Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Chapter 319 Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom, A Curse for the Princess

"Fellow Daoist Su, the Earth-Digging Dragon has arrived in the territory of the Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom and needs to stay here for several days to trade goods. If you need anything, you can wander around the area around this immortal kingdom. Just return here in three days!"

The Digging Dragon travels ten thousand miles a day, and in just over ten days, it has already left the Desire Demon Immortal Kingdom. It passed through several small immortal kingdoms along the way without stopping, only stopping in the Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom.

Although this immortal kingdom is xenophobic, it is rich in resources and has many things that the outside world craves, making it a major stop that this caravan cannot miss.

Su Qing, who had been practicing self-cultivation into a puppet in the quiet room and imprinted with the image of a flower blooming for a moment, and who hoped that the Huang family would find Gao Erqiang's whereabouts as soon as possible so that he would die early, stood up from the quiet room.

He pushed open the door and returned the greeting to Rao Tingshan, who was standing outside the door bowing with his hands clasped in greeting.

"We have been able to travel so smoothly thanks to Fellow Daoist Rao's help and the favorable winds of your esteemed Treasure Pavilion. How could we dare to go out and cause trouble for your esteemed Treasure Pavilion? Fellow Daoist, rest assured, I will definitely restrain the fellow Daoists who are traveling with us and will not allow them to use this puppet to cause trouble for you!"

Rao Tingshan is polite, knows how to behave, and understands how to conduct himself.

Su Qing reciprocated by making a promise.

Upon hearing this, Rao Tingshan immediately relaxed, gratefully cupped his hands to Su Qing, and then led a few people to move the spirit cage onto a two-headed moose, intending to go to Fenglai City in the Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom to sell a batch of good goods, and also to trade some special products of the Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom such as the Flame Cannon, the Blazing Fire Armor, and the Phoenix Blood Spear.

"This Fellow Daoist Su is quite reasonable. We didn't ask him for travel expenses, and he was honest and didn't think of causing us any trouble."

Accompanying Rao Tingshan was the caravan's guard captain, Li Kuishan, a third-level body cultivator. He was a big, burly man, but after following Rao Tingshan around for many years, he was quick-witted and clever.

Bai Yunxian asked Rao Tingshan to give Su Qing and the others a ride, which was a simple favor for them.

The premise is that Su Qing and the others don't cause them any trouble.

Especially in this Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom.

The cultivators of this immortal kingdom are extremely xenophobic, taking pride in their fire phoenix bloodline. They are arrogant, unreasonable, and enjoy bullying outsiders.

Under these circumstances, Su Qing kept releasing his energy, his arrogance so great that Su Qing couldn't help but want to spar with him. If Su Qing really wanted to wander around the Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom, he was very likely to cause unnecessary trouble.

Fortunately, he was sensible enough to understand that Rao Tingshan was just being polite.

Upon hearing Li Kuishan's words, Rao Tingshan nodded and said:

"Don't underestimate this Fellow Daoist Su. He and his group of rogue cultivators managed to survive the Cloud Mountain Calamity, and were even escorted out of the city by the demoness Liu Yun'er. His abilities are far more than what they appear to be!"

"His apparent abilities made me feel uneasy, so I dared not underestimate him. However, when it comes to getting ahead in the world, personal strength is important, but so is influence and background."

Even if Su Qing is incredibly skilled in combat, doesn't he still need to rely on the connections and influence that my Yuanlai Tower has built up over the years to travel across borders to that Thousand Island Immortal Kingdom?

Li Kuishan said arrogantly, "He works for Yuanlailou, and Yuanlailou is his source of confidence. Even if he can't beat Su Qing, Su Qing will dare to hit him."

I certainly wouldn't dare!
Seeing this, Rao Tingshan shook his head slightly. Then he thought that it was not a bad thing for his subordinates to identify with the organization and be proud of it, so he did not say anything to refute them.

Over the years, they had done countless transactions in the Fire Phoenix Kingdom, and today, they were quite adept at it. Under the watchful eyes of the Fire Phoenix Clan members, they led their caravan to the most bustling downtown area of ​​Phoenix City.

"Take a look, have a look! The powerful cultivators of the Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom and the alien creatures from the Central Martial Kingdom will surely give you a novel experience!"

"Fish that can blow bubbles are not uncommon, but the Dream Winning Fish, which can blow dreamlike bubbles that make people feel like they are in a dream, wash away the fatigue of the soul and cleanse the mind of the impurities, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

"This fellow Daoist has a discerning eye. This female cultivator from the Central Plains may not be as charming as the female cultivators from the Western Sea, but she is actually a talented singer and dancer with inner beauty. She is also skilled in cooking various spiritual ingredients, not only bringing out their original effects but also adding special flavors with her culinary skills. If you buy her, your home will become a Red Sleeve Workshop, where you can eat spiritual chef meals every day!"

"Captain Stone is a centurion from the Central Plains, skilled in battle formations and charges. Yes, he can't compare to the colossus of your Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom, but can you buy the colossus? If you can't buy the colossus, how about buying Captain Stone to have some fun?"

Specialties from the Central Plains Wu Kingdom, promoted by the caravan's professional sales staff, immediately sparked a buying frenzy in Fenglai City.

Rao Tingshan and Li Kuishan, leading a team of warriors, stood guard on both sides of the caravan, their swords drawn, serving as the caravan's biggest support in doing business in this foreign land.

These two individuals, one a Golden Core cultivator and the other a third-tier cultivator, along with the menacing Foundation Establishment cultivators and numerous puppets behind them, indeed extinguished the greed of many Fire Phoenix Clan members who were used to bullying outsiders, and they no longer intended to invite trouble upon themselves.

However, ordinary Fire Phoenix Clan members lack the ability, and those who are capable are unable to commit such heinous acts as robbing foreign merchant caravans and bringing shame upon the Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom, due to the trade alliance signed between the Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom and the Yuanlai Tower.

But some people are not only capable, but also shameless.

It was Princess Fire Phoenix, who had just returned from abroad and was even more arrogant than before. Her entire being, no, her entire Phoenix City, exuded a fierce aura that made normal people want to stay away. She came uninvited.

"Hehehe, this morning there were magpies chirping incessantly outside the palace, so I knew that a distinguished guest had arrived. When I went out to check, it was indeed so. It turned out that the multinational merchant caravan from Yuanlai Tower had come to my Fenglai City!"

It was accompanied by a chilling, maniacal laugh.

Rao Tingshan and Li Kuishan exchanged bitter smiles that made their scalps tingle.

The Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom has three major threats: the Fire Phoenix Princess who is at the Qi Refining stage, the Fire Phoenix Princess who is at the Foundation Establishment stage, and the Fire Phoenix Princess who is at the Golden Core stage!

This princess possesses a noble lineage and exceptional talent. Within the Fire Phoenix Kingdom, she is the center of attention, and no one dares to provoke her. As a result, from the moment she was born, she has been involved in many immoral acts, progressing from chasing chickens and catching dogs to bullying men and women, committing murder and arson. She is a notorious scourge and scourge known far and wide.

As her cultivation deepened, her ability to cause harm grew stronger. In the past, when their merchant caravans came to the Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom to do business, they would inquire about the location of this Fire Phoenix Princess and deliberately choose to do business far away from her main city.

In recent years, however, this Fire Phoenix Princess has suddenly disappeared. Some say she is breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, some say she is in seclusion studying Dao patterns, and some even more outrageous say she has been abducted.

No matter how outrageous the rumors are, at least in recent years, Princess Fire Phoenix has not come out to harm anyone, so much so that Rao Tingshan lost his vigilance and failed to take precautions against this princess!

"Fellow Daoist Feng, it is a great honor for us outsiders to have the chance to behold the princess's beauty. We are truly fortunate!"

Rao Tingshan braced himself and quickly stepped forward, bowing respectfully to the incessantly chuckling Fire Phoenix Princess, who was both stunningly beautiful and terrifyingly powerful.

"Oh, fellow Daoist, you've heard of my reputation?" Princess Fire Phoenix turned her head to look at Rao Tingshan. Before he could answer, she waved her hand and released several second-tier princess leopards and princess snakes from her storage bag.

"Since you like them, these Princess Leopards and Princess Snakes will be sold to you. You can keep them with you and enjoy them!"

Rao Tingshan was stunned as he looked at the puppets lined up in front of him, all with the same figure and appearance as Princess Huofeng, dressed in all sorts of daring outfits that he had never seen even in the most daring Hongxiufang.

Princess Fire Phoenix is ​​skilled at cunning and extortion, and countless unfortunate people who came to this immortal kingdom to do business have been harmed by her. But what kind of trick is she playing today?
Is this some kind of attempt to force a sale?
Rao Tingshan realized what was happening and, not daring to admire the stunning beauty of these passionate princess puppets for too long, could only reply with a wry smile:

"Fellow Daoist Feng has a broad mind, allowing puppeteers to create such puppets. I admire you greatly. These puppets are also unique and quite expensive. Although I would like to buy them, the caravan's goods belong to the Yuanlai Lou family, and I myself have little savings. I can only regretfully miss this opportunity today!"

"Missed it? Some people, once missed, are gone forever. I can't let you miss it, fellow Daoist. No spirit crystals or spirit stones? No problem. I see your caravan has quite a lot of goods. I'll take a small loss and let you use these goods as collateral!"

Princess Fire Phoenix spoke slowly and deliberately, waving her hands as if to signal the Fire Phoenix soldiers following behind her to grab it.

"This...this is unacceptable! These goods were transported from the Central Plains Martial Kingdom by us from thousands of miles away. The female cultivators are all highly skilled, and the monsters and beasts are mostly rare and exotic creatures. How can they be used to counter these few second-tier puppets!"

Rao Tingshan shouted no. The Princess series puppets were indeed excellent, but to exchange three or five Princess series puppets for his caravan's goods would be a huge loss for him.

"What? You think that the puppets created in my form are inferior to these female cultivators, or to these demonic beasts and strange creatures? Are you looking down on me, or on my Fire Phoenix Clan!"

Rao Tingshan dared not speak out in anger, but Princess Huofeng was the first to get angry. As soon as she spoke, all the Huofeng clansmen nearby glared angrily at Rao Tingshan.

Rao Tingshan was wronged, but dared not admit it. He could only bury his head in his hands like an ostrich, hoping to persuade Li Kuishan and the others to give up.

Since Princess Fire Phoenix wants to rob us outright, let her rob us. Most of the goods are still in the Digging Dragon's lair anyway. They can afford the loss of this small batch of goods. At most, they'll miss out on this year's performance evaluation and bonuses.

"Take it!"

Princess Fire Phoenix, having packed the entire caravan into her storage bag, contentedly pushed several princess puppets in front of Rao Tingshan.

Upon seeing this, Rao Tingshan waved his hands repeatedly, not daring to accept the offer, fearing that Princess Huofeng might use this as an excuse to cause trouble again.

"Bartering? If I take your things, you have to take mine. What, do you want me to be branded a robber?"

Princess Fire Phoenix was very reasonable. Unable to refuse, Rao Tingshan tremblingly accepted the princess-themed puppet. Just as he put the puppet into his storage bag, Princess Fire Phoenix, who had been staring at him, suddenly slapped his shoulder, startling him so much that he dropped the storage bag!

"Well, how dare you hoard a seductive puppet that has defiled me! You are incredibly audacious! I was lucky to catch you today. Before I saw you, I wonder how many dirty deals you were doing!"

Princess Fire Phoenix's eyebrows furrowed, and she was filled with anger from who knows where. Her anger surged, causing Rao Tingshan's protective spiritual light to crackle.

"Wasn't this princess puppet given to me by the princess?" Rao Tingshan knew that Princess Fire Phoenix was half human and half phoenix, and hoped that she was at least human, able to understand human language and do human things.

"How could I possibly give you such a filthy puppet? Do you think I'm that kind of person?" Princess Fire Phoenix was even angrier upon hearing this.

"How could I possibly know what kind of person the princess is? In any case, the current situation is entirely my fault. I beg the princess to forgive me for the sake of Yuanlai Tower. I will simply leave the contents of this storage bag to her!"

"If it weren't for the sake of Yuanlai Restaurant, I would have killed you all on the spot. What would you have to say then? Now, I'm kind-hearted and don't want to argue with you. I'll just take you to your lodgings and deport you!"

Injustice, injustice, injustice, an injustice as severe as snow in June.

Pain, pain, pain. It's been so painful to be away on business for years without earning a single penny, and even having to pay out of pocket.

Injustice may be injustice, and pain may be pain.

Since this Fire Phoenix Princess is so inhuman and has set her sights on them, they have no choice but to lie down and accept their fate, with no thought of resistance whatsoever.

How can they resist? Didn't they see that the two giant soldiers on the city wall have already raised their eyes, and behind Princess Fire Phoenix, at least six, seven, or eight Golden Core cultivators are already eager to fight?
"So arrogant, he'll be sold off sooner or later!" Rao Tingshan thought maliciously to himself.

He thought this in his heart, but said it in a humble and polite manner, expressing complete admiration.

"Fellow Daoist Feng is kind-hearted and unwilling to hold a grudge against me. I will leave the area on my own, without troubling you to see me off!"

How could we dare take this scourge to the Digging Dragon? The goods damaged here are only a small part, which can be considered as feeding the dogs. The Digging Dragon contains countless fine goods that our caravan has transported from east to west.

Now that the fourth-order Illusionary Heart Formation is concealing the location, this scourge cannot find the location of the Digging Dragon. If it were to bring it to the Digging Dragon's door, wouldn't the entire Digging Dragon be wiped out by it?

Rao Tingshan did not hesitate to speculate about Princess Fire Phoenix with the utmost malice.

And as it turned out, his guess was absolutely right.

He was told that he was unwilling to lead the way.

Princess Fire Phoenix's face turned cold, and with a wave of her hand, she ordered her men to capture them all.

Judging from the meaning, they want the people from Yuanlai Tower to use spirit crystals and spirit stones to redeem these people.

Rao Tingshan, Li Kuishan, and the others did not put up any resistance. They simply used their divine sense to send a message to the people left behind inside the Digging Dragon, telling them to remain calm and wait for the powerful figures inside the building to come and rescue them before setting off.

······
Inside the Digging Dragon.

With nothing else to do, Su Qing and the others were amusing themselves with the caravan's remaining personnel.

Shao Delong sparred briefly with several warriors and then wreaked havoc on all sides.

Liang Haishun and his drinking buddies had a brief exchange of skills and he dominated the competition.

Xiong Er and his card-playing friends had a brief exchange and Xiong Er dominated the game.

Xiong Er went too far. He and Qing He, two seasoned swindlers, used their honed swindling skills honed during their daily puppet-selling and fishing trips to kill so many of the remaining personnel that they used their storage bags as stakes.

Because he had killed too many people and was afraid they would overturn the table, Su Qing had to stand behind the two con artists to prevent the cultivators who were blinded by their losses from making any rash moves, and to make them understand the principle that admitting defeat means accepting the consequences and that taking a beating means standing at attention.

And just when everyone was having a good time.

A discordant cry echoed throughout the entire Digging Dragon.

"It's terrible! Steward Rao, Captain Li, everyone who went out to sell goods has been detained and arrested by Princess Fire Phoenix!"

"Ah, they were just out selling goods. What could they have done to offend Princess Fire Phoenix?"

"I didn't do anything wrong. If I had to say I did something wrong, it would probably be that I didn't count the location of the Fire Phoenix Princess when I went out, and that's how I fell into the hands of this scourge!"

"Without Supervisor Rao in charge, who will manage this digging dragon?!"

"Just wait. With this batch of goods, the experts in this building will have the expertise to reason with the Fire Phoenix Immortal Kingdom!"

"This round trip will take who knows how much time it will take, and I guess I'll miss my three-year-old son's birthday again, whom I haven't seen for five years!"

"That's right! I even had a engagement on Ama Island, and now it's all ruined!"

Nobody cares whether Steward Rao and Captain Li are doing well now, or whether they've been tormented by Princess Fire Phoenix.

Everyone was only worried that their schedules would be delayed, and for now they could only stay inside the Digging Dragon and wait for the expert inside to arrive.

"Fellow Daoist, I would like to ask, in general, how long do the senior cultivators of Yuanlai Tower take to arrive when such a matter occurs?"

Having hitched a ride, and now without a driver, Su Qing was exhausted. He thought to himself that if the high-ranking cultivators from Yuanlai Tower arrived quickly, he could grit his teeth and wait.

"Who can say for sure? My superior cultivator is far away in the Thousand Islands Immortal Kingdom. If there are no important matters delaying him, it will take at least three to five months for him to arrive after receiving the news. If there are important matters delaying him, it could take three to five years!"

Yao Yongquan, who has a three-year-old son and is fond of gambling but doesn't know how, was extremely respectful when questioned by Su Qing, the only third-tier cultivator in the Digging Dragon Clan.

They dared not be disrespectful. Without Manager Rao and Captain Li, if Su Qing harbored malicious intentions and killed and robbed the people and goods of this earth-digging dragon, they really would have no way to stop him.

His concern was not unfounded.

At this moment, Xiong Er and Qing He were even unwilling to play cards. One was whistling, and the other had bright eyes. They were clearly ready to take action as soon as Su Qing gave the order.

Others gave him a ride and treated him well along the way, but he didn't even pay for the trip. Now that they are in trouble, he wants to kick them while they're down and rob them.

Su Qing could never do such a wicked thing.

The main problem is that it can't be done.

Firstly, they couldn't kill them all. Rao Tingshan, Li Kuishan, and the others weren't all dead yet. If they pulled off this heist, they would inevitably face trouble from Yuanlai Tower in the future. They were local bullies in the Thousand Islands Kingdom. If they offended them, it would be difficult to survive in the Western Sea.

Secondly, because of his relationship with Bai Yunxian, he committed evil deeds, which inevitably put his old lover Liang Haishun in a difficult position.

Thirdly, Su Qing had a feeling that the Earth-Digger Dragon had some hidden tricks up its sleeve. If it were activated, he might be fine, but no one could take the cargo with them.

The kind-hearted Su Qing had no intention of taking advantage of others' misfortune, and let Shao Delong restrain the restless Xiong Er.

He then cupped his hands in greeting to the cultivators inside the ship and said:
"To be honest, I have some connections and influence in the Fire Phoenix Kingdom. This time, Steward Rao has had a misunderstanding with Princess Fire Phoenix, and I am willing to go and intercede on his behalf. I would appreciate it if you could send some people to accompany me."

Even a humble path could be used to find the Fire Phoenix Princess by using the Yuanlai Pavilion's name!

Su Qing spoke casually.

The cultivators within the Digging Dragon Clan felt that he was somewhat mentally unstable.

Do you have connections?

You have connections, why do you need us to take you to find Princess Fire Phoenix?

Manager Rao has been arrested. If you go, you'll be arrested and locked up too, subjected to the Fire Phoenix Kingdom's torture of the Li Fire. You can go and suffer that kind of torment, but they don't want to go!
(End of this chapter)