Once everyone had dispersed, Jiang Chen could hardly wait to unfold the letter.
But just as he was about to do so, he suddenly stopped.
It hadn't mattered before when he didn't know, but now that he was aware another will resided within the Celestial Palace, it felt deeply uncomfortable. Especially during something as private as reading a letter.
After a brief moment of contemplation, his mind sank into the Celestial Palace.
"Jiang Yan, I need to read a letter now. I have to find a way to temporarily seal you off."
He already had a plan in mind, but he needed Jiang Yan's consent. Otherwise, if Jiang Yan misunderstood his intentions and reacted too drastically, resulting in mutual destruction, that would be disastrous.
If Jiang Yan refused, he would have no good alternatives for the time being, and he would certainly be unhappy about it.
To his surprise, Jiang Yan was quite agreeable: "Understandable. When necessary—for instance, if you wanted to do something with your lovely little handmaiden—as long as the Nether Candle isn't harmed, feel free to seal yourself off entirely. However, I hope you'll remember to inform me beforehand each time. I wouldn't want any misunderstandings."
He then adopted a more conciliatory tone: "You have no idea how unbearable it is, stuck inside the Nether Candle with nothing to see."
Jiang Chen ignored his idle jokes and said, "That's a perfectly reasonable request. Since you can understand me, naturally I can understand you."
"Jiang Chen, I am you, and you are me. We are both people who respect our promises." Jiang Yan said meaningfully, then fell silent.
"As long as you know yourself." Jiang Chen replied.
His words carried deep implication as well—if you truly are like me, then of course I am a man who keeps his word. But if you're different from me, I won't necessarily honor promises to you.
A person cannot stand without trust. Jiang Chen certainly believed in the moral principle that a promise is worth a thousand in gold. But that also depended on who it was directed toward.
Toward an entity like Jiang Yan, he knew neither their origins nor their depths. If he unilaterally kept every promise, he could end up destroyed without even knowing how he died.
He had agreed to Chongxuan Sheng, and so he could travel tens of thousands of miles to the State of Qi to help him win the Celestial Residence Secret Realm.
He had agreed to Lian Que, and so he could hand over the Life Token without a moment's hesitation.
He had agreed to Zhu Biqiong, and so he could drop everything and immediately set off to hunt down Hu Shaomeng.
But Jiang Yan was different.
The conditions agreed upon with Jiang Yan were a transaction born of careful deliberation, not a voluntary promise. The nature was fundamentally different.
As for how to seal off Jiang Yan's perception of the outside world, the method Jiang Chen had devised centered on the flower sea.
The inspiration came from the Soul Flamebloom.
If he used soul power to replace Dao essence power, and could manifest the Soul Sea of Flameblooms, then it should naturally also have the effect of creating a preset battlefield. Concealing perception would be trivial.
Jiang Chen practiced his morning and evening sessions without fail, and whenever he had a spare moment, he repeatedly drilled his techniques and swordsmanship until every method he knew was thoroughly ingrained.
Given his success with the Soul Flamebloom, spreading the Soul Sea of Flameblooms within the Celestial Palace was entirely foreseeable.
He only needed a brief attempt before succeeding.
Inside the towering and expansive Celestial Palace, the Starbinding Spirit Serpent wove back and forth among the nine great Star River Dao Vortices.
The Nether Candle sat alone in a corner, submerged within the magnificent Soul Sea of Flameblooms.
If the scene within could be materialized, it would undoubtedly be one of the most breathtaking sights in all the world.
With Jiang Yan's perception temporarily blocked, Jiang Chen felt his thoughts become considerably lighter, filled with a joy akin to "returning to nature once more."
He even considered singing a tune to celebrate while opening the letter, but thought better of it upon recalling just how awful he sounded.
…
From An'an's letter, her handwriting had clearly become much more refined—she had obviously not neglected her studies at Lingxiao Pavilion.
She chatted about foods she had been enjoying lately, acted a little coquettish, and complained about how tiring martial arts practice was.
In the end, she circled around to the point: "The State of Qi is so far away. By the time your letter gets back to me, it might already be October."
Cranes could certainly make the round trip between the two places in far less time than that. The little girl's intentions were hardly difficult to guess.
October…
October thirteenth was her birthday. She simply wanted Jiang Chen to celebrate it with her.
But Jiang Chen could only sigh inwardly.
A round trip to the State of Cloud would take at least half a month. With Chongxuan Sheng's grand plans still unsettled and the State of Yang in utter chaos, he truly could not leave at this moment.
He could only pretend not to understand, selected some delicacies from the States of Yang and Qi to talk about, and promised to bring her there to eat someday. There was nothing else he could do.
Ye Qingyu's letter casually mentioned that she had recently participated in some trials and made gains in her strength. The content still mainly revolved around Jiang An'an, discussing the little girl's recent circumstances. Having entrusted his sister to her, Jiang Chen could see she had been thoroughly dedicated.
The letter included: "I've been searching for an Earth Grade Pill for a long time, but it's truly hard to come by. I currently have one Grade-A Meridian-Opening Pill. Would it be acceptable to use it for An'an's meridian-opening?"
Jiang An'an had been practicing martial arts for some time now, and at Lingxiao Pavilion she had received excellent guidance. Her foundation was gradually becoming solid. The matter of meridian-opening had therefore been put on the agenda.
Upon reading this, Jiang Chen immediately entered the Ethereal Realm and wrote to Chongxuan Sheng, inquiring about the Earth Grade Pill and the price of the Grade-A Meridian-Opening Pill.
Confined by his limited perspective, he actually had absolutely no knowledge of the grading system for Meridian-Opening Pills. It was only from Zhao Yan that he had learned there was a distinction between ordinary and exceptional Meridian-Opening Pills. He wanted to obtain a perfect Meridian-Opening Pill for Jiang An'an so she would suffer less in her cultivation.
But just how perfect a perfect meridian-opening pill really was, Zhao Yan hadn't elaborated at the time—probably because it seemed too far off. So Jiang Chen remained ignorant.
Chongxuan Sheng's reply was somewhat hasty. Judging from the still combative brushstrokes, he had likely just fought someone in the Ethereal Realm, or he wouldn't have responded so quickly.
This stout fellow had been working hard lately, probably related to the State of Qi's grand movements…
"Meridian-Opening Pills are divided into three grades: Heaven, Earth, and Human. Heaven Grade Pills exist only in legends. Earth Grade Pills are encounters of fate—nearly impossible to find. Human Grade Pills are divided into four tiers. Grade-D is the ordinary Meridian-Opening Pill, Grade-C is slightly stronger, Grade-B is good, and Grade-A is excellent. Prices fluctuate slightly by region, but overall, the price of a Grade-A Meridian-Opening Pill should not fall below one hundred Myriad Essence Stones."
Accompanying the letter was the Jubao Trading Company's recently published Meridian-Opening Pill procurement prices:
Grade-D Meridian-Opening Pill: one and a half Myriad Essence Stones per pill; Grade-C Meridian-Opening Pill: ten Myriad Essence Stones per pill; Grade-B Meridian-Opening Pill: thirty Myriad Essence Stones per pill; Grade-A Meridian-Opening Pill: one hundred Myriad Essence Stones per pill.
As could be seen, the price skyrocketed along with the pill's grade.
As for the price of the Earth Origin Grand Pill, Chongxuan Sheng hadn't mentioned it at all. Once such a thing appeared, there would be no shortage of people fighting over it—the price sometimes held no meaning whatsoever.
Good heavens. This was the first time Jiang Chen had seen Myriad Essence Stones counted by the hundred.
Back then, he had risked his life to take a swing at the Qi imperial prince Jiang Wuyong, and beyond a secret technique, he had only earned ten Myriad Essence Stones. In other words, he would need to repeat that feat ten times just to accumulate enough Dao Essence Stones to match the value of a single Grade-A Meridian-Opening Pill.
After all his recent "efforts"—including "robbing and killing" the Snake-Mask—Jiang Chen had thought himself reasonably well-off. Now it seemed…
Ye Qingyu was willing to offer a Meridian-Opening Pill worth one hundred Myriad Essence Stones for Jiang An'an's meridian-opening, and had even tried to purchase an Earth Origin Grand Pill but simply couldn't find one. What more could Jiang Chen possibly say?
He immediately drafted his reply, first wishing Ye Qingyu swift advancement on the long path of the Dao.
Then he returned to the topic of Jiang An'an: "When the time is ripe, let An'an begin her meridian-opening."
Next he expressed his heartfelt gratitude, saying things that were sincere but ultimately of little substance.
Finally he wrote: "All expenses—I will repay you soon."
He considered for a moment, then crossed out "soon" and changed it to "as soon as possible."
After another moment's thought, he changed it again to "someday."
…