Learning Materials

Indeed.

Just as Su Qing had anticipated.

When Leng Xiang transformed back into human form, her Cold Fragrance Sword also changed with her.

This indicated Leng Xiang's success.

Su Qing looked at Leng Xiang and asked, "When did you come up with this method?"

Leng Xiang clenched her fists, feeling her genuine physical body.

A moment later, Leng Xiang regained her composure and replied, "I thought of it a long time ago. It was only when I noticed that plum branch in the Dragon Palace that I decided to use this method."

Su Qing nodded slightly, but still asked with a puzzled expression, "I'm still not clear, what exactly is that plum branch?"

"It's probably a branch cut from a very powerful plum blossom tree, meant for transplanting, right? After all these years, that plum branch still carried a rich vitality."

Leng Xiang thought for a moment and said, "However, I don't know where exactly it came from. I found it purely by intuition... If it hadn't also been a plum blossom branch, I probably wouldn't have sensed its presence at all."

Hearing this, Su Qing's understanding deepened.

"Speaking of which... why did Leng Xiang suddenly want to have a physical body?"

"It wasn't a sudden thought at all," Leng Xiang shook her head. "I've been thinking about it for a very long time. As for why? Of course, it's to serve my master better. Only with a physical body can I do more things for you."

Leng Xiang had indeed thought about it for a long time.

As for when it started...

It probably goes back to when the Women's Kingdom and the Mother-Child River were mentioned on Flower-Fruit Mountain, right? After all, a spirit body can't procreate; one needs a physical body for that.

Su Qing looked at Leng Xiang, and after a moment's thought, said, "Never mind, it's not a bad thing."

To Su Qing, the former Leng Xiang had already felt very real, as if she truly possessed a physical body.

And now that she actually had a physical body... Su Qing felt there wouldn't be much difference from before.

Hearing this, Leng Xiang couldn't help but smile radiantly.

Then, suppressing the various excitements and thoughts flashing through her mind, she said, "Master, it's getting late. I'll go prepare lunch for you!"

"Mm, I'll leave it to you then." Su Qing nodded, then gently stroked Leng Xiang's cheek. Indeed, it really wasn't much different from before. The sensation was exactly the same.

After Leng Xiang left to cook, Su Qing, sitting in the courtyard, felt a little idle.

As she pondered, she suddenly remembered the farewell gift the Dragon Queen had given her.

When the Dragon Queen had given it to her, she had been very mysterious, as if it were something extraordinary, and told Su Qing not to look at it until she returned home.

"Now that I'm home, I should be able to look at it, right?" Su Qing mused, then retrieved a thick stack of books from her Sleeve Universe.

The titles of these books were quite peculiar. Just looking at the covers, even Su Qing couldn't immediately tell what they were.

Seeing that the covers offered no useful information, Su Qing simply opened a book to inspect its contents.

She wanted to see what kind of ‘beauty like jade’ or ‘golden house’ these books contained that made the Dragon Queen so mysterious when giving them to her.

However... when she opened the first page and saw the illustrations within, she froze instantly. A wave of shyness washed over her. Startled, she quickly closed the book, even murmuring the "Pure Heart Incantation" twice.

"Whew... that's strange." Su Qing took a deep breath, then opened the book again and flipped through a few more pages. But after continuously turning several pages... the content was not significantly different from the first.

Finally, after rapidly flipping through an entire book, she exhaled a turbid breath and tossed all the books back into her Sleeve Universe.

She couldn't help but rub her temples and touch her burning earlobes. She thought helplessly, "I should have known that with the Dragon Queen's personality, any books she gave me wouldn't be anything good..."

It was then that Su Qing understood. Why the Dragon Queen had quietly given them to her, told her to hide them from Ao Ying, and said they would come in handy sooner or later.

It turned out... she had been given a stack of 《Illustrated Palace Springs》, and what's more, the ‘thoughtful’ Dragon Queen had even selected the ǎo version...

The Dragon Queen... she truly was quite a 'mother.'

Su Qing let out a long sigh, muttering to herself, "It's over, my mind has been completely tainted."

Humans all possess seven emotions and six desires, and Su Qing was no exception; she merely exercised more restraint.

After Ao Ying returned from Heaven Lake to the courtyard, she saw Su Qing rubbing her temples and immediately asked with concern, "Big Green Sister? What's wrong? Does your head hurt?"

Although immortals rarely fall ill, it's not impossible. And once an immortal gets sick, it can be extremely troublesome...

Su Qing was startled by Ao Ying's voice. She quickly shook her head and said, "No, nothing's wrong... I just saw something rather... astonishing, and I haven't quite recovered yet."

"Astonishing?" Ao Ying looked puzzled, then decided not to ask further, simply saying, "As long as Sister isn't sick, that's good."

"Don't worry, how could I get sick so easily?" Su Qing smiled faintly, reassuring Ao Ying not to worry about her.

Seeing this, Ao Ying nodded and then brought up other matters.

As the two chatted, Ao Ying suddenly remembered that since her return, she hadn't seen the sparrows or Gongsun Zhixue.

Immediately, she asked curiously, "Speaking of which, where are those little ones? They didn't run down the mountain to play, did they?"

Hearing this, Su Qing also remembered that she hadn't indeed seen the sparrows since her return.

"I warned them; none of them would run down to the towns below the mountain. They're probably playing somewhere in the mountains, right?"

Su Qing frowned slightly, then began to divine. Although most of the monsters in the mountains had fled because of her arrival, who knew if a small, fearless group remained? If those little ones encountered any, it would be troublesome.

Fortunately, after Su Qing's divination, her brows relaxed. She had calculated that the little ones were perfectly safe and unharmed.

With this thought, she felt relieved.

Then she looked at the smoke rising from the chimney, thought for a moment, and performed a quick divination again.

She pinpointed their location... "Come on, let's go catch them and bring them back for dinner! We're having roasted sparrows today!" Su Qing stretched and said.

She had originally been too lazy to catch them, planning to wait for them to return on their own. But dinner was approaching, so she decided to go call them.

Hearing this, Ao Ying was momentarily stunned, then smiled helplessly and immediately followed.

Su Qing and Ao Ying's speed was naturally exceptionally fast.

In a short while, they had arrived directly above the location Su Qing had divined earlier.

Su Qing stood on her auspicious cloud, looking down.

Below, steam rose, hazy and dreamlike, accompanied by a slightly pungent smell of sulfur.

Catching the scent, Su Qing frowned. "I truly didn't expect there to be hot springs near the Changbai Mountains."

Speaking of hot springs, Su Qing then remembered. She had only recalled the beauty of Changbai Mountain before, but forgotten... that Changbai Mountain was a volcano? And Heaven Lake was its crater...

At this thought, Su Qing's mouth twitched slightly. She had actually forgotten such an important detail... Her memory really was getting worse.

However, there was no need to worry too much about this... After all, with her there, even if the volcano wanted to erupt, it wouldn't be so easy.

To say nothing else, preventing a volcanic eruption was still an effortless task for her.

However, this matter naturally couldn't be kept from Ao Ying. After all... she lived right inside that volcano's crater.

After hearing Su Qing's words, Ao Ying was first slightly startled, then burst into laughter.

After she finished laughing, she said, "Actually, I already knew... Sister, did you forget? I live inside Heaven Lake! How could I not know what's beneath it?"

"But I'm also very happy that Sister cares about me so much!" Ao Ying said, linking arms with Su Qing and rubbing against her.

Immediately, a faint fragrance enveloped them, masking the sulfurous smell of the hot spring.

Su Qing exhaled a turbid breath, shook her head, and banished the 'Diary' that had surfaced in her mind.

"As long as you knew." Su Qing said, "Come on, let's go bring those little ones back for dinner."

"Mm!" Ao Ying smiled faintly and said, "Oh, Sister, if we ever get the chance, let's come here to soak too! My mother told me hot springs are wonderfully comfortable."

Hearing this, Su Qing naturally nodded. Although she tended to get sleepy after soaking in hot springs for a long time, she had to admit that it was indeed quite comfortable. Besides, such a large expanse of hot springs... it would be a bit of a waste not to use them.

Su Qing lowered her auspicious cloud, descending onto the hot spring.

She stepped onto the water, looked left and right, and soon spotted Gongsun Zhixue lying comfortably in the water.

"How is it? Comfortable?" Su Qing asked Gongsun Zhixue, who was in the water, with a playful smile.

Hearing this, Gongsun Zhixue naturally nodded and said, "Of course it is!"

"Oh? But it's time to go! Time to go back for dinner." Saying this, Su Qing grabbed her, and asked, "By the way, where are those little ones? Why aren't they with you?"

"Them? They scooped up a few basins of water and went to soak by themselves. Perhaps the hot spring was too deep for them?"

Gongsun Zhixue pouted and said discontentedly, "And also, can you let go of me so I can put my clothes on?"

"Sorry, I forgot." Su Qing gave an embarrassed smile, too focused on grabbing her that she forgot the girl was naked.

"Pfft~ You definitely did that on purpose! You pervert!" Gongsun Zhixue stuck out her tongue at Su Qing and said.

She was no longer shy about such things; after all this time, she had long grown used to it.

However, if given the chance to tease Su Qing, she naturally wouldn't let such an opportunity pass.

Hearing this, Su Qing couldn't help but rub the little one's head and said, "You really are asking for it, you know. But I'm in a good mood today, so I'm too lazy to bother with you."

With that, Su Qing ignored Gongsun Zhixue and went off by herself to find the remaining sparrows.

Before long, Su Qing found the little ones and, incidentally, put them into a pot.

Of course, Su Qing wouldn't actually cook and eat them. It was just to scare them. The only pity was that, perhaps because she had been too kind to these little ones in the past, this time it seemed she hadn't managed to scare them at all.

Su Qing felt a little helpless about this.

Returning to the courtyard, Leng Xiang's meal was finally cooked and already served on the table.

Ao Ying, who had returned with Su Qing, saw Leng Xiang standing by the table and was momentarily stunned. She sensed that something about Leng Xiang was different.

And after asking, she finally got her answer.

"I thought... you were purely a sword spirit!" Ao Ying said, looking at Leng Xiang with slight surprise.

Hearing this, Leng Xiang merely smiled faintly and offered no explanation.

She simply dished out the rice, handed it to Ao Ying, and said, "Time to eat."

Ao Ying: "..."

Seeing that Su Qing didn't want to elaborate, she stopped asking questions.

In the afternoon. With nothing else to do, Su Qing cultivated a small, separate herb garden in the courtyard, intended for planting the most precious and rarest spirit herbs and immortal grasses.

Because this small herb garden was not far from the Bodhi Tree... it would receive more of its influence.

Naturally, it was suitable for cultivating such medicinal herbs.

"You're not allowed to bully these spirit herbs and immortal grasses in the herb garden, understand?" Su Qing thought for a moment, then warned the Bodhi Tree.

Although she didn't know if the Bodhi Tree would obey, saying a few words was certainly a precaution.

As expected, the Bodhi Tree gave no response, and Su Qing wasn't surprised in the slightest.

After speaking, she went about planting the herbs herself.

With her previous experience in planting herbs, Su Qing finished planting that small herb garden in no time.

As for the remaining herbs, she planned to plant them outside, together with the more common ones.

After completing these tasks, Su Qing, as usual, continued to cultivate diligently. Whether it was alchemy or talismans, by practicing little by little, she would one day reach the level of a grandmaster.

Days passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, half a month went by. Unconsciously, the agreed-upon day to visit Bai Suzhen and the Old Mother arrived.

As for the appointed day? It was, of course, the day to go to Li Shan Mount Li.

Because Su Qing had promised Bai Suzhen that she would visit her often.

However, the Old Mother worried that Bai Suzhen would focus too much on other things and neglect her cultivation. So, she and Su Qing had agreed upon a fixed time. This way, Bai Suzhen would have something to look forward to, and she could also cultivate diligently without disturbance.

The Old Mother had truly invested a great deal of effort to ensure Bai Suzhen's successful cultivation. However, because Bai Suzhen's strength still hadn't satisfied her, the Old Mother still hadn't allowed Bai Suzhen to leave Li Shan Mount Li.

Early that morning. Su Qing watched the distant rising sun, then tightened the hand-woven rope in her hand.

She thought, "This last hand-woven rope now finally has a destination."