Ascending, Do Not Disturb

Chapter 71: Universal Paired Cultivation

Kong Hou put her hand in Huan Zhong’s hand. This hand was large, and when the warm fingers closed, they would cover her hand completely. “Did you not just say that there will not be any problems temporarily?”

“Just temporarily,” Huan Zhong said. “The secret realm can change instantly, and one wrong step could cause any injury.” Gripping Kong Hou’s hand, Huan Zhong took a step forward. “How is your skill at formations?”

“Just learned the beginning; I am still memorizing the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams map. I have never made a formation on my own.” Kong Hou coordinated Huan Zhong’s steps. Huan Zhong’s legs were long, but he did not walk quickly. She could perfectly match his steps.

“Formations are not like other skills; it is better to learn slowly. “Just as he finished, Huan Zhong brandished the Dragon Roar Sword in his hand. A strange black bird fell from the sky, the body and head separated by the sword energy. Kong Hou peeked at this bird and found that the bird had two pairs of wings.

Stepping on the ground covered in dried leaves and tree branches which crackled, Kong Hou glanced at the small stream where flowers floated. Her index finger scratched in Huan Zhong’s palm. “Huan Zhong, this stream is strange.”

There were no flower trees nearby, which meant the flower petals had fallen into the water from upstream. However, as the water flowed, some flowers would land on the shore or turn color in the water. Yet there were no flower petals lingering by the shores of the stream. The petals were all vibrantly colored and had not been soaked in water as they floated on the surface.

Huan Zhong stopped and looked at Kong Hou with appreciation. “Sometimes, beautiful scenery is a dangerous trap.” The Dragon Roar Sword gave off a bright light in his hand. He swung, and a gale carried up dried leaves. The stream did not flow at all.

Kong Hou blinked. When she looked at the stream again, she found this was not a small stream, but a seemingly bottomless valley. If one was accidentally attracted by the beautiful scenery and stepped into the stream, even if they did not trip and become crippled, they would be bruised. That would destroy their beauty.

When the master of the secret realm left behind this secret realm, they must have spent some effort.

Feeling a chill run down her spine, Kong Hou grabbed Huan Zhong’s sleeve. “Huan Zhong, what is actually real in here?”

“Sometimes, your eyes will fool you, but your heart will not.” Huan Zhong pulled Kong Hou to fly over the canyon. “What is false can never become true; if one observes closely, they will find the hints. Also, the master of this secret realm does not want people to die; they wanted to exercise the cultivators who came here, so every illusion will have a weakness.”

“It seems that the original master of the secret realm was a good person.” After Huan Zhong’s reminder, Kong Hou started to seriously observe the surroundings. She quickly found that at the fork in the path up ahead, the path to the north was true, and the one to the west was false.

“The cultivators who are able to leave behind a secret realm in Lingyou World are all great powers who can ascend. The moment they ascend, they hope that more of their juniors can ascend.” Huan Zhong looked around. “The worldly treasures in the secret realm are the gift of elders to their juniors.”

The cultivation manuals passed down in the major sects were cultivation experiences accumulated over generations of great powers. They had been added to and edited hundreds of times. This was the valuable wealth that elders left behind.

“I understand.” Kong Hou nodded. “Just like after someone gets rich, they will help their fellow villagers.”

Huan Zhong: “…”

This analogy did not seem to be incorrect.

“I wonder where Elder Lin has been sent to.” Kong Hou and Huan Zhong chose the correct path. She continued to look around, wanting to find traces of the Cloud Seeking Tree. Pavilion Master Sun found the Cloud Seeking Tree in the perimeter of the secret realm. Would the Cloud Seeking Tree still be in the perimeter?

“Lin Hu has the bloodline of ancient yao. The secret realm will not allow him to be together with us.” The master of this secret realm must have been a great power from several thousand years ago. The yao cultivators of that time did not have a good relationship with human cultivators and they would frequently have conflicts.

The secret realm possessed a consciousness left behind by its master, and so it maintained the habits of several thousand years ago. So when Lin Hu was transported in, he would likely be transported alone to a certain place.

“So the secret realm is pushing out Elder Lin?” Kong Hou had never felt there was any use to Lin Hu’s almost imperceptible yao bloodline. Now, she knew, it could be used for being pushed out.

“Do not worry about him. He has great cultivation, has lived a long time, and has seen many things. Nothing will happen to him.” Huan Zhong suddenly pushed his sword through a black snake that shot out from the grass. “Pay attention so you will not be injured.”

“That..” Kong Hou looked at her hand which was being held. “Since there are not any fatal dangers, there should not be any problems.” It should not be convenient for him to hold her hand like this.

“While there are no fatal dangers, if you are careless, you cannot avoid injury.” Huan Zhong watched as the black snake turned into nothingness, his gaze becoming harsh. “If your eyes or face is wounded, it would be very difficult to heal.”

Wound to the face…

Kong Hou obediently walked next to Huan Zhong, and said sincerely, “Huan Zhong, it is fortunate you and I were transported to the same place.”

Huan Zhong stopped and looked sideways at her. Within his sight, Kong Hou smiled, her eyes curving and her face fair-skinned and extremely pretty.

Kong Hou tilted her head and looked at Huan Zhong’s good-looking eyes. She felt that Huan Zhong’s hand which held her own was exceptionally warm, so warm it was hot.

The two searched around the surroundings and found no traces of the Cloud Seeking Tree. The sky gradually darkened. The secret realm would also have a sun and moon, clouds, mist, rain and snow. It was like another world.

“There is still a month. We can proceed slowly; there is no rush.” Huan Zhong stopped and set up a boundary. “Let’s first rest here tonight.”

This place was wide and suitable for rest.

“All right.” Kong Hou took out two soft cushions from her storage ring. She handed one to Huan Zhong and threw the other to the ground before sitting cross-legged on it. Some small fingernail-sized red flowers were blooming by her feet. Kong Hou moved her cushion closer to Huan Zhong to avoid crushing them.

As Huan Zhong noticed her movement, his brow turned gentle. He took out some food to put on the table, and admired the flowers with Kong Hou as they ate. Not far from them, some spirit grasses grew, but they did not touch the grasses.

The spirit grasses swayed in the wind, swayed again, but could not attract the attention of the pair.

After eating, Kong Hou felt the spirit energy density here was high. It would be a waste not to meditate here, so she pulled Huan Zhong to meditate together. The pitiful spirit grasses swayed like fish swimming in water, the straight leaves turning into waves, but none of the pair even looked over.

Spirit energy gathered from all directions, surrounding Kong Hou and Huan Zhong and slowly permeating into their bodies. Maybe because the two both had pentad spirit bases, when they sat together, their draw of spirit energy was exceptionally great. Soon, the two of them were almost shrouded in spirit energy so dense it was tangible.

Kong Hou could feel the spirit energy circulating inside her body. Other than the spirit energy that her own body had refined, there was another wave of spirit energy helping her cleanse her meridians. This stream of spirit energy was extremely strong but it did not go everywhere through her body. It followed her own spirit energy and slowly circulated through her body.

With this unfamiliar spirit energy, her body absorbed spirit energy so quickly that Kong Hou felt as though she was going mad.

When she opened her eyes again, the sun was hanging high in the sky. She turned to looked at Huan Zhong. It may have just been her illusion, but she felt that Huan Zhong’s complexion looked much better today.

Huan Zhong slowly opened his eyes and met Kong Hou’s gaze.

Yesterday night, due to coincidence, he and Kong Hou had performed an universal paired cultivation. Universal paired cultivation required harmony of the heavens, earth, and people. Two people possessing opportunity would sit together and very possibly cause the compounding of spirit energy. Each other’s spirit energy would circulate in both people’s meridians, and cultivation would advance much faster and easier.

Universal paired cultivation was different from the paired cultivation of men and women. The conditions were strict, and the number of cultivators who would have this opportunity was small. Many cultivators, in their entire life, would not encounter the person they had such a fate with. So the cultivation world did not mention this type of paired cultivation. The most frequently seen paired cultivation was primarily between couples.

Touching his spirit platform which did not emit any pain today, Huan Zhong’s gaze was complex. He had not expected that between him and Kong Hou there would also be this kind of karma.

“Huan Zhong, what happened?” Kong Hou stretched her arms, kicked her legs, and felt that this meditation had been very comfortable.

“This is the universal paired cultivation,” Huan Zhong said. “I had not expected this at all.”

“Universal paired cultivation?” Kong Hou had once heard of this kind of cultivation method from Eldest Shixiong, but Eldest Shixiong said that this kind of cultivation was a matter of chance. Cultivators that could be mutually compatible and could draw world spirit energy were hard to find.

Hard to find… was just this easy?

“Maybe the secret realm’s spirit energy is so dense?” Kong Hou looked at Huan Zhong. “Let’s try again after leaving the spirit realm?”

“All right.” Huan Zhong nodded and once again stretched his hand out to Kong Hou after standing. “We should go look around.”

This time, Kong Hou did not ask him why. She directly put her hand in Huan Zhong’s palm. “We need to look—maybe the Cloud Seeking Tree is in the surroundings?”

“After walking a few steps, Kong Hou found the small herbs had produced very cute red fruits. She stopped and asked, “What kind of grass is this?”

“The rumors say that this is a kind of grass that can uproot itself from the soil and move to a place it likes before putting down roots and growing.” Huan Zhong pointed at the small sprouts. “I’ve seen this kind of grass in books before; it seems to be called…”

“Ah!” A sharp shriek came from afar. The voice sounded like Ling Bo’s.

Kong Hou bent down and dug out the grasses with their soil and roots. She put them in her storage ring. “Huan Zhong, is this voice real or did the secret realm create it?”

“Come with me.” Huan Zhong looked into the sky above the source of the scream. Spirit energy and yao energy were mixed together. Someone was fighting in the woods over there.

Kong Hou walked into the woods. She saw Ling Bo holding her lifebond sword, with unwiped blood on her face. She was protecting a woman behind her who was in a disheveled state.

The girl being protected seemed to be called… Jin Ling?

There were a dozen strange black birds surrounding them that appeared likely to eat them at any moment.

The battle would start at any moment.

“Do not step on my dress.” Ling Bo pulled on her dress. “This is the newest style.”