CHAPTER 1261: MORTIFYING REALIZATION

Yunnan was just as lively as Baishui Province. With how brightly it was lit by floating lanterns, the music and dancing below, and the cacophony of noise blending in from the crowds, one wouldn’t even believe it was close to midnight, given how much activity filled the city they were passing over.

For a scholar’s nation, Yang Qing had assumed it would be silent and tranquil, almost like a library, with residents buried deep in books, fully immersed in their studies. He hadn’t expected it to be this lively. Of all the places he’d visited, only one other matched this level of vibrance, and that was the food kingdom, the White Baobab Kingdom. It was always bustling from dawn to night, and now, it seemed Hebei Kingdom was the same.

Yang Qing lifted part of his attention from the scene below as his eyes trailed over two maps resting on his lap. One of them was, of course, the Map of Illumination. As enraptured as he was by the sights beneath him, not for a single moment did he let his attention stray from the Map of Illumination. Thankfully, his fear of stumbling across a domain expert on his way here had yet to come true.

Yang Qing’s eyes then moved to the other map, which, unlike the Map of Illumination, was a regular map of the continent. It wasn’t an ascendant-grade artifact, but it was precious nonetheless. From the materials used to its functionality, the map was a mid-tier monarch-grade artifact.

It recorded and updated itself whenever Yang Qing passed through a location, and its coverage radius was much larger than that of the Map of Illumination. Where the Map of Illumination had a 20-kilometer sensory range—with Yang Qing as the epicenter—the other map, known within the Order as the Traveler’s Map, had a 100-kilometer radius. While it couldn’t detect the presence of cultivators like the Map of Illumination could, what it did show were natural features and man-made landmarks, such as the names of businesses, provided they weren’t hidden behind isolation arrays or other concealment formations at the blue grade or higher.

If you had never been to a certain place, the information shown about that area would be general, and some of it might be outdated. However, once you arrived at that location, the map would not only update itself, but also provide significantly richer detail.

Yang Qing always felt that the Traveler’s Map was a psychological trap the Order used to encourage its staff to explore more of the continent. They even offered merit points if the details shown on the map reached a certain level of richness. On top of that, staff members had a bragging and betting pool surrounding the map, like comparing whose was the most detailed, while throwing in wagers and boasts about other parameters as well.

It went without saying that Yang Qing avoided such bets. Him being the professional that he was, even though he was always short on funds, he hadn’t sunk so low as to gamble on the job about his job. He simply wasn’t that kind of person.

And it certainly wasn’t because he knew he’d definitely lose—what with how he rarely left the Order’s headquarters unless absolutely necessary, and how he was no match for the inquisitors who had an unfair advantage thanks to their travel-heavy duties, and were also the ones who started those betting pools in the first place.

Yes... It definitely had nothing to do with any of that. He just wasn’t a gambling person.

Turning his focus back to the map, Yang Qing narrowed his gaze on the names of businesses as the artifact updated itself in real time, more details steadily appearing. He was looking for one in particular: the Velvet Orchid.

Yunnan Province had eight cities, and Yang Qing had no idea which of them housed the Velvet Orchid Teahouse. They were currently flying over Silver Lantern City—which perhaps explained the abundance of lanterns—but there was no sign of the teahouse on the map.

Yang Qing instructed Haishi to fly northwest, toward one of the other eight cities that he suspected might be the one mentioned in the message.

His reasoning was simple: the city in that direction was called Orchid Valley. It wasn’t farfetched to imagine that teahouses there might bear names with "orchid" in them. When they arrived and the map recorded everything within a 100-kilometer radius, and Yang Qing’s hunch—basic as it was—turned out to be spot on.

As obvious as it had been, that didn’t stop Yang Qing from feeling quietly pleased with himself for his deductive prowess.

...

"Haishi, head in that direction," said Yang Qing as he gestured to his left. "There’s a forest there. You three will wait for me while I go look around the city," he added.

Haishi nodded and flew in the indicated direction. Within a few minutes, a vast plain filled with trees, insect noises, and a faint mist came into view. Haishi flew in low, following the directions Yang Qing provided.

Using the Map of Illumination

, Yang Qing had already scoped out the major figures residing within the forest. Not to mention, the forest’s size fell well within the coverage range of both the Map of Illumination and his spiritual sense. The forest plain spanned about 78,000 acres, which meant it had a rough radius of 10 kilometers from its center—easily covered by Yang Qing’s spiritual sense, which extended to 25 kilometers, and the Map of Illumination, which had a 20-kilometer range.

He had detected four palace realm figures within the forest: one human, two spirit beasts, and one spiritual plant—all of them weaker than him. Yang Qing guided Haishi toward a spring on the western side of the plain, a spot further from the palace realm figures he had detected. It was, however, closer to the palace realm spiritual plant, if he were to compare their proximity.

"Haishi, please shrink your form like last time," Yang Qing requested once they reached their location.

Haishi gave a small nod as her massive frame began to shrink, reducing from her mammoth-like size to something closer to a melon. She couldn’t polymorph into a human yet, but as a spirit beast in the core formation stage, she could adjust her size to a limited extent. Given her size and the fact that she was already at the fifth stage of the core formation realm, this was as small as she could safely go. Forcing her to shrink further—say, to the size of a normal dragonfly—was likely to result in serious injury.

She would need to reach at least the ninth or tenth stage of the core formation realm before she could manage such a feat safely.

Yang Qing recalled reading in a certain journal that dragons could freely polymorph from birth, and to an extraordinary degree at that. According to the journal’s author, a dragon’s polymorphing abilities were so refined that they could transform into a speck of dust, fine enough to evade the spiritual sense of cultivators at the early domain realm and below. The author also noted that, unlike regular spirit beasts who typically experienced a dip in strength when polymorphing into a different form or size—especially a human form that wasn’t their true body—dragons suffered no such limitations.

Whether as a speck of dust or in their true forms, dragons maintained their full strength across any form or size they took. Not only that, the author had also noted that when it came to polymorphing—where regular spirit beasts could at most alter their size or, upon reaching the palace realm, polymorph into humans—dragons operated on an entirely different level. They could transform into other creatures, from spirit beasts to spiritual plants, and perfectly replicate their abilities, so long as the target wasn’t a mythical race.

They possessed a malleability and adaptability that allowed them to pick up traits from others with alarming ease, often replicating them with even greater proficiency than the original user. And this didn’t just apply to spirit beasts or spiritual plants—they could do the same with human cultivators too. With just one or two observations, a dragon could accurately grasp a technique and reproduce it, mimicking not just the form but even the very essence of the one they copied it from.

The author speculated that it might be this same malleability that made dragons the only mythical race recorded to freely breed across different bloodlines. Their blood was simply that adaptable.

As unbelievable as all those things sounded, Yang Qing was inclined to believe them. After all, he had a mythical creature for a nestmate—and as much as he viewed it with resentment and disdain due to its foul, un-noble nature, even he had to admit there were things the Celestial Nesting Weaver could do that defied imagination.

He couldn’t deny that watching what the weaver did with its nest—transforming it into something that truly felt and looked like a mysterious realm or heavenly grotto—often made him envious of the mythical race’s bloodline. He’d found himself more than once wondering what it would be like to have one himself. In fact, he even had a top three.

First on his list was the Fusang Treefolk bloodline. It ranked highest because of the stories he’d heard about the Fusang Tree—that it was the nesting tree of the phoenix race, possessed an immeasurable lifespan, and had vitality to match. As someone who valued preserving his life by any means possible, the Fusang appealed to him immensely. The Green Flame Tree in his abode had its genealogy traced back to the Fusang, and that connection was one of the main reasons he’d acquired it.

Second on the list was the dragon bloodline. Honestly, there was no deeper reason beyond the simple fact that, whether mortal or cultivator, everyone thought dragons were cool. And now, after reading about all the things the dragon race was rumored to be capable of, Yang Qing would be more than happy to inherit even a drop of dragon blood.

And in third place was the Kunpeng. His reason for picking it was the same as with the Fusang bloodline—long-term survival. The Kunpeng was one of the fastest creatures in both sea and air. With that bloodline, no matter who he offended, they could forget about catching him.

But alas, that was all destined to remain a dream. He didn’t have a trace of mythical blood in him. At this point, he wasn’t even sure his bloodline was entirely human, given his crazy clan and its antics.

Unwilling to let his mood sour, Yang Qing squatted down and placed his palm on the ground.

Sheltering Breath of the Golden Bloom.

A sunflower in full bloom rose from the earth, its petals glowing with a gentle golden radiance. A bubble instantly formed from its disk floret, expanding into a dome that stretched a hundred meters in diameter, covering part of the spring, the mahogany tree beside it, and the three spirit beasts.

"Don’t leave this bubble," Yang Qing instructed, gesturing toward the dome, which shimmered faintly under the moonlight. "It will isolate your presence from anyone not stronger than me. It’ll also defend against attacks from anyone at the second stage of the palace realm and below," he added.

The three spirit beasts nodded, though both Haishi and Wenling looked slightly uneasy about the arrangement.

"Don’t worry. I’ve already scouted this entire forest, and nothing currently here can detect or breach this bubble," said Yang Qing, trying to reassure them. "But just in case, you can have these," he added, handing Wenling three talismans.

"If you feel endangered in any way, you can detonate one of them. Each contains about 80% of my strength," Yang Qing explained, pointing at the talismans.

Wenling’s expression eased, especially after Yang Qing walked her through how to activate them.

Satisfied that all arrangements were in place, Yang Qing made his way toward the Velvet Orchid Teahouse.

Orchid City was just like its name. It was filled with the floral scent of different orchids, which mixed with the breezy aroma of the meandering river flowing through its heart. Quaint little footbridges curved gracefully over the water, linking different streets and alleyways. Despite never having been there before, Yang Qing moved through the city with familiarity (all thanks to the traveler’s map), as he quietly appreciated its charm.

Eventually, his steps brought him to the entrance of the Velvet Orchid Teahouse, which, true to its name, certainly lived up to its elegance.

The teahouse was a four-story building with a rustic design, built from earthvine wood. Orchids and drapes of midnight-blue velvet hung elegantly around its exterior, while a garden-like roof bloomed with white, blue, and lilac orchids, their petals drifting gently down to the rest of the building, carried by the gentle breeze that filled the night.

Despite their numbers being many, the scent they gave off wasn’t overpowering. Instead, it was soft, gracious, and calming.

By the entrance stood a signboard bearing the words The Velvet Orchid Teahouse. The calligraphy was elegant, yet imbued with a subtle spirit that stirred feelings of curiosity and warmth in anyone who looked at it. Beside the door sat a beautiful woman dressed in flowing green robes, her matching silk scarf catching the breeze as she played a sanxian. The tune was smooth, slow, and gliding, evoking a sense of warmth and introspection, to which even Yang Qing wasn’t immune.

Hearing it, Yang Qing came to a very, very deep realization...

He hadn’t eaten in the past eight hours.

The realization mortified him.