Qin Ding Ling

Duke Long is ready to move out. Qin Ding Ling has a pale face as she and Fairy Zi Wei send him off. After changing Duke Long’s luck, her condition is bad. She cannot accompany him or join the fight in the River of Time, and can only recuperate in Heavenly Court. ^{ch. 1833}

She stands beside Fang Yuan, who is disguised as Qi Sea Ancestor, while he inspects the qi harvest fruit in Heavenly Court. To resolve the qi harvest fruit, she says, Heavenly Court is willing to use up its qi path resources. She takes out human qi Immortal Gu, earth qi Immortal Gu and heaven qi Immortal Gu in turn and hands each to him. She calls the three the core of the triple qi retraction killer move and priceless treasures of Heavenly Court, and says only Heavenly Court members can have them. She hints that they would be available if he joined. ^{ch. 2025}

She lends him all three and has several Gu Immortals help him modify a qi path formation for removing the fruit. If anything goes wrong, Heavenly Court can take the Gu back at once and cost him control of the formation. When he later asks for all three as a reward, she refuses. She says that even as Heavenly Court’s leader she cannot give three rank eight Immortal Gu, and offers one at most. Dragon Palace then charges into Heavenly Court with Wu Shuai aboard, and she breaks off to face the attack. ^{ch. 2025}

Once the qi harvest fruit is gone, Qi Sea Ancestor asks her for the three qi Immortal Gu as payment instead of chasing Dragon Palace and Spectral Soul. She weighs the demand against a break with him, which would leave Heavenly Court without peak rank eight battle strength and open to Shadow Sect and Longevity Heaven. She offers heaven qi and earth qi Immortal Gu, but says human qi Immortal Gu is out of the question and calls it the bottom line of Heavenly Court. She hands over the two on the spot, and the Heavenly Court immortals gasp. Qi Sea Ancestor takes his leave and chases Dragon Palace at once, and she, worn out, judges the result not too bad. She keeps human qi Immortal Gu as bait: holding two of the three, he would need only that one to use triple qi retraction. ^{ch. 2037}