I Outworked the Entire Cultivation World

Chapter 655: Chapter 602: An Unexpected Encounter with an Acquaintance

The year-end cold was biting, and snowflakes were flying in abundance.

The tower ship, filled with the Zhuge Family’s armored style and brimming with gears and mechanisms, emitted a deep mechanical sound as it steadily broke through the three-foot ice layer on the river, journeying towards the Upper Third-Class Domain.

The head of the Zhuge Family and the elders were in the cabin with the Divinity Transformation Cultivators from the Heavenly Interence Sect, discussing the participation in the Dragon Group Gathering and the merger with the Yuquan Sect.

This time, only Zhao Fuyi and Mo Ping were attending the Dragon Group Gathering on behalf of the Yuquan Sect.

Before departure, the merger was already roughly finalized, and now it was the execution stage; the other members of the Heavenly Interence Sect were busy with various trivial matters arising from the merger.

Zhao Fuyi and Mo Ping’s task was to make a name for themselves at the Dragon Group Gathering, displaying their might, and then publicly announcing the merger between Yuquan Sect and Heavenly Interence Sect.

On the bow’s deck, Jiang Yuebai and Cicada Spirit True Monarch stood together, appreciating the peculiar scenery on both banks of the Central Three Tour Domain. On another side, Zhuge Ziqian and Moh Baichun, dressed in the same style of black robes, were as inseparable as if painted together.

Only Zhuge Ziyin stood alone by the second layer’s railing of the tower ship, covered in wind and snow, with an expressionless face.

Looking around, Zhuge Ziqian raised his hand to brush off the snowflakes from Moh Baichun’s head. Zhuge Ziyin’s aura shook, dispersing the snow, not even a flake could land on him. Did Zhuge Ziqian really need to manually sweep it away?!

Glancing elsewhere, Jiang Yuebai was holding a booklet, consulting with Cicada Spirit True Monarch. Cicada Spirit frowned in thought, and Zhuge Ziyin snorted coldly, angrily pulling out an unfinished Jade Scroll from his sleeve, not even giving a break during such a journey!

The other disciples from the Zhuge Family on the deck saw this scene and were filled with admiration, feeling ashamed and inferior. Even True Monarchs were so diligent, using travel time to learn; thus, they could become True Monarchs at a young age.

The disciples enjoying the snow and scenery gradually returned to the cabin. Even if they weren’t genuinely motivated, they had to put on an act; otherwise, how could they justify themselves?

”Senior Sister Jiuyou... no, Senior Uncle Jiuyou, are you coming back to the cabin with us?”

A female disciple, who was relatively close to Bai Jiuyou, called out loudly to Bai Jiuyou, who was leaning lifelessly against the deck railing.

Bai Jiuyou mumbled indistinctly, ”Not going,” continuing to rest her chin on the railing, tossing her hands as she watched the ice fragments on the river surface being pushed away.

A small figure was covered in a thick layer of snow, looking like a little snowman.

Sigh...

Bai Jiuyou sighed. In truth, she had no desire to attend the Dragon Group Gathering. Asking someone who could effortlessly crush a Nascent Soul to fight with a bunch of Foundation Establishment novices?

She feared she might accidentally smash the entire competition venue to pieces!

Thus, her original plan was to pretend an error occurred during her Foundation Establishment, resulting in severe injuries, and then use seclusion as an excuse to avoid the Dragon Group Gathering.

But, fate had other plans. Jiang Yuebai didn’t allow her to have her way. Before she could prepare to feign injury, Jiang Yuebai had kicked open the door to her seclusion room, fabricated the phenomenon of a Flawless Foundation Establishment, and shouted so loudly that the entire inner city heard her.

”Everyone, come and see! Bai Jiuyou turned out to be a Flawless Foundation Establishment – truly a peerless genius and a role model for her generation!”

Thinking of this, Bai Jiuyou felt her teeth itch with anger.

But why did she end up on the ship to begin with? Because Jiang Yuebai’s reasoning was also understandable.

While learning the Armored Path in the Zhuge Family, she had received everything they provided, and they had treated her with dedication, clearing her confusions.

Now, the Zhuge Family simply wanted her to win first place in the Foundation Establishment Disciples’ battle ranking across the Nine Rivers Realm in the name of a Zhuge Family disciple.

If she couldn’t even fulfill this minor request, she would indeed be ungrateful.

”Sigh... I still yearn to go to the Secret Realm for Nascent Soul Cultivators, that must be so interesting.”

Bai Jiuyou was utterly despondent. Foundation Establishment Stage?

Even if a monstrous talent popped up, how monstrous could it be?

The rules of the Dragon Group Gathering were simple. During the event, any eligible cultivator could participate, whether from within the Nine Rivers Realm or outside of it, from sect families or loose cultivators.

Even Evil and Demon Cultivators, if they dared to risk being slain by other attending cultivators, could also participate.

One had to admit, the inclusivity of Immortal Monarch Chongmin, who followed the Water Path Dao Fruit, was indeed impressive!

For Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core cultivators, the format was mainly arena battles, occasionally spiced with some novel elements for entertainment.

Only the top three in each level were rewarded, the prizes mostly being cultivation techniques, elixirs, magic treasures, and so on, with little difference among them.

If Bai Jiuyou were genuinely at the Foundation Establishment Stage, she’d certainly covet those things, but now, even if she won, it’d be to feed Jixiang.

Yes, she’d feed Jixiang but not give anything to Jiang Yuebai!

For Nascent Soul and Divinity Transformation cultivators, Immortal Monarch Chongmin personally presided, allowing them to challenge in the Water Secret Realm he created.

Nascent Soul Cultivators genuinely undertook the challenges, whereas Divinity Transformation Cultivators, to avoid causing significant damage, used the illusion array for the challenges.

In the Secret Realm for Nascent Soul Cultivators, many of Immortal Monarch Chongmin’s collected heavenly materials, earthly treasures, rare treasure cultivation techniques, and magic artifacts, including even one or two spiritual artifacts, were available.

Of course, the most crucial aspect was that both the champion of the Nascent Soul Stage and the Divinity Transformation Stage could ask Immortal Monarch Chongmin for one request, a reward that, used wisely, could elevate them to great heights!

Refining Void and Integration cultivators weren’t accommodated, and usually, Refining Void cultivators wouldn’t crowd around a Mahayana Immortal Monarch. But if they truly dared to, Immortal Monarch Chongmin had said they were welcome to sit down and discuss Dao, engaging in a literary competition.

Bam!

The boat suddenly trembled violently, shaking the snow off Bai Jiuyou as the screeching sound from under the river on both sides of the tower ship was ear-piercing. Suddenly, a barrage of ice arrows filled the air, hammering down onto the ship like rain on plantain leaves.

This was an attack from river monsters!

Standing amidst the barrage of ice arrows, Bai Jiuyou lamented those clueless river monsters.

Zhuge Ziyin, standing by the second-floor railing, reacted first. He appeared cold and arrogant, raising one hand and twitching his fingers slightly. The ice surface on one side of the tower ship suddenly exploded, and a monster, resembling a hedgehog and a fish, the size of a small calf, screeched as it burst through the ice.

The monster was completely controlled by Zhuge Ziyin, leaping into the air, and as its icy spines vibrated, they shot down into the river. In an instant, the river was awash with blue foul blood, with many monsters meeting their end.

”The control technique from the Yang Vein of the Yin Yang Family truly is formidable,” Bai Jiuyou sniffed non-existent nasal mucus.

Currently, Jiang Yuebai was also learning this; the primary method involved using Divine Sense to condense strong threads, penetrating into the monster’s body, stimulating different acupoints to elicit a response, thereby achieving true control, meaning inducing the monster to unleash spells under stress response.

To learn this, Jiang Yuebai also took the Medical Cultivator’s physician exam, though her control wasn’t as smooth as Zhuge Ziyin’s for now, mostly targeting monsters with a lower cultivation than hers.

Human control was more complex and difficult; Zhuge Ziyin could easily control cultivators of lower cultivation, up to controlling three people simultaneously, and exerting his full power, he could control one cultivator of equal cultivation for only about ten breaths.

However, he had failed when attempting to control Jiang Yuebai, nearly getting beaten to the point the family head couldn’t recognize him.

Besides Bai Jiuyou, no one knew about their sparring match.

Not far away, Jiang Yuebai, seeing Zhuge Ziyin in action, stood like Bai Jiuyou, watching with her hands in her pockets.

Zhuge Ziqian tried to help but was held back by Moh Baichun.

The mechanisms on the ship responded promptly, and after the cannon fire echoed, the river fell into silence.

Zhuge Ziyin retracted his hand and flicked his sleeve, but on one side, the couple continued their lovebird routine, while the ghost control discussion continued elsewhere, with no one paying him any mind.

Hmph!

Zhuge Ziyin flicked his sleeve and entered the cabin.

The tower ship continued its journey, and after roughly more than half a month, other family and sect ships gradually appeared around, with the Upper Three Immortal Palace close at hand.

Neither Jiang Yuebai nor Bai Jiuyou expected to encounter an acquaintance before reaching the Immortal Palace.

The Demon Cultivator Shen Mingjing, whom they had last encountered in the Heavenly Spear Realm, was on the Xiong Family’s ship!