This was a war, a war that concerned the future itself.
To secure victory, using some small methods that were not excessive was not a problem.
Linglong’s personality was rather old-fashioned, but at a moment like this, she was not someone who refused to adapt.
After saying goodbye to the Senior Sister guarding the entrance of the transmission array, Linglong led Hua Jian and Shiqi toward the center of the floating island, where there was a residence specially prepared for her.
If it were other guests, Yaochi disciples would first need to arrange accommodations for them, but Linglong did not need that.
The elders of the Yaochi Sect each had their own small courtyards on the floating island.
As the direct disciple of the current Yaochi Sect Leader and the present Saintess of Yaochi, Linglong could naturally live in her master’s courtyard.
As for whether her master would have any objections?
Linglong felt that her master absolutely would not.
‘Using your venerable self’s house that has gone unused for decades to lure in a great treasure like Hua Jian is simply letting it fulfill its proper purpose.’
The foundation of Yaochi’s floating city looked somewhat like a sea of clouds.
The Yaochi disciples moved about on it by relying on these clouds, which looked impossible to step on but were actually quite solid.
“Don’t be afraid. Just step directly onto the clouds,” Linglong said as she introduced this special spirit tool, something that could only be seen in places related to Yaochi, to the two girls beside her.
Their function was similar to the flying artifacts commonly used by cultivators, but they were more convenient to use.
Controlling them did not require spiritual power either. One only needed to tell them how to move.
Even an idiot could stand on these clouds and fly steadily.
Hua Jian took a step forward and hopped beside Linglong, curiously bouncing on the cloud a couple of times.
The cloud felt a little soft underfoot, but not so much that one could not stand on it. It was a rather pleasant sensation.
After all three of them stepped onto the cloud, Linglong lifted it up and guided it toward the center of the floating city.
The area of the cloud was not small. With three people standing on it, it did not feel crowded at all.
Even if all three lay down on it, there would be no major problem.
Its flying speed was also not slow, even a bit faster than the flying swords Hua Jian and Linglong had used before.
It had to be said that the things of the Saint Sect were indeed far better than those elsewhere.
After flying for a short while, a small courtyard hidden within the sea of clouds appeared before them.
That was their destination: the Yaochi Sect Leader’s palace within the floating city of Ascension City.
Although no one lived there, several Yaochi girls still stood outside the courtyard, guarding the gate to prevent unrelated people from entering and causing damage.
When Linglong landed in front of them with her two friends, the reactions of these girls were exactly the same as those of the Yaochi disciples below earlier.
They all rubbed their eyes hard, suspecting that they were seeing things, unable to believe that they were seeing the Saintess Junior Sister here.
Once they realized that it was not an illusion and that Linglong had truly arrived, these Yaochi disciples were overjoyed, almost to the point of wanting to surround Linglong and ask for autographs.
Along with that, Hua Jian and Shiqi were also showered with enthusiasm by these Senior Sisters. Even Hua Jian, who had fairly thick skin, found it a bit hard to endure.
“We can use this place directly, right?” Linglong quickly spoke up to steer the topic back on track. Idol worship could wait. The priority now was to settle Hua Jian in.
“Of course. The Sect Leader’s palace is cleaned every day, and everything inside can be used,” a Senior Sister guarding the gate nodded repeatedly. “Especially the hot spring pool. It’s very big.”
This was no longer a hint. It was openly giving Linglong advice.
Wasn’t this basically telling Linglong to hurry up and lure Hua Jian into the hot spring?
“Yes, I understand,” Linglong replied awkwardly, thanking the Senior Sisters for their well-meaning reminder.
She did want to soak in the same pool as Hua Jian, but Hua Jian’s physique was problematic.
The Lingcaifeng Master had specifically warned her that Hua Jian absolutely must not bathe together with others.
If something went wrong, Hua Jian might soak and soak, and the person bathing with her would end up being digested by her.
Other people bathed to relax and rest. When Hua Jian bathed, she was eating people.
After saying goodbye to the enthusiastic Senior Sisters, Linglong led her guests into the courtyard.
First, she brought Hua Jian and Shiqi to the area specially prepared for guests.
However, the number of guest rooms in this courtyard was very small.
When it was built, the designer probably had not considered the situation of multiple guests staying overnight.
“Only one room? That’s not impossible…” Hua Jian scratched her head as she looked at the room in front of her.
Sharing a room with Shiqi was not a big problem.
She and Shiqi had been through life-and-death situations together. Sleeping together with Shiqi made her feel at ease.
‘Do you even understand the sense of security a sword cultivator gives people?’
“After all, this place was not meant to host guests often. Hua Jian, you can stay with me. My room here should be quite large,” Linglong said, feeling a bit awkward as well.
But with only one guest room available, it did not seem like a bad thing.
This way, she had a perfectly valid reason to live together with Hua Jian, didn’t she?
“How about I stay somewhere else?” Shiqi glanced at the two of them, feeling that she seemed a bit out of place.
‘Maybe I should not get involved between these two?’
Linglong immediately pressed a hand on Shiqi’s shoulder. “No, you’re staying here!”
“If you don’t stay here, then Hua Jian can’t stay with me. For the sake of my grand plan to win over Hua Jian, Shiqi, you can make a small sacrifice and live in the best courtyard in this floating city!”
Even if Shiqi wanted to leave, it would have to be after a few days, once Hua Jian had gotten used to living together with her.
“Besides, tonight I still need to settle accounts with Hua Jian. By the time everything is done, it will be very late,” Linglong continued, her words carrying only one meaning: Hua Jian was staying in her room tonight.
Hua Jian instinctively sensed that something was off. Why was Linglong suddenly being so proactive?
‘There’s definitely a problem, right?’
Before she could think it through, Linglong pulled the two of them out of the room, saying she would take them to the hot springs to relax.
After traveling for so long, it was time to rest a bit, and soaking in a hot spring was an excellent way to relieve fatigue.
As for Hua Jian’s special physique, Linglong also had a solution. She just needed to prepare a separate large tub beside the hot spring.
“A bathtub big enough to soak in… What do you want to eat tonight? I’ll have the Senior Sisters send it over. Want to try our Yaochi specialty pastries?”
On the way to the hot springs, Linglong took out her Identity Jade Plate from her storage pouch and infused it with spiritual power.
All kinds of projections appeared on the jade plate, like the personal terminals Hua Jian had seen in science fiction movies in her previous life.
“What’s that? Your Identity Jade Plate can be used like this?”
“It’s a small feature developed by the previous Senior Sisters. It makes communication more convenient within Yaochi-controlled territory,” Linglong explained patiently, realizing that this was the first time Hua Jian had seen her use this ability.
It was not that she had been hiding it before. This ability could only be used within Yaochi territory. As for why, she did not really understand either.
“The Senior Sisters said something about signal base points or something. I still don’t quite get it.”
Linglong knew many things, but only at the level of knowing. She did not understand the principles behind them.
Moreover, many of the things she knew could only be considered common knowledge. Once one’s cultivation level rose, these things would naturally become known.
She simply knew them earlier because of her family background.
Honestly speaking, when it came to sheer knowledge, Hua Jian actually surpassed Linglong now.
After all, Hua Jian had the illustrated guide given by the Lingcaifeng Master.
With that in hand, Hua Jian could become a major figure in the field of spiritual flower research.
Not to mention a Ling King, even a Ling Emperor might not know more than Hua Jian.
“That’s pretty impressive…” Hua Jian realized that the Saint Sect was completely different from the rest of the Central Continent.
Other parts of the Central Continent also had some applications of spiritual power, but overall they were still quite similar to the ancient times she remembered.
The Saint Sect was different. It gave her a strangely advanced feeling. It even felt like using mobile phones.
“Are the other Saint Sects like this too?”
“As far as I know, only our Yaochi has this. Other sects still rely on the old methods for communication,” Linglong shook her head.
She had heard that Penglai was also experimenting with this recently, but the other three Saint Sects were not very interested.
After all, this kind of thing did not help cultivation. For the Saint Sects, it was something optional at best.
While talking about this, Linglong began sharing some small stories between the Saint Sects.
As they talked and walked, they soon arrived beside the hot spring pool.
“Penglai likes to drink alcohol at all kinds of times. Wherever they are, there’s always a smell of alcohol, which some of our Yaochi Senior Sisters really dislike,” Linglong whispered Penglai’s gossip, then turned to look at the large pool in front of them.
“You can just jump in. The water temperature should be just right.”
This was directed at Shiqi, since Hua Jian could not soak in a public pool.
Shiqi was not shy. After quickly removing her clothes, she leapt into the hot spring pool.
Amid the swirling mist, she let out a very comfortable hum. After traveling for so long, saying she was not tired would have been a lie.
Soaking in the warm spring water, the accumulated fatigue throughout her body was released all at once, making her want to just fall asleep in the pool.
Hua Jian also took out the small spiritual civet that had been hiding in her clothes. The little fellow clearly did not like water and ran far away from the hot spring pool.
As expected, even spiritual cats did not like water.
With the civet gone, Hua Jian suddenly felt much emptier in her chest area.
Linglong looked there, wanting to complain about something, but felt that saying such things would not be very polite.
Fortunately, a large pigeon carrying a storage pouch descended from the sky and saved her from the awkward situation.
This pigeon, nearly as tall as a person, passed through the courtyard’s barrier and landed steadily in front of Linglong, handing over the storage pouch it held in its beak while cooing.
Linglong took out the items from the pouch one by one, then returned the empty pouch to the pigeon.
After taking back the pouch, the pigeon cooed loudly twice, flapped its wings, and flew out of the courtyard.
Clearly, this pigeon was the courier for the Yaochi base.
And despite its silly and cute appearance, in Hua Jian’s perception, this pigeon had strength she could not see through at all.
This thing was actually a Ling King.
“A Ling King realm spirit beast doing this kind of work?” Hua Jian sucked in a breath of cold air. The Saint Sect was truly extravagant.
In other places, a Ling King might not be an overlord, but at least a notable expert, respected wherever they went.
Yet here in Yaochi, a Ling King level spirit beast was working as a delivery courier.
“Ling King realm spirit beasts are smarter. Lower-level spirit beasts have trouble understanding these commands,” Linglong explained while placing the jade bathtub she had requested beside the hot spring and channeling hot spring water into it.
The bathtub also had heating and insulation functions, ensuring that the water would not cool too quickly for Hua Jian.
“I’ll need a bit more time here. You two can eat something first. These are all Yaochi specialty foods.”
While preparing Hua Jian’s bathing setup, Linglong had also arranged a very Yaochi-style dinner. Overall, it was basically an entire meal of pastries.
‘Could it be that Yaochi’s specialty is just small cakes?’
Hua Jian bent down, picked up an orange-colored pastry, and popped it into her mouth.
A faint citrus fragrance burst across her palate, making her eyes light up.
It was delicious.
The girls of Yaochi really knew how to enjoy life.
“Hua Jian, Hua Jian, get one for me!” Shiqi swam to the edge of the pool and called out to Hua Jian.
‘Get it yourself.’
“My hands are wet,” Shiqi lifted her hands out of the water to show that she had a reason.
Seeing this, Hua Jian sighed helplessly.
“Fine. I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll feed you once. What color do you want?” Hua Jian adjusted her skirt, knelt in front of Shiqi, and pointed at the pastries.
“Black!”
This choice did not surprise Hua Jian. Shiqi seemed to have a particular fondness for black.
It was normal for her to choose black food.
Picking up a black pastry, Hua Jian pinched it and brought it toward Shiqi’s open mouth.
Chomp!
Shiqi swallowed the pastry in one bite and almost bit Hua Jian’s finger.
Luckily, Hua Jian withdrew her hand quickly enough. Otherwise, she really would have been bitten.
‘Can’t you eat slower? You look like a starving ghost.’
“Mmm, tasty!” Shiqi grinned foolishly.
Hua Jian pressed her forehead and sighed softly.
When she turned her head, she saw the displeased Little Dragon Girl standing beside her.
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