Without the God-Refining Technique, Li Fusheng had no choice but to make do with a clumsy approach, slowly cultivating along the Dharma Power circulation route of the Earth Release Technique.
Slow as it was, it was not impossible to cultivate. As for the God-Refining Technique, he would worry about it once he could perceive mental energy.
A living person could not possibly be suffocated by Neo, could they?
"Knock, knock, knock. Fusheng-kun, I'm coming in!" The moment the voice fell, Sara pushed open the bedroom door and walked in.
While circulating his Spiritual Energy, Li Fusheng smiled and asked, "How come you're here at this hour?"
Usually, Sara came over around mealtime, but today she was a bit early.
His cultivation did not require such intense concentration that he could not tolerate the slightest disturbance. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to rapidly absorb Spiritual Energy earlier while chatting and learning with Sara.
Multi-tasking was an ability he had gained after absorbing Spiritual Energy, and through several days of practice, he had now mastered it quite thoroughly.
"Fusheng-kun hasn't seen Loulan City yet, has he? Would you like to go take a look?" Although Sara spoke of Li Fusheng, it was obvious that she herself wanted to go out and stroll around.
However, Li Fusheng had been here for almost half a month and truly hadn't stepped outside. So upon hearing Sara's words, he did not refuse.
It was a bit different from what he had imagined. Although Loulan was situated amidst the desert, there were hardly any traces of sand and dust to be seen on the main streets.
Aside from the temperature being a bit high, there was nothing particularly unusual about it.
There were not many pedestrians on the streets, but there were quite a few stalls set up. After asking, he learned that commoners at this time of day were basically busy with agricultural work and had no leisure to wander around the streets.
However, by around dusk, the streets would become lively and remain that way until dark.
As Li Fusheng looked over the people on the street, the people on the street also looked over at the young man walking alongside Princess Sara.
After the two of them passed by, quite a few people even gathered together to discuss them in low voices.
Regarding this, Li Fusheng did not care much about the gossip of others. No matter what, Sara was the heir to this place, and if a male companion suddenly appeared by her side without anyone talking about it, it would be a ghost of a miracle.
However, he also noticed that, influenced by the environment, the commoners—even some young boys and girls—had complexions that appeared somewhat rough due to years of wind and sun exposure.
In contrast, Sara and Queen Saya looked like nobody outside would ever believe they lived in the desert.
Their skin could be described in one word: tender. In two words: very supple.
This was definitely not just because they were nobles and lived in a palace. After all, although those maidservants had better skin than the commoners, compared to Sara and Saya, the difference was still as vast as heaven and earth.
Li Fusheng had some guesses about this. It was probably related to Spiritual Energy. The presence of Spiritual Energy could be sensed within both of their bodies.
It was just that, judging from Sara's desire to find him to learn cultivation methods, they probably only absorbed some passively because the concentration of Spiritual Energy in their living environment was higher and they possessed an innate affinity for Spiritual Energy.
Because he did not know the plot of Loulan, Li Fusheng still did not know what the Spiritual Energy in Loulan was, nor was he clear on the detailed background of the queen's lineage.
"Fusheng-kun, is the country where you used to live much more prosperous than Loulan?"
Although Sara had never left the borders of Loulan, she occasionally heard passing merchants talking about affairs in the outside world.
Yet asking this now was not because she was truly so curious about the outside world, but rather out of fear that she had finally found a playmate to chat with, only for him to choose to return to his hometown because he couldn't bear the hardship and poverty of Loulan.
Li Fusheng was not entirely clear on the young girl's subtle thoughts. As for the place where he lived, it was naturally countless times better than Loulan; even the capital of the Land of Fire, the most prosperous place in the Shinobi World, could not compare.
However, his current persona was that of an ordinary person traveling with merchants. If his "hometown" were truly that wonderful, he wouldn't be wandering around everywhere.
Thus, under his description, a small town roughly similar to Loulan took shape in Sara's mind.
"Since they're about the same, Fusheng-kun shouldn't be all that eager to leave, right?" Sara thought to herself, the corners of her lips curling up slightly.
In the royal palace, Saya had intended to find Sara to teach her their family's secret arts. After all, after succeeding to the throne, she would have to fulfill the duties of the queen's lineage.
However, she could not find her, and upon asking a maidservant, she learned that the rescued Li Fusheng had gone out for a stroll. Saya did not send anyone to look for them.
Although Loulan's founding history was roughly similar to that of the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind, its existence dated back even earlier. It was just that the population had been smaller in the past, and it had existed merely in the form of a tribe.
Moreover, the royal lineage had never experienced a transfer of power from ancient times to the present; it was passed down from generation to generation, far more ancient than the heritage of any Shinobi Village.
Yet, much like the Kage of the various Shinobi Villages, every successive queen found it difficult to live a long life. In the harsh environment of the Shinobi World, people of long life were rare, so not many people paid attention to this detail.
"Sara doesn't seem to resist Fusheng; perhaps I can..."
Sara was fifteen years old this year and had reached the age to choose a husband. After coming of age in a few years, she would marry and succeed to the position of queen. Then she herself could be at ease to fulfill the duties of the queen, sacrificing her life to seal the rampaging Dragon Vein.
In Saya's mind, arrangements for the next few years flashed past.
According to Loulan's records, originally there were fewer than a hundred people here. As followers of the monk Hagoromo, they were entrusted with the heavy responsibility of guarding the seal.
Among them, those responsible for stabilizing the seal were precisely the ancestors of the queen's lineage.
Every ten to twenty years, the energy of the Dragon Vein would experience turmoil and assault the seal. When that happened, the reigning Queen of Loulan was required to use secret arts, sacrificing her own life to stabilize the seal and suppress the Dragon Vein.
To ensure the succession continued uninterrupted, a future husband would be chosen as the heir approached adulthood. Once the two were married, the previous queen would abdicate in favor of the heir, and then wait for trouble to arise in the Dragon Vein before making the sacrifice.
This was their destiny, and also their responsibility.
In the Naruto world, many people might feel resentment or complaints toward so-called destiny and fate, yet few dared to break fate or rebel against it.
The queen's lineage was no exception, and moreover, their destiny was wrapped in an even more "righteous" pretext.
Once the Dragon Vein broke its seal, the earth would collapse, the world would be destroyed, and the lives of everyone would come to an end.
With such a lofty moral hat placed upon their heads, which queen would ever dare to rebel against her own destiny?
Saya could not help but recall the events of her own youth. Her husband had likewise been chosen by the previous queen—a young man she had grown up with.
The two had married after coming of age and given birth to Sara. It was also in the year Sara was born that trouble arose in the Dragon Vein's seal, and the previous queen—Saya's mother—sacrificed her life, allowing the Dragon Vein to remain quiet for another fifteen years.
Calculating the time, the next Dragon Vein riot would probably be within the next five years.