Dual Cultivation Chapter 257
Advertisement
"G-Guardian Spirit?"
Liu Lanzhi asked, hoping that Elder Wan did not think too deeply about her shocked reaction just now. Even better if he missed it.
However, Elder Wan was already laughing and dancing in his heart after seeing Liu Lanzhi's reaction, as he is almost certain that Liu Lanzhi is aware of the Guardian Spirit.
"That's right. The Million Snakes Sect is currently searching for a Guardian Spirit, and seeing your reaction just now, you must know something about it, right?"
Elder Wan asked her.
"No…" Liu Lanzhi could hear her heart beating like war drums. However, she managed to remain a calm face and said, "I was just surprised by the words 'Guardian Spirit."
And she continued, "Has the Million Snakes Sect found a Guardian Spirit? Congratulations."
Elder Wan chuckled and said, "Although we have indeed found ourselves a Guardian Spirit, we have not captured it yet. However, the Million Snakes Sect will do everything in its power to get their hands on it."
Elder Wan decided to play to Liu Lanzhi's tune, but he did not forget to indirectly threaten her by letting her know that the Million Snakes Sect is taking this matter very seriously.
"Is that so? But what does the Million Snakes Sect want our Profound Blossom Sect to do to help?" Liu Lanzhi asked.
"It's simple, really. We are not asking the Profound Blossom Sect to join our searches, but we will greatly appreciate it if you can notify us if anyone sees a white baby tiger. Of course, we aren't asking you to help us for free. Once we find the Guardian Spirit, we will greatly reward the Profound Blossom Sect for their cooperation."
Liu Lanzhi nodded and said, "I will notify my disciples and tell them to be on the lookout—"
Advertisement
"Oh, one more thing."
Elder Wan suddenly said, "If you find the Guardian Spirit and hide it from us and we find out, it won't be a pretty day for either of us…"
Liu Lanzhi narrowed her eyes and said, "I thought it was common sense that you should not threaten someone right after asking for their help."
Elder Wan chucked and said, "Do not take that offensively, fellow Daoist. It is merely a warning just in case someone has any funny ideas."
"Anyway, now that I have nothing left to say, I should take my leave."
Elder Wan turned around and left the Profound Blossom Sect, quickly disappearing from Liu Lanzhi's sight.
Once they were certain that Elder Wan had left, Elder Wu coldly snorted, "What an arrogant and rude individual. Sect Master, let's forget about them and not help them."
Liu Lanzhi shook her head and said, "He may be an asshole, but he has the ability to be one. In the Western Region, the Million Snakes Sect stands at the top. For them to even notice us is already a great honor."
"What about the Guardian Spirit? If there's really a Guardian Spirit in the vicinity, I am afraid that a war would break out and we might get caught up in it…"
Because Elder Wu isn't aware of Xiao Bai's presence, she has no idea about the situation.
"About that…"
Liu Lanzhi sighed, feeling perplexed.
If the Million Snake Sect learns that they have Xiao Bai, it would be disastrous for the entire Profound Blossom Sect, and Liu Lanzhi won't be willing to sacrifice her entire sect and its every disciple, even if it's for a Guardian Spirit.
"If only Xiao Bai is matured… But unfortunately, I cannot wait an entire month for her to grow up with the Million Snakes Sect actively searching around this place. I will have to let Xiao Bai go as soon as possible…" Liu Lanzhi sighed again.
Advertisement
"Fang Zhelan will not like this news one bit…"
Liu Lanzhi turned to look at the direction of the Chamber of Embrace, feeling regretful about the whole situation.
Suddenly, a powerful ripple appeared, spreading across the land at a rapid pace.
"Oh no!" Liu Lanzhi's face instantly paled when she realized what was causing the ripple.
"It's happening again… what is this ripple that contains a profound feeling? It also appeared four days ago." Elder Wu wondered as the ripples swept across her body, causing her body to tremble slightly.
Indeed, it was Xiao Bai who caused the ripples to appear. Because it has been four days since she was last fed the Seven Silver Blades, Fang Zhelan fed another one to her today before leaving for the Chamber of Embrace to meet with Su Yang.
"This must be the reason why the Million Snakes Sect chose to appear in this area! They also sensed Xiao Bai's Profound Qi four days ago!"
Liu Lanzhi didn't know what to do at this moment and could only stay standing there.
There was no way the Million Snakes Sect would not notice this when they are so close — especially when Elder Wan had left not too long ago.
After pondering for a moment, Liu Lanzhi bit her lips and shouted at Elder Wu, "Immediately gather all of the sect elders and disciples at the Center Court and prepare for battle! The Million Snakes Sect will be here at any moment!"
"E-Excuse me...?"
Elder Wu stood there with a dazed expression. She wasn't able to comprehend why Liu Lanzhi would be saying such things but nobody could blame her, as anyone in her situation would be shocked and dumbfounded.
"Hurry up and just do as I say! It's an order!"
After saying those words, Liu Lanzhi ran towards Fang Zhelan's living quarters, leaving Elder Wu standing there, looking like a dazed chicken.
Meanwhile, Elder Wan, who had just left the Profound Blossom Sect notified the Sect Master of the Millions Snake Sect of the ripple in the air.
"It's confirmed. The Profound Blossom Sect has the white tiger in their possession."
"Good, good, good! You know what to do, Elder Wan! I will leave everything in your hands!"
The Sect Master's delightful voice could be heard from the communication jade slip.
A few moments later, Elder Wan along with the other experts from the Million Snakes Sect approached the Profound Blossom Sect, and surrounding them was an aura of bloodlust.
Advertisement
- In Serial20 Chapters
Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
8 153 - In Serial6 Chapters
A World In Motion
The world is great and so much remains shrouded in darkness. We can stand on the shoreline and see the outline far in the distance but too often we fail to grasp what goes on. We limit ourself to our immediate surrounding and claim our small piece of land to be the center of it all. A king meets his end so it falls upon the son to wield the power of the crown. What if things were different? What can i do to facility such changes? With a need for something the newly raised king embarks on a journey to find out just what is possible in this world, his world. Historical fiction - The world has the same principal rules as our own but from the perspective of culture/technology/and more its different. Multiple Lead Characters - With time more characters will become relevant so you will experience this world from different vantage points but it's all connected and with purpose. Drama - True depth to a story rests in the arms of character you grow to love or hate, their humanity. Drama is an inevitable feature of humanity so if i succeed in creating fictional humans then drama will surely follow. Action - Place one human in the same room as another and you'll eventually witness action. Action with all the blood and pain associated will it is a natural extension of the human experience. Welcome to my world. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Image by Peder Balke (1849) Nationalmuseum. Public domain.
8 154 - In Serial7 Chapters
Millennium Dungeon: War
One thousand years the dungeon had lived. It’s birth created an empire. Now the rich, powerful noble houses and countless adventurer guilds try to gain control over this endless resource. Finally, after decades of struggle their powergrid had shifted. Things are about to change in the empire, that nearly existed for a millennia. War is coming.
8 67 - In Serial14 Chapters
Beyond Earth
Julian is not your average Joe. He has high political ambitions, but he finds himself putting them aside after being abducted by aliens whose goal is to experiment on him. Julian finds himself thrust 300 years into the future in a world where humans have long since made contact with other alien species and technology has far surpassed anything he could have ever dreamed of. How will he cope with these changes and still come out on top? Follow along Julian and others in Beyond Earth. This is my first writing project, and as such, I don't doubt there are issues within the story. If you come across any, please leave a comment on the chapter, and I will respond to it and make changes accordingly. Other than that, I hope you enjoy.
8 179 - In Serial9 Chapters
Daylily
This is the tale of two sisters, Lis and Rafflesia, whose lives are tainted by obsession and the sin of charisma. Lis is known as the "Daylily", a courtesan of love for just a single day. Her sister Rafflesia is a girl with a dark secret. Their daily life slowly spirals out of control and reaches an unknown frontier of the forbidden unseen world. What is freedom without love? What is love without freedom?
8 96 - In Serial38 Chapters
Instability
Ashley became an interrogator to support her family and protect her city from the anarchic Renegades. When Daniel enters her interrogation room, she can't decide whose mind is more corrupted: his or hers.※ ※ ※ ※ ※In the year 2130, water is both life and death. Ingesting water contaminated with Renegadea Protozoa can turn a person into a Renegade, or a destructive, anarchic criminal. It's 17-year-old Ashley Cummins's responsibility as a junior interrogator to filter out the petty thieves from the true Renegades. However, interrogating the cocky, defiant, and handsome Daniel Fadhill interferes with her duties. Swept up in Daniel's riptide, Ashley must decide for herself where her loyalties lie. After all, it only takes one contaminated sip to become a Renegade.
8 332

