Unsheathed

Chen Ping'an had a huge internal debate with himself before eventually deciding to allow Cui Dongshan and Shi Rou into his room.

Just like before, Cui Dongshan used his golden flying sword to draw a large circle around them, blocking out the outside world. Chen Ping'an was very curious, and he couldn't help but ask Cui Dongshan what kind of mystical ability this was.

Cui Dongshan smiled and replied that this was an ancient mystical ability wherein one would draw a perimeter and form a prison. This ability could be used to protect those inside the perimeter, and it could also be used to imprison people as well, preventing the targeted people from leaving the area.

Later generations had refined this ability and gradually transformed it into several dozen types of immortal techniques. However, most of them had strayed from the correct path and were barely worth a mention.

After sitting down, Cui Dongshan was filled with enthusiasm as he talked about Shi Rou, praising her for her impressive aptitude and affinity. He said that apart from using two pouches of gold essence copper coins to "open the door" to the immortal body, everything else had gone relatively smoothly.

Thanks to her remarkable determination and great fortune, Shi Rou had genuinely managed to transform the colored glaze golden body of the Ascension Tier cultivator into a blessed land to house her soul. Even though there was still some tension between Du Mao's immortal body and Shi Rou's soul, it was only a matter of time before this issue would be slowly resolved. Everything had gone well, and there were no longer any major issues.

After revealing this big piece of good news, Cui Dongshan started to nitpick on the specifics, saying, "Opening the door and wresting control of the immortal body is only the first step. Shi Rou is uniquely talented, so if someone had recognized her talent earlier and was willing to invest a significant amount of resources into her, it would have been no issue for her to become a first-rate formal god of one of the Five Mountains in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

"Shi Rou managed to obtain this huge fated opportunity because of her impressive aptitude, but this doesn't necessarily mean that she possesses an equivalently impressive aptitude when it comes to cultivation. In fact, she has failed to advance her cultivation by any noticeable degree after living as a wandering ghost for several hundred years. She failed to become a ghost king or whatever, and apart from her time serving her previous master, it's quite evident that her cultivation talent can't be regarded as exceptional.

"In other words, the obstacles that lie before Shi Rou are relatively troublesome. She won't be able to overcome the restrictions of this colored glaze golden body, meaning that it will be incredibly difficult for her to take another step forward and achieve genuine control and freedom."

Chen Ping'an retrieved a pot of osmanthus wine, and Cui Dongshan accepted it, tilting his head back and taking a hearty swig. He wiped his mouth clean and continued, "Fortunately, she managed to enter this brilliant host body that's essentially like a mountain of gold. Even if she's a pitiful little ghost who can only carry a small amount of gold each time, she'll eventually become a filthy rich ghost after keeping at it for tens of years or hundreds of years.

"Afterward, she only needs to use the most elementary techniques to keep pushing forward. She won't face any big challenges in terms of cultivation, and this is what makes immortal bodies so valuable and coveted. She can advance all the way up to the Upper Five Tiers without needing to form a golden core, without needing to nurture a nascent soul, and without needing to pay any heed to internal demons. Who wouldn't be jealous of this?"