Chapter 172: Is It Okay To Say That?

Xu Ziyang definitely wasn't asking out of personal interest.

It all began when he last emerged from closed-door cultivation. He'd broken through to the fifth realm, placing him above his peers. However, when he shared the news with his younger sister, Xu Ziqing, she wasn't as thrilled as he had imagined.

In the days that followed, Xu Ziyang noticed that his younger sister was depressed. He asked her what was wrong, but she wouldn't answer him. So, Xu Ziyang immediately sought out Fang Ting.

Before going into closed-door cultivation, Xu Ziyang had asked Fang Ting to look after his younger sister. However, when he emerged, his younger sister was unhappy, so he went to Fang Ting for answers.

Fang Ting was evasive about it, hemming and hawing as he surmised Xu Ziqing had probably run into some love problems during their mission at Southern Bastion Mountain.

Xu Ziyang instantly became enraged.

Love problems... Is it Lu Ren or Lin Bei? Neither of them seems like a good guy.

At that moment, Xu Ziyang touched the hilt of his sword, which he carried on his back. He had the urge to cut

something

down.

Fang Ting hurriedly said it wasn't either of the two that Xu Ziyang suspected and that Xu Ziqing had probably fallen for the kid from Silver Sword Peak. He then gave a brief recount of what had happened during their mission.

After hearing that, Xu Ziyang finally felt at ease.

Xu Ziqing had only encountered Chu Liang that one time, so even if she did fall for him, her feelings for him wouldn't be that deep. In any case, as disciples of the Jade Sword Peak, it would be best for them to maintain a distance from the disciples of Silver Sword Peak. Xu Ziyang decided then that he wouldn't interfere in this matter.

Xu Ziyang didn't know everything that had happened between Xu Ziqing and Chu Liang. Nevertheless, it was true that Xu Ziqing shouldn't have deep feelings for Chu Liang, as they'd only met a few times. What she felt toward him had probably been a mere crush, so it wasn't that she was heartbroken.

The real reason she had gotten upset was that Chu Liang had ignored her displays of affection. After they returned from Southern Bastion Mountain, she had attempted to show some goodwill to Chu Liang, only to be ruthlessly rejected.

Ever since she was a child, Xu Ziqing had been adored as everyone's beloved junior sister at Jade Sword Peak. Then when she got older, all of the men she encountered had always been eagerly attentive to her. Getting rejected for the first time made her question her existence.

It had been a mere crush initially, so even if Chu Liang had responded positively, it wouldn't necessarily have led to a romantic relationship. However, this rejection left Xu Ziqing so upset that she had trouble sleeping.

Many days passed by, and the young lady was finally in a better mood. However, Jiang Yuebai's lecture two days ago pulled Chu Liang into the limelight. This stirred up Xu Ziqing's feelings again and made Xu Ziyang realize how outstanding Chu Liang was.

Consequently, Xu Ziyang couldn't help but ponder about the possibility of his young sister getting together with Chu Liang.

He's Di Nufeng's disciple... and he comes from a family that's of a lower status than ours, but he is handsome, talented, and intelligent. He might not be a bad match.

He's Di Nufeng's disciple... yet he has managed to develop such a refined demeanor, indicating that he is a principled and incorruptible person. He truly is worthy of consideration.

He's Di Nufeng's disciple... yet he has managed to make such swift progress in cultivation, to the extent that he's already nearing the Golden Core Realm at such a young age. He can definitely be considered a genius.

With these thoughts in mind, Xu Ziyang expressed his gratitude to Chu Liang just so he could use it as an excuse to ask Chu Liang whether there was a girl he liked. If Chu Liang said there wasn't one, then Xu Ziyang intended to have Chu Liang date Xu Ziqing.

This was what Xu Ziyang was like; he always did things in a straightforward manner.

Chu Liang was stunned by Xu Ziyang's question.

Well, aren't you bold?

Chu Liang smiled awkwardly, keeping silent for a moment.

Then he said, "I haven't really thought about that."

Even if I did like someone, I wouldn't tell you. We're not close.

"I'll take that as a no." Xu Ziyang nodded upon hearing his desired response. "In that case, you could try dating my younger sister. She has a good impression of you. But... you need to mind your manners."

He just had to add that last part.

Huh?

Chu Liang thought. He suddenly realized,

He wants me to be his brother-in-law?

This was truly unexpected.

Lin Bei had warned Chu Liang before that Xu Ziyang had emerged from closed-door cultivation and might come looking for them because of his younger sister. However, Chu Liang hadn't expected Xu Ziyang to be this forward.

Promptly waving off the possibility of the relationship, Chu Liang said with a smile, "Senior Brother Xu, don't joke around. What qualifications do I have to date her? Besides, I'm devoted to revitalizing Mount Shu and pursuing the Great Dao. I have no time for romance."

Eh?

Xu Ziyang felt like he'd heard that before.

Isn't this what I said to my teacher after I came out from my closed-door cultivation? The response he gave me was...

Xu Ziyang told Chu Liang, "My teacher was the same. He spent his whole life revitalizing Shu Mountain, pursuing the Great Dao, and had no interest in romance. And now, he's old... Do you know how much he regrets it?!"

Chu Liang was astonished. "

Eh??

"

If what Xu Ziyang said gets out, the Mount Shu Sect might just make the headlines in the Uncommon Tales of the Martial World again.

"The head disciple of Mount Shu Sect's Jade Sword Peak reveals an explosive secret... 'Esteemed Teacher has great regrets about living his whole life as a bachelor...' The grand peak master is an old tree yearning for springtime..."

[1]

Is it okay for him to say all that?

...

After managing to brush Xu Ziyang off with a few words, Chu Liang let out a sigh of relief. Then he tidied up his things and hurried over to the Hall of Alchemy on Heaven-Reaching Peak.

Red Jade Flower Branch, Spirit Snake in Immortal Herb, Seven Veins Flower, Frosty Cloudleaf—these were all extremely high-grade spirit plants and were normally difficult to acquire. Yet, Chu Liang had presented so many of them at the same time. The attendants in charge of handling treasures of nature were stunned by this sight.

They couldn't imagine how a third-realm disciple could have acquired so many spirit plants. It had to have been due to an extraordinary stroke of luck.

Chu Liang just smiled mysteriously without explaining anything.

In the end, he sold the four treasures of nature for a little over ten thousand sword coins in total. With that many sword coins, he could easily buy another Golden-Furred Hou and still have plenty of sword coins remaining.

Even so, he'd actually sold the spirit plants at a very low price. If he'd sold them at Taotie Pavilion, the selling price would easily be double or triple that of what the Hall of Alchemy offered.

Nevertheless, that was just how it was with immortal sects. Likewise, if Chu Liang were to buy the ingredients he needed for forming his golden cores at Taotie Pavilion, the prices would likely be several times higher than if he were to buy them from his sect. In other words, there was no point fussing over the difference in selling price.

After making a small fortune, Chu Liang went straight to the Hall of Weapons and sought out Wen Yulong.

"Senior Brother Chu, you're back so soon. It seems everything must have gone smoothly on your trip. You're not far from reaching the Golden Core Realm," Wen Yulong said, greeting Chu Liang with a grin.

Chu Liang quickly rejected the flattery. "Oh, I dare not speak such bold words before the fact."

He sat down, took out the damaged Green Leaf, and handed it to Wen Yulong.

"Oh, dear..." Wen Yulong frowned deeply as soon as he saw the Green Leaf. "Why do you always let it get so damaged whenever you leave the mountain? And..."

He examined it for a moment and then asked, "Why is it damaged on the inside this time?"

"It got struck by lightning," Chu Liang answered, smiling embarrassedly.

He then told Wen Yulong about what had happened and how the Green Leaf had gotten damaged.

Wen Yulong had a heartbroken expression. "How could you use a defensive enchanted tool like that... But I have to say that I'm impressed. This enchanted tool I made is indeed amazing; it could even heavily injure a fourth-realm demonic beast."

"Indeed," Chu Liang agreed.

"Just leave this with me. The enchanted formation inscriptions inside the leaf are severely damaged. It'll be hard to repair it completely without suitable materials,” Wen Yulong said. "I guess we'll just have to leave it to fate as to what I can find. Regardless, it's going to be a really big repair job."

"Will the repair take a really long time?" Chu Liang asked.

Wen Yulong explained, "Of course. The inside of an enchanted tool is different from the outside. Internal damage is very difficult to repair."

Chu Liang had asked that question because he was concerned about his upcoming trip to the Immortals' Marsh. If the Green Leaf had to be left with Wen Yulong for a long time, that meant Chu Liang wouldn't be able to take the Green Leaf with him on the trip.

However, if the Green Leaf can't be repaired, I won't be able to use it anyway. In any case, I'm just going to the Immortals' Marsh to try my luck. There might not even be any battles.

Upon thinking that, Chu Liang felt at ease.

He urged, "Go ahead and look for the materials. Use the best ones. Don't worry about the cost."

Chu Liang was pretty close with Wen Yulong now and knew that Wen Yulong didn't care much that much about how much money Chu Liang had. So, Chu Liang didn't need to worry about whether he was revealing too much.

"Oh?" Wen Yulong grinned. "It sounds like you reaped great profits during your trip."

Chu Liang briefly told Wen Yulong about the mystical valley of Black Whale Mountain, as there was no need for him to hide this from Wen Yulong. After all, the mature spirit plants in the valley had already been harvested, and a spirit plant needed at least a few decades to mature. There wouldn't be any spirit plants that Wen Yulong could take any time soon.

Moreover, Wen Yulong didn't care about that anyway. He didn't even ask for the specific location of the valley.

Instead, he pondered for a moment and said, "In that case, the legend about Black Whale Mountain might be true."

"Legend?" Chu Liang asked, "You mean the Black Devil Whale?"

"Yes," Wen Yulong said. "Logically, a valley shouldn't have such strong spiritual energy to produce so many treasures of nature simultaneously. Unless... there's an unimaginably powerful existence buried there, which caused the valley's ecosystem to change and allow it to produce and nurture more spirit plants. The plants that grow in front of an Eminent One's tomb are all treasures of nature."

"I see."

Chu Liang pondered about it for a moment and thought it made sense. After all, he had seen the skeleton of what seemed to be a seventh-realm cultivator, which caused a colony of bees to evolve.

If the legendary Black Devil Whale truly existed, it had to have a cultivation level above the seventh realm. Otherwise, the spiritual energy of the corpse in the valley wouldn't be able to continue nourishing the valley and letting it produce spirit plants even after so many years.

Perhaps there was some law of the world regarding the conservation of spiritual energy and the like. After all, cultivators worked really hard to gather spiritual energy from the world and contain it inside their bodies. It made sense for there to be a law that made it so that when cultivators died, the spiritual energy they had accumulated would return to the world, instead of just disappearing into thin air.

Chu Liang had buried the skeleton of that Eminent One he'd found in the cave. Did that mean spirit plants would eventually emerge by that grave too? That seemed very unlikely, seeing as just the spiritual energy of the corpse wouldn't be enough. There had to be seeds for plants to sprout from.

Wait a minute... What if I plant some seeds there?

Chu Liang thought, his heart racing a little in excitement.

Planting some seeds at a burial mound... Hmm... Is it even okay to do that?

1. Springtime is also thought of as the season of romance. ☜