Chapter 39 News of the Immortal Manor and Listening to the Dao

Ao Run wiped his forehead with a claw, and a flash of clear light restored his cyan dragon scales.

"This was passed down to me by my mother."

"Your mother?"

"Is your mother a true dragon?"

"No."

"Did your mother's master teach it to you?"

"My mother found it in an immortal dwelling."

"An immortal dwelling?"

Su Yu's eyes lit up, and he immediately asked:

"Which immortal dwelling? Where is the immortal dwelling? Is it still there? Are there any other treasures inside?"

"Human, let's make a deal. I'll tell you where the immortal dwelling is, and you grant me my freedom."

Ao Run's body rose and leaned forward, saying in a bewitching tone:

"That is the immortal dwelling of an immortal. Inside are golden courtyards and jade pillars, concealing profound treasures. I only took one item, and it was enough for me to roam the Yuan River unchecked. There are still many treasures left inside, and even a celestial artifact, which is enough to make you a towering figure of great weight within your tribe."

Su Yu looked at the green dragon with a strange expression and remained silent.

Thinking he had been tempted, the green dragon continued:

"Don't you believe me? I can take you there to see it first."

"No, I believe you."

Su Yu snapped back to his senses, but the next second he reached out to grab the green dragon. Its body twisted, springing back several meters to hover in the air and dodge. Seeing this, Su Yu raised an eyebrow and said in a deep voice:

"Come here!"

The faint words contained a force the green dragon could not resist, pulling its twisting body toward him. He caught it by the neck with one hand and chuckled softly:

"You need to understand clearly, you are my pet now, and I am your master. Even if I don't let you go, you still have to tell me where the immortal dwelling is."

The green dragon raised its head, its tone carrying a trace of stubbornness as it said:

"You guessed wrong. I can choose not to tell you."

Su Yu's face sank, and he commanded:

"Tell me where the immortal dwelling is!"

The green dragon remained completely unresponsive, its body coiling back up in the air:

"Private property is sacred and inviolable; the Heavenly Dao Oath does not include this."

"What the hell do you mean private property is sacred and inviolable..."

Su Yu quickly opened the panel to check the Heavenly Dao Oath they had signed, and it indeed stated that subordinates retained autonomy over their private property.

"Well, it really does."

There was nothing more to say, and no way around it. Back then, the green dragon was on the verge of kicking the bucket at any moment, and Kong He'an was ready to smash through the water wall to charge in at any second. There had been simply no time to modify the Heavenly Dao Oath, so the default master-servant contract had been used.

To change it, both parties had to agree to alter the contract's terms.

Now that the crisis had passed, the dragon certainly wouldn't agree to change the master-servant contract into a slave contract.

He couldn't use master-servant privileges to force it to sign, nor could he deliberately drive it into a desperate situation to coerce it. The standard contract explicitly stated that if a master intentionally sent a subordinate to their death, the subordinate had the right to refuse.

"Since I can't play hardball, we'll leave it at this for now."

They would get along well for the time being, and once their relationship improved in the future, he would ask again. Besides, the immortal dwelling wasn't going anywhere, and even if it were an immortal's dwelling, there was a high probability he couldn't enter it right now anyway.

Having subdued a flood dragon, Su Yu couldn't stay idle for even a moment. He immediately retrieved the green dragon and left his residence, flying toward Susha River.

Plunging headfirst into the river, sinking a thousand meters deep into the water, Su Yu patted his waist, and a delicate, exquisite little flood dragon flew out from the spirit beast cage. Accompanied by a long roar, it rapidly expanded and grew into a massive flood dragon over one hundred and fifty meters long.

Su Yu pointed at some aquatic spirits in the distance that were frightened into scattering in all directions by the flood dragon:

"Go, bite them to death."

"Don't compare me to those beasts."

The green dragon reluctantly opened its mouth, and countless primordial water essences gathered around the aquatic spirits.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Orbs of primordial water divine thunder condensed into form and detonated with a crash, instantly turning that stretch of water into a chaotic sea of thunder.

When the river water calmed and the chaos dissipated, a large quantity of pulverized remains was left behind, the blood quickly attracting even more aquatic spirits.

Su Yu opened his panel, which displayed:

"Notice: Your spirit pet flood dragon has killed a level 58 green carp spirit (trash), you gain 76 slaughter experience points."

"Notice: Affected by unknown factors, you actually gain 152 slaughter experience points."

"Notice: Your spirit pet..."

"Not bad!"

"Continue!"

When a spirit pet killed a spirit, he naturally received half of the slaughter experience points by default, and the percentage could be adjusted.

Correspondingly, when he killed a spirit, the spirit pet also received half of the slaughter experience points by default, which could likewise be adjusted.

Su Yu thought for a moment and decisively adjusted the experience ratio so that when his spirit pet made a kill, he would receive 90% of the slaughter experience, while the flood dragon would only receive 10%.

Just as he finished adjusting, the green dragon Ao Run suddenly became agitated, darting straight in front of him and opening its mouth wide as if it wanted to swallow him whole:

"You are too greedy, change it back right now."

Su Yu explained:

"Your strength is far greater than mine, and I need to improve my own strength right now. How about we change it back once I get stronger?"

Ao Run crossed its two dragon claws over its chest and lifted its chin:

"No."

"Then I'll raise it a bit for you, how about twenty percent?"

"Keep it the way it was."

"Thirty percent, at most thirty percent."

Su Yu said with a smiling expression:

"If you agree, I'll grant you a lot more freedom."

Ao Run maintained its crossed-arms posture, but turned its head toward him:

"What kind of freedom?"

"If you agree, I'll give you a few days off every month to go wherever you want."

"Too little."

"Five days?"

"Still not enough."

"A week, one week at most. If you don't agree, forget it."

The green dragon lifted its chin and thought for a moment, then pointed a claw at his chest and said:

"One week is fine, but I don't want to stay inside that thing."

Su Yu pondered for a moment and nodded:

"Deal. Normally you can just stay in the nearby river, but you must hurry back when I summon you."

The green dragon thought it over and extended a claw:

"It's a deal!"

"It's a deal!"

Su Yu reached out and shook the dragon's claw.

With the agreement reached, Su Yu saw a panel notification indicating that the flood dragon's intimacy had increased by 20 points in one go, reaching 35 points now.

Ao Run also appeared to be in a great mood, turning around and diving into the water, its massive body disappearing after a few flicks.

In less than two minutes, Su Yu opened the panel and saw a notification—

"Notice: Your spirit pet flood dragon has killed a level 66 grass carp spirit (trash), you gain 126 slaughter experience points."

"Notice: Affected by unknown factors, you actually gain 252 slaughter experience points."

"Notice: Your spirit pet..."

The corners of his mouth hooked up slightly.

He summoned the Yanyan Sword with a point of his finger, and the flying sword cut across several kilometers of water, gathering a distant school of carp spirits into a vortex. Sword Qi swept back and forth, and the water quickly stained red with blood.

Following that, he extended his left hand, the temperature in his palm plunging as the Bingpo Sword formed in his grip.

Dividing his mind to use two tasks at once, he controlled the Bingpo Sword to weave back and forth in front of him.

The Golden Turtle Ring came with an extra flying sword slot, allowing him to equip two flying swords simultaneously.

However, Su Yu had never tried operating two flying swords at the same time before and needed to practice from scratch.

Still, he felt the difficulty wasn't high. Back in the Secret Realm's Sword Spirit Pavilion, a swordsman named Lan Feiang whose sword mastery realm wasn't even as high as his could easily control two flying swords; he would certainly have no problems.

Although he lacked personal guidance, Su Yu knew how to practice.

The first step was multitasking, simultaneously driving two flying swords.

This wasn't a big problem; he could already manage two or even three tasks simultaneously long ago, operating two or even three flying swords at once without issue.

After that came the slow practice of driving both flying swords in sync. This was a painstaking process of grinding, mastered only through slow familiarization.

Yet, Su Yu was extremely confident he could pull it off.

Because his cheat had a hidden function: as long as he practiced, he was guaranteed to make progress, and every single bit of progress would be solidified, allowing him to constantly maintain his best state and keep improving.

In less than a single hour, he was already able to direct the Bingpo Sword to flexibly execute sword moves while simultaneously driving the Yanyan Sword in combat.

Three hours later, all sword moves were practiced to absolute fluency.

By the fifth hour, he could already drive the Bingpo Sword to join the battle, fighting in coordination with the Yanyan Sword.

By the eighth hour, he was already capable of driving both flying swords in synchronized combat, vastly increasing his killing efficiency.

Beyond that, it was simply a matter of slowly raising proficiency in actual combat until the proficiency of both flying swords was synchronized.

Practicing all the way until evening, Su Yu left the green dragon in the Susha River and returned alone.

The green dragon's strength was no less than that of a level 150 terrifying-template boss, making it top-tier within the Susha River. As long as it didn't recklessly provoke the river god or the rare few major bosses, it was basically safe and worry-free.

After practicing for several consecutive days, Su Yu applied to the guild to attend a lecture, preparing to use those lecture slots.

Carefully reviewing the basic profiles and schedule of the guild's various patron immortals, he chose a veteran loose immortal named Li Zhuoran to attend lectures from.

The application was submitted, and the response arrived the next morning:

"Please proceed to Lecture Pavilion No. 5 at 9:00 AM sharp on August 16th, the 20th, and the 28th. No late arrivals will be admitted. If urgent matters prevent you from attending, please notify us 1 hour in advance to apply for a refund of the slot."

"That means the day after tomorrow."

Closing the communication, he continued on his way to the Susha River.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. On the 16th, he didn't go out, waiting until 8:30 before heading out toward the Lecture Pavilion.

After ticket inspection, he entered a classroom-like hall featuring a raised platform at the front with a prayer mat, presumably for the lecturer. Below it were rows of bright yellow prayer mats, twelve in total, and a faint fragrance drifted through the room, refreshing the mind and spirit.

Su Yu hadn't arrived particularly early, and several people had already claimed seats and were chatting. He randomly found an empty prayer mat in the back row and sat down.

After a while, the other attendees arrived one after another, all present before 9:00.

The moment the time arrived, a crisp bell chime echoed through the room, and a figure quietly appeared on the upper prayer mat and sat cross-legged.

Su Yu looked up. It was an elderly Daoist holding a horsetail whisk and wearing a moon-white Daoist robe, with white hair and a white beard, and a face like spiritual jade. A circular, fan-shaped halo floated suspended behind the back of his head, giving him an otherworldly, immortal demeanor.

This old Daoist was one of the guild's patron immortals, named Li Zhuoran, a veteran loose immortal at level 132.

Despite his elderly appearance, his actual age wasn't as old as it looked; he was just over two hundred years old. However, he had failed a heavenly tribulation before attaining loose immortal status, severely depleting his lifespan and causing him to take on this appearance even before the tribulation.

After the tribulation, his potential was exhausted and making further progress was exceedingly difficult, so he simply gave up and took up a post as a patron immortal in the Thousand Feathers Guild, specializing in lecturing on the Dao.

A single lecture session cost 3 gold coins, accommodating a maximum of twelve people, which amounted to an income of 36 taels of gold per session.

An income of 36 gold coins a day.

"Tsk tsk!"

Though it was impossible to lecture every day—doing so consumed a massive amount of experience and Dao-attainment, making daily lectures impossible—lecturing once a week meant four or five times a month, nearly sixty times a year, which translated to an income of nearly two thousand taels of gold.

If a powerful loose immortal gave up cultivation to focus entirely on making money, they were truly formidable.

"Dong!"

With a crisp bell chime, the old Daoist flicked the whisk in his hand and chanted the true words of the Dao:

"The Great Dao is ruthless, nurturing heaven and earth; the Great Dao is ruthless, revolving the sun and moon; the Great Dao is nameless, fostering all things. I know not its name, so I forcibly call it Dao. Now, the Dao has the clear and the turbid, motion and stillness. Heaven is clear and earth is turbid, heaven moves and earth is still. Males are clear and females are turbid, males move and females stay still. Descending from the root and flowing to the branches..."

As the true words sounded, tadpole-like spiritual runes condensed from slaughter experience and Dao-attainment surfaced above the old Daoist's head.

When a passage of the Dao text was finished, countless tadpole spiritual runes had condensed above the old Daoist's head, transforming into a spiritual cloud.

With a flick of the old Daoist's whisk, the tadpole spiritual runes flew out, scattering evenly among the eighteen people below and rapidly merging into them.

Su Yu immediately opened his panel, which displayed:

"Notice: You listened to the loose immortal Li Zhuoran lecture on the Dao and gained comprehension. The level cap of the Ziyuan Qi Refining Technique increases by 1."

"Notice: Affected by unknown factors, the level cap of your Ziyuan Qi Refining Technique increases by 2."

"So this is how lectures work."

At this moment, Li Zhuoran began his second lecture, once again condensing a large mass of tadpole runes into a cloud. With a flick of his whisk, the tadpole runes flew out and were absorbed by them, and Su Yu's level cap for his Qi-refining mental cultivation method increased by another two tiers.

Repeating this process a full five times, Li Zhuoran stopped lecturing and said:

"Today's lecture is concluded. Those interested may sign up again next week."

Then, with a flick of his whisk, he departed directly, leaving behind the newly awakened crowd.

Emerging from the Lecture Pavilion, Su Yu smacked his lips, rose into the air, and flew outside the city. He flew over a thousand kilometers upstream along the Susha River and plunged headfirst into the water.

Killing the aquatic spirits wandering nearby with a few sword strikes, he waited for a short while until a cyan-scaled flood dragon swam over.

Man and dragon stirred up the riverbed below, locking onto the aquatic spirits and farming them fiercely.

A few days later, Su Yu headed to the Lecture Pavilion once more, still attending Li Zhuoran's class.

Because the patron immortals' profiles very clearly stated that among the guild's many patron immortals, Li Zhuoran's lectures were the best, each session raising the Qi-refining mental method cap by 5 tiers.

However, his price was correspondingly the most expensive; the other patron immortals charged between 150 and 200 silver taels per class, while he charged 3 gold.

If time hadn't been an issue, in terms of cost-effectiveness he wasn't the highest, but Su Yu's lecture slots were guild rewards and didn't cost his own money, so naturally he chose the most expensive one.

Having used up all three opportunities, the cap on his Ziyuan Qi Refining Technique had risen from the previous 75 tiers to a full 100 tiers.

He temporarily reserved his remaining two opportunities, as he didn't currently need them for any other cultivation methods.

The Taibai Sword Classic could indeed be improved, but the guild's only sword-cultivation loose immortal rarely opened an altar to lecture. That big shot was still quite young, striving to break through to higher realms, and spent the entire year away from the guild with virtually no time to come lecture.

Aside from that, techniques like the Mustard Seed Concealment Art, Invisibility Art, and Lesser Heavens Cloud Prohibition Great Art didn't require raising their caps.

Five tiers was the limit; unlike Qi-refining mental methods which could be raised up to a hundred tiers, only sword techniques, various Daoist spell true interpretations, lightning techniques, and prohibition methods shared that hundred-tier ceiling, none of which he possessed at present.

Having finished the lectures, Su Yu had no more distractions and poured his heart and soul into leveling up.

Every single day from early morning he immersed himself in the Susha River, bringing along the flood dragon to slaughter frantically at the riverbed, his cultivation and sword mastery advancing by leaps and bounds.

After a long time, Su Yu was very surprised to discover that this Ao Run was also a striving, hard-working dragon—it turned out to be even more diligent than he was.