Chapter 1357: 1006: The Difference Between Old and New Accounts (2)

Lastly, and also most importantly—this is Divine Power, not some common Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. Even the Heaven-Swallowing Divine Dog said my talent’s top-tier, but it’ll still take three to five years to see results. My current Refining Speed is already very fast!" The Old Dog was terrified that with his master’s monstrous talent, he’d look down on this tiny achievement, so he hurried to explain and justify himself. Jiang Yuan understood what he meant.

The meaning was: resetting an old account’s stats isn’t as efficient as just starting a fresh account. Makes sense.

"So that’s how it is. I was wondering why you’ve been so quiet ever since we came back from the Void." The corners of his lips lifted slightly as he lowered his voice: "In that case, I’ll give you another stroke of fortune to lend you a hand. How much you can Refine will be up to you."

Now, the moment Ling Di heard the word "fortune" come out of his master’s mouth, his whole body trembled with excitement.

Totally different from other people’s empty promises. When the master talks about fortune, sometimes it means skipping Thunder Tribulation altogether and directly ranking up your Realm! That’s how I got my Tribulation Crossing Realm so easily!

"Thank you, Master! Thank you, Master!"

A whole chain of Favor points刷刷刷—excellent. Ling Di successfully got promoted into the Death Warrior roster.

Click: use Exclusive Refining Divine Power Acceleration Card.

The commotion was much smaller than with Yan Xuan and Huo Jun. Only a strand of strange power descended from the sky and wrapped around the little milk dog’s body, then stayed still for a long time.

But Ling Di, wrapped in that power, could clearly sense his body undergoing earthshaking changes from the inside out!

"So this is what it feels like to have Divine Power!" He felt like he was flying, and also like he was dreaming.

His soul floated lightly outside the clouds, overlooking one small world after another, all like soap bubbles, sliding slowly along their preset tracks. When he looked up, even the meteors streaking across the sky turned out to be little worlds—some dim, some shining, some covered in glaciers, some blazing with roaring flames...

Time slowed down, slowed until it was almost stopped.

Ling Di "saw" countless small worlds, and also "saw" the battlefield outside of Outer Heaven. By the time he withdrew from that strange state of roaming the heavens, he found himself standing before his master, and the lump of Divine Power inside him had shrunk by a huge margin.

"Woof? Good thing Master granted me that fortune—I’ll be able to finish Refining half of the Divine Power soon!" The Old Dog bounced around excitedly, showering him with rainbow-flavored compliments.

Jiang Yuan glanced at the progress bar; adding the 1/10 he had Refined on his own, he really was about to hit 5/10. In other words, with just one Item Card, Ling Di had absorbed a bit more than 4/10. Looked like if he wanted the Old Dog to take over from the Heaven-Swallowing Divine Dog sooner, he’d need to get him another Acceleration Card.

"Alright, focus on your Cultivation. Besides Refining Divine Power, don’t forget to go to the Celestial Palace Holy Realm to wash off the polluted Spiritual Energy. Otherwise, even if you completely Refine it, you still won’t be able to Ascend."

"Master, rest assured, woof woof! I’ll definitely work twice as hard and strive to Ascend into the Heaven-Swallowing Divine Dog as soon as possible!"

After pumping the Old Dog full of motivation, Jiang Yuan clicked into the Qiuye Temple dungeon.

Qing Niao and Lark were diligently chopping trees, smashing rocks, cutting grass, leveling swamps, and conveniently clearing little mobs. When they saw him, they started chirping excitedly.

"Bro, how come you have time to come over today?" Ever since she advanced to Nascent Soul Realm, Qing Niao had grown into a bright young girl, the fiery red feathers decorating her hair growing ever more flamboyant.

She had just chopped down a big tree; beside her, sparks of Ice Flame leapt and crackled, Purifying and burning away leftover little mob corpses.

Lark shot over at high Speed, circled once, and landed on Jiang Yuan’s left shoulder, hopping on his feet as he chirped, "Sister Qing Niao, hurry, show your true form—let’s both sit on Teacher’s shoulders, one on each side!"

"True form?" The moment he heard that, Jiang Yuan perked up.

If he remembered right, in her last life Qing Niao had Cultivated all the way to Peak of Tribulation Crossing Realm but failed to Ascend. After reincarnating, she somehow used some Secret Technique to swap her Demon Cultivator body for a human one—so how could she still have a true form?

Qing Niao laughed and waved her hand. "You don’t even mimic right—that’s not called a true form. It’s a Secret Technique I remembered after stabilizing my Nascent Soul Realm. I can transform into a cyan bird; it’s more like a Magic trick."

As she spoke, her skirt fluttered and she really turned into a small cyan bird, flitting over to perch on Jiang Yuan’s shoulder.

Could that be any more perfect?

A red little bird on the left; a cyan little bird on the right—exactly matching the one-fire-one-ice pair of wings he’d obtained.

"I also vaguely remember a bit of the past." Qing Niao hadn’t deliberately hidden her reincarnation from Lark. She lowered her head and rubbed her tiny beak against her brother’s clothes, recalling, "It should be a world I once lived in. Maybe I can find my past there, and..."

She paused, not quite sure how to say it. After all, her previous-life memories were too hazy, like clouds she couldn’t grasp, only a faint indescribable feeling.

Her voice lowered unconsciously as Qing Niao sighed, "Since reincarnation is such a big deal, there’s no way I wouldn’t make thorough preparations. I want to know what exactly happened—why, when Brother came to save me, his first reaction was ’father’? Could I really have a father, someone who was supposed to pick up my reincarnation according to plan?"

Lark blinked his big eyes and yelped, "Huh? Then how old would Sister Qing Niao’s father have to be?"

Jiang Yuan was also confused and pressed, "Do you remember any other details? Maybe we can use the Ten-Thousand-Lifetimes Mirror to search. If there’s a lead, once we’re through this busy stretch, I’ll take you on a trip."

"Let’s wait until my Realm’s higher. My memories are so blurry right now that even with the Ten-Thousand-Lifetimes Mirror, it’d be hard to find anything—just burning cash for nothing." Qing Niao shook her head. "I have a bad feeling. Even though I successfully reincarnated into a human, I almost died in the Void. Maybe something really bad happened there.

For a Peak of Tribulation Crossing Realm Cultivator, one step away from Ascension, to suffer such a huge loss—it’s probably going to be very tricky."

"Then let’s wait a bit. Just right—once we get through this winter, the strength of everyone in the little courtyard will jump up a whole tier. Then we’ll go with you together!" Jiang Yuan said, then let his smiling gaze fall on his left shoulder. "Little Lark, how’s your Refining going lately?"

Like a grade-school kid suddenly called on to answer a question, Lark’s tiny body froze for two seconds, then he grabbed Jiang Yuan’s shoulder and started wailing, "Teacher, Sister Qing Niao can testify for me—I’ve always Cultivated very diligently and worked really hard. But... my Cultivation is too trash. I haven’t even finished Refining one lump of Divine Power..."

As he spoke, his two little wings lifted up a tiny ball of Divine Power, its progress bar just barely past one percent.

"Bro, what you gave it is Vermilion Bird Divine Power!" Qing Niao couldn’t help palming her face. "Lark is still a child—just a Gathering Spirit Realm Little Demon Beast trying to Refine Divine Fire. That’s basically like asking a baby in swaddling clothes to go mining. No matter how hard it works, it can only scratch the surface of the Divine Fire."

With the Old Dog as an example in front, and Qing Niao’s explanation afterward, Jiang Yuan hadn’t set his hopes too high on Lark—who had joined last, was the youngest, and had only been intelligent for a few months. He’d help as much as he could.

However, with one click on an Acceleration Card—

He watched as the tiny ball of Divine Fire on Lark’s wings suddenly jumped onto its body, merging in like a drop of water. He took out the remaining nine clusters of Vermilion Bird Divine Power Fire, and one after another they hopped onto Lark in a neat sequence. At first the Speed was pretty fast, but it slowed down the further it went.

Even so, by the time the Item Card finished accelerating, eight clusters had already fused with Lark.

The progress bar jumped straight to 8/10!

New accounts really are easier to train. If the Old Dog found out, wouldn’t he cry himself unconscious on the Treasure Ship?

"Wow!" Qing Niao had already felt lucky enough meeting her brother—within barely half a year, she’d gone from having nothing as a reincarnated soul to a Nascent Soul Realm Cultivator.

Now, seeing with her own eyes the Cultivation Speed of little Lark with her brother’s help, she was truly envious!

Lark was still dazed, the vast and powerful force in his body feeling unreal. He knew, of course, that Teacher’s unfathomable methods could pull off such things, and his heart was full of limitless gratitude, to the point he didn’t even know what to say to express it.

So, in Jiang Yuan’s eyes, the little Lark had lagged.

In his vision, the Favor+10000 prompt looked lagged too,刷刷刷, endlessly refreshing...

"Lark, are you alright?" Qing Niao flew down and turned back into a young girl, carefully poking his fiery red feathers with her finger. When she saw him still unmoving, her face turned a bit pale. "This is bad, Brother—could it be his Realm is too low to withstand it, and he’s been taken over by Vermilion Bird Divine Power Fire? I heard him mention that the Divine Bird Vermilion Bird is still alive!"

Jiang Yuan couldn’t help laughing and crying at that. "Lark just hasn’t wrapped his head around it yet. Give him a bit of time to adjus—"

Before he could finish, Lark—who had finally刷ed himself into the Death Warrior list—let out a sudden cry, sprang off his shoulder, and grew hundreds of times larger in an instant.

Like a miniature Vermilion Bird, he soared through the polluted world fragments. His beak opened slightly, and a stream of Divine Fire erupted forth, burning all filth it touched into ash!

Jiang Yuan: !!!

As expected of a brand-new little account. Compared to the other future Four Symbols Divine Beasts, he seemed kind of overpowered!