VHSTS CH15

Amidst the vast, boundless sea of clouds and mist, Taihua Mountain’s Sect Master, Haoxingzi Zunzhe, streaked rapidly across the sky until he arrived at Yuxiao Peak at the very center of Taihua Mountain. Standing at the foot of the peak, he sent a voice transmission to his shidi, yet received no response whatsoever. Furrowing his grizzled brows, the Sect Master marched straight up the mountain.

Every disciple of Taihua Mountain knew that Yuxiao Peak was covered in restrictive wards and protected by a mountain-sealing grand array; not even Mu Tianxin, the youngest shimei among the Seven Scions of Taihua, could ascend it, forced to wait at the foot of the peak every time she wanted to see Luo-shixiong.

However, what they did not know was that aside from little shimei, even the other Zunzhe and elders were forbidden from ascending Yuxiao Peak.

Yuxiao Peak was Taihua Mountain’s most vital forbidden ground. Only Peak Master Xuanlingzi Zunzhe, Eldest Shixiong Luo Jianqing, and Sect Master Haoxingzi Zunzhe could enter; anyone else who stepped a single foot inside without permission would be instantly obliterated by the mountain-sealing grand array.

Upon arriving before the bamboo cottage, Haoxingzi immediately caught the scent of turbulent spiritual power and a faint trace of blood lingering in the air. His eyes widened in alarm; hastily breaking through the barrier left behind by his shidi, he burst through the door—only to freeze abruptly at the sight inside.

The handsome, aloof white-robed Zunzhe was currently propping himself half-upright on the bamboo couch, his face deathly pale and his forehead drenched in sweat. The front of his robes was splattered with glaring, mottled bloodstains, and a pool of fresh blood glinted with specks of golden spiritual qi on the floor before the couch.

Seeing this, Haoxingzi’s eyes bulged as he gasped, “Heart’s essence blood! Shidi, you…”

Xuanlingzi said nothing, though his pallid expression had already answered Haoxingzi’s question.

Haoxingzi hurriedly retrieved a pill bottle from his storage ring. The instant an emerald-green medicinal pill appeared in the air, a rich fragrance spread outward; even the flowers, grass, and bamboo outside the cottage swayed excitedly upon catching the faintest whiff of its aroma. With a flick of Haoxingzi’s palm, the pill flew straight into Xuanlingzi’s mouth.

It took a full ke before Xuanlingzi finally finished soothing the chaotic spiritual power inside his body.

Unable to hold back, Haoxingzi asked, “Shidi, what on earth happened? Could you have suffered qi deviation? Impossible—you have cultivated for over three hundred years. Short as that time may be, your mind has always been pure and you have never once encountered an inner demon. How could you end up in such a state today?”

Xuanlingzi spoke flatly, “Sect Master Shixiong.”

Haoxingzi’s expression was grave. Pondering for a long moment, he suddenly exclaimed in shock, “An inner demon! Back then, Shishu ordered you to swear a heart-demon oath to guard that item with your life. Could something have gone wrong with that item, causing you to suffer backlash?! Shidi, that is Taihua Mountain’s most crucial forbidden artifact, the Nine Lotuses Plundering—”

“Sect Master Shixiong!” Xuanlingzi cut Haoxingzi off in a frigid voice, saying, “It has nothing to do with that item. It is completely fine right now.”

As his words fell, Xuanlingzi flipped his hand to reveal a streak of blood-red light. The exact instant the object appeared between heaven and earth, the drifting clouds in the sky seemed to freeze solid, and storm clouds began gathering faintly above Yuxiao Peak—dispersing immediately once Xuanlingzi put the item away.

Only then did Haoxingzi breathe a sigh of relief. “As long as that item is safe, all is well.” Pausing, he suddenly thought to ask, “Then, Shidi, why did you…”

Xuanlingzi replied with a calm expression, “A mishap occurred during this batch of new disciples’ practical trial. Those ruins did not belong to an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator. I attached my primordial spirit to Jianqing and entered the ruins alongside him, where I met the remnant soul of that cultivator. He was a Soul Formation cultivator who must have suffered some catastrophe before death, causing his cultivation to fall back to the late Nascent Soul stage.”

Haoxingzi stared in disbelief. “Shidi, didn’t you swear a vow never to leave Taihua Mountain? How did you bring your primordial spirit outside?”

Xuanlingzi spoke indifferently, “I split my primordial spirit in half, so it does not count as truly leaving Taihua Mountain.”

Those few brief words left Haoxingzi utterly speechless.

Any cultivator who reached the Nascent Soul realm could condense a primordial spirit, though at that stage it resembled a tiny infant with minimal combat strength. Upon reaching the Soul Formation realm, the primordial spirit could leave the physical body. By the Mahayana realm, a primordial spirit could be split at will—the higher one’s cultivation, the more divisions one could make, with each fragment capable of fighting independently.

That was why back inside the ruins, upon realizing Xuanlingzi was only half of a primordial spirit, Beidou Zhenjun had immediately blurted out, “A cultivator above the Mahayana realm.”

However, such feats existed mostly in theory; very few Mahayana cultivators ever split their primordial spirits. The reason was simple: the excruciating agony of tearing one’s primordial spirit apart was far beyond what ordinary people could endure.

The primordial spirit was a cultivator’s most sensitive essence—merely being touched by an outsider sent numbing shocks through one’s entire being. If a physical body and a primordial spirit suffered the exact same blow, the pain inflicted upon the primordial spirit was a hundred times worse!

Even thinking about splitting a primordial spirit made Haoxingzi’s scalp tingle. After a long silence, he finally sighed and said, “Aren’t you treating Jianqing a little too well?”

Not a flicker of emotion crossed Xuanlingzi’s handsome face as he answered calmly, “Jianqing is my disciple.”

Seeing his shidi like this, Haoxingzi swallowed back all the words he had originally intended to say.

—Those were merely the ruins of a Soul Formation cultivator; as long as he was willing to give up, no one would face mortal danger. Not to mention Jianqing already carries so many magic treasures and medicinal pills—splitting your primordial spirit just to follow him out, isn’t that showing a bit too much concern?

Since this was a private matter between master and disciple, Haoxingzi refrained from saying more. After inquiring carefully about Xuanlingzi’s physical condition, he left behind the words, “I will go ask Shimei to refine some medicinal pills for you to help restore your primordial spirit as soon as possible,” before transforming into a streak of white light and departing Yuxiao Peak.

Once Haoxingzi had left, Xuanlingzi could finally hold on no longer; collapsing backward onto the couch, he coughed up another mouthful of fresh blood.

Glinting with specks of golden light just like before, the blood spilled from his lips as even Xuanlingzi lost consciousness, his face turning as pale as gold leaf. At that very same moment, the solitary golden natal life lamp on the highest tier of Taihua Mountain’s Cangshuang Hall flickered and swayed violently; only after a long while did its flame slowly steady, though it burned noticeably dimmer than before.

__

Meanwhile, hundreds of li away in the skies above the Yitian Mountain Range, the storm clouds had long since dispersed. Countless cultivators lingered to search for a long time, yet finding no divine artifacts or rare treasures, they could only leave in disappointment. A few ke later, all the surviving disciples were teleported out of the ruins.

Luo Jianqing had already stored the three magic treasures and the blood-red jade slip inside his storage ring. Upon being teleported out, he glanced around, quickly spotted the Taihua Mountain disciples, and flew over to join them.

“Luo-shixiong, a total of seventeen Taihua Mountain disciples entered the sixth trial, and all of us received rewards.” As he spoke, Nineteenth Shidi took out a white jade pearl and said, “It’s this Water-Repelling Pearl. Apparently, it allows one to dive fifty li underwater—quite a nice treasure in its own right.”

Luo Jianqing nodded approvingly, scanned the crowd, and asked, “Why are there only twenty of you here?”

Nineteenth Shidi chuckled sheepishly and replied helplessly, “Shixiong, that Ten-Thousand-Zhang Wasteland was way too dangerous. Several of our people got injured and crushed their jade tokens to come out early. When I came out just now, I found out that Li Xiuchen had already been teleported out earlier and taken back by the Yitian Sect to recuperate, so I told our other injured shixiong and shidi to go with the Yitian Sect to heal as well.”

Luo Jianqing raised an eyebrow slightly, asking with feigned surprise, “Everyone got hurt? So Li Xiuchen was injured too?”

Nineteenth Shidi spread his hands and sighed. “Yeah, quite a few got hurt, and word is the Yitian Sect even lost a couple of Qi Refining disciples. Still, Shixiong, you didn’t see the state Li Xiuchen was in—apparently it was gruesome. Both his hands are crippled and his eyes are blinded. Who knows what kind of ferocious demonic beast he ran into in the Ten-Thousand-Zhang Wasteland that somehow spared his life yet mangled him that badly…”

Chatting along the way, Luo Jianqing led the Taihua Mountain disciples over to the Yitian Sect’s camp to handle the handover.

Nineteenth Shidi concluded, “Unless an elder from Qinglan Peak personally treats Li Xiuchen and refines pills for him, he’ll probably never recover for the rest of his life. Then again, he’s just a newly inducted disciple—the sect isn’t going to go that far for him. Sigh, Shixiong, why didn’t he just crush his jade token? You should only aim for rewards matching your actual strength, honestly…”

Luo Jianqing smiled lightly and said, “Trials always carry danger—wealth and glory are sought amidst peril. Do not follow his example in the future; when it is time to let go, let go decisively.”

Nineteenth Shidi nodded with a cheerful grin, flashing a row of gleaming white teeth.

When they met Elder Zhao of the Yitian Sect, Luo Jianqing cupped his hands slightly, prompting the elder to return the salute hurriedly, deeply flattered.

Luo Jianqing smiled. “Your esteemed sect went through a great deal of trouble for these ruins this time. I will report the details of the trial truthfully to my sect; once our elders have inspected the site, the reward for discovering the ruins will be delivered to the Yitian Sect.” Pausing briefly, Luo Jianqing added, “May I ask how my Taihua Mountain disciples currently staying at your sect are faring?”

Elder Zhao replied respectfully, “Aside from one daoyou at the second tier of Qi Refining who appears rather severely injured, everyone else is doing fine.”

Without needing a name, Luo Jianqing could easily guess who was severely injured. Although Li Xiuchen had been teleported out almost immediately back then, Luo Jianqing had witnessed his gruesome injuries with his own eyes—wounds that severe should have been fatal to a mere Qi Refining cultivator. That Li Xiuchen was still alive already took Luo Jianqing quite by surprise.

Such were his inward thoughts, though he betrayed none of it on the surface.

A troubled expression crossed his fair, refined face as Luo Jianqing sighed, “Since my shidi is so gravely wounded, might we borrow a place in your esteemed sect for him to recuperate? In his current condition, he is likely unfit for a long journey.”

Elder Zhao agreed immediately: “Of course! All of you daoyou from Taihua Mountain have just endured a perilous ordeal and must be exhausted in body and mind. Luo-daoyou, why not relocate to our Yitian Sect’s mountain gate? Our sect would be honored to host you and provide a place for everyone to cultivate and recover.”

Hearing this, Luo Jianqing’s phoenix eyes widened slightly.

He had originally only intended to leave Li Xiuchen behind at the Yitian Sect, never expecting Elder Zhao to extend such an invitation to all of them.

After pondering for a brief moment, Luo Jianqing nodded with a smile. “Then we will trouble Daoyou.”

Before long, the entire group boarded Luo Jianqing’s flying treasure ship and soared grandly toward the Yitian Sect’s mountain gate. Their stay stretched into three full days, during which the Yitian Sect treated the Taihua Mountain disciples to fine food and drink, not daring to show the slightest negligence even toward newcomers at the first tier of Qi Refining.

By the third day, the handsome cultivator dressed in blue-green stood before the window, gazing up at the lush emerald trees in the courtyard.

A pale yellow paper crane drifted slowly in from the horizon, swaying gently past vibrant blossoms before finally coming to a halt right in front of Luo Jianqing and speaking in a human voice: “Luo-shixiong, the information you asked me to investigate has been found.”

Luo Jianqing curved his thin lips into a dazzling smile. “Second Shidi, thank you for the trouble. What exactly did you uncover?”

This paper crane had been crafted from a high-grade voice transmission talisman, mimicking even the speaker’s tone and timbre with lifelike precision. From within the paper crane came a gentle voice—Taihua Mountain’s Second Shixiong, Zuo Yunmo, chuckled softly: “Beidou Zhenjun was a Soul Formation cultivator from a thousand years ago. He once fought in the two-hundred-and-thirty-year war between humans and demons, and was later hunted down by a ninth-grade demonic beast, causing his cultivation to plummet from Soul Formation down to Nascent Soul…”