Ever since the snow sealed the mountain off, it had been hard for the birds and beasts in the mountain to look for food.
The sparrow that stood frozen outside of the Temple of Killings was saved by Shen Lian. Shen Lian had instilled his spiritual force into the bird. Besides getting stronger, what was unexpected was how the bird manifested some spirituality. It brought back natural wild fruits that tasted good to the Temple of Killings for Shen Lian to try.
Nature was amazing. Even though the mountain as sealed off by the snow, there were still places where the flowers blossomed and the temperature was warm. Perhaps it was due to the warmth from the ground or the nourishment from the Yin Qi from the ground, wild fruits were formed. Most of them had the effect of strengthening one's body and prolonging one's lifespan.
The spiritual little sparrow did not bring along any fruits today, but it was flying up and down in front of Shen Lian. Then, it crashed into the ground and started rolling. Eventually, it stopped moving as though it as dead.
Shen Lian could not converse with the beasts, but he could still make out what the little sparrow was trying to convey. It seemed like one of its kind was injured and had fainted in the snow, and the sparrow hoped that Shen Lian could save it.
Shen Lian decided to go take a look as he was free. He also felt that the little sparrow was kind, and wondered if that would change as it went through the process of cultivation in the future.
The little sparrow could fly, but not too high. Shen Lian trailed behind. The journey involved crossing treacherous cliffs and walls, where ice had formed on their surfaces. The surfaces were slippery. However, Shen Lian preferred traveling over these surfaces than on a mountain trail, as he could gain momentum and traveled further.
However, it would still be easier to fly. As he needed the guidance of the little sparrow, he had no choice but to take it slow.
The cold wind blew against his Daoist robe, and Shen Lian descended from a tall cliff. He descended slowly from the sky, and eventually landed in the snow. There were dried leaves and branches that acted as a cushion, and the surface was quite soft.
Shen Lian stared right ahead. He though the little sparrow had sent him to save one of its kind, such as the wild sparrows in the mountain. However, he did not expect to find a beautiful green bird that looked like a peacock waiting ahead. The peacock's feathers were full of mysterious and complicated greenish patterns. Shen Lian found it to be familiar, and he recalled seeing these patterns on the Demon King's green skirt back at Chui Ping Mountain.
However, the serene bird was a lot weaker, and the spiritual pressure it was giving off was a lot lower. Though, it managed to keep the wild beasts at bay.
The little sparrow flew towards the serene bird, and it was chirping away next to it. The serene bird raised its head, and gaze emptily at Shen Lian. Its gaze was devoid of spirit. However, when Shen Lian got closer, some light returned to its gaze, and the light seemed to be in five different colors. When it turned and made contact with Shen Lian, Shen Lian felt a strange feeling. The Taixu Divine Qi within him flew outwards naturally. Even though the amount was minuscule, but if the Taixu Divine Qi within him was akin to a huge river, those that flew out would be a small stream.
The small stream did not affect the great river that was Shen Lian, but the feathers on the little serene bird got shinier.
This was the first time Shen Lian had encountered a living creature that could absorb his Taixu Divine Qi so easily. In fact, his Taixu Divine Qi would serve as a poison to most living creatures. The moment he ceased control, the Taixu Divine Qi would be imbalance and even a tiny bit of it would wreak havoc in the body of another living creature.
If remained within the body for a long time, it might form a bond with the Qi and blood. When it rooted itself and acted up, it would make the owner suffer an end that was worse than death or any torturing techniques imaginable.
What a coincidence it was that Shen Lian was able to rescue this demonic bird!
The little serene bird having absorbed Shen Lian's Taixu Divine Qi, had grown attached to Shen Lian. It was dragging on Shen Lian's sleeve as it stared longingly at Shen Lian. It was akin to how newborn animals would treat the first living creature that they set eyes on as their parents.
To a certain extent, Shen Lian's Taixu Divine Qi served as nourishment for it.
It would seem that Shen Lian would not be able to get rid of it. Moreover, he was curious about the cultivation of demons. The little sparrow only had a little spirituality and was far away from being able to cultivate. However, the green demonic bird here had the foundation of spiritual force and shared similarities with Shen Lian's Taixu Divine Qi. It seemed to have been born with it. Shen Lian shifted his thoughts and his spiritual consciousness entered into the demonic bird's body. However, he was blocked by a thin layer of intangible membrane and could not enter further. The Taixu Divine Qi that he fed into it did not respond as well.
Immediately, he cut off the stream of Taixu Divine Qi. The demonic bird raised its head to look at him and showed a pitiable expression. The pity demonic bird would appeal to anyone's empathy, but not Shen Lian. Shen Lian remained unmoved. He lifted the demonic bird up and asked, "Little thing, tell me what is your background?"
He was not about to believe that a species as unique as this did not come from any notable background. However, the demonic bird's eyes were still filled with a mist of confusion.
"I know that a spiritual creature like you can understand what I'm saying. Even if you cannot understand human's speech, I had been sending messages to you with my thoughts. It's just that you are shutting me off," Shen Lian continued.
The demonic bird yelped as though to express its dissatisfaction at being lifted by Shen Lian. Even if it could absorb the Taixu Divine Qi, but the moment Shen Lian instilled his spiritual consciousness into the Taixu Divine Qi, the Mana became unstable and started binding it. There was no way that it could escape.
The little sparrow that brought Shen Lian here did not understand what he was doing. When it heard the yelp of the green demonic bird, it wanted to approach them but did not dare to. This had angered the green demonic bird.
A flame started coming out of the green demonic bird's body, but it was extinguished by Shen Lian with his Mana. Shen Lian let go and dropped it into the snow.
As Shen Lian raised his feet and tried to walk away, the demonic bird rushed forward and looked at him with its pitiable eyes.
Shen Lian was amused and found it funny that the demonic bird was behaving like a child.
He did not plan to leave the demonic bird behind. It was just that he felt that a unique species as such would have come from an impressive background, and its parents should be Demon Kings that shapeshifted. However, it would seem that the little demonic bird really knew nothing about this. It could only ejaculate water and fire in an extremely crude manner. Though when Shen Lian used his Yin Spirit and stared at the little demonic bird, the demonic bird was surprisingly unaffected by it.
The demonic bird shot a strange gust of Qi into Shen Lian's body. Shen Lian wanted to stop it, but decided against it. He segregated a strand of Taixu Divine Qi to wrap around the strange Qi, and surprisingly the two Qi got along. The Taixu Divine Qi felt like a blurry mirror that got cleaned and emerged to be clearer and felt purer.
The evolved Taixu Divine Qi melted into the Mana spiral within him. It got more solid and slowly sunk.
Shen Lian knew that there were a lot of occult techniques that could purify one's Mana. The benefit was that it could help with the quality of Huandan. If Huandan was between Eight Transformations and Seven Transformations, one would be able to attain the Eight Transformations of Huandan due to the purity of Mana.
Especially for those who relied on external alchemy or celestial elixir to enter into the state of Huandan, if their Mana was pure, they would be able to attain the Three Transformations of Huandan. If the celestial elixir was of good quality, with some luck they might be able to attain Six or Seven Transformations of Huandan, and would not be too worse off from those who attained Huandan by relying on their own capabilities. However, it took both time and effort to cultivate pure Mana.
The day one managed to refine one's Mana to great purity, one would be really old.
Shen Lian remembered there was a Dao technique in Qing Xuan that turned the cultivator's Mana into a purer form each time he cultivated it. One would reach the pinnacle at the third attempt. However, someone had tried it to cultivate this before. However, on the second attempt, the person had aged terribly.
After all, not a lot of people were like Chen Jianmei, and most could not Chushen in three years and Ruhua in ten years.
Most cultivators with great potential would not be as crazy as Chen Jiamei was.
The little demonic bird did not know that Shen Lian planned to bring it along. Out of desperation, it gave away some of its Qi of origin. This triggered Shen Lian's curiosity.
Shen Lian was not concerned about the effect of purifying his Mana, after all the Taixu Divine Qi was pure enough on its own. However, it would not harm if it was even purer.
"Fine, I'll take you in for a while. If you have parents, I'll return you to them when they come looking for you. If you don't have any, I'll just bring you back as Jing Qing Tongzi's companion," Shen Lian would not change his mind after deciding on something. The little demonic bird seemed to be able to sense Shen Lian's acceptance of it and flew onto his shoulder. The normal little sparrow flew in front. Shen Lian did not have the patience to walk slowly. He turned into the breeze and wrapped around the little sparrow, within moments they had arrived at the door of the Temple of Killings.
He was able to turn himself into the wind and traveled in that manner, even though he was not as speedy as the characters in the legends, but his attainment was impressive for someone at his level of cultivation.
Shen Lian did not open the door immediately, but he stared at the corner at the side. There was a blood red sword mark, and when his gaze fell onto the mark, he felt murderous thoughts directed at him. Shen Lian kept his thoughts clear and let the murderous thoughts hit him. His heart was still as a rock and remained unaffected.
When the murderous thoughts were dispersed, he heard a passage of words. "Three days later, when the moon is bright, I will take your life then."
Shen Lian sighed, "I have been waiting for you for a long time." This was a message from the mysterious strange person, and the black blade that had demonic characteristics had left a deep impression with Shen Lian.
Shen Lian pushed open the door. When the little sparrow and the demonic bird had gone to take a rest, Shen Lian went to the hall and looked at the "Yuan" hanging there. It looked the same as when he first set eyes on it. After staring at it for a long time, Shen Lian murmured, "Just as the statues of deities in the temple needed offerings to show their divine power, could it be that you need offerings too? Senior Apprentice-Brother Chen had left you here for a reason, and since you were left here to receive worship, maybe I should try to offer you that strange person as a sacrificial offering?"
If the strange person who killed so casually found out about Shen Lian's thoughts, would he be furious? Shen Lian did not know and did not care about it.