Chapter 180
However, no matter how interesting it was, watching for over a week had grown tiresome.
Qiu Chi began to think of other ways to provoke Tao Zhiyuan.
She set her sights on the dandy from Dan Peak. His name was Zhuang Ye, and he had three spirit roots—water, wood, and fire. He was in the early Golden Core stage, a cultivation base built on medicinal pills. He spent his days doing nothing useful but was an expert when it came to eating, drinking, and making merry.
But what could anyone do? His father was a Perfected Nascent Soul cultivator and a seventh-grade alchemist.
He was so good to Tao Zhiyuan, and though he never said it outright, it was obvious he was jealous of Tao Zhiyuan’s Thunder Spirit Root.
When Tao Zhiyuan arrived at Tianyuan Sect and was tested to have a Thunder Spirit Root, it caused a sensation throughout the entire sect. Everyone, from the highest to the lowest, was discussing him.
Back then, Zhuang Ye wasn’t the dandy everyone knew him as. He was a young man who wanted to cultivate through his own efforts, without relying on pills.
Tao Zhiyuan’s existence was a constant provocation to him.
It wasn’t that Tianyuan Sect lacked talented single-spirit-root cultivators, but none of them had caught the eye of a Divine Transformation Ancestor and been personally instructed by one.
And no other disciple had started cultivating in their twenties like Tao Zhiyuan, yet advanced at such a rapid pace.
Although advancing through the Qi Refining stage was relatively easy, Tao Zhiyuan was already over twenty and had achieved this without pills. For the other disciples, this was a constant assault on their nerves.
However, with a Divine Transformation Ancestor backing Tao Zhiyuan, there was nothing they could do besides cultivate harder.
But Zhuang Ye was different.
On the surface, he began to act like a dandy. He started taking pills to cultivate, and his cultivation level rose quickly. Then, he deliberately got close to Tao Zhiyuan.
No matter how Tao Zhiyuan treated him at first, he acted like a simple-minded fool. Over time, Tao Zhiyuan was eventually corrupted by him.
He had given away so many pills; he refused to believe Tao Zhiyuan could resist taking them.
Having grown up in Tianyuan Sect, he naturally knew that those with single spirit roots had an easier time cultivating. As long as they didn’t die, reaching the Golden Core stage was a simple matter. Therefore, the sect was extremely strict with them, never allowing them to use pills for cultivation.
But Tao Zhiyuan was a latecomer, and Zhuang Ye didn’t believe a powerful figure like Venerable Tianming would be very attentive in teaching him.
And the facts were more or less as Zhuang Ye had imagined.
Tao Zhiyuan eventually resorted to using pills for cultivation, and his advancement speed became even faster.
However, he was now stuck at the Golden Core stage, unable to form a Nascent Soul.
Looking at Tao Zhiyuan, who was meditating with his eyes closed, a smile couldn’t help but appear on Zhuang Ye’s face.
It would be best if he remained at the Golden Core stage for the rest of his life. Heaven’s favored child, hah!
“You’re happy he can’t form a Nascent Soul, but what if he succeeds? And don’t you want to form a Nascent Soul yourself?”
The voice that suddenly appeared by his ear put Zhuang Ye on high alert instantly. His gaze sharpened. “Who’s there?”
“Never mind who I am. I’m just asking you, don’t you want to form a Nascent Soul?”
“Stop playing games. This is Tianyuan Sect. If you come out obediently, I might spare your life.”
Qiu Chi sighed helplessly. “Your words are starting to annoy me. So, I’m going to give you a beating first, and then we can have a proper chat.”
Zhuang Ye couldn’t see where Qiu Chi was, but a whip appeared out of nowhere and gave him a solid thrashing.
After stuffing a pill into his mouth and changing his clothes, Zhuang Ye spoke again. “May I ask who Senior is? What business do you have at my Tianyuan Sect? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, Senior, for hitting a junior like me? If you have the guts, why don’t you go spar with our Ancestor Tianming?”
Qiu Chi didn’t appear, but her voice reached Zhuang Ye’s ears clearly. “Tianming? I’ve already thrashed him once. Hitting you is no different from hitting him.”
Zhuang Ye was speechless.
For a moment, Zhuang Ye didn’t know how to respond. He just felt this mysterious person was quite the braggart.
Qiu Chi ignored his silence and continued to ask, “Now you can answer my previous question. Do you want to form a Nascent Soul?”
Zhuang Ye pursed his lips and snorted. “Is it fun for you, Senior, to tease a junior like me? Which cultivator doesn’t want to form a Nascent Soul? Of course I do, but is that something I can achieve just by wanting it?”
It wasn’t that he hadn’t heard of cultivators with four or five spirit roots managing to form a Nascent Soul, but knowing about it was one thing, and actually doing it was another.
He had already struggled just to form his Golden Core. A Nascent Soul? He probably had no hope for it in this lifetime, which was why he wanted to drag Tao Zhiyuan down with him.
Dragging a Thunder Spirit Root genius down to be stuck in the Golden Core stage with him—how wonderful.
Qiu Chi automatically filtered out his useless words. “As long as you want to, it’s simple. I can help you form a Nascent Soul, and I can even change your three spirit roots into a single one…”
Qiu Chi didn’t finish her sentence.
Zhuang Ye’s eyes lit up for a moment before he calmed down again. “For Senior to possess such means, what you seek must be great, right? I’m just a dandy who loves to eat, drink, and be merry. I can’t handle any major tasks. Senior should find someone else.”
Whether it was helping someone form a Nascent Soul or changing three spirit roots into one, both seemed like incredibly difficult feats to Zhuang Ye. So, he preemptively assumed that Qiu Chi wanted him to act against Tianyuan Sect.
He might not be a great person, but he wouldn’t do anything to betray his sect.
Qiu Chi found it rather amusing. “I didn’t realize you cared so much about your sect. Then why do you want to see Tao Zhiyuan ruined? If he becomes a powerful cultivator, wouldn’t that be better for your sect?”
“That’s different. With the Divine Transformation Ancestor here, our sect will always be the number one sect. What does Tao Zhiyuan count for?”
“Tao Zhiyuan counts for nothing, so you don’t want to hear what my request is?”
Zhuang Ye fell silent.
Qiu Chi continued, “My request has little to do with your sect, but it has everything to do with Tao Zhiyuan.”
Zhuang Ye’s eyes flickered. He looked up, trying to see Qiu Chi, but there was no one there.
Qiu Chi’s voice continued in his ear, “How boring is it to drag Tao Zhiyuan down to stay at the Golden Core stage with you? Wouldn’t it be more interesting for you to become a single-spirit-root Nascent Soul cultivator and provoke him that way?”
“Of course, it would also be nice to let him taste betrayal when the time is right. He trusts you so much, but it turns out this has all been a sham from the very beginning. If he found out, the look on his face would surely be priceless. Don’t you want to see it?”
Qiu Chi’s words had moved Zhuang Ye.
Whether it was becoming a single-spirit-root cultivator, forming a Nascent Soul, or provoking Tao Zhiyuan, he wanted it all.
Now that these three conditions were bundled together, the temptation was simply too great for him.
He had originally planned to tell Tao Zhiyuan everything when his own lifespan was about to run out. The look on Tao Zhiyuan’s face then would surely be spectacular.
He would probably want to kill him, but all he wanted was to have someone accompany him.
After all, they had been good brothers for so many years.
“I agree.”
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