The Arrogant Immortal
Chapter 289 - 288: Be ruthless to others, be ruthless to oneself too

Chapter 289: Chapter 288: Be ruthless to others, be ruthless to oneself too

Xie Jiuniang, despite her urgency, knew that it was not a good time to leave the Sect.

It was hard to say how many people were watching her every move, openly and secretly.

She would have to wait a little longer and leave the Sect covertly. If several Divinity Transformation experts joined forces to ambush her again, Xie Jiuniang didn’t think she would be as lucky as the last time.

First, she dealt with some miscellaneous affairs at Zhengyang Peak, then took a trip to the Sect Market.

The shop in the market had changed hands.

Her second uncle was not there; it was said that he had returned to the family clan.

Now, a Golden Core Tribe Elder from the clan had taken over. With his lifespan nearing its end and no hope for a breakthrough, he had applied to manage the family’s business here.

"Xiaojiu?" The Golden Core Tribe Elder was surprised.

Xie Jiuniang stepped forward to greet him, "I pay my respects to the Fifth Elder."

"How have you been these days?"

"Thanks to your blessing, I’ve been very well." Xie Jiuniang then inquired about her parents, "Fifth Elder, is there any correspondence from my parents?"

"There is one; it was delivered three months ago."

The Fifth Elder produced a letter.

Xie Jiuniang skimmed through the letter and replied with a letter of safety. On the surface, it was a peace report, but the secret code she had agreed upon with her parents indicated that she would be visiting them soon.

She returned to Zhengyang Peak.

And Xie Jiuniang entered seclusion again.

The certain individuals who had been monitoring her every action could only curse in frustration.

"She retreats at the drop of a hat; who can stand it!"

"All day in seclusion, every day! If it doesn’t kill you, I hope you suffer from cultivation deviation!"

"My mentor told me to learn from her; is this something humans should learn? She must be crazy!"

"Good heavens, didn’t she just return to the Sect? How can she enter seclusion so quickly, is she planning to close off for years?"

"I can’t blame her for being so formidable, only complain that I’m not working hard enough..."

No matter what the outside world said, it didn’t affect Xie Jiuniang.

To expedite her cultivation, Xie Jiuniang refined a small piece of Spiritual Marrow into Spiritual Liquid.

She ingested a drop every half month.

With each drop refined, her strength improved a bit.

According to her plan, three drops would be enough for her to advance a level, but it took six drops to finally break through to the second layer of the Golden Core, taking three months.

Xie Jiuniang, with a sullen face, pulled up the sleeve of her left arm.

She carefully examined the crimson gold flame totem on her arm.

She said in a displeased tone, "The Great Sun Golden Flame? Playing dead, huh? Stealing my Spiritual Energy, do you think I wouldn’t notice?"

At first, she indeed hadn’t noticed.

It was only after making a breakthrough that she realized something was amiss.

During her cultivation, a portion of the Spiritual Energy in her body would flow towards the flame totem and be silently absorbed by it.

If not for the Great Sun Golden Flame being too greedy, she wouldn’t have noticed at all.

After a careful sensing, she found she was only faintly connected to the totem, nearly imperceptible, similar to the contract with the Demon Emperor, which probably could be dissolved at any moment.

Xie Jiuniang said with an unpleasant tone, "Let me tell you frankly, I don’t keep idlers here. If you want to recuperate in my body, you have to put in the equivalent amount of work; Jian Lingyan is a case in point."

The Great Sun Golden Flame continued playing dead.

Xie Jiuniang said with a sinister tone, "Do you think I can’t get rid of you and you want to keep sucking my Spiritual Energy? I’ll make it look good on you, wait until I leave seclusion, then I will consult my Divinity Transformation mentor. I don’t believe we can’t excise you. If all else fails, I could simply chop off my left arm."

"Once I break through to the Nascent Soul stage, I can reshape my body. Given the speed of my cultivation, it won’t affect me much."

"..." The Great Sun Golden Flame.

It had misjudged her; she was ruthless.

Ruthless to others, and ruthless to herself.

The Great Sun Golden Flame did not respond, but the connection with Xie Jiuniang deepened slightly. She immediately sensed it, and with just a thought, she could now use a trace of the Great Sun Golden Flame’s power.

They say a trace, and it really was just a trace.

But this trace of power was comparable to a Golden Core, which was enough for Xie Jiuniang’s use.

Right there and then, Xie Jiuniang used the golden flame for alchemy.

Who would have thought that instead of producing a pill, the alchemy furnace exploded!

A little while later, there was no more commotion?

"Great Sun Golden Flame, is that all you’ve got?" Xie Jiuniang said with disbelief on her face.

The observing Jian Lingyan giggled, "Dog owner, aside from me, the divine sword, you hardly have any useful contracted spirits, hehehe! This little flame is so useless, short and weak."

Xie Jiuniang, "..."

As soon as that damn thing appears, the style changes.

But indeed, it won’t be long-lasting, roughly only a little over ten breaths.

Alchemy and artifact refining are out of the question, occasionally it could be used to ambush an enemy, and that’s half a trump card. The only downside is that it might make people think of the reason behind the Gongsun Family’s annihilation.

In the short term, don’t expect the flame to be of much use.

No longer paying attention to the useless Great Sun Golden Flame.

Xie Jiuniang started crafting jade talismans.

Among the four arts, she liked talismans the most, making various kinds of them, primarily because they were convenient.

When her spiritual power was completely drained, Xie Jiuniang sat down to cultivate and restore her power, then she practiced her soul art until her head began to ache slightly, and only then did she stop.

Through such masochistic cultivation methods.

In just over a month, her Golden Core second layer cultivation base had stabilized.

Using the Concealment Jade Talisman, she kept her cultivation at the Golden Core first layer.

Xie Jiuniang once again stepped out of her cave dwelling.

The four great demon guards outside were the first to know.

However, Xie Jiuniang didn’t call for them but went to the orchard to see Dashan. The monkey wine she had requested to be brewed was now ready.

She got a total of six jars.

Xie Jiuniang immediately placed them into the Small Tortoise Shell.

Then, she gave Dashan a large sum of spirit stones as a reward.

Dashan was overjoyed.

Thanks to his skill in brewing wine, Dashan lived like a fish in water in the Tianxu Sect, not only securing his cultivation resources but also ensuring those for Xiaojin.

"Eh, is this the Golden Thread Monkey?"

Xiong Zhun’s gruff voice came from outside the wine cellar.

"Squeak squeak squeak," Xiaojin called out in frustration.

Dashan hurriedly went outside.

Xie Jiuniang swept over the area with her Divine Sense and saw Xiong Zhun outside, hoisting a Little Golden Monkey with one large hand.

The Little Golden Monkey was squeaking angrily at him.

Xie Jiuniang knew Xiong Zhun meant no harm, so she ignored it.

She found about ten empty small wine jars on the side and stored them in her Storage Ring.

Dashan went out to save the Little Golden Monkey from trouble.

Xiong Zhun exclaimed in surprise, "I have never seen a Golden Thread Monkey in the Central Region; I can’t believe the Tianxu Sect has one. This Great Sect truly has exceptional people and a blessed land—first the Water Kirin, now the Golden Thread Monkey. By the way, where did you guys come from?"

Dashan said, "We came from the Lu Yuan Secret Realm."

"Another secret realm, huh."

The Water Kirin was from the Tianshui Secret Realm, and the Golden Thread Monkey was from the Lu Yuan Secret Realm.

Perceptive people might start to notice that this world was becoming somewhat unusual. Beings that had almost never been seen before were appearing one after another, and even the Central Region now had a Demon Emperor.

Xie Jiuniang took the opportunity while nobody was paying attention to her.

She took out two jars of Monkey Wine from the Small Tortoise Shell and divided them into four small jars.

A large jar turned into a small jar still counts as one jar, right?

"Dog owner, you’re rolling in riches, so why be so stingy?" Jian Lingyan couldn’t stand it.

Xie Jiuniang replied irritably, "It’s not me being stingy; there’s simply not enough to go around. There are too many elders, I’m helpless."

"Stingy is stingy, no need for so many excuses."

"Fine fine, if you say I’m stingy then I’m stingy. I used a great deal of resources and over a hundred thousand contribution points just to get these six jars of wine, and I still have to give them all away; indeed, that’s quite stingy."

"..."