Chapter 1369: Chapter 242: Flow of Time (Part 2)

He restored himself to his previous state.

This transaction... it was time for the curtain to fall.

Whoosh.

A streak of snow-white radiance swept out from between Xie Xuanyi’s brows, blooming like a lotus, and slowly landed in front of Cui Zhen.

"This thing is yours back..."

Xie Xuanyi raised a brow. "Don’t you want to check it?"

"Heh."

Cui Zhen didn’t even lift his eyelids. He didn’t inspect the Longevity Lamp, and in the face of Xie Xuanyi’s teasing, he only gave a faint smile.

However.

The handsome Great Demon did not put the lamp away.

The Longevity Lamp floated like a lotus between the two of them.

"If there’s no problem with the item, the transaction is considered complete."

Xie Xuanyi clasped his hands behind his back and said blandly, "Here’s a friendly reminder: Wu Jiu will be coming again very soon."

Heavenly Phoenix Palace had sealed off the whole stretch of Snow Mountain.

The Demon Cultivators under Wu Jiu’s command... were only forty to fifty li from here.

Of course.

For figures on the level of Xie Xuanyi and Cui Zhen, breaking out of a blockade was nothing, as long as they didn’t bump into Wu Jiu himself, they wouldn’t run into any trouble. What truly made the two of them wary was the Great Palace Master, and the Great Palace Master’s Power of the Sky Vault.

"Thanks for the reminder, I won’t be staying here."

Cui Zhen smiled and said, "I’ll give you a friendly reminder as well... Heavenly Phoenix Palace and Great Ape Mountain know you’re still in the Demon Country. Those fellows are looking for you too."

"..."

Xie Xuanyi narrowed his eyes.

Over the past six months, he’d had a few brief soul-thought exchanges with Chen Jingxuan.

The Da Chu Dynasty had also embedded an intelligence network within the Demon Country.

It was just that... compared to the Demon Country spies in Qingzhou North County, the actions of the Human Race Dark Children were extremely restricted. The Demon Country side was quite "united"; almost none of the high-levels had defected. Most of the Dark Children the Human Race had sent over were hibernating in Demon Great Cultivators’ Cave Mansions, serving as slaves, unable to obtain much useful information.

So the only "Dark Child" Xie Xuanyi could truly rely on was the Sea Surfing King.

Lately, even Chu Lin had gone silent.

As for the movements of the Demon Country’s upper echelons, Xie Xuanyi could be said to know nothing at all.

Cui Zhen, however, was different.

He had originally been the number one Great Venerable of the Demon Country, had operated for many years, and under him there was still a trump card like Ye Ling that had never been exposed.

He was practically intimately familiar with the Demon Country high-level’s every move.

"Actually, our transaction can continue."

Cui Zhen said meaningfully, "We’re both running for our lives anyway... why not help each other out a bit..."

"Help each other out?"

Xie Xuanyi let out a light chuckle; the implication couldn’t be more obvious.

He was now a Great Harmony Cultivator.

Cui Zhen... was still only a Yin God.

The two were no longer on the same level; what ’helping each other’ could there be?

"I know you’re currently comprehending the Great Creation Technique."

Cui Zhen hit the mark in a single blow.

Over the past six months, he had displayed all the visualization maps one by one—

Cui Zhen disdained playing word games.

Since he had agreed to teach Xie Xuanyi how to repair the Boundary Stele, he naturally wouldn’t intentionally hold back. He had simply shown Xie Xuanyi all the visualization maps; whichever were suited for comprehension, he would just directly comprehend them.

Although Xie Xuanyi had repeatedly claimed he couldn’t understand them.

Cui Zhen didn’t believe that at all.

If he couldn’t understand them, why did he keep looking? Was Xie Xuanyi an idiot?

"With your aptitude, you should have understood at least one or two by now, no?"

Cui Zhen’s gaze burned. "As long as you’ve understood one visualization map, you should know the value of the Great Creation Technique... You’re going to attempt the Heavenly Human Realm sooner or later; a complete Holy Realm is indispensable. With this visualization map, you can greatly speed up your repairs to the Boundary Stele."

"You want to use the remaining Great Creation Technique to extend our transaction?"

Xie Xuanyi couldn’t help but laugh aloud.

This Cui Zhen truly lived up to being an old fox who’d lived so long.

No... to be precise, an old demon...

"Yes."

Cui Zhen said calmly, "And not only that. I know that, to you, the Great Creation Technique can be very important, and it can also be not so important. So I can also do you another favor."

"What kind of favor?"

Xie Xuanyi raised a brow.

"Although I don’t know what you’ve stayed in the Demon Country to do..."

Cui Zhen looked straight into Xie Xuanyi’s eyes. "I can help you. The number of Dark Children Chen Jingxuan has placed among the Demon Country high-level is limited. If you want first-hand intelligence, you must have someone you can truly trust."

"You?" Xie Xuanyi said.

"Me."

Cui Zhen spoke evenly. "You’ve been here for over two hundred days. You should know what kind of person I am."

Although the two of them were always exchanging words, never short of mutual jabs and the occasional cold sarcasm.

But Cui Zhen’s character was indeed rather precious.

This former number one Venerable cherished his reputation and valued his promises.

Take the matter of the Great Creation Technique visualization maps, for instance: Cui Zhen completely could have forged them, or been perfunctory.

But he hadn’t done so.

"Xie Xuanyi, you and I are not enemies, at least for now... we’re not."

Cui Zhen said frankly, "Back then the southern campaign was indeed initiated by me. But now I have no intention of starting a war again."

For now, he only wanted to settle the old grudges of those years.

As for the unfinished great cause of marching south...

Perhaps once the hatred had been exhausted, Cui Zhen might "repeat his old mistakes," but that would be something far in the future.

"..." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Xie Xuanyi fell into a tangle of contemplation.

When he’d come today to return the Longevity Lamp, he had still been thinking about how to get the remaining Great Creation Technique visualization maps.

Although he had already looked through them all once.

These things could not linger in his Divine Sea.

If he wanted to comprehend them, he couldn’t do without Cui Zhen.

Getting this fellow out of Snow Mountain wasn’t a big deal, but keeping him by his side all the time gave Xie Xuanyi an ominous feeling. He felt that Heavenly Phoenix Palace’s main firepower was aimed at Cui Zhen; if he stayed together with him, he was very likely to shoulder a massive amount of Cause and Effect.

Should he agree or not?

On the other side.

Watching the look on Xie Xuanyi’s face, a trace of hesitation flashed through Cui Zhen’s heart.

He did not know that the extended deal he’d proposed had already begun to move Xie Xuanyi’s heart.

The main thing was that he couldn’t be sure how valuable the Great Creation Technique was to Xie Xuanyi.

For Cui Zhen’s own Ultimate Poison Sacred Realm, repairing it was troublesome, but not that troublesome.

He had visualized a Pure Blood Phoenix; what he had to do was repair the Phoenix Divine Statue. After comprehending seventeen visualization maps, if he wanted to repair the Phoenix Divine Statue, he only needed to pour in a vast amount of Pure Yang Dao Intent.

Infusing Undying Spring could greatly accelerate the Holy Realm’s speed, but Cui Zhen would not do that.

He could never have imagined...

The repair difficulty of the Primordial Swallowing Sacred Realm was dozens of times, hundreds of times that of the Ultimate Poison Sacred Realm!

For Xie Xuanyi, if he wanted to repair the Boundary Stele, he either had to consume a sea of Undying Spring, or consume an even vaster amount of Life and Death Dao Intent... The Great Creation Technique was almost a Divine Skill he absolutely had to comprehend and grasp.

As for Cui Zhen, he was completely unaware.

At this moment, watching the deeply pondering Xie Xuanyi.

Cui Zhen couldn’t help but sigh.

What if this guy really was a hotheaded fool?

"I can make a few more concessions."

Cui Zhen looked at that snow-white lamp hovering between the two of them and said helplessly, "Before I reach Harmonization, this Longevity Lamp can remain on loan to you."

"...?"

Xie Xuanyi lifted his head and looked somewhat in surprise at the Great Demon before him.

He hadn’t expected at all that Cui Zhen would be willing to yield the Longevity Lamp again.

No wonder.

This fellow hadn’t taken the lamp from the start.

He’d already planned this, wanting to ’renew the subscription’?

"But this time, I have a condition. The vitality within this Longevity Lamp—you must keep it Perfect at all times."

Cui Zhen clenched his teeth and said solemnly, "It won’t be long before I attempt another Harmonization Tribulation... I need to rely on the lamp’s vitality to endure this tribulation. You’re a Yang God Great Cultivator; borrowing your lamp for cultivation, and having you use your Life Dao to keep it Perfect—this request shouldn’t be excessive, right?"

With things said to this point.

Xie Xuanyi knew there was nothing left worth hesitating over.

The Great Creation Technique had to continue being comprehended.

It was time he left Snow Mountain. Bringing Cui Zhen along would certainly carry risk, but it might also bring unexpected gains.

"Alright—"

Xie Xuanyi flicked his sleeve with a swish and directly drew the Longevity Lamp back into his Forehead Cave Heaven.

"The transaction continues."