Chapter 23: Nine Bends of the Yellow Spring
"This guy has always been smart, why has he become stupid now? Doesn't he know that he is being followed?"

Seeing his cheap junior brother escaping to the deserted mountains through the mirror in front of him, Li Qingque frowned, and finally sighed, and his figure flashed and appeared in mid-air.

brush!
"Senior sister, please save me!"

Sensing the aura of his senior sister, Zhang Qian appeared immediately.

"Humph, you still have the nerve to tell me what I told you before!"

"Please don't be angry, Senior Sister. Although I was wrong in this matter, I have my reasons. I heard the sound of stringed instruments and went to take a look out of curiosity. Who could have imagined that there was such a scene in the palace?"

"Humph! You just stand aside!"

Zhang Qian came behind his senior sister somewhat awkwardly.

hum!
At this moment, Shui Tianyi, dressed in white, appeared with his apprentice Lan Youzhu.

"It's you! I thought so."

When Shui Tian saw Li Qingque, her pupils suddenly shrank, and the stunning charm between her brows bloomed involuntarily. Zhang Qian kept his eyes on her, and felt that the woman in front of him exuded a kind of captivating charm. She looked beautiful in every way, and it seemed that this woman was flawless. Fortunately, Zhang Qian's mind was extremely strong, and he came to his senses in a flash, so as not to make a fool of himself.

This made Shui Tianyi and Li Qingque look at him with a higher opinion.

"My junior fellow apprentice is not without merits. It is not easy for him to wake up from the seductive spell of this vixen. When ordinary people are faced with Shui Tianyi's stunning seductive spell, they are all infatuated and obey her every word in an instant."

Li Qingque felt a little more satisfied with Zhang Qian, and his eyes towards Zhang Qian became softer.

However, Shui Tianyi was slightly surprised. In her opinion, Zhang Qian was just a small spiritual cultivator. There were countless such cultivators in their sect, and she did not take him seriously at all. Unexpectedly, Zhang Qian could wake up from her charm in an instant.

The origin of Shui Tianyi is not simple. Although she is a human, she has the blood of the mermaid. The mermaids are a clan of ancient mythical beasts among the demon race. Legend has it that this clan was created by the creator Emperor Xi himself. There is no man in this clan, all of them are beautiful female mermaids. The outside world has no idea how they reproduce. It is extremely mysterious and can be regarded as a legendary clan.

Shui Tianyi is a mixed-blood of two tribes. She inherited all the talents of the mermaid tribe. Her every frown and smile is full of stunning charm. Most people would obey her orders immediately with just a wink from her.

"Who do I think it is, Li Qingque? Are you from the Sword Gourd Palace also interested in the Nine-bend Yellow Spring Map? Aren't you afraid of revenge from the Yellow Spring Demon Sect? Your Demon Refining Island is currently being supported by only you. If anything happens to you, the Demon Refining Island will probably cease to exist, right?"

Shui Tian turned her eyes and looked at Li Qingque.

"Hmph, Shui Tianyi, you guys at Xinghai Divine Sword Pavilion are the same. My Demon Refining Island and the Yellow Spring Demon Sect have a deep hatred. You are also aware of the case between the Yellow Spring Demon Sect and the entire Xingyun Province. The Nine-bend Yellow Spring Map is the lost treasure of the Yellow Spring Demon Sect. Now it is about to appear in the world. How can I let it fall into the hands of the Yellow Spring Demon Sect? During the war, you guys at Xinghai Divine Sword Pavilion pretended to obey and did not put in any effort. What? You want to covet the Nine-bend Yellow Spring Map now?"

"Haha, a treasure like the Nine-bend Yellow Spring Map is now ownerless, so whoever gets it will own it. The Yellow Spring Demon Sect seems to hate your Sword Gourd Palace the most right now, right? Especially the Demon Refining Island, which fought to the death with the Yellow Spring Demon Sect back then. You came here alone, aren't you afraid that the Yellow Spring Demon Sect will set a trap for you?"

Li Qingque looked cold and said, "What's so scary? I'll kill as many as you come!"

"Tsk tsk, you are really bold. The sects behind you and me belong to the same lineage of the Ancient Heavenly Sword Sect, one of the four eternal sword sects in Xingyun Province. We should be of the same blood. Since both of us are after the Nine Bends Yellow Spring Map, we should just use our own means to snatch it."

"That's good. I hope you can keep your word."

"Okay, let's stop talking about this. The kid next to you is so handsome. Is he your new disciple? Congratulations. After so many years, you have finally gotten over the shadow in your heart and started to accept disciples."

Shui Tianyi looked at Zhang Qian with an amused look on his face.

Zhang Qian's expression remained unchanged. He just looked at Shui Tianyi with a smile. His eyes swept over Shui Tianyi's body unscrupulously, and he called him a monster in his heart.

"You are wrong, he is not my apprentice, but my junior fellow apprentice."

"what!"

Hearing this, Shui Tianyi's eyes flashed, and he felt that Li Qingque was simply crazy. In his opinion, although Zhang Qian's intelligence was innate and he had good qualifications for cultivation, he was not qualified to be Li Qingque's junior brother.

"Interesting. You are not afraid of being criticized for doing this. I know that many people in Jianhu Palace are very dissatisfied with your Demon Refining Island. Are you doing this now to break up with those people?"

"I have my own ideas." "Humph, I don't care. You, my junior brother, were caught peeping at my disciple bathing. Don't you want to say something?"

Speaking of this, Lan Youzhu, who was behind Shui Tianyi, blushed, tugged at his master's sleeve, and said softly: "Master, you...what are you talking about!"

Li Qingque frowned, and after a while he said, "My junior brother is a little frivolous, but he has no bad intentions. This time the fault lies with him. I promise you that if he can become a great power one day, he can help your disciple do something for free."

Shui Tian's eyes lit up: "Really? That's what you said, I'll take note of it!"

"Hey...wait, Senior Sister..."

Zhang Qian was a little dumbfounded.

"you shut up!"

Li Qingque glared at him. Shui Tianyi looked at Zhang Qian with amusement, nodded at Li Qingque, smiled lightly, and turned away with his disciple.

"This time, it's thanks to Shui Tianyi's help, otherwise you would have been exposed long ago. My archenemy is from the Huangquan Demon Sect and is now hiding in the capital. If it weren't for Shui Tianyi, do you think you could have come back safely?"

Hearing this, Zhang Qian frowned. He didn't expect there was such a trick in it.

"Senior sister, please don't lie to me. I thought your archenemy was Shui Tianyi."

Li Qingque shook his head: "She? She is the elder of Xinghai Divine Sword Pavilion, and also a great master who has cultivated the Dharma Image. Although I have some disagreements with her, after all, our Jianhu Palace, Xinghai Divine Sword Pavilion, Chisong Mountain, and Cangjian Cave all originated from the ancient Tianjian Sect. We are of the same origin and have some friendship with each other. Most of the conflicts we have are put out in the open."

"So that's how it is. By the way, Senior Sister, you brought me here for the Nine Bends Yellow Spring Map? What kind of treasure is this? Senior Sister, do you want to steal it?"

Li Qingque frowned, thought for a while and said directly: "It's okay to tell you. The Nine-bend Yellow Spring Map is one of the Yellow Spring Demon Sect's most precious treasures. The whereabouts of this treasure were unknown back then. It was because of this treasure that the Yellow Spring Demon Sect has been much more honest in Xingyun Province over the years. This treasure must not fall into the hands of the Yellow Spring Demon Sect. No matter how much it costs, I will stop them."

Zhang Qian frowned slightly. He didn't expect that his senior sister was so loyal to Jianhu Palace.

Rolling his eyes, Zhang Qianyan said, "Sister, you are the only one supporting our Demon Refining Island now. Since you are determined to revitalize the Demon Refining Island and fulfill Master's last wish, how can you risk your life in a fit of rage? Without you, how can the Demon Refining Island continue to exist? Besides, since the Yellow Springs Demon Sect is so powerful, it is not just our Sword Gourd Palace Demon Refining Island's business to fight against it. We should unite all forces. Don't take it too seriously. You might as well improve your cultivation with this time. If you can achieve the immortal soul, then everything will become simple, whether it is fighting against the Yellow Springs Demon Sect or revitalizing the Demon Refining Island, it will become much easier. Don't you think so?"

As these days went by, Zhang Qian gradually began to treat his beautiful senior sister as his own. He didn't want to see his senior sister risking her life. Besides, the name of that damn Nine-Bend Yellow Spring Map sounded very loud and powerful, but Zhang Qian didn't think much of it.

Li Qingque felt warm in her heart. For so many years, she had been struggling to support the Demon Refining Island alone. On the one hand, she had to secretly fight against the Yellow Spring Demon Sect, and on the other hand, she had to guard against the treacherous situations in the sects. Now someone cared about her, and for the first time, she felt that Zhang Qian was so pleasing to the eye.

After thinking about it carefully, he realized that what Zhang Qian said made a lot of sense, and he felt a little upset for a moment.

"What you said makes sense, but... the present is different from the past. It may not be easy to unite all forces. Besides, refining the primordial spirit is not as simple as it sounds. All the cultivators in the world want to do in their lifetime is to refine the primordial spirit and achieve immortality, but how many people can really achieve it?

Now that I accept you as my disciple, I think this is a very inappropriate move. You'd better improve your cultivation while there is still time. Otherwise, when you return to Jianhu Palace, someone will definitely make things difficult for you, and there will be a fight, so you have to be prepared."

Li Qingque seemed a little worried. She accepted Zhang Qian as her junior brother on impulse. After hearing what Shui Tian said today, Li Qingque realized that she was a little impulsive. However, now that things have come to this, she has no room for regret.

Zhang Qian smiled slightly: "Sister, your talent and understanding are all amazing. It should be a matter of time before you achieve the Yuanshen. And don't worry, sister, I also know the importance of cultivation. Since I have embarked on the path of cultivation, I naturally want to achieve a Dao fruit. What you are worried about is not unreasonable. When I return to Jianhu Palace, I will not be underestimated, let alone let you lose face. However, I still need you to give me some elixirs to improve the strength of my physical body, so that my cultivation can also advance by leaps and bounds."

Zhang Qian was not talking nonsense. You should know that what is limiting his cultivation now is not the realm barrier, but his need for spiritual energy and the limitation of his physical strength.

If Zhang Qian took an elixir containing infinite spiritual energy, he could break through one realm after another without any bottleneck and reach the realm of immortality. However, his body would not be able to withstand it and would explode into a bloody mist.

He is now very clear that what is limiting the rapid improvement of his cultivation is the strength of his physical body. Although he has the blood of the ancient dragon loach, to be honest, his blood is not strong. After all, it is only a drop of essence and blood that evolved into blood, which is extremely thin, and his physical body is not that strong.

As long as his body can withstand the impact of spiritual energy and his strength is increased, he doesn't have to worry about the bottleneck of his realm. As long as he eats a lot of pills, he can improve unscrupulously.

"Don't talk nonsense. For cultivators like me, the most important thing is to comprehend the realm. Without the corresponding realm, even if your body is strong enough to withstand the impact of spiritual energy, taking the pill will only be a waste and will not have any effect."

Li Qingque didn't believe Zhang Qian's words. Zhang Qian curled his lips, not knowing how to explain it.

(End of this chapter)