Huang'er declined, and Xu Qingxuan declined as well. After going around the circle, it was ultimately Jiang Chen who talked and cajoled until he finally persuaded Xu Qingxuan to accept and consume the Daluo Cloud Essence Fruit.
However, given Xu Qingxuan's current cultivation, it was still a bit of a strain to consume the Daluo Cloud Essence Fruit. So Jiang Chen personally helped her refine the fruit's power of creation, confirming that Xu Qingxuan had no hidden dangers before he finally put his mind at ease.
Xu Qingxuan felt her elder brother's selfless care, and her heart filled with warmth. She thought of her master's sect, far away in the northwest of the Upper Eight Regions.
Compared to the people of her old sect, her fortune could not have been more different—it was the gap between heaven and earth.
At the Lunar God Sect in the Xieyue Upper Region, the combined strength of the three great instructors was now far below her own.
If her brother Jiang Chen had never appeared, how could she be who she was today?
"Brother..." Xu Qingxuan's voice choked slightly.
"All right, silly girl, I know everything you want to say. All of this is the fortune of fate—you don't need to thank me. If you want to thank anyone, thank our father and mother. After all, we were born of the same mother," Jiang Chen said with a chuckle.
Xu Qingxuan pretended to be annoyed and punched Jiang Chen twice on the shoulder, though the rims of her eyes had turned red.
"Brother, you say the Heavenly Dao is eternal. Do you think Father and Mother can enjoy boundless years of life, just like us?" Xu Qingxuan's tone carried a note of melancholy.
Jiang Chen sighed. "Don't worry. I will do everything in my power."
Their father Jiang Feng and their mother Xu Meng—both had far too weak a foundation and had missed the optimal window for cultivation. Their mother, Xu Meng, in particular, had originally possessed quite decent aptitude, but because she had been imprisoned, she had missed the critical opportunity for foundation establishment. As a result, her cultivation was now stuck in an awkward middle ground.
Reaching the Emperor realm—there was still hope for that.
As for gaining the acknowledgment of the Heavenly Dao and becoming a Heavenly Position cultivator, that would depend on fate. As for the Supreme Divine Dao, Jiang Chen wasn't entirely confident about that either.
But the Heavenly Dao governed all things, and there had never been absolutes.
Everything depended on whether fortune arrived or not.
In his previous life, when he himself had been unable to cultivate, hadn't his father, the Celestial Emperor, still granted him a million years of life?
…
After distributing the three Daluo Cloud Essence Fruit, Jiang Chen immediately received a report from Yu Gong—someone was requesting an audience with him beyond the sect gates.
Seeing the solemn look on Yu Gong's face, Jiang Chen grew curious. "What sort of person has you looking like that?"
Yu Gong looked somewhat abashed. "Young Master, the visitor is extremely powerful. This subordinate was unable to withstand them. Fortunately, the visitor said he comes as a friend, not an enemy, to the Young Master."
Jiang Chen's eyebrow twitched. Friend, not enemy—so who could it be?
Still, on his own territory, Jiang Chen wasn't worried. Even a Demon Race ancestor would only humiliate himself by causing trouble here.
With a mere thought, the Four Divine Beasts could join the fray. Jiang Chen truly feared no one.
"Let him in."
Yu Gong was taken aback. "Young Master, the visitor does not appear to come with good intentions."
"Relax. Here, whether friend or foe, no one dares to cause trouble. Otherwise, they'd only be asking for suffering," Jiang Chen said with absolute confidence.
Yu Gong saw how resolute Jiang Chen was and didn't dare say anything more. He could only go out to escort the visitor in.