Twin Dimension Yin-Yang Mirror: Attaining immortality through the martial path
Chapter 371 - 332: Scattered Flower Celestial Maiden, Granny Yan Reaps Souls

Chapter 371: Chapter 332: Scattered Flower Celestial Maiden, Granny Yan Reaps Souls

"By the way, Huaiyu, have you noticed that the speed of percipient opening and meridian cleansing in our Grand Circulation cultivation gradually slows down?"

Zhou Ping’an actually still harbored many doubts in his heart.

He possessed a space ability, and although he hadn’t clearly informed those around him, he also hadn’t concealed it too much.

The several medicinal fields inside could hasten the growth of medicines, allowing him to harvest the most elusive Precious Medicines at the fastest rate, a fact Lin Huaiyu was aware of.

Moreover, she had also assisted Elder Qing in hastily concocting some Yellow Sprout Pills and Seven-Colored Pills.

Proximity to the water makes first access to the moon.

Having concocted the Elixirs, Zhou Ping’an was never stingy with those around him.

In his view, Lin Huaiyu becoming stronger was essentially equivalent to him becoming stronger.

Not just Lin Huaiyu, Elder Qing had some, and the Green Lady of course had some too.

On his side, those who had reached above the True Qi Realm and could make the most of the Yellow Sprout Pills’ advantages—these "experts" naturally all received ample medicine supply.

Even Zhan Shanhe and Wu Junsong, two Inner Sect Disciples of the Cloud Water Sect.

Due to joining his side and leading troops in training, which was truly laborious, Zhou Ping’an also distributed three bottles totaling nine Yellow Sprout Pills to each of them.

Just this made those two thrilled as can be.

Seeing their surreptitious glee, they evidently no longer felt that being sent to the insignificant and desolate Qingyang City was a bitter task.

This treatment was more than twice as good as in the mountains.

With the supply of medicines, it presumably wouldn’t take long for those two to step into the Gang Qi Realm.

"I thought you knew? These days, I specifically probed Senior Sister Zhan and found out some secretive news. It turns out, holding power over a city, with our troops well-trained and the populace stable, one can achieve benefits that aid in the cultivation of the Seventh Level True Qi Realm."

"Gaining Momentum?"

"Yes, that’s it: Gaining Momentum. Once it’s achieved, fortune joins you, and Ping’an, didn’t you appoint me to a high position? I also took advantage of it," Lin Huaiyu said with a sheepish smile. "According to the experiences passed among the disciples of Cloud Water Sect, it seems that the force of a city, when concentrated in few individuals, can allow one to cultivate the Minor and Grand Heavenly Cycles of the True Qi Realm unobstructed, in one smooth process."

"So that’s how it is."

Zhou Ping’an clapped his hands lightly, suddenly enlightened.

He had always heard the Green Lady mention how all parties enter the fray just to gain momentum and amass fortune, but he had never truly realized how closely his own control over the territory was connected to his cultivation progress.

Initially, he simply sensed vaguely that his speed of cultivation, or rather his speed of breaking through in True Qi, seemed greatly different from what the scriptures described, this abnormally rapid progress.

But looking again at Lin Huaiyu and the Green Lady, it seemed they too were advancing at an incredible rate.

Let’s say this.

Zhou Ping’an had already completed the Minor Heavenly Cycle ten days ago.

His True Qi had increased tenfold.

By now, he had already opened the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

He had cleared five of the Twelve Meridians, and so far, he had not encountered any bottleneck.

The only thing affecting the speed of his cultivation advancement was the rate at which he refined the Yellow Sprout Pills.

The reason he improved even more wildly than Lin Huaiyu and the Green Lady was due to his exceptionally robust physique, which absorbed the medicinal potency faster.

Perhaps it was because he had overcome the "Appetite" stage of the Five Desires Evil Art.

With only seven acupoints left, he could start looking forward to the phase of transforming True Qi into mastery.

As Lin Huaiyu spoke up to this point, she hesitated slightly, thought for a moment, and then said, "However, this enhanced speed of advancement is only temporary. The support of being the lord of a city is after all limited. To maintain rapid progress in the Eighth Level Qi Mastery Realm may be..."

"Need several cities?"

Zhou Ping’an’s eyes sparkled with sharpness, thinking this was unscientific.

If controlling more territory meant faster cultivation speed, then the highest realm figures must be the Chief Officers of the provinces and counties.

Impossibly high realms would then belong to the one seated in the Golden Imperial Hall—the Emperor.

But if that were true, why would there be any conflicts in the world at all?

It would be simply impossible to compete with the Imperial Court.

Guessing what Zhou Ping’an was thinking, Lin Huaiyu covered her mouth and laughed lightly: "Taking the shortcut through amassing fortune, naturally, the Imperial Court holds an advantage, but Sects and Factions aren’t without their strengths... think about it, those major Sects and Factions, beside recruiting disciples and teaching Martial Arts, what else do they do?"

"Spread and teach?"

With a flash of inspiration, Zhou Ping’an realized why some Sect disciples always needed to descend the mountain to spread their name and then, statues of the founding masters of major Sects and Factions were built in the communities where people worshiped them.

It turned out they had already laid their plans silently.

Everyone wants to take the shortcut.

The resources are right there, both tangible and intangible.

In an era of great contention, they vie for control over cities and lands, competing for Qi Fortune and major influence...

and also for the incense prayer power from the masses, consolidating fame and winning hearts.

The better one does, the faster they cultivate.

Some things must be fought for, and dare not be given away...

Though he himself was unaware, his actions aligned subtly with the path of competing for Qi Fortune and prayer power.

He was inadvertently following the paths of the Imperial Court, those opposing the king, and the Sects and Factions simultaneously.

That Karma Fire Red Lotus, absorbing the power of incense prayers, evidently aligned with this principle.

"Given this, our earlier evaluation that the Red Lotus Sect might ignore Qingyang City and directly attack Yunzhou through it might not be very accurate now," Lin Huaiyu suggested.

"If it were me, I wouldn’t let the source of incense from six to seven hundred thousand believers slip out of control either. Such a big piece of meat would tempt anyone." Lin said thoughtfully.

"What about the Green Lady? Why haven’t I seen her today?"

Zhou Ping’an reached out with his spirit, sensing slightly, yet he couldn’t detect the familiar energy.

"Oh, she probably realized before me where the key point for us to break through to the Gang Qi Realm lay, and hence, she promptly dispatched spies and scouts to East Mountain and Yunhu counties,"

"She likely understands that after taking over the three counties of Liyou and gathering a million civilians, we could essentially navigate through the Gang Qi Realm cultivation pathway much faster, saving us a decade or two of hard cultivation," Lin Huaiyu said softly.

There was no noticeable fluctuation in her tone.

Yet Zhou Ping’an could sense a hint of bitterness in her words.

No matter how even-tempered, the Third Miss ultimately could not keep her emotions entirely at bay.

She had been appointed by Zhou Ping’an as Chief Officer and Head of Personal Guards, handling both civil and military duties;

the Green Lady, too, was not to be outdone, having been appointed Supervisor and Chief of Intelligence.

She was in charge of internal corruption and discipline, as well as secret espionage and scouting.

Undoubtedly, her position was high and her authority, significant.

Even Old Man Qing had been appointed Head of the Pharmacy and Logistics Officer, which was essentially a stroke of great fortune.

As for military officers like Tang Lin’er, aside from Tang Lin’er himself who was given twenty thousand troops, the other few "experts" each led ten thousand men...

Attempting to train eighty thousand troops within Qingyang Territory was ambitious, to say the least, and apart from Zhou Ping’an, no one else dared to handle such a massive endeavor.

In fact, Zhou Ping’an couldn’t have managed it either.

If it hadn’t been for the vast amount of food he had with him, he wouldn’t have even considered the idea.

It wasn’t for lack of strong men.

Among the refugees, the proportion of old, weak, women, and children was actually not high; most had already starved to death on the way.

The able-bodied made up about sixty to seventy percent.

They were an excellent source of soldiers.

Having suffered hardships and hunger, they treasured this rare chance at life and would fight to the death for a better future.

All they needed was a bite of thick porridge to fill their bellies.

As for weapons and armor, that was unfortunate.

Zhou Ping’an admitted it was not possible.

In the current army of eighty thousand, sixty thousand were using hoes and sharpened bamboo poles, a sight too pitiful to behold.

However, a mountain of iron ore within Qingyang Territory was being mined day and night and more than ten workshops had begun forging weapons, which could somewhat alleviate the shortage.

By the time the major battle commenced, as long as they didn’t die, they could seize swords, guns, and armor from the enemy.

Everything was available; it only needed time.

...

They had just started talking about the Green Lady.

When the Green Lady herself arrived.

Although she was smiling, deep in her eyes there was a subtle unease.

"Xiao Ju has disappeared."

Without waiting for Zhou Ping’an to inquire, the Green Lady immediately shared her worries.

Xiao Ju was a fifteen-year-old girl.

Her face was round and still bore some childish baby fat; she loved to smile on ordinary days.

Zhou Ping’an was very familiar with this young girl.

The several times he visited Flower Washing Garden, it was Xiao Ju who led the way.

While he and the Green Lady discussed music and poetry, and debated philosophy, it was Xiao Ju who trimmed the wick of the lamp and brewed the fragrant tea, serving them diligently.

The Green Lady said that Xiao Ju had been with her for over three years, picked from a group of refugees. Seeing her intelligent eyes and clever appearance, she took her in as a maid and also taught her some basic martial arts.

Even on the day she was forced by the deputy rudder master of the Guangyun Subruder and others to kill, she thought of taking the young girl and fleeing together, which showed how deep their bond was.

"Was she kidnapped, or did she leave for some reason?"

When Lin Huaiyu heard this, she raised her eyebrows immediately, sensing something was wrong.

The Green Lady, despite often appearing coquettish, a trait Lin Huaiyu found hard to stand,

had to admit that the woman was adept and shrewd.

In her dealings, she was exceedingly meticulous.

This was evident from how she had managed to build up a large establishment in Qingyang City and secretly grew her influence to encompass over five hundred people, clearly showing her extraordinary capabilities.

This type of person, besides discussing character, in terms of temperament alone, was used to seeing life and death, had weathered many storms, and wouldn’t be disturbed by the disappearance of a maid at her side.

"The problem is here, neither kidnapped nor out on some errand; she might have been drugged... I sniffed the familiar scent of peonies at the Flower Washing Garden."

"Peonies? It seems it’s not yet the blooming season."

Zhou Ping’an realized what the Green Lady was worried about.

This king of flowers blooms only once each year, for about ten days or so.

Most crucially, it was only the beginning of March; it would be a month before the peonies bloomed.

Lin Huaiyu quickly came to a realization too: "Are you suggesting that the ’Scattered Flower Celestial Maiden’ might have secretly entered Qingyang City?"

Now allied, the Green Lady had disclosed some secrets of the Red Lotus Sect.

Such as the "Three Holy Maidens," "Four Heavenly Kings," "Dao Protecting Granny," the "Eighteen Celestial Maidens," and the "Thirty-Six Sub-Rudders."

Among those ranked alongside the Green Lady were the "Eighteen Celestial Maidens," her title being "Heartless Celestial Maiden."

This time, coming to Guangyun County, it certainly wasn’t just her, one of the Celestial Maidens who liked to cultivate peonies had also arrived.

Named "Scattered Flower Celestial Maiden."

Wherever she went, the air was full of floral fragrance, and her specialty was using poisons.

"Not just her, I’m worried that ’Granny Yan’ may have also quietly entered the city."

A deep-seated fear flickered in the Green Lady’s eyes.

Clearly, she was recalling a past experience.

...

Seeking monthly passes.