Chapter 1355: The Little People's Gift

Wind Rises in the Nine Provinces

This was clearly deliberate!

Considering he was only at the early Star Phase, his essence and blood were abundant, allowing him to recover quickly from any physical injuries. There was no logical reason for such a mark to persist. Yet, that was precisely the case! This was clearly a tactic left by Su Yuqing. With her Sun-Illumination cultivation, she absolutely had the ability to do this without Lu Ye even noticing.

The key was that Lu Ye couldn't get rid of the mark! He also had no idea how long it would last... If anyone claimed Su Yuqing hadn't done this intentionally, Lu Ye wouldn't believe it for a second. No wonder Nian Yuexian looked at him with that subtle expression.

A man and a woman had spent three days alone together, and now he had such a mark on his neck. Anyone who wasn't blind would know what had transpired during those three days. But why? Why would Su Yuqing do something like this? Lu Ye truly couldn't figure it out.

While he was trying various methods to get rid of the mark, Nian Yuexian stood by, throwing sarcastic remarks at him intermittently.

“I really wouldn't have guessed. That Senior Su, who seems so pure and unsullied, has such inclinations. What's that saying among mortals again...?”

“Oh, right, ‘an old cow eating young grass,’ or ‘eat it while it’s fresh!’ Junior Brother, what are your thoughts?”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s normal for men and women to have affections. But three days? You two were quite something. If I had known, I would have left earlier, so as not to disturb your pleasant time.”

“When did this start? I didn’t notice anything at all.”

“Does Haitang know? You are her nominal Dao Companion. She probably doesn’t, right? If she knew about her Master and her nominal Dao Companion...”

For the first time, Lu Ye realized Nian Yuexian had such a talkative streak. With a pained expression, he bowed to her, “My good Senior Sister, please spare me. This was just an accident.”

He inexplicably felt like a mischievous child caught red-handed by a parent.

Nian Yuexian snorted, “Accident or not, if you ever get a chance to see Senior Su again, you'd better be careful.”

Lu Ye was puzzled, “What do you mean?”

Nian Yuexian explained, “Wild beasts have certain instinctive behaviors to mark their territory, and some women do too. She clearly knew you would be traveling with me, yet she still left that mark. Isn't that just a declaration of possession? If you ever have any other romantic entanglements in the future, don't let her find out, or she might beat you up!”

Lu Ye said guiltily, “I don’t have any other romantic entanglements.” Nian Yuexian scoffed, “You know whether you do or not.” She then urged her spiritual power, leaving Lu Ye behind.

Lu Ye sighed helplessly and hurried to catch up.

Originally, Nian Yuexian had been very curious about how Su Yuqing had managed to send Lu Ye into the Black Abyss to participate in the Little People's martial arts competition. She had intended to ask about it on the way back, but now there was no need. The situation was obvious! With such a private relationship between them, how could Lu Ye not enter the Black Abyss?

The road ahead was long, and Nian Yuexian stopped mocking Lu Ye. She also knew that in such a relationship, Lu Ye would certainly not be the proactive one. The disparity in their cultivation was too vast; only the stronger party could initiate such an affair. If Lu Ye had been the one to take the initiative, he would have died countless times over.

Lu Ye also stopped struggling with the mark on his neck. He couldn't remove it with his current abilities, but he fortunately discovered it wouldn't last too long, so he simply let it fade on its own.

He took out the two storage rings Su Yuqing had given him at the end to examine them. One of the rings contained nearly a hundred talismans! This was roughly what Lu Ye had expected. Talisman crafting was the Little People's specialty, so if they were to offer something as a thank-you gift, talismans would be the best choice.

These items were also highly sought after by various races in the starry sky. However, because the Little People rarely interacted with the outside world, their talismans were scarce and extremely expensive. A hundred talismans undoubtedly held great value. After all, these talismans were given as rewards, and the Little People wouldn't be stingy with their offerings.

The hundred talismans were divided into several categories, generally corresponding to the types of spirit patterns: attack, defense, and auxiliary, with various sub-categories thereafter. Each type of talisman was accompanied by a jade slip, which detailed its kind and efficacy. This was very thoughtful. Even someone like Lu Ye, who didn't know much about talismans, could simply read the jade slips to understand when and how to activate them.

Among them, two red jade talismans particularly caught Lu Ye's attention!

The Little People's talismans were also categorized by quality, which could be discerned from their color. Ordinary jade talismans were white, the lowest quality, and could generally meet the combat needs of Star Phase cultivators.

The next level up was purple jade talismans, crafted by Moon-Illumination realm cultivators. Theoretically, when activated, they could unleash the power of a Moon-Illumination realm cultivator. Of course, this was only in theory. Due to the activator's cultivation level and the time spent warming the talisman, the actual effect would ultimately vary. During the Black Abyss martial arts competition, some Little People had used purple jade talismans. Their power was decent, but there was still a significant difference compared to a Moon-Illumination realm cultivator acting personally. This was due to the activator's insufficient cultivation.

Beyond that were the red jade talismans, which only Sun-Illumination cultivators could refine. Like the purple jade talismans, they could theoretically unleash the power of a Sun-Illumination cultivator's attack, but the specific effect depended on the actual situation.

Among the hundred-odd talismans, there were two red jade talismans, ten purple ones, and the rest were all white. For other cultivators, even white jade talismans were extremely precious. However, for someone like Lu Ye, who was proficient in the way of spirit patterns, white jade talismans held little value. Fundamentally, when a spirit talisman was activated, it displayed the power of spirit patterns. Since Lu Ye could construct spirit patterns himself, he naturally had no need to activate spirit talismans. These white jade talismans could be taken back and kept in the Nine Provinces Guarding Hall for others to use.

For Lu Ye, only the purple and red ones were useful, especially the two red jade talismans. Lu Ye could sense that one of them carried Su Yuqing's aura. In other words, this was definitely a jade talisman refined by Su Yuqing. No wonder there were two... It's likely that the reward from Fangcun Mountain was originally only one red jade talisman, but Su Yuqing took it upon herself to add another. It wasn't that she was stingy for not giving more; it was truly extremely difficult for her to refine these, and if one red jade talisman couldn't help Lu Ye turn danger into safety during a crisis, giving more would be pointless. This was something Su Yuqing had prepared long before she left Fangcun Mountain with Lu Ye and Nian Yuexian. This showed that her true nature was not as cold and indifferent as she had appeared.

Without rushing to sort through the spirit talismans, Lu Ye took out the second storage ring to examine it. At first glance, Lu Ye stopped in his tracks.

Nian Yuexian noticed his pause, quickly stopped herself, and turned to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Something good!” Lu Ye smiled with delight, took the item directly from the storage ring, and spread it in his palm. It was clearly a starship!

However, compared to Su Yuqing's two-story starship, this one was much humbler. Its design resembled a common ferry boat found in the mortal world, with no upper and lower decks, just a single level, exposed fore and aft decks, and a canopy in the middle. Such a starship would clearly not accommodate many cultivators.

But no matter how humble a starship was, it was still a starship! Its modest appearance didn't mean it was cheap goods! This was a valuable item that Nine Provinces currently couldn't refine. When Lu Ye had previously ridden Su Yuqing's starship, he had been fantasizing about when he might own one himself, which would save him the trouble of traveling through the starry sky in the future. He hadn't expected this wish to come true so quickly. It saved him decades of effort in one go!

Nian Yuexian tutted, “Junior Brother, you really know how to live off a woman…”

Lu Ye’s good mood was instantly ruined. With a pained expression, he said, “Senior Sister, let’s not talk about the past!” Nian Yuexian shot him a glance and urged, “Quick, activate it and see.”

Lu Ye immediately poured spiritual energy into the starship. The starship in his palm suddenly expanded, transforming into a ferry boat about two zhang long. It was much smaller than Su Yuqing’s starship, but its overall sleekness was better, and the entire surface of the starship gleamed with a silvery light.

Lu Ye flashed onto it, looking around like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world, touching this and that, unable to put it down.

Nian Yuexian landed on the other side and saw two large characters at the stern of the boat. “Junior Brother, this starship has a name.” “What name?” Lu Ye flashed over, looked down, and indeed saw the two characters.

Silver Fish!

This name certainly suited the starship’s characteristics; when piloted, it should move like a silver fish swimming through the water.

Lu Ye flashed into the boat’s canopy, found the formation core that controlled the starship, familiarized himself with it briefly, and quickly got the hang of it. Moments later, just as Lu Ye had imagined, the silver 'Silver Fish' transformed into a streak of light, darting through the vast starry sky like a fish, heading towards Nine Provinces. Gradually increasing its speed, it quickly surpassed his and Nian Yuexian's flying speed.

However, Lu Ye soon discovered a problem: this mode of flight consumed a vast amount of his spiritual energy, far more than flying on his own. The reason was simple: self-flight only required controlling one's own body, and after reaching a certain speed, cultivators needed very little spiritual energy to maintain it. But at this moment, he was piloting a starship.

Fortunately, there was a recess in the formation core for spirit jades. By placing spirit jades there, he could greatly reduce his own spiritual energy consumption. This shared a similar principle with the spirit boats in Nine Provinces, making it easy for anyone to quickly get accustomed to.

Another point was that the ship's speed needed to be increased gradually and couldn't instantly reach its maximum. Therefore, it wasn't very suitable for use when being pursued by powerful individuals whom one couldn't shake off, lest the delay allow the pursuers to close the distance, resulting in more harm than good.