Feeding this to a Nascent Soul cultivator? How stingy!
Zhegu ordered another table of dishes, this time befitting the standards of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Lan Ji did not return, but a day later, she sent Zhegu a voice transmission. “Is she still there?”
Her voice sounded hoarse and exhausted, as though she had been through a tremendous emotional upheaval and was completely drained.
Yet Zhegu could hear the elation and brightness in it, as if the best thing in the world had happened.
“She’s still here.” Thinking of the conclusion he had reached, Zhegu’s voice began to tremble as well. “Is—is she the Madam…?”
“Exchange the Heaven-ranked treasures with her,” Lan Ji said.
Zhegu immediately replied respectfully, “Yes, Young Mistress.”
Lan Ji had matters to attend to and could not make it back, but Zhegu was the chief steward she had just promoted, and he also held her token.
The transaction went smoothly.
Nangong Yu handed over some items she had no shortage of in exchange for nine extremely powerful local treasures.
“Thank you, Little Yu.” After handing over the items and carefully storing away the treasures he had received, Zhegu said sincerely, “I’ll personally give you an Earth-ranked treasure.”
Nangong Yu immediately nodded. “I want that Profound Ice Fan!”
It was a top-grade Earth-ranked treasure capable of freezing a Nascent Soul cultivator’s physical body.
Nangong Yu had taken a fancy to it from the beginning, but later, her attention had been focused on the Heaven-ranked treasures, and she had forgotten all about it.
Now that Zhegu offered to give it to her, she immediately remembered!
“Very well.” Zhegu agreed readily.
When Zhegu first met Nangong Yu, she had still been a mortal. Even then, she had already carried a large number of storage pouches and rings, asking him to undo their restrictions.
Only two months had passed, yet she had already obtained treasures that a Nascent Soul cultivator had “discarded,” and had even come to the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion to stock up, acquiring nine Heaven-ranked treasures.
Regardless of who stood behind her, the fact that they could nurture her to such an extent was enough to prove her potential.
As he saw her off, Zhegu took out a white jade flute. “Call me if anything comes up.”
The white jade flute felt considerably finer to the touch. It was heavy as it rested in her palm.
“All right.” Nangong Yu played with it for a moment before tossing it into her system space.
She had just stepped out the door when she suddenly remembered something. “Help me find someone.”
“Who are you looking for?” Zhegu immediately asked.
Nangong Yu tapped the optical computer on her wrist, projecting the image of the person Li Xiufang had asked her to find. “She looks like this. I don’t know her name. Send me a message when you find her.”
Zhegu had the blank communication cards she had given him, but Nangong Yu had plenty of those cards herself. She casually pulled out a stack and stuffed them into his hands.
“Let me know if anything happens.”
Only after taking care of all that did she leave with True Person Qinghong.
“Does Little Yu want to look around Cloudfall City?” Seeing her look left and right, her face full of surprise and wonder, True Person Qinghong asked.
Nangong Yu immediately nodded. “Yes! I want to sit in a teahouse!”
The teahouse in Sunset City had left a deep impression on her, giving Nangong Yu a great longing for the teahouses of the cultivation world.
True Person Qinghong found it amusing and said, “All right. I’ll take you to one.”
She had been in the sect for nearly three hundred years and had visited Cloudfall City countless times, so she knew the place very well.
There was more than one teahouse in the enormous Cloudfall City. She took Nangong Yu to one that her fellow disciples often visited.
“I don’t want a private room.” After entering the teahouse, True Person Qinghong took out her VIP jade token, but Nangong Yu refused.
She looked around, chose a corner crowded with people, then dashed over and claimed one of the tables.
“Hey, brat.” As luck would have it, several cultivators had just entered through the door and had also taken a liking to the table. “Move.”
There were several of them, just enough to fill the table.
“Who do you think you are?” Nangong Yu patted her chest. “I’m a disciple of the Purple Sun Sect!”
Seriously, she was wearing the Purple Sun Sect’s disciple robes. How could anyone still dare speak to her like that?
Did the Purple Sun Sect really have so little presence outside the sect?
“Little brat.” One of the cultivators pressed down on her head and gave it a twist. “Who isn’t?”
As he spoke, he pushed her aside and prepared to sit down.
But he never managed to.
A gentle yet unshakable force immobilized all of them.
“Who is it?” The group’s expressions changed. They looked around. “Which senior is here?”
They called the person “senior,” but there was not the slightest hint of respect in their voices.
Only when True Person Qinghong slowly walked over and said to Nangong Yu, “Little Junior-Uncle, why did you run off so quickly?”
After saying that, she sat down first and pulled out the bench for Nangong Yu.
But Nangong Yu did not sit. Instead, she raised one foot and stood on the bench, reaching out to press down on the top of one man’s head.
“Who are you calling a brat? Your head is huge! You’re the big-headed brat!”
Not stopping there, she stood on the bench and stretched out her arms, pressing down on each of their heads in turn.
“I got here first. First come, first served. Do you understand? Fighting over everything—even a table! Tell me, how many people have you bullied like this?”
She declared furiously, “Today, I’m going to uphold justice! Hand over all your storage pouches! I’m going to rob you!”
The group: “…”
The other people chatting in the teahouse spared a sliver of attention and glanced over.
“Junior Sister, we were only joking with you.” One of them smiled sheepishly.
“That’s right. We’re all fellow disciples. We only came over because we saw you wearing the Purple Sun Sect’s disciple robes.”
“It was just a joke. Why get so angry, Junior Sister?”
“Since you don’t like it, we won’t joke with you again next time.”
“Fellow disciples can joke with one another, can’t they?” Nangong Yu’s eyes spun thoughtfully. She pulled out a fan.
The Profound Ice Fan was a top-grade Earth-ranked treasure capable of freezing a Nascent Soul cultivator’s physical body.
If it could freeze even a Nascent Soul cultivator’s body, then Foundation Establishment cultivators were naturally no problem.
With a giggle, she waved the fan at them.
A bone-chilling cold swept out. In an instant, the cultivators before her froze solid, their hair, eyebrows, and robes covered in thick white frost.
“It works really well!”
Nangong Yu jumped down from the bench and poked at the frozen cultivators. “Hey, can you hear me?”
The group was frozen and unable to make any expressions, but their eyes still moved, revealing fear and fury.
“Huh?” Nangong Yu frowned. “It’s supposed to freeze the physical body, so why can their eyes still move? Don’t eyeballs count as part of the body?”
Puzzled, she turned around and asked the person behind her.
True Person Qinghong explained, “Skin, flesh, meridians, and bones all count as part of the physical body.”
The eyeballs naturally counted as well.
“Little Junior-Uncle, look again,” True Person Qinghong said, pointing ahead.
Nangong Yu looked again. The cultivators’ eyeballs could barely move anymore. Under her curious gaze, frost gradually formed over their eyes as well, freezing them in place.
“It takes time?” Nangong Yu stroked her chin. “It’s a little slow.”
If it worked this slowly against Foundation Establishment cultivators, then what about Nascent Soul cultivators…?
“Tsk.” She was somewhat dissatisfied.
It said the fan could freeze them, but it hadn’t said how long it would take to freeze them completely. No wonder it was only an Earth-ranked treasure—the catch was hidden there.
“Is this the treasure Little Junior-Uncle bought at the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion?” True Person Qinghong asked curiously. “It’s already very impressive. It can even freeze a Nascent Soul cultivator.”
She herself was at the Nascent Soul realm, so of course she could sense how formidable the Profound Ice Fan was.
Nangong Yu hurriedly asked, “It can freeze people? How long does it take to freeze them? How thoroughly does it freeze them? Once they’re frozen, will they thaw on their own?”
At the time, all her attention had been focused on the Heaven-Tier magic treasure, so she really hadn’t paid much attention to this Profound Ice Fan, which was more or less an extra bonus.
Fortunately, a Nascent Soul cultivator was with her. Nangong Yu quickly sat down and poured her a cup of tea.
Although True Person Qinghong was technically her senior’s disciple, when had a BOSS ever truly cared about status? It was always better to show her some respect.
However, True Person Qinghong shook her head. “I don’t know either.”
She had only sensed the general power of the magic treasure. Unless she tested it herself, she couldn’t determine exactly how formidable it was.
Nangong Yu wasn’t discouraged by the lack of an answer. She could test it after returning to the sect—the sect had plenty of Nascent Soul monsters.
She stood up and began undoing the storage bags and rings of several disciples.
“Senior-Niece, help me open these.” Nangong Yu placed three storage bags and two storage rings on the table.
True Person Qinghong swept her palm over them and said gently, “They’re open.”
She didn’t comment on her junior grand-aunt’s actions.
Given her seniority, disciplining a few juniors was only natural.
“So poor?”
Nangong Yu poured everything out onto the table, filling it up, then picked through the items.
Foundation Establishment disciples naturally didn’t have anything particularly valuable.
“How do we unfreeze them?” Nangong Yu glanced to the side. “Should I fan them again? Or use the Blazing Fire Fan to give them a few whacks?”
Her words prompted laughter from the surrounding cultivators.
Nangong Yu looked over and saw several amiable-looking cultivators cupping their hands toward her with smiles.
“If the little immortal master doesn’t mind, why don’t we handle it for you?”
Nangong Yu nodded and made a gesture. “Please do.”
She watched curiously as two of them stepped forward. One had a fire spiritual root, while the other had a water spiritual root.
One summoned fire, attempting to melt the solid ice.
The other manipulated water, trying to turn the frost into liquid.
After toiling for quite a while, the ice around the few disciples receded somewhat. Their eyes began to move, and they could move their tongues again.
“You—you’ve gone too far!”
“Do you know who we are? We’re disciples of Fuyu Peak!”
“Do you think you can afford to offend the Fuyu Peak Master?!”
The final sentence was directed at True Person Qinghong. Though they were putting on a brave front despite their fear, the fact that Foundation Establishment cultivators dared to say such a thing in front of a Nascent Soul cultivator showed that they had some confidence behind them.
Sure enough, True Person Qinghong’s expression became hesitant.
She had a gentle temperament and wasn’t fond of conflict. Elder Xuanqing had injured Chen Zhi, and Xu Wanzhong had already punished Elder Xuanqing. Besides, Elder Xuanqing had now been imprisoned in the Profound Ice Cliff, so she had let the matter go.
Making enemies was not her style, especially when the other party was the Fuyu Peak Master.
“The Fuyu Peak Master?” Nangong Yu found the name somewhat familiar. After thinking for a moment, she recalled that this was the background of those senior brothers who had picked up her Universal Key.
Was his name Zhou Yun or Zhao You?
In any case, it didn’t matter what their names were. She had killed both of them, and she was enemies with Fuyu Peak.
She had simply been too busy lately and had forgotten about it.
“Scared now?” one of them glared at her. “If you’re scared, then release us already!”
Nangong Yu thought for a moment before saying, “Senior-Niece, how about we kill them to silence them?”
True Person Qinghong was startled, her eyes widening.
“They’ll report us when they go back anyway. Whether we release them or not, they’ll still be trouble,” Nangong Yu said with complete seriousness. “But if we kill them, there’s a chance the Fuyu Peak Master won’t find out. We might even avoid the trouble.”
It sounded rather reasonable.
But did she have to say it in front of so many people?
True Person Qinghong assumed she was joking, but the others panicked.
“You dare!”
“We’re inner disciples, and our life-soul lamps are kept in the sect. If you dare lay a hand on us, the sect will certainly trace it back to you!”
“When that happens, the Discipline Hall won’t let you off!”
They saw that Nangong Yu was already at the middle stage of Qi Refining and assumed she was a disciple from an earlier intake.
After all, only two months had passed since the latest round of disciple recruitment. How could there be such a genius who had entered the path of cultivation and reached the middle stage of Qi Refining in just two months?
Yes, some geniuses could do it.
But how many geniuses could there possibly be in this world?
