Fairy Fengqing waved her hand, setting up a Sound-Isolation Barrier, and said with a solemn expression, "Phoenix Lord Fellow Daoist, the news I'm about to tell you might be a heaven-defying opportunity for you demon cultivators. You must establish a contract with me and not go back on your word."
Inner Demon oaths were useless to demon cultivators. Between humans and demons, only contracts could establish a restraining relationship, such as master-servant contracts or subordinate contracts.
Xiaofeng didn't hesitate: "Fine, but you must also swear an oath not to deceive me."
Fairy Fengqing paused briefly, then quickly said, "That goes without saying."
Human and demon cautiously swore their oaths and established the contract. Fairy Fengqing, being in the passive position, first swore her Inner Demon oath: "I, Cultivator Miaoyi of the Xuanqing Sect, swear by my Inner Demon that as long as this Phoenix Lord Fellow Daoist keeps her promise, I will inform her of a piece of news regarding an opportunity treasure, without any deception. Should I violate this oath, my cultivation shall never advance another step, I shall be plagued by Inner Demons, and perish with my Dao extinguished."
After speaking, Fairy Fengqing looked at Xiaofeng: "Fellow Daoist, I have sworn my Inner Demon oath. What about you?"
Xiaofeng secretly curled her lip inwardly, not showing a hint on her face, and said indifferently, "Let's establish the contract now."
As she spoke, a red light glowed from her body. Within the light, some profound runes seemed to appear one by one, finally settling into calm. The runes transformed into a small ball of light, floating in mid-air.
Xiaofeng looked at Feng Qing and said calmly, "Fellow Daoist Miaoyi, leave your divine sense imprint on it, and it will be successful."
Fairy Fengqing carefully extended her divine sense, touched the light ball, confirmed the contents were correct, then left her imprint and withdrew it.
The light ball flashed once, signifying the contract had taken effect. Xiaofeng waved her sleeve, and the light ball flew back to her, transforming back into clear light and returning into her body.
"Fellow Daoist, please speak."
Fairy Fengqing's eyes flickered slightly as she said in a low voice, "Since Phoenix Lord Fellow Daoist is a demon cultivator of the East Sea, do you know of any anomalies here?"
Xiaofeng remained expressionless and shook her head: "I was originally not an East Sea demon cultivator, and this place is not where my cave abode is located, so I don't know."
Fairy Fengqing didn't doubt her. After a pause, she began to slowly explain the reason.
The matter started a month ago. When demon cultivators invaded and the East Sea was in crisis, the Bixuan Pavilion lost many disciples. They barely managed to hold off the demon cultivators using the power of their mountain-protecting formation and went to the Tiandao Sect to request aid. At that time, the Tiandao Sect only had two Nascent Soul Cultivators. Lu Daquan controlled the core of the Tiandao Sect's mountain-protecting formation, so it fell to Fairy Fengqing to go to the East Sea to guard the Bixuan Pavilion and plug the defensive gap torn open by the demon cultivators.
After Fairy Fengqing arrived at the Bixuan Pavilion, she quickly stabilized the situation. With her status as a Nascent Soul Cultivator, the Bixuan Pavilion, whose highest cultivation only reached the Core Formation stage, dared not show the slightest neglect. Except for the seventh floor of the Virtue Attainment Tower, any important location in the Bixuan Pavilion was open to Fairy Fengqing. Tang Shen even presented a batch of precious gifts to thank her for her assistance.
Among these gifts, Fairy Fengqing discovered something—a gray, translucent Stone. This Stone had no spiritual energy, but it possessed a wondrous calming power that could stabilize one's mind.
The cultivation world had many methods for calming the mind and settling the spirit, such as formations, spirit talismans, and pills—all had products for this purpose. Some even refined Magical Treasures and magical tools to suppress the mind. Of course, the importance of these things couldn't compare to items for combat, but they were still indispensable. Most people had one or two such items more or less.
As for treasures naturally possessing mind-calming functions, they mostly had special materials that thus carried natural formations. These formations might be already discovered or undiscovered. If undiscovered, their value was incomparably precious. The various natural mind-cleansing treasures circulating on the market were mostly those whose formations had already been thoroughly researched, thus their value was ordinary. The Stone presented by the Bixuan Pavilion was the latter kind.
Fairy Fengqing discovered that this object's material was special. Even with her knowledge as a Nascent Soul Cultivator, she couldn't recognize it. It contained a profound natural formation, complex and exquisite, seemingly containing some kind of wondrous sacred aura.
She knew she had encountered a true treasure. If this object were handed over to the sect, and the sect's formation masters extracted the formation within, it would bring immense benefits to the sect.
Who would have thought that this small Bixuan Pavilion, among the sects of Kunwu, not even counting as a mid-level sect, would actually possess such a treasure? It seemed the East Sea wasn't as barren as Kunwu cultivators imagined.
Fairy Fengqing inquired about the origin of this object, but no one in the Bixuan Pavilion knew. It was Ying Jinyi who helped her find a record for her. This object was the possession of the Bixuan Pavilion's Tenth Generation First Seat Elder. After the elder passed away, she donated all her belongings to the sect, and this object became a collection in the sect's treasury.
Fairy Fengqing obtained the Tenth Generation First Seat Elder's personal notes from Ying Jinyi and discovered sparse records within.
When the Tenth Generation First Seat Elder was young, in order to seek her Core Formation Opportunity, she ventured deep into the East Sea to search for demon cores that could aid in Core Formation. She searched the East Sea for over half a year, encountering countless dangers. Midway, she once discovered an anomaly in a certain sea area, picked up this gray Stone, and afterwards only used it for calming her mind during cultivation, not paying it much attention.
However, Fairy Fengqing found something that stirred her heart within the elder's sparse few sentences recording the anomaly.
"Beside the island, the sea surface flowed with light, faintly tinged with rosy clouds. I followed the light deep into the seabed and saw a gray Stone hidden within a rock crevice, its light faintly visible."
This First Seat Elder collected the object and carefully examined the surroundings, finding something strange—there seemed to be faint spiritual energy fluctuations. She searched for a long time and found several damaged Magical Treasures.
Fairy Fengqing said thus: "This person's cultivation was lowly, her knowledge shallow. As soon as I saw those damaged Magical Treasures, I knew they were left behind by a God Transformation Cultivator, yet she thought they were left by predecessors of her sect."
Xiaofeng's expression remained indifferent: "What does this have to do with me? What use are human cultivators' things to us demon cultivators?"
Fairy Fengqing extended her hand, pinching a long, slightly translucent gray Stone between her fingers, and said, "If I said this object is Qilin bone, would you believe me?"
Xiaofeng was shocked: "What did you say?"
Fairy Fengqing toyed with the Stone in her hand, glancing sideways at her: "In our Kunwu, there's a Spirit Beast Sect that specializes in beast taming methods. Their founding patriarch's mount was said to be a Qilin."
Xiaofeng said without hesitation: "Impossible. Divine beasts disappeared long ago. That was at most a spirit beast with Qilin bloodline, just like me."
"Probably so," Fairy Fengqing had no intention of arguing with her and continued, "After tens of thousands of years, even with the demon race's long lifespan, that Qilin would have long since passed away. After its passing, the Spirit Beast Sect refined its corpse bones into a Magical Treasure called the Qilin Cauldron, which I was fortunate enough to see before. Earlier, I always felt this object's aura was familiar. Later, I remembered—it was very similar to the Qilin Cauldron's aura, and even purer."
Hearing this, a strange light flickered in Xiaofeng's eyes: "Could it be you're willing to gift this piece of Qilin bone?"
Fairy Fengqing shook her head: "Of course not. I said it's a piece of news."
She continued: "During those days, I searched through all the Bixuan Pavilion's records and inquired about some legends of the East Sea, basically confirming that a Qilin once appeared in the sea."
Xiaofeng frowned: "Are you sure it was a true Qilin, and not a spirit beast merely possessing the Qilin form with only a thin bloodline?"
Fairy Fengqing said: "It's only speculation."
Xiaofeng fell silent, but her thoughts soared. Had a Qilin truly appeared here? Had this Qilin left behind any bloodline? If divine beasts still existed in the world...
After a long while, she said: "Fellow Daoist, although this news is astonishing, it holds little value. The East Sea is so vast—where would one go to search?"
Fairy Fengqing said: "How is there none? You are a demon cultivator; you can inquire for news from the sea beasts here. Moreover, why would this piece of Qilin bone appear here, with demon cultivators' Magical Treasures nearby? Most likely, a cultivator and the Qilin fought here, and moreover, that Qilin was injured!"
Hearing this, Xiaofeng couldn't help but feel her heart stir.
If a God Transformation Cultivator and a Qilin fought here, that Qilin might very well have perished in this place...
"Phoenix Lord Fellow Daoist, is this news valuable?" Seeing her moved expression, Fairy Fengqing smiled slightly.
Xiaofeng collected her thoughts and said seriously: "If it truly is so, then it can be considered valuable. However..." She raised an eyebrow, "What value does this hold for you, Fellow Daoist? If you also desire the Qilin, then we are opponents."
Feng Qing said carelessly: "Naturally, I am more interested in the God Transformation Cultivator. If the Qilin could have perished here, of course the God Transformation Cultivator could have too. If one could obtain the relics of a God Transformation Cultivator, for us Nascent Soul Cultivators, it would be a heaven-defying Opportunity."
"If that's the case, why haven't you gone to search, but stayed here instead?"
Fairy Fengqing explained: "That cultivator's notes said that one must arrive at the time she mentioned during a special period to reach the place she spoke of."
"...Alright," Xiaofeng pondered for a moment, "I'll believe you for now."
Fairy Fengqing revealed a smile. If Xiaofeng was willing to believe, she wasn't afraid she would leak the information—after all, it was a Qilin. Who would want other demon cultivators to share the Opportunity? Moreover, they had established a contract between them.
Human and demon revealed smiles, bidding farewell with their own hidden thoughts.
Half an hour later, Xiaofeng circled back and returned.
"Master, Madam," Xiaofeng respectfully reported, "Xiaofeng has not failed in her mission."
She recounted the news she had probed and finally requested of Qin Xi: "Master, please erase that contract."
Spirit beasts with masters were different from masterless demon beasts. With a subordinate contract existing first, the effectiveness of any other contract was much lower. Qin Xi was her master and could erase any conflicting contracts.
After erasing the contract, Qin Xi said: "Xiaofeng's contract can be erased. That Fairy Fengqing also used Senior Sister Miaoyi's name to swear her oath. Whatever contract or Inner Demon oath they established is all in vain."
Mo Tiange laughed and said: "Xiaofeng didn't tell the whole truth. How much of Feng Qing's words are true?"
Qin Xi said: "The most difficult falsehoods to distinguish are those mixed with truth and lies. In my opinion, the background of what Feng Qing said is mostly true, but the details are false."
Mo Tiange asked doubtfully: "You mean, there might really be a Qilin, but it's not as Feng Qing described?"
"Probably." Watching as Fairy Fengqing returned to the cottage again, Qin Xi said: "At least we know the reason she's staying here now."