A group of Ascended Elders, a mix of humans and great demons, were arguing furiously beside the spiritual energy barrier. They accused each other of being the primary obstacle to Princess Linglong, each claiming they had favored Chen Luo from the start.
Long Ji, surrounded by everyone, watched these eccentric elders with a speechless expression. At the same time, she marveled inwardly at Chen Luo's charm: "In just seven days, almost all the elders have unconsciously developed a strong liking for him. And Linglong, from the very first day, has been wearing the calming jade pendant I gave her. Yet, after only a few meetings, she can't bring herself to feel any ill will towards him."
Long Ji gazed deeply at Chen Luo on the screen. The young man's face seemed devoid of any gloom, always appearing relaxed and carefree, as if nothing in the world could trouble him. "Immortal Body Luo, huh... The spiritual energy fluctuations from him are definitely only at the third level of spiritual energy, I can confirm that. He also lacks the unique immortal essence and Dao rhythm that appear after ascension. This child is truly just an ordinary person who has just begun cultivating."
"But why does even his demeanor feel extraordinary to me? Could I also be influenced by this Immortal Body Luo?" Long Ji silently circulated the vast sea of immortal essence within her. A red sun was visualized above her immortal essence. Under the great sun's illumination, her Dao heart was crystal clear and transparent, showing no signs of being bewitched.
After confirming her Dao heart was clear and her thoughts were unhindered, Long Ji looked at Linglong, who appeared shy on the screen, and sighed inwardly. "Forget it, as long as Linglong is happy. I, Hanhai, am indebted to Linglong..."
...
On the edge of the Floating Mountain, after a bit of playful banter, Linglong, feeling much more relaxed, pushed herself up. With a casual wave, she summoned her flying sword and leaped, landing steadily upon it. Linglong, standing on the flying sword, smiled and extended her hand to Chen Luo. "Let's go, Young Master Chen. Someone wants to see you."
Chen Luo, after a slight pause, took the young woman's soft hand and also stood on the flying sword. Linglong felt the strength in the young man's palm, her pretty face flushing. She quickly turned her head. "Hold on tight. Use your spiritual energy to adhere to the flying sword, be careful not to fall!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the flying sword beneath them shot through the air with a whoosh.
"Hey! Don't touch my waist!!"
"S-sorry! I don't know how to use spiritual energy adhesion!"
"Ah? That's right... you've always been a rogue cultivator... Well then, be gentle... I'm ticklish..."
On the other side of the spiritual energy screen, the elders who witnessed this scene turned red with anger. "Argh!! This brat is playing tricks on Princess Linglong!!!" "Spiritual energy manipulation is instinctual! How could he not know how to do it!!!" "Exactly!! Look, this kid looks relaxed, he's not shaking at all. How can he hold your waist so steadily?!"
Suddenly, the octopus-headed Ascended Elder said faintly, "Do you think Princess Linglong really doesn't know?" The previously indignant elders all choked simultaneously. After exchanging glances, they were all stunned. It seemed, *we* were the ones who didn't understand.
Amidst the dazed atmosphere of the Ascended Elders, Long Ji let out a chuckle, covering her mouth with a jade hand, her eyes filled with amusement as she watched the two on the screen. In fact, even if the young man knew how to adhere with spiritual energy, it would be useless. She knew her daughter's flying sword well; observing the spiritual pattern fluctuations, it was clearly equipped with the ability to block external spiritual energy. Her daughter was deliberately making it so the other party couldn't adhere, forcing him to hold onto her!
However, Long Ji also saw that this young man harbored no lust for her daughter. He was genuinely using a very sophisticated method of power manipulation to steady himself while holding her daughter's waist. Looking at it this way, her daughter, who was pretending to be prey, was likely to be given away in vain.
...
The flying sword sped through the clouds, a layer of spiritual energy barrier blocking the oncoming strong winds. The mountains gradually receded below the flying sword as the young man and woman ascended higher into the sky. The simple white robes couldn't conceal the softness of the girl's waist, which seemed to be becoming increasingly soft due to Chen Luo's support.
However, the blushing Linglong didn't notice that Chen Luo was currently observing the floating mountains and the distant sky with great interest. In Chen Luo's eyes, countless constantly changing spiritual energy patterns were being silently recorded. According to the introductory text on formations, the spiritual patterns of this world were divided into innate and acquired. The difference was that one was naturally formed, and the other was artificially created.
Innate was not necessarily stronger than acquired; at least, the development of spiritual energy civilization was moving in the direction of overall strengthening. Numerous formation masters had analyzed innate spiritual patterns and, based on this, created and developed many acquired spiritual patterns. The current immortal civilization had over 1.2 billion types of spiritual patterns, and their numbers were still increasing. Furthermore, because spiritual patterns were not two-dimensional figures but three-dimensional states, learning and researching them became even more difficult.
But Chen Luo was quite interested in these things because these patterns reminded him of the magic patterns that were transmitted into his brain when he received system skills. The great masters of formation cultivation in this world could, according to their will, construct spiritual pattern combinations to achieve the desired effects. In Chen Luo's eyes, this was, in a sense, self-created skills! With the two systems complementing each other, Chen Luo felt that his gains in this world might be much greater than he had imagined.
If only the daydreaming Linglong knew what the young man behind her was thinking, she would probably bite him directly.
A moment later, the flying sword stopped beside a magnificent Floating Mountain. This was the highest point within the entire Hanhai Sky Curtain. On this moon-white Floating Mountain, a large area of magnificent architecture stood silently, as if it had been there for tens of thousands of years.
The flying sword, carrying the two, slowly flew towards a blue light circle outside the mountain.
*Whoosh!*
The instant the flying sword passed through the light circle, Chen Luo felt the scenery before his eyes change abruptly. He found himself inside a spacious grand hall. The hall was entirely constructed from a moon-white rock that emitted a faint glow. In Chen Luo's true sight, these faint glows were spiritual energy condensed to the extreme, visible even to mortals without spiritual energy aptitude.
Having already had a preliminary contact with the cultivation knowledge of this world, Chen Luo instantly recognized these moon-white rocks. They were all Spirit Crystals, a hundred times more precious than high-grade spirit stones! This was a hall built purely with wealth!
After a brief moment of admiration, Chen Luo's gaze was drawn to the crowd of "seafood" surrounding him. Lobsters, king crabs, squid, octopuses... Yes, these seafood creatures had human bodies, but their heads were those of fish and shrimp. At this moment, they were looking at him with human-like expressions: appraising, curious, probing, scrutinizing, but without any negative emotions. However, this scene was indeed quite startling, even making Chen Luo feel hungry.