"System"
[Meng Lin]
[Soul Wandering Stage (late)]
[Experience Points: 5>7%]
System Coin: 540
Immortal Jade: 4
Taoist Gacha Wheel: unavailable
Spiritual Roots: [Water > Fire > Gold > Wood > Earth]
Variant Elemental Qi: [Mud] [Erosion] [Water] [Darkness] [Fire] [Gold 20%]
[Heavenly Dao]
[Death]
[Comprehension 0.06%]
Main Cultivation Method: [Elemental Qi Convergence Method]
Side Cultivation Methods: [Basic Qi Gathering] [Formless Cultivation Method] [Brute Vortex Cultivation Method] [Black Tortoise Essence Art, 5th Layer] [Imperial Water Art]
Techniques: [Celestial Moonlit Sword Art] [Hundred Unity Techniques] [Wrath of Thunder] [Physique Cleansing Sutra] [Vital Essence Exchange]
Secret Techniques: [Stellar Soul Shield]
Skills: [Immortal Flesh]
Ancient Spirit Seal: Crimson Tortoise Dragon
[Market] [Blacksmith] [Alchemy] [Daily Mission]
Meng Lin exhaled, her eyes glancing over the system menu. The subtle glow of the menu lingered before fading, leaving her to reflect on the experience she felt when she was attacked by that weird gaze—the eerie sensation of doubt and unease that had invaded her mind during her confrontation with Yin Xue.
She wondered what kind of innate ability it might be to cause such strange thoughts and memories. The scary part was how the Stellar Soul Shield hadn't been able to do anything against it.
"Blood Lily..." Meng Lin muttered. "If this Zhao Lu is truly as strong as Wu Dao claims, then she's bound to have even more terrifying means of attack."
Her gaze sharpened as she pulled up her inventory and retrieved several bottles of Rank 3 pills. She knew she needed every edge she could muster if she was going to face someone like Zhao Lu.
Without hesitation, she uncorked a bottle and began consuming the pills one by one. The dense medicinal energy surged through her body, filling her with vitality.
"Sigh." As the medicinal energy settled within her, she exhaled and directed her qi toward her injury, accelerating the healing process.
She carefully controlled the flow, ensuring none of it went to waste. Her cultivation base grew slightly more stable, and the dull ache in her body faded.
Her thoughts drifted back to Wu Dao's warning. "Right now, if I use the brute Qi alongside the Brute Vortex Cultivation Method, I can barely confront Senior Sister Liu, when she was a Half-Step Nascent Soul Cultivator."
"But this Zhao Lu is much stronger, having strength to rival Nascent Soul Cultivators. Her power far surpasses most cultivators at her level.”
Meng Lin clenched her fists. “I can’t afford to underestimate her. The difference between me and a true Nascent Soul cultivator is vast. My only chance lies in preparation and using every resource and trick I have. If that doesn't work out, I can always retreat with the Void-State Tablet."
Meng Lin’s fingers tightened around the bottle she held. “And what exactly happened with Luo Mei? The other disciples were killed, while she disappeared. It doesn't make any sense."
Releasing her spiritual consciousness, Meng Lin began to inspect the whole valley, her senses stretching far and wide. The valley appeared calm on the surface, its gentle winds and rolling greenery concealing any potential danger.
Other than another small hidden formation a few dozen meters away from here, everything looked the same. She didn't fail to inspect the disciples, but even they appeared normal.
Yet, as Meng Lin's spiritual consciousness stretched far and wide, inspecting every subtle movement and fluctuation within the valley, she picked up on something strange.
There were faint ripples in space—so subtle that it seemed almost imperceptible at first, like tiny waves from the movement of dragonflies above oceans.
If it weren't for her experience with the Spiritual Body Analyzer, she wouldn't have noticed such a small detail.
She focused intently on the faint ripples, and her spiritual consciousness led her to a secluded corner of the valley, where the air felt unnaturally dense.
Moving her body with slight discomfort, Meng Lin got up, walking forward for a few steps, only to suddenly feel something strange.
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Looking back, she saw the place where she had been laying moments ago was now occupied by a large boulder.
Her eyes narrowed. An illusion formation?
It was subtle, expertly crafted, and layered to deceive not just the naked eye but even the spiritual consciousness of Gold Core Cultivators.
'No wonder,' she had thought it was weird when she felt that other formation, 'It appears Wu Dao doesn't trust the disciples surrounding us, to both set formations around himself and me.'
Shaking her head, Meng Lin's body flickered, and a few seconds later, she quickly arrived at the entrance to a small cave, half-hidden by thick underbrush and rocks.
The cave was unassuming, just a small opening leading deeper into the earth. Still, the ripples were unmistakably coming from within. She entered without a second thought, her steps light yet cautious.
As she moved further into the cave, the air grew thick with an oppressive energy. The walls were slick, almost as if they were washed through with water.
The faint flicker of her spiritual consciousness was all she could rely on to navigate the increasingly dark and foreboding passage.
A few meters in, the cave opened into a larger chamber. And there, in the middle of the room, was something that made Meng Lin’s heart jump.
Lying before her was a skeleton. But this wasn’t just any skeleton. The remains were clearly humanoid, but the bones were twisted in unnatural ways. The most unsettling feature was the faint trace of red miasma swirling around the bones, clinging to them like a curse.
Meng Lin’s spiritual sense recoiled slightly from the miasma, sensing a malicious aura that it carried. This wasn’t just a result of decay—it felt like a lingering, residual power, one that was far from natural.
But what caught her attention most of all was the clothing.
The skeleton was wearing a familiar outfit—one she recognized instantly. It was the same type of clothing that Luo Mei had worn, the same uniform she had today.
And what struck Meng Lin most was how perfectly preserved the garments were. Despite the years of decay needed for the body to be just bones, the clothes remained in pristine condition, as if untouched by time.
Meng Lin's breath hitched as the pieces clicked into place. Luo Mei... what would Luo Hai think?
Her eyes narrowed as she approached the skeleton carefully, inspecting it. Her fingers hovered near the skeleton's head, unsure of what to think.
Then, her gaze fell to the storage bag tied to the skeleton’s waist. Without a second thought, Meng Lin reached for it, her fingers trembling slightly.
She unclipped the storage bag with a dark expression and opened it carefully, her spiritual sense sweeping through it as she began to examine its contents.
Inside, she found several items, including scrolls and talismans, as well as a few strange items. The first thing that caught her attention was a Cyan Crystal Clear Token, behind which was a drawing of a giant gate.
Meng Lin wondered which faction it belonged to since she didn't recognize it from anything she knew.
Setting it aside, she pulled out three scrolls, each filled with strange, ancient writing. She recognized the similar writing in two of them, thinking back to the ancient scrolls she obtained from the Ancient Spirit Pool Realm.
Meng Lin’s eyes narrowed as she carefully unfurled one of the scrolls, her fingers tracing the unfamiliar yet eerily similar script. The symbols were intricate, written in the same style as the ancient texts. After several minutes of deciphering, she translated the title to Demonic Theory 1.
She turned to the second scroll, her spiritual sense sweeping over it. This one contained a detailed map, though its markings were strange as it had several small dots on a red background.
At the center, there was a bold inscription which she deciphered to God Blood Sea. Meng Lin’s heart skipped a beat. The God Blood Sea—she had barely escaped from that place alive, and now, here it was again, appearing in an ancient text.
The map seemed to highlight specific points of interest, though she couldn’t immediately discern their significance. Were these locations within the sea itself? Or perhaps, they marked something hidden beneath its blood-red waters?
Shaking off her unease, she vowed never to set foot there until she had appropriate strength. She turned her attention to the third scroll. Unlike the others, this one radiated a faint pure aura.
Meng Lin carefully unraveled the third scroll, immediately noticing that the script was different from the other two. The writing, though ancient, was surprisingly easier to decipher. With focused concentration, she traced the symbols, gradually piecing together their meaning.
"Pure Yang Secret Realm."
Her breath caught. A secret realm? Her eyes flickered back to the Cyan Crystal Clear Token she had set aside earlier. If this scroll mentioned an entrance, then perhaps—
She scanned the rest of the text, her spiritual consciousness flickering with excitement. The scroll detailed the requirements to enter the Pure Yang Secret Realm, and at the top of the list was none other than the Cyan Crystal Clear Token.
Meng Lin picked up the token again, scrutinizing the intricate engravings on its surface. Behind the gate depicted on the token, she noticed something she had missed before—the gate was actually formed by thousands of small formation runes, likely part of the key to activating the entrance.
She frowned. How can someone shrink runes that small, and there are thousands of them? And why does Luo Mei have something like this?
Meng Lin exhaled slowly, her fingers tightening around the token. Luo Mei… just who were you really?
Shaking off the distraction, she stepped back, her mind racing. The presence of the storage bag, the strange miasma, and the preserved clothing all pointed toward something weird happening, but what happened?
She shook her head and turned her back to the skeleton, making her way down the save system, her thoughts heavy with the unsettling mystery that had unfolded before her.
***
Yin Xue stood at the edge of a glowing teleportation formation, her body still aching from the brutal burns across her skin.
Although her outward appearance was back to normal, only she knew how much damage she had sustained during the battle.
The soft hum of the formation was the only sound for several moments as the disciples of the Scarlet Demon Sect gathered around her, nervousness in the air.
Li Jin and Mei Ling stood just behind her, their expressions tense and wary, with Mei Ling still nursing injuries from the earlier battle.
The atmosphere suddenly shifted as the formation erupted with a surge of light, and a figure stepped forward, her silhouette appearing before them.
A woman emerged from the formation, her eyes like burning embers. She was tall, her crimson robes swirling around her as if alive, embroidered with dark patterns that seemed to pulse with a sinister energy.
Her hair, long and black as night, cascaded down her back in perfect waves, but it was her eyes that drew every ounce of attention—cold, apathetic, and full of barely contained fury.
Boom!
As her boots hit the ground, the very earth beneath them trembled, and an oppressive, almost suffocating aura swept through the area.
It was as if the temperature had dropped and the air had become thicker, laden with killing intent so potent that the disciples instinctively recoiled, their breath catching in their throats.
Yin Xue, though standing her ground, felt the oppressive force press against her chest, making it harder to breathe. Her fingers curled into fists at her sides, and she maintained her silence.
Zhao Lu’s gaze swept the area, her eyes scanning every person present with an unsettling, predatory calm. It was only when her gaze settled on Yin Xue that a smile formed on her lips.
"Which one of you was in that battle with my brother?" Her voice was low, lacking the fury contained within her eyes.
Li Jin's hands tightened into fists behind Yin Xue, his expression darkening. Mei Ling shifted uneasily beside him, clearly unable to contain her anxiety.
Yin Xue’s eyes met Zhao Lu’s, her face a mask of calm despite the weight of the oppressive aura pressing down on her.
With a steady voice, Yin Xue answered, “It was I; I was fighting alongside him before he died."
Zhao Lu’s eyes narrowed, the smile on her lips twisting into something colder, more sinister. A dangerous silence filled the air, broken only by the faint hum of the formation behind them.
“You were with him?” Zhao Lu’s voice was soft. “Yet, you’re still standing. I don’t understand." She paused, tilting her head. "Why are you not dead with him? You should have perished alongside him, to accompany him.”
Her tone was a deadly whisper, the underlying menace almost visible. As she spoke, the temperature around them seemed to drop further, the air growing heavy with the promise of death.
Zhao Lu’s eyes flashed with a red light, and her hand rose slowly, an ominous energy swirling around her fingertips.
Just as Zhao Lu’s hand began to crackle with repulsive dark energy, ready to attack Yin Xue, a figure appeared from the formation behind her.
The oppressive pressure in the air lifted in an instant, and the sudden shift caused everyone to freeze.
The newcomer’s presence was commanding, yet calming, unlike Zhao Lu’s oppressive force. His tall figure cut through the tension, exuding a powerful yet composed aura. His sharp eyes surveyed the scene, taking in the situation before his gaze settled on Zhao Lu.
With a single word, his voice rang out, firm and unwavering: “Enough.”
Zhao Lu’s hand froze mid-air, her eyes narrowing as she turned to face the man who had intervened. Her lips twisted into a scornful smile, but she did not lower her hand.
“I said, enough,” the man repeated, his voice slightly higher. His gaze softened, but there was a dangerous edge to it as he fixed Zhao Lu with an unbothered stare.
Zhao Lu’s hands lowered and her lips curled into a smile, though it lacked any warmth. “Always the voice of reason, eh, Yin Zhi?”
The man, Yin Zhi, nodded once. “If you want vengeance, there are better ways to approach it.” His eyes flicked to Yin Xue, his expression unreadable, before he added, “Killing my sister won’t bring your brother back.”
For a moment, Zhao Lu said nothing. Then, with a dark laugh, her figure vanished, her oppressive aura lifting from the air as quickly as it had come.
Yin Xue exhaled quietly, but she knew the danger wasn’t gone.
Yin Zhi’s gaze softened slightly, though his eyes still held an unbothered look. He gave a single nod to Yin Xue before turning to the others.
“You guys head back to the sect; I doubt this mountain will continue to stand for much longer."