The Cold and Aloof Palace Master's Daily Demon-Slaying Life

Zuo Qingqiu sat down opposite him, and after a moment of silence, nodded gently: "Yes, it's all in the past."

The voice was soft, yet carried a calm that seemed to have settled.

Those complex feelings about family, parents, and sister, those deep-seated regrets and melancholy, seemed to be temporarily sealed away and returned to silence after the hustle and bustle of the ancestral worship ceremony and the three days of quiet sitting in the old house.

Master Qingwei gave her a deep look, without pressing for details, simply stroking his beard and nodding: "It's good that it's settled. Cultivators seek longevity and freedom, but ultimately they are born into the mortal world and grow up in it. Some karmic entanglements cannot be avoided, nor should they be forcibly avoided. Being able to face them calmly and handle them properly is an improvement in one's state of mind."

He paused, then changed the subject: "You're back just in time. There's something I need to discuss with you."

As he spoke, he stood up and led Zuo Qingqiu to a side hall on the side of the main hall.

The side hall is not as grand as the main hall, but it is more tranquil.

At this moment, a "small mountain" was piled up in the open space in the center of the side hall.

It was a small mountain made up of countless gift boxes of different sizes and materials.

There are warm and translucent white jade boxes, fragrant sandalwood boxes, simple and heavy bronze boxes, and shimmering gilded boxes...

The dazzling array of treasures, their shimmering light almost bathed half of the side hall in a jewel-like glow.

"These are congratulatory gifts sent by various top sects, longevity families, and even some rogue cultivators in the Central Plains since the news of your enlightenment spread." Master Qingwei pointed to the small mountain of gift boxes, his tone calm. "They were collected gradually over the past few days. According to the rules, they are gifts for you, and you should be able to dispose of them as you see fit."

Zuo Qingqiu's gaze swept over the mountain of gift boxes, her expression unchanged.

She didn't go forward to check them one by one, but just stood quietly in place, her eyes slightly closed, and then slowly opened again.

The moment she opened her eyes, an invisible yet vast and boundless divine power, like mercury spilling onto the ground or the gentlest breeze, silently swept across the entire "Gift Box Mountain".

How powerful and subtle is the divine sense of a Golden Core True Monarch?

Most of these gift boxes are equipped with protective restrictions, either to prevent spiritual energy from leaking out or to highlight their value, and some even feature ingenious and mysterious formations.

However, these restrictions were useless in the face of Zuo Qingqiu's divine sense, and were easily penetrated and understood.

In the blink of an eye, the types, quantities, quality, spiritual attributes, and potential uses of all the items in the gift boxes were clearly presented in her "heart".

Millennium-old spiritual herbs, rare minerals, ancient cultivation manuals on jade slips, top-grade ancient treasures, rare spiritual materials... a dazzling array of items, all of considerable value, enough to make any cultivator in the Purple Mansion realm envious and even trigger a bloodbath.

However, Zuo Qingqiu's face remained completely expressionless.

For her, most of these things were no longer useful.

As a Golden Core True Monarch, she has already completed a leap in her life level. Ordinary spiritual medicines, ores, and magical treasures are like chicken bones to her.

Only rare treasures of heaven and earth, fragments of the Great Dao, or special treasures closely related to her own path of cultivation could be of assistance to someone at her level.

Her divine sense roamed through the Gift Box Mountain for a moment, eventually locking onto five locations.

With a slight thought, five gift boxes flew out of the "mountain" on their own and hovered in front of her.

A jade box, entirely emerald green and radiating a rich aura of life, came from the Myriad Dharma Gate. Inside was a piece of wood about a foot long, shaped like a withered branch, yet with faint, mysterious patterns flowing within it—the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul-Nourishing Wood.

This wood can nourish the soul and stabilize the primordial spirit. It has a remarkable effect on cultivators who have just broken through and whose realm is not yet stable. Even for Golden Core True Monarchs, it has a nourishing effect.

A jade box, shimmering with purple light and with faintly visible thunder patterns on its surface, came from the Shenxiao Sect. Inside was a fist-sized crystal, entirely purple and seemingly imbued with the essence of lightning—the Purple Lightning Crystal.

This is a rare treasure nurtured deep within the Thunder Pool of the Divine Firmament Sect. It contains pure thunder power and is an unparalleled treasure for cultivators who practice thunder magic. It can assist in comprehending the Dao of Thunder and refining thunder magic supernatural powers.

The other three items are a fragment of a "Heavenly Book" from Lingxi Zhai, a piece of "Nine-Aperture Exquisite Jade" gifted by Linglong Pavilion, and a fragmented ancient animal skin scroll sent by the rogue cultivator Daoquan Zhenren, which records some kind of ancient thunderous divine power.

These five items may either help her stabilize her realm, or be related to the thunder magic she cultivates, or contain unique traces of the Great Dao, and are worth studying.

As for the other treasures piled up like mountains, although they were also priceless, to her they were no different from ordinary stones.

Zuo Qingqiu raised his hand and put the five selected items into his sleeve. Then he looked at Qingwei Zhenren and said in a calm tone, "The rest are useless to me. Senior Uncle can put them into the sect's treasury and reward them to disciples and elders who have made significant contributions to the sect in the future."

Master Qingwei looked at the still-piled mountain of gift boxes, then at Zuo Qingqiu's calm and composed face, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes, and slowly nodded: "Good."

He had already anticipated this.

Once you reach the Golden Core realm, external objects have very little effect. What is truly precious are those rare items that touch upon the fundamental principles of the Great Dao or perfectly align with your own path of cultivation.

Zuo Qingqiu's ability to remain clear-headed amidst so many temptations, taking only what he needed and returning the rest to the sect, is a testament to his character and discernment that brings him great comfort in his old age.

"Let's go, it's stuffy here. Come with me for a walk in the back mountain."

Master Qingwei stopped looking at the gift boxes and turned to walk outside.

Zuo Qingqiu followed silently.

After leaving the main hall of Taihua Palace, the two did not descend the mountain, but instead walked along a winding bluestone path behind the hall into the depths of the back mountain.

Ancient trees reach for the sky on both sides of the path, vines hang down, and exotic flowers and plants dot the landscape. A misty atmosphere pervades the area, making a walk through it feel like stepping into a fairyland.

Occasionally, the calls of birds can be heard, their clear and melodious voices adding to the tranquility.

After walking for a short while, the view suddenly opened up before us.

At the end of the path, there was a precipitous cliff.

Beside the cliff stands a simple octagonal stone pavilion, built of large, unadorned, bluish-gray stones, exuding a rustic charm.

The eaves of the pavilion are upturned, and several copper bells hang from them. When the mountain breeze blows, they make a clear, melodious sound that is distant and ethereal.

Standing in the pavilion and looking down, one sees a bottomless abyss below, with rolling clouds churning endlessly like a white ocean.

It was midday, and the sunlight pierced through the clouds, casting thousands of golden rays that dyed the sea of ​​clouds a golden-red. As the clouds surged and the light and shadow shifted, the scene was incredibly magnificent and breathtaking, truly like a legendary fairyland.

Inside the pavilion is a stone table carved from precious jade, its surface as smooth as a mirror, with faintly visible auspicious cloud patterns.

A chessboard is engraved on the table, with crisscrossing lines and distinct grooves, still clear despite the passage of time.

On either side of the stone table, there is a stone drum serving as a stool.

Master Qingwei sat down on a stone drum and took out two simple pottery jars from his sleeve, one black and one white, and placed them on either side of the chessboard.

"Sit down." He gestured to the stone drum opposite him.

Zuo Qingqiu sat down as instructed.