Chapter 166: Canyon of Sullied Gold

The Amethyst Bee Royal Jelly was very precious, and Ai Shu-Tao had taken a risk to acquire it, so Lu Ping was embarrassed to take it for free.

Hence, Lu Ping took out a Crystal Jade Bottle and said, “This is a bottle of Beauty Everlasting Pellets I have concocted. One pellet will keep your appearance unchanged for 300 years. Brother Ai, when you meet your dao partner in the future, you can give it to her.”

Ai Shu-Tao initially wanted to reject the pellets, but as soon as he heard that it was Beauty Everlasting Pellets, he quickly changed his mind and took the Crystal Jade Bottle from Lu Ping’s hand. He looked at the pellets inside with a wide smile and ignored Lu Ping.

Lu Ping shook his head in bemusement. He didn’t expect Ai Shu-Tao, a male cultivator, to be so interested in Beauty Everlasting Pellets.

After some time, Ai Shu-Tao calmed down from his state of joy. Lu Ping joked, “It seems Brother Ai already has a daopartner of his choice, that must be why you are so interested in the Beauty Everlasting Pellets.”

Ai Shu-Tao blushed, “Big Brother Lu, this is already the third time you have saved my life. I only planned to thank you with the Amethyst Bee Royal Jelly and never thought that you would give me the Beauty Everlasting Pellets in return. Luckily, I also found something good in the Amethyst Bee’s nest. I want to give it to you to repay the favor.”

Lu Ping was about to refuse, but Ai Shu-Tao had already taken out a jade box and said, “Big Brother Lu, please don’t reject me, this is really nothing compared to the numerous times you’ve saved my life. If you don’t take it, then I will take it as you looking down on my gifts.”

Lu Ping had no choice but to agree, and watched as Ai Shu-Tao opened the jade box.

Lu Ping looked at the contents and was surprised, “Are these Amethyst Bee eggs?”

Ai Shu-Tao smiled proudly, “Yes! I took advantage of the Hai Yan Sect cultivators to lure the remaining bees away. Not only did I harvest the Royal Jelly, I’ve also found hundreds of Amethyst Bee eggs.”

Amethyst bees were mostly just in the Early Blood Refining Realm, with only the queen and drones able to enter the Blood Condensation Realm.

However, despite their individual weak cultivation base, Amethyst Bees had large populations. They never acted on their own and always responded in large swarms when attacked by their enemies.

When they were overwhelmed, the swarm would even launch suicidal attacks.

Just imagine hundreds or even thousands of Blood Refining Realm Amethyst Bees exploding together, even Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters wouldn’t want to take the brunt of an attack like this.

Therefore, in general no cultivators would want to mess with Amethyst Bees.

However, with Amethyst Bee eggs, Lu Ping could breed them from the start. Once the colony was formed and a queen was born, not only would he have a constant supply of Amethyst Bee Honey and Royal Jelly, the bees would also be beneficial to the growth of the spirit herbs in his garden.

Importantly, Amethyst Bees could also be trained into a Dao army, making them a powerful tool in a cultivator’s arsenal.

Ai Shu-Tao wanted to give all the eggs away, but Lu Ping insisted on only taking half of them. He told Ai Shu-Tao to breed them well, so that they could become a Dao army in the future.

However, looking at Ai Shu-Tao’s uninterested expression, Lu Ping thought that this kid didn’t have the patience to cultivate a Dao army at all.

Suddenly, a jade pendant around Ai Shu-Tao’s waist blinked intermittently with a bright light. Ai Shu-Tao saw this and said in a panic, “Oh no, my big brother is looking for me, we have to go now.”

Lu Ping wondered, “It’s your big brother who is looking for you, so why are you running? The Heaven of Seven Stars is full of danger, wouldn’t it be safer to stay by your brother’s side?”

Ai Shu-Tao was about to say something when another voice answered, “Brother Lu Qi is right. Third brother, if anything happens to you in the Heaven of Seven Stars, the clan elders will blame me for failing to protect you as your elder brother.”

Lu Ping turned around to see Ai Bo-Tao, whom he had met before, walking over with a gloomy face. Behind him, were a few cultivators, including Cultivator Cheng and Cultivator Huang, whom Lu Ping was familiar with.

Ai Bo-Tao obviously still recognized Lu Ping and greeted with a smile, “Brother Lu Qi, I didn’t expect to see you here today. It’s been a long time since the battle with the Primal Giant Crocodiles.”

Lu Ping greeted back, “I dare not deceive Brother Ai anymore. My real name is Lu Ping and I am a disciple under Zhen Ling Sect’s, Enlightened Master Liu Xuan-Ling. Back then, we were in the monster race sea, so I didn’t dare to tell you my real name. Brother Ai, Brother Cheng, and Brother Huang, please forgive me.”

Then, Ai Shu-Tao also briefly told Ai Bo-Tao about what happened to the two of them.

Ai Bo-Tao waved his hand, “It’s not Brother Lu’s fault, the monster race sea is full of danger, and Brother Lu was alone, so it’s only reasonable that you would be cautious. However, I didn’t expect that you were Zhen Ling Sect’s Lu Ping, that had been repeatedly mentioned, and who saved her life twice on Fei Ling Island.”

Lu Ping said modestly, “It’s really nothing!”

Ai Bo-Tao finished his pleasantries and asked, “What is Brother Lu’s plan? Will you meet up with your sect siblings, or will you continue to explore alone?”

Lu Ping understood the implication and asked, “Does Brother Ai have news of my Zhen Ling Sect cultivators?”

Ai Bo-Tao answered, “The cultivators of your Zhen Ling Sect are led by Qi Zi-Cai, the North Ocean 18 Warrior, and there are already more than 20 of them together now. They have clashed with several forces such as Xuan Ling Sect and the monster cultivators. You guys won some battles and also lost a few.

“Having that said, rumor has it that Zhen Ling Sect has already secured several top-grade spirit materials, some rare thousand-year spirit herbs, and two mystic treasures.”

When mentioning the mystic treasures, Ai Bo-Tao had an envious look on his face.

Lu Ping was relieved to know that the sect cultivators were not in danger, and asked, “Brother Ai, do you know where they are now?”

Ai Bo-Tao shook his head, “None of the forces have dared to stay in one place for too long. If they did, they may be besieged by other forces. Therefore, I don’t know where your sect cultivators are right now.”

Seeing Lu Ping’s disappointment, Ai Bo-Tao said, “You don’t need to worry about your sect, your fellow cultivators are very strong. There are two Seventh Layer Blood Condensation Realm cultivators, one of them controls two Late Blood Condensation Realm puppets, and the other uses a pair of top-grade dual short swords and moves like a specter.

“The two of them joined forces and managed to push back Miao Wei-Dong, the North Ocean 18 Warrior from Xuan Ling Sect, during the fight for the second mystic treasure. Because of them, Zhen Ling Sect won the battle and secured the mystic treasure.

“The fame of those two cultivators has spread amongst the cultivators in the Heaven of Seven Stars. After the Heaven of Seven Stars closes, these two cultivators of your sect will become famous in the North Ocean.”

As soon as Lu Ping heard Ai Bo-Tao’s description, he knew that those two cultivators were Ji Zi-Xuan and Yin Zi-Chu. It seemed like they had already regrouped with the rest of the Zhen Ling Sect cultivators.

When Ai Shu-Tao heard his elder brother praising the other Zhen Ling Sect cultivators, he gave a small sneer and murmured, “What’s the big deal? Big Brother Lu and I just teamed up and severely wounded Hai Yan Sect‘s, Peng Chang-Qing!”

Ai Bo-Tao and the others heard his murmur and they looked at them with surprise.

Ai Bo-Tao knew that although his third brother was a genius in cultivation and very smart, he didn’t have much combat experience. Even two Ai Shu-Tao’s together, wouldn’t be as good as a single Peng Chang-Qing.

After all, Peng Chang-Qing had been in the Ninth Layer Blood Condensation realm for several years.

Therefore, it was easy to guess that Peng Chang-Qing’s injury and escape was all likely the work of Lu Ping.

Lu Ping was a little uncomfortable being stared at by the Xi Ling Island cultivators. Ai Bo-Tao noticed, and smiled, “Brother Lu sure is very powerful. What is your next plan? If you don’t mind, you can stick with us first. We can look out for each other and other forces won’t dare to randomly attack us.”

Lu Ping gave it some thought, but excused himself, “Thank you for the offer, but I’d like to regroup with my fellow disciples as soon as possible. From Brother Ai’s explanation, the conflicts between my fellow disciples and other forces are fierce, I have to go and do my bit. Furthermore, I also want to harvest some rare spirit herbs in the Canyon of Sullied Gold.”

Ai Bo-Tao’s eyes lit up, “Is Brother Lu also an alchemist? Could it be that the Beauty Everlasting Pellets in Third Brother’s hands were concocted by Brother Lu?”

Lu Ping nodded, “I am not talented, but I have obtained an alchemist qualification from the sect.”

Ai Bo-Tao said with surprise, “I heard that your sect had a new Quasi-Master Alchemist who could concoct the Beauty Everlasting Pellets, but I never thought it would be Brother Lu. Brother Lu not only has a strong cultivation base, but also has good alchemy skills, it really is admirable.”

“However,” Ai Bo-Tao changed his tone and said with some seriousness, “The Canyon of Sullied Gold where Brother Lu is going, is famous for being dangerous. Although there are many rare spirit herbs, the poisonous beasts that reside in the canyon are often feared even by Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters.”

As soon as Ai Bo-Tao finished his sentence, Ai Shu-Tao muttered unhappily from the side again, “What’s the big deal, the Amethyst Flower Sea is also a dangerous place, but I still left safely with Amethyst Bee Royal Jelly.”

Ai Bo-Tao glared at Ai Shu-Tao and continued with a severe tone, “The dangers in the Canyon of Sullied Gold have even killed several Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters who had sealed their cultivation base. Compared to the Canyon of Sullied Gold, the Amethyst Flower Sea is not dangerous at all.”

Seeing that Lu Ping was firm in his decision to go, Ai Bo-Tao went on to explain the situation there, “Other than Jin Ju Island’s Liao Clan, that always explores the Canyon of Sullied Gold, only alchemists and some rogue cultivators will go near it. But even the Liao Clan disciples only dare to move in the periphery, instead of going into the deeper depths.

“But this time around, I heard that Shui Yan Pavilion’s He Li-Xin had some conflicts with the Liao Clan for some unknown reason. She has gathered a group of Shui Yan cultivators to look for trouble with the Liao Clan in the Canyon of Sullied Gold. So, Brother Lu, be careful.”

After that, they said goodbye and went their separate ways.

Lu Ping traveled northwest in the direction that Ai Bo-Tao pointed out to him.

Through Ai Bo-Tao’s explanation, Lu Ping learned that the Canyon of Sullied Gold’s position had roughly moved to the northwest. However, Ai Bo-Tao had no idea about its specific location.

Fortunately, the Canyon of Sullied Gold stood out, so it was easily recognized.

When looking at it from afar, the Canyon of Sullied Gold looked like a sunken hole in the Heaven of Seven Stars. A huge hole covered in golden colors, making it look warm and welcoming, not at all like a place that would be full of viscous poisonous beasts.

It had already been more than a month since the Heaven of Seven Stars had opened before Lu Ping finally reached the Canyon of Sullied Gold.

Not only was Lu Dabao, the Spirit Seeking Mouse, moving at the front, the three Emerald Sea Spirit Snakes had also woken up from their cultivation breakthrough. Right now, the spirit snakes were in the Fourth Layer Blood Condensation Realm.

Besides them, there was also a graceful bird flying in the sky above them. It was naturally Lu Qin, the Verdant Luan, who had also broken through to the Late Blood Condensation Realm.

Lu Dagui wasn’t released from the spirit pet pouch, as his walking speed on land was too slow.

Moreover, unlike Lu Ping’s other pets, Lu Dagui didn’t like to travel long distances and preferred to stay in the spirit pet pouch to sleep.