In the desert, Zhang Tie's spiritual energy was constantly repeating the extremely boring cultivation process in the void …
This cultivation process was so monotonous that it could drive people crazy. Zhang Tie constantly condensed the two energies in the void. After condensing them, he would let the two energies dissipate naturally. This process was not repeated 10 times or 8 times, but thousands of times. Until Zhang Tie's spiritual energy became completely numb and everything became an instinctive and mechanical response.
Zhang Tie hoped that he could move the two energies as freely as breathing one day.
In order to achieve this goal, he had to make this process as simple as breathing.
He had to cultivate and train diligently. Only by repeating the same thing numerous times could he make a bit improvement. In such a training, he could only be accompanied by loneliness and emptiness.
Nothing in the world was fair. Perhaps, the only fair thing was time. Time was the same for everyone. You lived one day, others would also live one day. The only difference was what you watered on. After a long time, what you watered would root, sprout, grow, flourish and bear corresponding flowers and fruits. Some fruits were good, some were evil, some were beautiful, some were ugly, some were sweet, some were bitter …
There were powerhouses in each realm. The so-called powerhouses were definitely those who had spent the most time in that realm.
It was Zhang Tie's first real secluded cultivation since he came to Motian Realm.
In such a closed-door cultivation, Zhang Tie forgot about time and the disturbances in the outside world. He was fully immersed in cultivation. Not until his portable jade plate started to rock regularly did Zhang Tie come out of that realm and open his eyes.
A message came from Leng Manxue — — Your Majesty, Wu Qiankun of Emperor NvWa Palace is here to see you.
— — Take him to Yangxin Palace. I'll be there soon.
— — Yes, sir!
After sending the message back, Zhang Tie stood up and warmed his body. He then made some movements which were unimaginably difficult in the eyes of others while his muscles and bones cracked like firecrackers.
After making those movements, Zhang Tie felt that his mind, spirit and body finally recovered their intelligence.
After taking a look at the special candles on the candlestick in one corner of the room, Zhang Tie found that one of them had been completely extinguished, leaving only a base and a 30-cm long candle. 12 of the 30 markings on the candle had been burned out. The remaining 10 markings had not been lit yet. It indicated that Zhang Tie had been in secluded cultivation for 42 days.
There was no table clock in Motian Realm. Those candles were used to record time. They were not common candles; instead, they were called jade-flame candles, which were a specialty of Motian Realm. There were many kinds of jade-flame candles. The most common one was 30 cm long. The entire jade-flame candle was divided into 30 markings. It would take 30 days from lighting up to burning out. It could consume about 1 cm a day. It was very convenient to judge the time based on the consumption of jade-flame candles. Some jade-flame candles even took one year to light up. The longest jade-flame candles even took 60 years to light up.
Besides keeping time, after being lit, Jade Flame Candle would leave a faint, bizarre fragrance in the air, which could drive away mosquitoes and beasts and prevent cultivators from being possessed by the devil. Therefore, Jade Flame Candle was always used by cultivators and immortal generals in Motian Realm when they entered secluded cultivation. Actually, it was indispensable for cultivators and immortal generals in Motian Realm.
The jade-flame candles gave out warm yellow light, making a corner of Zhang Tie's backroom a bit warm. The greater part of the backroom was in darkness.
Zhang Tie walked to the front of the candlestick and put out the jade-flame candles. After that, he opened the cover of the luminous pearl in the backroom. Closely after that, the entire backroom became bright at once.
Zhang Tie pushed open the door of the backroom. There was a secret tunnel outside the backroom. On one side of the secret tunnel, there was a staircase leading upwards. The staircase was made of white jade. On both sides of the staircase, there was a luminous pearl in every few meters. Zhang Tie walked up the winding white jade stairs step by step. After walking for about 200 m, he passed through some special protective measures before entering the Jiaotai Palace.
Of course, the place where Dragon Emperor entered secluded cultivation was covered with many protective measures. Commoners couldn't enter it; neither could it be easily destroyed. Of course, Dragon Emperor could also cultivate in Jiaotai Palace for a short period. However, if he wanted to enter secluded cultivation for a long time, he had to enter the underground backroom of Jiaotai Palace.
In the underground backroom, there were some secret tunnels leading to different places in Dragon Emperor City. One of the secret tunnels could lead to a mountain outside Dragon Emperor City. After building those secret tunnels, all the craftsmen who were responsible for building the secret tunnels had their memories erased by drugs. Therefore, only Zhang Tie and Leng Manxue knew about those secret tunnels across Dragon Emperor City.
When Zhang Tie pushed open the gate of Jiaotai Palace and walked out of it, he finally felt returning to the crowd due to the bright and dazzling light and the cheerful chirps of birds.
"Your Majesty …" Some immortal generals outside Jiaotai Palace and Leng Manxue who had been waiting here bowed towards Zhang Tie at the same time.
These days, when Zhang Tie was in secluded cultivation downstairs, those immortal generals in the Forbidden City were always guarding Jiaotai Palace in shifts. Leng Manxue was waiting for Zhang Tie here.
"Thanks for your hard work!" Zhang Tie told them with a smile.
"It's our responsibility!" Those immortal generals were flabbergasted as they hurriedly bowed towards Zhang Tie once again.
"If you could do your job well, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would definitely rise again one day!" Zhang Tie nodded as he encouraged them. Closely after that, he walked towards Yangxin Palace with Leng Manxue.
On the way, Leng Manxue was one step behind Zhang Tie as she stealthily gazed at Zhang Tie for a few times.
"What? Are there flowers on my face?" Zhang Tie asked Leng Manxue.
"Your Majesty, it seems … seems … that you've become much more relaxed after entering secluded cultivation!" Sometimes, women's intuition was even sharper than that of sage-level knights. Leng Manxue instantly discovered something different from Zhang Tie.
"Really? I think so too!" Zhang Tie nodded. In secluded cultivation, besides cultivation, Zhang Tie also relaxed and returned spiritually after abandoning wealth, sex, fame, food and sleep for dozens of days. During this period, Zhang Tie felt completely getting rid of a lot of trifles in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Like climbing out of a quagmire, he felt free and relaxed. Compared to the position of Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie felt that he liked this feeling more. That was his real self.
However, life was always contradictory. Although it was not Zhang Tie's original intention to become Dragon Emperor and he had paid a lot for this position, Zhang Tie could also enjoy many privileges and huge resources that he had not enjoyed before.
"What did Wu Qiankun bring here?" Zhang Tie asked Leng Manxue.
"Some immortal generals of Emperor NvWa's Palace followed Wu Qiankun here with 5 huge iron boxes. Wu Qiankun said they were what Your Majesty needed. He didn't allow me to check them. Therefore, I had them wait outside Yangxin Palace with the iron boxes …"
(To be continued.)
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