Mortal Mage

"My dear Xuanlu, please follow me into the mountains."

The clear voice is loud and moving.

"Um, two immortals, I am from the Beast Cloud Villa, you should consider it carefully."

Zhang Mingxuan, riding on a flying beast, spoke tentatively to the two people flying with him on his left and right.

He wants to show that he has a backer.

"Don't worry, my friend Xuanlu."

Qing Ling spoke in a gentle tone, trying to comfort Zhang Mingxuan. "I still have some friendship with your sect master, and I still owe your sect twenty foundation-building pills that I have not refined yet."

As he spoke, Qing Ling stepped on his sword, turned around, and guided Zhang Mingxuan to fly towards the main peak of the Sword Sect.

"Oh."

Zhang Mingxuan racked his brains, trying to think of a reason to justify the dual cultivation.

If he doesn't explain clearly about his cultivation, Qing Ling will most likely not give up.

He changed his mind and decided to run away if all else failed, but he didn't know if he could escape by using the Transition Talisman and the Spirit-extinguishing Gourd in combination.

"My dear Xuanlu, please don't think about it. My Sword Sect is upright and righteous. We will not harm you. We just want to have a cup of tea and make friends."

Qing Ling waved to Chang Song who was accompanying him as he spoke. "Chang Song, I know what to do with your affairs. You continue to patrol the mountains. I will talk to Xuan Lu alone."

"Yes, Elder, I will go first."

Chang Song bowed to Qing Ling, responded, and left with his sword.

Zhang Mingxuan rode the flying beast and followed Qingling, while quietly trying to scan Qingling with his spiritual sense.

He wanted to try if he could get a glimpse of the cultivation level of the Nascent Soul stage.

"hehe."

Qingling smiled brightly, ignored Zhang Mingxuan's spiritual sense detection, and continued to lead the way ahead on two flying swords.

"Master, even if you ask me, I'm afraid I can't tell you the truth."

"My dear friend, please don't be mean. It's your freedom to speak or not. It's my business whether to ask or not."

"Forehead."

"Come on, follow me into the cave."

On the waist of the main peak, a huge rock "rumbled" apart, and the two entered the cave.

Qing Ling landed on the ground and put away his sword, while Zhang Mingxuan jumped off the flying beast at the same time.

A cave that seems to be formed naturally suddenly comes into view, and at the same time a fresh scent of herbs hits you in the face, making you feel refreshed.

In the center of the cave, there is a furnace with a faint red fire in it. The runes embossed on the outside of the furnace emit a faint warm light. Various spiritual herbs and medicines are neatly placed around it. Storage frames and grids are carved out on the stone wall next to it, and the storage grids are filled with bottles and jars. A white jade mirror is hung on the wall behind the furnace, reflecting the scene in the cave.

In front of the mirror, there is a pink futon.

"Little friend, please sit down."

"Where do you sit?"

"Sit anywhere."

"Oh"

Zhang Mingxuan strode to the cushion beside the alchemy furnace and squatted down on it.

"Haha, you are really kind, my friend. Didn't you bring your own futon?"

Qingling smiled lightly and waved her right hand. A low tea table appeared in front of Zhang Mingxuan. Then she took out a red wooden box from the storage compartment on the wall of the cave and held it in her hand. She gently opened the wooden box, and the room was immediately filled with the fragrance of tea.

She took out another cushion from her storage bag and placed it opposite Zhang Mingxuan. She lifted her skirt and sat cross-legged facing Zhang Mingxuan.

"I wonder what spiritual roots you have?"

"Metal, wood, water, fire and earth."

Zhang Mingxuan made up something in a gentle tone. After all, he was invited to have tea, and if he didn't say anything it would seem ungrateful. If he told the truth, Qingling would definitely not believe it.

"Oh?"

Qingling smiled, shook her head, picked up a teapot with one hand, and used the tip of her other hand to light a simmering fire. She suspended the teapot above her finger and began to make tea.

With a faint smile on her lips, she began to chat with Zhang Mingxuan in a soft voice; "My friend Xuanlu, I used to be puzzled by many practices of your Beast Cloud Villa. In my opinion, cultivation is nothing more than building a foundation, stepping on a sword, and flying. Why bother with those talismans, magic weapons, prohibitions, seals, finger gestures, and mantras? I didn't use so many things when I broke through the Nascent Soul stage." She carefully controlled the flames on her fingertips and paused; "You Beast Cloud Villa has taken the trouble to cultivate monsters just so that they can ride and bite people. I used to be confused when I saw your practices. I remember one time, the leader of your villa released more than a hundred monsters of various kinds and used almost all means to attack a fourth-level monster. In my opinion, something that can be solved with just a sword and one person is so complicated."

The simmering fire on her jade fingertips grew and waned, and the temperature of the water in the purple teapot slowly rose, emitting green smoke. "For hundreds of years, similar things have happened countless times. In addition to you animal trainers, there are also painters, spell casters, poison masters, illusionists, jade carvers, etc. I used to wonder why they would go to so much trouble to solve problems that could be solved with just a sword."

She poured the tea into the purple bowl, and immediately the aroma of tea accompanied by a strong spiritual energy filled the room.

She raised one hand and motioned Zhang Mingxuan to taste the tea; "However, these are just my previous puzzles. Although I am not young anymore, 2,200 years old in lunar age and 2,199 years old in actual age, my birthday has not arrived yet, so in fact I am still 2,199 years old. In fact, I have been practicing for many years, but my state of mind is still in my twenties."

"I am in this 15-foot cave. Apart from practicing and refining pills, I am bored most of the time. I don't understand the formation, and the pills I refine are almost useless. I want to find someone to chat with, but there is no one. Most of the people outside the sect are enemies. I finally met a strange person like you, but you don't seem to be willing to make friends with me."

She once again lifted the teapot and began to make tea, concentrating on it;

"You can make friends and borrow spirit stones."

Zhang Mingxuan drank the spiritual tea in the cup in one gulp; "No."

Qing Ling still had a smile on her face as she refilled the cup in front of Zhang Mingxuan and continued chatting. "I once had no desires in other aspects in order to break through the Nascent Soul stage. I want to ask you, my friend Xuan Lu, in your opinion, cultivation is for immortality, so what is the purpose of immortality?"

"How did you break through the Nascent Soul stage?"

Zhang Mingxuan swallowed the newly poured spiritual tea again, wiped the corner of his mouth, and tried to ask.

He had a strong premonition that if he gave this Yuanying old monster some chicken soup for the soul, it might have a miraculous effect.

"Hmm? Why do you ask that question, young friend?"

Qing Ling sensed the disdain in Zhang Mingxuan's tone and replied softly, "When you have completed your practice, you will naturally break through."

"Well, another cup of tea."

Zhang Mingxuan knocked the teacup on the table, sorted out his thoughts, cleared his throat, and began to instill poisonous chicken soup; "Longevity is to prolong life, but the purpose of prolonging life is to allow oneself to have more time to pursue one's ideals and realize one's wishes."

"Ideal, wish?"

"Well, you should have things to do besides practicing."

"I want to know why you were able to reach the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining Stage within half a year."

"Yes, your thought is called curiosity. Curiosity drives you to act. If I don't tell you, you will always be curious. Then satisfying your curiosity is your ideal and wish."

Zhang Mingxuan glanced at Qingling and said solemnly, "If I tell you, your curiosity will be satisfied, and then you will lose your ideal."

"My friend, that's what you said."

Qing Ling frowned, savoring Zhang Mingxuan's words, feeling that something was wrong, and raised her eyelids to look at Zhang Mingxuan; "I don't think my ideal is curiosity."

"Well, what is that?"

"Your cultivation is still shallow, so it's useless to tell you."

Qing Ling shook his head and took out a spirit-testing crystal from his storage bag. "My friend Xuanlu, my ideal right now is to see what kind of spirit root you have."

"Doesn't this mean you have no curiosity about me?"

"This matter has nothing to do with ideals, so considering that I have talked to you for so long and you have drunk so much of my spiritual tea, you should still do a test."

"Master, is it not necessary?"

Zhang Mingxuan leaned back slightly and waved his hands and shook his head.

If she knew that I had a useless spiritual root, she would not be able to leave.

Didn’t you agree that you’re not interested?

"Let's test it. I don't like to force you. After all, you drank all my spiritual tea."

Zhang Mingxuan shook his head again.

"Take a test, my friend Hyun-ryun."

"No."

"The more you don't want it, the more curious I become. Have you thought about it? I'm in the Nascent Soul stage."

"coax"

A transfer talisman ignited at Zhang Mingxuan's waist, emitting a puff of green smoke, and Zhang Mingxuan instantly disappeared from Qingling's sight.

With a loud bang, Zhang Mingxuan hit the stone door at the entrance of the cave.

"My friend, I have a soul-sealing formation here. Not only your body, but also your soul can't get out."

Qing Ling smiled again and walked to Zhang Mingxuan's side with the crystal ball in hand. "Take a test. If it's just a single spiritual root, I won't ask any more questions and will let you go."

"Whoops"

A blood clot bulged out of Zhang Mingxuan's head, and he cried out in pain. "What if my spiritual root is useless?"

"My dear Xuanlu, you and I are friends now, why are you pretending? Take the test."

"Then, let's test it?"

"Well, let's test it."

Qing Ling smiled and nodded heavily at Zhang Mingxuan.

Zhang Mingxuan timidly reached out for the spirit-detecting crystal held in front of him.

"Ink"

Qing Ling pushed the spirit-detecting crystal in front of Zhang Mingxuan and it touched his fingertips.

The white transparent crystal suddenly showed twelve colors.

"Waste spiritual roots?!"