At last, Xu Que managed to obtain all the Vital Rice from this Vital Ant nest. Together with the Vital Rice he had stolen in a hurry just now, all the Vital Rice he had now could add around 1,000 years of life-span.

　　Although the Queen Ant hadn’t wanted to surrender the Vital Rice, it had to be cooperative because it was intimidated by his identity and his Reincarnation Palm that could control the Rules of Heaven and Earth.

　　“Remember! You should come to my room alone tonight for I have something important to discuss with you!” Xu Que said with a smile. Then he left with the woman.

　　Seeing Xu Que and the woman from behind, the Queen Ant stomped its little feet angrily. “Humph! What a despicable human being! This man is a far cry from the one chosen by Heaven in the description of our Patriarch! I will never go to your room tonight for I know your filthy plan! Apparently, you are planning to steal my life-span! I will never do that!”

　　Then it waved its hand to give an order to the rest of the Vital Ants, “Let’s move to the western suburbs and take everything in our nests! We will join my father!”

　　…..

　　At the same time, Xu Que had left the eastern suburbs and arrived at the city of human beings.

　　On their way, Xu Que had obtained much information from the woman. In this city, Vital Rice was the only currency, and it could buy anything and drive all cultivators crazy! Now, Xu Que had a lot of Vital Rice, which equaled approximately 1,000 years of life-span. In this city, he was as wealthy as a leader of a medium-sized sect.

　　The woman was too shy to mention that safe place she had spoken of before. Xu Que could defeat the Queen Ants easily. So he had earned around 10,000 grains of Vital Rice, which equaled about 1,000 years of life-span. Her little cooperation for just 20 grains of Vital Rice was not worth speaking about!

　　“My fellow cultivator, let’s part here! I will go on alone!” At last, the woman said good-bye to Xu Que at the gates of the city.

　　“OK! Please take care!” Xu Que said, nodding his head with a smile.

　　Even though he had 10,000 grains of Vital Rice now, it was impossible for him to give some to this woman! A beautiful face was useless now! In this city, beauty was the most useless thing. Xu Que knew he could get countless women who were even more beautiful than this one in this city with all his stash of Vital Rice.

　　“You are the one who should take care!” The woman replied, as she shook her head and looked at the city. “Although you are powerful, there are several powerhouses of the Earth Celestial Realm in this city. Remember! There are a lot more than one cultivator of the Earth Celestial Realm here! If they know you can control the Rules of Life and Death, they will definitely work together to deal with you. Therefore, you had better keep a low profile! Farewell!”

　　After saying that, the woman bowed to Xu Que and left.

　　Xu Que raised his eyebrows and shouted hastily, “Young lady, please wait a minute!”

　　“What? What can I do for you, my fellow cultivator?” The woman was surprised. She turned around.

　　Xu Que said with a smile, “Actually, you don’t need to take a risk. I want to ask you several questions. If you answer me, I will give you 20 grains of Vital Rice as a reward. Is that OK for you?”

　　“Eh…” The woman was stunned.

　　She knew Xu Que could earn Vital Rice easily. However, when Xu Que offered a reward of 20 grains of Vital Rice, she was really surprised. For it was really a big sum, and she felt anxious about it immediately.

　　“Just answer…your questions?” She asked nervously.

　　“Of course! If I wanted you to do something else, I would offer you more Vital Rice! Don’t worry!” Xu Que said with a smile.

　　Hearing this, the woman remembered the scene when Xu Que had asked the Queen Ant to go to his room alone tonight. She was quite terrified and replied hurriedly, “I will only answer your questions and won’t do anything else!”

　　“OK!” Xu Que said with a smile.

　　Actually, he was really only kidding around for he had never planned to sleep with an ant. Otherwise, he wouldn’t just ask the Queen Ant to go to his room alone in the night. He even didn’t have a place to stay in the city. How could he have a room? Also, the city was heavily guarded. A Queen Ant would definitely be killed if it dared to come into the city alone.

　　“What do you want to know?” The woman said as she looked at Xu Que seriously. She was ready to earn 20 grains of Vital Rice to extend her younger brother’s life. After all, this was really her only choice. She knew clearly that she would still be endangered if she went to that so-called safe place alone. Xu Que was trying to help her in this way so that she wouldn’t think this was only charity.

　　“First, please tell me your story and your knowledge about the three continents in the World of Near Celestial!” Xu Que asked directly.

　　He had acquired some information about the World of Near Celestial from Wang Qiannian. He figured out that Wang Qiannian was quite impatient and didn’t answer his questions seriously. If he could get more information from this woman, 20 grains of Vital Rice were quite a good bargain!

　　“I came from the Xuanhuang Continent. And I used to be a Master in the Lihuo Academy…” The woman started to narrate her identity and history without any hesitation. Her name was Lan Xinyue, and she was a Master in a second-grade academy. A second-grade academy was an academy that was inferior to the Dongsheng Academy, the Ivy Academy, and the Jiuhe Academy.

　　In the Xuanhuang Continent, there were only three first-grade academies, more than 100 second-grade academies, and even more third-grade academies. The standard to rate academies was their number of powerhouses at the Earth Celestial Realm.

　　In a first-grade academy, there would be at least one powerhouse at the Later Stage of the Earth Celestial Realm and ten powerhouses at the Initial Stage of the Earth Celestial Realm, including the head of the academy. Also, there would be more than 100 powerhouses at the Human Celestial Realm in the academy to act as the Masters or Teachers.

　　This was just like the organizational structure of most sects. The academies’ structures were more scientific. The division of the faculty was more specific. The Masters were responsible for the courses that they were good at, including cultivation, alchemy, spells, and Arrays, as well as music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, etc. In this way, they could ensure the all-round development of their apprentices and cultivate elite talents for the Xuanhuang Continent.

　　When these apprentices graduated from the academy, they would stay in the academy to act as Masters or go on to the big sects. Every year, a fixed number of excellent graduates would be sent to the Earth Continent, which was superior to the Xuanhuang Continent. In this way, the academies could solidify their positions by spreading their influence to every corner of the world.

　　Lan Xinyue used to be an apprentice in the Lihuo Academy. She was not very gifted. When she reached the Human Celestial Realm, she stayed in the academy to act as a Master. In this way, she could enjoy the protection of the academy, and she could take care of her younger brother who had just reached the Half Celestial Realm!

　　To Xu Que’s surprise, Lan Xinyue taught painting in the academy.

　　“I didn’t imagine you were a painter!” Xu Que was surprised.

　　“One can reach the Celestial realm through all kinds of fields. Music, chess, calligraphy, and painting are quite important in the World of Near Celestial. And they are almost as difficult as the alchemy and spell Arrays! My paints contain Taoist Connotation, which could be used to help others in Tao Comprehension so that they could break their bottlenecks in cultivation,” Lan Xinyue said.

　　“Are your paints also effective for you?” Xu Que said with a smile.

　　“Of course! At least I could earn Spiritual Crystal with them. My fellow cultivator, don’t underestimate the art of painting. This is quite a profound Tao. It is said that a Painting Celestial in the World of Near Celestial used to obtain Celestial Artifacts from his paintings. He integrated the process of making Celestial Artifacts into his paintings, including the materials and heat control of flames. In this way, he could make something out of nothing!” Lan Xinyue replied.

　　Xu Que raised his eyebrows immediately. Make something out of nothing with only a brush and a piece of paper? Isn’t it Ma Liang who has a magical brush?

　　“Awesome! I will try it when I have an opportunity!” Xu Que said with a smile.

　　If he decided to learn the art of painting, he would study the structure of the human body from the cell level first! Then he could create those beautiful Japanese AV “teachers” who used to teach him the “mysterious knowledge” when he was young!

　　“Oh? My fellow cultivator, are you interested in becoming a painter?” Lan Xinyue asked curiously.

　　She knew Xu Que’s bone age was definitely lower than 100 years. Thanks to his extraordinary talents, he could become a powerful cultivator at the Half Celestial Realm at such a young age. If he could also become a painter, his extraordinary talents could definitely benefit this field!

　　“No!” Xu Que shook his head. Then he said with an ambiguous smile, “I want to be an insert painter!”

　　“An inset painter?” Lan Xinyue was confused, as she had never heard of such a title before.

　　“Forget it! Please continue your introduction of the World of Near Celestial. By the way, have you heard of the Jade Lake before?” Xu Que said, changing the topic.

　　After all, as a modest, innocent, and pure man, he should always keep his heart clean. How could he tell Lan Xinyue that the inset she thought he was talking about was really insert, which was what she made him think about?

　　…..