Chapter 18
Chapter 18: Azure Carp Becomes a Flood Dragon
Shao Heng’s mouth curved into a sudden, bright smile. She bowed. “Thank you, Elder.”
Zhao Tang regarded her for a beat, then added, “I actually remember you. That day, when the Great Yan Dynasty recruited disciples, we were on the spirit ship and heard every word you said—perfectly clearly.”
If there was any shame to be found, it didn’t show.
Shao Heng only lifted her face and looked back at her, eyes calm and unapologetic, as if to say: So what?
Zhao Tang stared at her for a heartbeat longer, then finally laughed. “If you’re going to fight for it, then fight all the way to the end.”
“Fight cultivators for opportunities. Fight heaven and earth for qi. Fight the Great Dao for fate.”
Her voice lowered, steady as stone. “This immortal path is won through struggle.”
Shao Heng sobered. She bowed deeply. “This disciple understands.”
Compared to the gatekeeper’s guess, she trusted Zhao Tang far more.
Now that she’d learned what she wanted, she didn’t linger. After a few more words, she took her leave.
Zhao Tang remained where she was, watching Shao Heng disappear down the stairwell. After a long time, she murmured to herself, “That day… the Source-Appraisal Jade Disc showed thirteen points of light—something never seen in past records.”
“The aura it gave off matched only Lower Grade aptitude… yet she entered the Qi Induction Realm so quickly.”
“If she can keep this pace and condense over a hundred furnaces of spiritual power in a year, next year’s outer sect tournament won’t be too hard at all.”
She glanced at the unconscious disciples scattered across the lecture hall and sighed. She still had to stay here and keep watch.
In the end, she sat down cross-legged and meditated as well.
Outside, Shao Heng no longer bothered to hide the fact she’d entered the Qi Induction Realm. She took out the Route-Pass Talisman and infused it with a thread of spiritual power.
The cinnabar lines on the brown-yellow paper were dark red at first. When her power touched them, they flared bright and crystalline. The lines shifted and reshaped into a pointer.
Shao Heng followed it, walking with her eyes open, taking in the sect as she went.
The thunder’s disturbance had already been handled by outer sect elders. Cultivators with even a little cultivation weren’t easily knocked out. Disciples moved about as usual, and the day looked almost normal again.
“The Martial Arena… the Herb Hall…”
She slowed as she reached another place. “And this is the Beast Garden.”
The Beast Garden claimed an entire mountain. At the foot of it, golden thorny vines formed a fence that circled the slopes. Runes flowed along the thorns like living ink—a barrier meant to keep what was inside from escaping.
Seeing it with her own eyes made the words in the manuals feel real in a way ink never could.
“In ancient times,” Shao Heng murmured, recalling what she’d read, “Human Clan great experts created spell-contract scripts—brilliant treasures.”
“Among them, the beast-taming lineage was famous. Rumor said its inheritors gave up tempering the body and focused on nourishing spiritual sense, using contract scripts to drive Demon Clan as mounts and servants.”
“The true beast-taming lineage is never passed outside,” she continued, “but the Demon-Contract Spell is openly known. A cultivator can use it to form a contract script with a demon and gain assistance, but it can’t suppress them as perfectly as the true lineage can.”
“When ordinary cultivators use the Demon-Contract Spell,” she thought, “they have to stay alert, or the contracted demon may grow too strong, tear the spell apart, and lash back at its master.”
Demon Clan were proud and unyielding. Why would they willingly be bound?
“The Beast Garden only keeps low-level Demon Clan cubs,” Shao Heng recalled. “They’re tempered from childhood to grind down their wild nature. After a contract, the chance of backlash drops, and they can become helpers to their masters.”
She was about to leave when the golden thorns writhed.
A doorway opened in the fence.
A girl in plain clothes stepped out. The moment she saw Shao Heng, surprise flickered across her face—quick, sharp—but she spoke smoothly anyway.
“Shao Heng,” the girl said, smiling. “Long time no see. Have you been well these days?”
Purple shimmered in her eyes. Her gentle tone made it feel like spring breeze.
If it wasn’t Jiang Yun Jiang, who else could it be?
Shao Heng’s gaze flicked over her. Jiang Yun Jiang had clearly entered the Qi Induction Realm. A robe embroidered with a silver hawk muted her aura, making it hard to judge how many furnaces of spiritual power she’d condensed. Likely a magic tool.
And on her left shoulder—
A green-scaled carp floated in a wrap of water, eyes bright with wary intelligence. A carp demon.
Shao Heng’s thoughts ran wild, but her reply was simple. “I’m doing great.”
Dan Hua’s voice slid into Jiang Yun Jiang’s mind, cold as polished jade. “This girl has only just entered the Qi Induction Realm. With Lower Grade aptitude, it should take more than half a month to condense the yellow sprout. It seems she really was born with strong spiritual sense and good comprehension, just as you said.”
“If so,” Dan Hua continued, “she can barely compare to some Mid Grade aptitudes.”
A pause, then the sharper edge: “She has an old grudge with you, and she isn’t ordinary. Why not find a way to strike first, so you won’t leave future trouble?”
Dan Hua had once been famous for alchemy. Kindness and softness didn’t carry someone to the Sixth Realm.
Jiang Yun Jiang didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she looked at Shao Heng with that same soft smile and asked, “Since you’ve come to the Beast Garden, are you here to pick a spirit beast to keep you company?”
Shao Heng’s eyes slid to the carp demon. “That green carp on your shoulder looks really fat. Did you catch it to braise it or steam it?”
The carp demon stiffened, then darted behind Jiang Yun Jiang’s neck like a child hiding from a bully. A moment later it peeked out again, glaring at Shao Heng with tiny furious eyes.
Jiang Yun Jiang chuckled and reached up, soothing it with a gentle stroke.
Only then did she answer Dan Hua in her mind, thoughts neat and calm as a ledger.
“Lu Shao Heng’s deepest hatred is not me,” she said. “It’s Lu Shao Jia and Lu Shao Jing.”
“Only fools in the Marquis of Pacifying the South’s manor—and Qin Ji—think we’re fighting over their people and their hearts.”
She watched Shao Heng without blinking. “But Shao Heng and me? At first she might not have understood, but later, what we fought over was never anything but interests.”
“What rises from interests can be resolved by interests.”
“Right now, I have the advantage,” Jiang Yun Jiang thought. “Why can’t Lu Shao Heng become a blade in my hand?”
Dan Hua went quiet for a moment, then left only one line behind: “Be careful you don’t get burned playing with fire.”
Shao Heng watched Jiang Yun Jiang and the fish. Jiang Yun Jiang’s expression was smooth, but Shao Heng couldn’t shake the feeling something was off.
Ever since she began cultivating, her senses had sharpened. The flicker of light in Jiang Yun Jiang’s eyes, the faint lift at the corner of her lips—Shao Heng caught it all.
[Jiang Yun Jiang… that damned thing. She isn’t possessed, is she?]
[Is there something dirty on her?]
Her gaze fell again on the carp demon.
There were legends of carps leaping the Dragon Gate, but in reality, most carp demons were mediocre, their potential painfully limited. And Shao Heng knew Jiang Yun Jiang well enough to know she never wasted resources on something useless.
Seeing Shao Heng staring at the carp, Jiang Yun Jiang was unexpectedly straightforward.
“My Master practices divination,” she said. “He calculated that I had a bond with this azure carp and guided me to the outer sect Beast Garden.”
“Once I checked, I found it carries flood dragon blood. Someday it may transform into an azure flood dragon.” Jiang Yun Jiang’s smile softened. “I’ve already formed a Demon-Contract Spell with it.”