Prior to this, Wang Lu has never heard of such time warping, a-day-became-a-year wonderful skill.
This and what he learned in the Teng Cloud Hall was quite contradictory. In fact, a simple reasoning was enough for him to arrive at the contradictory conclusion: as a creature of spirit, Grand Cloud Fairy was not strong at all. Her strength was equal to a Yuanying Stage Elder at most. The things that she could do should also be able to do by hundreds of cultivators within the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals. However, so far, Wang Lu has never heard anyone with skills that could distort the time and thus speed up the progress.
If something like that really existed, who wanted to diligently cultivate anymore? When the time came, the elders could just throw their disciple into the time room, wouldn’t they quickly progress just like instant noodles? In fact, it was something that simply could not be achieved. Let alone Yuanying Stage Elders, even Deity Stage experts and the powerful Unity Stage couldn’t possibly do a large scale time distortion.
However, as an academic talent, Wang Lu very clearly understood the principle of respecting the fact. No matter how the fact didn’t make sense to him, he had to believe the fact as the truth.
And the fact was, Wang Lu could clearly feel the time-distortion. Along with the ripples from the surface of the lake, the raging moonlight tide eased by a lot, becoming soft and ethereal, which could be easily absorbed by the body, becoming the best tonic to nourish the primordial spirit.
Wang Lu could clearly feel that, along with the in-pouring of the moonlight, his own primordial spirit rapidly condensed, from ninety percent void and ten percent real stage towards half void and half real stage. His entire Jade Mansion was like shrouded in a golden shade.
Wang Lu originally planned to take several years to complete this process… This was thanks to his excellent talent that his Jade Mansion and primordial spirit could recover at the fastest speed after exhausting cultivation training. However, regardless of that, it was impossible for a cultivator to condense the primordial spirit from ninety percent void and ten percent real stage to half void and half real stage in just a single breath. It was like a person suddenly losing or increasing over one hundred kilograms of weight in a day, simply impossible.
However, with the distortion of time, one day becomes a year and even two years, therefore, dramatic change would not be a surprise.
In addition to the evolution of the primordial spirit, for Wang Lu, the essence of the moonlight has provided a boost to further refined his body. For him who was currently at the middle-level Foundation Establishment, his Non-Phase Sword Bone has arrived on the stage where its flexibility needed to be refined; as the saying goes, hard could not last long. And the moonlight essence just happened to be the best bone panacea. As the silver brilliance permeated his body, the 206 Non-Phase Sword Bones were gradually "infected" with a layer of silvery color and luster. The floating-above-the-Jade-Mansion Emperor Bone gradually eased down, issuing a soft and gentle light.
Still lacking the magical power...
Just as he thought about this, the Feng Shui Line surged, and a boundless spiritual energy erupted… It was the Feng Shui Line’s spiritual energy of the Grand Cloud Mountain. Wang Lu laughed in spite of trying not to. The preparation was really thoughtful; he simply didn’t need to think of anything. As long as he rested his mind and just enjoyed this rare opportunity, his cultivation base would triumphantly advance… According to the current trend, it was possible for him to reach even the Xudan Stage.
Before he descended the mountain, he just got the cultivation method all the way to the Xudan Stage from his master. As long as he followed the method st
eps by steps and silently enjoyed the opportunity, his strength would progress by leaps and bounds. He also believed it was the same for Liu Li. When the two of the crossed through the Xudan Stage boundary, perhaps they still couldn’t hold an advantage over the Yuanying Stage Tiger King, but they could have a freedom of movement and act on the Grand Cloud Mountain, and also the ability to disturb the situation.
However, Wang Lu has never been a docile person.
While the Grand Cloud Fairy’s foot still touched the surface of the lake, maintaining the distortion of time, he sent his primordial spirit out to take the initiative to probe her.
There was no without-reason love in this world. Although from her standpoint, Grand Cloud Fairy did indeed need someone to help her expel the Beast Master School, it didn't necessarily have to be Wang Lu. This thousand of years of moonlight, experiencing a day like a year, was enough to attract any cultivator to act. Why would the Grand Cloud Fairy look for him specifically?
If her only commitment were to give them some spiritual treasures, or access parts of the moonlight in the green lake, it would be easier for Wang Lu to accept. However, the generosity of this excessive gift was unreasonable. Of course, in view that he basically had a big bargain deal, Wang Lu didn’t want to go overboard in his questioning; he was just curious.
"Why?"
When his primordial spirit contacted her, Wang Lu straightforwardly inquired.
Grand Cloud fairy didn’t answer him directly, but just let go of her own primordial spirit. "Take a look."
Wang Lu was startled, and then nodded. He further let loose of his primordial spirit and entered the world of the Grand Cloud fairy.
Compared to empty words, the scenes in the primordial spirit have a much more convincing power.
Then, Wang Lu obtained the point of view of the Grand Cloud Fairy… It was a very unique perspective. It was neither as Wang Lu originally imagined as a perspective so far high where he could see the overall situation like the bird’s eye view, nor it was limited to single grass or single tree. It was like having the compound eyes of an insect where he could see tens of thousands of scenes at once, while simultaneously these tens of thousands of scenes could be integrated into one, different from the overall impression of the human point of view.
It was a piece of spotless white and silky soft sphere.
This white sphere was naturally the Grand Cloud Mountain. Through which, the mountain spirit could control the overall situation. However, after looking at it for a while, there was not much insight that Wang Lu could gleam from it. Therefore, the white sphere was spread out through the millions of views of insect and saw the details. The scene of the mountain was quite different from what was in Wang Lu’s memory. Not only the mountain was without the unique stench of the Beast Master School, even some of the peaks also had subtle changes, and the surrounding spiritual energy was filled with "fresh flavor".
Was this… Grand Cloud Mountain a long time ago? Hm, at least a thousand years ago; eight hundred years ago, there was an earthquake on the Grand Cloud Mountain, which resulted in the formation of the present prominent peaks. However, the Grand Cloud Mountain that he currently saw has no such prominent peaks.
Before the arrival of the Beast Master School, the ruler of the Grand Cloud Mountain was those cultivators from the White Dragon Temple. They have been developing in this place for over a thousand years. Wang Lu could clearly see each of their cultivators occupying a pocket realm cave where they absorbed the essence of their surrounding and promote their cultivation base. Meanwhile, their low-level disciples hunted and gathered on the mountain to meet their survival needs.
Thus, Wang Lu was curious whether these acts of "plundering" by these outsiders hateful or not? To satisfy their appetite, they slaughtered the creatures, and for the sake of their cultivation, they very much wished they could dry the spiritual veins; they should have been counted as an out and out evil guest—of course, they were still much better compared to the Beast Master School.
However, within the primordial spirit of the Grand Cloud fairy, Wang Lu didn’t see any hatred or unhappiness...
"Why should I?"
The voice of the Grand Cloud fairy directly echoed within Wang Lu’s primordial spirit.
"For me, they are like birds and beasts on the mountain. Tigers eat rabbits, rabbits eat grass, and the grass continues to draw essence from the soil, this is nature at work."
Wang Lu smiled. "You can see them clearly. Let’s not talk about their appetite first, merely their endless extraction of spiritual energy along the Feng Shui Line alone, do you really not care about it?"
"Why don’t you see this."
They changed their perspective, from on the ground to underground. Wang Lu saw a net that stretched as far as the eye can see. Forming every network line was an unimaginably thick wire, in which, a huge volume of spiritual energy ran through.
"Is this the spiritual energy along the Feng Shui Line in the Grand Cloud Mountain?"
"Yes. Although I can’t see whether there is still a layer of Feng Shui line deeper than that or an even more deeper one, but what you guys have access to is just this layer."
In his field of vision, a line began to rapidly expand, and a more subtle scene thus appeared. He saw that on each line, there were difficult to count branches, and an even more branches at these branches. Usually, the one grabbed by the cultivators was these branches of the branches, which were irrelevant in the grand scheme of things of the whole mountain.
"Moreover, heaven and earth nourish all things is the principle of nature. On this mountain, besides the cultivators, there are also monsters and spirit beasts. Who among them that don’t depend on the spiritual energy along the Feng Shui Line? If I hate each of them, I’m afraid this Grand Cloud Mountain would become a dead place,"
Wang Lu was somewhat moved. "Is this the realm of the mountain spirit? It’s probably similar to the saying the world is unkind to all things and just regard them as dogs and hays."
"How could a mere mountain spirit be compared with the world."
Wang Lu said, "Compared with the whole world, Grand Cloud Mountain is indeed just like a drop in the ocean, but for those who stay in this place, how could they consider this place as tiny? Perhaps for you, this thousand of years moonlight is not some kind of precious treasure."
Grand Cloud fairy gently smiled. "To me, it is indeed just a thing that I casually accumulated over the past thousand years."
"What a formidable realm." Wang Lu sincerely praised.
This Grand Cloud Mountain was not that well-known in the Nine Regions, but from that underground network of spiritual energy lines and Grand Cloud Fairy’s easy going point of view, it was actually an incomparably priceless immortal paradise; it was also no wonder it could produce a mountain spirit with such temperament.
"Actually, I’m not as great as you think I am. Though I am a mountain spirit, I am also a living creature. As such, I also have emotions: anger, joy, sorrow and big fear of death."
Wang Lu was curious. "Fear? Deep under this Grand Cloud Mountain lies networks of spiritual energy, making this place a standard immortal abode. And you as this place’s mountain spirit shouldn’t be that easy to die right?"
"Mountain spirit is not the same as the mountain. For example… Grand Cloud Mountain has existed for hundreds of thousands of years, but I only woke up more than a thousand years ago. Do you think before that there was no mountain spirit?"
Wang Lu asked with great interest, "I would like to hear the details please."
"Yes, there actually was. However, three thousand years ago, there was a big change. The mountains collapsed, the lake evaporated, and life disappeared. At that time, the mountain spirit also fell. Later on, only after another thousand years of recuperating did the mountain acquired me. Grand Cloud Mountain perhaps would always exist. Even if it were to be struck by a meteor, turning the surrounding five hundred kilometer radius area into a deep pit, at least, there is that pit. However, mountain spirit is much more vulnerable. We are, in fact, very vulnerable to external things."
Hearing the faint sound of the Grand Cloud Fairy, Wang Lu was stunned into silence, and his heart was filled with emotion.
After a long time, Wang Lu sighed. "Mountain spirit actually has this side. Previously, I never found this in any textbook. I have learned a lesson now."
Grand Cloud fairy said, "It is precisely because we are vulnerable that we would be acutely aware of the crisis and thus try to take the initiative to deal with it. I am very disturbed by the arrival of the Beast Master School cultivators."
Wang Lu said, "Understandably. They are a gang of thugs."
"I can tolerate them absorbing the spiritual energy along the Feng Shui Line on the Grand Cloud Mountain, can tolerate their interference with the living things here, and can even tolerate their evil conduct in creating the Ten Thousand Spirit Lock Termination. However, they shouldn’t have conspired against moon spirit."
Wang Lu chuckled. "Also understandable. It’s a deep sisterly love after all. Since you are a creature, you also have the emotions of a creature, then…"
"Beast Master School must depart, and their plot must be thwarted. However, alone, my strength is not enough, so I have to rely on you."
"Why me? You’re sitting on such a huge resources, you can look for anyone, but why must you look for me?"
"Because you don’t contend."
Wang Lu was stunned for a moment, and then said without a smile, "I don’t contend? That’s new. And it’s completely unexpected. Can you explain it in details?"
Grand Cloud fairy lightly explained, "Your aptitude in Immortal Cultivation should be very good, right?"
"Yes." Wang Lu readily agreed without any shame at all.
"Therefore, you don’t have to be as desperate as anyone else to get an even better result."
Wang Lu slightly frowned. "About this… My situation is indeed quite good in these several years."
"Moreover, you have yet to provoke someone you really can’t cope with."
"You’re right, my long sleeves have helped me dance beautifully [1]. My personal connection is extremely good."
"Therefore, you’re very proud of yourself. Even if you have something that you want, you don’t like to be badly bruised in the struggle, and even so much as to abandon everything, like them." While speaking, Grand Cloud Fairy pointed at something, and the scene before Wang Lu changed again. This time, it was about three to four hundred years ago. He saw a cultivator with poor aptitude from the White Dragon Temple. After repeated failure in the attempt to break through the Jindan Stage, under the moonlight on top of a peak, he shouted out to the sky until tears turned into blood. In that great loss, the dao’s heart perished and demonic aura gradually appeared.
What happened to that cultivator after that was not clear, but it was also not that difficult to imagine.
"Of course, perhaps on the Immortal Cultivation path, one day, you would meet a threshold that forces you to crawl, but at least, it’s not now." Grand Cloud fairy said, "Therefore, I don’t have to worry whether you will scheme against me or something… Compared to other people, your condition is more reassuring to me."
"Someone can feel assured of me… I am really flattered." Wang Lu was actually somewhat surprised. "Actually, there are many more revered and with high prestige characters in the Immortal Cultivation World."
Grand Cloud fairy lightly said, "I do not know the way and virtue of the human being, so I do not trust their moral standard. I only believe what I see. I believe after you accept my gift, you will help me complete my wish. But if it were other people, I worry that they will ask for more. After all, it’s like what you said, I am sitting on a huge resources, but I myself am not that powerful. Moreover, since your talent is better than the average person, then the same moonlight essence will bring you even more progress, which is more beneficial to me."
Although the doubts in his mind have yet to be completely solved, Wang Lu reluctantly accepted the explanation.
"Then, let me ask you one more question." Wang Lu asked once again, "What kind of magical ability that you have that let you distort the time like this?"
Compared to the thousand years old moonlight that entered his body and helped him improve his cultivation base, Grand Cloud Fairy’s time distortion was the real key here. A key to the infinite world of possibilities; if he could grasp this key… he could probably summon the ora-ora-ora-ora stand [2] and smash the world.
However, Grand Cloud Fairy didn’t answer him directly, but just silently demonstrated to Wang Lu with her memory. Wang Lu also just quietly watched and didn’t try to hurry.
Within the time dilatation, this scene has lasted for a long time. The blue sea turned into mulberry fields, and before his eyes, the Grand Cloud Mountain has begun to move from its past thousand years to now the present.
Wang Lu was very clear that this was Grand Cloud fairy displaying her insipid life. Although there were waves, placed in the span of a thousand years, everything seemed insignificant. This experience triggered waves of emotions in Wang Lu’s heart, yet it didn’t answer his original question: why?
Just as Wang Lu began to get impatient and ready to ask, suddenly, he saw something that shook his primordial spirit. Above the lake, the figure of the Grand Cloud Fairy gradually faded away, from real to ethereal, and from ethereal to nothing. That beautiful peerless face gradually merged into emptiness, leaving behind only a faint shadow.
What… what the hell is this?
In a flash, Wang Lu immediately thought of something. Those thick and heavy ancient books in the Teng Cloud Hall reappeared in his mind… Before long, he found what he was looking for, which caused him to be even more astonished!
"You!?"
This was not some kind of magical ability to warp the time! This was Grand Cloud Fairy burning away her life! She was born a thousand of years ago, and now her thousand years of life turned into the ripple that spread into this green lake!
This was a magical ability that no one could imitate. As he felt the power of time distortion, Wang Lu saw the gradually vanishing figure of the woman as indescribable feelings welled up in his heart, which left him with one single question.
Why?
Aren’t you a creature? Since you are a creature, you should know that death is not a wonderful experience and should be feared. As a matter of fact, wasn’t it exactly because you have all kinds of emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, and fear of death that you looked for me, wanting me to help you expel the Beast Master School?
But now you give away your life, isn’t this basically putting the cart before the horse?
You are the mountain spirit, the blessed-immortal-abode Grand Cloud Mountain’s mountain spirit. Your life is more precious than all the people in the Beast Master School combined, and you should be very clear of this. What, exactly were you thinking!?
Grand Cloud fairy still not replying to any of his questions, just continued to silently show her thousand years of life journey. At this point, the journey was about to reach the end, only about sixty to seventy years remained.
Very quickly, the time stagnated. The scene before him stopped on a full moon night. From the sky dropped numerous golden threads, and the surrounding spiritual energy became active and unprecedentedly surged up, which could somewhat be felt by all of the living beings on the Grand Cloud Mountain. They then came out of their dwellings and tried to absorb the heavenly gift as much as possible.
Sixty years ago, Grand Cloud Fairy quietly stood on top of the mountain, bathing in Emperor Essence.
Then, as if lightning pierced the night sky, a brand new life aura emerged inside her abdomen.
Wang Lu was suddenly enlightened.
Why would there be two simultaneous mountain spirits in the Grand Cloud Mountain? Why would the lofty and aloof Grand Cloud Fairy take the initiative to expel the Beast Master School? Why did she not hesitate at all to sacrifice herself, which could not even be explained by any rational thought?
Because immortal beast moon spirit is the child of the Grand Cloud fairy!
"You…" Wang Lu sighed, yet he didn’t know what was there to sigh about.
At this time, the figure of Grand Cloud Fairy has completely disappeared.
Nevertheless, she left Wang Lu with one sentence.
"Shixuan thanks you in advance."
[1] (i.e. money and power will help you in any occupation)
[2] From Jojo’s bizarre adventure