Eternal Life by Dual Cultivation

Chapter 444 - 255: Bizarre War (2)

"Is that so? That’s not bad at all!"

Ling Changqing nodded, not dwelling on the matter any longer.

’Once I become stronger and advance to a Nascent Soul True Monarch, today’s problems will solve themselves.’

After a long while, Shangguan Qingying, who was sleeping beside him, slowly opened her beautiful, shimmering eyes. She turned her head to gaze at the handsome young man in her arms, her look overflowing with an affection so dense it was palpable.

’This man... It was one thing for him to have her attend to him in bed, but now he always insisted on pulling in the Zhao Wanyi sisters as well. He made them compete side-by-side in the same bed... He was getting more and more outrageous!’

The peerless beauty grumbled to herself. She had protested, but Ling Changqing still made her and the two sisters serve him together. He’d tried all sorts of tricks on them, pushing the very limits of shamelessness.

Still, the benefits of Dual Cultivation were tangible. Compared to other cultivators of her rank who had to painstakingly advance their Cultivation step-by-step, Shangguan Qingying felt she was incredibly fortunate.

’Perhaps in the future, even the Divinity Transformation Realm wouldn’t be her final destination. She might go even further and become one of the handful of masters of great power on the entire Qingyao Continent.’

Shangguan Qingying lowered her head and gently kissed Ling Changqing’s forehead, a contented sigh escaping her lovely, lustrous lips.

Ling Changqing opened his eyes at that perfect moment, his gaze meeting the beautiful woman’s.

"Husband..."

Shangguan Qingying’s lovely face flushed red. She shrank back slightly, her hand instinctively moving to cover his eyes.

Clearly, she was embarrassed.

Ling Changqing chuckled, averting his gaze. He leaned down, burying his face and beginning to feast greedily on her snowy peaks.

Shangguan Qingying bit her lip, arching her magnificent chest and silently yielding to his actions.

"...By the way, I’m planning to go check on the situation in the war zone tomorrow."

Ling Changqing said, rolling over and wrapping his arms around Shangguan Qingying’s smooth, delicate body.

The enchanting beauty, who had been offering her bosom to him, froze. Her dark brows knitted in displeasure.

"What are you going to the battlefield for? What if you’re targeted by some of those battle-crazed madmen? You shouldn’t go!"

"Exactly! Husband, that’s too risky. We’d be worried sick!"

From beneath the Phoenix Harmony Brocade Quilt, Zhao Wanyi, who was massaging his legs with her head lowered, took a moment to add her thoughts.

Zhao Wanqing said, "Husband, those three powers all have Divinity Transformation Great Powers among them. If you were to face one directly, could you really escape unharmed, even with your incredible Destiny?"

Once the war escalates, those elusive Divinity Transformation Great Powers will surely intervene. The immense destruction they could cause goes without saying.

Ling Changqing smiled. "I wouldn’t do this if I wasn’t confident. They can’t divine my whereabouts at all, so you don’t need to worry."

Gong Ling herself had told him that not even Great Powers at the Divinity Transformation or Void Refinement Realms who were masters of the Path of Celestial Secret Art and Divination could deduce his whereabouts.

Shangguan Qingying still looked hesitant. "Let the two girls go with you, then," she said softly. "And take those Grade Four Shifting Talismans. The moment you sense trouble, get out of there."

She wanted to go with Ling Changqing herself, but the family headquarters needed a powerful cultivator to guard it, so she had to abandon the idea.

"Let’s do that, then."

Ling Changqing didn’t object. He knew Shangguan Qingying wouldn’t be at ease unless the sisters went with him.

Reaching out, he pulled Shangguan Qingying’s soft, curvaceous body into his arms. Ling Changqing sent his Divine Thought to probe her condition and said with satisfaction,

"You’ve reached the Nascent Soul Peak Realm as a matter of course. Next, you should prepare to break through to the Divinity Transformation Realm, shouldn’t you? It’s just... the resources are difficult to gather. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a little longer, my dear."

’He remembered that when they first met, Shangguan Qingying had only just broken through to the late-stage Nascent Soul Realm, and her Cultivation was still unstable.’

’But after engaging in Dual Cultivation with Ling Changqing, her Luck and Fortune, as well as her Cultivation, had all increased significantly. The Divinity Transformation Realm was now within her grasp.’

Shangguan Qingying smiled shyly. "There’s no rush. Let’s wait until this war is over. Trying to buy Divinity Transformation Level resources now would be a huge waste of money, and it’s not as if they’re readily available for purchase anyway."

A Great Power at the Divinity Transformation Level can shift the balance of power between major factions. The addition of even one is a major event. Therefore, resources for this level are essentially priceless and unobtainable—you can’t buy them even if you have the money, and you can only hope to stumble upon them by chance.

Even within top-tier powers like the Liu Ying Clan or Lu Hua Palace, acquiring a complete set of resources for Divinity Transformation is an incredibly difficult affair, to say nothing of an outsider trying to do so.

If Shangguan Qingying still held her status as a daughter of the Saint Yu Immortal Dynasty’s Royal Family, things might have been simpler. As things stood, she had a better chance of finding what she needed by wandering the world and hoping for a fortuitous encounter.

Of course, Ling Changqing wasn’t worried. As long as he had enough time, he was confident he could solve this problem.

As the Ling Family’s power grew, so too did Ling Changqing’s confidence.

After another moment of tenderness, Ling Changqing released the beautiful woman from his embrace, got up, cleaned himself, and began to dress.

The next morning, Ling Changqing departed with the two sisters.

Shangguan Qingying had given him her personal transport—a Flying Ship of the Absolute grade Treasure Level—for rapid travel and maneuvering within the war zone.

Along the way, Ling Changqing suddenly received an ultra-long-range communication request from Qin Mengxuan.

"Meng Xuan... When will you be coming to visit next?"

Ling Changqing asked in surprise as he activated the Communication Jade Talisman.

In all these years, Qin Mengxuan had visited him no more than five times, and each visit had been a hurried one.

The reason was simple: Liu Ying Ziyi was watching her too closely, making it difficult for Qin Mengxuan to find any opportunity to leave by herself.

But no matter how her so-called best friend tried to threaten or entice her, Qin Mengxuan refused to budge for the sake of Ling Changqing’s safety, never revealing a single thing.

Therefore, Liu Ying Ziyi could only watch Qin Mengxuan like a hawk, pestering her relentlessly in the hopes of wearing her down and making her change her mind.

"...It probably won’t be possible for a while."

Qin Mengxuan’s soft, melodious voice sounded from the Jade Talisman:

"This war within Yuzhou is strange. If our Sect’s intelligence channels aren’t seriously mistaken, I’m afraid the Mu Family and the Cui Family... have already been taken over by some mysterious outside power!"

"Is that what’s happening?"

Ling Changqing’s expression flickered. "So they’re attacking the Saint Yu Immortal Dynasty to throw the entire Yuzhou Cultivation Realm into chaos?"

Xue Qingtan had once mentioned a shocking scandal to him involving the former Patriarch of the Mu Family. It turned out that a huge number of his children were not of his bloodline—not a single one was his own.

’He couldn’t imagine what kind of terrifying, mysterious power could execute such a grand deception, manipulating the leader of a top-tier power like a puppet.’

’It seemed these waters were far deeper than he had imagined. He wondered just how deeply the Mu Family had been infiltrated by this outside power.’

’The situation with the Cui Family was likely much the same.’

"You could put it that way."

Qin Mengxuan sighed. "Since we haven’t been able to gather more intelligence, we can’t be certain about some things yet.

"But I believe their goal is the utter destruction of the Yuzhou Cultivation Realm. Besides wanting to seize all of Yuzhou, their other important target is you!"

"Is that right?"

Ling Changqing fell into thought. He had no proof, but his intuition told him that Qin Mengxuan’s guess was right on the mark.

’Then the instigators of this war wouldn’t be hard to guess. It was most likely a conspiracy orchestrated by certain top-tier powers from the neighboring states of Yuzhou, Yaozhou, and Xia State.’

"The forces here in Yuzhou should have a way to handle this, right?"

Ling Changqing asked.

"Yes, of course! We’re not just lambs for the slaughter. We’ll definitely show them what we’re made of!"

Qin Mengxuan said bitterly, "You don’t need to worry, Husband. Just focus on protecting yourself. This storm... it should pass before too long."

"Alright. You protect yourself, too."

Ling Changqing felt a sense of relief. Since the higher-ups at Lu Hua Palace were already on alert, the other Seven Great Families and those few Hidden Sects must have realized what was happening by now as well.

What would follow, then, was a contest of strength between the two sides, both in the open and in the shadows. The Yuzhou Cultivation Realm had the home-field advantage, and its number of top-tier Great Powers was no less than its opponents. They shouldn’t be at a disadvantage.