Chapter 792: Double Exploration

Chapter 792: The Second Exploration

The grand ceremony lasted a day and a night.

Huangfu Yongxian carved the achievements of all present into the stone atop the mountain. He left his son to endure hardship beyond the frontier, leading several thousand garrison troops to continue suppressing the tribes and assisting Batu in establishing the vassal state, while the rest gradually withdrew.

Well, whether it counted as hardship or as a local tyrant, let's call it hardship—everything is hard at the start. But if he could settle down properly, Huangfu Shaozong would truly shake the grasslands, becoming the Han's sturdiest spear and shield in the north.

Having married and drained the man for an entire day, Huangfu Qing had no regrets. She didn't cling further, but radiantly led her troops back to court first, eager to show off to Tang Wanzhuang... This time, even that sharp-tongued maid would have to blush with fury.

Traveling with her was Yue Hongling, who wanted to visit the Four Symbols Sect's headquarters to see if the White Tiger scriptures truly suited her.

Everyone had gotten what they wanted, and they tacitly left San Niang, who had eaten sand for months beyond the frontier and earned the greatest merit, some time alone.

Mainly, the dense faith energy here did little for Yue Hongling—she wasn't of that ilk. It was somewhat useful for Huangfu Qing, but not markedly so; she had faith energy but didn't rely on it for cultivation, only as an aid. So staying here to cultivate held little value for them.

But for San Niang, the energy here was sweet rain.

Due to her Sea Emperor status, she was the most typical in terms of faith energy, several times more so than Zhao Changhe. Her cultivation reaching a level where even Zhao Changhe thought she was the world's best was inseparable from the endless faith of millions of sea folk.

This time, Zhao Changhe was gravely wounded, still not fully recovered, and San Niang was also badly hurt. So they hid in the secret realm, absorbing faith energy and dual cultivating to heal.

Now they fully understood how to use their avatars.

Not only to use them, but to deepen their study, training the sensation of two independent bodies, even cultivating separately.

Since they were cultivating separately... dual cultivation naturally had to be done separately too. So it wasn't that they wanted to play with avatar kinks; it was a necessary step in cultivation, for sure.

If Yue Hongling saw this, she'd probably mock—how dare you criticize Zhu Que's burning, look at what you're doing now?

The man stood, while a seductive snake-like body coiled around him, clinging tightly, legs wrapping and clamping around his waist, riding him on her own.

Not to mention the difficulty of the pose, the sheer lewdness alone was beyond most.

This was no Xuan Wu; this was clearly a demon snake, her eyes hazy with an eerie, dangerous gleam, her tongue occasionally licking her lips... It would make anyone's heart tremble, confirming why she was a cult leader.

Yet another San Niang lay naked on the ground, her eyes spinning, seemingly knocked out from earlier—the snake body was actually avenging the turtle, refusing to back down...

In truth, whether the turtle had been knocked out or was just lazily sleeping, even the snake body wasn't entirely sure.

The path of avatars was thus growing more mature.

The dual nature of the agile, seductive and the steady, lazy turtle and snake—what Zhao Changhe had once seen as San Niang's greatest complexity—was no longer so complex, because it could be divided.

The vast, pure faith energy, transformed into power, flowed back and forth between their bodies through the gathering array and dual cultivation technique. Zhao Changhe could almost feel San Niang's second level of the Imperial Realm within reach, just a step away.

"What's missing?" Afterward, Zhao Changhe lay on the thick clouds, with both turtle San Niangs sprawled on him, drawing circles—one clockwise, one counterclockwise, perfectly synchronized.

"I don't know what's missing either." The main turtle said lazily, "Maybe it's the old cliché—cutting corners with dual cultivation can't break through barriers?"

"Probably not. Those cases are due to insufficient personal insight; relying solely on dual cultivation or pills doesn't help comprehension. I think you've already mastered the separation of your two bodies—you can treat them as two people, each with no drop in combat power... That means your insight is enough. What's lacking is the accumulation of energy for cultivation. Logically, once you reach the threshold, you should pass directly. So what's the missing link?"

"It just means we haven't done it enough." The snake body giggled and snuggled over: "Can you still go?"

"Hey, hey, hey..." The turtle was furious: "You slut, haven't you had enough?"

The snake body was equally furious: "Lazy turtle, do you know how much I've taken on for you? And now you turn your back on me!"

"Did I ask you to take it on? You were the one insisting on eating!"

"I mean the part about selling sex—would you have done those poses yourself?"

"I... if you merge back, I would."

"That's still because of my influence, not because of you, lazy turtle!"

"I'm the main body—show some respect."

"Want to fight? Let's see who's the main body, who's primary and who's secondary!"

"Bang! Bang!" Two delicate hands started fighting on the man's chest.

Zhao Changhe stared dumbfounded as the two San Niangs argued and then brawled, feeling his brain couldn't keep up.

He could split his soul too, but it was always under his control—just multitasking. There was no way two independent thoughts would argue, let alone fight. And the turtle's expression wasn't an act; it was genuinely two minds squabbling. If this wasn't the threshold for avatars, what was? Shouldn't you just break through directly?

Could it really be that they hadn't dual-cultivated enough?

"Bang!" The snake body's agile and varied attacks were completely countered by the turtle's immovable stability, not even scratching her, and instead rebounding, numbing the snake's hand.

The turtle, triumphant, straddled the avatar, pinning her down: "Surrender, little beauty? Who's primary and who's secondary?"

The avatar begged for mercy: "You are..."

The turtle kissed her happily: "Good girl."

Zhao Changhe opened his mouth, then closed it.

What was this—self-loving?

But the self-loving scene didn't happen. After San Niang kissed down, both bodies shimmered with rippling light and soon merged into one. San Niang grinned, monopolizing the man, hugging his shoulder: "Wasn't that fun?"

Zhao Changhe asked, "Are you just playing?"

"Not entirely. I let the thoughts of both bodies surface naturally, and this is what happened. I also deliberately controlled the main body a bit more; otherwise, the main body would have been too lazy to talk to her, and both would have pushed their personalities to extremes."

Zhao Changhe felt a bit worried: "Could this lead to a split personality?"

"Strong soul power ensures it won't split—it's always controllable... But if you're injured in that regard, it might be different. Perhaps this very worry is why I can't break through to the second level—not enough decisive, all-or-nothing resolve."

Zhao Changhe frowned, suddenly thinking of another pair.

Were they... sisters?

In truth, even if they were sisters, from the perspective of the Heavenly Dao's division, it was very similar to San Niang's situation.

The reason San Niang had this avatar technique was that the Four Symbols Sect's inheritance was ultimately the Night Emperor's legacy. The Blind One's situation was likely related to this.

So she had been decisively split into two directions?

Zhao Changhe's heart twitched, and he said firmly, "Don't consider that kind of decisiveness. It must be controllable, absolutely controllable. The second-level threshold definitely doesn't require going that far. According to our Zhao Clan's saying, 'slaying the three corpses' is the path to sainthood. Your situation isn't that extreme."

"Slaying the three corpses?" San Niang rubbed her chin: "What does that mean?"

"There are various interpretations, mostly referring to good, evil, and the self."

"That sounds Daoist, but mine is different—it's just two sides of my personality... Though if pushed to extremes, who knows..." San Niang thought for a moment, then laughed: "Who would separate good and evil? They're one whole. If separated, are you still human?"

"So that's what gods are."

"Gods are also human." San Niang said lazily, "I won't do something that stupid. Good and evil are one; turtle and snake are one. Lacking either, I'm not me. Only a fool would separate them."

Zhao Changhe thought to himself that you might just be insulting your Night Emperor, but hearing San Niang say this eased his mind. He laughed: "Right, let's take our time figuring it out. We'll succeed without learning that."

If they ever had to deal with the Blind One and the Nine Abysses, this might be a clue... San Niang's situation could serve as preliminary research.

Everything has cause and effect.

That slash he used to suppress Vulture Hunter earlier—he hadn't bothered to explain it... In terms of pure power, he, still wounded, was no match for Vulture Hunter. But that slash had already employed his newly studied power of causality, using the form of "repayment" to press back the cause and effect of having been suppressed before. It was too profound; Vulture Hunter hadn't even seen it clearly and was inexplicably overwhelmed.

This thing... had vast potential.

The cause and effect between him and the Blind One was so thick; it would come in handy sooner or later.

San Niang asked, "What about you? I see you studying my avatar, trying to glean experience for the second level. Want to give it a try? It's not hard."

"First, I don't have such clearly opposing dual personalities..."

"You do. When you're gentlemanly, you're very gentlemanly; when you're lecherous, you're no different from a rogue, eager for all sorts of tricks, even studying the back door with that snake. Have you no shame?"

"...I can see you aren't exactly uninterested either..."

"Hmm?"

"Cough... Don't tell me I should split off a lecherous body and keep a monk's soul for my true self?"

Sanniang recoiled in horror: "That definitely won't do, absolutely not."

"Well, there you have it then." Zhao Changhe said lazily, "Besides, I don't do avatars. Seeing someone who looks exactly like me acting under my identity just feels uncomfortable, no matter how you look at it. You said your two selves would argue, isn't it the same logic?"

Sanniang burst out laughing: "There is some truth to that. It really did feel weird watching my avatar play around with you... but I suppose it's fine. I don't even mind being together with Qing'er, so my own avatar wouldn't be much worse. Still, now that you put it that way, I can understand."

"So the most I can accept is the path of splitting my soul into millions to be omnipresent, where everything is under my control..." As Zhao Changhe spoke, the surroundings began to twinkle with points of light, and a gemstone forming part of the formation let out a sound: "Hello?"

Very soon, another stone also made a sound: "Hello!"

Then, one after another, the distant green mountains also called out: "Hi!"

Wherever the soul reached, whatever was seen became where he was; everything in the world could host his soul, and everything was a reflection of himself.

He had once tested splitting his soul beneath the celestial dome underground, and just one attempt had left him with a splitting headache, but now, after long and repeated tempering, it had become this effortless.

This signified that he had already taken giant strides on the path toward the second tier, reaching the point where he could study how to break through.

Sanniang looked at this scene and pondered: "Your method probably has fewer thresholds; it's just a matter of scale."

"Yes, it's an accumulation from quantitative to qualitative change, seemingly without a very distinct threshold. My primary task now is to absorb all the faith energy here to see if it's enough."

"If that's the case, I suggest you change up your tastes and take turns. Don't you get tired of hiding here every day for dual cultivation..."

"Never." Zhao Changhe reached out and touched her: "Not in a lifetime."

"Bah." Sanniang stood up to dress herself, smiling as she said, "There is a secret realm out in the Vast Sea that once allowed Temur to rise. Are you telling me you have no interest in taking a look? At the very least, Fifth Brother asked me to check it out, so I have to go take a look anyway to get the measure of it."

Zhao Changhe recalled this matter as well, standing up with a smile: "Then let's go have a look. By the way, is the Northern Sea corresponding to your Black Tortoise this one?"

"No, my correspondence is actually further north. The Black Tortoise's corpse is right there. I've already obtained the inheritance and ascended to the position of the Black Tortoise Venerable through it, so there's no need to overthink it."

"So there really is an Arctic Ocean here too..." Which meant that everyone had seen the corpses of the Azure Dragon and the Black Tortoise. The Vermilion Bird's corpse was likely at the Southern Radiance Detached Fire position he had sensed beneath the celestial dome underground before, highly probable to have transformed into fire and existed as a divine soul... These were all thoroughly dead. The fact that he could remotely draw upon the Southern Radiance Detached Fire to forge a sword only further proved it had no master.

Only the White Tiger had left no clues, whether in terms of its corpse or its inheritance. This inexplicably appearing ancient White Tiger, thinking about it now, was not inexplicable at all—it was simply that everyone had overlooked it themselves.

Sanniang said, "The White Tiger matter serves as a reminder to us... As for the Vermilion Bird's side, I've spoken with Qing'er. I told her she still needs to go take a look. Her opportunity to break into the second tier is mostly there. You don't need to worry either; there shouldn't be any danger."

"What about you?"

"The only part of the Black Tortoise inheritance I missed was the section at the Craggy Mountains in Yellow Sand Village. I reckon the Black Tortoise passed by near its death and deliberately separated the inheritance related to the Night Emperor so it wouldn't mix with its own... And precisely because it was temporarily separated and hidden, there was no dangerous terrain, just a simple boulder array... As a result, I stationed myself there for years and couldn't find it, only for you to profit from it in the end."

"If I profit from it, don't you profit too?"

"What I mean is that even I was taken advantage of by you..."

"..."

The two chatted idly all the way while riding on the dark stallion, flying leisurely toward the Vast Sea under the gentle breeze of the nighttime grassland.

Zhao Changhe sat behind, wrapping his arms around Sanniang's waist and lightly kissing her cheek. Sanniang enjoyed it immensely, leaning lazily into his embrace as she murmured softly, "Changhe..."

"Hmm?"

"Let's not talk about cultivation, ancient times, secret realms, or the Four Symbols... Just accompany me wandering beneath this night sky, just like when you held me amidst the ocean waves... All right?"

"All right."

"Mmm... you are allowed to move your hand up a little higher..."

This late spring season was originally prone to rain. Yet, during the month or so they had been out on campaign, it had basically not rained, save for occasional local drizzles, making the northern expedition march very smooth. But now that the great war had ended, rain fell frequently, though it wasn't heavy—sprinkling lightly like silk threads, washing away the bloodstains from the earth and causing the air of the grassland to turn fresh and fragrant.

It was as if heaven itself was trying to please them.

Amidst the fine rain and gentle breeze of the spring night, the two journeyed wrapped in each other's arms. The wind and rain brushing against their faces felt just like standing on the shore years ago, when the waves crashed against the reefs and splashed water droplets. Splashing onto their faces, it was sweet; striking into their hearts, it was soft.

The little turtle, who had actively proposed to explore the secret realm, had fallen asleep in the man's embrace, looking as serene as a child.

How could she truly want to explore some secret realm... It was nothing more than feeling it would be beneficial to her man, so no matter how lazy she was, she forced herself up to remind him to take a look.