I tamed beasts and achieved immortality in the world of cultivation.

Meng Xingzhou accompanied them on the return journey.

Chen Qing and Xiao Chunan no longer needed to be as cautious as they had been when they arrived.

The three of them rode swiftly along, occasionally stopping to rest and feed their horses, without any rush.

Although Meng Xingzhou was a master of the tenth level of Qi Refining, he was very approachable. He chatted and laughed with the two of them along the way, and occasionally gave them some pointers on the key points of cultivation, which greatly benefited Chen Qing.

In just one day, they arrived at Zhenyuan County.

Chen Qing parted ways with the two in Zhenyuan County, and after another day, he arrived at Half Moon Lake. Chen Qing dismounted, took out the token, and sent its spiritual light into the thin, gauze-like array.

The passage opened, and Chen Qing led his horse inside.

Stepping into the formation, the familiar spiritual energy rushed towards me. Although it was not as rich as that of Beast Taming Peak, it gave me an inexplicable sense of peace.

Chen Qing took a deep breath, raised his hand and patted the spirit beast pouch, and Qingtian and Danyu appeared on the lakeside.

As soon as Dan Yu emerged, it flapped its wings and flew to the top of a willow branch, raising its slender neck slightly as it began to preen its feathers.

Qingtian stretched its neck and looked around, squeaking as it conveyed a thought: "I'm back, I'm back, I'm finally back! This trip has been so boring, the spirit beast pouch was pitch black, I couldn't see anything."

Chen Qing smiled and clapped his hands: "Alright, stop complaining, it's time to get to work."

He looked at Qingtian and instructed, "Go feed the chickens first. We were away for six days this time. Although we left a lot of feed, there's no one to take care of them. I'm afraid they'll be in trouble."

Then he looked at Danyu: "Danyu, you're in charge of the fish. They haven't been fed for six days. Although the lake is big enough that the carp won't go hungry, we should still feed them some high-quality feed so they can grow better."

Dan Yu glanced at Chen Qing indifferently and sent a thought: "I know what I'm doing."

After saying that, it grabbed the feed bag with its claws, flapped its wings and flew into the air. With a swipe of its claws across the bag, the golden feed fell like a drizzle, evenly covering most of the lake surface. Its movements were fluid and graceful, combining precision and elegance.

Qingtian then dashed off towards the chicken coop.

Chen Qing followed behind, and before he even got close, he could smell a strong odor.

When he reached the chicken coop, he took a closer look—

Good guy.

Four or five hundred Lingyang chickens were jumping and hopping around in the coop. Some flapped their wings and jumped onto the fence, some pecked at each other, and some huddled together, chirping incessantly. The whole coop was as lively as a market.

On the ground, there was a thick layer of dark brown chicken droppings, so dense that there was practically no place to step.

Qingtian stood at the entrance of the chicken coop, his little face frozen.

He slowly turned his head to look at Chen Qing, his golden-brown eyes clearly filled with resentment.

You call this "bad"?

Chen Qing coughed lightly and looked away somewhat guiltily.

However, he quickly calmed down, his eyes darting around as he looked at Qingtian, a slight smile playing on his lips, and said in a solemn tone:

"Qingtian, this chicken coop is in such a state now. Cleaning, feeding, and restoring order can only be done by someone with great wisdom and courage."

"Such a difficult task, after much thought, I believe only you are fit for it—Qingtian, do you dare to take on this responsibility?"

Qingtian was taken aback.

Immediately, his eyes lit up, and he pulled out a copy of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" with a frayed cover from somewhere in his hair. He flipped through a few pages, then knelt down on one knee.

The little paws clasped their hands in a fist salute, looked up at Chen Qing, and conveyed a thought:

"I am willing to serve you like a dog or a horse, even unto death!"

Chen Qing's lips twitched, suppressing a laugh, and he nodded seriously: "Good, good! With Qingtian's words, I can rest assured."

Qingtian stood up, took a deep breath, his small face filled with a sense of death-defying resolve, turned around and stepped into the battlefield covered in chicken droppings. His back view had a tragic air about it, like the line "The wind is howling and the Yi River is cold."

"Coo coo coo—"

"Coo coo coo—"

When the spirit sheep chickens saw Qingtian enter, they immediately erupted into chaos, flapping their wings and scattering in all directions, sending feathers flying everywhere.

As Qingtian chased after the chickens, he scattered feed into the trough, his feet making a "smack, smack" sound. His little face scrunched up, and he squeaked incoherently.

"Squeak! (I am Zhuge Qingtian, this mere chicken coop is nothing to me... Hey, don't run away!... What is that thing you stepped on!...)"

Chen Qing stood outside and watched for a while, then finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.

……

Chen Qing arrived at the lakeside, took out the array token, injected spiritual power into it, closed his eyes and carefully sensed it for a moment. The "Azure Water Ring Spirit Array" was operating normally, the spiritual energy barrier was intact, and the spiritual veins in the lake were outputting steadily without any abnormalities.

He quickly surveyed the lakeside and mountains again, and found nothing wrong.

After confirming that everything was alright, Chen Qing turned around and went back to the small building.

Second floor, quiet room.

Chen Qing sat cross-legged on the futon, took out the silver-scaled soft armor from his storage bag, and examined it carefully in his hand.

The silver-white soft armor was as thin as a cicada's wing, warm to the touch, and faintly glowed with spiritual light. Chen Qing pressed the armor against his chest and slowly poured his spiritual power into it, following the method his senior sister had taught him, to nurture it with spiritual power and connect it with his own aura.

A moment later, the soft nails glowed slightly, as if they had come to life, clinging tightly to the skin as if they were nothing.

But then Chen Qing sniffed and realized something was wrong: "Could this silver-scaled soft armor be the one that senior sister wore close to her body? It even has a faint fragrance."

Chen Qing recalled that senior sister's face; although she wasn't stunningly beautiful, she was still pretty and charming.

Chen Qing smiled and took out the manual "Mysterious Ice Thorn".

My spiritual sense swept over it.

In an instant, a flood of information rushed into Chen Qing's mind: the path of spiritual energy circulation, the method of condensing ice spikes, the techniques of precise shooting. He concentrated and memorized it word by word.

Mystic Ice Spike is a single-target water-attribute attack spell. Spiritual energy is condensed at the fingertips and transformed into ice spikes that shoot out with great speed and strong penetrating power.

The key to this technique lies in the word "condensation"—the spiritual power must be condensed and not dispersed, the ice spikes must be condensed and not broken, and at the moment of release, all the spiritual power must be compressed into that finger to unleash the strongest penetrating power.

Chen Qing put down the manual, closed his eyes to savor it for a moment, and then slowly opened his eyes.

"Although it only cost thirty spirit stones, it was more difficult than the Spirit Turtle Shield and the Flowing Wind Escape. It probably came from some unlucky guy, but... it's not too outrageous."

Chen Qing pondered for a moment, reviewed the key points in his mind, and then got up and went downstairs.

……

Lakeside.

Chen Qing stood by the water, closing his eyes and concentrating.

The spiritual energy rose from the dantian, circulated along the meridians to the index finger of the right hand, and gradually condensed into a ball of light blue spiritual light at the fingertip, with a cool aura lingering around it.

Chen Qing focused his mind and circulated his spiritual energy, continuously compressing it—

"puff."

A shard of ice exploded from my fingertip and scattered all over the ground.

Chen Qing remained calm and began to circulate his energy again.

"puff."

Another clump of ice.

He wasn't in a hurry. He tried again and again, and the light at his fingertips gradually became more solid from its initial scattered state. The ice shards became fewer and fewer, and occasionally he could condense a crooked ice spike, which would shatter into powder after shooting out no more than three feet.

Time slipped away quietly amidst repeated practice.

[New book recommendation period, please vote, fellow readers!]