Chapter 162

Chapter 162: Special Physiques

Yun Xi still didn’t know Wei Yun Qing was stranded in the Bao Hua Mountain Range. If she had known, she would have sighed, because it was obviously the Heavenly Dao creating a trial opportunity for Wei Yun Qing, forcing her to gain combat experience, and likely even throwing in some rare treasures.

If Yun Xi had been nearby, she would have rushed over at once and followed behind Wei Yun Qing to steal her opportunities. Unfortunately, Yun Xi was still in the mortal world at this time. Still, they had already traveled more than half the distance, and they would likely return to the Cultivation World soon.

While Wei Yun Qing began her miserable trial, Yun Xi and the others had already rested in Jin Yun City for two days and were preparing to continue their journey.

Before they left the inn, the owner kindly reminded them, “Honored guests, Jin Yun City is holding a Flower Queen Contest. If you’re not in a hurry, you can stay and enjoy the excitement.”

“A Flower Queen Contest? Is that choosing beauties?” Yun Xi asked quickly.

“Yes. Not only are there flower queens from the city’s brothels and pleasure houses, but there are also winners selected from several nearby towns. There are both men and women, and all of them are respectable courtesans with clean backgrounds.

“Once they compete in the Flower Queen Contest, their value will rise. Whoever becomes the flower queen among flower queens will even be sent to the capital, where they’ll have a chance to sing and dance for the emperor. So any flower queen with ambition rushes to take part.”

Liu Hao Tian and Yu Qing Cheng weren’t interested. Their Hundred Flowers Pavilion already chose disciples based on looks. Pulling out any one of their disciples at random would crush the beauties of the mortal world, so they had little interest in staying to watch.

Xia You had never been to the mortal world. She simply wanted to join the fun, and she was clearly tempted.

Yun Xi, on the other hand, was interested in the idea of an ancient beauty contest. She wanted to see it in person, so she smiled and asked the shopkeeper, “When will the Flower Queen Contest be held?”

“You’ve come at the perfect time. Today there’s a parade. It’s the official appearance of all the flower queens.”

“In that case, we’ll go and watch.”

When the shopkeeper heard that, he immediately asked, “Then do you still want me to keep your rooms? If you check out now, by the time you come back from the parade, the rooms will likely be gone.”

Yun Xi pressed her lips into a smile. So that was what the shopkeeper was waiting for. She immediately said boldly, “Keep them. We’ll go watch the excitement first.”

“Alright. I wish you honored guests a good time.”

The shopkeeper walked them out the door, then went back into the inn with a smile. He loved hosting guests like this—people with few troubles, generous hands, and no fuss.

Liu Hao Tian and Yu Qing Cheng both felt Yun Xi was still childlike, just wanting to join the excitement, so neither of them objected. Once the four stepped onto the main street, they were slowly surrounded by the flow of people.

But no matter how many people were around them, the four stayed together and weren’t separated by the crowd.

On the main street, carriages pulling the flower queens moved forward in a line. The carefully dressed flower queens all did their best to show their most beautiful side. Men were handsome, women were lovely, and it truly felt like a sea of flowers that dazzled the eyes.

Around every flower carriage were people in charge of creating momentum. From time to time, they tossed copper coins or little pouches into the crowd to draw more spectators. At the same time, they loudly praised their own flower queen’s charms and strengths, hoping to gain more supporters.

Most common people watched the flower carriages on the main street. Wealthy and powerful families rented out the teahouses and restaurants along the street, watching from the second floor while sipping tea and occasionally making comments.

Yun Xi was simply soaking in the atmosphere. She thought it was pretty interesting and a fresh experience. But the longer Liu Hao Tian and Yu Qing Cheng watched, the stranger their expressions became. Even Xia You noticed and sent a voice transmission. “Fellow Cultivator Yu, is something wrong?”

Yu Qing Cheng’s gaze flickered. “We’ll talk after we get back.”

The parade ended before sunset. Next would be the talent performances, where people could go watch the flower queen they liked perform. So Yun Xi and the others returned to the inn.

This time, Liu Hao Tian stopped Yun Xi and told her what he and Yu Qing Cheng had discovered.

After hearing them, Yun Xi’s mind spun quickly. As she thought, she spoke. “Fellow Cultivator Liu means these flower queens aren’t just pretty. Most of them have special physiques. The women have pure yin bodies, and the men have pure yang bodies. If I remember correctly, people with those physiques can all enter cultivation. And once they succeed in cultivation, they become excellent human furnaces.”

Yu Qing Cheng immediately nodded. “Master Wei is right.”

“Then how did you tell?” Yun Xi was curious about this. She was a Golden Core cultivator now. If she didn’t compress her divine sense, it could reach the level of early Divine Transformation. There was no reason she wouldn’t have noticed, yet two Foundation Establishment cultivators did.

Yu Qing Cheng blinked her phoenix eyes and smiled as she explained, “In our Hundred Flowers Pavilion, half the cultivators follow the demonic path and half follow the righteous path. There are also those who specialize in dual cultivation methods. Those methods have requirements for physiques. I traded for a dual cultivation method from a demonic-path fellow disciple, and it included a technique for probing physiques.

“Today, it was Senior Brother Liu who reminded me that these flower queens all looked like they were heading toward death. Only then did I use the hand seal to probe, and I discovered that their physiques were all unusual.

“If there were only one or two, we could call it coincidence. But out of ten, half had special physiques. That means there’s a problem. Cultivators believe in many things, but the one thing we don’t believe in is coincidence.”

Only then did Yun Xi and Xia You understand. The two of them really had gone to watch the fun, while Fellow Cultivator Yu and Fellow Cultivator Liu had noticed something abnormal.

Yu Qing Cheng smiled and said, “You two are still young, so it’s normal you didn’t notice. If you’re interested, I can teach you that little probing technique.”

“Hehe, I’d love that. Then I won’t refuse.” Yun Xi accepted shamelessly. A small technique like this could still be very useful at critical moments.

After they finished talking about how the anomaly was discovered, they returned to the main issue.

Based on the usual patterns from the cultivation novels she had read, Yun Xi gave her own guess. “Since Fellow Cultivator Liu discovered this, do you suspect it’s evil cultivators doing it? They select people with special physiques in the mortal world, then send them into the Cultivation World as furnaces, raised from childhood.

“And these mortals mostly have clean backgrounds and aren’t tied to any clans or powers. Once the furnaces are trained successfully, they can be handed to cultivators whose lifespan is running out, or who are desperate to break through.

“First, it makes those people owe them a favor. Second, it lets them infiltrate major sects and great families in the Cultivation World. Third, it helps them gather more useful information, so the evil cultivators have capital to fight against us.”

The more Yu Qing Cheng, Liu Hao Tian, and Xia You listened, the more alarmed they became. The evil cultivators’ scheme felt terrifyingly far-reaching. If they really succeeded, the Vast Cosmos Realm would be in danger.

In truth, Yun Xi’s guess was already close to part of the facts. It traced back to when Yun Xi and the others ruined the evil cultivators’ kidnapping operation.

Xia Fei Valley was one such place. The evil cultivators had targeted a direct disciple of True Lord Jiu Yue of the Immortal-Devil Sect, so everyone took it seriously. No one wanted their carefully cultivated seedlings to be destroyed, and their hatred of evil cultivators only deepened.

Because of that, sects and cultivation clans all strengthened protection for talented disciples and began tracking the evil cultivators who were kidnapping people. They even joined forces secretly to carry out one purge, which forced the evil cultivators to stop showing themselves.