Chapter 11 - Advancement
In fact, before Leng Ruoxue went into seclusion, she wanted Baby to enter the spirit beast space. But it had been impossible to convince him, and he even claimed that he was not a spirit beast. He didn't want to stay there, and he wanted to protect his big sister outside. So Leng Ruoxue had no choice but to leave him in her grandfather's care.
"Baby." Leng Qingtian called out the little beat's name as he walked to his side.
Lying on the floor, Baby didn't even bother to look up. His big tail even covered his body tightly.
"…"
This little beast named Baby didn't pay any attention to him, making Leng Qingtian feel a little awkward. After all, it had already been more than ten days since he had begun caring for and feeding this little thing every day, yet Baby didn't show a hint of gratefulness..
"Master, Eunuch Liu is here." A butler interrupted Leng Qingtian, who was thinking about how to redress any errors he could have made.
"This really isn't a good time," Leng Qingtian said, feeling somewhat annoyed.
"Guard here and prohibit anyone from approaching." After instructing his subordinates, Leng Qingtian walked slowly toward the main hall.
"Greetings, Great General." Eunuch Liu, the emperor's chief eunuch, hurriedly stood up and bowed deeply upon seeing Leng Qingtian. Although the emperor favored him, he dared not offend General Leng. If he offended him, even the emperor might not be able to preserve him.
"No need to be so polite, Eunuch Liu. Please take a seat," Leng Qingtian said politely.
"Are you here to deliver my compensation?" Leng Qingtian smiled. It had been more than ten days, so everything should have already been collected.
Eunuch Liu took out a storage ring and handed it to Leng Qingtian. "Great General, the compensation you requested is in this ring. Please check if the compensation is correct so that this servant can go back to report on the completion of this task."
Leng Qingtian candidly began to shift the items from the ring to his own, taking stock of the inventory one by one.
"There are no problems," Leng Qingtian said after taking inventory.
"General Leng, please receive this imperial edict!" Eunuch Liu exclaimed suddenly. Then without even reading the edict, he directly handed it to Leng Qingtian with both hands and hurriedly turned around, preparing to leave.
"Eunuch Liu, you haven't read the imperial edict yet. Why are you in such a hurry to leave?" Leng Qingtian quickly said upon seeing that Eunuch Liu was planning to slip away. He didn't even need to read the edict to know that it wouldn't be anything good.
"General Leng, His Majesty said that you could read the imperial edict on your own. His Majesty is still waiting for this servant to report back, so please excuse me." With that, Eunuch Liu hurriedly mounted his flying spirit beast and departed.
Leng Qingtian read the edict and then furiously tossed it aside. Hmph! In his dreams! The emperor intended to drag him forcefully to the seventh prince's side because it was another decree of marriage. He had canceled the engagement with the seventh prince. But the emperor bestowed a marriage to Xue'er and the seventh prince's aunt's second son, who was frail and sickly. And afraid that he would reject the marriage on the spot, Eunuch Liu didn't even dare to read it. Actually, it was better that Eunuch Liu didn't read it. He could pretend that he didn't see it, and the emperor would unlikely be able to do anything to him.
Inside the secret room…
Leng Ruoxue sat cross-legged on the spirit jade bed and absorbed the rich spiritual energy. After a few days of continuous cultivation, Leng Ruoxue's body had abundant spiritual power. Through introspection, she saw that the light ball of spiritual power in her body was growing and beginning to rotate. She increased her speed of absorbing spiritual power, and the spiritual power all around flowed toward her body. As the spiritual power in her body increased, she felt her spiritual power become saturated. She knew that the only way for her to continue absorbing spiritual power was to break through the barrier before her. She decided that there was no better time than now to break through, so she channeled all the spiritual power in her body and blasted the barrier once, twice… Finally, she heard a sound resembling a crack. Immediately after, heaven and earth laws descended upon her, and she knew that she had advanced to Spiritual Monarch.
"Miss has advanced!" Outside the secret room, Lü Tao and Cui Zhu exclaimed happily. The moment they saw the heaven and earth laws descend, they knew their young miss had successfully broken through. Prior to Spiritual Monarch, heaven and earth laws would not descend upon advancement. Only after advancing to Spiritual Monarch would you enjoy such treatment. The descent of heaven and earth laws would give the cultivator sizable benefits, such as widening the meridians. This was a reward from the heavens granted to the cultivator. And the more spiritual power absorbed during the descent of the heaven and earth laws, the more beneficial it was for future cultivation.
"Eh, why didn't Baby change at all?" Lü Tao and Cui Zhu stared at the little beast without a single difference, feeling puzzled. When the young miss advanced, the little beast should have also benefited. But after the heaven and earth laws baptized the little beast, why was he still the same?
"Xue'er advanced?" When Leng Qingtian, who had been settling matters in his study, felt the descent of the heaven and earth laws, he bolted out of the room.
"Yes! Miss has advanced!" Lü Tao said.
"Good! This is excellent news!" Leng Qingtian was overjoyed, the elation written all over his face.
"Old Master, Baby just gained some benefits as well, but why didn't he change at all?" Cui Zhu was feeling puzzled and was looking at their old master with anticipation.
"…"
"This little thing can't be understood by common sense," Leng Qingtian said after deliberating.
Normally, the advancement of the master would spur their spirit beast to advance as well. But not only did this little thing not advance, it still looked as weak and puny as before. Leng Qingtian didn't understand what was going on!
"…"
"Miss should be coming out soon!" Cui Zhu said. Alas, Old Master doesn't know.
"It shouldn't be so soon. Continue keeping watch here and immediately notify me if anything happens." Leng Qingtian returned to his study, feeling relieved that Xue'er had successfully advanced.
In the secret room, Leng Ruoxue was undergoing the baptism of the heaven and earth laws. The meridians in her entire body widened at least twofold, and her speed of absorbing spiritual power was faster. She remembered her grandfather telling her that heaven and earth laws would descend when she advanced to Spiritual Monarch, and the more spiritual power absorbed before the heaven and earth laws dissipated, the more beneficial it would be for future cultivation. Thus, she did not stop and continued absorbing spiritual power diligently. As the heaven and earth laws dissipated, Leng Ruoxue stopped absorbing, and her fingertips released a wisp of spiritual power. It was light golden in color, which was unique to the spiritual power of Spiritual Monarchs. And to her surprise, she found out that she was already at peak elementary Spiritual Monarch and was only one step away from intermediate Spiritual Monarch.