Chapter 272 A Glimmer of Hope (Part 5)
Thanks to Wei Feng's eagerness to bring the entire Changning Divine Palace, Jiang Gu's primordial spirit wounds healed faster and faster. After another three months, the wounds were mostly healed, and he was able to begin cultivating.
Wen Xiuji was even happier than Jiang Gu himself.
"You can finally go out now." He sighed deeply. "If you hadn't been well, I would have worn the threshold of this side hall down."
When Jiang Gu first arrived at the Yaoyan Temple, he was terrified that Jiang Gu would die. He went to great lengths to help Jiang Gu stay alive with the help of a group of people. Later, fearing that Jiang Gu would damage his foundation and be unable to cultivate, he would run to the side hall every day with divine artifacts and tonics. If this continued, rumors would soon spread that he was deeply in love with Jiang Gu.
Heaven have mercy, he's a perfectly good Daoist now, he no longer has that obsession with ascension he once had, at most he's equally disgusted with everyone and everything, he can't wait for Jiang Gu to ascend as soon as he completes the mission of the divine decree, and then he can just drift along day by day. If it weren't for the abundance of spirit stones and divine artifacts, he wouldn't want to be the Holy Son for even a day longer.
"Fellow Daoist Wen, is there something you need?" Jiang Gu stood at the door, looking towards the main hall of the temple in the distance.
Wen Xiuji wore a businesslike smile: "Nothing much, just a routine visit. Would you like me to accompany you for a walk?"
Don't agree; he has a lot of official business to attend to.
"Okay." Jiang Gu nodded. "Please."
“…Please.” Wen Xiuji sighed inwardly, cursing everything from the Grand Elder to the stone lions guarding the temple, but still dutifully followed Jiang Gu.
The Yaoyan Temple covers a large area, and its buildings are more magnificent and splendid than the elegant and quiet Changning Temple. Many palaces are very well preserved, and there is even a hill specifically used to raise spirit pets.
"It is said that tens of thousands of years ago, when the God Lord was still young, he liked to come down to the mortal realm to play. He would often bring hundreds of followers with him. He also liked to raise spirit pets and collect weapons. The number of divine artifacts and spirit beasts left in the mortal realm is countless." Wen Xiuji introduced the Shenyao Temple to him without complaint. "However, later the upper realm was isolated from the cultivation world, and he never showed himself again."
"When were you isolated?" Jiang Gu asked, puzzled.
"The exact time is impossible to determine, but it can be estimated to be at least 20,000 to 30,000 years ago," Wen Xiuji said. "Would Fellow Daoist Jiang like to visit the main hall?"
Jiang Gu naturally wouldn't refuse.
Yao Yan, this noble little immortal lord, has a deep connection with Wei Feng. Jiang Gu doesn't have a good impression of Yao Yan. Although he had speculated that he might be related to Yao Yan, various clues eventually refuted his suspicions. Moreover, if his identity in the upper realm is indeed Yao Yan, and such a person couldn't even protect a mere scoundrel like Wei Feng, he is probably just a good-for-nothing in name only. Jiang Gu can tolerate his lowly status, but he cannot tolerate his lack of intelligence.
With that thought in mind, Wen Xiuji entered the main hall of the temple.
In the center of the main hall sat the statue of Yao Yan, a handsome young man dressed in black robes that contrasted sharply with the bright red and gold of the entire temple. He held a spirit beast in his arms, the nature of which was unclear, and his eyes were lowered with a gentle expression.
"..." Jiang Gu slowly frowned.
Although he had never seen Yao Yan's face in his memory, he always felt that the other party would not be so gentle, much less hold a spirit pet. He should be wielding a sword. In Wei Feng's memory, this little immortal lord was proud and aloof, not like this statue.
However, this statue may have been sculpted by later generations based on legends and may not be authentic.
Jiang Gu watched for a while with little interest, then strolled around the rest of the temple with Wen Xiuji. Finally, they lingered for a long time on the mountain where spirit beasts were raised. Many rare and exotic spirit beasts were kept there, most of them very beautiful with soft and fluffy fur. You could admire any one of them for a long time.
Jiang Gu once had a garden full of spirit beasts, but when he came to Wangyue, he released most of them back into the mountains and forests. The few he kept were also killed by Wei Feng. After that, he gave up the idea of raising spirit beasts. Raising just one Wei Feng was already too much trouble. Moreover, this guy was jealous and had a lot of killing instincts. Basically, no living thing could stay by Jiang Gu's side for twelve hours before turning into a pile of bones.
...Sometimes there isn't even a skeleton.
A fluffy white ball of fur came up, sniffed hard through the magic circle, wagged its tail, and ran out, rubbing against Jiang Gu's leg vigorously: "Aww~"
Wen Xiuji smiled and said, "It seems it likes you very much. Fellow Daoist Jiang, why don't you take it as your spirit pet?"
"No need." Jiang Gu glanced down at the white ball of fluff and could already picture Wei Feng biting off its head. He wrapped a wisp of spiritual energy around the little spirit beast and threw it back into the magic array without any mercy.
Wen Xiuji secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him about to leave.
They're finally gone. They spent more time on this broken mountain than in any of the temples combined. What's so interesting about those hairy beasts anyway?
“Spirit beasts are a nuisance, so it’s better to raise a few plants,” Jiang Gu said calmly. “I’ll also need to trouble Fellow Daoist Wen to help me find some flowers and plants to put in my room.”
Wen Xiuji, whose true form was a green vine, gritted his teeth and forced a smile: "...Okay."
——
Although Wen Xiuji was dragged around by Jiang Gu for no reason, he still diligently led his people to move many potted plants into the side hall where Jiang Gu was, including many rare and precious treasures.
"There are many flowers and herbs here that can help you heal, such as this pot of Bone-Growing Lotus, this Supreme Herb... Fellow Daoist, please feel free to take them." Wen Xiuji finished his introduction dutifully and left the side hall with a weary expression.
As for the fact that he was so enraged and disgusted by the rumors spread by his disciples that he had collected flowers just to win over Jiang Gu Yixiao, and that he hadn't taken a breath of spiritual energy for three days, that was irrelevant.
Among these potted plants, the vibrant frangipani flower was squeezed into the far corner, and Wen Xiuji couldn't even pronounce its name correctly.
Jiang Gu sent a talisman into Wei Feng's sea of consciousness, and soon Wei Feng's phantom appeared before him.
"Master, how are your injuries?" Although he spent most of his time watching Jiang Gu through his little primordial spirit, his main body was constantly refining the Purple Mansion and the Chaos Core, and could only occasionally visit Jiang Gu's sea of consciousness.
"It's all better now." Jiang Gu showed him the flowers in her hand.
Wei Feng subconsciously reached out to catch it, but halfway through his outstretched hand, he remembered that he was an illusion and couldn't grasp the real thing. Then, belatedly, he realized, "Could this be the Floating Flower?"
"Hmm." Jiang Gu shrunk the two floating flowers and put them into the little primordial spirit's arms, saying, "Give one of them to Jiang Xiangyun, and you can use the other one to stabilize your dantian."
"Okay." Wei Feng nodded. The little spirit reluctantly rubbed against Jiang Gu's fingers, then, holding the two floating flowers, it entered the magic array in the sea of consciousness and disappeared instantly.
Wei Feng's illusory figure was still there. He said to Jiang Gu, "Xiao Dan is too cunning. He is hiding in the Yaoyan Temple and never comes out. We and Chang Ping'an have no chance to make a move."
"I'll think of a way," Jiang Gu said. "How's the Purple Mansion refinement going?"
“We’ve already refined thirteen of them, but we can’t break the remaining array set up by Chang Ping’an. We’re afraid that acting rashly will alert him, so we’ve stopped for now,” Wei Feng said. “The Tower of Babel has been placed in the Changning Divine Palace. By the way, Master, regarding the divine artifact that you mentioned last time that Changning Divine Lord used, Feng Wuyou and I investigated it. It does indeed only have some residual divine power, which is of the same origin as that Yu Sanlang’s primordial spirit. But Yu Sanlang has already been possessed by Wen Xiuji, and his primordial spirit has long since perished. Why do we still need to investigate him?”
"I suspect that the divine artifact that forcibly boosted my cultivation at the Changning Temple that day is Yu Sanlang's true form," Jiang Gu said.
Wei Feng asked in surprise, "Then isn't the artifact that Wen Xiuji is using from Changning? But he also said that it was a divine artifact bestowed by the Upper Realm... Wen Xiuji is from the Yaoyan Temple, so why would he use a divine artifact from the Changning Temple?"
“I went to see the statue of Yao Yan today, and there was something strange about it,” Jiang Gu said. “These temples have been abandoned for thousands of years, and it is difficult to distinguish between the real and fake ones. The divine decrees behind them may not have been given by the real deity.”
Therefore, it is extremely difficult to distinguish whether someone is an enemy or a friend.
Wei Feng frowned and said, "But Wen Xiuji and the others really do want to help you ascend to immortality..."
"What if there is something more important than ascension?" Jiang Gu countered.
"More important than ascension?" Wei Feng was taken aback. "Then what could it be?"
"I don't know," Jiang Gu said thoughtfully. "Right now, all of this is just my speculation. No one can be certain until the very end, but in any case, you—"
He paused slightly, his suspicions beginning to take shape, and he wanted to tell Wei Feng. However, he sensed an invisible obstacle and warning from the heavens, and a chill ran down his spine, as if someone was coldly watching his every move from the shadows.
Jiang Gu changed the subject and said lightly, "Perhaps it wouldn't be bad to stay with you forever."
Wei Feng froze on the spot, and his gaze toward Jiang Gu even held a hint of wariness.
His master would never say such a thing! If he weren't in Jiang Gu's sea of consciousness, he would almost suspect that Jiang Gu had been controlled and possessed.
Jiang Gu casually used the golden spiritual energy beside him to condense a pale golden flower, which then formed a faint phantom image. He handed it to Wei Feng and gestured to him with his eyes not to make any rash moves.
It was unclear whether Wei Feng had understood his meaning or not. He gently cupped the golden flower in his hands and smiled happily at Jiang Gu.
The chilling aura behind him slowly dissipated, but Jiang Gu's expression gradually became serious. He said to Wei Feng, "Tell Jiang Xiangyun and Feng Wuyou to be careful in everything and not to rush things. Go back."
Wei Feng nodded, took the flower formed from spiritual energy, and turned to leave, but then turned back and gave Jiang Gu a light hug: "Master, wait for me a little longer."
A thin ghostly mark gently squeezed Jiang Gu's palm before disappearing into his sea of consciousness along with Wei Feng's figure.
The hall was filled with blooming flowers. Jiang Gu stood among the flowers, and in the void behind him, a pair of eyes slowly lowered, freezing into the same expression as the statue in the main hall.
Meanwhile, at the Changning Divine Palace, Wei Feng carefully took the flower formed from spiritual energy from his sea of consciousness, intending to put it into the storage bag in his heart. However, the moment he took it out, the golden petals fluttered down and instantly turned into specks of golden light, dissipating into the air.
Wei Feng's heart sank heavily.
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