Chapter 243

– Provincial Governor of a Border
Among the disciples of Shi Buyi, only Qiu Qingshan is normal; but our relations are little to none, I wouldn’t know if he is also a maliciously deceitful monster.
Behind Zhong Yue, the Golden Crow wings fluttered as he flew towards Gu Xia City. He thought, If Qiu Qingshan is also like that, then Shi Buyi has failed terribly at being a teacher.

Lian Xin was too full, it was not easy for her to fully digest Chi Liannu. So, it would take some time for her to catch up to him. In fact, it was natural for the cultivator pythons like Lian Xin to feel sleepy after eating, they would normally be reluctant to move at all. However, she knew that Zhong Yue was the key to her transcendence into a Jiao Dragon, and so she was forcibly exerting herself and ignoring her sleepiness.
Because she was too full, she could not morph back into her charming human form, and could only remain in her snake form.
It was already incredibly impressive for her to keep up such a speed.
Lian Xin was stuck in the level of Heavenly Dharma, and could not break through to the next stage. Her only hope now was to transcend into a Jiao Dragon. But in order to gain sufficient draconic Qi, she would have to either go to the dragon race and be a concubine for a Jiao Clan expert, or suck away the essence of a Jiao Clan expert just like Chi Liannu had done.
Becoming a concubine for a Jiao Clan expert would demote her into a servant. As a disciple of Shi Buyi, she held a high prestige in the East Barren, how could she be willing to be a concubine to another?
Furthermore, the Jiao Dragons were playful in nature. They would still look for other females despite already having a large group of concubines. Most of the time, they would just have a one night stand with their lovers and disappear the next day.
Even if she could be a concubine for a Jiao Dragon expert, with the Jiao Dragon’s playful manner, the heavens knew when could she gather enough draconic Qi to transcend into a Jiao Dragon.
Sucking away the essence of a Jiao Clan expert was too risky. A little mistake and she could be faced with a life-long pursuit from the dragon race. Hence, after taking everything into consideration, Lian Xin came to the conclusion that she would devour Chi Liannu instead.
After all, Chi Liannu have already stolen Jiao Sanyuan’s essence, she had acquired a substantial amount of draconic Qi, and most importantly, the transcending process had taken a great toll on Chi Liannu’s prowess, forcing her into her weakest state. It had opened up a perfect opportunity for Lian Xin to devour her and claim the draconic Qi for herself. This was the easiest and safest approach!
After second senior martial sister, then it’ll be little junior martial brother’s turn. As long as I’ve done it perfectly enough, I won’t need to worry that someone might find out the truth and get myself punished by our dear teacher.
Lian Xin was slithering across the terrain, getting closer and closer to Zhong Yue, she licked her lips and chortled softly,
Didn’t our teacher say it before? As long as we’ve done the bad stuff secretly enough, then it’ll be like it never happened before. As long as I eat little junior martial brother away now, then no one would know what had happened here. Hm? Weird, he is getting faster…

Zhong Yue’s flying speed was increasing, pulling away from her. But his speed was unstable, sometimes fast but sometimes slow; when he was fast, his speed would leap to a whole new level; and when he was slow, he would be flying at his normal speed.

He was already an Atman Body Qi Practitioner, achieving the state of [Atman Body as One]. But because he has only just advanced, his control of the power of the Atman Body level was still weak and bad, causing him to keep falling out from the state [Atman Body as One] constantly, separating his Atman and mortal bodies again and again.
For now, Zhong Yue could only compress his Yuan Shen roughly to the same size as his mortal body and merge the two together; little by little, he was trying to get himself familiar with and adapted to the control of his power in the state of [Atman Body as One].
When a cultivator achieved the state of [Atman Body as One], he would have to spend a long time familiarizing himself with the power in the state of [Atman Body as One], a single distraction could cause the cultivator to fall out from such a marvelous state. But now, time was not Zhong Yue’s friend, there wasn’t any time for him to get familiar with the power of the state of [Atman Body as One] and he could only exert himself to the fullest in order to survive!
He was mustering everything he had to master the power in the state of [Atman Body as One] so as to augment his speed and shake off the lotus python that was on his tail!
He plunged into the state of [Atman Body as one] continually, and fell out from the state again and again. But each and every time, his control of the Yuan Shen five secret realms was getting stronger, and soon, he had found the right way to control the power of the level of Atman Body.
The reason Atman Body Qi Practitioners were stronger than the Awakening Qi Practitioners was because they have amalgamated their powers: Yuan Shen, secret realms, mortal body, and totem patterns. The totem patterns would form the Yuan Shen five secret realms, and the secret realms would cast out the five wheels of Wu Xing, Wan Xiang, Shen Cai, Yin Yang, and Dao Yi, which resembled the mortal body structure. All of these would come together with the brain and Dao Yi secret realm as the core.
The Dao Yi secret realm was the core that amalgamated the power of all five secret realms while the brain was the center that commanded the mortal body. Merge them together perfectly, and the cultivator could then control the power of the state of [Atman Body as One] at will.
However, knowing it and doing it were two different matters. In order to master the state of [Atman Body as one], and to succeed in morphing into the form of Yuan Shen, one would still need to go through countless training sessions to familiarize themself with it.
Zhong Yue was getting hunted by Lian Xin and the pressure to survive was his driving force. Furthermore, he had reverse-opened the five secret realms, and had a Pan Gu God in his Dao Yi secret realm, allowing him to master the state of [Atman Body as One] at a faster rate.

As time passed, the duration he could stay in the state of [Atman Body as One] rose, and his flying speed was also increasing; Lian Xin was slithering behind him, and even though the thousand-foot long lotus python was incredibly fast, there was, after all, another python that was about her size in her stomach, slowing her down.

I’ll let you run for a few moments.

Lian Xin grit her teeth, and suddenly stopped chasing Zhong Yue. She slithered into the forest, found herself a deep mountain stream and sank into the bottom of the water, concentrating on digesting the dead Chi Liannu in her stomach.
I can’t use too much arcane energy to hunt for little junior martial brother for now, but if I can digest part of Senior Martial Sister Chi Liannu, then I can use the arcane energy to augment my speed, and ride on the clouds and wind to take him down!
As Lian Xin sank herself into the bottom of the water, she thought, I’m at the level of Heavenly Dharma, and he is only an Atman Body Qi Practitioner. He can run for a few days and I’ll still be able to catch up to him before he reaches Gu Xia City. By then, I’ll eat him raw!
After three days, Lian Xin’s stomach was slimming down. Although it was still bulging a little, it was not as thick and round as before.
She has digested more than half of the dead Chi Liannu, reducing the weight of her mortal body. Even though she still could not morph back into the figure of the charming lady, she could ride on the clouds and augment her speed with the winds, traveling at a speed way faster than slithering on the ground!
From the waters deep in the mountain forest, a loud cracking sound blasted into the air as a stream of water spurted out like a fountain, a white python a thousand feet long soared into the sky, monstrous clouds billowed over and shrouded the python as she streaked away!
Her speed was nearly half again the speed of sound, shooting out like a nocked arrow let loose, even the clouds and winds could not follow her speed!
To ordinary Qi Practitioners, such a speed could only be achieved if they burned their life force and mustered all their energy, but to Heavenly Dharma leveled cultivators like Lian Xin, it was only the normal traveling speed for them.
With such an incredible speed, she could travel over fifty thousand kilometers in one day and night!
Hence, Lian Xin was not boasting about catching up to Zhong Yue before he reached the Gu Xia City!

Meanwhile, Zhong Yue was still flying away like a madman with an increasingly faster speed. He was flying at optimum speed, so that his mortal body would not be overly strained by the stresses and to prevent his arcane energy from depleting too much. If he had traveled at full speed, his mortal body could only sustain it for an hour before his muscles would suffer from damage, and another hour more before his movements would be impaired and his arcane energy nearing depletion!
Flying at full speed could only be used at times of crisis!
Fortunately, the unstopping practice had allowed him to slowly master the power of the state of [Atman Body as One]; when his Yuan Shen and mortal body coalesced together, he felt as if his mortal body has opened the five secret realms as well, allowing him to control the power of the five secret realms better and more easily!
He could now stay in the state of [Atman Body as One] for a full fifteen minutes, and the duration was still increasing as he slowly masters the power.
During these three days, he had traveled a distance of thirty thousand miles, his speed had almost doubled compared to before. Not only that, but his arcane energy and mortal body were still maintain in peak condition, not having much consumption at all!
This was one of the key benefits at the level of Atman Body to Qi Practitioners!
I wonder how fast will I be if I mustered everything and flew at full speed?
Despite the curiosity in his heart, Zhong Yue forcibly pressed down the thought. He was now very close to the territory of Gu Xia City, there was only ten thousand miles at most. And as soon as he traveled this last ten thousand miles, he would be in the territory of Gu Hongzi and would be safe by then.
All of a sudden, Zhong Yue’s heart slightly twitched in alert. He turned his head and a chill was sent down his spine. Behind him, there was a giant white python soaring in the monstrous clouds with the wind, thunder and lightnings shrouding it, rushing toward him!

Lian Xin!

Cold sweat rushed out from Zhong Yue’s forehead, he suddenly swayed violently and his muscles bulged up, turning into a two hundred foot tall six-eyed celestial being!
The state of [Atman Body as One]!
The wings behind him flared out into huge Golden Crow wings. He thought, Alright, let’s do it! Ten thousand miles to Gu Xia City territorial land in an hour’s time!

In Gu Xia City, Lang Qingyun and Gu Hongzi sat down facing one another while having a cup of tea.
After all, Lang Qingyun’s prowess meant that he would be way faster than Zhong Yue, he had already reached Gu Xia City two days before. There was a good relationship between him and Gu Hongzi and hence, Gu Hongzi have been accompanying him for the past two days.
This Gu Hongzi is also an ambitious monster, and he is also a strong and powerful figure, or otherwise, he wouldn’t be the provincial governor of a border at such a young age!
Rays flashed in Lang Qingyun’s eyes, he thought, Our prowess is about the same. If he insists on taking Long Yue under his wings, then I can’t kill Long Yue at all. Furthermore, this is his territory. As the saying goes, a powerful dragon cannot crush a snake in its old haunts; fighting with him in his territory is not a wise choice. I can only severely injure him or even more, kill him by launching an ambush, or a stealth attack! Speaking of which, the elder priests of Xiao Mang Celestial Race should be arriving at any time soon?
Just when he thought of it, their auras came into his senses, the Xiao Mang Celestial Race experts had hiked through the Lian Yun Mountain Ridges into the East Barren!
At the same time, Gu Hongzi suddenly stood up, his eyes flashed with rays as he cast his gaze toward the west. Clearly, he had also felt the air of the celestial experts!

Celestial Race!

Gu Hongzi’s robe started fluttering in the air, a bird-headed, four-winged celestial being Yuan Shen emerged on his back. It was ten thousand feet tall with sharp and incisive eyes, blasting out godly rays as it looked towards the border.

I’m Gu Hongzi, provincial governor of the border to the West Barren! Xiao Mang Celestial Race, what is your business here crossing my territory?

His Yuan Shen’s voice was high-pitched and shrill, it formed a wave of sound that billowed a great distance, compressing the air as if solidifying it!
Before his Yuan Shen’s voice faded away, the lord’s manor in Gu Xia City started to quake violently, an unknown Qi pierced straight up through the clouds to the sky, and a surge of godly aura suffused the whole city.Gu Hongzi had awakened the spirit of Gu Xia City!

Worship the godly spirit!
Gu Hongzi commanded, his voice sounding through the whole city.
Right away, all of the monsters in the city bent down in worship to the godly spirit of Gu Xia City, augmenting its power higher and higher. It stood tall and cast its gaze to the west, its godly aura stilling the air and stirring the clouds.
Lang Qingyun looked at the godly spirit with his mouth agape, he suddenly thought, Gu Hongzi is the provincial governor, and there is a godly spirit in his Gu Xia City! Without a godly spirit of the same level, it would be impossible to take down Long Yue in his territory!