Chapter 104: Dual Cultivation Can Kill Two Birds with One Stone

In the vast desert, two red suns hung high in the sky directly overhead, like two fiercely burning furnaces, scorching the earth.

Between the grains of sand, hardly a blade of grass grew.

Liu Changning lay on Pei Ziyuan’s back, her clothes having been soaked with sweat many times over.

Their skin pressed together, generating a burning heat, originally an intimate and ambiguous touch.

Pei Ziyuan, however, had long since run out of energy to care. His forehead was covered in beads of sweat the size of beans, completely wetting his red hair.

His eyelashes, moistened by sweat, drooped limply.

Liu Changning felt sorry for him and raised her sleeve to wipe the sweat from his face again and again, over and over.

At first, the Pei ancestor would still scold her a couple of times, but as he walked further and further, the sweat on his forehead fell like raindrops.

Without spiritual power to sustain him, even though his body had been tempered by innate spiritual energy and was much better than that of ordinary people.

But under such scorching sun, he didn’t have much strength left to continue arguing.

“Why don’t I walk on my own?” Liu Changning opened her mouth and said softly.

Her body, which had slid halfway down, was once again supported by the man beneath her.

He didn’t speak, but quickened his pace forward.

Liu Changning narrowed her almond-shaped eyes, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and didn’t try to persuade him anymore.

In fact, her physical condition wasn’t good either, and she couldn’t suppress the surging qi and blood for long. If her dantian’s spiritual power couldn’t be replenished, she would surely die this time.

Liu Changning raised her eyes to gaze at the deathly still sky, and tried once again to extend her divine sense. This time she was surprisingly able to probe a bit further, though only within a range of one li, it was still astonishing.

Liu Changning withdrew her divine sense and suddenly thought of a question. She asked abruptly, “Ah Shao, can you extend your divine sense in this place?”

“No.”

To conserve energy, Pei Ziyuan no longer spoke unnecessary words. He licked his dry lips, which were already cracked. Without spiritual energy to support him, his body needed water and food, otherwise it would be difficult to sustain.

Liu Changning raised her hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, pondered for a moment, then took out a bottle of fasting pills from her white jade ring, poured out two pellets and directly stuffed them into Pei Ziyuan’s mouth.

As she withdrew her fingers from his mouth, a thin strand of saliva was pulled out. She didn’t find it dirty and licked it off her own lips.

Staring at the whorl of hair on his head, she said softly, “I can. Although my divine sense can only probe a range of one li… do you think it might be related to the Chaos Pearl?”

Pei Yuanshao’s pace slowed involuntarily. He turned his head, his damp hair clinging to his full forehead, his skin not fair but slightly dark, adding a touch of ruggedness under the scorching sun.

Such features would be considered extremely ugly by the standards of jade-faced male cultivators in the spirit realm.

But by the aesthetics of the bizarre modern world where Liu Changning had once lived, with his deep-set features, jaw line as if carved by a knife, and his whole body a dark red, almost the same shade as bronze, he was no less than a top-tier celebrity.

Liu Changning stuck out her tongue again and licked her dry lips. With dried blood staining the corners of her mouth, this action made her look even more pitiful.

The Pei ancestor, deceived by this illusion, felt his chest tighten inexplicably once again.

He frowned, his expression solemn, his gaze fixed on the blood stains on her lips as he asked in a deep voice, “It should be related to your own cultivation method. Does extending your divine sense harm your dantian?”

His tone carried a hint of concern that was not easily detectable.

Liu Changning couldn’t help but reach out to touch his hair bun, shaking her head reassuringly, “Don’t worry, my dantian’s spiritual power is exhausted right now, which is actually good, it doesn’t cause any hindrance.”

“Hmm, the Chaos Stone suddenly shot out from the white jade ring. You might as well check the storage ring to see if you can find any useful information,” Pei Ziyuan said, seemingly casually, as he turned his gaze away. After speaking, he continued forward carrying her on his back. Although sweat was pouring from his body like rain, he didn’t stop to rest.

The two red suns hung high, not moving an inch.

If the two of them didn’t have bodies tempered by cultivation, they would have died of dehydration long ago. But even with their strong bodies, under the continuous scorching of the two suns, the water in their bodies was rapidly depleting.

Fortunately, Liu Changning had just fed Pei Ziyuan a fasting pill, which replenished some of his energy. He took advantage of this burst of strength to quicken his pace.

Prompted by his suggestion, Liu Changning’s divine sense had already probed into the white jade ring.

There weren’t many things inside the white jade ring. As this ring belonged to a male cultivator at the Yuanying stage, and he was clearly a poor wandering cultivator, even spirit pills were scarce. The only thing Liu Changning could use was a treasure-grade Water Light Sword.

This time, after thoroughly searching again, she still didn’t discover anything unusual.

Only in the clothes that the male cultivator usually wore did she find a jade slip.

Liu Changning’s spiritual thought stirred, and a layer of white light floated out from the jade slip, slowly unfolding.

The writing was in ancient complex characters, but not difficult to decipher.

After reading the contents of the jade slip, Liu Changning fell into a long silence.

The jade slip recorded the entire process of how the owner of the jade ring obtained the Chaos Stone, followed by a cultivation method called the Chaos Determination.

The owner of the jade ring was named Bi Tian, a guest elder invited to preside over the Bi family in Luoshui City of Yong Province.

Years ago, when the Qitian Secret Realm opened, he received an allocated spot from his family and entered the secret realm for trials along with disciples from various major sects.

Coincidentally, the secret realm that Bi Tian entered was the same one that Pei Ziyuan’s mother, Pei Shanhai, had entered years before.

Bi Tian was a cautious person. Due to his low cultivation level, he had always followed behind the disciple of a major sect, Pei Shanhai.

Later, when she inadvertently entered a celestial’s cave dwelling, Bi Tian waited at the entrance. After she left, he entered again.

After a careful search, he actually found something good that Pei Shanhai hadn’t discovered – the Chaos Stone and a scroll of the Chaos Determination cultivation method.

Bi Tian wasn’t a foolish person. He quietly took these items out of the cave dwelling, left the Bi family, and began to travel around.