Chapter 730

At Bai Qing blessed land, Feng Jin Huang finishes The Legends of Ren Zu, her recent dream realm journey giving its ending new weight. Near his death, Ren Zu sacrifices himself, feeding his ten dead children’s corpses to derivation Gu while dream realms follow the scent in, and its burst releases light of life that creates the first mortals. Mortals have dreamed at night ever since. Some, she reasons, cannot always free themselves from it. ^{ch. 730}

Sent back to her room, she finds Fairy Bai Qing waiting. Every Gu Immortal must eventually anchor a blessed land to earth qi, or a grotto-heaven to heaven qi, once an aperture outgrows its supply. Fairy Bai Qing has spent three days and three nights doing exactly that, steadying her own unstable blessed land with Central Continent’s earth qi. She praises Feng Jin Huang for cultivating quietly through it instead of demanding company, and Feng Jin Huang answers proudly that she is her parents’ own flesh and blood. ^{ch. 730}

Almost nobody has avoided dreaming since the first mortals, Fairy Bai Qing says. Even Immortal Venerables and Demon Venerables carry dream realms, gathered into one vast hidden realm that Feng Jin Huang’s dream wings Immortal Gu lets her enter at will while resisting its influence. Feng Jin Huang reveals that her refinement path has reached quasi-master level from the trip, despite never practicing it seriously. Fairy Bai Qing explains that her daughter picked up some refinement path true meaning moving through the dream of Old Immortal Kong Jue, himself a supreme grandmaster of that path. Such luck may not repeat, she says, and Feng Jin Huang shrugs, meaning to enter a venerable’s dream next time, though she walks the metal path and none of the ten venerables cultivates it. An actual venerable’s dream, Fairy Bai Qing warns, means retreating at once, since its power is beyond imagining. ^{ch. 730}

Fairy Bai Qing then produces a letter Gu from Feng Jiu Ge, who has crossed the regional wall into Northern Plains and found a place to rest. Feng Jin Huang cannot read it herself, since it is an information path Immortal Gu and she remains a mortal, so Fairy Bai Qing injects her own will to let her sense its contents. Reading her father’s worry moves her to tears. She wants to see him and show her progress, but asks her mother to keep it secret so she can surprise him. ^{ch. 730}

A second letter Gu follows, a rank five mortal one from Fang Yuan. Feng Jin Huang grits her teeth at the name and snatches it to read. It praises Spirit Affinity House, accepts her challenge, apologizes for the late reply, and closes by saying he waits for her at Hu Immortal blessed land, having heard that Spirit Affinity House’s qingpu tea is famous enough to make sparring her worthwhile. Feng Jin Huang burns with fury, calling him a thief, and grips the letter Gu hard enough that it chirps in protest. ^{ch. 730}

Fairy Bai Qing tells her that Fang Yuan has exceeded their expectations again, and sparring him now would only end in defeat. He has become an immortal zombie, she explains, backed by a force strong enough to make Immortal Crane Sect retreat after attacking Hu Immortal blessed land. Feng Jin Huang cannot understand how, since they are about the same age. The ten great ancient sects guess either an unusually fast foundation, or a special method his mysterious backers used. Becoming an immortal zombie halts cultivation for good, Feng Jin Huang points out, but Fairy Bai Qing answers that a rank six immortal zombie still easily beats a rank five mortal Gu Master. ^{ch. 730}

Feng Jin Huang scoffs that he will never match her, calling him a coward. Fairy Bai Qing warns against letting anger blind her: the letter arrived just before Immortal Crane Sect’s attack, a move to befriend Spirit Affinity House and pull it in as a third party. Fang Yuan now holds Dang Hun Mountain, trades with the ten great ancient sects, and his name has spread through Central Continent. Feng Jin Huang admits she was too agitated. ^{ch. 730}

Given the choice to ignore the letter or answer it, Feng Jin Huang chooses to answer, since ignoring it would look weak, though meeting him directly would be foolish. Instead she will settle it at the coming Central Continent Refinement Path Convention, beating him publicly in refinement path. Fairy Bai Qing approves the plan. Feng Jin Huang plans to spend the coming days inside refinement path Gu Master dreams, building her foundation fast. She closes by promising him fifty or sixty jars of qingpu tea if he wants to act cultured, but insists any real contest needs a stake, meaning to beat him in both reputation and substance. ^{ch. 730}