She’d be sure to get a good word at the sect once it was over.
“Having help is better than none. If she weren’t helping, it’d be much harder to resolve things now,” Hua Jian didn’t mind being misunderstood like this; after all, the more friends the better.
Linglong, however, disagreed. She didn’t want Hua Jian to have deeper ties with Wanhuagu; their reputation was too shady, and involvement would only bring trouble.
The Jade Pool was much better suited for Hua Jian; best to keep her away from Wanhuagu.
“Just don’t associate with them in the future. They’re not good people.”
“I’ll try to stay away…” Faced with Linglong’s unprovoked hostility, Hua Jian could only laugh it off.
It wasn’t like she’d sought out Wanhuagu on purpose—they’d just happened to cross paths, and she might as well take advantage.
“Ahem, looks like they’re almost ready. Enough talk!”
Gathering all the elemental energy she could muster, Hua Jian packed it into the bullet, loaded it, and took aim at the two battling peak Ling Kings in the distance.
This was the respect due to a peak Ling King. If she used too little force and he withstood it, they’d be doomed.
Now was not the time to hold back; any attempt to go easy would only lead to failure.
Meanwhile, under the woman’s direction, Bai Su’s Ling Kings had formed a loose formation. This was easy enough for them.
Besides, since they didn’t have to fight the Chai Family Patriarch directly, it was pretty safe. No one objected; at most, they were curious about their sudden powerful ally.
Why was the Secret Realm’s Spirit Beast suddenly helping them?
How bizarre.
But it was better than being attacked—they weren’t masochists, after all.
The Array Formation was set. Under the woman’s control, their spiritual power took the form of Summoning Chains, snaking toward the two battling Ling Kings.
A Meng did her best to cooperate, pressing the Chai Family Patriarch harder, leaving him little energy to defend against the chains.
He could either split his focus to fend off the chains and be injured by A Meng, or be trapped and unable to break free. Either choice was wrong.
With the woman uniting Bai Su’s side, the scales tipped toward the coalition.
The Chai Family Patriarch and A Meng had been evenly matched; Bai Su was the weakest of the three, but he still had several Ling Kings.
Once their powers were combined by the Array Formation, the battle naturally turned in A Meng’s favor.
Even without Hua Jian’s support, the Chai Family Patriarch would have been overwhelmed.
“Damn it!” Realizing things were completely out of his control, the Chai Family Patriarch finally shed his gentle mask and became hysterical.
The Spirit Liquid of the Soul was his hope for breaking through to Ling Emperor, something he’d pursued for decades. Now, the treasure was within reach—how could he fall here?
He’d killed trusted brothers for this, endured countless hardships to find the other Treasure Map Fragments. Now that all three were united, was he to fail?
That made no sense!
“Out of my way!” A violent aura erupted from him, blasting A Meng and the chains away.
His power surged, but his aura also grew unstable.
“A forced breakthrough? He’s lost his mind!” The woman gasped.
The Chai Family Patriarch’s power was leaving the Ling King level, advancing toward Ling Emperor.
But his soul couldn’t control such power; forcing a breakthrough would only end in disaster.
“I’ll destroy you all, seize the Spirit Liquid of the Soul, and that will be enough!” The Chai Family Patriarch’s eyes glittered coldly.
His plan was simple: kill everyone before he lost control, absorb the Spirit Liquid of the Soul atop the Earth Altar to strengthen his mind, and win before going insane.
Success or death!
He’d lingered at peak Ling King for decades. Though he appeared young, he was nearly a hundred years old. If he missed this chance, who knew if he’d ever get another?
He was willing to risk everything for greater power!
“I don’t know how you bypassed the Treasure Map’s restrictions, but now—it’s over!”
No longer suppressing his strength, the Chai Family Patriarch punched, much faster than before, sending A Meng flying.
He grabbed the oncoming chains and, with a mighty pull, snapped them.
The Ling Kings who had released the spell coughed blood and collapsed.
Even with just half a foot in the Ling Emperor realm, the Chai Family Patriarch was no longer someone the others could resist.
Seeing this, Hua Jian quickly stowed her rifle and dragged Linglong to retreat.
A moment later, a powerful wind struck where they had just been, and the shockwave nearly flung them away.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As his eyes reddened with blood, the Chai Family Patriarch unleashed his power in a frenzy, turning the cave into utter chaos.
A Meng tried to stop him, but every time she charged, she was blasted away again.
The other Ling Kings were terrified, focused only on survival, not on counterattack.
Amid the chaos, the unconscious cultivators suffered the worst, struck down indiscriminately by the Chai Family Patriarch’s attacks.
Even Chai Xianyun was nearly killed by her own father—if Hua Jian hadn’t yanked away the vines in time, she would have ended up as Chai Xianyun-paste.
“Your dad’s insane!”
Pulling Chai Xianyun from a heap of carnage with her vines, Hua Jian complained loudly.
Chai Xianyun’s body was smeared with blood and unidentifiable matter—all caused by her father’s attacks.
She just gave a bitter laugh: “My father’s been obsessed with cultivation his whole life. Now that he finally sees hope for advancement, how could he possibly give up?”
If she had to take sides, of course she’d side with her father. But Hua Jian had indeed saved her, so she couldn’t put on a sour face.
Caught between the two, she really didn’t know what to do. Her father didn’t care for her, but how could she not care for her own father?
“But what he’s doing is courting death,” Linglong said with a frown. “The Spirit Liquid of the Soul can’t solve his problems—especially not now!”
The Spirit Liquid of the Soul wasn’t a panacea for the soul; it was a powerful but extremely dangerous treasure.
An ordinary cultivator who took untreated Spirit Liquid of the Soul would almost certainly go mad.
All those famous spirit items required careful processing before they could be safely absorbed.
Think about the elemental energy Hua Jian absorbed—if Linglong hadn’t refined it into Alchemy Pills, could Hua Jian have absorbed it so smoothly? Of course not.
The Spirit Liquid of the Soul was even worse.
A little elemental energy might just make you sleep for half a year, but the Spirit Liquid of the Soul could drive you utterly mad.
It was made from countless cultivators’ souls, full of resentment and obsession. Spirit Beasts could absorb it, but how could a cultivator?
It simply wasn’t possible!
“When he started seeking the Spirit Liquid of the Soul, hoping to use it for his breakthrough, he lost any hope of real success,” Linglong said gravely.
“I think now’s not the time for criticism, but to think of how we’re going to survive this nearly-insane Ling Emperor!” Hua Jian dragged Chai Xianyun, searching for a way out.
Crunch, crunch…
Under the Chai Family Patriarch’s repeated attacks, the cave walls began to collapse, rocks crashing down everywhere.
As the stone crumbled, it revealed the dark red interior, faintly showing clusters of white—clearly, bones.
This Secret Realm had opened many times, yet no news ever escaped. Where had those people gone?
The answer wasn’t hard to guess—they had all died here.
The bones in the walls were the remains of those past victims.
But now was no time to mourn the dead. The Chai Family Patriarch had cleared all obstacles and was flying toward the Spirit Liquid of the Soul.
Arriving below the Earth Altar, he leapt onto it. Unlike Hua Jian, he stood steady atop the altar, so the Treasure Map did protect him from its effects.
…Or at least, reduced the effect.
Because even holding two Treasure Map Fragments, his progress was slow. Every step up made his expression grimmer, as if enduring a severe test.
“Don’t tell me the closer you get, the greater the pressure, like some kind of test device?” Hua Jian muttered.
But grumbling aside, the Chai Family Patriarch climbed quickly, soon reaching the top—just one step from the Spirit Liquid of the Soul.
At that moment, the Treasure Map Fragment in Hua Jian’s hand suddenly began to stir. She gripped it tightly, but it slowly slipped free.
Realizing she couldn’t hold onto it, Hua Jian let go and watched as it flew straight toward the Chai Family Patriarch.
At the same time, the fragments in his hand flew out, merging in the air with Hua Jian’s to form a complete Treasure Map.
Bathed in golden light, the last invisible barrier around the Seed dissolved, leaving nothing between the Chai Family Patriarch and the Seed.
“Hahaha! I did it! I did it!” The frenzied Chai Family Patriarch lunged straight for the Seed, completely ignoring the floating, unified Treasure Map.
But Hua Jian was staring intently at the map. She wasn’t sure if she was seeing things, but there seemed to be a person’s shadow on it.
It wasn’t large, but just one glance made Hua Jian feel an urge to bow down and worship.
So strange… She kept staring, trying to see it more clearly, but no matter how hard she looked, it remained a vague silhouette.
At this point, the Chai Family Patriarch, without a care, reached the Seed, smacked it aside, and took its place, beginning to absorb the power of the Spirit Liquid of the Soul.
The Seed, knocked away, was quickly caught by a worried A Meng, who brought it back to Hua Jian.
“Too much…!” A Meng’s voice was thick with anger, mixed with clear grievance.
Her duty was to protect the Seed, but now she could only watch helplessly as the Chai Family Patriarch took its place. The shame made her want to end her own life.
Hua Jian wasn’t so concerned with A Meng’s feelings. She cared more about the figure above, likely related to the Secret Realm.
She asked A Meng, “Who’s that up there? Do you know?”
A Meng looked up, then down at Hua Jian. “Up there?”
“There’s a huge figure in the sky, didn’t you see?” Hua Jian pointed to the still-visible phantom.
She’d spoken aloud, so Linglong and Chai Xianyun also heard her—and their reactions matched A Meng’s.
“You’re crazy?”
“There’s nothing up there.”
Chai Xianyun and Linglong said, one after another.
Nothing? Then what had she seen? Hua Jian looked up again and found the shadowy figure gone, leaving only a golden scroll floating above the Earth Altar.
Am I seeing things? Hua Jian rubbed her eyes hard, but still couldn’t find the phantom. She could only set the confusion aside for now.
Never mind, better check out the Seed A Meng brought back. Hua Jian turned to the Seed cradled in A Meng’s claws and asked, “This is what you’re guarding? Mind if I take a closer look?”
“That’s right.” A Meng hesitated, clearly struggling inside, but after a long pause, she finally agreed.
“Just don’t be rough—it’s fragile.”
It was anything but fragile when it turned cultivators’ souls into Spirit Liquid of the Soul, Hua Jian grumbled silently.
This thing’s kill count was definitely up there with the worst of the worst.
If it had been a human cultivator, the Hudaosi would’ve wiped it out long ago.
A Meng set the Seed in Hua Jian’s outstretched palm. Hua Jian picked it up gently, turning it to examine it from all sides, but found nothing unusual.
What kind of spirit item was this…? As she puzzled, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her palm—the Seed had pricked her and drawn blood.
No, not pricked her… Hua Jian couldn’t quite make sense of what she was seeing.
Her blood seeped into the Seed, and as it absorbed her blood, the Seed began to rapidly sprout and take root.
“It’s alive?!” Hua Jian gasped, and the next moment, her heart nearly stopped.
The Seed had sunk its roots into her palm.