86: Chapter 86 Green Snake Receives Visitors
Then, he returned to the cave.
After his Breakthrough, Xu Qing decided to purge the evil spirits from the entire West River.
Then, he would set about refining a natal spirit artifact to Breakthrough to the Golden Core.
He connected with the West River.
He discovered that the connection between himself and the West River had deepened.
Furthermore, in other basins of the West River, he sensed an aura of the same origin.
He tried to connect with that aura.
He discovered that it was the green snake statue within a River God Temple established in another river basin, which was gathering incense Power Of Will for him.
He could also see through the perspective of these green snake statues.
“I can actually connect to these River God Temples as well.”
Xu Qing felt the incense Power Of Will gathering from these River God Temples.
Not understanding this incense Power Of Will, Xu Qing did not want to be tainted by it, so he stored it all within the green snake statue.
“Let's see how my shed body is doing.”
Xu Qing communicated with the West River, sensing that naturally formed treasure land deep at the bottom of the river.
The vine ball he reached out for still wrapped around the green snake, continuously gathering the Spiritual Qi of the mountains and rivers to nourish it.
Under the infusion of the mountains and rivers' Spiritual Qi, the vine ball even began to look somewhat extraordinary.
The vines became as translucent as jade.
It was as if they were slowly turning into jade, yet they maintained the characteristics of vines.
These green vines were also produced by the heaven and earth spiritual seed within Xu Qing's body.
The heaven and earth spiritual seed had now transformed into Xu Qing's scales, completely fused, and naturally counted as a part of Xu Qing's body.
“The progress is good.”
“It won't be long before I can refine it.”
Xu Qing took out the green tail white hair sword.
Perhaps this sword would not accompany him for much longer.
How pitiful; it hadn't been long since he refined it, and it was already going to be replaced.
“Forget it, I'm replacing it with something better anyway.”
Xu Qing thought to himself.
The next day.
A beam of white light descended before the River God Temple.
The white light landed in front of the River God Temple; it was Mo Yufei. The commoners coming to worship nearby turned a blind eye, as if they couldn't see this person at all.
“Mo Yufei has come to pay respects to the Goddess.”
Mo Yufei entered the River God Temple and bowed respectfully to the green snake statue.
“I wonder what brings you here?”
An ethereal and pleasant voice drifted over.
Mo Yufei was startled. That snake could speak now?
He quickly looked behind the green snake statue, and a figure with a human torso and a snake tail slithered out.
“She has actually reached the Half-step Transformation!”
“To be able to transform half her body during the Foundation Establishment Stage, This Snake's Bloodline is indeed extraordinary.”
Mo Yufei was, after all, a proper Disciple of an immortal Sect, so he naturally knew much more than Xu Qing.
Thus, he easily saw through Xu Qing's situation.
“This humble cultivator has come this time to bring some books to the Goddess on behalf of my Sect.”
“They mainly involve the Cultivation Methods of Divine Path Power Of Will, as well as the Methods for Yao Cultivation.”
Mo Yufei cupped his hands in greeting, waved his sleeve, and took out a chest of books.
“However, I observed that the Goddess might not be very familiar with the secular world.”
“So I have also specially prepared this chest of books for the Goddess.”
“They are just some trivial matters of local customs, miscellaneous talks of the Cultivation World, rumors, and interesting anecdotes. I hope the Goddess likes them.”
Mo Yufei took out another chest of books, specifically keeping it separate from the previous chest.
“This Snake... person, is alright.”
Xu Qing could see that this Mo Yufei was not ordinary.
He could put himself in another snake's shoes and be considerate.
“You are thoughtful.”
Xu Qing also waved his small hand, collecting the two chests of books into his left eye.
“It's good that the Goddess likes them.”
Mo Yufei breathed a sigh of relief; he was afraid the snake wouldn't like them.
Since she liked them, wouldn't it be easier for him to ask the snake for a favor?
“Actually, I have one more matter to trouble the Goddess with during this visit.”
Mo Yufei bowed again.
While bowing, he also secretly used his peripheral vision to size up Xu Qing.
He had just seen this green snake's Transformation form and was too shocked, so he forgot to look closely.
She wore a set of robes that didn't belong to any particular school or style, looking somewhat neither fish nor fowl.
Even so, these robes did look very beautiful.
The robes covered her body, making it impossible to see her appearance or figure.
Only her hands and chin could be seen clearly.
“Are you looking for This Snake for Artifact Refining?”
“Every time This Snake performs Artifact Refining, it is very taxing on my mental energy.”
Xu Qing put on an air of refusal.
Mo Yufei was naturally a smart man and quickly took out a Storage Pouch, handing it to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing took the Storage Pouch without showing any emotion and scanned it with his Divine Sense.
It was filled with the multi-colored glow of Spirit Stones.
He estimated there were four thousand five hundred taels of Spirit Stones!
This guy was actually still this wealthy.
It was equivalent to twenty-five years of salary for Xu Linger working for her Sect.
“Would the Goddess be willing to grant me this convenience?”
Mo Yufei's heart was also bleeding.
He didn't know how long he had saved these Spirit Stones.
Working for the Sect, the annual stipend he received wasn't much more than Xu Linger's to begin with.
Moreover, daily cultivation required the consumption of Spirit Stones.
These were all accumulated by squeezing out time between his cultivation to do Sect missions (overtime).
“Ahem.”
“This Snake sees that you have a kind face, so I will reluctantly help you refine it once.”
“After you return to your Sect, promote me a bit while you're at it.”
“This Snake is willing to give you a ten percent discount.”
Xu Qing naturally wanted to look at long-term gains.
He wanted to become the richest snake in this world!
“Ten percent!”
“As expected of the Goddess. The surrounding commoners all say you are a beautiful and kind-hearted snake, and today this humble cultivator has truly witnessed it.”
Xu Linger, who was listening on the side, burst out laughing.
“I'll refund you ten percent, and I'll keep ninety-nine percent.”
Xu Qing took out forty-five taels of Spirit Stones and returned them.
It was the kind of fragmented, lowest-quality Spirit Stone fragments, naturally of the worst quality.
“...”
Mo Yufei had some words in his heart, but he didn't dare say them.
After all, he was the one asking the snake for a favor.
“Fine, take out the Materials.”
“Tell me what kind of Spiritual Artifact you want to refine and any style requirements.”
This was the first time Xu Qing was refining a Spiritual Artifact for someone else.
He was still a bit excited deep down.
If Mo Yufei knew the truth, he would probably be even more apprehensive.
“Reporting to the Goddess, I wish to refine a natal spirit artifact.”
“Preferably a saber-shaped Spiritual Artifact.”
Mo Yufei said hurriedly.
Refining a natal spirit artifact was much more difficult and carried a certain risk of failure.
However, looking at this guy, he should have already prepared himself mentally.
“These are the Materials. Please have a look, Goddess.”
Mo Yufei handed over another Storage Pouch.
Xu Qing scanned it with his Divine Sense and felt slightly relieved.
The main material was a section of a Yao Beast's main spinal column, with an aura of nearly three hundred years of Dao Cultivation.
There were also some precious auxiliary Materials.
He could even pocket a little bit for himself; many of the Ores were rare and not easily found on the market.
“Alright, so how much of your body do you plan to fuse into it?”
Xu Qing looked at Mo Yufei.
To refine a natal spirit artifact, one needs to fuse a portion of their own body into it; otherwise, it cannot be taken into the body, let alone condense an Artifact Core.
The more parts fused, the better the effect.
Mo Yufei waved his right hand, Saber Qi condensing at his fingertips, and cut off his left arm.
“Then let's fuse one arm.”
Mo Yufei handed the arm to Xu Qing.
“...”
“Wash it clean and pack it up. It's all bloody, and I'm afraid of getting dirty.”
“...”
The corners of Mo Yufei's mouth twitched violently.
This is an Auspicious Beast?
No matter how you look at it, she doesn't seem like one, okay? Can this become a River God?
Did something go wrong somewhere?
He silently washed the severed arm, packed it into a box, and then handed it to Xu Qing.
Only then did Xu Qing take it.
However, he did not put it into his eye.
He also had a bit of a cleanliness obsession; don't think he would just put anything in his eye.
Except for the Frog.