"Yu'er, how can you say that? It was a transaction of free will, a mutually agreed upon matter. How can you call it shameless?"
"If I hadn't been willing to bring you along, would you have safely passed through the chaotic time stream?"
Ye Lin argued his case forcefully, feeling nothing wrong with his high asking price.
It was Zuo Yu'er who disappointed him the most.
And Zheng Jianfeng and the others, he could tell they were all righteous sword cultivators with principles and bottom lines.
It was precisely because of this that he dared to bring them aboard the flying vessel.
He had imagined traveling with beauties and having a few free sword cultivators as bodyguards, fearless even if they encountered star pirates.
He could also get tens of thousands of immortal crystals and two upper-grade immortal pills. This was simply a profitable venture with huge returns.
But who would have thought that these people would try to kill him just because of Gu Qing's words.
He had truly misjudged these people.
If he had known this earlier, he never should have brought them aboard the flying vessel.
Without Zheng Jianfeng and the others surrounding him, he was confident he could defeat Zhi Meng.
Even if he was ultimately defeated, he wouldn't have been left without a chance to escape.
Thinking of this, Ye Lin fixed his gaze on Gu Qing.
He wanted to see what Gu Qing's background was, why a single sentence could make Zheng Jianfeng and others disregard everything and try to kill him.
Seeing Gu Qing's magnificent divine face, his noble and unparalleled aura, as bright and clear as a divine deity reaching for the moon from the highest heavens.
A look of jealousy instantly flashed in Ye Lin's eyes.
This pretty boy was too handsome. He wondered what relationship he had with Zhi Meng.
But none of that mattered anymore. Ye Lin now just wanted to take advantage of their inattention and use a fleeing technique to escape.
Just as Ye Lin was thinking of escaping, Gu Qing couldn't be bothered to listen to their nonsense.
He stepped forward and grabbed Ye Lin's divine soul, while a Yang Divine Flame appeared in his hand, burning Ye Lin's divine soul.
"Ah..."
"Who on earth are you?"
"Why do you want to kill me?"
Ye Lin let out a miserable and painful wail, filled with terror, as unprecedented despair surged in his heart.
Today, he might really be doomed with no escape.
But he couldn't understand how he had fallen to this state.
Why did Zhi Meng and Gu Qing want to kill him?
What had he done to offend these two people?
Why did Zheng Jianfeng and others help Gu Qing instead of him?
And the deep sense of unwillingness in his heart.
Ye Lin still wanted to struggle desperately, feeling he could still be saved.
He had experienced countless life-and-death trials, escaped from the hands of powerful cultivators countless times, and even managed counter-kills in extreme situations.
Perhaps this time could be different too.
At the very least, even if he couldn't escape, he had to get clear answers and die as an understanding ghost.
Otherwise, he would die with regrets.
However, Ye Lin's little scheme was destined to be in vain. After checking his memories, Gu Qing crushed Ye Lin to death, his soul and divine sense completely annihilated.
[Congratulations, Host, for slaying the Child of Fortune. You have plundered 500,000 points of fortune and gained one lottery opportunity.]
"Let me draw."
The great roulette wheel finally landed on the lower-grade innate spiritual treasure, the Wood Spirit Pearl.
"What a treasure." Gu Qing was overjoyed.
Although a lower-grade innate spiritual treasure was somewhat low-level, what he needed most right now was the Five Spirit Pearls.
Only the Water Spirit Pearl was missing from the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
Once he collected all of them and handed them to the Hongmeng Ruyi Tower for fusion, the ten thousand Dao Rules of the Ruyi Space would be complete, and he could derive a Profound Yellow Five Elements World.
Gu Qing could comprehend the Great Dao within it.
Moreover, the Hongmeng Ruyi Tower was his own treasure. Comprehending the ten thousand Dao Rules within it was equivalent to having the Dao Rules laid out before him.
Additionally, he could extract a trace of the origin of the Five Elements' Dao Rules from the Five Spirit Pearls to help him awaken the Five Elements Dao Rules.
"What's your name?"
Zhi Meng put away the Chaos Heavenly Blade and looked at the charming and lovely Zuo Yu'er, asking.
"Sister, my name is Zuo Yu'er."
Zuo Yu'er looked at Zhi Meng with sparkling beautiful eyes, then glanced at Gu Qing, exclaiming in admiration.
"Sister, are you also an alchemy master? You're so beautiful and domineering."
She found it hard to believe. In her fixed impression, alchemy masters were all white-bearded old men, inherently arrogant, with almost no combat strength.
But Gu Qing and Zhi Meng were simply stunningly beautiful, flawless like innate deities.
Their combat strength was even greater than that of sword cultivators like them.
No matter how you looked at it, neither of them resembled alchemy masters.
"You're very beautiful too."
Hearing such sincere praise from Zuo Yu'er, Zhi Meng immediately took a liking to her.
Although she was ruthless and heartless, it was hard not to like a lively, cute girl who would enthusiastically praise others.
Such an adorable sweet girl was qualified to be the woman of her disciple.
With Zuo Yu'er's companionship, Gu Qing should be able to endure the endless loneliness.
As the saying goes, all things are difficult at the beginning. As long as Gu Qing adapted to the loneliness of a cultivator, he wouldn't need a woman in the future.
Thinking this, Zhi Meng asked her for contact information.
If Jiangyu didn't fall for it, she would find Zuo Yu'er.
"Senior Sister, let's hurry and go!"
Seeing the two of them chatting so enthusiastically, how could Gu Qing not guess Zhi Meng's thoughts? His face instantly darkened.
He was a model young man who had thoroughly studied the Spring and Autumn Annals, been shaped by social values, and benefited from the teachings of many famous mentors, excelling beyond his predecessors.
He was absolutely not a lecher who couldn't live without a woman.
What on earth had caused Zhi Meng to misunderstand him so deeply?
"Let's go, let's go!"
Before Zhi Meng could say anything else, Gu Qing pulled her arm and quickly left.
Zhi Meng frowned and transmitted her voice: "You really don't need Zuo Yu'er?"
Thinking Gu Qing was embarrassed, she continued transmitting: "Your Master doesn't mean anything else, I just want another teammate."
Gu Qing always looked at her with strange eyes, which made her heart flutter uneasily.
Moreover, the journey ahead was long, and she was worried that the young and impetuous Gu Qing might develop psychological problems.
"No need."
"Alright then!"
Seeing this, Zhi Meng no longer pressed the matter and tossed a storage ring to Zuo Yu'er.
"Live well, don't die."
"Okay, goodbye, Senior Sister."
Zuo Yu'er took the storage ring and looked at the two of them leaving with a reluctant expression.
Although it was her first time meeting Zhi Meng, Zhi Meng's overwhelming aura had completely captivated her.
If she could train with Zhi Meng, that would be simply wonderful.
Unfortunately, things did not go as she wished.
"Ah..."
After Zhi Meng disappeared from sight, Zuo Yu'er scanned the storage ring with her divine sense and let out a cry of surprise, immediately covering her small mouth and looking around furtively.
"What's wrong, Junior Sister?"
Zheng Jianfeng and the others asked with concern.
"We've struck it rich..." Zuo Yu'er said through a voice transmission, suppressing her excitement.
A medium-sized flying boat that could defend against time-space turbulence, worth ten billion immortal crystals, and over a dozen bottles of immortal pills.
The domineering and aloody Senior Sister Zhi Meng was ten thousand times more domineering than she had imagined.
Zuo Yu'er firmly memorized the treasures Zhi Meng had given her. After leaving the Morning Dusk Sea, she would definitely make that annoying ghost father of hers repay Zhi Meng double.
Having been away from home for so many years, she wondered if the annoying ghost father had missed her so much that he cried his eyes out. He definitely had.
Three years passed in a leisurely flow.
Gu Qing sat cross-legged at the bow of the boat, gazing at the boundless and silent vast void, listening to the terrifying noise of the universe. Gu Qing's expression was calm, his heart as still as water.
At first, he wasn't used to it. Facing the boundless and silent void, his heart grew restless and anxious.
Occasionally hearing the cosmic noise, only to see a dead and dark expanse before him, an irrepressible fear arose in Gu Qing's heart.
Especially the idle sitting in meditation, time became the most tormenting poison for his state of mind.
It caused countless distracting thoughts to emerge in his heart, making him want to do all sorts of things to pass the time, or eat, drink, sleep, and so on.
After calming down, desires would rise again, with lust burning through his body.
Gu Qing felt as if he was about to be driven mad by the mysterious and vast universe.
He had never imagined that he was so fragile, that he was also an ordinary person with desires, greed, and fear.
Fortunately, Zhi Meng guided him in time, teaching him how to regulate his mentality, to adapt to all changes with unchanging stillness, and to adapt to stillness with all changes, keeping his heart as calm as water.
Without Zhi Meng's guidance and soothing his turbulent emotions, it would have been difficult for Gu Qing to persevere.
"Master, thank you."
Gu Qing looked at the beautiful Zhi Meng, his eyes filled with gratitude.
Gu Qing was very clear that in these three years, it seemed as though time had been wasted, with no progress in his cultivation.
However, the changes in his state of mind were a tremendous opportunity for him, one that would benefit him for his entire life, more useful than obtaining an innate spiritual treasure.
Cultivating immortality begins with cultivating the heart—this was no empty saying.
"You are my disciple, this is what a master should do." Zhi Meng chuckled lightly, caressing Gu Qing's handsome face as she remarked with emotion.
"I thought you wouldn't be able to persevere, but I didn't expect you to be even more outstanding than I imagined. With just a little guidance, you've already learned to have a heart as still as water, directly facing your inner fears and desires."
It was as if an electric current had passed over Gu Qing's face as he turned his head and said with a smile: "This is all thanks to my Master's excellent teaching."
"By the way, Master, how did you manage to persevere in the beginning?"
"How did you come up with using the mysterious universe to temper your state of mind?"
Hearing this, Zhi Meng paused for a moment, a reminiscent color appearing in her beautiful eyes, but she quickly shook her head and smiled with an air of nonchalance.
"I'm much luckier than you. I had free time to wander through the void, and gradually I got used to it."
Do you even believe that yourself?
Gu Qing looked at Zhi Meng with an expression that said, "Just keep making things up."
If he hadn't experienced the baptism of the universe before, Gu Qing might have believed it.
But after three years of tempering, Gu Qing knew very well that there are no shortcuts in this world.
Zhi Meng's difficulties in tempering her state of mind were definitely far greater than his, because Zhi Meng had no guidance or companionship.
However, since Zhi Meng was unwilling to speak of it, Gu Qing wisely didn't press the issue further.
"Whoosh!"
At this moment, a light breeze suddenly blew through the void. Outside the flying boat, the water shimmered, as if a transparent water ripple had brushed past.
But it disappeared without any warning just as quickly.
This was the chaotic flow of time—appearing without warning and disappearing without warning, making it impossible to guard against.
At first, Gu Qing had worried whether the flying boat could withstand the erosion of the power of time.
But after several such washes, the flying boat stood as firm as a rock, and Gu Qing was completely relieved.
"Woman..."
"Are you a woman?"
"I, Shan Mao, actually get to see a woman in my lifetime, hahaha... a woman, you're a woman, hahaha..."
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