Daoqi Huangcheng

Chapter 35. The Plague
The curtains swayed, and the faint light of the red candles illuminated the sweat on Qingyue's porcelain-white skin. The sweat slid down her smooth skin in the winter night, reflecting the quiet red candlelight.

Her cheeks flushed, and she bit her lip with her pearly white teeth.

after a long time
Song Chen lay on one side, his heart at peace.

Qingyue was also exhausted.

She turned her head and glanced at Song Chen.

There's no love involved. It started out as self-interest, but now it's a mixture of admiration for their methods, sympathy for their plight, and feelings of obligation and dependence.
The next day, Qingyue regained her strength.

After the two men left the room, the two maids went inside, changed the wet bedding and some other messy items, and then carried them out. When they reached a secluded spot, they leaned closer and sniffed the lewd smell from the bedding, covering their mouths and giggling, saying things like, "The Second Madam and Master are so close," and "The Second Madam was so dashing during the day, I wonder if she was on top or on the bottom in bed." But when they heard footsteps in the distance, the two maids instantly changed their expressions and walked forward solemnly.

The heavy snow that fell overnight has now stopped.

The sky and earth were pure white, and the remote county was unusually quiet. Even the street in the distance was devoid of the usual shouts and sounds of buying and selling.

Qingyue, now the Second Madam of the Chen family, arrived at the martial arts arena. The snow had long since been cleared away, and two strong guards were sparring, while four or five others watched. When they saw the petite, beautiful woman in white robes approaching from afar, they all stopped and turned around. Some called out "Second Madam," while others called out "Eldest Sister." Those who called her "Second Madam" said, "How can you call her Eldest Sister?" The others replied, "Eldest Sister is highly skilled in martial arts and has a generous spirit. We respect her from the bottom of our hearts, which is why we call her Eldest Sister."

Qingyue didn't actually like this rough and unrefined atmosphere. She disliked her husband, who "came from under a bridge," from the beginning. On their wedding night, she even held her nose and lay on the bed, pretending she had been bitten by a dog.

After learning that her husband was actually "of noble birth and had a powerful background, but had fallen on hard times," Qingyue's deep-seated disdain disappeared, replaced by a complex mix of "sympathy" and "resolute determination."

She sympathized with her husband's background and decided to be a good wife.

Therefore, although she disliked these brutes, she endured it for the sake of her husband and family. So, with a swift movement, she gracefully floated onto the stage, took a large spear, raised her porcelain doll-like face, and said, "Come at me together."

The seven guards immediately grabbed their weapons and surrounded the area.

One of them added, "Big sister, be careful. I have mastered the final move of the Wind Chaser Blade, and my strength has greatly improved."

Pei Qingyue flicked the tip of her spear and said coldly, "Stop talking nonsense."

The seven people rushed up and began fighting Pei Qingyue in a chaotic flurry of blows.

Before long, the seven men either had their weapons knocked off or were hit by bullets and fell off the training platform.

Pei Qingyue aloofly tossed the spear aside, letting it fall into the shelf, and then sat down on a large chair under the eaves.

Seven tall, burly men rushed over, exchanging compliments like "I admire you" and "Amazing!"

A masculine scent enveloped her, and Pei Qingyue, suppressing her nausea, asked calmly with a straight face, "Anything interesting happening lately?"

The seven of them started talking all at once, and then they started talking about the "seven uncles and eight great-uncles" and "this senior brother and that friend" in the martial arts world.
Pei Qingyue slapped the armrest with feigned generosity and said, "Alright! It's freezing cold today, so my Chen family will host a whole roasted lamb feast. All your friends from the martial arts world are invited. But if there's nothing interesting for me to hear, or if you're lying to me..."

One of the seven said, "No, no, absolutely not."

Some even patted their chests and said, "Who doesn't know that Madam Chen is generous, hospitable, and charitable? The brothers who received her help before have already spread her name throughout the martial arts world. They would never dare to lie to Madam Chen."

Another person said, "If anyone dares to lie to the older sister, I'll be the first to kill him."

In a separate, empty room in the Chen residence, Song Chen was studying the three low-level supernatural powers recorded in the "Yellow Springs Scripture".

A day passed, and he comprehended the [Illusion Mirror].

The next day, he mastered the art of water control.

On the third day, he mastered the [Ghost Claw].

Without encountering any bottlenecks, he figured it out through wisdom and hard work.

After realizing this, he took out the two wood spirit stones he had previously obtained from Yu Cheng's storage bag, placed one of them in the middle of the house, and then activated the "Ancient Evergreen Wood Technique" to begin cultivating his wood spirit root.

There is no spiritual energy on Cuiyun Mountain next to Yongcui County. The water spiritual energy was something he forcibly dug out using the [Exploring the Mysterious] secret technique. It originated from the spiritual energy of the mysterious Yellow Springs, not from Cuiyun Mountain.

This is why Yongcui County is so remote.

In a world where cultivators are supreme, the prosperity of a city is often linked to the amount of cultivation resources available. A place with abundant cultivation resources may not necessarily have a prosperous city, but a prosperous city is bound to have abundant cultivation resources.

There are many blessed lands around the capital, and Jinxia Mountain is just one of them, which speaks volumes.

a few days later.

The whole lamb feast was being held in the outer courtyard of the Chen residence. Many chivalrous figures from the martial arts world had come, and they were talking about things like "the second lady of the Chen family is so generous," and then they sat down and engaged in lively discussions.

Pei Qingyue disliked this kind of occasion, but she silently chanted in her heart, "For my husband, for my husband," and continued to host the banquet. She then planned to tell her husband everything in bed that night.

Song Chen did not attend the banquet.

When he heard the sounds of the banquet ending in the distance, he suddenly opened his eyes and let out a long sigh.

A wood spirit root has been fully formed. Now, he is at level four in metal, level three in water, level one in wood, and level five in fire, which he obtained using the "Mirror of Illusion and Reality".

At this moment, looking at the wood spirit stone that had only been half digested, he murmured, "Two stones should be enough for me to cultivate two wood spirit roots. It's really good that I don't have the [Taibai Sword Intent] anymore."

More than two weeks later.
The two Wood Spirit Stones were completely used up.

Song Chen exhaled a breath of turbid air. The two wood spirit roots in his body had been fully formed and were now connected with the metal and water, but they had not yet formed a loop.

Having cultivated to this point, Song Chen had already vaguely guessed the final form of the "Five Elements Spiritual Roots".

That should be “metal connects to water, water connects to wood, wood connects to fire, fire connects to earth,” and the earth spiritual root will then connect to the metal spiritual root, thus forming a stable closed loop.

That should be the final form of the Imperial City Qi Cultivation Technique.

In the cultivation room, Song Chen pulled out a spiritual sword from the void, activated the [Golden Edge] divine power, and then used the metal spiritual energy as the main element, supplemented by the water, wood, and fire spiritual energies to power the sword.

He controlled his power at the Qi Gathering stage, just to test his strength.

The sword's blade was boiling, and the airflow resembled boiling oil in a pot.

After a brief examination, Song Chen discovered that the power of the [Golden Edge] divine ability, which employed four different spiritual energies, far surpassed that of the [Golden Edge] divine ability using only one spiritual energy.

If the latter's power is one, then the former's power has at least reached four.

The same realm, the same moves, the same spiritual energy, yet their power is worlds apart.

“Since the Imperial City Temple prohibits the cultivation of this power, and the strength of the Imperial City Temple cultivators is greater than that of the rogue cultivators outside, it means that not only is the cultivation of the five elements prohibited, but cultivators from other sects and rogue cultivators also face the same situation.”

"What immense power could accomplish this?"

Song Chen couldn't imagine it.

He only knew that this "five elements power" must never be revealed to outsiders in the future. If it were revealed, he would have to kill someone to cover it up and avoid disaster.

That night, Song Chen embraced Qingyue from behind and reminded her again, "My lady, you must never let anyone know about my family's secret technique, or it will bring about a great disaster."

Qingyue said, "Neither my elder sister nor I are fools; no one will tell."

Immediately afterward, she said, "My lord, this afternoon a wandering swordsman rode all the way from afar to tell me about the plague in the capital. The plague is still spreading and may reach our area soon."

Song Chen asked curiously, "Someone even came specifically to deliver a message to you?"

Qingyue said, "I just spent some money, did some emergency rescues in the martial arts world, occasionally treated people to meals, and gave some pointers on martial arts moves. I don't know how, but I even have a nickname in the martial arts world."

"What nickname?" Song Chen became even more curious.

Qingyue said, "They call me Yongcui Ruinianxue, saying that good things will happen as soon as they see me."

Song Chen pulled back the covers, looked at Qingyue's snow-white body, and laughed, "It really is snow, very white."

Qingyue said, "It's a pity it's not big."

Song Chen pulled the blankets up, held the young woman in his arms, and thought for a moment before saying, "Let's keep a low profile and have less contact with these martial arts practitioners."

Qingyue laughed and said, "You're jealous?"

Song Chen shook his head and said, "With a reputation for beauty and wealth, trouble is bound to happen."

The next day, Song Chen had exhausted all his cultivation resources, but the plague made him undecided whether or not to go to a more distant place to cultivate the "Yellow Springs Scripture".

In the afternoon, a guard from the Chen residence reported that the magistrate had sent someone over and was waiting in the main hall of the front courtyard.

Song Chen followed him away. The government constable, who was sitting and drinking tea, hurriedly stood up when he saw Master Chen arrive and said respectfully, "The magistrate said there is an important matter that requires the participation of many local gentry."

Song Chen's expression shifted.

event?

He instantly thought of the news he had received last night.

It must be something related to the plague, right?

In that case, even though his wife used all her methods, she still received the news around the same time as the county magistrate.

It seems that the methods used by martial arts practitioners to investigate are not necessarily effective.
After a moment's thought, Song Chen replied, "Okay, I'll be right there."

(End of this chapter)