After everything at the City God Temple was settled.
Su Qing naturally did not intend to continue disturbing the City God Temple.
She gave a thank-you gift, then bid farewell to the City God and left the City God Temple.
Outside the City God Temple.
Su Qing looked up at the high noon sun and muttered to herself:
"I didn't expect it to be noon already. Before going back, I'll bring them something to eat, lest they go hungry."
Thinking this, Su Qing turned to look at Leng Xiang and asked, "By the way, Leng Xiang, is there anything else you want? Since we're in the county town, we might as well buy it together."
Leng Xiang shook her head: "Leng Xiang doesn't want anything."
Seeing this, Su Qing didn't ask further and said, "Alright then! In that case, after we buy lunch, let's head back to the Changbai Mountains!"
Leng Xiang nodded slightly upon hearing this and followed Su Qing to a nearby inn to pack lunch for Ao Ying and the others.
This matter didn't take much time. In a short while, Su Qing and Leng Xiang left Long County carrying food boxes and returned to the Changbai Mountains.
In the Changbai Mountains.
Gongsun Zhixue looked at the house she had worked hard on for half the day, which was not even one-third completed, and felt a bit depressed for a moment.
"I didn't think... building a house would be this troublesome. After being busy for half a day, I've only built this much."
"Ah... if I can't get it done by tonight, I'll definitely be laughed at by that fellow, right?"
Gongsun Zhixue felt some regret; had she known it would be this troublesome, she wouldn't have bragged or made such a grand promise.
If she really failed, she would be embarrassed to death.
"Rest assured, I don't have that much free time to laugh at you! This afternoon, we'll finish it together. I never intended to leave it all to you alone anyway."
Gongsun Zhixue was just feeling vexed.
When she suddenly heard that familiar voice behind her.
She subconsciously turned her head to look.
Sure enough.
Su Qing had returned.
"I don't believe you!"
Gongsun Zhixue retorted:
"With your habits, you definitely would!"
Hearing this, Su Qing's mouth twitched slightly. She helplessly patted the girl's head and said, "Don't think of me as so bad, okay?"
"Aren't you just that bad?" Gongsun Zhixue crossed her arms, curled her lip, and said.
Su Qing gave a helpless smile, not intending to argue with Gongsun Zhixue about this anymore; continuing would surely be endless.
She brought the food box in front of the little fellow and said, "Yes, yes, yes, I'm bad. Here, I brought you lunch!"
"Hmph, at least you have a bit of a conscience," Gongsun Zhixue snorted and said.
"When have I ever lacked a conscience..." Su Qing patted the little fellow's head and said, "Hurry up and eat your food! Stop talking nonsense."
Gongsun Zhixue took the food box, made a face at Su Qing, and then ran off to the side holding the box.
When it came to food, Gongsun Zhixue was too lazy to be angry with Su Qing.
Anyway, if she didn't eat it, it would be a waste, and she'd still be hungry!
"Speaking of which, where did Ao Ying run off to?"
Su Qing looked around but didn't see Ao Ying, so she couldn't help but ask with some concern.
Not far away, seeing Su Qing ask about Ao Ying, Gongsun Zhixue replied casually:
"Her? While she was walking through the forest, her horns got tangled in a lot of vines. Now she's by the water cleaning the vines off her horns!"
Hearing this, for some reason, the image immediately popped into Su Qing's mind.
Such a scene was more or less familiar.
Gongsun Zhixue continued, speaking with a bit of dissatisfaction:
"I told her before, when she went into the forest with me, to be careful not to get caught on strange things, but she still got caught. And she calls me a child, when she's clearly just as stupid."
"Sigh, she's truly an 'adult' who makes one worry."
Su Qing's mouth twitched slightly as she said, "She's over at Heaven Lake, right? I'll go take a look."
Gongsun Zhixue was stunned for a moment upon hearing the name Heaven Lake and said:
"I don't know if that place is called Heaven Lake, but it's a very large lake. Anyway, just look for the big one, you can't miss it."
"Then it should be Heaven Lake for sure."
If one were to talk about the largest lake in the Changbai Mountains, it could only be Heaven Lake, so Su Qing felt it was likely correct.
Thinking this, Su Qing said no more, stood up, and headed toward Heaven Lake.
Arriving at the edge of Heaven Lake.
Su Qing indeed saw Ao Ying sitting by the lake, cleaning the vines from her horns.
"Let me help you." Su Qing walked to Ao Ying's side and helped her clear some of the vines wrapped around her horns, saying, "You too, why didn't you hide these horns?"
Hearing this, Ao Ying gave a helpless smile and said, "I forgot."
Su Qing said jokingly, "You, you're truly smart when you're smart, but when you're being silly, you're truly dense. I never expected that someone as clever as you would actually get tangled up by these little things."
"Sister Xiao Qing, don't tease me anymore. This time was quite embarrassing."
"Alright, alright, I won't laugh at you," Su Qing said. "I'll help you get these things off."
"Thank you, Sister Xiao Qing," Ao Ying said with a beaming smile as she looked at Su Qing.
Su Qing slowly helped her untangle the vines from her horns while chatting about other matters.
"Speaking of which, Ao Ying, you would generally be more comfortable living in water, right?" Su Qing looked at Heaven Lake and couldn't help but ask. "After all, I noticed that when you were recovering from your injuries, you basically couldn't stay away from water."
"Hmm? Yes!" Ao Ying nodded and said, "After all, our Dragon Clan is a water-dwelling race by nature. Our bodies are naturally attuned to water, and we cultivate by absorbing the spiritual energy within it."
"I see. In that case, how about you live here in Heaven Lake from now on?"
Su Qing thought for a moment and said:
"Anyway, this Heaven Lake is an ownerless place. No one will dare say anything if you settle down here."
"And Heaven Lake is large enough. If you live inside, you should be able to cultivate better, right?"
Hearing this, Ao Ying turned her head to look at the massive Heaven Lake, was slightly stunned for a moment, and asked:
"Is this... not very good? This Heaven Lake is perhaps a bit too large."
Su Qing shook her head slightly and said, "Is this Heaven Lake large? Compared to your old home, it's far inferior, isn't it?"
Before Ao Ying could say anything more to refuse, Su Qing simply said:
"Alright, just listen to me! Besides, if you settle in Heaven Lake, you can add a touch of legendary color to the Changbai Mountains!"
"Who knows, in future legends, besides me, there might also be the white dragon of Heaven Lake in the Changbai Mountains!"
Hearing this, Ao Ying couldn't help but smile and said, "Sister, why are you thinking about future legends?"
"After all, I am a genuine immortal now! I definitely have to think about future legendary matters!" Su Qing answered seriously. "Actually! Wanting you to live in Heaven Lake also involves a bit of my own selfishness."
"Selfishness?"
"That's right!"
Su Qing thought for a moment and said:
"Look, this Heaven Lake is beautiful, right? But I feel it's not beautiful enough! If you are in this Heaven Lake, then this Heaven Lake will be even more beautiful! After all, think about it, a beautiful white dragon swimming in this Heaven Lake—how gorgeous that scene would be!"
Ao Ying was stunned for a moment, thought about that image for a bit, and couldn't help but ask, "Sister... likes the appearance of my true form?"
"Well, if I have to say, I do like it quite a bit. After all, who would dislike a white dragon? Especially a white dragon that is beautiful in both human and true form," Su Qing said with a slight smile.
"I see... but I don't often change back to my true form?"
"What does that matter? It's just something to look forward to!"
"Phew, Sister really is something, using such a lame excuse just to trick me into living in Heaven Lake."
"It's hardly an excuse!" Su Qing smiled slightly and said, "I truly do want to see such a sight!"
"Alright, alright! I'll promise Sister then," Ao Ying said. "However, if possible, I also want Sister to accompany me!"
"Dragon and snake swimming together, is it!?" Su Qing was stunned for a moment and said subconsciously.
"What is that?"
"Cough, cough, it's a bit hard to explain. Anyway, just interpret it literally."
"Okay~"
"Alright, it's settled then." Su Qing clapped her hands and said.
"I know!" Seeing this, Ao Ying no longer declined. "Thank you, Sister~"
For Ao Ying, living and cultivating in Heaven Lake also provided significant benefits.
Heaven Lake was a medium-sized blessed land and grotto-heaven, and it was also one of the places with the most dense spiritual energy in the entire Changbai Mountains.
For someone like her who cultivated based on water, it was simply an excellent cultivation site.
"Finally cleaned it. Next time you enter the forest, definitely don't go in looking like this." Su Qing patted her head and said.
"I've already learned my lesson, how could I make the same mistake again?" Ao Ying shook her head and said, "Sister can rest assured."
"That's good! Let's go, we'll head back to eat lunch, and then strive to get the house finished this afternoon." Su Qing stretched her body and said.
"Mhm!" Ao Ying nodded upon hearing this and followed Su Qing with a beaming smile.
After Su Qing and the others finished lunch, they began building the house again.
However, this time, after Su Qing and Leng Xiang joined in, the overall progress was more than just a little bit faster.
On one hand, there were more people, and on the other hand, it was because Su Qing, for the sake of efficiency, didn't stubbornly rely on manual labor to build.
Anywhere that could be solved with magic was directly solved with magic.
After all, having cultivated so many spells, if one didn't use them when necessary, it would seem a bit too foolish.
Besides, the house needed to be lived in today, so naturally, they couldn't dawdle.
In the afternoon.
Because of the increased speed, Su Qing and the others had finished building the house before the orange light of the setting sun cast down.
This newly built house was much larger than the old courtyard from before.
At the same time, there were many more rooms available to live in.
However, although the house was built, it was merely the structure that was finished.
The inside was still empty...
It would still take some time to organize the interior.
Fortunately, Su Qing and the others still had plenty of time, enough for them to get the inside of the house organized as well.
Time passed slowly.
As night fell.
Everything in the house was finally completed.
Leng Xiang went to the kitchen to prepare dinner, while Su Qing replanted the Bodhi Tree back into the courtyard.
"It's been hard on you, you must be starving, right?"
After Su Qing planted the Bodhi Tree, she immediately felt the Bodhi Tree's excited emotions through her connection with it.
At the same time, she could feel the Bodhi Tree rapidly extending its root system downward, and in a short while, it plunged into something special.
If nothing unexpected happened, this was a branch extending from the ancestral vein.
"It seems that just a day or two won't have too much of an impact on the current Bodhi Tree. However, being hungry for too long is clearly not good either."
Su Qing thought to herself as she felt the excited emotions coming from the Bodhi Tree.
Just as she was thinking, Su Qing suddenly felt the surrounding spiritual energy become even more dense, as if she had returned to the courtyard in the Moon Palace.
Su Qing's brow arched as she cast her gaze toward the Bodhi Tree.
She asked, "Did you do this?"
The Bodhi Tree didn't hide it either, sending back an affirmative response.
This made Su Qing slightly surprised.
Although she had long known that the Bodhi Tree had the ability for reciprocal nourishment, she had never paid too much attention to it.
Because for Su Qing, the degree of reciprocal nourishment the Bodhi Tree could provide was far too little, almost negligible.
However, now it was completely different.
The spiritual power it was now nourishing back...
Was many times stronger than in the past.
It even raised the spiritual energy of the entire courtyard by a level.
This point was quite extraordinary.
After all, this meant that as long as she carried this Bodhi Tree, it was equivalent to carrying a small blessed land.
And this was merely the present, merely the beginning.
Su Qing looked at the Bodhi Tree, which was emitting a faint glow.
After pondering for a while, she analyzed in her heart:
"Although she now has the ability to create a small blessed land, it is likely mostly relying on the ancestral vein to achieve this effect for now."
"Once the root system leaves the ancestral vein, it might be difficult to achieve the current effect."
"But even so, it is very extraordinary."
"Once it is fully grown, there probably won't be such a restriction."
"It might even be even more powerful!"
Thinking this, Su Qing exhaled a breath of clear Qi and said to the Bodhi Tree:
"In that case, then grow well!"
"In the next few hundred years, or even longer, we won't have to move around everywhere anymore."
The Bodhi Tree naturally heard Su Qing's words.
But this time the Bodhi Tree did not answer, only earnestly absorbing the power of the ancestral vein's branch.
Five hundred years is not long, yet it is certainly not short, enough for this little sapling to grow.
"Sister Xiao Qing, dinner is ready, come eat!!"
Just as she was speaking, Ao Ying's voice suddenly came from behind Su Qing.
Hearing this, Su Qing also immediately replied:
"Coming, I'll be right there."
Su Qing withdrew her gaze and turned back into the house.
To join Leng Xiang and the others for their first dinner after arriving at the Changbai Mountains.
In the days that followed, Su Qing's life returned to tranquility.
In the blink of an eye, two months passed.
And two months later, Su Qing's Daoist academy finally began construction at the foot of the Changbai Mountains.
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