After withdrawing the spiritual power that had entered the concept-level river god, Ding Yun quickly took a few recovery pills for herself. Only then did she feel a bit better and stabilized her physical body:
"I didn't expect there to be a threshold for using this golden finger.
I don't lack spiritual power, it's just that this physical body's quality is a bit poor. Currently, there are only two options.
Either the spiritual power is separated from the physical body, and then it won't be harmed no matter how it's used, or the physical quality is improved. But I need to use my physical body to conceal the otherworldly aura, so it seems I can only improve my physical quality!"
Although there were two options, in reality, there was only one.
Therefore, Ding Yun began to cultivate that very night.
However, to avoid attracting attention by absorbing too much spiritual energy, Ding Yun ultimately did not dare to choose a cultivation method that absorbed spiritual energy from heaven and earth for body refinement. Instead, she chose to stand on the ground and absorb the earth's power and malevolent energy from beneath the earth for body refinement, which was the ancient Wu Clan's body refinement technique.
The earth's power here does not mean the traditional earth element spiritual energy, but rather the turbid energy of the earth.
As opposed to the pure qi.
If the physical body is turbid qi, then the soul is pure qi.
However, it requires extremely powerful spiritual power and an understanding of turbid qi to extract it from the earth. Ding Yun possessed all of these.
Therefore, there were no difficulties in cultivation.
Before long, she had achieved an initial understanding.
Each wisp of earth's turbid qi greatly improved Ding Yun's physical quality and eroded her soul. Fortunately, her soul was strong and not afraid of this erosion. In just one night, Ding Yun had extracted the earth's turbid qi from an area of ten thousand miles around her, successfully achieving an initial understanding of the Hou Tu Body Refinement Art she had prepared. In terms of physical quality, she should be comparable to a Golden Core cultivator.
This is the benefit of a high realm and a good cultivation method.
With sufficient energy, cultivation can be easily improved.
It's even faster than some people who seize bodies to cultivate anew.
The next morning, Liu Qinshi brought some breakfast and rushed into Ding Yun's room, beginning to instruct Ding Yun on how to receive the imperial edict if one arrived, and how to express gratitude if there were any rewards for her. After finishing her instructions, she looked at Ding Yun's complexion again and reluctantly took out a few bottles of blood-replenishing pills from her sleeve, saying:
"I really don't know what you did to make your face so sallow overnight. Anyone would think we're mistreating you, not giving you food or nourishment. Quickly take some blood-replenishing pills to boost your qi and blood. If that doesn't work, put on some foundation and blush.
Your complexion must be good when you receive the edict.
I won't waste any more time with you, hurry up! Although we don't know when the edict will arrive, the宗正 (Zongzheng) said it will definitely arrive within three days, so we must be prepared at all times.
After breakfast, wash up and get dressed.
Put on your formal attire and be ready at all times!"
With that, Liu Qinshi threw the blood-replenishing pills on the bed and left in a hurry. As for why Ding Yun's complexion was sallow, she had cultivated earth's turbid qi all night, and some of the turbid qi had not been fully refined within her.
It would be strange if her complexion wasn't sallow.
She would be fine once she refined the turbid qi.
Ding Yun then proceeded to eat breakfast as usual, wash up, put on formal attire, and quietly wait in her room for the imperial edict to arrive. As for the original body's other two children, they were being looked after by her mother-in-law, who even refused to let the original body take care of them, saying she was afraid the original body wouldn't do a good job.
However, just waiting like this was too boring, so Ding Yun, while appearing to be waiting, had actually used the concept-level river god to create many clones and spread the legend of the river god further afield.
If a cultivator dropped something, she would transform it for the cultivator.
If a mortal dropped something, she would transform it for the mortal.
What was most interesting was that as Ding Yun continued to use the river god's abilities, she discovered that she actually had the ability to a certain extent to change the final outcome of what was transformed.
For example, if a rotten axe fell into the river, she could transform it into a corresponding golden axe and a silver axe, or she could transform it into a very sharp axe and a super sharp divine weapon axe. This meant she could not only change the nature of the item that fell into the river, transforming it from a worthless object into a more precious or valuable one, but she could also evolve it, transforming it from a low-level item into a high-level one.
Another thing was, if she encountered someone she disliked dropping something, even if it was a magic artifact, Ding Yun could directly transform it into a magic artifact made of silver and a magic artifact made of gold, purely made of gold and silver.
With no special effects.
She could even ignore them, not appearing at all, and simply pocket the item that fell into the river.
The degree of freedom was incredibly high.
It was precisely because of this high degree of freedom that Ding Yun found playing the role of the river god not so boring. Correspondingly, the things obtained by people who encountered river god serendipities became increasingly strange. For instance, someone driving their ducks across the river obtained several boxes of pickled duck feet and the ultimate delicacy, the Food God's Pickled Duck Feet King, because only their ducks' feet were in the river, so they naturally only got feet.
Another example, a certain demonic cultivator accidentally dropped a pair of mother-child ghost pearls into the river, and then he obtained a pair of mother-child ghost pearls with their freedom and intelligence restored after a hundred years and a pair of mother-child ghost pearls with their freedom and intelligence restored after a thousand years, and was then torn to shreds by the two pairs of mother-child ghosts, vanishing into thin air.
This time, Ding Yun extended her clone's radiation range to cover the entire Southern Region. This world was divided into five regions: East, South, West, North, and Central. Qixia Kingdom was located in the central area of the Southern Region. The Southern Region had over a hundred countries governed by nineteen sects. Excluding the sea, she had already covered one-fifth of the civilized areas of this world. She believed that within a few days, her physical quality should be able to support her in dispersing river god clones into the rivers of the five major regions of the world. In a while, she might even enter rivers like the River of Love.
In short, the future was promising, and there was much she could achieve.
After Ding Yun was engrossed in the river god game for more than three hours, less than an hour after noon, there were suddenly different sounds from outside.
There were sounds of horses, people, and drums.
And they were getting closer.
Liu Qinshi also sent someone to inform Ding Yun to quickly go to the main house to meet them and prepare to receive the imperial edict. Only then did Ding Yun stop.
She went out to follow the regulations and go through the process of receiving the imperial edict.
There was nothing much to say about the process, it was just the normal royal procedure. Only the outcome needed to be described in a little more detail. Liu Yunpeng, as expected, was elevated to the title of Prince of the County, thanks to his son. Ding Yun became the Princess of the County. The least fortunate was Liu Qinshi, who was only granted the treatment of a Grand Consort of the County, because if she were to be sealed as a Grand Consort of the County, her deceased husband would also have to be posthumously awarded the title of Prince of the County, which was against etiquette.
After the imperial edict was read, it was time for the specific rewards. Gifts of ceremonial robes and a Prince's mansion were bestowed, along with considerable amounts of gold, silver, jewels, and some spiritual elixirs.
The entire family was so happy they didn't know whether to perform ancestral rites first, or move to the Prince's mansion, and so on...