Chapter 653: Charming Belles of Modern Times
The showering starlight was like sprinkled water, illuminating the lake surface with crystalline sparks. The inverted shadow of the trees painted the lake surface, as a faint fragrance of cold plum blossom came from the distance. Andy did not have an inkling of Tang Xiu's intention, yet she still listened to him. As time passed, she felt a cooling sensation on her skin.
"Um?"
Andy, who had just closed her eyes, opened them again and said with a startled expression, "This place has a better effect in my cultivation than Star City, Boss. I can feel that the world's spiritual qi in this place is no longer so thin, and is even several times richer!"
"You're correct," said Tang Xiu with a smile. "The spiritual energy here is several times richer than in Star City, so cultivating in this part of the forested mountain will be several times faster than cultivating in Star City. Furthermore, the destination I will take you to will have an enormous advantage for you."
With sparkling eyes, Andy replied, "I know that you know what's best for us, Boss. You know, Yinyin is so sweet and Xiaohan is so cute. I'm so adorable and lovely as well, so you gotta tell Yinyin and Xiaohan to call me as Master's wife later, Boss."
Pfft… Hahaha Kang Xia could not help but burst into laughter.
Tang Xiu forced a wry smile and rolled his eyes at Andy. Little did he expect that her thoughts would be so free and jump off topic like this. He was still talking about other topics, and yet she suddenly jumped off and came up with a relationship between men and women.
"Alright. Let's have a meal first!" Said Tang Xiu. He then took out the grill, charcoal, pincers, barbecue seasonings, and meat prepared in advance from his interspatial ring. When he saw Kang Xia and Andy's dumbfounded and helpless expressions, he wryly smiled and immediately said, "Could it be that you two have never made a barbecue before?"
"No, we haven't!" The two women shook their heads and said in unison.
Tang Xiu forced a smile secretly inside. He waved his hand and said, "Alright, then. You two just wait until meal time!"
And then, he was responsible for doing the barbecue, igniting the charcoal, and then placed the skewered meat on the grill. Time passed by as he waited until the roasted meat was almost finished before putting various types of seasoning. Finally, the two women and two children wolfed it down and called out that they were full.
After the meal and drink, and feeling that they had enough rest, Tang Xiu stuffed everything back into his interspatial rang and continued leading them on the journey. After spending more than two hours, they finally arrived outside the stone forest, as Tang Xiu repeatedly warned them before entering it.
"Master, the world spiritual energy here is very rich." Just as they entered the stone forest, Gu Yin, whose cultivation was the highest among them, spoke with amazement.
"You're very good, Yinyin. You're unexpectedly able to discern it." Tang Xiu praised. "Take a look at this spring. It's the Earth vein's Spirit Spring. And the purpose of bringing you here is to make you cultivate inside this spring. I can guarantee that your progress will leap forward drastically."
"But Master, though you already taught me the acupoints' position in the human body and the route of the meridians, I haven't even sensed the flow of qi in my body. Can I also cultivate here?" Asked Tang Xiaohan after hesitating for a while.
"It's fine if you can't feel the flow of qi now. As long as you perceive it inside the Spirit Spring according to the method I taught you, I'm sure you will be able to do that in no time," said Tang Xiu without hesitation.
"Alright, then!" Tang Xiaohan nodded firmly.
Tang Xiu then looked at the four of them and spoke, "Take off all your clothes and soak yourselves inside the Spirit Spring, and then begin cultivating according to the cultivation technique I imparted to you."
"What…"
Kang Xia looked at Tang Xiu with a surprised expression, and even Andy exclaimed in shock. Her lovely, small face blushed, and even Gu Yin looked a bit embarrassed.
"Hey, it's not like I want to take advantage of you, girls," said Tang Xiu with a smile. "I have to stay here to make sure nothing happens in your cultivation. You all don't know what dangers pose to you when you soak yourselves in the Spirit Spring, but you will understand when you begin. Do remember, cultivating inside it will be very painful, but you must endure it. Also, once you feel that your meridians are starting to bloat, you must stop cultivation immediately and leave the Spirit Spring."
Kang Xia and Andy exchanged looks and finally nodded without speaking. The former was aware of the thoughts of the latter. Ever since Andy met Tang Xiu, she had been talking about him literally all day, thus even a fool could tell that she liked Tang Xiu.
Of course, she would never be so annoyed if it was only Andy who liked the man. After all, Tang Xiu had owned her body, and she was his woman. But after all was said and done, she too realized that Tang Xiu would definitely not have only one woman, herself, in the future—as there were and had been many women who set their eyes on him, and they were also the type of perfect woman like her.
In case… that if one day in the future Tang Xiu had another woman, it was better to let Andy become that woman. At the very least she and Andy were like sisters, so they could get along well with each other.
"Take them off, then!"
Kang Xia nodded to Andy and began taking her clothes off. When a white and delicate body was completely naked and presented before Tang Xiu, despite once 'farming the land' in this body, Tang Xiu still felt a hot passion in his lower abdomen along with a faint impulse.
What Andy did also give him a surprise. She was just a few seconds slower than Kang Xia to strip down all her clothes, revealing her whole body. Though her lovely cute face looked a bit shy, she nerved herself up to stand in front Tang Xiu and said, "Boss, I have given you my body to look at, so I must become your woman in the future! If you don't want me, then I-I… I'll cry and throw a tantrum!"
While looking at Andy's white body, Tang Xiu was deeply shocked by the white globes on her chest. They were huge, plump, white, with cherry red decorations—definitely one of the best-looking breasts he had ever seen. These two proud big globes would definitely make countless men have nosebleeds and run madly toward her. Coupled with her cute and adorable Lolita face, she looked angelic; definitely the best of the best.
Cough cough…
"Go forward fast…"
Tang Xiu thought he already had a firm heart; firm enough to restrain his impulse when he ordered them to do so. And yet, when his eyes unintentionally swept over the Golden Triangle part of Andy's body, his firm heart was shaken and quaked.
White… White Tiger?
Tang Xiu once heard that there were women in the world who had White Tiger constellation marks, yet he did not expect that Andy would have them. To control and restrain himself, he hurriedly turned around, waved his hand and said, "Go! Enter the Spirit Spring and quickly cultivate. Yinyin, Xiaohan, you two go faster, too!"
Splash, splash….
Four splashing sounds were heard as they jumped into the water. While suppressing his lust inside, Tang Xiu turned around to look at the four people and said, "Yinyin, Xiaohan, you two must hold onto the edge of the bluestone. The spring is very deep, and it's possible to fall into its depths once you let go of your hands."
Kang Xia's charming shoulders were exposed. Her fingers made a series of flicks, making the spring water splash, and then smilingly said, "Did you bring a rope, Boss? I think it's better for you to tie Yinyin and Xiaohan's body to a nearby stone so they won't sink."
Tang Xiu gawked and immediately patted his forehead, quickly taking out two ropes from his interspatial ring. He bought the rope when he was in Jingmen Island before and stuffed it into the ring since he did not use it, but turned out that it now had its uses.
Time gradually passed by.
In the blink of an eye, five days had passed by and during these five days, Kang Xia and Andy's cultivation had leaped forward, especially the latter as her cultivation had broken through to the Early Foundation Establishment Stage, whereas Kang Xia broke through the Peak Qi Refining Stage. Tang Xiaohan, with Tang Xiu's aid, could now feel the flow of qi and reached the Qi Refining Stage.
Whoosh…
A layer of qi wave spread out to all directions in the inner part of the stone forest, as a thumb-sized Golden Core appeared from Gu Yin's abdomen and floated on top of her head, bathing in starlight.
"What is that?" Kang Xia and Andy exchanged looks in wonderment and shock.
Tang Xiu, who stood at the side, fixed his gaze on Gu Yin as he could clearly feel that the world spiritual energy from all directions was flooding like a tide after the Golden Core came out of her body.
"Take it back!" Tang Xiu shouted in a heavy voice.
After hearing it, Gu Yin immediately took the Golden Core back into her body as she opened her eyes and excitedly said, "Master, I broke through to the Golden Core Stage, and I can even release it outside my body!"
"Yinyin, you are not to release your Golden Core ever again in the future," said Tang Xiu with a serious expression. "Unless you encounter a very strong adversary and must kill him, only then are you allowed to release your Golden Core and explode it to perish together with your enemy. Understand?"
Gu Yin seemed to understand yet was confused, as she hesitated and asked, "But why, Master?"
"Separating Golden Core from one's body is very dangerous to cultivators," said Tang Xiu in a deep voice. "The moment you release your Golden Core and people with evil intention capture it, they will take it away easily. You'll lose control over your own power, as the other's power will be more powerful to control it. Once your Golden Core is taken away, it will be very harmful and even will have you killed too."
Gu Yin's small face turned pale and she quickly replied, "I'll listen to you, Master."
Tang Xiu nodded at her. He then looked at the Spirit Spring and immediately sighed inwardly. After it was absorbed by four people, the Spirit Spring's height had already dropped half a foot. This kind of Earth Vein's Spirit Spring was extremely precious and would bring a good effect when one took it as a medicine. Cultivating by soaking one's body into it could be said as quite wasteful.
However, he did not care about it!
The amount of energy in this Spirit Spring was very huge and there were only a few cultivators in modern society nowadays. This Earth Vein's Spirit Spring was enough for him to groom an army of cultivators if he wanted to.
The last time Tang Xiu visited this place he did not bring jade with him, so he did not lay an array here. The other purpose of his coming here was also to cover this stone forest with the array. One may not fear a lot of enemies, but still must be wary of any eventuality. If a cultivator were to come here and entered the stone forest, then the secret of this Spirit Spring would be exposed.
"Let's go! We'll leave this stone forest!"
Chapter 654: An Unexpected Noise
After stepping out of the stone forest, Tang Xiu arranged a triple layer type of arrays in its surrounding: an Illusion Array, an Everchanging Big Dipper Array, and a Defensive Array. The Illusion Array could confuse other's eyes so they could not find the existence of this stone forest, the Everchanging Big Dipper Array would transfer them outside, and the Defensive Array in the innermost was specifically arranged to deal with cultivators. Unless they were at the Golden Core Stage level, it would be very hard for them to break through this array.
This triple array was linked and interlocked with each other—ingeniously making its might increase progressively.
"It' done."
Tang Xiu wiped off the sweat on his forehead and spent two-plus hours drawing the array formation. Such a layout required a high degree of concentration and taxed on his mental power, making him struggle with the difficulty. It could be said that this triple layer array was the most profound array he had ever placed after returning to Earth.
Kang Xia took out the handkerchief from her bag she always carried and carefully helped Tang Xiu wipe off the sweat on his forehead, asking, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just spent a large portion of my mental power." Tang Xiu shook his head and smilingly said, "However, you all must remember to never tell anyone about this Spirit Spring's existence, except to a few of our people. This Earth vein's Spirit Spring is literally a treasure trove, and we would suffer a huge loss if it is known by other people."
"Got it!" Kang Xia and Andy nodded, and so did Gu Yin and Tang Xiaohan.
In the quiet of the dead night.
The flickering Red Planet was dimming at the mountain foot, as a cold wave wreaked havoc toward the two SUVs there. A few stocky figures, however, were actually standing next to the cars and constantly had their eyes constantly set at the mountain peak under the moonlight.
Two kilometers away, Zhao Donghe was standing on the second floor of a small house in the Su Family Village, watching those people next to the two SUVs with binoculars. In front of him, more than a dozen policemen in their uniforms were standing, and the most striking sight on them was that something bulged in their waists. It was obvious that they were armed.
"Chief Zhao, it's been five days already. What exactly do they want to do here?" Asked a young policeman whose face looked tired while yawning.
"You got tired already?" Zhao Donghe glanced at him. "You must have the spirit of hard work and endurance as a policeman. When I was in the Criminal Case section of the city, let alone staying in one place for five days, I had even stayed put for half a month! These people are suspicious and are likely to have some bad intentions. So they must be monitored even if we have to endure this cold and fatigue."
The young policeman looked embarrassed. He nodded repeatedly and replied, "I understand. What you taught me is correct, Chief Zhao. But I'm really curious about what they want to do to actually stay in the back of the mountain for five days like this."
"The longer they stay idle there, the bigger the plot," said Zhao Donghe. "Alright, I'm going to rest for a while. Wake me up if you see something unusual."
The young policeman took the binoculars and watched Zhao Donghe leave before using the binoculars to continue monitoring. Just as Zhao Donghe was about to go down the ladder, the young policeman's face suddenly changed and hurriedly shouted, "Chief Zhao, something's up!"
Zhao Donghe stared blankly for a second before immediately striding back. He then grabbed the binoculars to observe the scene.
"Um? Isn't that…"
At the foot of the mountain.
It took five hours for Tang Xiu's group to finally come out from the mountain, and as he got there, he looked at the Mo Awu's group of three who greeted him and smilingly said, "You've worked hard. Any unexpected incident happened in these days?"
"There are cops hiding in the dark to protect us, Boss, so of course nothing unexpected happened. The first day you trekked up the mountain, there were some villagers nearby who came here, and then came the cops. But nobody came again since."
The police?
Tang Xiu frowned and asked, "There are cops around here?"
"Yeah." Mo Awu nodded. "They are in the village two-plus kilometers from here. We have observed them too, and they have been watching us with binoculars. Biao Wang took the opportunity to observe them when he went to the town to buy food, and quietly sneaked over there to clarify the identity of those policemen. They are from the Qinghe County's Public Security Bureau."
Tang Xiu nodded and said, "They should have received reports from people who think you all look suspicious here. Anyways, let it be. Let us just leave since this is only a misunderstanding."
The two cars then drove to the Su Family Village's vicinity.
Just as they arrived there, four police cars blocked them. Tang Xiu did not rush to get off and only looked at the restless policemen in front. As Zhao Donghe came out with two policemen, Tang Xiu's brows pricked and then opened the car's door to get out.
"Why are you here, Tang Xiu?" Zhao Donghe wore a wry smile and deftly took out a cigarette to offer him.
Tang Xiu took the cigarette and smilingly said, "If my guess is correct, we should have created an unexpected noise here, Chief Zhao. I just heard from my bodyguards that the police force has been protecting them in secret these five days. As a matter of fact, I went camping on the mountain with my family members and friends. I got lost in the back of the mountain, so I took a detour and spent several days to come out."
Zhao Donghe was stunned. Never did he expect that the reports from public sent to the Public Security Bureau would turn out to be such an unexpected scene like this. The report said that suspicious people were seen strolling around the vicinity of this place. He even had to put down all the other matters he was handling to stay put for five days in such a cold weather!
He looked at Kang Xia and Andy, as well as at Gu Yin and Tang Xiaohan, as his mouth twitched a few times, being at a loss of what to say. Although Kang Xia and Andy gave him a breathtaking feeling, he believed that Tang Xiu would not do something indecent with these women since he also brought children.
"Cough cough…. Since this is just a misunderstanding, then we don't need to stay here any longer and suffer more hardships. Tang Xiu, if you ever come play here again, just let us know in advance formally, else we'll receive reports from people again…"
From his tone, Tang Xiu could feel a bit complaint, so he immediately showed an apologetic look and smilingly said, "I am really sorry, Chief Zhao. I only thought about making my family and friends happy, so I didn't expect to make such a misunderstanding. By the way, I heard that the kitchen in the Public Security Bureau's office is getting old and should be repaired. So how about I donate 500 thousand yuan as a token of my goodwill?"
"This…"
Zhao Donghe was inwardly clear that the goodwill Tang Xiu showed him was a way to apologize. Saying that the Public Security Bureau's kitchen was dilapidated was nothing but an excuse. However, he appreciated Tang Xiu's attitude in this matter, and held him in high esteem, and praised Tang Xiu inwardly for his good character. Eventually, he agreed.
Since they must leave, Tang Xiu and his convoy were escorted by four or five police cars all the way to the highway crossroad. After bidding them farewell, then they hurried back to Star City.
It was already early in the morning when they came back to Star City. Tang Xiu ordered Mo Awu to send Kang Xia and Andy back home while he personally drove back to South Gate Town. Although Gu Yin and Tang Xiaohan had slept for a few hours on the road, he still ordered them to go to their rooms to sleep.
"Tang Xiu, there's someone called Boss Yuan Zhengxuan who came to visit here the day before yesterday. He said that he called you but your phone was turned off. I told him that you went out of the city, so he left a message for you to call him as fast as possible when you come back." Mu Qingping quickly reported when she saw Tang Xiu downstairs.
Tang Xiu's eyes lit up. He nodded and said, "Got it. I'll see him after breakfast."
"Anyways, I already bought the flight ticket to Saipan, scheduled at noon on January 16th," continued Mu Qingping with a smile.
"Why not stay at home for a few more days?" Asked Tang Xiu after pondering for a while.
"This place and Nine Dragons Island are both my home." Mu Qingping smiled. "It's been some time that I'm back in the mainland. I don't feel relieved leaving the matters over there to the others for a long time."
"Alright, then. Since you already booked a flight, just do like you've planned!" Said Tang Xiu. "I'll assign two bodyguards to go with you this time. Don't think of rejecting. Your safety is very important, so I must make sure that you arrive in Nine Dragons Island smoothly."
Mu Qingping felt warm inside, and the words she prepared to reject were swallowed back.
After having breakfast, Tang Xiu took his mobile phone that had been 20% charged. After taking the charger, he called Yuan Zhengxuan and made an appointment to meet at a small electronics factory in Star City.
"Here!"
After arriving at the entrance of the small electronics factory, he saw Yuan Zhengxuan waving and called out to him from the security post direction. He parked the car on the roadside, got off and said with a smile, "I was temporarily out of the city before, Uncle Yuan, and I just came back early in the morning today. It isn't that urgent an issue, is it?"
"It's alright." Yuan Zhengxuan smiled. "By the way, I've already conveyed your idea about wanting those scientists and researchers in advance. But they have yet to agree immediately since they don't know the product you want to research. Everybody is now inside and want to talk to you."
"No problem. Please take the lead and bring me there, Uncle Yuan," said Tang Xiu.
As he drove the car into the electronics factory, Tang Xiu learned from Yuan Zhengxuan that the secret laboratory was set up here. The products researched by those researchers had already been completed, so most of the security forces had been dismissed as well. The place was named as an electronics factory on the surface, but it was a just a cover-up.
"Boss!"
At the entrance of a three-story building, two security guards in uniforms saluted.
Yuan Zhengxuan nodded at them and took Tang Xiu inside, stopping outside the elevator installed in one of the rooms. After having gone through a series of verifications through fingerprint, retina, password, and work card swiping, only then did the two were able to enter the elevator, as then Yuan Zhengxuan then pressed the -2 button.
Second floor underground.
As the two men entered, what presented itself before Tang Xiu was a huge space. The environment inside was nearly similar with those in the movies, with all sorts of hi-tech instruments and walls made of molten iron, looking like an impregnable iron bastion.
Except for the sealed room in the inner side, dozens of scientists and researchers were there. Some of them were facing desktop computers and playing, some were flipping through magazines, while some others were fiddling with their mobile phones, seemingly playing mobile games.
Clap clap clap…
Yuan Zhengxuan clapped and loudly spoke, "Everyone, could please stop playing? I'll introduce someone to you. This is Tang Xiu, a renowned figure in Star City. I think you already know his identity."
"The young Divine Doctor of Star City Chinese Medical Hospital."
A white-haired old man in a white coat approached and greeted them. He was holding a picture frame in his hand as he reached out his hand and smilingly said, "I'm Mo Yi, the director of this research institute. You can call me Director Mo or Professor Mo."