Days went by, one after another.
On Blue Star, the fervor over the Moon Rock and Moon Soil lasted for a while. But as the Taoist Masters didn’t make any further appearances and the government didn’t specifically promote it, the excitement was gradually overshadowed by other news.
Compared to the Moon Rock and Moon Soil, the Mountain of Gold and Sea of Silver landscape became far more famous, drawing in crowds of people applying for a tour.
"I took a picture with tens of trillions of Huaxia Coins!" The gimmick was quite effective.
There was no reaction from other countries either.
This wasn’t like Taoist Shen Hao piloting the Floating Island or Yunyang and the others destroying the scam compounds—news of public displays of power that went viral and shook the world.
Gu Zhao’s collection of the Moon Rock and Moon Soil, while sending even greater shockwaves through the upper echelons of various nations than the previous two incidents, was something most ordinary people were either unaware of or couldn’t fully grasp even if they knew.
Strictly speaking, the commotion Gu Zhao caused this time didn’t even match the Kabia incident involving Taoist Yan Song.
Thus, the leaders of foreign nations decisively played dead, acting as if nothing had happened. Even NASA stopped openly clamoring for Celestial Xia to share its Moon Rock and Moon Soil.
As for the Otherworld, the eight old Daoists had gone to Jiangbei. Not much time had passed, and although they had eliminated some Demons and Ghosts that murdered people for Soul Refining and committed all sorts of evil, they hadn’t found any new traces of fiends.
Yongzhou had Chaoyang Island, and Yazhou had Snow God Mountain. In Shanzhou, although the Great Mountain Dharma King was mostly dormant and never involved himself in worldly affairs, the region had largely quieted down after Taoist Gao Yue and the others annihilated the Illusory Flower Hall.
For a moment, Gu Zhao actually felt a sense of peace and tranquility.
...
"The spring weather is lovely, perfect for an outing!"
Ye Ruyan urged Zhuo Qingyan, "Look at all the people coming to Daluo Palace to offer incense and pray. Many of them are Scholars hurrying to their prefectural exams, women praying for a good marriage, and even country squires, wealthy merchants, and Court officials.
They come to Cuiluo Mountain for leisure, so why can’t we go have some fun in the Prefecture City? You spent all of last year cultivating. Now your Dao Practice has hit a bottleneck, and breaking through won’t be easy. Why not take a stroll and change your mood?"
Zhuo Qingyan practiced the Fengyue Sect’s *Beiyin Seven True Soul Refining Skill*, became a Supreme Profound Nightlight Jade Maiden, and also engaged in dual cultivation with Gu Zhao.
Over the past two years, her Cultivation and Dao Practice had advanced by leaps and bounds. Although she couldn’t compare to the various old Daoists from Blue Star who were aided by the Thunder Seed, her own extraordinary talent had brought her to the brink of a breakthrough.
Her cultivation speed was even faster than Bai Ke’s progress in Harmony with the Silk Embroideress!
To be honest, even Ye Ruyan was quite envious watching Zhuo Qingyan’s cultivation progress.
In Ye Ruyan’s eyes, although Zhuo Qingyan was extraordinarily talented and certainly had the aptitude to break through to five hundred years of Dao Practice, it should have been impossible for her to achieve it so easily.
Take her and Miaoyun Princess, for example. They were both exceptionally gifted, but back then, they had to be cautious, struggle to survive, and endure decades of bitter cultivation as if it were a single day. Only then did they metamorphose before turning one hundred.
But Zhuo Qingyan?
For the first thirty years, her cultivation efficiency was similar to their own, gaining about one hundred fifty or sixty years of Dao Practice in thirty years.
But after that, she started "cheating" with Gu Zhao’s help. By practicing Daluo Palace’s top-tier Dharma Gate while also dual-cultivating with a grandmaster like Gu Zhao, she had managed to cross a hurdle in two years that might have otherwise taken sixty or seventy!
’Are you trying to ascend to the heavens or what?!’
Who could cultivate this quickly, aside from a peerless genius who appears only once in several centuries?
Ye Ruyan considered herself knowledgeable, but in her opinion, not even Celestial True Monarch, the current Island Master of Chaoyang Island; Ancestor Mie Yang, the founding patriarch of Silent God Mountain; or the current generation’s Snow Goddess of Snow God Mountain had ever shown such cultivation efficiency.
If it weren’t for the fact that Zhuo Qingyan’s cultivation speed was slowing down the further she progressed, a phenomenon also gradually appearing among the old Daoists of Daluo Palace, Ye Ruyan would have worried that this group would achieve sect-wide Ascension after just another ten or twenty years of cultivation.
However, while Ye Ruyan was envious, she also felt a little smug.
Because she had slept with Gu Zhao, too.
She practiced the Quanzhen Inner Alchemy Method, had condensed a Demon Pill, and also cultivated the Zhengyi Star Technique to perform the Upper Heavenly Star Purification of her Demon Power. Coupled with occasional dual cultivation with Gu Zhao, her Dao Practice and Magical Power were also advancing rapidly.
It was several times faster than cultivating on her own, at least.
’Ascension is within reach!’
In truth, she had also been cultivating in Daluo Palace for a long time. Having been still for so long, she now craved activity and wanted to go out for a stroll.
That’s why she planned to bring Zhuo Qingyan along, build up their rapport, and sweet-talk her into sharing a few more of Gu Zhao’s "usage slots" with her.
Bi Yingying’s eyes flickered from the side as she chimed in, "Should we ask the Sect Leader to come with us?"
"Ask me to come with you for what?"
Gu Zhao had just dropped Xiao Ya and Jiang Shishi off at work and crossed over from the modern world. Hearing Bi Yingying mention him from a distance, he took a single step, using Shrinking Inches, and appeared in the small courtyard where the women were gathered.
Zhuo Qingyan and Ye Ruyan were playing chess. Not far away, Bi Yingying and Chen Zhi were painting the green mountains. Miaoyun Princess sat beside Ye Ruyan, occasionally picking a pastry from the table.
The Silk Embroideress was brewing tea to the side, while Bai Ke, in her White Fox form, was sprawled languidly on the Silk Embroideress’s shoulder, fast asleep.
The moment Gu Zhao appeared, everyone stopped what they were doing.
"To ask you to join us for a spring outing," Ye Ruyan said with a smile.
"A spring outing sounds great!" Gu Zhao replied. "Cultivation is important, but you need a good balance between work and rest. The spring weather is just right for an excursion."
"I’ve just been in closed-door cultivation for many days, so it’s about time I got out and relaxed," Gu Zhao said with a straight face.
Zhuo Qingyan and Ye Ruyan nodded. As far as they were concerned, Gu Zhao was either in closed-door cultivation in a quiet room or had returned to the old Daluo Palace grounds to cultivate in seclusion. In any case, his seven-day absences were certainly not for entertainment.
"Are we going out to have fun and eat good food?" Bai Ke’s head suddenly shot up. She leaped off the Silk Embroideress’s shoulder, transformed into a young girl in the blink of an eye, and then hopped toward the door. "I’ll go pack my things and get someone to bring the carriage!"
Bai Ke scurried away in a flash.
Miaoyun Princess blinked. "Why do we need someone to drive a carriage?"
Many of them could fly, and those who couldn’t could use a Spirit Flying Jade Talisman. They could go anywhere they wanted. Why take a carriage?
Zhuo Qingyan smiled. "Because traveling by carriage is more relaxing, of course. We can travel aimlessly, wherever we please. That’s how you find pleasant surprises."
If they flew, all the scenery would flash before their eyes in an instant. Where was the fun in that?
As they were speaking, two horse-drawn carriages had already pulled into the rear courtyard, driven by two Outer Disciples.
"Greetings, Sect Leader!" the two exclaimed in unison, bowing.
Just then, Bai Ke came skipping back, a gourd hanging from her waist and a piece of flaky pastry in her hand.
Gu Zhao looked around. Zhuo Qingyan and Ye Ruyan had already put away the chessboard, Bi Yingying and Chen Zhi had rolled up their paintings, the Silk Embroideress had extinguished the stove fire, and Miaoyun Princess had cleared the pastries from the table.
Gu Zhao blinked. "You’re all... ready already?"
The women all nodded in unison.
Zhuo Qingyan pursed her lips slightly, a beautiful curve forming at the corners of her mouth. "We’re ready. We can leave anytime. What about you?"
’When it comes to getting ready to go out, how can a man possibly lose to a woman?’
So, with a wave of his hand, Gu Zhao declared, "Then let’s go!"