Rumble!!
The final bolt of lightning crashed down.
Pengluo’s body twitched within the deep crater, shattered into pieces, the green leaves atop its head completely gone.
Yet everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Because… Pengluo had endured it!
No one could have ever imagined they would witness such a wondrous spectacle.
Eating pieces of oneself to replenish energy—who had ever seen such a thing?
Gu Changsheng shook his head and marveled, “Talk about a real eye-opener. I’ve truly seen it all today.”
The corners of Xiang Huaizhi’s mouth curled into an amused smile. “What an intriguing little fellow.”
Meanwhile, the purple-skinned ginseng’s heavenly tribulation was also drawing to a close.
Its tribulation had been exceptionally perilous. If not for the massive quantity of pills it had gorged on, it might never have survived several of the lightning strikes.
Buzz!
Rosy dawn light flooded the sky, and Pengluo opened its mouth, voraciously swallowing down the celestial light.
Nearby, the purple-skinned ginseng’s body was terribly mangled. It lay on the ground, gasping for breath.
At last, the thunderclouds dispersed, and a radiant glow enveloped its body.
Hum!
The Purple Profound Ginseng’s body floated into midair as a surging, majestic aura erupted from within it.
Tier five!
This was already equivalent to a human cultivator’s Soul Formation Realm!
The key was, how long had this Purple Profound Ginseng even been following Pengluo?
As purple radiance flickered, everyone paused in mild surprise. Gu Changsheng laughed and said, “Well, well! It really is taking human form!”
Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu exchanged a glance, both thoroughly amused.
This was the first time Li Guanqi had ever seen a spirit creature transform into human form.
A layer of purple light veiled the Purple Profound Ginseng. Moments later, a dashing youth clad in purple robes appeared before everyone’s eyes.
The fair-skinned youth had mysterious purple markings glowing faintly along his neck, a face as handsome as carved jade, and striking features.
He appeared no older than sixteen or seventeen, his face still holding a hint of childish innocence.
His eyes were bright, clear, and unblemished by the grime of the mortal world.
Opening his eyes, tears welled in his gaze. Looking at the crowd before him, he fell to his knees before Li Guanqi with a thud.
“This lowly spirit bows in gratitude to Master Benefactor!”
Li Guanqi smiled as he helped the youth up. Looking at the vibrant, energetic lad, he could not help but smile warmly.
In this sight, he seemed to catch a glimpse of his past self—just as full of vigor, just as filled with curiosity and desire to explore the world.
Having assumed human form, the Purple Profound Ginseng looked down at his own body, a complex swirl of emotions in his eyes.
“Ah!! Father!! Oh, my father!!”
Li Guanqi’s smile froze as the youth suddenly vanished in a flash of teleportation and reappeared down in the crater.
He threw his arms around the shattered, charred pieces of Pengluo and wailed at the top of his lungs, crying with unmatched devotion and heartbreak.
Pengluo raised its lone remaining fist and punched him right in the face, gasping and cursing between breaths.
“I… I haven’t… finished absorbing Heaven and Earth’s bounty yet…”
“You… you’re smothering my mouth…”
Pengluo’s aura rose steadily, and in the blink of an eye, it officially broke through to the seventh tier!
Boom!
A formidable pressure shook the surroundings. In an instant, its fractured body restored itself to its original shape.
A layer of blackened crust sloughed off, and the leaves atop its head sprouted rapidly, turning lush and thick within a single breath.
Pengluo’s body radiated white light, turning as translucent and lustrous as fine jade.
If Li Guanqi had to describe it, only four words came to mind.
‘Utterly mouth-watering!’
Gulp…
Gu Changsheng swallowed hard, stroking his chin in thought for a moment.
“Mm. Huaizhi, do you still have any Bihe River water and Purple Ling bamboo?”
Xiang Huaizhi nodded calmly and said in a low voice, “Use your cauldron to brew the soup. My Chiyang Furnace won’t do.”
Gu Changsheng curled his lip. “No problem. But for this pot, we’d better toss in some gentian fruits to really bring out the flavor.”
“Tsk, tsk. This pot of radish soup… will be tremendously nourishing!”
With that, Gu Changsheng turned back to Li Guanqi’s trio. “Do you three want some?”
Li Guanqi shrugged. “How about we shave in some purple ginseng slices as well?”
Meng Wanshu looked at the shivering Pengluo and the trembling purple-robed youth, finding the scene hilarious.
With a straight face, she said, “I suffer from internal cold. It’d be best if I had a larger serving.”
Gu Li flashed a wicked grin. “Then I’ll go start the fire!”
Pengluo had barely completed its breakthrough when it felt a chill run down its spine. Suddenly, a large hand clamped down on the green leaves atop its head, and a low voice transmitted into its mind:
“Neither of you is getting away. Cough up what you owe!”
“Don’t you two know how many pills you ate?”
Pengluo swallowed hard and immediately slapped on a fawning smile. “Rest assured, Senior! We’ll make sure you eat your fill!”
Li Guanqi turned to look at the youth, who was grinning cheekily and nodding along, and said helplessly, “Now that you’ve taken human form, you need a name.”
At these words, everyone fell silent.
Bestowing a name upon a spirit creature was a matter of immense significance to its kind!
The youth lifted his robes and knelt on the ground, placing his folded hands against his forehead as he pressed himself to the earth, whispering reverently,
“This lowly spirit implores Benefactor to bestow a name!”
Pengluo also watched with a solemn expression.
Li Guanqi said softly, “In that case, let us take it from your true form: Zixuan. Take my surname. Li Zixuan!”
The moment the name Li Zixuan left his lips, a wisp of rosy celestial light descended from the heavens onto the youth.
Li Zixuan was entirely enveloped in a warm glow.
“Li Zixuan, hear your conferment!”
Buzz!
The youth’s aura gradually smoothed into tranquility. Watching this, a flicker of envy crossed Pengluo’s eyes.
Yet it still waved its hand, pretending not to care. “All right, all right, it’s just a name, isn’t it?”
“Hurry up and take me to the pill cauldron. My cravings are kicking in!”
Everyone looked at one another and burst into laughter, thoroughly amused by the big white radish.
Right at that moment, however, Gu Li and Gu Changsheng exchanged a glance, their eyes flickering.
The boundary of the Gu clan domain had been quietly torn open, yet the two acted as though they had noticed nothing at all, following the others toward the main hall.
Upon returning to the hall, Han Yuan and the others stared intently at Pengluo and Li Zixuan, their eyes glinting.
Pengluo covered its chest with one hand and its crotch with the other, feeling that there was something deeply unsettling about the way these old men were looking at it.
Of course, no one actually threw it into a pot right then, but Pengluo knew that this pot of radish soup was inevitable.
All because Li Guanqi had uttered a single sentence:
“I certainly can’t afford to pay for all those pills…”
Once everyone was seated, Han Yuan was the first to speak. “To make a long story short, we can scrape together most of the ingredients for this pill recipe.”
“However, we have no leads whatsoever on the two most crucial items!”
Li Guanqi furrowed his brows and asked solemnly, “Elder Han, what are they?”
Jiang Qizhi and Xiang Huaizhi exchanged a glance. Xiang Huaizhi nodded and said softly,
“A Qilin Soul and a Seven-Colored Glazed Flower!”
Li Guanqi’s brow furrowed deeply. He had never even heard of these two things.
Beside him, Meng Wanshu said gravely, “Isn’t a Qilin Soul something out of legends?”
“The Human Spirit Realm doesn’t even have a true Qilin clan anymore. How could a Qilin Soul possibly exist here?”
Xiang Huaizhi nodded in agreement and said, “Although the Human Spirit Realm has no Qilin clan, it is still possible that a Qilin Soul remains.”
“After all…”
“Even a true dragon exists now, so a Qilin Soul is not out of the question.”
“It’s just… when it comes to news regarding a Qilin Soul, we will likely only find traces of it in the Ethereal Immortal Domain.”
Meng Wanshu’s eyes flickered with resolve. She stood up and said firmly, “Then we depart at once!”
Chapter 874