After Crossdressing and Provoking Long AoTian

Chi Yantian had no idea what was going on, but he still craned his neck and grabbed Ye Chenyan and Yu Qingtang.

“No! You two can’t leave!”

“I still haven’t figured out how to use karmic fire for artifact refining!”

“Artifact refining? Karmic fire?” Tu Jiaojiao froze. It took her a moment to piece together what had happened.

Yu Qingtang pointed at Chi Yantian and lodged his complaint. “All he thinks about all day is setting my butt on fire! Tell me, isn’t that excessive?”

“Way too excessive!” Tu Jiaojiao immediately took his side. “Even if you’re still hopelessly dense about romance, you’re still a man. Why are you staring at someone else’s butt all day?”

She slung an arm around Yu Qingtang’s shoulders. “Come on. Stay away from these stinky men.”

“Mm!” Yu Qingtang continued indignantly, “He knows I have to observe the precepts, but he keeps trying to talk me into breaking them just so he can research artifact refining with karmic fire!”

“That’s outrageous!” Tu Jiaojiao nodded hard, her eyes gleaming as she leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Then... can you let me see that karmic fire?”

Yu Qingtang went still and slowly turned to look at her.

Tu Jiaojiao widened her eyes and patted her chest in assurance. “Don’t worry! I have a fire spiritual root, but I can’t refine artifacts! I just want to look at the karmic fire...”

Yu Qingtang turned away with the weary gaze of someone who had seen too much.

“I should’ve known you people from the Heavenly Fire Cult were all in cahoots.”

“Have you eaten yet?” Tu Jiaojiao refused to give up. “I packed lots of good wine and food before I came. I’ll treat you!”

Yu Qingtang: “...”

The setup was just as obvious.

Yu Qingtang turned toward Ye Chenyan with a pleading look.

Ye Chenyan chuckled, reached out to pull him back to his side, and quietly placed himself between them. Then he changed the subject.

“Ahem. Speaking of which, why is the Heavenly Fire Cult gathered here?”

“Oh, that.” Tu Jiaojiao reluctantly withdrew her gaze, though she still pointed down into the pit as she answered. “We passed through and discovered that fire-attribute spiritual power was surging up from this area. It’s an excellent place for fire cultivators to train, so we set up camp here.”

“I divided the disciples into two groups. They take turns going out to seek opportunities and training here. But today, I called everyone back.”

She furrowed her brow slightly. “We’ve absorbed quite a bit of the surging spiritual power nearby, and lately it’s been growing weaker. Strange black fire has started appearing instead.”

“Black fire?” Chi Yantian’s expression turned thoughtful, and his interest was immediately piqued. “A kind nobody’s seen before? The ancient records mention several varieties of unusual flame...”

Tu Jiaojiao shook her head. “It doesn’t feel like that. It feels ominous.”

She looked troubled. “I’m worried this may actually be a formation left behind by some powerful fire cultivator. The spiritual energy we absorbed may have been sustaining it.”

“Now that the spiritual power has thinned, I’m afraid something bad beneath the ground is about to emerge.”

She stared into the pit. “If that’s true, then this trouble is partly our fault. We have to clean it up.”

“If it’s a formation, then with so much spiritual power already dispersed, it probably wouldn’t have held much longer anyway.” Chi Yantian shook his head. “But since we’ve run into it, we should investigate.”

For once, he seemed every bit the dependable holy son.

“I’ll check the area nearby. Tell the others not to cultivate anymore. Be careful of that black fire.”

“Mm.” Tu Jiaojiao did not try to force the matter. “I know.”

Ye Chenyan looked interested as well. “I’ll take a look too. Qingtang, stay with Miss Tu.”

“Okay.” Yu Qingtang nodded obediently. “Be careful.”

Ye Chenyan halted.

He turned back to look at him.

Yu Qingtang blinked in confusion, wondering whether he had said something wrong. “What?”

“On second thought, never mind.” Ye Chenyan caught his wrist, his eyes curving with a smile. “You’ll be safest where I can keep an eye on you.”

“Huh?”

Before Yu Qingtang could react, Ye Chenyan had already dragged him down after Chi Yantian to investigate the situation below.

“Hey—!” Tu Jiaojiao called from above. “Be careful!”

Being pulled along behind Ye Chenyan, Yu Qingtang tried hard to recall this part of the plot.

Things had been progressing in a complete mess lately, all out of order. He had nearly forgotten about Tu Jiaojiao.

Originally, the Golden Core Competition was supposed to be her and Miaoyin Xian’s showcase arc. The two of them would secretly compete against one another before resolving their differences and becoming friends.

But now...

Yu Qingtang stared into the distance.

Miaoyin Xian had not even met Tu Jiaojiao yet.

At Tu Jiaojiao’s mention, Yu Qingtang remembered this enormous fire-element pitfall.

This was originally the plotline where Miaoyin Xian and Tu Jiaojiao went from enemies to friends. It was also where Tu Jiaojiao truly revealed her feelings for Long Aotian—and where the story hinted that Long Aotian’s origins were anything but ordinary.

—At this very moment, an elderly senior suffering from cultivation deviation was trapped at the bottom of the pit, desperately awaiting rescue.

Chi Yantian had already reached the bottom. He was ordering Flamelet to dig away with frantic snorts, searching for the place where the fire-attribute spiritual power was most concentrated.

Yu Qingtang secretly glanced upward.

Tu Jiaojiao still had an opportunity waiting for her later. He needed to find a way to get her down here.

Before he could speak, Chi Yantian had already bellowed, “Jiaojiao! Is this the black fire?”

Tu Jiaojiao had the Heavenly Fire Cult disciples retreat a little farther away before following them down to the bottom of the pit.

“Yes, that’s it!”

“This black fire is almost fused with the fire-attribute spiritual energy.” Chi Yantian stretched out a hand. “Could it really be some special kind of unusual flame? I’ll test it.”

His red hair fluttered, flames seeming to burn in his eyes as he drew the black fire gradually toward himself.

“Wait!” Yu Qingtang hurriedly waved his hands. “You can’t touch that!”

Before he could finish, the black fire suddenly surged and swept toward them.

Chi Yantian drew his twin flame blades. Tu Jiaojiao snapped her long whip. Ye Chenyan spun his silver battle spear.

And Yu Qingtang... ducked behind Ye Chenyan.

In any case, everyone showed off their own talents.

The roaring black fire swept over them. At the same moment, a powerful pull erupted from below, like the gaping mouth of an abyss swallowing all four of them whole.

Yu Qingtang suspected that Chi Yantian had been a shirt in a past life.

Otherwise, how could following him always give Yu Qingtang the firsthand experience of being tossed around inside a washing machine?

He was shaken so badly that his vision blurred, but this time he remembered the secret transmission he had learned. Since it was free, there was no reason not to use it.

Struggling, he forced himself into a cross-legged posture. The Immovable Adamantine Lotus Throne bloomed in gold beneath him. It slammed against the walls with metallic clangs, and after several collisions, it struck the ground with a heavy boom, stamping a lotus-shaped imprint into the earth and halting his fall.

Yu Qingtang opened his eyes. Just as he was about to stand, he saw Chi Yantian screaming as he hurtled directly toward him.

Startled, he sat back down.

The layered petals of the lotus throne rose protectively around him.

“Ahhh—!”

Chi Yantian crashed into the lotus throne with a bang, driving Yu Qingtang three inches into the ground but leaving him completely unharmed.

“Hiss!” Chi Yantian clutched his head and gritted his teeth. “That damned turtle shell again!”

“Aah—!”

Tu Jiaojiao fell after him. She snapped her whip, and Chi Yantian immediately caught it, reeling her toward him.

He landed against the lotus throne with a thud, using it for support—and drove Yu Qingtang another three inches into the ground.

Ye Chenyan was worthy of being the legendary protagonist. He was much more reliable than the rest of them while falling. Not only did he avoid pounding Yu Qingtang any farther into the earth, he even used his spear to find a point of support and hurried toward them.

Yu Qingtang had only just breathed a sigh of relief when his eyes widened in horror.

“Ahhh! Flamelet!”

Behind the four of them, Flamelet—massive and several hundred pounds—paddled helplessly through the air with all four legs, howling as it plunged straight down.

“Flamelet!” Chi Yantian shouted. He dropped into a low stance, ready to catch it head-on.

Tu Jiaojiao looped her whip around his neck and yanked him aside. “Idiot! Move!”

With a tremendous crash, Flamelet successfully smashed the lotus throne into the ground.

“Flamelet!”

“Yu Qingtang!”

Alarmed, Ye Chenyan shoved aside the several-hundred-pound pet, which was still whimpering from the fall, and rushed to check on Yu Qingtang.

Yu Qingtang raised his head expressionlessly, looking at them through the gleaming golden lotus throne.

“I’m starting to think this secret transmission does have some use after all.”

At the very least, it had saved him from dying beneath a rhinoceros’s backside.

His gaze was ancient and tranquil.

“Could someone pull me out? Thanks.”

Tu Jiaojiao and Chi Yantian both knew they were at fault. They hurried over to help, digging him out of the ground like a turnip.

Yu Qingtang rubbed his nose. “They say cultivators can move mountains, fill seas, fly into the heavens, and burrow into the earth. Everyone flies into the heavens all the time, but there probably aren’t many people who truly burrow into the earth the way I do.”

“You...” Ye Chenyan gave a helpless laugh and reached out to wipe the dust from Yu Qingtang’s face. “You were holding onto me just now. Why did you let go?”

Yu Qingtang clumsily tried to wipe his own face, only managing to smear the dirt around even more.

Giving up, he lowered his hands and obediently let Ye Chenyan clean his face.

“I learned the Lotus Realm, so I thought I should use it. I was afraid that if I kept hold of you, we’d both slam into a wall and I’d stamp a lotus print into you.”

Ye Chenyan could not help laughing. “You think you could crush me to death?”

He pinched Yu Qingtang’s chin and tipped his face to one side. “This side. Don’t move.”

Tu Jiaojiao clicked her tongue, touched her own not-so-clean face, and kicked Chi Yantian.

“You didn’t even think to hand me a handkerchief.”

When she turned around, she saw Chi Yantian squatting on the ground, using a handkerchief to wipe Flamelet’s hooves while the beast whimpered.

Tu Jiaojiao: “...”

She should never have expected anything from that monkey.

With an irritated huff, she turned away. As she instinctively circulated her spiritual power, her expression changed.

“Hey. Did any of you notice? There’s no spiritual energy down here!”

She looked up in alarm. “I can’t restore my spiritual power!”

Only then did Chi Yantian realize it as well. He tried for himself, and his face instantly turned grave.

“That’s true. No—it isn’t just that I can’t replenish it. The spiritual power in my body is dispersing!”

Yu Qingtang rubbed his dantian and nodded. “Mine too.”

Ye Chenyan raised a hand to sense the surroundings, looking faintly puzzled. “But I’m fine. Then... what about the pills?”

Tu Jiaojiao quickly took out pills from her storage ring. The moment she poured them out, several Spirit Recovery Pills weathered away on the wind, turning into rising spiritual energy.

“This...” Tu Jiaojiao’s face was filled with uncertainty. “Once cultivators enter, their spiritual power rises and disperses... Could this be the legendary Demonic Soil?”

“Impossible.” Chi Yantian immediately denied it. “Demonic Soil existed in antiquity!”

Tu Jiaojiao put her hands on her hips. “But the Sage-Hearing Academy is from antiquity too!”

“In the ancient era, true immortals and true demons still walked the world. Demonic Soil was forbidden ground that none beneath true immortals could set foot upon.” Chi Yantian looked around. “If this really were Demonic Soil, the few of us at Golden Core would have scattered on the wind the instant we entered, just like those Spirit Recovery Pills.”

“Besides, Ye Chenyan is fine, isn’t he?”

Tu Jiaojiao pursed her lips. “You’re right. I overreacted.”

Ye Chenyan frowned slightly. “The three of you can’t replenish your spiritual power, so stay behind me. We’ll find a way out as quickly as possible.”

This time, Yu Qingtang firmly grabbed Ye Chenyan’s belt, determined not to let go.

Ye Chenyan’s expression turned strange. Then he gave a soft laugh.

“Hold on tight.”

He had barely taken a step when four more hands appeared on his belt.

He could no longer laugh.

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