“Okay then… get to it. I’ll play the role of your dharma protector,” Long Di advised.

Xiannu Liang didn’t stand on courtesy and immediately took a bite out of the first Ever-Dew Fruit.

****

When her pearly teeth broke the skin of the fruit, a gush of juice burst forth!

However, Xiannu Liang seemed to expect this and only made a slight hole in the skin. Yet even with this, the juice came out with an eruptive force.

As she drank from the fruit, the size shrank until it shrivelled up into a desiccated flap of fruit skin. Surprisingly, Xiannu Liang took even the skin of the fruit and ate it up.

After a while, Xiannu Liang had finished the entire fruit, and she quickly went into a meditative state.

Whoosh!

Vrrrm!

A burst of energy exploded from her body along with eight cauldrons spinning at a rapid pace behind her.

They were all green and glowed with energy as they worked to regulate the energy within Xiannu Liang’s body.

“I forgot to ask. What’s up with her cauldrons?” asked Long Di.

Yaomu Shou had little knowledge about the Nymphs but tried her best to answer, “I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I heard that the higher-ranking members of the Nymph race possess a special cauldron similar to those who have a special grade cauldron.”

Long Di’s brow furrowed at this. “So it’s not a special grade?”

Yaomu Shou shook her head. “Special-grade cauldrons only come to those with a special-grade physique. There are other physiques that can come about because of a unique bloodline and certain members of the Nymph race have this bloodline so strong within them that it affects the formation of the composition of their cauldrons. These unique types of cauldrons are called bloodline cauldrons.”

“Oh,” Long Di nodded in understanding. “So these green cauldrons came about because of that. Interesting. Wait, does that mean she’s a princess or something?”

Yaomu Shou smiled but shook her head. “The Nymphs don’t have a governmental structure like that. Even though they are one of the five major races, they are quite reclusive and remain so because of their… constitution.”

After bringing this up, she quickly changed the subject. “Still, Xiannu Liang is quite talented. Based on the pressure of her cauldrons, those are all at the level of high-grade cauldrons!”

“Oh really now,” Long Di had to admit that Xiannu Liang was quite talented to forge such cauldrons.

He then grew confused. “Wait, so cauldrons that fall out of the normal grading system can still be forged to a higher level?”

“Yeah,” Yaomu Shou answered matter-of-factly. “Though their colour and form don’t change much, unlike those within the normal grading system, they keep the standard abilities of those cauldrons while also possessing abilities exclusive to them.”

Boom!

Another powerful pressure exploded from Xiannu Liang’s body as a cauldron slowly came to form behind her, taking its rightful place among the set.

An outline of a small basin appeared in a blaze of light. Before long curled stands appeared below.

There were four stands in total and formed the foundation of the basin, the base upon which it stood.

An even brighter line of light marred what appeared to be the surface of this basin. It twisted and curled all around the surface, creating intricate designs that were dazzling to look upon.

Vwhoosh…

The blaze of light that contained the outline for the new cauldron was beginning to dim, taking the new cauldron away with it.

Everyone, including Long Di and even Mina, saw this and narrowed their eyes with ceased breaths.

They could feel from Xiannu Liang’s aura that she was some distance away from the peak of the eighth duan. The Ever-Dew fruit that she ate was able to close this distance immensely, but it was obviously not enough to traverse the large chasm that separated the eighth duan from the ninth duan.

Without any hesitation, Xiannu Liang took up another Ever-Dew Fruit and just like the first, she ate the fruit in its entirety.

Whoosh!

Her power increased even more and the dimming blaze caught tinder and roared into a thundering inferno!

Soon enough, the cauldron began shaping itself. The design that brought life to the cauldron was underway once more.

“I just remembered something,” Yaomu Shou said after a while.

“I think I know what you’re going to say,” Long Di immediately knew what she was thinking.

Jia Yan looked at them both and grew curious, “What?”

Zi Yu answered him, saying, “Xiannu Liang will be able to get to the ninth duan no problem. The only thing is she won’t be able to temper her cauldron to the high grade in a short amount of time.”

“Then what do we do?” Jia Yan asked.

Long Di thought for a minute before asking, “Well, think about it. What do we need to forge our cauldron to a high enough level?”

“Lots of spiritual qi if you’re a spiritual energy cultivator or somatic essence if you’re a somatic essence cultivator,” Yaomu Shou answered.

“Right,” Long Di turned to look at her. “Xiannu Liang may be another race, but as of now she is cultivating spiritual energy, and what do we know of that contains large amounts of spiritual energy?”

Hearing this question, a wide smile appeared on Yaomu Shou’s face, “Why… a spiritual vein root, of course.”

“Exactly,” Long Di nodded.

“When do we get started!?” Yaomu Shou was barely able to contain her excitement.

“Hold your horses.” Long Di didn’t want her to run off before they finalised anything.

He went on, “We need to make sure someone or some more than one stays behind to keep an eye on Xiannu Liang and the now comatose Shen Ling.”

When Yaomu Shou heard this, she forcibly calmed herself down as she knew this was true. She then looked to Zi Yu, who nodded in return.

“I’ll stay behind.”

“Really?” Long Di didn’t expect her to just do this.

“It’ll be no problem,” she said with a smile.

“What about your strength?” Long Di brought up a very crucial factor. “Aren’t you just a one-core martial adept?”

D-D-Dum!

Her cauldrons erupted into being behind her and Long Di could see two cauldrons with glistening pearls within them.

Long Di was slightly moved by this before commenting, “The peak of the second core already? Not bad.”

Zi Yu smiled with pride at this. There was something about getting a ‘not bad’ from a freak of nature like Long Di that carried a certain weight about it.

Seeing that she should be good, Long Di agreed to this arrangement before someone else expressed their wish to stay.

“You too, Jia Yan?” Long Di wasn’t expecting for two of them to stay behind.

Jia Yan nodded, “I’m too weak to be of any help against the top powers of the younger generation here. I’d rather stay behind and focus on getting stronger. Plus, I can maybe help Miss Zi Yu if she needs it.”

Long Di had no need to stop him if he already decided on it. He then looked at Mina, who was standing to the side.

She quickly sighed before stating, “I’m not the best fighter. I wouldn’t be able to help in this situation. I’ll stay with Shen Ling and the glowing plant over there.”

“Play nice,” Long Di reminded her.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Mina waved him off.

So that meant that only he and Yaomu Shou would be travelling.

This would give them the chance to talk about some things that Long Di had questions about.

After putting away the corpse of the Monarch Gale Crow in this storage ring. Long Di gave a few instructions to the both of them that they needed to adhere to since he wouldn’t be here.

Once all of their affairs were in order, it was time to go. Both groups said their goodbyes and to be careful.

Shu!

Yaomu Shou and Long Di took off at top speed towards the central region of the Spiritual Bingqi realm.

After they were some distance away from the small valley, Yaomu Shou turned to Long Di with a smirk.

Of course, Long Di noticed this and wondered what was on this girl’s mind, “What?”

“Your younger apprentice-brother really likes her, doesn’t he?”

“It makes sense,” Long Di shrugged his shoulders. “They’ve been friends longer than I have.”

Yaomu Shou snorted, “Idiot! I meant him and Zi Yu!”

“Jia Yan likes Zi Yu?” Long Di wasn’t expecting this. He never saw any clues about this. This was even harder for him to see since Jia Yan rarely spoke. Well, it wasn’t like he himself was a professional in the realm of love.

“So you didn’t see it? It’s kinda obvious,” Yaomu Shou laughed.

Long Di realised that Yaomu Shou was a lover of chaos and gossip, “You’re loving this a bit too much, don’t you think?”

“Oh, come on. The mixed-blood demon who has an awesome talent is in love with the pureblood demon from one of the most powerful families in the demon realm? This is like one of those plays Ru Mi Ho and Jiuli-”

“That’s a thing here?” Long Di was caught off guard by that one.

Yaomu Shou’s eyes flashed with excitement, “You know it!? It’s a classic in the demon region!”

“Who wrote it?” Long Di was getting a serious sense of déjà vu with this.

Yaomu Shou thought for a minute before the name suddenly came to her, “Right! It’s the famous playwright Wi Li A-”

“Aaand I’m gonna stop you right there,” Long Di was now ninety-five percent sure that this world existed BEFORE his original world and that several things have influenced that old world.

Still, he didn’t linger on this too long and continued with what he wanted to say. “Remember that time you said to me I would owe you a favour for helping me keep Shen Ling and the others safe in that not-relic back then?”

“Yeah…”

“What is that favour you wanted from me? You never went into detail on it. You also told me you need powerful allies, but what could I possibly help the crown with?” Long Di posed two main questions that he needed answers to.

“Well…” Yaomu Shou appeared as if she was racking her head on how to answer his questions. “Let’s start with the second one.”