The Green Luan's Consciousness

Putting oneself in the other's shoes: how would one feel upon discovering that their child had been forcibly subdued by another? Qin Sang had never intended to make an enemy of the thunder-swallowing falcon in the first place. Upon his return, he would begin preparations to form his Nascent Soul, so he already had to consider what his situation would be after reaching that stage. Whatever he did, he had to take into account the threat posed by Dongyang Bo. Compared to Dongyang Bo, who had cultivated his influence in the Xiaohan Realm for countless years, Qin Sang had only Senior Sister Qingjun as an ally. But she had made her stance clear long ago: she would not help him against Dongyang Bo. Winning over another ally meant having one more path open to him. Especially with an existence like the thunder-swallowing falcon, who lived aloof from worldly strife and had no entanglements with any factions—forming a good rapport through Fat Chicken was naturally a boon. Although he and Fat Chicken had clashed before, for the demon race, the Green Luan's lightning power could improve innate aptitude, making it far rarer and more precious than an external object like the Boundless Blood Mulberry. And if the thunder-swallowing falcon proved unreasonable, Qin Sang would not necessarily fear her. "Before your transformation, stay by my side and serve as a mountain-guarding spirit beast. After your transformation, I will no longer bind you—you will only need to do one thing for me. I haven't decided what that is yet, but it certainly won't exceed your abilities. Agree to these terms, and I can consider sharing some of the Green Luan's lightning power with you," Qin Sang said after some thought. Fat Chicken was overjoyed at these words and didn't hesitate in the slightest. With such lenient conditions, and fearing Qin Sang might regret it, he immediately swore an oath: "Greetings, Old Master! Just treat whatever this lowly one said earlier as passing wind! When my mother learns that I've encountered such a tremendous opportunity, she'll thank Old Master on my behalf as well!" Qin Sang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He truly had no idea how an awe-inspiring thunder-swallowing falcon could have raised an offspring like this. For this fellow to agree so readily, could he actually be confident of transforming within a century? "Are you certain your mother will thank me?" Qin Sang gave a chuckle, removed the mask from his face, and said with a faint smirk, "Haven't seen you in years, and you're still as greedy as ever—you've gone and sold yourself out. That nickname 'Fat Chicken' really wasn't misplaced after all..." Fat Chicken's eyes bugged out abruptly, looking as if he had seen a ghost. This face—he would never forget it! It wasn't that he cared about the Boundless Blood Mulberry; his mother had left him plenty of treasures. What he cared about was the psychological trauma! Back then, when he had just hatched from his shell, someone gave him a sound beating, making him cry, and even slapped a humiliating nickname onto him. After breaking through to the Demon Core stage, Fat Chicken had slipped into human territory multiple times just to hunt that guy down. Striking him with lightning once a day and giving him a thousand nicknames was the only way to vent the hatred in his heart. Over the years, having never found the culprit, Fat Chicken had assumed the fellow was already dead, and had even felt rather regretful about it. "It's you!" Fat Chicken ground his teeth in fury. "What, still not convinced?" Qin Sang said in a deep voice, "If you're still clinging to a petty squabble from over a hundred years ago, I won't force you. Just consider the oath void. Without me, even if you had obtained the stone slab, you couldn't have absorbed the Green Luan's lightning power. Back then, I took the Boundless Blood Mulberry from your cave, and now I'll let you go. We can call it even." "You call that taking?!" Fat Chicken wanted to weep. Only now did he learn that his enemy was not dead and was even stronger than him. Not only could he not get revenge, he had fallen right into his enemy's clutches and was treating a foe as a master. In the end, Fat Chicken decided to swallow his indignation and resign himself to his fate. Qin Sang circulated his cultivation technique. Fat Chicken remained by his side, absorbing the Green Luan's lightning power leaking from his body. *** The next morning. Qin Sang stopped his cultivation. The Green Luan essence blood within him had finally been combed through and completely integrated into the phoenix wings. *Whoosh!* With a single thought, the phoenix wings flapped. He reached back and touched them. These were real wings, reshaped by the Green Luan essence blood. Qin Sang could hardly tell whether the phoenix wings were a magic treasure or a divine ability. As a human, he could not refine the Green Luan essence blood in the wings into his own flesh and blood, so they probably could not be considered part of his physical body, and in the future they could only be used to execute Thunder Concealment techniques. However, that was already enough. After forming his Nascent Soul, combining Thunder Concealment with Sword Concealment, Qin Sang estimated that his movement techniques would at least be on par with mid Nascent Soul experts. He wouldn't need to fear confronting Dongyang Bo directly. He glanced at Fat Chicken, who was fast asleep, wondering how much benefit the bird had received. Rising to his feet, Qin Sang felt the immense strength of his physical body. His heart thumped powerfully, his entire body brimming with explosive might. If Qianji Demon King were to appear before him now, he would dare throw a punch right at him! "You're awake?" Having kept watch all night, Bai walked in from outside. "Thank you for your trouble, Brother Bai." Qin Sang cupped his fists. Bai waved his hand dismissively and said impatiently, "Hurry and summon the Heavenly Eye Butterfly for me to see!" Qin Sang obliged and summoned the Heavenly Eye Butterfly. She was also fast asleep, her size shrunk back to what it was before. Qin Sang cradled her carefully in his hands. Throughout the night, the Heavenly Eye Butterfly had brought him far too many pleasant surprises. "Restraining and capturing tribulation lightning! In all my memories, that's completely unheard of—defying the heavens itself! You must nurture her well. If she gains the ability to truly swallow lightning tribulations, the threat of heavenly tribulations to you will be greatly reduced. That means you'll have more time, more opportunities, and your chances of advancing to the Mahayana stage will far surpass others!" Bai was practically green with envy. It was the first time Qin Sang had seen Bai so agitated; he hadn't yet had time to think that far ahead. "Her reaching the fourth metamorphosis was purely a stroke of fortune. I have no idea how to help her continue advancing, so it's far too early to talk about the future. Let alone myself—in this world, Soul Formation cultivators have vanished, and the Mahayana stage is entirely an ethereal dream." Qin Sang was not blinded by joy. Bai shook his head in silence, his eyes fixed on the Heavenly Eye Butterfly, hardly able to tear his gaze away. Suddenly, recalling something, he looked up and said, "I feel that the stone slab contains something more than just Green Luan true blood..." "What does Brother Bai mean?" "Green Luan true blood, sealed within that stone slab for such an unimaginably long time, yet its power hasn't completely dissipated—could there be another reason?" Bai said pointedly. Qin Sang was startled. "Brother Bai suspects that a remnant of the Green Luan's consciousness might still linger in the essence blood?" Qin Sang asked solemnly. Bai nodded. "When you said the phantom of the Green Luan willingly threw itself into your body, I felt some concern. You cultivate a demon technique and visualize the Green Luan; could the Green Luan's consciousness have mistaken you for an offspring of its own race and attempted to be reborn through your body? Such things have happened before. Since neither you nor the Heavenly Eye Butterfly noticed anything amiss, I'm probably overthinking it. Perhaps the remnant consciousness was ground away by time, or perhaps this was simply a stroke of fortune it left for its descendants... You're quite lucky!" Qin Sang fell into contemplation. A Green Luan's consciousness sealed within a stone slab, preserved from ancient times to the present day, and still able to borrow a body to be reborn—it was far too terrifying. Yet considering that Bai had also survived from ancient times until now, Qin Sang felt it might not be impossible. What he had not told Bai was this: Earlier, when he inspected his purple palace, he had only then noticed that the Yin-Yang Armor over his primordial spirit had somehow shattered at some point, and the illusion of the jade Buddha had emerged, shining with golden radiance. Under the impact of the Green Luan essence blood's power, Qin Sang had been in excruciating pain, nearly blowing himself up. Absorbed completely in circulating his cultivation technique, he had not even realized when that change had occurred. Fortunately, after a thorough self-examination, neither he nor the Heavenly Eye Butterfly showed any other anomalies.