"Thank you, Senior Green Cocoon, Senior Blue Universe, Senior Veiled Destiny. I would not have been able to defeat him and also leave unscathed if it wasn't for your help," said Yang Qing in his mind.
He was especially thankful to Green Cocoon because of her ability to speed up regeneration.
Nature's discontinuance was one of his trump cards due to its destructive capabilities that usually ignored all forms of defense the opponent may have. Despite its clear advantage, it had a few drawbacks, for one it took a long time to prepare and the other it took a huge toll on both Yang Qing's soul and body when it came to executing the move.
Even with his natural high regeneration, the move would leave him feeling overdrawn for at least two days. In that time, he would not be at 100% especially when it came to the use of arts and techniques that were tied to his soul and mental sea such as the spiritual sense. But right now, thanks to Green Cocoon, he felt like he was brimming with life.
With Green Cocoon's support, he felt that at the very least he could pull off the move a hundred times which was a huge increase to his one move every two days, lest he incurs more serious injuries in the process.
…
The three saint-grade artifacts did not respond back as they were on high alert closely monitoring Yang Qing's surrounding for any potential threat. If an attack were to occur, this would be the most opportune moment. It wasn't only them but Meng Chao and the rest were closely monitoring the situation around Yang Qing and the Star Blooming Mist Valley as a whole.
"It seems there will be no need for you to continue welcoming the guests. You can wait at the platform for now before the ceremony officially begins," said Assistant Head Liang Wen as he walked in Yang Qing's direction.
Yang Qing sheepishly laughed as he looked around him and saw the weary and frightened looks that came from the guests around him, especially those who had come from the rank 3 organizations and below.
After what he had just done, most of the guests would be unnerved at the thought of being welcomed by him and it started to show when the guests conveniently avoided heading in his direction as they used other routes.
"I will do as you say, Assistant Head Liang Wen," said Yang Qing with a bitter smile on his face. His plan of fleecing out the guests for more gifts would now have to be put on hold.
Though if he was asked if he regretted doing what he did, his answer would be a resounding no.
His whole body was still trembling with excitement. The experience he just had went beyond what he imagined. His thoughts were clearer and his moves were seamless. The power that he was able to bring forth with the assistance of the three saint-grade artifacts, was intoxicating.
He was even shocked to discover that he had achieved a smooth breakthrough to the second stage of the palace realm. He didn't even notice, and it was only now that he could feel his palace realm seemed a little bit more vibrant and livelier than before.
The shallow river that had protruded into the large patch of grassland within his palace realm, seemed to have extended its reach by almost a kilometer. In addition to that, there was also another species growing within his palace realm and it wasn't only grass. There was now a small patch of nightshade growing in the area. However, it seemed a little different than the common nightshade since it had a small cloak of white flame covering it. The grass growing around also seemed to have undergone some changes to them. Every blade of grass had dew on it. Yang Qing closely investigated that dew and discovered it had strong healing properties to it.
Such a change was a boon to him since it made his already vitality-rich body even sturdier when it came to healing and regeneration.
"Thank you, Senior Green Cocoon," Yang Qing whispered in his mind. It didn't take a genius to know that such a change obviously had something to do with her.
"Yang Qing, what do you think the Dao of vitality means?" asked Green Cocoon.
Yang Qing froze briefly as he was walking. Green Cocoon's response caught him a little off-guard since the chatty Veiled Destiny and even Blue Universe were still silent.
"If I was to overly simplify it, I would call it living and everything that encompasses it within a living organism's body," Yang Qing answered after a momentary pause.
"Why did you choose it as your main Dao? It isn't the most offensive and with your talent and the bits of Dao charm I've detected around you, you could have established your Dao seed using another Dao if you so wished.
Was it because of your physique?" asked Green Cocoon.
Yang Qing still struggled to reconcile Green Cocoon's current fluency with her earlier way of communication, though that still didn't stop him from answering Green Cocoon's question.
"Before I used to think I stumbled onto the Vitality Dao because of my childhood trauma and the desire to live at the time. I don't know if senior has heard about the peerless jade physiques?" asked Yang Qing.
While he knew Green Cocoon was knowledgeable about a tonne of things, especially after the confirmation that she has been alive at least half a million years, he had doubts she was familiar with the common terminologies used today since she wasn't exactly the most communicative of persons. Maybe the peerless jade physique is known by a different term to her.
"I may not talk much, but that doesn't mean I'm deaf. Over a thousand of your seniors have used us at one point or the other, so that should answer your question," said Green Cocoon with a clearly displeased tone.
Just as Yang Qing awkwardly wondered how to continue on, he was saved by Green Cocoon's next statement.
"Your skepticism isn't unwarranted though since a long while back it went by different names at different points in time. The nature's grace, the peak divide, the classless ascension physique, there was even one era where they shamelessly called it the human elegance...hehehe…that was an interesting era, it had a lot of peculiar people," said Green Cocoon with a chuckle.
Yang Qing took advantage of her joyous state to continue with his explanation.
"As I was saying, I thought my affinity with the vitality dao was born out of my desire to live when my clan members almost killed me in their crazy attempt to help me reach the peerless jade body physique.
It succeeded and I managed to reach it and gained the Yin Yang jade bones physique. Had I not.... well, I wouldn't be here today," Yang Qing said with visible fear in his tone. To date, that was the closest he has ever gotten to dying. It left an indelible mark on him.
"But as I continued cultivating and experiencing different things, I no longer think that. What vitality symbolizes happens to agree with what I want in life which is to live to the fullest. To eat all the foods in the world without fear of dying to them or due to old age. To be able to lazy around and still grow strong, to laugh and cry, to restore and cleanse ..to me all these can be embodied in the Vitality Dao.
I don't live to cultivate but I cultivate to live, and the Vitality Dao to me is the best Dao for exactly that," said Yang Qing with clear resolve in his tone.
A few seconds passed by before Green Cocoon finally spoke up.
"You really are an odd child Yang Qing…but it's not a bad thing, you may very well discover certain things that would have otherwise evaded others because of your mindset.
As a senior who has walked a somewhat similar path to the one, you're treading on, I will leave you with these words to help you in your journey ahead. Keep your openness on what vitality really is, it may very well help you at some point in time, especially if your sense of imagination on what it means is really wide enough.
The Vitality Dao may not be the strongest Dao when it comes to offense but there is an area where it's unmatched even when compared with the Time Dao or the Space Dao. Maybe you may very well discover it, where even I failed.
I wish you well little oddball and think of this as my gift for you on your ceremony. You will only be able to access it when you reach the late stages of the palace realm though," said Green Cocoon.
Yang Qing felt a tremendous power flow into his palace realm which was brimming with so much life that it made his palace realm seem like a desiccated land in comparison. That power attached itself to one of the leaves of the green flame tree at the center of his palace realm. That power coalesced into a small melon seed-shaped white cocoon that had tinges of green on it.
Despite its tiny size, Yang Qing could intrinsically feel even with the boost from Veiled Destiny, he would not be able to match its power or even put as much as a scratch on that cocoon.
"What is this?" Yang Qing wondered.
But he pushed the matter to the back of his mind when he reached the platform. The moment he stepped on it, four other people from the Order had arrived on the platform, almost simultaneously, bringing the total of Soul formation experts on the platform, to nine.
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