Chapter Eighty-Nine: The White Emperor’s Inheritance

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Liu Ping became a gale of wind, surging swiftly through the air.

By now, he had already formed his Human Blossom. His cultivation had reached the peak of the first transformation of the Human Immortal realm, only one step away from the second.

To reach this level in just a few months was already extraordinarily fast, yet Liu Ping was still not satisfied. He felt it was still too slow.

Cultivation was a matter of advancing step by step. Even with fortunate encounters, one could not leap to the heavens in a single bound. Though he understood that, he still could not help feeling unwilling. He simply felt too weak, too lacking in any sense of safety. If he could reach Earth Immortal, things would surely be better. As for how his realm would rise then, how his horizon would broaden, and whether he would come to realize that even Earth Immortal was nothing much, that was not something he needed to consider now.

He had also thought that if his realm could not improve rapidly, then he would simply raise his strength instead. Unfortunately, over these past months he had kept trying to create the second form of the Vastly Upright Sword, with very little effect. He had only barely managed to produce a tiny embryonic outline; it was still far from taking shape. That left him rather frustrated. Yet now, he had a strong premonition that those two pieces of beast hide would bring him tremendous benefits. How could he not be thrilled?

Soon he reached the entrance of the temple and knocked on the door. After only five minutes, the door opened a crack.

Inside, Hua'er and Ye'er peeked out secretly. Seeing that it was their martial uncle, they quickly opened the door wider.

Ye'er bowed with perfect propriety and said, "Greetings, Martial Uncle."

Hua'er, on the other hand, was rather more carefree. Smiling, she said, "Hello, Martial Uncle. I never expected Master to have just come out of seclusion and for you to arrive right after. What a coincidence."

Liu Ping also greeted the two adorable little girls, then said, "Take me inside."

"All right."

By his reckoning, it had been quite a few days since he had last come to this temple.

As he walked along and looked at the familiar scenery, he could not help feeling a little nostalgic.

The peach blossoms were still the same peach blossoms. This was the Peach Blossom Array, a magical treasure in its own right; these were no longer simple trees, so the blossoms never withered.

Breathing in that heart-soothing fragrance, he unconsciously took a deep breath and continued onward, soon arriving at the outer edge of the peach grove.

Around the perimeter of the array were planted a few ordinary peach trees. By now they had borne large peaches, each plump and tender, making one’s mouth water.

"Martial Uncle, I want to eat peaches," Hua'er said, pointing at them.

"You're not allowed to eat the fruit spirit!" Ye'er scolded.

"Why not? Fruit Spirit is a peach essence; how can that be mixed up with these ordinary peaches? Besides, peaches are transformed from peach blossoms. I have no objection, so why would Fruit Spirit object? Much less you—what right do you have to stop me? Every year the peaches are left uneaten; what a waste."

Hua'er was sly and glib, and Ye'er was no match for her. After being talked into silence, she could only hold it in for a long while before snorting coldly, "If you're not allowed to eat them, then you're not allowed to eat them!"

Liu Ping laughed despite himself. These three little sisters had all been transformed from a peach tree: Hua'er was the blossom, Ye'er the leaf, and Fruit Spirit the peach. If one were to be serious about it, then she did indeed have some "blood relation" to these peaches, which was why the rigid Ye'er would not allow Hua'er to eat them.

But he was in a hurry to see his senior sister. How could he possibly dally here and play along with them? Looking at their cute expressions, he also could not bring himself to lecture them sternly as his senior sister would. He could only tempt them instead.

"All right, all right, stop arguing. Later I’ll make you something to eat."

At that, Hua'er immediately clapped her hands. "Good, then it's settled. Martial Uncle, let's hurry and go."

Before long, he finally saw his senior sister.

Seeing Drunken Red Dust seated on a chair, one hand propping up her chin as she carefully read a scripture, Liu Ping was stunned, feeling that she seemed somewhat unfamiliar.

Nearly three months had passed in the outside world, yet more than a year had gone by within this pocket heaven. After secluding himself for so long, Liu Ping had expected his senior sister to look haggard, but she showed not the slightest trace of fatigue. On the contrary, her bearing had become even more transcendent, and her entire person exuded an indescribably sacred aura. Between her brows and eyes lay a look of inviolability that made others feel instinctively inferior. Every movement she made carried a subtle and wondrous resonance of the Dao.

Seeing Liu Ping enter, Drunken Red Dust turned to look at him and smiled faintly.

"Junior Brother, after not seeing you for some days, you seem almost like a different person."

That smile made Liu Ping momentarily dazed, but hearing her words, he quickly gave a wry shake of his head. Circumstances change people. He was now a top-tier novelist with millions of fans, known to tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of people. With so much fortune and devotion gathered upon him, how could he remain unchanged? Yet these changes, compared with the changes in his senior sister, were truly trifling.

"What’s my little bit of change worth? Senior Sister, yours is the truly astonishing transformation. I nearly didn’t recognize you just now."

Drunken Red Dust was taken aback. Apparently, she herself had not yet realized this. She extended her fair jade-like hand and touched her face.

"Really? I didn’t expect that after cultivating that mental art, I would change this much. As expected of the inheritance of the ancient White Emperor..." She paused, then asked, "How have I changed?"

"You've become even more beautiful!"

Drunken Red Dust shot him a glance. "Still so slick-tongued?"

"It's the truth..."

"Say that again?"

Liu Ping had no choice but to change the subject.

"White Emperor inheritance? What is that? Could it be..."

Drunken Red Dust nodded. "Exactly. It's the magical inheritance on those two pieces of beast hide of yours. You nearly gave me a fright. It turned out to be the White Emperor's inheritance of techniques. No wonder it took me a year of painstaking effort to break the Dao restriction. Junior Brother, your luck really leaves me speechless."

"This is called solid character!"

"And you still dare speak of character?" Senior Sister rarely teased him, clearly in a very good mood.

Liu Ping wore a pained expression. "How can I not have it?"

Drunken Red Dust covered her mouth and laughed. "Of course you don't. This time I benefited greatly because of you. I had originally thought you would always be my burden, but I never expected you to bring me such a chance. That deserves a word of praise."

"Burden? Senior Sister, you're really not holding back," Liu Ping said bitterly.

It seemed she rather enjoyed seeing him make such a face. Drunken Red Dust smiled again and waved a hand.

"All right, enough joking. Let me tell you about the White Emperor's inheritance."

"Please do, Senior Sister."

Drunken Red Dust said, "If the Dao restriction is not removed, the beast hide is no different from an ordinary scrap of hide. Even I, without a few trump cards, would have been unable to see its great secret."

"Once I removed the Dao restriction from that hide, I discovered that it was the inheritance of the ancient White Emperor. The story on it is called the Three Lives Dao. These three lives are divided into a past life, a future life, and a present life. Your two pieces of beast hide are the past life and the future life. Unfortunately, the present life is missing. That is the core of it. Without it, one cannot form the emperor's natal art and fully inherit this legacy."

"That is indeed a pity, but there are still some benefits."

"The ancient White Emperor, like the White Emperor of today, was different in person but identical in divine rank, with a cultivation so profound that it is beyond our ability to fathom. To inherit his arts is naturally of immeasurable value. He also had three lives. The first was Great White, manifested as the White Metal Star Lord; the second was Bai Zhaoju; and the third was Perfected Lord Shaohao. Had he not encountered the great calamity of heaven and earth, he might well have lived several more lives."

"The ancient White Emperor was chiefly devoted to slaughter and conquest, and his myriad techniques were all great Dao arts. After I lifted the Dao restriction, I was astonished to discover that those arts had all given birth to spiritual intelligence. Without the White Emperor's natal art, neither you nor I can choose them. We can only quietly comprehend them, enter within, and let the arts choose us."

"That depends on chance and fortune. From this inheritance of techniques, I obtained one mental art and one secret art. Unfortunately, the secret art is only suitable for female Daoist nuns, so you cannot cultivate it. As for the mental art, I can teach it to you, but before that, you should first try to comprehend it and see what kind of technique you can obtain!"

With that, Drunken Red Dust handed over the beast hide.

Hearing of the hide's origins, Liu Ping had already been burning with excitement. Who was the White Emperor?

One of the Five Emperors!

Second only to the Heavenly Emperor, and beneath only the Dao Sovereign. In truth, the Dao Sovereign had transcended all comparison entirely, so this emperor was the true pinnacle of this world. To be able to obtain his inherited techniques—just imagining it was enough to thrill him. It was a pity that the most crucial piece of beast hide was missing, making it impossible to fully inherit the legacy. Still, being able to gain a technique was already enough; he should not be too greedy.

He also felt somewhat puzzled. Why would the White Emperor's inheritance be split, with one piece in the ancient ruins of Mount Wanqing and another lost in the mortal world? The latter was understandable, but what was going on with Mount Wanqing? In ancient times, Mount Wanqing had been under the command of the Azure Emperor. Could it be because of that? Yet that did not quite make sense either...

This was not the time to think about such things.

Liu Ping shook his head, casting aside the stray thoughts, and looked toward the beast hide.

He wondered what kind of technique he would ultimately obtain.