The Aloof Immortal Venerable is Pregnant with My Fox Cub - Chapter 61

Chapter 61

As a demon, Cang Ran’s perception of danger was particularly acute. The last time she encountered something like this was in the Forbidden Domain of the Canglan Mountain Range.

At that time, she had encountered Ye Ze hidden inside, but wasn’t Ye Ze already dead?

She was sure she had taken the lead, so how could someone still be ahead of her?

Is it the person in black from the original book who was one step ahead of the original male protagonist, but was chased down by him? If the person in black couldn’t even defeat the male protagonist and was being hunted, then there was nothing to fear.

She was now at the mid-stage of the Soul Condensation realm. Even if Ye Ze stood in front of her resurrected, a Core Formation stage cultivator—Tan Qingxuan killed him once, and she could kill him again.

She was only worried about encountering a cultivator stronger than the male protagonist. As the saying goes, there is always a higher peak. She was not that strong yet, and caution was always the best policy.

Cang Ran put away her thoughts and said to Hua Chao: “Since someone has been here, let’s be careful.”

“Okay.” Hua Chao flapped her wings, maintaining her bird form, and flew by her side.

Cang Ran gripped Ba Shi and jumped into the entrance. It was extremely dark here, but luckily, as a demon cultivator, she could see clearly.

She had expected to step on hard, cold floor tiles, but when she looked down, she found she was stepping on water ripples. With every step, the water ripples on the ground subtly spread. This feeling was very strange, as if the entire underground palace was fluid.

If she looked down for too long, she would even feel a sense of dizziness and motion sickness.

Cang Ran held her spiritual sword, fixed her gaze ahead, and walked forward with Hua Chao.

The light was dim in the long corridor, and the air was filled with decaying dust. All she could hear were the sounds of her wading steps and the flapping of Hua Chao’s wings.

It was too quiet. So quiet that if there were no sounds, Cang Ran would feel that this place was a completely dead and silent tomb.

They walked for an unknown amount of time until they reached four branching paths. Two of the paths emitted a faint golden light, while the other two were completely dark.

Hua Chao tilted her bird head and asked her: “Go together or separate?”

Cang Ran remembered that in the original book, there was only one straight path. Why were there crossroads when it was her turn? After hesitating for a moment, she said: “Separate. You choose.”

Upon hearing her words, Hua Chao flew directly into the path on the far right. The moment her bird body passed through the golden light, the sound of her flapping wings suddenly disappeared.

Cang Ran hesitated in front of the crossroads. A cold sweat inexplicably seeped into her palm, making the hilt of Ba Shi wet. Ba Shi kept trembling in her hand.

The fox ornament hanging from the hilt suddenly floated up, transforming into a translucent little fox person with three tails, silently accompanying her.

Seeing this scene, Cang Ran suddenly remembered the time Tan Qingxuan stole her fox fur to refine an artifact. At that time, she was a timid three-tailed fox, and the little person was made to look like her then and hadn’t changed even now.

Maybe she didn’t shed fur anymore, and there was no material to make the little person’s tails. In any case, it was different from her current self.

In the past, she was always afraid of taking the wrong path, always worried about regretting things, but in reality, there was nothing to regret. She was still living very well now.

The Grand Dao was under her feet. If she constantly worried and hesitated, willing to live like a vagrant weed or an ant in this life, why would she embark on the path of cultivation in the first place?

Cang Ran picked up her spiritual sword and went straight into the middle path. Her body passed through the golden light, and the surrounding scenery changed again.

Divine swords emitting divine light flew past her. The cold light of the blades shone on her face, and the sharp gleam washed over her amber eyes.

She grabbed one of the divine swords and was taken to the place where the divine sword was sealed. Her divine sense automatically sank into the divine sword.

Cang Ran instantly felt like she was submerged in mud. Fierce war drums beat, and countless warhorses trampled over her. Arrows shot through her chest like rain, and blood splattered everywhere.

In her ears were the sounds of weapons—spears and axes. Countless people wailed and screamed around her, and heavy rain poured down.

She saw the master of the divine sword rise from humble beginnings, turn the tide during a national crisis, and become a general. She was later framed by villains, died in battle, and was returned wrapped in a horse hide. Thereafter, the heroine’s bones were buried, and the divine sword returned to its sheath, concealing its edge.

This divine sword filled Cang Ran with admiration. She took out her spiritual wine gourd and toasted the divine sword with a cup of wine.

She emerged from the seal of that divine sword and grabbed the second divine sword, being brought into the seal of the divine sword once more.

The master of the second divine sword was a white-robed cultivator. In her youth, she was disabled and felt dejected. She sought the path of the sword, kneeling before the ten most renowned Sword Venerables of the time. Unfortunately, no Sword Venerable was willing to grant her request. The white-robed cultivator went to comprehend the sword herself. Afterward, her sword cut through a thousand mountains, defeating the most famous sword cultivators of the time, and she roamed freely between the green cliffs ever after.

The second divine sword had an unyielding spirit. Cang Ran also poured a cup of wine for it, toasting the sword master once more.

The master of the third divine sword was a scholar. In the royal court, an incompetent monarch and corrupt officials held power. Outside, barbarian cavalry invaded. The pen in her hand condemned all the sycophants but could not save the nation’s backbone. Nor could she learn to be a recluse who retreated to the countryside, uncaring of the people’s plight. She abandoned her pen and entered a Daoist temple. From then on, she helped the distressed and aided the poor in the countryside, assisting countless displaced people in her life. In the end, she died with regrets in the snow.

The third divine sword held the benevolence of sacrificing oneself for the world. It was a pity that there were no grand buildings in the world to shelter the poor scholars. Cang Ran also poured a cup of wine for it.

The masters of these swords all had their own convictions, but Cang Ran couldn’t help but ask herself: Where is her conviction? She was in the cultivation world, with no need to serve the country. Her body was healthy, and her path of cultivation didn’t require enduring countless hardships. She had no desire to save the world, nor did she face poverty or danger.

In the cold light reflected by these swords, she could only see her own eyes, bright and clear.

She pursued the Grand Dao, only seeking to glimpse her true self!

Cang Ran felt a lightness in her heart. The spiritual sword in her hand suddenly let out a strong hum. The Sword Spirit, at this moment, achieved enlightenment along with her, and it guided her to an empty sealed location.

Cang Ran couldn’t help but ask curiously: “Was this the place where you used to stay?”

Ba Shi swayed beside her. An old voice suddenly emerged from the empty sword sheath.

“You came with the Yao Ling Divine Sword. Are you a descendant of my Ning family?”

Cang Ran didn’t expect Ba Shi’s original name to be so pleasant. No wonder Ba Shi had been as stubborn as a mule all this time. Every time she called it Ba Shi, it was very reluctant. It had indeed been wronged.

Cang Ran performed a Daoist salute and respectfully said: “Senior Ning, I am not a descendant of your Ning family. My name is Cang Ran. I got this sword from a pharmacy owner. At the time, someone couldn’t afford the medicine fee and mortgaged the sword to the owner. The owner then gave the sword to me. Its current name is Ba Shi (Eighty).”

The atmosphere in the air froze for a long time. A puff of white smoke rose from the empty sword sheath.

Cang Ran wondered if she had gone too far. Maybe she should have made up a white lie. The old man was so angry he was smoking. Would he pass out?

Sure enough, a moment later, the furious voice of the old senior came:

“These unworthy descendants! I personally wrote down my cultivation experiences for them and left the sword techniques I created throughout my life. Who would have thought that after only ten thousand years, these unworthy descendants would violate the ancestral precepts and even sell the Yao Ling Divine Sword!”

Cang Ran gasped: “Senior Ning, please calm your anger. Perhaps the descendants encountered difficulties and had no choice but to sell the sword.”

Senior Ning thumped his chest in regret: “Unworthy descendants! Unworthy descendants! If I had known they were so useless, I should have only passed down the best of my lifelong learning to a select few, instead of leaving it as family knowledge. Your name is Cang Ran, but I see you are not a human cultivator.”

Cang Ran nodded seriously: “Yes. If Senior minds this, I am willing to return Yao Ling and seek another divine sword.”

Time changes everything, and Senior Ning had come to accept it: “Forget it. Demon Race is Demon Race. Teaching knows no boundaries. Since you obtained Yao Ling, and it is willing to recognize you as its master, I will pass on the Yao Ling Sword Art, which I created specifically for Yao Ling, to you.”

Cang Ran couldn’t help but look at Ba Shi in surprise. Ba Shi was so stubborn. Why would it suddenly be willing to recognize her as its master?

She quickly cupped her hands to Senior Ning: “Thank you, Senior!”

Senior Ning saw the confusion on Cang Ran’s face and explained for Ba Shi: “Yao Ling told me that you have been looking for the Divine Fire Profound Crystal for it all these days. It has kept it in mind. Moreover, you just broke through and achieved enlightenment, and Yao Ling also benefited. Following you will not diminish its power as a divine sword.”

Cang Ran felt a strange feeling when she heard Senior Ning constantly referring to it as Yao Ling. It was probably the feeling that you thought you had picked up a stray cat outside, but it turned out the cat was raised by someone else, originally given the beautiful name Yao Ling, and now she calls it Ba Shi.

Cang Ran automatically took on the role of a cat adopter: “I will definitely take good care of Yao Ling!”

Senior Ning asked kindly: “I heard you just said that you always call it Ba Shi. What is the reason for that?”

At this moment, they were like two cat owners exchanging tips on raising cats—oh no, raising swords.

Cang Ran said concisely: “It’s because when it was being repaired, it blew up someone’s furnace, and the artifact refiner was also injured. It cost eighty spiritual stones in compensation, so it was named that. Ba Shi is completely black. Senior Ning, why did you name it Yao Ling?”

Senior Ning was astonished: “Isn’t it a completely snow-white long sword now?”

A powerful divine sense suddenly swept out from the sword sheath, landing on Ba Shi in front of her.

The white smoke from the sword sheath immediately surged even more violently, almost reaching the point of obscuring the sky.

“Unworthy descendants! Unworthy descendants! To damage the Yao Ling Divine Sword to this extent and even cleverly wrap it in a layer of Heavenly Grade material outside! No wonder you need to look for the Divine Fire Profound Crystal!”

“Senior, do you mean there’s a layer outside this divine sword?”

“This sword was originally completely snow-white. I don’t know which generation of my great-grandchildren covered its blade and made it look so shabby. The only way now is to melt it open with a strange fire!”

“Can the tenth-ranked Blazing Flame Strange Fire work? I have learned a little refining technique.”

“Your strange fire still needs to be strengthened. There is a place in the Divine Sword Tomb called the Crimson Heaven Treasure Land. It contains the Divine Fire Crystal and the Crimson Heaven Strange Fire. If you can acquire both, you can restore Yao Ling to its original condition.”

“Please help me, Senior!”

“No need to rush. The Crimson Heaven Treasure Land is fraught with danger. I will first teach you the Yao Ling Sword Art, so you can cooperate better with Yao Ling. There are nine layers in total. With your current cultivation, you can practice up to the fifth layer here. After you master it, Yao Ling can guide you there.”

Cang Ran immediately cupped her fists: “Thank you, Senior! I also want to find another divine sword for my Dao Companion. She has a natural sword bone, and her primary sword was destroyed in the lightning tribulation. Senior, do you know of any sword in this tomb that is suitable for her?”

Senior Ning pondered: “There is a divine sword here called Zhuoyue. It belonged to my Dao Companion and has been sealed here. Her sword didn’t fancy my descendants, so it never left the Divine Sword Tomb. You can try communicating with the Sword Spirit and see if it is willing to go with you.”

Cang Ran quickly nodded: “Okay.”

The white mist inside the sword sheath came out, and only then did Cang Ran see Senior Ning’s true body. He turned out to be a proud and distinguished Great Cultivator. This was only a wisp of divine sense that Senior Ning had left behind ten thousand years ago. With the Senior teaching her sword techniques, Cang Ran naturally studied diligently.

However, the time flow in the Divine Sword Tomb secret realm was different from the outside world. Although Cang Ran sent letters to Tan Qingxuan through the communication artifact every day, Tan Qingxuan only received one letter every five days, and the content of the letter was incomplete.

Tan Qingxuan knew that the secret realm Cang Ran entered had a shielding spell. Fortunately, she had placed a positioning talisman on Cang Ran, so she could see Cang Ran’s activity track, but she couldn’t know Cang Ran’s real situation, which made her extremely anxious.

She sent letters more frequently than usual every day, consuming a lot of spiritual energy. She couldn’t be sure if Cang Ran was also receiving incomplete letters like she was.

During this time, Song Zhen developed medicine to counter the demon race’s elixir. Together with the Wanyao Gate, they completed the mass production of the spiritual medicine. They used tens of thousands of spiritual cranes to spray the powdered spiritual medicine. The demonic elixir used by the invading demon race lost its effect, and they were soon repelled back to the demon world by the concerted efforts of the various sect cultivators.

Tan Qingxuan had been too exhausted recently and was also worried about Cang Ran. This pregnancy was unstable, and she had become thinner. Song Zhen had already gone to the ancestral secret realm to retrieve the medicine, which would take some time.

Since the Tianjian Sect was closer to the secret realm where Cang Ran was than the Taixuan Sect, Tan Qingxuan did not immediately return to the Taixuan Sect. She planned to wait for Song Zhen to return with the medicine and personally go to the secret realm to wait for Cang Ran.

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