Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Immortal
As Hu Qing’s cultivation grew, so did her instinct for danger.
Favored by the heavens, she even carried an innate invisibility skill. As long as she didn’t stir her spiritual power, she could blend seamlessly into her surroundings. Even divine sense would struggle to pick her out.
Little Bu knew exactly what she could do—and fell silent with her.
Three full minutes passed before the air in the secret realm twisted.
Two figures tumbled in, both looking slightly battered.
Still disguised as stone, Hu Qing stole a cautious glance. A man and a woman—clearly not dressed like any of the three races of the little li realm. The ornaments they wore and the weapons they carried were equally unfamiliar. Hu Qing was certain none of it belonged to the little li realm’s styles.
Immortals.
Her steady, stone-cold heart nearly leaped out of her chest. Hu Qing forced herself to stay calm, waited a beat, then tested again—letting her gaze skim lightly, never staring too hard.
They didn’t notice her.
Again—nothing.
Once more—still nothing.
Either her invisibility aura worked even on immortals, or they were too distracted by what they’d found.
They flew hand in hand toward the treetops across the lake. Each pulled out a jade bottle nearly an arm long and began collecting the Cloudshadow Aurora. When they landed, both looked delighted.
A quiet, sharp regret tugged at Hu Qing. That treasure had been hers.
Then everything turned.
The male immortal suddenly clamped a hand around the female immortal’s throat and wrenched the treasure away, stuffing it into his own storage. They exchanged words Hu Qing couldn’t hear, and the woman’s face crumpled as tears spilled down.
Cold spread through Hu Qing’s chest. Her caution toward the Immortal Realm—and immortals themselves—shot up another dozen levels.
She didn’t even have time to pity the woman.
The man, poised to silence her for good, let out a strangled scream. With a pop, his entire body exploded into a cloud of blood mist.
The mist didn’t fall. It hovered in midair, unnatural and wrong—
And a moth-winged scorpion beast appeared and swallowed it in one gulp.
The creature was over a foot long, and from where it emerged, it looked as if it had drilled out of the man’s body.
The female immortal calmly smoothed her hair, gathered the man’s dropped items, and stood there without the slightest tremor. Even from this distance, Hu Qing could make out the ruthless mockery on her face.
Hu Qing’s wariness hit the ceiling.
She stayed stone-still and waited.
The woman searched the secret realm, then left.
Hu Qing waited longer.
The woman returned—one last sweep—and left again.
This time, Hu Qing remained hidden until the sense of danger finally faded. Minutes passed. Then more. The woman didn’t come back.
Only then did Hu Qing rise from her disguise.
“That was insect taming,” Little Bu said. “A branch of beast taming.”
Hu Qing blinked. “Not gu?”
“No.” Little Bu sounded almost offended. “Insect taming is easy. Raising true gu is hard. What the little li realm calls gu is closer to insect taming anyway. As for real gu… forget it. You don’t have the aptitude.”
He paused, then added, “Hu Nuan does. When we get back, pass the gu arts to her.”
Hu Qing bristled instantly. “My daughter is not learning that filthy stuff.”
“Heh.” Little Bu gave a cold laugh. “And you think you can stop her?”
Hu Qing fell silent.
She couldn’t stop Hu Nuan from learning Buddhism either—not with that monk uncle lurking in the background, teaching whatever he pleased.
Fine. Her daughter was grown now. She would walk her own road.
Hu Qing let the topic drop. She flew in slow circles above the lake, studying the surface from every angle, distance, and height.
Little Bu’s voice carried a hint of regret. “I told you to collect the Cloudshadow Aurora first.”
Hu Qing dipped low, almost brushing the water with her toes. “That wasn’t important. Thank goodness I didn’t go for it. If I had moved, those two might’ve noticed me the moment they arrived.”
“You think your real opportunity is in the lake?” Little Bu asked.
Hu Qing laughed softly. “Have you noticed what’s wrong with the surface?”
“What’s wrong with it?” Little Bu hadn’t noticed anything at all, but Hu Qing’s tone made him firm up anyway. “If the Heavenly Dao is rewarding you, it won’t miss.”
Hu Qing believed that too. She had already received a heavenly oracle.
The story was ridiculous even to her. A living person like her had been forced into a contract by a divine beast cub—the legendary Gold-Devouring Beast.
Hu Qing hadn’t originally planned to rush into the Immortal Realm, but the Gold-Devouring Beast had pushed her again and again. In the end, she came alone to Heaven’s Grace to scout the way.
And then, one night, in the deepest silence, her consciousness turned empty and still. A small flame appeared in the void, hopping as if it were pointing her somewhere.
As an artifact refiner, she had been obsessed with Spiritfire for years.
She had no reason to doubt this was the heavens finally making good on her longing.
“This lake is nearly a perfect circle,” Hu Qing said. “And the surface isn’t flat. It bulges, just slightly, in the center.”
Little Bu made a skeptical sound. “Does it?”
“It does.” Hu Qing’s certainty didn’t waver. “I dove down. The lakebed is too clean—only fine sand. No water plants, not a single fish or shrimp.”
She had traced the slope from the shoreline to the deepest point. It was so smooth it felt polished.
Divine craftsmanship.
Little Bu grudgingly agreed. “It’s unnaturally neat, but I’m sure it formed naturally.”
Hu Qing hummed. “Which means the lake is a sphere.”
Little Bu went quiet.
“A sphere cut in half,” Hu Qing clarified. “Even the surface is part of the sphere. You can’t easily see it, but it is.”
“And that matters because…?”
Hu Qing’s eyes flashed. “A sphere focuses light.”
From the lakebed, looking up at the shore through the water, the sunlight seemed sharper, brighter—almost harsh. The forest above wavered like colorful lashes.
She stared deeper into the perfectly shaped bowl of the lakebed and, absurdly, thought of a scorching hot marble dropped into ice cream.
Now she wanted ice cream. Even worse, the water felt warm.
Little Bu snorted. “Then go check. You’ve already decided it’s down there.”
“That female immortal checked too and found nothing,” Hu Qing said. “But I’m not her.”
She grinned. “My luck is outrageous.”
With a single kick, she dove straight toward the center of the lake.
A moment later, her voice rang in Little Bu’s mind, delighted. “Do you know the lakebed is a standard hemisphere?”
Little Bu said flatly, “So?”
Hu Qing laughed. “What a gorgeous scoop. Can we take it with us?”
The lake: I’m a scoop?
Little Bu sounded amused despite himself. “If you can dig it out, and if your space can hold it—why not? This lake doesn’t even have a living shrimp. It’s perfect for you.”
Perfect, because Hu Qing’s space couldn’t store living creatures at all.
It was a fragment of an immortal treasure space embedded in her sea of consciousness. Alongside it sat a pile of ruined immortal artifacts: Emotionless Thread, an Xue Sha Pearl, and a Devil Emperor Token.
Put another way—her head was full of broken junk. She was born to pick up scraps.
Her space also housed two “big shots.”
One was an unhatched egg. Its elder had once been a criminal sealed in the thunderlands of the little li realm. Before dying, that unknown colossal beast had forced Hu Qing into a contract, making her acknowledge the egg as its master. Once she escorted it to the Immortal Realm, the contract would dissolve.
In exchange, the beast had placed a restriction within Hu Qing—something that kept others from seeing through her.
Once, the dragon clan had searched her entire body and soul with a dragon pearl. Her origins, and everything hidden in her sea of consciousness, remained undetected.