Chapter 622 Changes at the Clear Sword River Sect
When Yang Qing arrived, the scene that greeted him was completely different from the one he had left when he was last there.
The amount of vegetation had overgrown and the scant buildings that had been barely hanging on by a thread were completely overrun by the vegetation. They looked like deformed hills filled with all manner of vines and flowers.
The people that had been living in the area had already moved on. Yang Qing figured they more than likely left the area when they discovered the sect master of the Clear Sword River Sect had died and could no longer offer them a protective halo, they, therefore, moved on to another area in the hopes of gaining the protection of another organization.
Yang Qing couldn't help but sigh at this. In their absence, wild animals had made the place their own.
Yang Qing silently took everything in as he moved to the area where the sect master's courtyard if it could even be called that, had been.
The area had the densest vegetation. Their leaves were broader and greener, while the trees were taller and had more girth.
The deeper he walked, the denser, lusher, and taller the trees and the other vegetation became. The air was richer, the temperatures cooler as the sunlight couldn't penetrate too deeply because of the dense canopy.
The region was filled with a sense of mystique and grandeur to it. The sense of desolation that had been here before was replaced with a sense of refreshing vitality that was shrouded with a celestial magnificence.
Yang Qing's eyes shined when he sensed the spiritual qi in the area that contained slight traces of his universal qi. The traces were too tiny but to someone whose body was filled with universal qi because of his cultivation light, the traces may have well have been as noticeable as an ocean.
"They're growing.." Yang Qing said with a smile as his eyes fell on the six living things that carried that aura.
There was the oak tree of rejuvenation with leaves filled with crystalline blue-green dew drops,
The gold-flamed sparrow with graceful movements surrounded by an aura of purity,
The skylark whose melodious voice created this beautiful river that brought tranquility and calmness to all whose gaze fell on it,
The firefly whose verdant green light was enriching the plants within the area. If one listened closely, one could hear cheerful screams coming out from every plant the light fell on,
The diamond beetle that radiated with the aura of a stalwart impenetrable shield and sentinel,
The crescent-winged moth that flew with a sense of delicate elegance spreading a refreshing coolness with every flap of its wings that seemed to bring with it the descent of the moon's glow,
Lastly was the aurora azalea which carried the densest aura of the universal qi that Yang Qing had detected among the six. A dawn-colored fog filled with spiritual lights surrounded the azalea.
Faint lines of spiritual qi were drawn toward the fog and then one tiny blue streak would be released for every hundred faint lines that were absorbed.
The blue streak was a condensed and purer spiritual qi built from the spiritual qi surrounding the area.
Yang Qing estimated it wouldn't be long before the azalea improved the spiritual qi quality of the area to be like that of a high-grade spirit mine.
"So considerate.." muttered Yang Qing in amusement when he saw that the area around the courtyard and where he had buried the sect master of the Clear Sword River Sect remained untouched almost like a hallowed ground.
He knew this was by design by the six of them.n(.0vELbIn
"Thank you.." Yang Qing said with a smile which elicited an excited response from the six like children receiving praise from their father.
They had not completely awakened their spiritual senses yet or even officially embarked on their journey on cultivation but because of their intrinsic connection to Yang Qing, they could understand him perfectly, same as they did each other.
They had a connection with Yang Qing and each other because of the universal qi within them that seemed to bind them together. This made it easy for Yang Qing to share his plans with them. The three; the skylark, the moth, and the beetle seemed a little bit reluctant to part with the rest but agreed to go to Meifeng's territory.
Yang Qing did promise them they could return when they were strong enough to travel freely between the two territories or when he came back to visit. Considering they evolved by chance from his universal qi, him cultivating around them could help them improve and who knows he may end up deepening his understanding of his cultivation art as a result.
Yang Qing couldn't help but snicker when a certain thought came to his mind.
If they grew more powerful maybe he could use them to give Ellie a beating whenever she stole from him. The starlight crab didn't give him too much confidence in fulfilling that role but with the addition of a few that we here for example the diamond beetle and the golden flamed sparrow, maybe they might humble that greedy incorrigible bird.
However, that was a matter for another day. After getting their agreement, Yang Qing set up a small protective and illusory formation around the courtyard to shield the remaining creatures from others. They were still too weak to defend themselves and with the abilities they were showing, it wouldn't be too long before roaming cultivators noticed.
Yang Qing set up a formation capable of defending against peak core formation experts and left a spiritual imprint trigger that would notify him in case someone stronger barged in. The imprint had enough power to buy a few seconds against a first-stage palace realm cultivator whose foundations were significantly weaker than Yang Qing's.
After he felt the preparations were sufficient he left with the skylark, moth, and beetle for Meifeng's cavern who was practically skipping with joy when she saw them, especially the crescent moth whom she felt a closeness to, which Yang Qing guessed maybe had something to do with both of them being creatures of yin energy as the crescent moon seemed drawn to her too though not more than it was to Yang Qing.
With everything in place, Yang Qing left the four to familiarize themselves which was Meifeng jumping all over in excitement as she showed them around which wasn't much considering she only had the pond and her main body in the cavern.
That fact didn't seem to bother either party. Meifeng was too excited with her words and thoughts scattered everywhere to notice it while the three new roommates didn't have much spiritual awareness to care much about the decor of their new place and one couldn't deny the main body of Meifeng had enough majesty by itself to drown out the need for anything else and that was even without taking into account the pond that had been improved tremendously by the middle-aged man.
The serenity melody skylark and the crescent-winged moth were already drawn towards it while the diamond beetle was drawn to one of the parasitic purple flower spore sycamore tree's flowers.
Yang Qing made a stopover at the battleground to check on the crystal spring larch and its progress in familiarizing itself with the cultivation art he left it before finally going back to the branch where he found Imperial Secretary He Shan waiting for him with slightly nervous expression.