Chapter 166 Cooperation
When the paper puppet approached, it stretched out its hand as a gesture of invitation and then stepped aside.
From beginning to end, Su Qingwu's spirit did not hear any warning signs.
This means that the probability of danger on this trip is low.
After hesitating for a moment, she chose to follow her intuition and followed the paper puppet all the way forward.
The further you go, the closer you get to where spiritual energy gathers.
The fog completely dissipated, and an unremarkable fenced courtyard appeared in Su Qingwu's sight.
The surrounding spiritual energy is gathering towards a strange stone standing in the courtyard.
When she saw the people in the yard, she was quite surprised.
She was wearing a grey dress with narrow sleeves and had reached the middle stage of foundation building. She looked very similar to the woman I had seen in the swamp on Dayu Island yesterday.
The reason why I am not completely sure is that yesterday the other party was wearing a combat hat that could block spiritual detection, so I couldn't see his face clearly, but this is not the case now.
She had black hair that was half tied up and pinned behind her head with a wooden hairpin. She had no makeup on her oval face, and there was a crescent-shaped birthmark at the corner of her right eye.
After seeing Su Qingwu, the woman bowed to her and then opened the fence door.
At this moment, the paper puppets walked to the door, stopped, and stood on one side.
Looking inside the courtyard, in addition to the woman in the gray skirt, there was also a man in a white cloak sitting next to a stone table.
His entire body was shrouded in a cloak, and his face could not be seen clearly.
His aura was not obvious, so Su Qingwu was unable to judge his cultivation level.
The moment I saw this person, a slightly hoarse female voice came to my ears.
"Anyone who comes here is a guest. You may as well come in and have a chat."
Su Qingwu hesitated for a moment and then stepped into the courtyard.
At the signal of the man in the cloak, he sat opposite him.
I only heard the other party continue to say: "Young friend, you are not from the Dongliu Seven Islands?"
Although it was just a question, the tone was full of affirmation.
Su Qingwu nodded and replied, "Indeed not. I came here only to seek opportunities."
"Yan'er told me that she saw you in the swamp on Zhukong Island."
"I have indeed been there. In fact, I plan to visit every one of the seven islands of Dongliu."
"So, you will not leave this sea area in the short term?"
"Why do you ask this question, senior?"
"I see that we get along well, so I want to cooperate with you on something."
Su Qingwu suddenly fell silent.
The other party's identity is unknown, and suddenly talking about cooperation is not credible.
She was about to refuse, but he spoke first:
"If I'm not mistaken, you should have signed a soul contract with a ghost cultivator?"
Hearing this, Su Qingwu's vigilance reached its highest point.
"May I ask how did you know this, Senior?"
"Because I am also a ghost cultivator, you have a similar aura on you, which is difficult for living people to detect, but it cannot be hidden from me. This is why I am looking for your cooperation."
In the Yuanji world, there are not many cultivators who sign soul contracts with ghost cultivators.
The reasons for this are, firstly, very few can successfully become ghost cultivators after death; secondly, for most cultivators, ghosts are considered aliens and can no longer be considered human.
There is a saying that goes, "Those who are not of my race must have different hearts."
Although it does not apply to all situations, in the eyes of most monks, the word "ghost" symbolizes extreme evil.
When faced with ghost cultivators, they would stay away from them immediately and be extremely cautious, not to mention signing a soul contract.
Although Su Qingwu did not have these thoughts, it was obviously impossible for him to easily trust a strange ghost cultivator of unknown origin.
Her mind suddenly changed, and she asked calmly:
"I still don't know what to call you, Senior? What exactly do you want to cooperate on?"
"Your surname is Gu, and your given name is Wan. I want you to stay here for a while and teach Yan'er how to cultivate."
After saying this, Gu Wan waved to the girl in the gray skirt.
The latter immediately walked up to him, lowered his head and looked very obedient, which was completely different from his performance in the swamp that day.
Gu Wan continued:
"She is Yan'er, also my disciple. My friend, you have already had a baby, so it should not be difficult for you to teach a person in the middle stage of foundation building. In return, I can give you a 5,000-year-old fourth-level earth element fruit.
In addition, if you have any questions about the Seven Islands of Dongliu, feel free to ask them. As long as I know the answers, I will answer them."
Hearing this, Su Qingwu was a little surprised.
Although she didn't know what level Gu Wan was at, her strength should not be weaker than hers. Why didn't she teach her disciple herself, but instead let her teach her in a cooperative way?
If it is because he is a ghost cultivator, that does not make sense.
Su Wen was also a ghost cultivator and had guided her in her cultivation many times in the past, so there was no barrier in the communication between the two sides.
Perhaps sensing Su Qingwu's doubts, Gu Wan took the initiative to explain:
"When I died, I had just established my foundation. The path of ghost cultivation is different from that of a living person. Before, I taught Yan'er how to cultivate, and I almost caused her to go astray. Since then, I have started to pay attention and want to find someone who can teach Yan'er how to cultivate."
"What kind of results do you want to achieve when you teach and practice?"
"First, Yan'er's strength has improved, and second, Yan'er understands what the Golden Core and Yuan Infant stages are like. The requirements are not high. Are you willing to agree?"
"Previously, the senior mentioned that he would give you a 5,000-year-old fourth-level earth fruit as a gift?"
"Yes, I swear by the laws of heaven that I will give you this fruit as long as you meet my requirements."
"Excuse me, but have you ever harvested the earthworm fruit that you have?"
"Of course not. It is difficult to preserve the picked earthworm fruit for a long time. When I first discovered this spiritual plant, I transplanted the entire plant into the mustard seed space I carried with me."
In the Yuanji world, mustard seed space is a relatively common thing for high-level monks and is not a rare treasure.
Therefore, Gu Wan said this without any hesitation.
After taking the Earth Element Fruit, the earth-related spiritual power can be greatly enhanced.
The reason why she was sure that Su Qingwu needed this thing was because she had seen him perform the earth escape technique, thus confirming that this person possessed earth spiritual roots.
It is rare to see a five thousand year old spiritual plant, and it is something you can only encounter by chance.
If Lin Yan did not have the dual spiritual roots of water and wood, the Earth Yuan Fruit would have no effect on her. She would have picked the fruit long ago and given it to her apprentice to eat, and would not have kept it until today.
For Su Qingwu, the unharvested five thousand year old spiritual plants were exactly what she needed.
After some consideration, she agreed to cooperate.
Lin Yan has already become Su's disciple, so she addresses her as "Senior Su".
If you want to teach, you naturally have to first understand what specific skills and techniques the other person has practiced.
Su Qingwu asked questions directly, and Lin Yan answered them one by one without any concealment.
As she expected, the paper puppet at the door was not made by this woman, but was controlled by Gu Wan.
Lin Yan is also learning puppetry, but she has not yet mastered it completely.
Before building the foundation, the skills and techniques she practiced were all yellow-level. After building the foundation, she accumulated some spirit stones and bought a ground-level technique, the Soul Binding Technique.
After casting, one can transform one's own wood spiritual power into vines to attack the enemy. Once entangled with the enemy, it can directly absorb their spiritual power.
At first glance, this technique seems to be very useful, but it is extremely risky to use.
Once the vines are torn apart by the enemy, the caster will suffer a significant backlash.