughtfully at the three frozen images next to the huge whirlpool, and seemed to understand something.

It turns out that this is only the first level of the Shenxu Heavenly Palace. It seems that this secret realm is far more mysterious than he imagined.

Soon, a stream of air suddenly emerged from the vortex and landed on Zhou Qing.

As the spiritual energy in the air intertwined, this space finally ushered in the fourth picture.

The other three light balls immediately looked over curiously.

Soon, a red river appeared on the screen, leading to nowhere, with countless dead black crows floating in it.

They exude a chill and stench that is creepy.

On the other side of the Red River, there is a huge ancient tree. Although it appears to be decayed and dry, there are more than a dozen thick iron chains on the top of the tree, tightly binding a beating black heart like a giant python.

Every time the heart beat, it made a dull and strange sound, echoing throughout the entire dark space.

Not only that, under the giant tree, there are six coffins quietly arranged.

Everything is full of weirdness.

Zhou Qing didn't expect that the scenes seen in the cave would be reflected. In this case, the other three pictures should be the mysterious places that these three people had seen in their lives.

But what's the use?

"Brother, or sister, what kind of place is this? Why does it look so ominous?"

Green ball number four asked quickly.

Zhou Qing laughed and said, "I want to know more than you do."

But he had only seen such a scene once, when the second uncle forcibly pulled him in and used him as a carrier to bring him out.

"Number One, please invite me in to take a look. You're the only one who knows the place anyway, and if there's anything good there, I can't take it away. Is that okay with you?"

At this time, the blue light ball No. 5 began to negotiate with Zhou Qing.

Zhou Qing was even more confused. What invitation?
Can this still be entered?

Then, he subconsciously looked at the blue light ball No. 6. At least so far, the other party had left a good impression on him.

Seeing that No. 1 remained silent from beginning to end, Light Ball No. 6 also hesitated.

Although he is a newcomer, the scene he saw was too terrifying. The fact that he could escape from this place in reality shows how high his cultivation level is.

Moreover, he also knew very well how to activate the key of [Shenxu Tiangong].

Although he is not a newcomer, he still doesn’t speak and seems to know nothing.

After a brief hesitation, he simply told everyone what he knew so far, just to make some good connections.

"It is rumored that this Shenxu Heavenly Palace belongs to a long-lost seventh-level cultivation nation in ancient times. It contains countless opportunities and is divided into three layers. The first two layers are easy to deal with, just like us now, purely based on spiritual consciousness."

"As for the third level, it is the real opportunity, but it also requires nine tokens to gather together to open it."

"And the magical effect of this first level is that it can project the most mysterious place the holder of the token has ever seen in his life. Of course, this place is not random. It needs to be recognized by the Divine Ruins and meet certain evaluation standards before it can be manifested."

After hearing the explanation from Blue Ball No. 6, Zhou Qing suddenly realized that this was actually possible.

However, what he never expected was that this Shenxu Heavenly Palace actually came from a seventh-level cultivation country. This was too incredible.

A seventh-level cultivation country, he couldn't even imagine how powerful it was.

(End of this chapter)