Chapter 141: Gangyuan Sword Seed, Enlightenment Tea
Silently and without a sound.
True Martial Sect had already begun to take action.
From the outside, True Martial Sect appeared thriving, but what they did not know was that True Martial Sect had already begun selecting fire seeds to hide away, and all of this was being carried out in secret, unknown to anyone except a very few.
Of course.
This was merely one precautionary measure among others.
Their greater efforts were still focused on delaying the advances of Demonic Sect and Southern Border, and the secret letter previously sent to King Zhenbei was one such example.
In addition.
Dragon Mountain Daoist was also actively probing for all information regarding Demonic Sect and Southern Border headquarters.
And during these past few days.
Jiang Baishan brought Lin Ruhua to meet with a crowd of senior brothers and junior brothers. He knew his master had made up his mind, and he could not change it. Despite the pain in his heart, he could only cherish these last few days spent with everyone.
As Dragon Mountain Daoist had said, this was truly a difficult choice.
After careful consideration, Lin Ruhua felt the same. She had previously only thought that Demonic Sect’s strength far surpassed True Martial Sect, and her mother might not be involved in this matter, but if her mother truly faced off against True Martial Sect and Dragon Mountain Daoist, how was she to position herself?
The two thought long and hard, and in the end had no choice but to admit that Dragon Mountain Daoist’s arrangements were the best.
However, Lin Ruhua could not help feeling some guilt in her heart, always feeling that she and Jiang Baishan going into seclusion was letting down True Martial Sect. But for the moment, she could not find any better solution. She thought that before completely severing ties with Demonic Sect and going into seclusion, she would try to probe as much as possible about Demonic Sect’s secrets regarding achieving Martial Saint.
This was the greatest value she could provide, and it would also help alleviate a bit of her and Jiang Baishan’s sense of guilt.
……
A few days passed in the blink of an eye.
True Martial Peach Gathering had arrived.
Today’s Seeker’s Courtyard was extraordinarily lively.
All because this year’s True Martial Peach Gathering had two new faces.
One was naturally the eleventh disciple Li Ling, and the other was Lin Ruhua.
Over the past year, Li Ling had heard Zhuang Chen mention this True Martial Peach Gathering so often that his ears had grown calluses, and now he finally had the chance to participate. His little face was flushed red with excitement.
What he enjoyed was this harmonious atmosphere among the senior brothers and junior brothers, something he could never experience at King Zhenbei’s Manor.
After joining True Martial Sect, his sense of belonging to True Martial Sect had grown day by day, and now he had completely regarded True Martial Sect as his second home.
“This cup, to Little Eleven!” The congregation raised their cups and laughed.
Li Ling quickly stood up. This time, he had had King Zhenbei’s Manor send over quite a few delicacies, adding even more splendor to the peach gathering.
“Thank you Ninth Senior Brother for the peach fruit, thank you Third Senior Sister for the peach blossom wine. These are the best peach fruit and wine I’ve ever tasted in my life!”
Hearing Li Ling’s words, Ye Qinghe’s mouth split into a wide grin.
“Little Eleven has good taste. In the future, if you want to drink, just tell senior sister, and she’ll make you some special brew!”
Her brewing skills now were worlds apart from before, specializing in peach blossom wine, and she could even rival White Ape. The congregation saw the changes in it, saw Ye Qinghe’s path, and while astonished, they were also happy for her. Her example showed that as long as one had passion, even poor talent could lead to some achievements.
“This cup, to the ‘traitor’ Little Five among us, and also to Ruhua!”
As soon as Luo Wentian finished speaking, the congregation laughed even more joyfully.
Jiang Baishan was the first among the many true disciples to have a dao companion, while the others had not even seen the shadow of one.
Everyone’s eyes held smiles and blessings. Jiang Baishan and Lin Ruhua were already inseparable, as close as glue and lacquer.
Jiang Baishan and Lin Ruhua stood up, exchanging a glance, both seeing the intent in each other’s eyes.
“Thank you, senior brothers, senior sisters, and junior brothers!”
“Today, we invite all of you to bear witness: Ruhua and I will become husband and wife!”
Jiang Baishan’s words were firm and powerful.
In these last few days, they wanted the blessings of their closest kin. Last night, they had already gone to see Dragon Mountain Daoist and received his approval. Today, they were telling everyone this good news. Although they could not hold a wedding for the time being, it did not hinder deepening the bond between them.
In a certain sense, this was also an embodiment of their determination to live and die together.
The congregation was first stunned.
Then they were all pleasantly surprised.
They were not people who cared about those cumbersome rituals. Since Jiang Baishan and Lin Ruhua had chosen each other, from now on they were husband and wife.
“You sly Little Five, truly you can’t judge a book by its cover!”
“Silently and without a sound, you’ve handled such a big matter! So sudden, we didn’t even have time to prepare gifts for you!”
“Fifth Senior Brother, we want wedding candy!”
The congregation laughed.
Jiang Baishan felt deeply moved in his heart.
“The wedding candy was prepared for you long ago!” Lin Ruhua and Jiang Baishan took out the wedding candy specially purchased from True Martial City and distributed it one by one.
Everyone ate the wedding candy, feeling both happy and a bit sad.
As they ate, it became somewhat silent.
They all knew Lin Ruhua’s identity, and knew that after today, Jiang Baishan would be leaving the mountain, perhaps not to be seen for several years. Although everyone had deliberately avoided the topic today, with Jiang Baishan announcing that the two had become husband and wife, a bit of sadness inevitably surged up again.
Ning Qi smiled.
Over these past few days, he had thought a lot, and he had become even more determined: he absolutely would not let Demonic Sect and Southern Border threaten his closest kin.
He would definitely stop all of this.
Therefore, he did not think he would never see his Fifth Senior Brother Jiang Baishan again. He only thought of it as Jiang Baishan going out for experiential training for a few years, after which he would return.
Ning Qi smiled and broke the slight silence.
“You didn’t prepare wedding gifts for Fifth Senior Brother, but I did.”
Everyone’s eyes lit up.
“You sly Little Nine, silently preparing it yourself!”
They were somewhat expectant of Ning Qi’s gift.
Everyone had increasingly felt Ning Qi’s uniqueness. Although they did not know like Luo Wentian that Ning Qi was Heavenly Sword True Person, they knew Ning Qi was not simple. This time’s True Martial peach fruit was clear proof.
By now, after several years of continuous cultivation, the peach fruit had absorbed essence from bright fruit and part of enlightenment tea tree, becoming an extraordinary wondrous fruit with even better effects than last year. It could consolidate foundations, cultivate essence, and excavate the body.
One could imagine the reaction of those disciples who received peach fruit as rewards at this year’s Year End Grand Competition.
It was only because the congregation had eaten so much of it that they were not so astonished.
But for Li Ling and Lin Ruhua, it was still extremely stunning.
At this moment.
Jiang Baishan felt even more moved in his heart. He had watched Ning Qi grow step by step. He did not care what Ning Qi gave; he was only moved by the sentiment.
Lin Ruhua, on the other hand, was curious.
Although it had only been a short few days, with her intelligence, through observation and others’ attitudes, she could tell that this Ninth Junior Brother was not simple.
Ning Qi did not keep them in suspense.
He stood up and went back into the room, then came out holding a small jade box.
As the congregation’s gazes gathered, the jade box opened, revealing a pair of cyan mandarin duck jade pendants in their sight. The mandarin ducks were lifelike, as if alive. Ning Qi picked them up and handed one each to Jiang Baishan and Lin Ruhua, saying solemnly:
“These are jade pendants I made myself. I wish Fifth Senior Brother and senior sister-in-law mandarin ducks flying side by side, forever united, and that after traversing thousands of mountains and rivers, everything remains as ever.”
These words had deeper meaning; only Luo Wentian understood a bit, and his heart shook slightly before he sighed.
Jiang Baishan said gratefully:
“Thank you, Little Nine, for your blessing and gift! We both like them very much.”
Ning Qi smiled faintly:
“Since you like them, you must wear them close to your body.”
Jiang Baishan did not hesitate.
He took the mandarin duck jade pendant from Lin Ruhua’s hand and put it on her right waist, while Lin Ruhua put his on his left waist.
The congregation looked over.
The cyan glow of the jade pendants enveloped the two in a faint layer of radiance, making Jiang Baishan and Lin Ruhua appear even more like a divine immortal couple. In this moment, “only envy mandarin ducks, not immortals” took tangible form.
Not only that.
Just after putting on the mandarin duck jade pendants, the two felt their minds sharpen, their bodies seeming to become more transparent. They exchanged a glance and saw the astonishment in each other’s eyes. They realized that these jade pendants were not just beautiful; they were rare treasures.
Ning Qi breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
These jade pendants were naturally not simple things.
From the moment Ning Qi detected the alliance between Southern Border and Demonic Sect, he had felt a sense of crisis. He was not worried about his own safety, but he worried that Demonic Sect and Southern Border would target his senior brothers and junior brothers, since they could not stay on True Martial Mountain forever; there would always be times they went out.
So he had been researching countermeasures to give them some self-protection ability.
One direction was gang yuan sword seed.
It could store and burst out part of Ning Qi’s gang qi and sword intent. Although without the augmentation of heaven and earth power, it could still block some Heavenly Human Realm experts. This idea was naturally good, but difficult, since keeping gang qi enduring almost impossible. But Ning Qi, drawing from the principle of condensing sword core in virtual sword core disintegration great method, came up with the idea of condensing sword seed externally.
But he encountered the biggest problem.
That was lacking a suitable carrier.
If Ning Qi were present, gang yuan could change endlessly, but once separated from the body, it could not endure—this was an unchangeable essence.
The turning point finally came after destroying Heart-Seeking Sword.
Sword Asking Pavilion sent many compensations, and among them Ning Qi found a strange treasure ore that Sword Asking Pavilion called spirit condensation stone, which could actually seal gang yuan sword seed within it. Thus, Ning Qi completely created this secret technique.
In this way, combined with Ning Qi’s sword intent, it could burst out when encountering crisis.
Not only that.
Ning Qi could also roughly perceive the location of the jade pendant holder through it, and the jade pendant also had the effect of condensing spirit and calming the mind.
Over these past few days, Ning Qi knew Jiang Baishan and the others were about to leave, so he first made a pair of mandarin duck jade pendants. For the other senior brothers and junior brothers, he could make them a few days later.
With such an interlude.
The previous bit of sad atmosphere was immediately diluted.
Who could say clearly what the future held? Better to make the most of the present.
The congregation was full of laughter and cheer, and Lin Ruhua gradually blended in. Ye Qinghe pulled her aside for constant whispers, finally revealing quite a few of Jiang Baishan’s embarrassing stories, like the time he was teased by everyone for “almost having his arm chopped off by Lin Ruhua.”
The two could be said to have become acquainted through fighting, entangled all the way afterward, surviving life-and-death trials several times, their relationship slowly transforming until feelings blossomed between them.
But it was clear Lin Ruhua was not the gentle and obedient type of girl; previously she had several times wanted to dig out Jiang Baishan’s eyes and cut out his tongue.
The congregation listened happily, clicking their tongues in amazement.
Li Ling could not help shrinking his neck:
“If I find a dao companion in the future, I have to find a gentle and lovely girl.”
Ye Qinghe smacked the back of his head with a palm, laughing and scolding:
“Little devil, how old are you to be thinking about dao companions? Looks like your usual lessons are too easy. I need to tell Master to increase the intensity for you. Besides, are you saying your Fifth Senior Sister-in-law is fierce?”
Li Ling met Lin Ruhua’s half-smiling gaze and immediately cowered, quickly hiding behind Ning Qi.
The congregation laughed even more merrily.
Jiang Baishan gave him a helpless look.
After the laughter.
Ning Qi looked up at the sky; the moon rabbit was already full and round, and the peach gathering was nearing its end.
“Tian Sheng, bring out the tea.”
White Ape understood and immediately turned to go into the room.
The enlightenment tea had been brewing for so long that its spirituality had fully infused into the tea water.
Hearing this.
Everyone’s eyes lit up with anticipation.
They had previously known that enlightenment tea tree had produced a little tea leaves, but since no enlightenment tea appeared today, they thought they had no chance to taste it. They did not expect Ning Qi to save it for last.
Of course.
They all knew that enlightenment tea tree could be said to have been successfully cultivated by Ning Qi alone, so even if Ning Qi did not bring it out, they would think it perfectly normal and have no other thoughts.
Soon.
White Ape carefully carried out a pot of tea, stepping slowly, afraid of breaking the enlightenment tea.
This teapot was made of white jade, with special effects that could mask the tea’s unusual fragrance.
At this moment, Ning Qi lifted the lid.
An intensely rich fragrance immediately surged upward, lingering at everyone’s nose.
Just smelling the tea scent.
The congregation already felt somewhat ethereal, as if about to achieve enlightenment.
Of course, this was an illusion, merely the prelude to entering a wondrous state from suddenly smelling the enlightenment tea’s fragrance.
“Good tea!” Luo Wentian exclaimed in astonishment.
Lin Ruhua’s eyes also showed astonishment. As the daughter of Demonic Sect’s vice sect master, she had seen countless good things, but this was her first time seeing enlightenment tea. She had heard rumors about enlightenment tea tree, but never imagined seeing one on True Martial Mountain.
Jiang Baishan quietly told her that Ning Qi had revived it from a dead seed, and she immediately found it even more inconceivable.
This Little Ninth Junior Brother was a bit too mysterious.
Her curiosity grew even stronger.
Ning Qi smiled:
“Let this tea wish all senior brothers, senior sisters, and junior brothers booming martial fortune and a smooth path ahead.”
He raised the tea in his cup.
He was also somewhat expectant, wondering if it would help him, but his mindset was steady. Even if it did not, he would not mind; the process of cultivating enlightenment tea tree had already brought him great gains.
Especially observing the seedling breaking through the soil, which gave him deeper foundation in the way of life, to erupt at the right opportunity in the future.
The others’ eyes shone even brighter.
After exchanging words of blessing.
Everyone drained the tea in their cups in unison.
