Chapter 134: The Gate of Earthly Dimensions

Having escaped Yunxiao’s entanglement, Qingxu could not help feeling secretly alarmed when he thought back on what he had done. If his mind had not cleared at the final moment, he might have committed a grave mistake.

“What happened to me? Ruining someone’s reputation is even more cruel than killing them outright. And once I released my innate primordial essence, my path to the Great Dao would have been practically severed. Why was I so irrational?”

Qingxu’s thoughts were in turmoil. Everything that had happened earlier had gone somewhat beyond his control. Although he bore a grudge against the Three Firmaments, it was not as though they had some irreconcilable feud. After all, the current Qingxu was no longer the same Qingxu as before.

It had seemed that his fury had clouded his mind, but after calming down and reflecting, Qingxu also discovered something amiss. His cultivation had already reached the late stage of the Celestial Immortal realm, and his Dao foundation was firm. Moreover, the Yuxu lineage was peerless in the Primordial World when it came to moral cultivation. It was utterly impossible for a few words from Yunxiao, combined with memories of myths from his previous life, to ignite such a raging heart-fire that he would lose all reason.

“Could it be the work of a heart demon? Or has my Evil Corpse taken control?”

After considering these two possibilities, he immediately shook his head and rejected them.

The heart-demon explanation did not hold up. He had not sensed anything of the sort, and even if he had overlooked it, his innate spiritual treasure would certainly have protected him automatically. As for the Evil Corpse seizing control, occupying his primordial spirit and true nature, and taking over his body, that possibility was even more remote. Although the Ninety-Nine Celestial Immortal Chaos Tribulation had helped his nascent thoughts of good and evil form preliminary corpse gods, they were still nowhere near strong enough to threaten his primary consciousness. Not to mention a mere Evil Corpse God—even the united strength of both the Good and Evil Corpse Gods could not suppress his main consciousness.

After pondering for a long time without reaching any conclusion, Qingxu could only set the matter aside and secretly warn himself to be more careful in the future. His mind had cleared at the crucial moment this time, but there was no guarantee that would happen again.

Ruining someone’s reputation was not entirely unacceptable to Qingxu. He was no gentleman, nor was he one of those hypocritical moralists. Besides, he was now in the Primordial World, unbound by the moral ethics and rigid social principles of later ages. He acted according to his own heart.

Still, he was not a lecherous man. What was more, the desire for sexual pleasure was not even one percent as strong as his desire to purify his true spirit through a breakthrough in cultivation. He also feared that releasing his innate primordial essence would destroy his hopes of becoming a Grand Unity Golden Immortal. Otherwise, as a virgin in both his former and present lives, he might truly have been unable to resist satisfying his curiosity about that vulgar sensation.

“In that case, why did you touch that big sister’s chest and bottom, Daoist Brother?”

The little girl had been staring at Qingxu strangely throughout the journey. At last, she could no longer hold back her question. Her words nearly caused him to tumble from the clouds.

Qingxu staggered slightly. Hearing the little girl’s innocent and puzzled question, he looked down into her limpid, knowledge-hungry eyes. His old face flushed red at once. He glared at her and pretended to be angry.

“What does a brat like you know? Stop asking questions.”

When Qingxu refused to answer, the little girl was not offended in the slightest. Instead, she sneered disdainfully.

“You had the nerve to act like a rogue, but not the courage to admit it. Do you really think I am some ignorant little child? How shameless.”

Qingxu nearly spat blood. Seeing the crafty expression on her face, how could he not realize that she had tricked him? His expression became rather awkward, so he coughed falsely a few times before threatening her in embarrassment and fury.

“A brat whose own life is in danger still has the nerve to mock me? It seems your skin is itching for a beating.”

“Ah! You are bullying me! Boohoohoo!”

The little girl instantly abandoned her former slyness. Tears began to fall, and she started wailing as if Qingxu’s words had truly frightened her. But having already been deceived once, Qingxu had now seen another side of her and no longer trusted her outward display.

“She really has not seen much of the world. She has a few clever tricks, but unfortunately she does not understand patience. If she had continued pretending to be harmless while hiding her strength, she might actually have caught me off guard at a critical moment. But now that she has exposed herself, she has only herself to blame.”

Qingxu laughed coldly inwardly while maintaining a warm smile on the surface. Wrapped in an otherworldly immortal aura, he looked every inch the virtuous Daoist.

“All right, little brat. Stop crying. I will give you something delicious to eat later.”

He coaxed her gently, but he was already making plans. Keeping the little girl bound forever was clearly not a solution. He would have to draw closer to her step by step. He still needed to pry the whereabouts of the Kunlun Mirror from her.

In Qingxu’s view, children were generally fond of playing and eating. If he wanted to build a good relationship with the little girl, he would have to work on both. But making him play childish games with a young girl would truly be asking too much. After thinking it over, he decided it would be better to tempt her with delicious food.

“Something delicious? How delicious? Is it better than the fresh tiger meat Big Brother Qiongqi used to give Kunlun?”

The little girl immediately brightened at the mention of food. Her eyes shone, her mouth watered, and she stared fervently at Qingxu.

“Fresh tiger meat?”

Qingxu frowned.

“Yes! Meat torn from a living tiger! It is tender, fresh, and delicious. Kunlun has not tasted it in a very long time.”

Little Kunlun excitedly explained, then lowered her voice and looked pitiful.

“What in the world? Eating raw meat is one thing, but raw meat torn from a living creature? Still, living flesh retains a trace of blood and vital yang energy, and contains a certain spiritual flavor. It is indeed more delicious than meat from a dead animal, though not by much. Yet she seems to remember it fondly. I must not give her anything too delicious all at once, or I will spoil her taste. It would be better to gradually provide increasingly delicious food and use it to draw her in. Then, even if I eventually send her away, she probably will not be willing to leave.”

Qingxu schemed inwardly, though his expression remained calm.

“What is tiger meat compared with that? It is practically inedible. When I have time, I will let you taste the greatest delicacy in the entire Primordial World.”

He deliberately belittled the best food in Little Kunlun’s memory. As expected, it worked immediately and aroused her curiosity.

“What delicacy? Daoist Brother, let Kunlun taste it now! Please!”

If her entire body had not been bound, Little Kunlun probably would have grabbed Qingxu’s arm and begun acting spoiled.

“Not now. I have something to attend to. Once this matter is settled, I will definitely let you taste it. How does that sound?”

Things obtained too easily were rarely cherished. Thus, Qingxu deliberately kept Little Kunlun in suspense. Besides, the matter of his Black-Yellow avatar had not yet been resolved, and he was in no mood to roast anything.

“What matter? Perhaps Kunlun can help you, Daoist Brother!”

Little Kunlun wore an expression that clearly showed she intended to get to the bottom of things. She had obviously decided to cling to this matter.

“It is difficult to explain in a few words. You may understand soon enough.”

Qingxu cast a concealment technique and hid their traces. There was no alternative. The Eastern Sea was not only within the territory of the Eastern Sea Dragon Clan; it was also the domain of the Jie Sect. The Jie Sect’s ancestral foundation, Golden Turtle Island and Biyou Palace, was located in the Eastern Sea.

Given the entanglement between the Chan and Jie Sects, encountering them would certainly bring trouble. Moreover, he had previously teased and lightly offended Yunxiao. Even if she did not reveal the matter, she would surely do everything in her power to make things difficult for him. Once she stirred up the Jie Sect, gathering several hundred cultivators would be effortless.

No matter how tough he was, he could not fight an entire army by himself.

The might of an innate divine ability truly could not be underestimated. Qingxu’s concealment technique had now reached a state of near perfection. Even a Mystic Immortal one major realm above him would find it difficult to discern anything unusual.

With the concealment technique in place, Qingxu and Little Kunlun traveled without further obstruction, heading toward the intermittent location signals transmitted by the Black-Yellow avatar.

After parting from the White Dragon Daoist on White Dragon Island in the Southern Sea, the Black-Yellow avatar had desperately hurried toward the Eastern Sea in order to help Qingxu’s true body survive the Ninety-Nine Celestial Immortal Chaos Tribulation. Eventually, somewhere near the boundary between the Southern and Eastern Seas, he had lost control and fallen into the depths of the ocean.

After eighty-one days, Qingxu had managed to reestablish contact with him, but there was now an inexplicable barrier between them that was impossible to describe.

The distance from the shores of the Eastern Sea to the boundary between the Eastern and Southern Seas was enormous. Even with Qingxu traveling at full speed, the journey took more than ten days. This was only possible because Little Kunlun used the spatial-jumping power of the innate supreme treasure, the Kunlun Mirror, to assist him.

It was worth mentioning that after Little Kunlun had pestered and pleaded with him for several days, Qingxu had finally been unable to endure it any longer. He found a desolate island, captured several great white sharks, and roasted them simply for her to eat.

Because time was pressing, the meat was only half-cooked. Even so, Little Kunlun nearly swallowed her own tongue along with it. As an innate supreme treasure spirit, she possessed an unlimited appetite.

From that moment on, she began currying favor with Qingxu in every possible way for the sake of delicious food. After testing her several times and confirming that she truly could be tempted by food, Qingxu removed the Dragon-Binding Rope and restored her freedom.

As Qingxu had expected, Little Kunlun did not take the opportunity to flee once she was free. Instead, she tried desperately to please and flatter him so that she could continue eating delicious food.

To help Qingxu reach the boundary between the Eastern and Southern Seas as quickly as possible, she willingly expended her magical power to perform spatial jumps. This was only because Qingxu, driven nearly mad by her constant pestering, had plainly told her that he would not roast any more food until the matter of the Black-Yellow avatar was resolved. That immediately caused her to take the matter seriously as well.

During those ten-odd days, Qingxu also learned that Little Kunlun’s relationship with Qiongqi had been based entirely on food. She had originally wanted to kill him because she feared that, once he was gone, she would no longer have fresh tiger meat to eat.

Now that she had food ten or even a hundred times more delicious than tiger meat, she had long since forgotten Qiongqi. She was a child, after all.

The distance from the Eastern Sea coast to the boundary with the Southern Sea was measured in countless trillions of miles. Even a Celestial Immortal would need several months to cross it, to say nothing of an Earth Immortal. Without Little Kunlun’s help, Qingxu would have needed at least a year or two to arrive.

Fourteen days later, Qingxu and Little Kunlun, exhausted beyond measure, finally reached the boundary between the Eastern and Southern Seas.

Before them stretched an endless ocean. In every direction, sea and sky blended into one. Towering waves rolled without pause, roaring and bellowing with reckless fury. Countless currents, whirlpools, and waterspouts churned beneath the surface. Aquatic creatures filled the waters in numbers beyond counting.

The marine life traveling between the Eastern and Southern Seas was not only varied in species; every one of them possessed some degree of cultivation. Even the weakest had reached the Golden Core stage, while creatures at the Soul Transformation stage were far from uncommon. There were also monstrous aquatic beasts with extraordinary innate gifts, powerful enough to rival Earth Immortals.

As for aquatic beings at the Celestial Immortal level, it was difficult for them to establish themselves alone across the Four Seas. They either formed alliances with like-minded companions or submitted to one of the major powers.

“Hmm? Why is there another strange gate here? It is filthy and no fun at all!”

Little Kunlun looked down upon the sea. Her gaze seemed to pierce through the vast waters and reach the ocean floor. Suddenly, her expression changed. Open disgust appeared on her plump, adorable face, and she thrust out her little mouth.

“A strange gate? What gate?”

Qingxu frowned.

“It seems to be called... Oh, right! The Gate of Earth’s Foundation. Such an ugly name. It is filthy too, and it gives off a foul smell.”

Little Kunlun pursed her lips and tilted her head as she thought.

She spoke casually, but Qingxu was deeply alarmed.

“What? The Gate of Earth’s Foundation?”

For clarity, Little Kunlun was like a five- or six-year-old child. Whether it was fresh tiger meat or roasted food, she could not prepare anything properly herself. If she wanted to eat, she had to rely on Qiongqi or Qingxu. The fresh tiger meat she prepared on her own was bloody, tough, and difficult to swallow, while she had no control over the heat when roasting things, leaving them burnt and charred. That is simply how she was.

Many thanks to the generous support of the great reader Ye Shui of the Demon-Walking World. Qingxu offers his gratitude. As for the updates, Qingxu will strive to break through despite his limited time and will do his best to increase his writing speed while maintaining the quality.