Chapter 159 Mount Qingxu

Nian Laisheng explained that those powers would awaken slowly on their own, and when the time was right, she would feel a stimulation; at that point, he would guide her to perform the first absorption, and after that, she would just need to follow suit.

Ning Xianyhu nodded, thinking she would just take it one step at a time.

However, Nian Laisheng started lecturing again.

"Although you can only take the next step once those powers awaken, you should familiarize yourself with the cultivation techniques of the Ten Directions Mountain before that."

"Ah?"

Hearing that she had to practice cultivation, Ning Xianyhu felt her head ache again.

Yet Nian Laisheng continued, "My grand-disciple, you surely don't want to be easily drained dry by the Universe Sword, do you? Besides, you promised the primordial ancestor Xuanxuan that you would help mend the heavens, so cultivation is still necessary."

Ning Xianyhu had no choice but to listen as he spoke, repeating after him sentence by sentence.

Those texts were extremely abstruse and difficult to understand. In the past, she probably wouldn't have remembered a single character after hearing them.

This time, however, after reading them through once, she remembered them completely and with crystal clarity, as if images were already forming in her mind, vividly displaying how the cultivation techniques should operate.

[That is because you are now in the Nascent Soul stage. Your entire body, including your brain, has been purified, so naturally, you are smarter and your thinking is clearer.]

Realizing there was finally something it understood, the system quickly stepped out to show off.

Ning Xianyhu hadn't expected such a benefit from having a higher cultivation level, so she quickly asked, [Does that mean the higher my cultivation, the smarter I'll be?]

The system replied, [Not exactly. Human intelligence stops growing after a certain point. However, the higher your cultivation, the deeper your insight into the world, and the more you will know.]

[Look at Xuanxuan Tunhan and the others; even without calculating, with just a thought, they can foresee the national fortune of a country for the next few decades, and calculating the general fate of a mortal is merely a trivial matter.]

Ning Xianyhu thought having such an ability was utterly amazing. No wonder the immortals in mythological stories could always give mortals hints.

Awesome!

[But they can only calculate the fate of mortals, right? They probably can't calculate their own or other cultivators' fates, can they?] Ning Xianyhu felt that thinking about it this way, this skill wasn't very useful after all.

The system stated that it depended on the cultivation level.

The higher one's cultivation, the harder it was for others to see through them, and the lower one's cultivation, the easier it was to be seen through.

Understanding this, Ning Xianyhu wondered what she would become like when her cultivation reached that level.

The system said, [Just look at that Great Demon King, and you'll know.]

Ning Xianyhu thought about it and instantly felt a chill run down her spine.

"Forget it."

With a cultivation level that high, she didn't see anything enviable about it; the person practically looked obsessed and unhinged.

As she was pondering this, the Universe Sword suddenly flew back.

It flew back into its scabbard on its own, resting quietly and obediently without moving.

Ning Xianyhu patted it. "Have you come to your senses?"

The Universe Sword didn't move, presumably having compromised.

Delighted, Ning Xianyhu praised it, "Good boy."

Just as she was speaking, Xuanxuan Tunhan and Xiahou Fang finished their battle and returned.

Xiahou Fang had fled, and Xuanxuan Tunhan came back alone.

Ning Xianyhu immediately stood up, clapping and cheering, "The Patriarch is mighty!"

Xuanxuan Tunhan uttered a somewhat dissatisfied sound of acknowledgment, then sat down to regulate his breath and circulate his energy.

Although he had won, he was probably a bit tired from the fight.

Not daring to disturb him, Ning Xianyhu walked around to see if there were any traces of the Heaven-Mending Stone.

However, this area was just a very plain beach; apart from a few rocks, there was nothing else.

After looking around, she came back and waited for Xuanxuan Tunhan to finish his meditation.

Who would have thought his breath-regulation would last until evening? When the sun set and the moon rose, his eyes were still closed.

Bored, Ning Xianyhu built a sandcastle on the beach to pass the time.

She built it very high, and by crouching and leaning forward, she could see the moon right through the castle gate tower.

The moon hung brightly at the meeting point of the sky and the sea, looking just like a huge mirror—very beautiful.

Ning Xianyhu looked at it repeatedly, then stood up and sat straight to look at it again, but every time she looked, she felt something was not quite right.

She lowered her head to look, then looked up again, and finally realized what was amiss.

When looking down, the reflection beneath the moon was different; there should have been only the moon's reflection, but inside the reflection, there was actually a mountain.

Yet when she sat up straight to look, it vanished, and she could only see the moon and its ordinary reflection.

Ning Xianyhu looked back and forth, feeling more and more creeped out, and quickly called out to Nian Laisheng in a panic.

"Grandmaster, look, quick, look."

She pointed at the moon and asked Nian Laisheng to look back and forth using her method.

After looking twice, Nian Laisheng also noticed something was wrong.

"Oh, so the legend is true."

Interested, Ning Xianyhu asked, "What legend?"

"The legend of Mount Qingxu."

This wasn't spoken by Nian Laisheng, but by Xuanxuan Tunhan, who had appeared out of nowhere.

He had finished regulating his breath and was now standing behind the two of them, gazing intently at the distant moon.

Curiously, Ning Xianyhu asked, "What is Mount Qingxu?"

At this moment, the system suddenly shouted, "I know Mount Qingxu! Mount Qingxu is a major dungeon experienced by the male and female protagonists. It is said to be a huge and mysterious island drifting on the sea, and only those destined can enter it."

"The male protagonist took in a pair of twin sisters into his harem there and acquired many good things, such as spirit stones, cultivation techniques, and magical treasures."

Ning Xianyhu hadn't expected to encounter such a legendary dungeon just by taking a casual look at the seaside. She couldn't help but feel that her luck had turned around and exploded off the charts.

Xuanxuan Tunhan also remarked, "Mount Qingxu only appeared in records from ancient times. It is said that during the great war between the old and new factions, some immortals, demons, and monsters fled to an island overseas and never appeared again. Mount Qingxu must be that very place."

Ning Xianyhu nodded eagerly. "Are we going? How do we get up there?"

Now that she had seen it, she simply had to go and run this dungeon, right?

Actually, Xuanxuan Tunhan had heard what she and the system were discussing and had already decided to go.

The storyteller had mentioned that the stone monkey went overseas to visit an immortal master and was taken in as a mount; perhaps it went to Mount Qingxu.

If they could find the stone monkey, they could confirm whether or not it was the Heaven-Mending Stone.

Even without the stone monkey, Mount Qingxu likely harbored a Heaven-Mending Stone.

Places the male protagonist had visited were likely related to the Heaven-Mending Stone.

Declaring that they would go, Xuanxuan Tunhan set off immediately.

He took out his flying magical treasure, had Ning Xianyhu step onto it, and flew straight toward the ocean.

However, as soon as they flew up, they could no longer see that mountain. Ning Xianyhu suggested installing a circular ring at the front of the magical artifact.

"I saw the immortal mountain through an aperture back then; perhaps we can see that mountain again through another ring."

It was just a casual hypothesis on her part, but Xuanxuan Tunhan felt it made some sense.

After all, many arrays were set up with profound ingenuity; perhaps the array of Mount Qingxu was meant to be unlocked this way.

He searched his storage pouch and installed a golden ring at the front of the magical artifact—a flashy, glaring gold.

Ning Xianyhu looked at it with overwhelming envy; with a piece of gold that large, if she could take it back to the modern era, she would never have to work a day in her life.