Chapter 143: Repairing One-Ninth of the Core Divine Prohibition

Qinghu thought to herself, did you seriously expect me to provide materials and divine metals out of my own pocket?

Your Majesty here has never once done a losing business deal, you know.

That is absolutely, positively out of the question!

By now, she had already earned a full sixty-six drops of divine fluid and over a hundred divine crystals, which was more than enough for her current needs. The Indefinite City wasn’t even hers; why on earth should she help other divine clansmen build houses?

"Your Majesty, to be honest, I've always felt that you and my master must originate from the same divine lineage," Lingxu said again.

"The moment you start addressing me so formally, it definitely means you have a favor to ask. Let's get this straight in advance: whatever is within my capacity, I'll just casually help you with. As for anything you think I can't do, don't even bother bringing it up," Qinghu said, rolling her eyes.

The words that had already risen to the tip of Lingxu's throat were abruptly choked back down.

This person was nothing like his master; his master had pride and a strong sense of dignity. This one, however, had absolutely no shame whatsoever.

"Could you, for the sake of us all belonging to the same clan, show a bit more care for your younger clansman, my master?"

"Don't put it that way. Your master might look like he has just reached adulthood, but who knows how long he has been slumbering—he might even be older than me," Qinghu said even more bluntly. "So all this talk about juniors and seniors is purely a product of your own imagination.

Besides, as for belonging to the same clan, that can only be confirmed after he actually wakes up. Just in case he really turns out to be an evil god, then forget it; we certainly wouldn't be of the same clan."

Lingxu's face twitched violently.

An evil god? His master was definitely not an evil god!

"In all the time Lingxu has followed my master and witnessed numerous deities and gods, I've never met anyone quite like you," Lingxu said through gritted teeth.

He honestly didn't know what to say about Her Majesty's temperament anymore. If he hadn't been certain that her true soul was terrifyingly powerful—not at all resembling a young deity or a newly ascended god—he definitely wouldn't have addressed her as Your Majesty.

Unlike those gods and demons of his memory—where gods were dignified, proud, and reserved, and demons were arrogant, aggressive, and fiercely imposing—

Who on earth acted like her? Her temperament was so接地气 (down-to-earth), she practically behaved like a street-smart scoundrel.

Had Qinghu known Lingxu's true thoughts, she would undoubtedly have replied: Only inexperienced little gods and demons care about dignity, acting arrogant purely for show. After truly surviving countless divine and demonic wars, who cares about pride anymore? If there's something you want and you don't seize it, is it going to fly into your hands by itself? Why bother acting arrogant when you could just use that time to stab someone in the back and solve the problem in one strike?

"Not bad, not bad. I also think I'm quite unique," Qinghu said with a proud, haughty smile.

Lingxu: "..."

"Alright, spit it out. What on earth do you still want to ask of me?"

"Your Majesty, could you help me repair my core divine prohibitions? Too many of them were shattered back then; even the foundational core divine prohibitions have suffered damage."

"And the payment?" Qinghu asked.

Lingxu's expression stiffened. Dammit, he knew Shen Qinghu wouldn't make a move for free.

"I will trade a supreme earth-element treasure for this opportunity to have you make a move."

"A supreme earth-element treasure? What kind of thing? A lotus of the earth?" Qinghu asked suspiciously.

"No, it's a fruit of the earth. It is said my master accidentally obtained it shortly after arriving here," Lingxu replied.

"A fruit of the earth? What's inside it?" Qinghu asked.

"I'm not quite sure. When my master acquired it, the embryonic transformation of this fruit of the earth was not yet complete. We only knew for certain that it is a supreme earth-element treasure," Lingxu said somewhat guiltily.

"Is that so?" Qinghu eyed Lingxu suspiciously.

"It is."

"Bring it out and let me take a look," Qinghu commanded.

Lingxu nodded and vanished, returning shortly after cradling a large orb that was earthy-yellow on the lower half and verdant green on the upper half.

The moment Qinghu took hold of this sphere, which was at least a foot and a half in diameter, she could feel its weight—it easily weighed tens of thousands of catties. Casually, she used her fingernail to carve a buoyancy divine prohibition directly onto the stone sphere, and its weight instantly plummeted to the lightness of a feather.

"This ball really is a fruit of the earth."

A fruit of the earth was essentially a spiritual seed born from primordial earth-system and wood-system rule seeds. They were generally innate spirits, unique across the heavens and the earth.

Though called a spiritual seed, if nurtured properly, it could blossom into a divine seed of extraordinary potential.

At worst, in the future, it could still take human form and become a Wood Ancestor or Wood Sovereign—figures who were all powerful overlords ruling over vast territories.

The catch was that it had to be given the chance to grow.

During its seed stage, such a treasure could alter the innate talents and aptitudes of living beings, elevating those of mediocre talent into the proud favorites of an era.

To say nothing of others, take Qinghu's two older brothers: if they were to slice off just a small piece of this fruit of the earth and consume it, their innate talents and aptitudes would ascend to an even higher realm.

However, in Qinghu's view, her two brothers' current aptitudes were already sufficient. Their cultivation realms were still so low; what need was there to modify their aptitudes?

It was better for them to practice diligently and steadily; slow progress was perfectly fine.

Laying solid foundations step by step was always the top priority.

For other living beings, cultivation meant charging forward fiercely, practicing unceasingly, and defying the heavens to alter one's destiny. For the divine clan, given their vast lifespan, studying steadily and earnestly building a solid foundation was the correct path.

Therefore, little Qinghu lacked even a shred of a sense of urgency. What was there to rush for?

Little Qinghu stroked the sphere a few more times before falling into serious contemplation.

The main consideration was whether the trade was worth it. Helping the Indefinite City and Lingxu repair the core divine prohibitions of the divine city would naturally consume her divine energy.

Although the embryonic transformation inside this sphere was not yet fully complete, it was already starting to take shape—at least enough for Qinghu to clearly see what kind of entity was gestating within.

It was actually a Nether Earth Precious Tree.

This thing was even rarer than the lotus of the earth.
While the lotus of the earth could cause a world to spawn an attached subterranean realm, the Nether Earth Precious Tree was even more formidable. It could project everything on the surface down into the depths, creating a subterranean world that corresponded one-to-one with the surface.

Whether it was the lotus of the earth or the Nether Earth Precious Tree, both were prime materials for refining the netherworld.

Once a world possessed a netherworld space, it also gained a nether underworld, allowing deities and gods to govern the reincarnation of souls, accumulate heavenly merits, and vastly increase the rate at which true souls were born.

Of course, with a Nether Earth Precious Tree, one didn't strictly have to project the surface world; allowing the tree to independently evolve its own space was entirely viable as well.

It didn't necessarily have to be anchored underground.

She could completely mount the Nether Earth Precious Tree onto her own semi-finished vehicle.

Unlike the finished Fission-Light Warship, the semi-finished Fission-Light Warship didn't even come equipped with a miniature world yet.

If she installed the Nether Earth Precious Tree onto it, the Fission-Light would come with its very own miniature world—a world capable of continuous growth.

Ahem, actually, she could also install it on the Wind-Whisper Ship.

However, after careful consideration, Qinghu abandoned the idea.

The Wind-Whisper Ship would undergo continuous modifications in the future, and the focus should remain on amplifying its primary advantage—speed ought to remain the forte of the Wind-Whisper.

Come to think of it, as early as when her primary consciousness first recovered, Qinghu had sensed that beneath the Great Wasteland, no netherworld existed. True souls were born deep within the earth as the heavens and earth grew, and then they entered reincarnation to condense their souls. Upon death, souls sank back into the earth, gradually losing their memories of life through the earth's refinement and cleansing before being cast into reincarnation once more.

Without a netherworld to manage it, relying entirely on natural reincarnation, the birth rate of newborns was relatively sluggish.

"I can help you once," Qinghu said, holding the stone sphere in her hands. "However, I will only restore three main divine prohibitions at most. If you agree, I'll take this sphere."

"Agreed," Lingxu immediately replied.

Qinghu understood then that she had gotten the short end of the stick.

"Then let's go. Oh, right, you need to make arrangements for my two brothers first," Qinghu said, pointing to her two brothers. "You can't just keep them sealed up here forever."

"Very well, I will make proper arrangements for them."

"Then let's go."

With a flash, Lingxu vanished once again, taking Qinghu along with the brothers Qingjin and Qingzhen.

This time, Qinghu arrived inside a massive stone hall.

Countless divine prohibitions gathered in the center of the hall to form a pillar of light.

Divine energy flowed within the interior of the pillar. The divine prohibitions continuously bobbed up and down within the divine energy, separating and merging. Naturally, the most common sight was that of shattered divine prohibitions constantly colliding and scraping against one another.

Some broken divine runes even smashed apart the intact strings of minor divine prohibition runes.

Seeing a massive pile of chaotic, up-and-down-floating divine rune fragments, Qinghu gnashed her teeth repeatedly. "You really managed to shatter yourself quite thoroughly, didn't you?"

Lingxu said with a pitiful expression, "I've had it so rough; I was almost completely obliterated."

"Get lost, and don't let anyone disturb me. I'll need at least five or six days," Qinghu said irritably.

Hearing this, Lingxu rolled away immediately.

Qinghu simply materialized a soft couch right outside the pillar of light, sat down upon it, and with a wave of her small hand, a batch of fragmented divine runes appeared beside her.

Her small hands moved swiftly, re-fusing the broken and shattered divine runes back together one by one.

Where small pieces were missing, she directly drew upon the divine energy of the pillar to repair the runes.

Before long, she had finished repairing over sixty divine runes, tossing them back to let these fully repaired runes find their own way back to their respective minor divine prohibition strings.

Then she summoned another batch of broken divine runes to continue the splicing.

After spending a full five-plus days piecing together broken runes, the shattered divine runes within the pillar of light were reduced to almost invisibility.

The downside was that the divine energy inside the pillar had diminished by at least half. Seeing that there was still surplus divine energy remaining in the pillar, little Qinghu simply utilized their divine energy instead of expending her own.

Now that the fragmented runes were gone, numerous minor strings of divine prohibitions had formed inside the beam, shining brightly as they tumbled within the pillar, occasionally linking up with neighboring strings.

Qinghu sat outside the pillar of light, gazing at it in deep thought for over half a day before summoning Lingxu back.

"We're short on divine energy."

"I only have less than a thousand divine crystals left. This is my absolute last reserve of divine crystals," Lingxu said through clenched teeth.

"Do you still remember what your original core divine prohibitions looked like?" Qinghu asked.

"I remember."

"Transmit them to me," Qinghu said.

Lingxu simply duplicated a set of his core memories, directly copying them into a small block of divine crystal.

Taking the divine crystal block and reviewing the memories once more, Qinghu remarked, "This set of core divine prohibitions you put together isn't bad, but without a massive amount of divine metal, I have no way to fully restore it. How about this: I'll make minor repairs for you first.

I can restore your ability to absorb divine energy from outer space a little bit. Is that acceptable?"

"Is it really impossible?"

"You are the spirit of the divine city yourself; divine prohibitions are intimately familiar to you, so what do you think?" Qinghu thought to herself, Don't make me want to hit someone here. That core divine prohibition of yours requires a massive amount of divine energy to restore.

In any case, I am certainly not going to supply that energy for you!

Upon hearing this, Lingxu cast a pitiful, pained, and headache-inducing gaze toward his own stone sphere, which was currently resting on Qinghu's low couch.

Qinghu: "..."

"Of course, once you've accumulated enough divine energy on your own, you can come find me. I promise I'll make a free move to restore your core divine prohibitions once."

Hearing this, Lingxu finally felt a sense of balance in his heart, feeling that he hadn't given away the fruit of the earth entirely for nothing.

Seeing Lingxu nod in agreement, Qinghu once again beckoned to the minor strings of divine prohibitions. The strings she summoned this time were rather special—they were ones she had specifically selected—and she began splicing, dismantling, and merging them. During this process, Lingxu also produced a massive quantity of divine crystals, continuously feeding them in under Qinghu's guidance, which finally allowed the minor strings to be smoothly manipulated by Qinghu.

Small strings transformed into large strings, and large strings were linked together into three-dimensional divine prohibition graphics.

Finally, these small graphics were linked and threaded together by Qinghu into a single grand divine prohibition.

The moment the final rune string of this divine prohibition was connected—

It immediately stirred up wave upon wave of divine majesty.

The shockwaves caused the entire stone hall to buzz audibly.

Lingxu stared at this three-dimensional grand divine prohibition with a mixture of excitement and pleasant surprise.

"I'm going to send this right in now. Do you have any objections? If not, my work is done," Qinghu said, tilting her head.

"None at all. Your Majesty, you are truly amazing," Lingxu said. The divine crystals in Lingxu's hands were now reduced to just a few dozen, but fortunately, Qinghu had finished the job.

Besides, divine prohibitions were the trickiest part; ordinary deities simply couldn't handle the core divine prohibitions of a divine city. They were far too complex.

"You should have nine large-scale three-dimensional core divine prohibition diagrams. I've restored one for you now, and I still owe you two. Once you've stocked up on your divine energy reserves, contact me again." Qinghu pushed the three-dimensional divine prohibition into the beam of light, watching as the prohibition slowly resumed its floating motion within the pillar.

Various points of light were drawn in like a tidal wave from the Nameless Realm.

The divine energy within the pillar, which had previously dropped to its lowest ebb, quietly increased by a modest amount. While it didn't look like much right now, over a long period of time, it would still accumulate a quite substantial amount of divine energy.

Lingxu was thoroughly satisfied with Qinghu's work, and at the same time shared his arrangements for Qingjin and Qingzhen.

Qingjin had been sent by Lingxu to study a set of sword technique secret skills.

Qingzhen had been sent to study a set of saber technique secret skills.

Both of them were currently immersed in arduous study and research.

"Once they have finished studying their secret skills, I will transfer them to the secret treasury and allow them to take away one treasure each."

"Very well, let them study first. Can you find me a suitable place to enter seclusion? I also need to refine my physical body further."

"Yes, yes, Your Majesty, please follow me."

Qinghu thought to herself that this fellow Lingxu operated purely on utility—whenever he needed help it was "Your Majesty," and whenever he didn't, it was just "you."

Nonetheless, Qinghu followed him to the secluded chamber.

By now, Qinghu had already acquired a sufficient quantity of divine fluid and divine crystals, alongside swallowing quite a few earth-pith pearls and earth-system spiritual herbs.

Although the majority of those earth-pith pearls and earth-system spiritual herbs had been consumed by her to extract divine metals and spiritual metals,

she hadn't extracted every single particle of spiritual metal from the entire underground palace after all, ultimately saving a portion of the earth-pith pearls and all of the earth-system spiritual herbs.