Chapter 34: Cleansing the Marrow with Celestial Essence

Three hundred miles outside the city, Qin Changsheng and Nangong Ruoxi arrived at a mountain range. Within the mountains lay a lake, in the lake sat an island, on the island stood a tree, and beneath the tree rested a small stone.

"Is this where the secret realm you mentioned is located?" Qin Changsheng asked, staring at the scene in astonishment.

"It should be in this general area. The records mention a waterfall and steep cliffs here. As for the specifics, I still need Brother Changsheng’s Immortal Pupils to locate the entrance..." Nangong Ruoxi said, rubbing her nose in embarrassment. "Our lineage has been in decline for many years; it is normal for this place to have changed. After all, over thousands and tens of thousands of years, the world has undergone great upheavals."

"This change is a bit too drastic," Qin Changsheng muttered, his lips twitching.

He had no choice but to activate his Immortal Pupils and scan the surroundings to find the entrance. However, instead of finding the entrance, he ended up seeing right through Nangong Ruoxi from head to toe.

Observing her lush and beautiful figure, Qin Changsheng coughed. "Saintess Nangong, I'd appreciate it if you didn't stand right in front of me when I activate my Immortal Pupils. After all, your clothes aren't exactly thick enough to block my line of sight."

"Ah!" Startled by the reminder, Nangong Ruoxi hurriedly dashed behind him. "You scoundrel... You must have peeked when I came to find you at the herb garden, didn't you?"

"Uh, let's focus on the task at hand," Qin Changsheng said, pretending not to hear her.

Yet, this transparent evasion only confirmed to Nangong Ruoxi that he had indeed been peeking.

"By the standards of a lady of good upbringing, you are responsible for me. After all, no girl can marry well after being seen like that by someone else," Nangong Ruoxi said, staring into his eyes. "I have no secrets from you anymore. You even know about the mole on my chest. So, have you really not considered making our fake relationship real?"

This was the second time Nangong Ruoxi had asked him. In truth, she had already settled on her answer. She felt a fondness for Qin Changsheng; he was an undeniably handsome youth with extraordinary talent who had helped her many times, not to mention he had seen her body more than once. In her entire life, she had never encountered anyone as unique as him, nor anyone who stirred such complex emotions within her.

"I knew it, you've been coveting my body," Qin Changsheng tried to play dumb, but Nangong Ruoxi grabbed his hand. "I am being serious, and I hope Brother Changsheng will answer me seriously."

"Sigh." Qin Changsheng gave a bitter smile. "If I could, of course I would be willing. But look at my white hair—my lifespan is nearly exhausted. Perhaps our next meeting will be hundreds of years from now."

Truth be told, Nangong Ruoxi was a wonderful woman—not overly ruthless and quite ambitious. Most importantly, her figure was made for childbearing, with ample curves, which was highly appealing to Qin Changsheng, who longed for a house full of descendants. But he was about to enter a deep slumber, so he didn't dare hold onto too many expectations.

"Your lifespan is nearly exhausted?" Nangong Ruoxi was shocked. She hadn't realized it until he mentioned it, but now she recalled how Qin Changsheng had been burning his lifespan and vitality ever since he killed Long Chen. Having burned through a hundred years of life so many times, it was indeed running low.

"Yes. Unless I break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, but you understand how difficult that is for me." Qin Changsheng explained, "I will find a place to seal my body and attempt to comprehend the path to Foundation Establishment within my remaining consciousness. Whether I can wake up or not is another matter entirely; I cannot hold you back."

He was lying, of course. In reality, whenever he used the Longevity Tablet to enter his slumber, his lifespan would be fully restored upon waking. But such a treasure could not be revealed. This was merely an excuse to explain his future disappearances and reappearances.

"What a pity. To think that someone with such monstrous talent would be undone by it—unable to build a foundation because you cultivated Immortal Qi at the start, leading to a deficit in lifespan." It was truly a tragic story. Nangong Ruoxi looked at him with sympathy.

"Every cloud has a silver lining. Gains and losses are part of life. Who knows, perhaps in a few decades, I will reappear."

As they chatted, Qin Changsheng steered the conversation away and resumed the search for the entrance. He opened his Immortal Pupils again, scanning like a piece of high-tech equipment. Whenever he scanned a spot, Nangong Ruoxi would pilot her flying sword to take him to the next location.

Three days passed without finding the entrance. Meanwhile, the little fox following them had been constantly eating Qin Changsheng’s "leftovers." Discovering that the spirit stones and elixirs had no effect on it, he fed them to the fox, even using his Immortal Qi to clear its meridians when he was idle. This resulted in the little fox possessing incredible potential from the start.

"Even if we can't be dao companions, I shouldn't have to live worse than a fox, should I?" Nangong Ruoxi said with a hint of jealousy. "I want you to use your Immortal Qi to cleanse my marrow as well. That way, even if I don't find the ancestral inheritance, I can at least improve my talent."

"That's a small matter. I agree."

They searched for another day, still to no avail. As night fell, they built a simple wooden hut and stayed in the same room as usual, but this night was an exception.

As soon as Nangong Ruoxi entered the room, she lay on the bed. "Let's begin, Brother Changsheng. You can treat me like that little fox and help me clear my meridians and cleanse my marrow. If you feel you're at a disadvantage, you can make some demands. After all, we are still in an employed dao companion relationship."

For some reason, Nangong Ruoxi had shed her usual reserve and shyness. To someone like her—a "dao fanatic" who used any excuse to avoid arranged marriages for the sake of cultivation—as long as something benefited her path, other sacrifices didn't seem so important.

"Very well. I'll help you the same way I helped Yuyan." Qin Changsheng climbed onto the bed.

That sentence caught Nangong Ruoxi’s attention. "No wonder Fairy Yuyan fell out with the entire Kaoshan Sect over you. So, everything she achieved was your doing? Tsk tsk, if the White-Clad Sword Immortal knew you had created a peerless Immortal Spirit Root, I wonder if she would regret not taking you as her disciple?"

"The White-Clad Sword Immortal? Some karmic ties are already forged; they are destined to be irreversible and impossible to untangle."

Qin Changsheng channeled his Immortal Qi, gently placing his hand on Nangong Ruoxi's abdomen. She trembled slightly, but upon feeling the flow of Immortal Qi, she calmed herself. In the night, the atmosphere began to change.