Chapter 227
“小 girl, at such a young age, you’ve chosen the path of demonic cultivation? Not a big deal, though. Since you’ve come to my Sword Pavilion, no matter what you practiced before, from now on, you can only be a proper swordsman.” Su Qinian twisted her wrist, her expression darkening. “The Yaochi Sacred Land has ulterior motives. Do you know anything about it?”
Mo Shumei took a moment to collect herself, feeling a bit steadier when she caught sight of Li Qingran peeking through the gaps in the wall of Sword Pavilion elders surrounding her.
She couldn’t remember how she had arrived at the Sword Pavilion.
After emerging from the secret realm, she could still barely suppress the backlash of demonic energy.
But once that Buddhist light shone upon her, the demonic energy within her boiled over like water reaching a rolling boil, and she lost consciousness.
It was clear now that she had been brought back to the Sword Pavilion by that female cultivator.
“Even if I tell you the truth, you won’t believe me.” Mo Shumei scoffed, glancing at the grass roots on the ground.
The Sword Pavilion was a righteous sect, and all righteous sects revered the three great sacred lands.
Even if they had doubts about the sacred lands, they would never believe that the sacred lands could be so ruthless.
Moreover, as a demonic cultivator, her words were naturally marked as untrustworthy.
“Why don’t you give it a try?” Chen Huai'an said casually. “I’ve already killed quite a few elders from the sacred lands and destroyed the Yaochi and Fenjing temples. Now, in the Cangyun Realm, I’m just as much a target as any demonic cultivator. You don’t need to think I’ll hold any prejudice against your identity… Besides, you’re someone my disciple brought back. I trust her.”
At this, Li Qingran’s cheeks flushed, and she turned away, covering her face with her hands, twisting shyly.
Mo Shumei was taken aback. “What did you just say? You killed elders from the sacred lands? And destroyed their temples?!”
“Yes.” Chen Huai'an nodded, exuding a hint of the aura of the Dongxu realm.
He couldn’t reveal too much; otherwise, the Golden Core cultivators would definitely be overwhelmed and might be crushed on the spot.
The gap in their cultivation levels was too vast, and Mo Shumei had no way of knowing whether Chen Huai'an was truly in the Dongxu realm.
All she knew was that the magic blade, Soul Abyss, was trembling, unusually quiet today compared to its usual chatter.
When she first entered the small secret realm, Soul Abyss had mocked the righteous sects for not being able to find a few cultivators at the Hehuan stage, being suppressed by the three sacred lands until three true immortals appeared to silence it. In comparison, this ancestor of the Sword Pavilion was clearly not someone to be trifled with.
What he said could very well be true.
And there was no need for him to deceive her.
“Let me tell you, it’s no big deal. The sacred land won’t play house with you forever; they’ll show their fangs sooner or later.” Mo Shumei sneered, adjusting her clothes nonchalantly. “The lifespan of Real Person Yuyao is nearing its end, and she’s trying to create a Five Elements Absolute Body to possess for herself. The Five Elements Absolute Body is the strongest cultivation body, requiring five types of mutated single spiritual roots and a first-grade dantian… Real Person Yuyao wants to become an immortal.”
“Wait, that doesn’t make sense!” Su Qinian exclaimed incredulously. “The body can be possessed, and the spiritual roots can be stripped, I can understand that, but how can the dantian be taken? Isn’t that a part of a cultivator’s body that they’re born with? Can it really be ripped out?!”
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me.” Mo Shumei rolled her eyes, a cold smile on her face, and fell silent.
“Don’t interrupt.” Chen Huai'an shot a glare at Su Qinian and turned to Mo Shumei. “Continue. How do you know about the Yaochi Sacred Land’s plans? What methods are they using to strip away the dantian and the body?”
“Because I am a Gold-Rooted Spirit, but my spiritual root has already been removed by the Yaochi Sacred Land.” Mo Shumei lowered her gaze, pain and hatred swirling in her pupils, her hand gripping the hilt of her blade trembling slightly, knuckles turning white. “Back then, I was still young. My family thought it was a great opportunity and sent me to a Yaochi Sacred Land outpost in the Eastern Continent, hoping I could become a disciple of the sacred land.
Little did they know, that very night, Song Chiyue removed my spiritual root, crippled my cultivation, and threw me into a beast pen to feed the spirit beasts.
Fortunately, that day the spirit beasts were full and didn’t touch me, giving me a chance to escape from the outpost.
I had lost all my cultivation and went into hiding, but I was still betrayed by an enemy. To force me out, Song Chiyue slaughtered my entire Mo family. Even so, my parents never revealed my whereabouts… During a certain incident in the Central Continent’s secret realm, I found this magic blade called Soul Abyss and a fragment of the Great Sadness Rhyme. This magic blade tempted me to practice demonic sword techniques and the Great Sadness Rhyme, and for revenge, I had no choice but to cultivate demonic arts.”
Mo Shumei lifted Soul Abyss for Chen Huai'an to see.
The magic blade trembled even more violently, as if sensing a formidable enemy.
Seeing this, she pushed the blade closer to Chen Huai'an.
Isn’t this cursed blade usually so arrogant? Let’s see if it gets scared today!
She continued, lowering her head. “I don’t know how the Yaochi Sacred Land strips cultivators of their talents, but since they’ve meticulously planned this, they must have some means… That’s all I know. Do with me as you will!”
Chen Huai'an glanced at the magic blade almost pressed against his face, his lips twitching.
Was that a threat to her or to the magic blade?
This girl is doing it on purpose, isn’t she?
Look at how that blade is shaking!
---
**Chapter 244: Declining an Offer**
After some discussion, the basic situation was clear.
The Yaochi Sacred Land had already gathered four types of mutated single spiritual roots, only missing the Xuan Water spiritual root.
Single spiritual root cultivators were already quite rare, and mutated single spiritual roots were even more so.
While it was possible for multiple mutated single spiritual roots to appear simultaneously, as far as they knew, Li Qingran was the only one with the Xuan Water spiritual root. This meant that the Yaochi Sacred Land either had to capture Li Qingran or wait for the next Xuan Water spiritual root to appear; otherwise, they couldn’t form the Five Elements Absolute Body.
Before that, Yue Qianchi was relatively safe.
“The Yaochi Sacred Land can always accurately locate cultivators with mutated single spiritual roots, which means they must have some special secret method. So, finding Li Qingran is just a matter of time…” Chen Huai'an furrowed his brow.
Since this matter concerned Li Qingran’s safety, he had to be fully alert.
Although keeping Li Qingran in the small world would prevent the sacred land from searching for her, staying in the small world was no different from being caged.
As a qualified master, protecting a disciple shouldn’t mean confining them.
Instead, it should empower the disciple to protect themselves or provide them with a treasure to conceal the Xuan Water spiritual root.
“Divine Mechanism Prediction! Concealing one’s aura in the small world is still too rigid. Is there a more convenient and flexible solution?”
The Cangyun Realm was undergoing drastic changes.
[Divine Mechanism Prediction completed.]
[Yes, there is.]
[Please raise Li Qingran’s cultivation level. When Li Qingran reaches the mid-Golden Core stage, she can obtain a Supreme Battle Order blind box, which has a chance to contain a tool that disguises the Xuan Water spiritual root as a Water spiritual root. If the player is uncertain, they can also add 50 million ¥ for a targeted draw!]
“Fifty million for a targeted draw? That’s outrageous!”
Chen Huai'an’s face turned green.
He had thought that with 1 billion in funds, he could spend freely, even slack off for a while.
But after leaving the small secret realm, all sorts of expenses skyrocketed.
The elders and disciples of the Sword Pavilion had returned to their respective caves, and three of the direct disciples were brought back by their elders for healing.
As for how to restore their talents, that would require careful planning. Neither Su Qinian nor the elders had made any requests of Chen Huai'an.
With the dantian crippled, the spiritual roots removed, and the body lost, how difficult would it be to recover?
Just the Hunyuan Restoration Pill needed to repair the dantian was nowhere to be found.
The elders didn’t speak up, not wanting to burden Chen Huai'an.
Chen Huai'an didn’t mention it either, not because he lacked funds, but because he had already silently placed this matter in his heart.
He wasn’t the type to issue empty promises; he would only present solutions when he had them.
“Does your master often talk to himself like this?” Mo Shumei shivered as she watched Chen Huai'an mumbling by the cliff’s edge. They say the stronger the cultivator, the stranger their personality. Surely this ancestor of the Sword Pavilion doesn’t have any peculiar habits, right?
“Master is in enlightenment.” Li Qingran maintained a serious expression, hands on her hips as she said earnestly, “It’s like a chess player strategizing against an imagined opponent. It may seem like Master is talking to himself, but in reality, he’s discussing the Dao with another version of himself!”
“Is it really that profound?!”
“Absolutely! My master is amazing!”
Mo Shumei had no master.
Before practicing demonic arts, she had cultivated her family’s techniques.
After practicing demonic arts, she had only followed the wild paths, blindly imitating the Great Sadness Rhyme.
Whenever she encountered something she didn’t understand, she would ask the magic blade, and it would guide her. If the blade told her to go east, she would go west; she generally wouldn’t go wrong.
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