"Sure, make yourself at home, why don't you?" Yang Qing snidely remarked once he came back to his abode with Ellie in tow.
He found Feng Xin, Luo Meili, Mao Yunru, Su Jinjing, Zheng Hu, Haishi, and Bolin sharing a meal on his front porch dining comfortably like it was their backyard with feet up, though the latter two seemed a little more reserved and were only having what looked to be snow ginseng tea.
"I could pack it all up and leave you know," said Feng Xin with a mocking threatening look as he pointed toward the spread that was on the dining table.
There was an assortment of a few snacks here and there; there were spring rolls, pan-fried dumplings, and different kinds of pancakes along with a pot of snow ginseng tea.
Yang Qing ignored him and picked a plate that he generously filled with everything that was there which caused a little vein throb on Feng Xin's forehead.
"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" asked Mao Yunru as she took a sip of her ginseng tea. Her hair was hanging loosely and she had on a simple sleeveless white dress and a grey light silk scarf draped over her shoulder.
Yang Qing's gaze lingered on her briefly before he tried to expertly pretend he wasn't staring.
"If I'm being perfectly honest, the ceremony itself doesn't scare me but it's what happens after that, that scares me the most," Yang Qing said as he let out a tired sigh.
He still had not forgotten about the potential penalties he would face should he delay in handing back the saint-grade treasures he was given for the ceremony i.e. the blue universe enclave robe, the veiled destiny domain crystal, and the necklace made from 500,000-year-old green silkworm.
Just imagining the penalties he would incur by delaying the return for even a minute, made his innards tied up in knots. However, even that fear was not enough to affect his appetite as he wolfed down those spring rolls.
Yang Qing shared the information on the charges he would incur, which drew laughter from those around except for Haishi and Bolin who were stuck in the awkward position of whether to laugh like the rest or not, which was made even harder due to the recent revelations. During the past few days, they got a brief glimpse of the fearsome strength of the Order.
The revelation of its strength hit Bolin harder than it did Haishi since the latter was mostly an airhead recluse who hadn't seen much of the world and kept to herself most of the time. Her experience at Feng Xin's hands was the greatest danger she had ever experienced in her whole life, which was why despite knowing Yang Qing was Feng Xin's boss, in her eyes, she was more afraid of Feng Xin than Yang Qing since she the experience created by Feng Xin left an unforgettable impression on her. That overwhelming defeat the other spirit beasts suffered and how close she was to death left a deep mark on her.
Other than that, she had not been involved in many fights so it was hard for her to imagine what levels such as the palace realm meant, her mind could only register what she saw and experienced. However the same couldn't be said about Bolin. Even if he wasn't officially a subordinate of the green flash viper, one of the false kings of the eighth zone of the green fog region, they were still close friends and as such, he helped the green flash viper in his rise to the rank of a false king. He had experienced countless battles over the years with both humans and spirit beasts of different power levels though most capped in the core formation realm. That battle exposure helped him gain an intimate understanding of how terrifying the Order was.
What false kings?
The false kings who ruled over the eighth zone would be worth a fart when compared to the Order and not even the Order, just a few nobodies from the beast-taming hall were enough to trample over all the inhabitants of the eighth zone a thousand times over, and then there was Luo Meili. Bolin would inadvertently gulp in fear every time his eyes would dart in her direction. He had thought nothing would ever come close to terrifying him like his experience with the gold-scaled alligator when he was just an up-and-coming tadpole, but his experience with Luo Meili over the past few days had subverted that experience and introduced a new level of fear he never thought possible. When his thoughts reached this far, he couldn't help but look toward Yang Qing with pitiful begging eyes.
"Don't worry, you'll only have to stay with Luo Meili until you can cultivate around the hundred moon cleansing hawthorne for 45 minutes without passing out," said Yang Qing as he took another bite of his spring roll.
"By the way, how long can he last Meili?" Yang Qing asked, addressing the gentle-looking mature beauty with dark green hair that was tied together with smoothly polished bones.
"It's just at the early phase, so he only lasts for about ten minutes or so but in the coming days, I'll try to help him reach the fifteen-minute mark," Luo Meili said as she cast an endearing gaze toward Bolin who shivered heavily at the look he got.
Yang Qing could only sight at this. Even though he sympathized with Bolin, the training regimen had to continue and Luo Meili was the best person to do it since she had the best skills in that regard.
During their welcome ceremony, Yang Qing had given a wisdom pearl from a half-step palace realm spirit beast to Haishi, while Bolin was given the hundred moon cleansing hawthorne flower that had only 20 moons activated. Bolin's body was at an imbalance since he had focused only on the poisoning aspect of his bloodline and ignored the healing aspect. Had Bolin continued on the same path, by the time he reached the peak of the core formation realm, his body would have already started corroding from the inside due to his overwhelming poisonous attributes that would have grown beyond his body's ability to contain it.
Rainbow mist toads despite being famous for their lethal poison, were not entirely pure-based poisonous creatures. They existed as two-state creatures that could either be a healing tonic or a deadly poison. Bolin had neglected his healing aspect which was why Yang Qing had him cultivate every day for three hours next to an incomplete hundred moon cleansing hawthorne to help trigger his healing side while also curbing the overwhelming poisonous qi that had filled his body.
During the early phases, it would be a torturous experience since Bolin most likely felt like his innards were being melted due to the purifying effect that the hundred-moon cleansing Hawthorne had on poison and other miasma-related objects.
Yang Qing was even surprised Bolin was able to survive ten minutes next to it and he couldn't help but look at the palm-sized toad with a look of admiration. The fact that it could endure ten minutes was a testament to its willpower. The training seemed to already have some effects since the green color on its rainbow-coated skin was much darker than before, though it was still very faint, but the fact it had gotten denser was proof Bolin was making progress. While he may have not improved his cultivation base, it seemed much calmer and stabler than before.
But when it came to Haishi, he couldn't help but worry about her. From the brief interaction he had with her, he felt she was clearly lacking in this regard, which was why he only gave her a wisdom pearl belonging to a half-step palace realm flying mist water python. If he gave her one belonging to a palace realm spirit beast like he did the starlight crab, he had fears that she would have suffered a severe backlash from it.
"Mmmh, well I don't need to do anything about her willpower. Those at the hall must have already noticed the same thing with much more clarity than I did and created a training plan for her accordingly. But for added measure, I think Feng Xin 'sparring' with her won't be a bad idea," Yang Qing thought as his gaze fell on Haishi.
"By the way Feng Xin, there was something my grandfather told me today which might be of use to you, though I don't know how much help it will be for you without a palace base realm to work with, but it can't hurt to try," Yang Qing suddenly said drawing curious looks from those around more so Feng Xin.
Feng Xin, just like Yang Qing also had a peerless jade body even though he ended up with a gold core. He had the ice soul jade bone physique which gave him immunity to yin-related techniques and poisons in addition he also had an abnormally powerful soul that had a matching level of sensitivity to his surroundings. Feng Xin's background was strange since even he doesn't know how he got the peerless jade physique. He was an orphan, and during his earlier years as a kid, he lived in the dead body of some spirit beast. It's unknown how he even managed to survive when he was a few months old but as he grew, he fed on that spirit beast and lived there till he was ten, then things happened and he eventually found himself at the doors of the Order two years later with a peerless jade body.
As for the identity of the spirit beast, even Feng Xin himself doesn't know since he ate part of it, while the other remaining part weirdly disintegrated when Feng Xin gained the peerless jade body physique. In the Order, Feng Xin had shown an unnatural gift for cultivation but the man was too obsessed with food which was why he ended up with a gold core because he always gave cultivation the bare minimum of his time. Yang Qing had no doubt that Feng Xin would have been a palace realm cultivator by now had he applied himself instead of being at the peak of the 10th stage of the core formation realm.
"Even if it eats away my leisure time, I'll have to get this lazy glutton to reach the palace realm within three months," thought Yang Qing as he flashed a gentle smile toward Feng Xin.
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