Chapter 437 - 63: Abducting the Seven Beauties
A poem reads:
The moon is full, the flowers at their most tender; our meeting falls on a night to be cherished.
Holding red and grasping jade, my affection only grows; without asking, I know my very soul has melted away.
Although it was Wan’Er’s first time with a man, her pillow talk and eager desire to please were second to none among the world’s most charming women.
The two shared a secret night of bliss, tasting its sweetness. A thousand tendernesses and ten thousand affections were exchanged. When their passion subsided, they teased and joked with one another, adding a boundless warmth to their bedside.
The next day, they rose early for a meal, already looking every bit the loving couple. Wan’Er, having received Fang Cheng’s help, had seen a great leap in her cultivation. In high spirits, she smiled sweetly and said, "Sir, you mentioned yesterday that you wanted me to ask about something. Please, feel free to tell me."
Fang Cheng said, "I want to hear any news about the City Lord’s Mansion, no matter how trivial."
Hearing this, a flicker of surprise crossed Wan’Er’s beautiful eyes, but she didn’t dwell on it. After sharing a tender and intimate meal with Fang Cheng, she got up and went out to ask her junior and senior sisters for information.
In less than an hour, Wan’Er returned and relayed the news she had gathered from her sisters. True to his request, it was exhaustively detailed, even including gossip about illicit affairs between the City Lord’s Mansion’s guards and maids.
Fang Cheng listened quietly, inwardly praising himself for coming to the right place.
Miaoxiang Tower was a gathering place for amorous male Cultivators from all over Mu Tianyuan; there was certainly no shortage of gossip.
After sifting through the information, Fang Cheng noted a useful piece of intelligence—
On the third day of the ninth month, the City Lord’s daughter, Shang Youyi, had invited several of her closest friends from the eight great noble families to Chuqiu Mountain in Mu Tianyuan to collect a type of Celestial and Earthly Spiritual Object: Jiazi Jade Dew!
According to legend, the Spiritual Mechanism on Chuqiu Mountain was exceedingly strange. Every sixty years, a great rain would fall for one hour. This rain was mixed with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Water, which was precisely the Jiazi Jade Dew.
This Jade Dew had the miraculous effect of maturing Spiritual Medicine and Spirit Fruits. An ordinary Spiritual Medicine over a decade old, when watered with Jiazi Jade Dew, could mature into a rare, century-old Spiritual Medicine within a few days.
If enough Jiazi Jade Dew was collected, it could even mature a Spiritual Medicine to a thousand years of age.
However, Chuqiu Mountain had long been occupied by the City Lord’s Mansion. For anyone else to collect the rainwater, they would need either crucial connections or formidable personal strength to gain the City Lord’s Mansion’s permission.
This time, the Jiazi Jade Dew had already been reserved by Shang Youyi. On the third day of the ninth month, she had specially invited the most renowned Female Cultivators from the eight great noble families of Mu Tianyuan to collect it, turning the occasion into a gathering for her closest friends.
Anyone else who wanted to obtain Jiazi Jade Dew would have to wait for the next sixty years.
Fang Cheng pondered for a moment. With a plan forming in his mind, he relaxed and focused on enjoying his time with Wan’Er.
The Female Cultivators of Miaoxiang Tower all possessed a certain knack for being perceptive and agreeable. Although Wan’Er appeared pure and innocent, the seductive charm in her bones could not be concealed.
At the peak of passion, her eyes and brows overflowed with amorous charm, her every glance bewitching.
Fang Cheng stayed in Miaoxiang Tower for over ten days, single-handedly raising Wan’Er’s cultivation by a large margin, much to the envy of her sisters in the tower.
On the third day of the ninth month, under Wan’Er’s reluctant gaze, Fang Cheng walked out of Miaoxiang Tower, summoned a Beast Vehicle, and headed straight out of the city.
...
「Mu Tianyuan, Chuqiu Mountain.」
Upon the vast, endless plateau, a solitary hill stood. The grass and trees on it were lush, and the Spiritual Qi was dense.
Atop the hill, a nine-story, octagonal Jade Tower emitted a magnificent, rosy glow. It was, in fact, a Third-tier Magical Artifact that had been temporarily placed there.
The windows on the top floor of the Jade Tower were open, revealing seven Female Cultivators of elegant bearing and stunning beauty seated inside, leisurely sipping tea and chatting animatedly.
The woman in the lead wore her hair in two coils, tied with vermilion ribbons that fluttered prettily in the wind. She was dressed in a pomegranate-colored, floor-length fairy gown, with a white jade silk sash at her waist from which hung a delicate silver ring engraved with a phoenix pattern. Though her figure was petite and lovely, her nose was straight and high, her eyes were bright and spirited, and she possessed a heroic and dashing air.
This woman was none other than the daughter of the Heaven Shepherd City Lord, Shang Youyi.
She had taken her mother’s surname. At only twenty-six, she was already a rare Sword Dao expert in the Life Talisman Realm on Mu Tianyuan. She had once famously used her Early-stage Life Talisman Cultivation to fight above her rank and slay three Mid-Term Tribulation Cultivators.
The Female Cultivators she had invited today to collect the Jiazi Jade Dew were also the cream of the crop from the eight great noble families of Mu Tianyuan. Each one was well-spoken, elegant, and exceptionally beautiful.
As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. The seven women were close in age, and all had entered the Life Talisman Realm. They were close friends who interacted frequently, gradually forming their own circle. They often exchanged cultivation insights and shared resources.
Gradually, this circle came to have its own name: the Jade Flower Alliance.
Rumor had it that if a man could marry a Female Cultivator from the Jade Flower Alliance, he could save himself fifty years of ascetic cultivation.
Unfortunately, the women of the Jade Flower Alliance were all of noble status. They were typically proud and aloof, disdaining to even speak to ordinary male Cultivators. Even the core Disciples from the great noble families rarely caught their eye.
As the seven were chatting and laughing, they suddenly heard a strange sound from the distant horizon. Following the noise, they saw several streaks of Escape Light flying over, landing far away at the foot of Chuqiu Mountain.
After landing, the Cultivators within the Escape Lights did not dare to ascend the mountain. They only watched from the periphery, not moving forward.
A charming woman among them, dressed in green with her hair in cloud-like coils, turned her head slightly, smiled at the others, and said, "It’s just some more petty scoundrels coveting the Jiazi Jade Dew. I wonder if they’ll have the guts to come up the mountain when the rain starts."
Hearing this, Shang Youyi smiled sweetly. "With Elders Qiu and Pan from the Life Soul Realm guarding the tower, they wouldn’t dare take a single step up the mountain, not even if you gave them a thousand guts. They’re probably just hoping to try their luck at the foot of the mountain, thinking they might catch a few drops of Jiazi Jade Dew."
Another woman, with a voluptuous figure but a cold and aloof demeanor, scoffed, "These low-level Loose Cultivators are as annoying as flies. Why don’t I just go down and kill a few of them? Let’s see if they dare to come gawking again."
"Junior Sister Shu, wait!" The woman in green called out, stopping her with a smile as she made to stand up. "Don’t be angry. You can never get rid of all these Loose Cultivators. As long as there’s a sliver of profit, they’ll risk everything to fight for it. To them, the path of cultivation is a battle against the heavens, a battle against the earth, and a battle against other people."
"Besides, has there ever been a time when the Jiazi Jade Dew fell that Loose Cultivators didn’t perish? Just you wait. In a little while, some clever ones will surely conceal their auras and try to sneak up the mountain. When that time comes... there will be no need for us to act."
As she spoke, more streaks of Escape Light flew in from the horizon, landing far from the foot of the mountain and concealing themselves behind some large trees.
As the time drew near, dark clouds gradually gathered over Chuqiu Mountain, covering an area of a hundred *li* and casting a gloomy shadow over the land.
Rumbling thunder echoed from within the clouds, where a five-colored glow could be faintly seen surging, creating a wondrous and unusual sight.
The number of Loose Cultivators at the foot of the mountain gradually increased.
Many of them knew full well this was a forbidden area of the Heaven Shepherd City Lord’s Mansion, but they couldn’t resist coming to investigate, hoping to chance upon a strand of immortal fate.
Even if they didn’t obtain any immortal fate, simply witnessing the spectacle that occurred only once every sixty years was a rare opportunity in itself.
Some had come merely for the beauty of the Jade Flower Alliance’s Female Cultivators. For them, just catching a glimpse of the Jade Flower Alliance’s Fairies was enough to delight both body and soul.
Just then, the thunder in the sky grew louder and louder, making one’s eardrums throb. Finally, after a blinding flash of lightning, a torrential downpour burst from the clouds!
The assembled Cultivators focused their gazes and looked up, seeing the five-colored glow within the clouds swirling and churning as it slowly shrank.
And amidst the rain, many droplets like nectareous jade milk descended with it.
From the Jade Tower on the peak, seven graceful figures flew out. They each brought out Jade Bottles to collect the Jiazi Jade Dew.
Although the rain contained a considerable amount of the Jade Dew, it was almost all concentrated above the midway point of Chuqiu Mountain, with very little falling near the foot of the hill.
The crowd of Cultivators below watched with greedy eyes, yet none dared to rashly charge up the mountain.
Suddenly, a flicker of fire shot out from the Jade Tower on the peak, landing directly on the northwestern slope.
A miserable shriek rang out, followed by a figure engulfed in flames who fled frantically down the mountain. But before he could even reach the foot, the terrifying Spirit Flame incinerated him into ash, killing him silently on the spot.
"There really is a Life Soul Cultivator on the mountain..."
Someone whispered, their tone filled with dread.
"Obviously. With so many Noble Family Fairies here, how could Heaven Shepherd City and the eight great noble families not send Life Soul Realm Honored Guest Elders to protect them?"
"They’re overestimating us, aren’t they?"
"Tch. They’re not guarding against you. They’re guarding against Tier Three Demon Beasts."
"Sigh. It seems I have no fate with this Jiazi Jade Dew..."
Another Cultivator chuckled, his eyes fixed on the seven beautiful figures in the sky. "I wonder if the Fairies of the Jade Flower Alliance have anyone they fancy. If they saw my face, their hearts would surely flutter, and they’d be fighting to marry me into their families."
...
The seven Female Cultivators in the sky focused on collecting the Jiazi Jade Dew. After an hour had passed, the clouds dispersed, the rain stopped, and the bright sun reappeared. The seven women gracefully returned to the Jade Tower.
Just as the Cultivators below thought the event was over and were about to disperse, a great hand formed of Demonic Light suddenly shot out from high in the sky, grabbing toward the Jade Tower on the peak.
The spectating Loose Cultivators were first startled, then immediately became excited, all focusing their attention to get a better look.
"Jiu Yu of Heaven Shepherd City is here! Which Fellow Daoist dares to cause trouble?!"
A cold shout came from the Jade Tower, followed by a streak of fire that transformed into a Fire Dragon and charged toward the Demon Light Hand.
BOOM!
Scattered flames filled the sky as a Fire Cloud swept across the heavens, but the Demon Light Hand was completely unscathed. It seized the Jade Tower in its grip.
A brilliant spiritual light erupted from the Jade Tower, desperately blocking the Demon Light Hand. Two figures with terrifying auras flew out from the tower, one after the other, and soared high into the sky.
Intense fluctuations from the battle of techniques radiated outwards.
A moment later, a figure plummeted from the sky, spilling blood across the air. The Loose Cultivators below saw it clearly—it was the Honored Guest Elder of Heaven Shepherd City, the Life Soul Realm cultivator, Jiu Yu!
People could hardly believe their eyes. A dignified Life Soul Cultivator had been slain just like that?
Immediately after, another headless corpse fell from the sky, clearly decapitated by a single sword strike, its life and Dao extinguished.
The Loose Cultivators, who had just been settling in to watch the show, were left completely dumbfounded.
Where was the earth-shattering, world-shaking battle between Life Soul experts they had imagined?
How could it be over so quickly?
Then, a sinister laugh echoed from the sky. "Jye-heh-heh! This master has just come out of seclusion to find so many perfect Tripod Furnaces. It must be fate! Let this master enjoy them thoroughly."
As he spoke, a cloud of Demonic Light enveloped the Three-stage Jade Tower Magical Artifact and flew into the distant sky, vanishing in an instant.
At the foot of Chuqiu Mountain, the crowd of Loose Cultivators stared at each other, utterly speechless.
...