Chapter 23 Part 1: Do you like me?
How was he supposed to ask Liao Chen such an important question… He knew very well that in Hutian City, everyone was tight-lipped about the laws and regulations. When Yan Jingyu was a child, his father had ordered him not to inquire about it casually before ascending to immortality, because there were three “don’ts” regarding the authority of the laws: “cannot be spoken,” “cannot be heard,” and “cannot be reversed.”.
Everyone unanimously believed that those who leaked secrets, spied on secrets, and violated them would surely be punished by heaven.
But the young Yan Jingyu always had heaven-defying remarks. The first time he was warned by his father, at only five years old, he had frankly said, “Under the laws, human lives are like grass. Above the laws, the will of heaven cannot be defied. Is this also considered cultivation?!”
He still remembered his father’s face changing dramatically, grabbing a ruler and chasing him from the Yan estate to the Cloud Sea, beating him until he cried for his parents and knelt down to beg for mercy.
This kind of thing involved the divine realm. How could Liao Chen possibly tell him…
In other words, the knowledge that others had worked so hard to obtain by cultivating to become a demon god, you, a mortal, want to spy on it at will? Who do you think you are?
Yan Jingyu pursed his lips. As he ate, he said with a muffled voice, “Can you give me—”
Liao Chen had already taken out a pill from his Qiankun Pouch and said casually, “Speak human language.”
“Can you give me Wen Renying?”
“No.”
I knew it.
Liao Chen began to try to regulate his breath. He was a little surprised. This time, Yan Jingyu didn’t seem to be playing any tricks. The unstable state of his divinity had actually improved a lot. After thirty-six small heavenly cycles, Yan Jingyu had already fallen asleep on the table again.
Liao Chen summoned a shadow-recording pearl and found that after he had eaten his fill, he had circled around him a few times, and even stood in front of him to measure their shoulders. After that, he climbed onto the bed and deliberately sat with him to compare their heights. He was probably a little discouraged, and then he climbed down and started to wander around the room.
He tossed and turned on the lounge chair when he was tired, and finally went to the lotus flower, squatting there, he didn’t know what he was doing.
He practiced a round of boxing in the room with a whoosh and a roar.
He ran out again to get a meal. After eating his fill, he looked at himself, as if he wanted to say something but didn’t. He was probably too bored, so he started to count the brushes on the brush holder back and forth. As he counted, he fell asleep.
Liao Chen took out an alchemy furnace and gently suspended it to the side. The herbs Yan Jingyu had recommended quickly flew out of the Qiankun Pouch. He glanced at the sleeping rascal again, carefully recalled the medicinal properties in the Vast Expanse Book, and after thinking for a long time, he slowly put the herbs into the alchemy furnace.
“If this Lord dies, I will definitely drag you with me.”
When Yan Jingyu climbed up, his arms were a little numb again. He twisted his face and shook them. When he stood up, he found that his feet were also numb. He whimpered softly and jumped for a while. Noticing that Liao Chen was still surrounded by spiritual light, he couldn’t help but sigh bitterly.
The polar night of the Demon Realm was truly torturous. It was impossible to tell what day or night it was.
The alchemy furnace was suspended in the air. Yan Jingyu circled it, observing thoughtfully, until a voice came to his ears: “What tricks are you trying to pull now?”
“I can’t even open the furnace. What tricks can I pull?”
“You can smash your head against it and use your own blood to ruin a furnace of my good pills.”
“…” Yan Jingyu stood up straight, moved away from the alchemy furnace, came to his side, climbed onto the jade bed, and said, “How long will this polar night last?”
“Go observe the celestial phenomena yourself.”
“It won’t be as long as your life, will it?”
“…” Liao Chen shot him a glare. “Do you believe I’ll throw you out to feed the resentful demons?”
Resentful demons were a special kind of spiritual body that appeared during the polar night. They were formed from the most extreme greed, anger, ignorance, and resentment in the human world. They would instinctively search for a host and corrode the host’s body. A person who had been corroded would quickly become a stiff corpse. Besides the Asura clan, no other creature could coexist with it.
Yan Jingyu had only read about it in books. He was immediately curious. “You’ve already grasped the authority of this place, yet you still can’t stop them?”
Liao Chen ignored him.
Yan Jingyu said, “I know. Because you’re seriously injured now, it’s best to let them wander outside. This way, no one will come to disturb you. Am I right?”
With that, he revealed a triumphant smile.
Liao Chen nodded. “You went to the library. Why didn’t you tell them about my serious injury?”
Yan Jingyu was stunned, then immediately smiled. “Are you moved?”
“When you went, I sent Yin Shi to follow you. If you had dared to open your mouth, everyone in the library would have died.”
The smile froze. Yan Jingyu coughed softly. “I told you, I know how to repay kindness… Those little demons, aren’t they the ones you adopted?”
“They are just hostages sent by various clans.” Liao Chen let out a light laugh, as if mocking his naivety. “If any of the clans dare to make a move, they will be my side dish for wine.”
“I thought…”
“You thought this Lord would train them to be talented and useful in the future? If the clans are well-behaved, that’s not wrong.”
Yan Jingyu sighed and suddenly said, “Actually, your idea isn’t wrong.”
“You are of the phoenix demon body. If they knew your background, everyone in the Demonic Domain would surely swarm you and eat you… I heard that this place is constantly plagued by natural disasters, and the various clans are independent. It’s also difficult for demons and devils to advance. If they could draw your soul, use your flesh and blood as a sacrifice, and seize your authority, it wouldn’t be another way out.”
He looked at Liao Chen again. The latter’s expression was calm. Yan Jingyu smiled again. “When you speak, can you not always make yourself sound like you’re doing all kinds of evil? Actually, you do many things out of necessity, just to protect yourself.”
Liao Chen’s eyelashes twitched slightly, his expression still indifferent. “I raise the Taotie so she can charge into battle for me. I raise the Nine-Tails so he can cause chaos in the world. When they grow into great demons, I will surely annihilate all the immortal sects and take Hutian directly.”
His loose long hair covered the side of his face, revealing only his high-bridged nose. Yan Jingyu had to crawl forward on his knees and tilt his head to look at his expression. “There’s nothing wrong with you wanting to take Hutian. No one likes to stay in a place with constant natural disasters. As a former person of Hutian, although I don’t support it, I understand you.”
Yan Jingyu propped his hands on his sides, his head leaning in front of him, his head tilted, his eyes clean and clear.
Liao Chen stared at him blankly for a few moments, his fingers curling, his face gradually turning cold. “Yan Qi, what are you planning now?”
“Aiya.” Yan Jingyu pulled his body back. “You saw through me again.”
Liao Chen’s eyes were gloomy. The next instant, his pupils suddenly contracted. He abruptly straightened his back. Yan Jingyu had already lazily leaned against his back. Perhaps because the room was warm, Yan Jingyu had already loosened his outer garment, leaving only two thin layers of inner clothes. When he moved his body, one could clearly feel his contracting shoulder blades.
Yan Jingyu leaned against him steadily, casually picked up the unfinished Wenjun Lüyi on the edge of the bed, and said, “You know, we’ve fought for so many years, and neither of us could get rid of the other… Now, to think that we can sit together one day, drinking and talking. Can we call this the impermanence of the world?”
Liao Chen lowered his eyes, relaxed his body slightly, and said, “Only a ghost would talk to you.”
“Alright, it’s me talking to you.” Yan Jingyu was in a good mood. He picked up a cup, poured some wine, and said, “You, you just have a bad temper. You don’t say what you’re thinking, you just keep it in… Even Wen Renying thinks you’re a big bad guy.”
Liao Chen sneered. “Don’t tell me you’re starting to think I’m a good person?”
“I don’t think you’re a good person.” Yan Jingyu handed the cup over. “I just suddenly realized that you also have many things you have to do out of necessity.”
“You’re trying to find out how I, a phoenix demon, disguised myself under Chi Yuan’s hand for so many years, aren’t you?”
Yan Jingyu was helpless. “In your heart, am I not good at all?”
“No.” Liao Chen said coldly, “You are a model of the righteous path, proficient in all kinds of schemes and tricks. When you exterminated the demon lord, you didn’t hesitate to use human wave tactics, because others were demon lords, everything you did was righteous. In your eyes, it’s not wrong to use any method to kill a demon lord, is it?”
Yan Jingyu raised an eyebrow slightly. “Even if I don’t kill a demon lord, as long as it’s my enemy, what’s wrong with me playing some tricks? Should I just serve myself up to you one by one? Besides, you’re so hard to kill. When have I ever really killed you?”
“It was you who always said you wanted to fight me to the death fair and square!”
“That’s right!” Yan Jingyu said, “Which time we fought wasn’t a battle to the death? Did I hold back on you?”
Liao Chen’s face darkened, and his figure suddenly disappeared from behind him. Yan Jingyu, caught off guard, leaned into empty air, and the wine he was about to drink splashed all over his face. Liao Chen had already reappeared beside him, his voice sinister. “Shameless.”
Yan Jingyu closed his eyes for a moment, then turned over and climbed up, wiping the wine from his face, and said with hatred, “You’re really lucky to be alive. This time, even with me and Qin Zhongyou working together, we couldn’t kill you!”
Liao Chen smiled sinisterly. “You can only blame yourself for not being a good judge of character. Qin Zhongyou is not a good person, and his ability is not good either. He is quite a good match for a waste like you.”
“…You.” Yan Jingyu slammed the wine cup down. “How did you escape back then?!”
Liao Chen’s expression was contemptuous. “Guess.”
Yan Jingyu’s anger rose to his head, and his mind, fueled by hot blood, became particularly agile. He suddenly thought of something. “Could it be that you have a second cultivation body?!”
Liao Chen’s expression remained unchanged.
Yan Jingyu added, “It was Yin Shi who saved you… Yin Shi is clearly not the same Yin Shi as before. But, but Yin Shi is already at the Taiqing Realm. Which lunatic would cultivate their second cultivation body to the Taiqing Realm?”
The so-called second cultivation body was generally a secondary cultivation body that was a step higher than a puppet. It shared the same consciousness as the main body, but had its own spiritual sea. But for most people, their secondary cultivation body would at most reach the Zither-Heart stage and could not continue to be fed. Generally, the secondary cultivation body was used as a backup in case the main body fell, so at least one life could be preserved.
After all, cultivating one body was already a waste of time and energy. With so many materials and spiritual energy, concentrating them all on one body would definitely be faster than two bodies.
For example, in the cultivation world, two Cloud-Soaring cultivators might need ten bottles of spiritual medicine, but if all ten bottles of spiritual medicine were fed to one body, this physical body might break through to the Huiyang Realm, and ten Cloud-Soaring cultivators were no match for one Huiyang cultivator.
Putting aside energy and time, this also required great luck and endurance. You see how many people have difficulty starting over after their realm falls. And even if it’s a secondary cultivation body, once its realm falls, because it shares the same consciousness, it will definitely have a great impact on the main cultivation body’s state of mind and will affect future promotions.
Assuming that from the beginning of the immortal path to the Great Perfection of the Taiqing Realm, a person needs to go through twenty-one bottlenecks. And if you bring a secondary cultivation body to the Taiqing Realm, the time is doubled, the hardship is doubled, the heavenly tribulation is doubled, and the luck also has to be doubled… In summary, unless someone’s brain was kicked by a donkey, it’s absolutely, absolutely, impossible, and unnecessary to cultivate a secondary cultivation body to the Taiqing Realm!
And Liao Chen had just broken through to the Demigod stage. Unless he started practicing a secondary cultivation body from the Phoenix-Beginning stage…
But to have a secondary cultivation body at the Phoenix-Beginning stage?!
