Chapter 429 - 214: Old Foxes All Around_2
As mentioned earlier, the Six-eared Macaque’s abilities lean more towards the supportive type, but when cultivated to profound levels, they possess a unique mystique, especially this "All Things Are Clear".
Knowing everything in the world, being omniscient, it has a bit of the flavor of "omniscience".
"Knowing the past and future" is also quite useful, Chu Xuan hasn’t cultivated it yet, but he can achieve some basic effects by leveraging the Divine Command.
Holding the token, he sensed for a moment, currently, he can preliminarily know what happened in this cave in the last quarter hour and what may happen in the next quarter hour.
Together with Chu Xuan’s fortune-telling skills, many things can be accurately guessed.
The only problem is that the cultivation difficulty of the Six-eared Macaque’s divine technique is much higher than that of the Intelligent Stone Monkey and the Long-armed Ape, especially the latter two.
Chu Xuan hasn’t even perfected the earlier techniques, with generally three levels of the Intelligent Stone Monkey and two levels of the Long-armed Ape, cultivating the Six-eared Macaque’s technique is an unknown task, but he can only take it step by step.
...
That afternoon, while Chu Xuan was still studying the Divine Command, Yu Zhanfeng quietly arrived.
He cupped his hands towards Chu Xuan, "The Shangguan family has been searching either inside or outside the Grotto Heaven, or along the route back to the Cyan Lotus Daoist Palace in the past two days, but found nothing, they’re already preparing to withdraw."
"Ninety percent of the cultivators in the Grotto Heaven have left, only some persistent loose cultivators remain, still rummaging around."
"To prevent the Shangguan family from feigning departure and actually setting an ambush, I plan to follow them back. It’s best for you to stay another one or two days before leaving to ensure success."
Chu Xuan expressed gratitude while also feeling a bit worried, "You don’t have to do this, it’s too risky."
Yu Zhanfeng shook his head and pointed to a pair of gray long boots under his feet, engraved with ancient shamanic symbols, "These boots have the capabilities of stealth, infiltration, and traversing voids. Even if discovered, I can escape swiftly, so you needn’t worry."
After finishing, he cupped his hands again and left decisively.
Thus, a day later, Chu Xuan left the cave with Qingqing; Qinger immediately came forward to hold his hand, putting on a pitiable facade.
"I haven’t done anything wrong to you, can you let me stay with you?"
Chu Xuan spoke earnestly to her, "This time, things have stirred up so much trouble. I think you should return to the Fixed Ruins Ring to handle this matter, and it’s best to clarify your relationship with me publicly, at least on the surface."
Qinger seemed a bit impatient, "I did something like this before, when I wasn’t the owner of the Fixed Ruins Ring because there were some old immortals pressuring me from above, and I followed your advice."
"But now the entire Fixed Ruins Ring is mine, those old immortals are almost all gone, I can do whatever I want, why should I keep up appearances?"
Chu Xuan was momentarily speechless, as Qing’er indeed had such a personality. In the past, she somewhat enjoyed acting in front of righteous people, angrily reproaching him as a demon; thus, cooperating with him was no big deal.
But now Qing’er was tired of this act, and she only wanted to prove to the world: Chu Xuan belongs to me!
Chu Xuan thought for a moment and still said, "But you should indeed go back once, don’t let rumors spread unchecked, which could cause dissent within the sect and potentially lead to losing your status in the sect."
Qing’er acknowledged that this was indeed sensible, but how could she go back now? Wouldn’t that be letting those two women, especially Ji Mingyu, take advantage?
So she smiled and said, "I’ll return later, let me escort you a bit longer first."
Seeing this, Chu Xuan could only think about slowly persuading her later.
At this moment, Ji Mingyu, biting her lip, came closer, but before she could properly speak to Chu Xuan, he turned away with a cold voice:
"Don’t follow me anymore."
The impact of these words was immense; Ming Yu blinked, suddenly wanting to cry, as Chu Xuan used to cherish and protect her, never being so cruel to her.
With that, Chu Xuan and Qingqing flew out of the external world. Because she didn’t have the Fixed Ruins Ring and her cultivation wasn’t high, Chu Xuan had to hold her tightly to prevent her from being sucked away by the ruins during their flight.
This made Ji Mingyu increasingly want to cry, while Su Mengqing was beside Chu Xuan, naturally ignoring her.
Only Duanmu Qing in Chu Xuan’s arms looked back at her with some reluctance...
...
Chu Xuan emerged from the seabed and looked around to confirm no one was following him before flying north.
He planned to first send Qingqing back to the Demon Sect and then go into seclusion at the Ancient Battlefield in the northern region for a time.
His cultivation was really too low, now probably everyone in the world was looking for him, wandering outside was a path to death.
Ideally, he should remain in seclusion until reaching the sixth realm, but that would take too long, and he was still concerned about people outside like his master, his senior sister, Jiang Yiyi, and those other women...
So Chu Xuan decided to first aim for the fifth realm, the Soul Emergence Stage; this still required ten to twenty years, during which he’d find chances to come out and check on news.
After flying peacefully for a period, Qing’er suddenly looked at Chu Xuan with a smile, "I’ll leave for a bit, be back soon."
Chu Xuan hesitated, initially wanting to say something, but ultimately sighed and simply said, "Don’t argue, try persuading her well."
Qing’er naturally nodded, secretly thinking: I’m not one to argue, if she acts shamelessly, I won’t treat her kindly.
...
Qing’er turned back and quickly collided directly with Ji Mingyu, who wasn’t even pretending to be inconspicuous and silently followed up.
Mingyu was weak and pitiful in front of Chu Xuan, but now, alone facing Su Mengqing, she suddenly revealed a cold and arrogant stance.
"Su Mengqing, do you really think you’ve won?"
"What else?" Qing’er laughed covering her mouth, "You all think you’re clever. Don’t be fooled by Chu Xuan’s decent attitude towards Qingqing, his heart doesn’t really intend to reconcile with her."
"Once he sends her away, the only person left by Chu Xuan’s side will be me~"
Ji Mingyu simply sneered, "You think you’re going to win, you really think I will sit by and do nothing?"
Qing’er considered, using a gentle voice, "How about this, Sister Tai Su, you temporarily give up leaving. When I return to Chu Xuan, I’ll speak positively on your behalf, maybe he’ll change his mind in the future?"
Ji Mingyu didn’t believe half a word, "We’re both old foxes, are you trying to play games with me?"
Qing’er pretended not to understand, speaking innocently, "What is a game? Sister, your words are hard to grasp."
"Su Mengqing!" Ji Mingyu’s voice became colder, her patience reaching its limit, "Stop pretending in front of me, you can’t stop me today. I’m definitely not leaving his side anymore."
Qing’er’s gaze also turned cold, she retorted unkindly:
"Chu Xuan told you not to follow, don’t you understand?!"
Their confrontation escalated, with their imposing aura clashing violently! The clouds in the sky instantly split open, and the vast sea below cleaved into a gigantic trench.
Yet, strangely, the invisible clash between two high-level cultivators didn’t make the slightest sound in the world.
This was clearly intentional; neither Ji Mingyu nor Su Mengqing wanted Chu Xuan to know they’d fought, which would displease him and cause him to return to mediate.
So after exchanging glances, they chose not to fight in the real world, instead retreating into the outer void to freely battle there, in a vast, endlessly dark, and chaotic space.
As they left, all traces of the invisible clash in the sky, ocean, and air were erased, leaving everything tranquil as if nothing had ever happened.