"Afterward, you exchanged a few more words with the Princess of Chu, who proved to be exceptionally intelligent. She discerned your inner thoughts and spoke accordingly."
"I understand the hesitation in your heart, Young Master Lin," the Princess of Chu began. "I will first present my sincerity and bargaining chips to demonstrate that my Chu Kingdom genuinely holds the utmost sincerity towards you. Let me begin by asking Young Master Lin a question: If you wish to obtain the Stone Monkey Celestial Art, you must elevate your cultivation by at least three or four minor realms to contend with the Fourth Prince in the First City."
"And as far as I know, the Stone Monkey Celestial Art in the First City will have a result in seven days. Are you confident, Young Master Lin, that you can rapidly ascend three or four minor realms within these seven days?"
Upon hearing the Princess of Chu's words, you pondered for a moment. The contest for the Stone Monkey Celestial Art will conclude in seven days? This indeed instills a sense of urgency. To elevate three or four minor realms within seven days is undoubtedly challenging. Ordinary cultivators often take over a decade to ascend a single realm. To rapidly improve by three or four minor realms in a mere seven days is akin to ascending to the heavens.
Even you are no exception. After all, traveling from the First City to the Second City alone took two days. Calculating the time, it took you four days to elevate two realms. Elevating three or four realms in seven days is indeed difficult.
You contemplated briefly and then replied that the seven-day timeframe was indeed pressing. You intended to seize the time and plunder the treasuries of the Fourth Prince's subordinates in each city from the Eighth City all the way to the First City, using their treasures to enhance your strength.
"Young Master Lin has quite the plan. Killing and plundering treasures is indeed the fastest way to improve one's cultivation," the Princess of Chu chuckled upon hearing this response. "However, Young Master Lin, this plan won't work. I can sense that the spiritual energy within you has strengthened somewhat. Compared to the third level of the Nascent Soul realm earlier, you have now reached the fourth level, haven't you? I suspect you obtained the treasury of one of the Four Heavenly Generals of the Immortal Palace. The treasury of the Four Heavenly Generals of the Immortal Palace contained a Nascent Soul Fruit. You must have consumed this Nascent Soul Fruit to reach the fourth level of the Nascent Soul realm, correct?"
Lin Changqing nodded. The Princess of Chu continued, "If you believe that every subordinate of the Fourth Prince possesses such treasures as the Nascent Soul Fruit, then you are mistaken. The Nascent Soul Fruit is not only significant in the Eighth City; it is an extremely important opportunity in the first seven cities of the entire Starry Sky Ancient Road. It is not easily obtained. As far as I know, from the Seventh City, Sixth City, Fifth City, all the way to the Third City, the Fourth Prince's subordinates do not possess such treasures as the Nascent Soul Fruit that can rapidly enhance cultivation. Moreover, even if they did exist, it is extremely rare for someone like the Four Heavenly Generals of the Immortal Palace to retain them without using them. Most people immediately consume any opportunities they obtain in the ancient cities."
"For example, a subordinate of the Fourth Prince in the Fourth City, named Haitian Hou, immediately consumed a Scarlet Fruit Elixir that enhanced his cultivation. The Blood River Daoist, a subordinate of the Fourth Prince in the Third City, also immediately consumed a Nascent Soul Fruit upon obtaining it."
"Therefore, Young Master Lin, if you intend to fight your way through, hoping to obtain opportunities to enhance your realm, similar to the Nascent Soul Fruit, from the hands of these subordinates of the Fourth Prince, then you will likely be disappointed. Even if you defeat them, those treasures for enhancing cultivation would have already been consumed by them. Not everyone is like the Four Heavenly Generals of the Immortal Palace, retaining the Nascent Soul Fruit without using it."
"Is that so?" Lin Changqing frowned. Hearing the Princess of Chu's words, it seemed that his method of enhancing his realm was about to fail.
If those subordinates of the Fourth Prince did not possess treasures for enhancing their realm,
Then it would indeed be difficult for him to rapidly elevate four minor realms within seven days.
Seeing you frown, the Princess of Chu narrowed her eyes slightly. This was the outcome she desired. To enhance her own importance, she needed to make others need her, and she had a way to enable Lin Changqing to rapidly elevate four realms.
Following this, the Princess of Chu informed you that she possessed a method to rapidly enhance your realm without any side effects, a method that could directly elevate you from the fourth level of the Nascent Soul realm to the eighth level.
"Young Master Lin, this is the sincerity I wish to demonstrate first. I have a way to rapidly elevate you by four minor realms to the eighth level of the Nascent Soul realm, and without any side effects."
"What method?"
The Princess of Chu did not directly answer. She extended her fair hands and poured another cup of tea for Lin Changqing. Subsequently, she retrieved a beige storage bag from her waist. With a tap, she produced a statue from the storage bag. It was a statue of a horse, crafted entirely from bronze. Most remarkably, this bronze ancient horse statue possessed a third eye at its center.
"Does Young Master Lin recognize what this is?" The Princess of Chu placed the bronze ancient horse statue near Lin Changqing's hand. Lin Changqing picked it up, feeling a slight heaviness. He estimated it weighed several hundred pounds. The touch was cold to the hand.
You held the bronze ancient horse in your hand. Could this thing possibly help you elevate four realms? But you truly didn't recognize what it was. You felt it was just an ordinary bronze artifact, at most with slightly special materials.
You directly asked with your doubts. The Princess of Chu smiled and replied that it was a statue of a sacred beast.
"Sacred beast?"
"That's right, a sacred beast," the Princess of Chu nodded emphatically. "The world generally knows that sacred beasts refer to dragons, phoenixes, unicorns, and at most, the Black Tortoise. However, few know that in ancient times, besides these five familiar sacred beasts, there were also five divine beasts. The ancient ancestors referred to these as the Ten Great Sacred Beasts. Each sacred beast possessed the power to destroy the heavens and the earth, and upon reaching maturity, they could directly reach the realm of immortals. The bronze ancient horse is one of the Ten Great Sacred Beasts of ancient times. It is also called the Three-Eyed Celestial Horse."
"In ancient times, each of the Ten Great Sacred Beasts possessed the strength to deter the myriad realms. It is said that in every era, the Ten Great Sacred Beasts would be re-ranked according to their combat power, and the bronze ancient horse has never fallen out of the top five in the ranking of the Ten Great Sacred Beasts, and sometimes it could even occupy the first position!"
Hearing the Princess of Chu say this, you were astonished. You had never really learned about the Ten Great Sacred Beasts. It seemed that these royal families indeed spared no expense and understood some secrets that ordinary people did not know. Subsequently, you were even more astonished to hear the Princess of Chu say that the bronze ancient horse could sometimes rank first among the Ten Great Sacred Beasts, because this meant defeating the True Dragon, Black Tortoise, and Unicorn, which was indeed an extraordinary achievement.
"So this is a statue of a sacred beast," Lin Changqing said. "However, what does this have to do with me enhancing my realm? Could this statue be left behind by a sacred beast, similar to some kind of natural treasure? However, what I observe is just ordinary bronze material, and I don't feel any special spiritual energy."
The Princess of Chu replied, "This bronze ancient horse cannot directly help you enhance your realm, but the key point to enhancing your realm does indeed lie within it. The bronze ancient horse was naturally nurtured by heaven and earth in ancient times. This kind of sacred beast is not born from blood relations, just like the Spiritual Stone Monkey in the primordial era, which was born from the stone used by Nuwa to mend the heavens. The bronze ancient horse, this kind of sacred beast, is also born from spiritual objects nurtured between heaven and earth."
