Chapter 152: The Plate

Xinghuazhai was an eatery with a very down-to-earth name and an equally down-to-earth menu.

The place was bustling with a constant stream of coming and going customers.

The proprietor was a plump, middle-aged man. As soon as he spotted them, he took the initiative to guide them into a private dining room.

The private room was quite spacious, feeling a bit empty for just five people.

However, every single serving dish here was enormous, piled high with heaps of meat and vegetables, which instantly stirred up a deep sense of nostalgia in Qing Xiaohu—cough, cough, she meant fond memories of her own dining table back home.

"Oh my, I wonder what Mother is doing right now?"

"Are you missing Mother?" Qing Zhen asked.

"Mm-hmm."

"I miss her too."

"You two are enough. We'll be heading back soon, so don't provoke me," Qing Jin said with a tone of feigned annoyance, though truth be told, he missed her as well. Having spent years tempering himself out in the world, he still possessed some self-restraint. "Father probably has Panlong City running in tip-top shape."

Qing Hu and Qing Zhen immediately turned to stare at him in unison. Very well, you claim you weren't missing Mother, but clearly, you were thinking about Father.

"Ahem, ahem. What are you looking at me for? Eat your food," Qing Jin said defensively.

"If you hadn't brought up Father, why would we look at you?" Qing Zhen retorted with dissatisfaction.

"Are you asking for a beating?" Qing Jin's expression shifted.

Heh heh heh, Qing Hu chuckled softly.

"What are you laughing at? Hurry up and eat," Qing Jin urged.

Ning Qi and Xie Wu both pressed their lips together into quiet smiles. Compared to the two of them, who had been adventuring in the pugilistic world since childhood, the three Shen siblings were delicate little flowers nurtured in a greenhouse.

Aside from Qing Jin, who had undergone a modest amount of tempering, the rest of them had previously never experienced the harsh beatings of society in the slightest.

The three siblings, along with Senior Sister and Junior Brother Ning Qi, immediately dove back into quickly devouring this grand feast, especially since Qing Jin was footing the bill this time. As they were eating away, Qing Zhen suddenly stiffened. The magic power within his body began to circulate automatically, picking up speed rapidly.

A faint spiritual glow of magic power even began to seep out through his skin.

Both Qing Jin and Qing Hu were momentarily dumbfounded.

"Fourth Brother, is he about to break through?"

Qing Jin maintained a solemn expression. "Although the timing and location are a bit unorthodox, it seems your Fourth Brother really is about to break through."

"Well, that's fine too. Shall we keep eating, and maybe order him a late-night snack for after he's done?" Qing Hu asked, tilting her head with her chopsticks in hand.

"That works. Prepare some higher-grade turtle essence pills for him as well," Qing Jin instructed.

"Will do," Qing Hu agreed instantly. Were turtle essence pills even worth mentioning?

After finishing their meal, the two siblings, along with Ning Qi and Xie Wu, cleared off the table and called the proprietor to tidy up.

Just having a meal and stumbling upon Qing Zhen's breakthrough left Ning Qi and Xie Wu consumed with envy.

"My younger brother happened to break through right at this moment, so I must apologize. We will need to occupy this room for a little longer. Once my brother finishes his breakthrough, we'll leave," Qing Jin offered proactively when the proprietor arrived.

"No trouble at all, no trouble at all. Please feel free to use the room as long as you need. Just call me if you need anything," the plump, middle-aged proprietor said warmly and politely. "I'll instruct the other guests not to disturb your side."

A breakthrough was a major event, and the proprietor could certainly understand their situation.

"Many thanks, truly thanks. Also, would it be possible to prepare a late-night meal for five? My brother broke through before he could finish eating, so he'll probably be famished once he's done," Qing Jin asked with a polite and humble tone.

"No problem at all, that's not difficult. Shall we serve the same dishes as before?" the proprietor asked again.

"Precisely."

"It's settled then. Whenever you need it, just give us a shout. We don't close for the night here," the plump proprietor said with a smile.

Hearing this, Qing Jin felt that his younger brother still possessed a certain amount of good fortune. With this sudden breakthrough, and the eatery staying open all night, his brother would still be able to enjoy hot food right after breaking through. For a little foodie like Qing Zhen, this was probably the ultimate reward.

Qing Zhen's breakthrough this time took a full two hours.

He had reached the eighth layer of Qi Refining.

Having left home only a few months ago, he had leaped straight from the sixth layer of Qi Refining to the eighth, a progression that could be considered quite astonishing. However, compared to their younger sister—who had soared directly from the fourth layer of Qi Refining to the seventh—or their eldest brother, who had leaped from the eighth layer of Qi Refining to the tenth, Qing Zhen found it impossible to act proud.

"The span from the seventh to the eighth layer of Qi Refining is a major hurdle. Many cultivators require decades of effort just to achieve a breakthrough. It's correct of you to treat this with a calm mind rather than arrogance," Qing Jin said, immensely pleased that his younger brother hadn't gotten carried away into the clouds upon reaching the eighth layer.

He had thought his brother was finally maturing.

In truth, Qing Zhen's mood had plummeted the moment he thought of his elder brother and younger sister.

"Once we get back, I'm going to eat a lot more Blue Beauty Clams!" Qing Zhen declared with a fierce expression while chowing down on his late-night snack.

"Why? You've eaten plenty of them before. If you eat any more, are you planning to stop eating everything else and subsist entirely on Blue Beauty Clams? No matter how delicious clam meat is, you'll get sick of it if you eat too much," Qing Hu asked hurriedly.

The expression on Qing Zhen's face stiffened slightly. "It's just that I still feel my foundation is somewhat lacking. This breakthrough felt quite arduous. I didn't get that smooth, single-effort momentum; when pushing my magic power, it felt exceptionally strenuous."

Hearing this, Ning Qi and Xie Wu wanted to strike him. Their own breakthroughs to the eighth layer of Qi Refining had been infinitely more difficult than his.

"That probably isn't a flaw in your foundation, but rather that your meridians weren't fully developed when you were young. You've refined the Flood Dragon Pearl, and dragon pearls inherently carry the effect of body-tempering. They can make up for your congenital deficiencies, widen your meridians and dantian, and stimulate the hematopoietic capacity of your bone marrow.

"The only downside is probably that it will be even harder for you to break through in the future."

With your dantian expanded, ordinary resources simply won't be enough to level you up, you know, Qing Hu thought with a touch of gloating Schadenfreude.

Qing Hu's words once again drew side-eye glances from Ning Qi and Xie Wu. The Flood Dragon Pearl—the key was the Flood Dragon Pearl!!

Upon hearing this, Qing Zhen nodded immediately. "I have indeed been refining that wind-type Flood Dragon Pearl recently. Although the refinement is rather slow, the effects are genuinely remarkable. My breakthrough happening so swiftly this time is most likely due to the effects of refining the Flood Dragon Pearl.

"Aside from the Flood Dragon Pearl, I also obtained a Wind Sovereign Pearl, which is a wind-type heavenly and earthly spiritual treasure. If I refine that, it might even cause my wind spiritual roots to undergo a metamorphosis, or perhaps even awaken a divine ability for me."

"Save it for later. No matter how good an item is, without a proper physical body, it's all nonsense," Qing Hu said earnestly to her fourth brother. "Fourth Brother, you must remember, whether you're becoming a god or an immortal, without a physical body, it's all just child's play. Lacking a physique, relying solely on a spiritual body, you can easily be snuffed out by anyone.

"Don't look at them as if they possess formidable might; in reality, they are all glass cannons. A single heavy strike is guaranteed to strip away half their lives!!

"Lame immortals and gods like that aren't worth having."

Qing Zhen immediately asked in astonishment, "Is a physical body really that miraculous?"

"Of course. As people often say, the physical body is the precious raft that ferries one across to the other shore! That is to say, only with the bolstering of a physical body can you progress rapidly, not to mention the absolute protection a physical body affords the soul. Among immortals, a physical body is called an Immortal Physique; among gods, it is called a Divine Corpse. If you become an immortal or a god without a physical body, then you can just slowly endure the passing eons—condensing an Immortal Physique or Divine Corpse takes at least tens of thousands of years."

Of course, if you had prepared a massive stockpile of resources beforehand, much like herself, you could shorten the condensation time somewhat.

"How do you know about all these things?" Qing Zhen asked, puzzled. "You don't usually go wandering around outside aimlessly, do you?"

"But I do go browse bookstores. When I was browsing bookstores in Undefinable City, I even ran into Eldest Brother. But I never ran into you."

Qing Zhen felt deeply ashamed and offered a guilty, dry laugh, thinking to himself not to bring up studying around him.

Qing Jin figured he had also reaped a harvest of his own in Undefinable City, so he didn't press the matter further.

In truth, even if Qing Hu had encountered some other fortuitous encounters, he wouldn't have found it strange. He himself had experienced similar opportunities—such as entering the underwater Dao arena within their own territory.

"Come to think of it, Qing Zhen, you really don't love reading enough. Still, what Qing Hu said is right; our foundation is indeed ourselves. Both the soul and the physical body are extremely important. Unless it's a matter of life and death, do not carelessly discard either."

Hearing this, Qing Hu felt a strong sense of resonance. She had been forced to abandon her divine corpse, and dammit, ever since she came out, she had met with misfortune at every turn.

In the end, her bad luck had even led her to drift into this unfamiliar realm.

Qing Zhen felt too guilty to discuss the topic any further.

Meanwhile, Ning Qi felt a wave of heartache. Although he had already reached Foundation Establishment, he felt that his lead in cultivation was already on the verge of being lost! Not to mention Qing Jin and Xie Wu, who were already at the tenth layer of Qi Refining and on the verge of breaking through.

Even those trailing behind, Qing Zhen and Qing Hu, were already at the eighth and seventh layers of Qi Refining respectively, and only a few months had passed since they set out!

The crucial part was that they had all obtained treasures in Undefinable City, managing to refine things like Flood Dragon Pearls and the like. He had gained some harvest as well, but upon hearing the names of their treasures—Flood Dragon Pearl, Wind Sovereign Pearl—he felt that his own little gains paled in comparison.

"Qing Zhen, it won't be long before your cultivation surpasses mine, kid," Ning Qi said with a sour tone.

"Isn't that normal? You're only at the late stage of Foundation Establishment," Qing Zhen replied with a matter-of-fact tone.

A surge of anger flared up inside Ning Qi.

"Actually, Ning Kunlun's talent is also quite good, but for some reason, his cultivation started slowing down later on. His master even thought he had walked into a bottleneck period," Xie Wu explained to him. "I've heard that once a cultivator enters a bottleneck period, it delays the improvement of their cultivation. Unless they walk out of it on their own, it's very difficult to improve as rapidly as before."

"A bottleneck period is one aspect, but the other aspect is likely a lack of resources," Qing Xiaohu chimed in. "Before, I had nothing to eat and nothing to drink, and not a single treasure of heaven and earth. That's why my cultivation was particularly low and could never go up. But the moment I made a trip to Undefinable City, I harvested plenty of resources, and my cultivation naturally improved."

Ahem, ahem, ahem. Qing Zhen and Qing Jin burst into coughing fits simultaneously.

What do you mean by no resources? Why don't you mention how lazy you are?

"What are you two coughing for?" Xie Wu asked, puzzled.

"Qing Xiaohu's low cultivation previously wasn't because of anything else; it was entirely because she was too lazy and loved sleeping all day long. If Father, Mother, and us brothers hadn't kept an eye on her, she wouldn't even have reached the fourth layer of Qi Refining," Qing Zhen explained to Xie Wu.

Hearing this, Qing Xiaohu rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Xie Wu, however, burst into giggles that shook her frame, her beauty radiating through her smile.

After chatting and laughing, the group went out to stroll around for a short while into the night before returning to the camp.

Xie Wu and Ning Qi went off one after another to bond with their Black Nightmare Horses. Qing Hu and the others returned to sleep, as sleeping allowed her to grow faster.

When she woke up, it was already noon of the following day.

Qing Hu rubbed her eyes, barely managing to sit up and let Xiao Bai help her tidy up. "Why is it so noisy outside?"

"I heard the Gray Elephant Caravan announced that the speed for the upcoming stretch of the journey will be even faster, and they will be passing through much more dangerous terrain. Small caravans and independent travelers with subpar strength are advised to stay behind and wait to set out with other caravans taking the safe route.

"Those small caravans and independent travelers aren't willing. They still want to tag along. But the Gray Elephant people aren't having it.

"And so, an argument broke out.

"By now, the Gray Elephants have already cleared out over two hundred independent travelers and one small caravan."

Qing Xiaohu had little interest in whether the Gray Elephants were clearing out caravans or not. "Once my hair is done, have someone bring over lunch first. I'll eat before I go to work."

"You got it," Xiao Bai said with a smile.

Although one end of the camp remained boisterous and noisy, it didn't disturb Qing Hu in the least. Once she was fully fed and satiated, she began tinkering with her stone disk, first wiping away the haphazard and eerie lines carved all over its surface.

Then, she produced the divine gold tools she had refined and began chiseling.

Layer upon layer of divine patterns spread across the top, bottom, left, and right of the stone disk.

Once the carving was complete, Qing Hu began forming hand seals to drive the divine patterns down into the deeper layers. By the time she completely finished configuring the stone disk, night had fallen once again.

Qing Hu ate her dinner and simply left the stone disk suspended in mid-air while she went to sleep.

When she woke up early the next morning, a cluster of soft, silvery-white moonlight liquid had already condensed upon the stone disk. Moonlight was also a form of light-type divine energy, which, much like sunlight and starlight, was relatively easy to harvest. All these light-type divine energies could be absorbed by Qing Hu and transformed into her origin divine energy.

Not long after Qing Hu got up—before she even had breakfast—Pan Xiaoji arrived.

One look at a certain stone disk told Qing Hu why he was so enthusiastic and had come so early.

She had Xiao Bai invite him in, then pointed at the disk and said, "Look, that is the divine crystal collection disk."

As Pan Xiaoji gazed at the silvery-white liquid pulsing with a divine luster, he instantly recognized it as lunar essence. Ordinary lunar essence, while also a rare spiritual item, was fundamentally different from divine liquid. This disk was truly capable of condensing divine liquid. And if it could condense divine liquid and continue doing so, the end result would inevitably be divine crystals.

"Indeed, continue refining the divine liquid, and the end product will be divine crystals," Qing Hu said. It turned out that Pan Xiaoji had gotten a bit too excited and accidentally spoken his inner thoughts aloud. "I'll carve a disk for you guys to collect earth divine crystals on my way back."

"My Lord, our entire Gray Elephant clan will remember this immense kindness of yours. In the future, should you ever ask us to brave boiling water and tread on fire, we will not hesitate."

"Get up. If not for you guys, I wouldn't even know a place like the Ancient Stone Ruins existed. Let's go take a look first and see if that place is actually filled with this kind of stone material." If the stone material turned out to be no good, it wouldn't matter even if he knelt to her.

Qing Hu had agreed to carve a disk for them entirely for the sake of obtaining massive amounts of stone materials in return.

The Gray Elephant Caravan set off once again, and this time, independent travelers were entirely absent from the very rear of the convoy. Those human independent travelers had all rushed over to the human caravans to pay a fee and secure a seat on the wagons.

Considering they were all of the human race, Zhou Canghai couldn't bring himself to drive them all away.

They simply had to squeeze the others a bit tighter.

Even the wagon carrying Zhou Kang had now taken on two more female disciples from the Ancient Sacred Sect. The masters of these two female disciples shared a slight friendship with Zhou Kang. Consequently, the number of carriages belonging to the Ancient Sacred Sect dropped from seven to six, and the wagon they squeezed out was loaded with a dozen or so people, packed to the brim.

There were a dozen or so such squeezed-out wagons, almost bursting their carriages apart.

Among humans, the largest contingent by far belonged to the people of the Dao Court.

Since everyone was now in the same caravan, Xie Wu and Ning Qi were astonished to discover that Qi Dongxuan and Zhang Lijinhua were actually still alive.

Wei Dongting and the others were also present, but each of them had a group of people clustered around them, and the two factions practically refused to speak to each other. Their relationship was clearly strained.

Shao Kaiyun had also emerged, looking sickly all over and wearing an extremely gloomy expression.

"That Shao Kaiyun seems to have damaged his foundation; he's practically a废人 (废人 - a cripple / ruined person)." Xie Wu lifted the curtain of the carriage, observing those people in secret while speaking to her junior brother, Ning Kunlun.

"Then he's in for some bad luck. To be ruined within the Dao Court—it would be a miracle if those who were on bad terms with him didn't kick him while he's down," Ning Qi said with gloating amusement.

"I heard Shao Kaiyun has a very good relationship with Zhou Xiaochen. Do you think he'll be fine with Zhou Xiaochen looking out for him?" Xie Wu asked.

"No, that bastard Zhou Xiaochen isn't a good person at all. If he really is on good terms with Zhou Xiaochen, his days ahead might be even worse," Ning Qi's gaze narrowed as he spoke.

"Listening to your tone, you sound quite familiar with Zhou Xiaochen. Isn't Zhou Xiaochen a rising star within the Dao Court?" Xie Wu asked skeptically.

"That Zhou Xiaochen previously took a fancy to Shen Qing瑾, wanting to use him as his whetstone to temper his heart in the mortal world. As a result, I exposed his true identity and motives. Shen Qing瑾 broke ties with him right on the spot."

Hearing this, Xie Wu widened her eyes. "Is it that kind of tempering one's heart in the mortal world?"

"Yes, exactly that kind of tempering one's heart in the mortal world," Ning Qi affirmed with absolute certainty. "The kind where they approach you under the guise of friendship, then orchestrate disasters for your entire family, and while you struggle bitterly amidst hardship, they use it to temper their own willpower."

"Oh my, so it really is *that* kind of tempering the heart in the mortal world; how utterly despicable. I feel like the only thing comparable to the Dao Court's 'tempering the heart in the mortal world' is the Supreme Dao's 'slaying kin to sever emotions'."

Hearing this, Xie Wu felt a chill run straight up her spine. She felt as though she might also become one of those 'slain wives'.

"The people of the Supreme Dao are even weirder than us. Their 'slaying kin to sever emotions' later on led so many people to choose to kill wives they had lived with for years or even decades, just to sever ties and practice the Supreme Dao's arts. Because of that, nowadays more people refer to it as 'slaying the wife to prove the Dao'!!"

Upon hearing this, Xie Wu felt goosebumps break out across her back. She felt as if she too could become a wife marked for slaughter.

"The people of the Supreme Dao are too terrifying. In the future, when I look for a dao companion, I am strictly avoiding anyone from the Supreme Dao."

"People from the Supreme Dao usually search among mortals, and generally choose officials, military generals in the army, or titled nobility and the like. They rarely initiate cultivators with a foundation into the Supreme Dao," Ning Qi explained. "So you don't need to worry. As long as you don't casually find some mortal to be your dao companion, you shouldn't encounter anyone looking to slay their wife to prove the Dao."

"What kind of Supreme Dao is that? I think they should just call themselves the Emotion-Severing Dao," Xie Wu muttered disparagingly.

"To be honest, this Supreme Dao is even more bizarre than our Ancient Sacred Sect. To this day, no one knows where the mountain gates and Dao arenas of the Supreme Dao are actually located," Ning Qi said with a hint of wonder.

"Forget it, let's not talk about it. This sect is a bit sickening," Xie Wu said.

"Uh..."

Right at that moment, the first elephant of the Gray Elephant caravan began moving forward once again. The large and small caravans trailing behind hurriedly accelerated their packing and organizing speeds. They were about to move out as well.

Ever since Shen Qinghu distributed the divine crystals among the ten elephants, those ten elephants had only spent three days breaking through—while walking on the move, no less. Every single one of them had undergone a complete metamorphosis. Not only had their bloodlines been purified and their divine abilities strengthened, but their physiques had also far surpassed the other gray-haired elephants.

The difference between elephants that had completed their metamorphosis and ordinary elephants was simply that of an adult elephant compared to a newly born calf.

Moreover, their "Elephant Stomping" and "Gigantification" divine abilities no longer excessively consumed their origin energy; they could recover themselves in a very short time.

This led the Gray Elephant clansmen to simply put them back at the front of the convoy to pave the road.

Boom, boom, the elephants left a footprint with every step. When combined, numerous footprints formed a brand-new path.

The caravans in the rear quickly traversed the new elephant path, following the leading elephant team into the distance.

A few days later, just as the Gray Elephant Caravan entered the vicinity of a stretch of barren, barren mud hills, they encountered another fairly sizable caravan on the outer fringes. While the Gray Elephants traveled vertically, this caravan was cutting across horizontally.

However, both groups chose the exact same campsite.

It was the territory of a clan of Gold-Digging Beasts dwelling beneath this mountain range.

The Gold-Digging Beasts lived underground and refused to allow outsiders to enter their clan territory. Instead, they had directly excavated a spacious flat ground as a campsite on the outer fringes of the mountain range, dispatching their own clansmen to garrison the area and handle communications and trade with external caravans.

Pan Xiaoji and the proprietor of the opposing caravan each led a group of people to meet the person-in-charge of the Gold-Digging clan stationed here.

The local Gold-Digging representative was an elderly individual.

He looked reasonably spirited, though his back was slightly hunchbacked. His brows and eyes carried an expression of deep seniority.

However, his complexion was quite good, and his voice was robust and clear.

"If you want lodging, there's a campsite outside; set it up yourselves. Those who need food and clean water can come over and buy it. We will issue a mineral resource list to each caravan here; if you need anything, just speak up. The prices are all marked, non-negotiable. Take it or leave it."

Pan Xiaoji looked at the list in his hand and smiled wryly; these prices were simply too exorbitant.

The caravan proprietor on the other side was from the Flower Bear clan, sporting a shrewd expression. Naturally, the Flower Bear clan had always been exceptionally skilled in commerce.

After reviewing the mineral list without a word, that proprietor inquired about a list for food and clean water as well, and then departed with his people.

Pan Xiaoji had no intention of saying much either. Upon returning, he had people notify the large and small caravans in the rear that they would be staying in the barren hills for the next few days with no food or water provided, advising them to purchase supplies from the Gold-Digging tribe in advance. Additionally, the Gold-Digging tribe possessed certain mineral resources, and everyone could check the list if interested and make purchases on their own.

Pan Xiaoji had already made up his mind not to buy. Minerals could be found elsewhere in abundance and at cheaper prices, and more importantly, the space left in their various storage items was running thin. What if they picked up more valuable cargo later on? What would they throw out then?

Wouldn't they have to start by tossing out low-value, space-hogging minerals?

Since this trade wasn't cost-effective, he decided to give it up entirely.