Jun Mo Yao could not execute her sword techniques, but her body had mostly recovered thanks to the elixir given by Ming Jia. When she truly grew angry, she defeated the two with just a few strikes, forcing them into a continuous retreat.
“They insulted me first, and my master taught them a lesson afterward. You twisted right and wrong, believed slander, and came to trouble me—I accept that! But if I hear another insult against my master from your mouths, I, Jun Mo Yao, will fight you to the death!”
Stared down by Jun Mo Yao’s simmering gaze, the two grew fearful. They had thought she was just a useless waste with a damaged spiritual root, but they ended up being taught a lesson instead.
“We won’t dare! We won’t dare!” The two truly felt Jun Mo Yao might kill them, so they immediately fled in a panic.
After they left, Jun Mo Yao, feeling stifled and frustrated, did not continue practicing her sword and left the spot.
The forgotten talisman was picked up by someone, who shook off the dust on it.
“Thank you, little Mo Yan.”
Mo Yan waved his hands repeatedly, his baby face turning as serious as his master’s. “Peak Master Ming, you’re too kind. Should I report these two to the Enforcement Hall and have them dealt with? Such people are unworthy of being disciples of our Taishang Sect.”
Ming Jia shook her head, remaining calm and composed even after being insulted.
Those two had not actually intended to kill Jun Mo Yao, and Jun Mo Yao had realized this as well; otherwise, she would not have let them off so easily.
The path of cultivation is like this—there are friends, and there will be enemies.
No matter, she would do her utmost to protect her disciple.
The Taishang Sect arrived relatively late, and the area before the secret realm was already crowded with disciples from various sects and rogue cultivators. Even so, everyone instinctively left an open space.
The Spirit Ship descended, and Yao Wujiu and Zheng Qian exchanged pleasantries with the elders of other sects.
Ming Jia never involved herself in such occasions, so she idled behind the Taishang Sect disciples along with Jun Mo Yao.
In less than an hour, intense spiritual energy fluctuations rippled through the entire space, and a dazzling light formed a disc-shaped entrance.
The elders of the various sects exchanged glances, each leaving one person behind to guard the secret realm. The Taishang Sect left Peak Master Yao Wujiu of Wenyao Peak, while Zheng Qian and Ming Jia could enter the secret realm to assist the disciples in obtaining opportunities.
Cultivators are beings who contend with heaven for opportunities; wealth, life, and death are all predestined. No one spoke hypocritical formalities. It was tacitly understood that the major sects would enter first, followed by the minor sects, and finally the rogue cultivators.
The secret realm was primarily for training, so everyone naturally formed small teams and dispersed.
“Good disciple, the Qinglan Secret Realm has an Inheritance Ground that appears randomly. There might be an opportunity for you there.”
Ming Jia was an old acquaintance of the Qinglan Secret Realm. Apart from the uncertain Inheritance Ground, she was familiar with every other part of it.
Jun Mo Yao showed no expression on her face, but inwardly, she was somewhat anxious.
With her memories from her past life, she naturally knew where the Inheritance Ground of the Qinglan Secret Realm would appear and even how to take shortcuts. However, she worried that being too purposeful might make Ming Jia sense something amiss.
“I’ve heard there are many Lingzhi in the southwest corner, Master. I’d like to go gather some.”
Ming Jia had no suspicions, and the two headed in the southwest direction.
After watching Jun Mo Yao swiftly kill a ferocious beast around the Qi Refining stage with her left-hand sword, Ming Jia suddenly asked, “If the Qinglan Secret Realm doesn’t have any opportunity to heal your spiritual root, would you be disappointed?”
Jun Mo Yao, who already knew the location of the spiritual treasure, treated it as casual conversation and replied casually, “Then I’ll search for the Revival Fruit. However, that thing is only recorded in ancient texts, and I don’t know if it still exists in the world.”
The reason why spiritual root damage is so severe is because it’s difficult to heal.
The spiritual treasure Jun Mo Yao is searching for this time, the Longevity Vine, has the effect of repairing spiritual roots, but it doesn’t perfectly heal like the legendary Revival Fruit.
In her previous life, she never saw the Revival Fruit even until her demise, showing how elusive this spiritual treasure is—heard of but never attainable.
Revival Fruit?
Ming Jia pondered thoughtfully.
“But I heard that the final stage of the Inheritance Ground is taking a spiritual treasure from the inheritance treasury, and the chance of finding the Longevity Vine is quite high.” Perhaps noticing Ming Jia’s concern, Jun Mo Yao unconsciously comforted her.
Ming Jia felt both amused and touched, but her heart warmed nonetheless.
It was Jun Mo Yao who needed comfort the most, yet she was comforting her instead—her dear disciple indeed.
As they walked further, the level of Lingzhi and ferocious beasts increased.
Jun Mo Yao began to struggle more in dealing with them. By evening, the biggest dilemma for the master and disciple emerged.
“Dear disciple, you can cook, right?” Ming Jia rubbed her empty stomach while asking expectantly.
Jun Mo Yao pondered for a moment and honestly replied, “It might not taste very good.”
Before practicing grain avoidance in her previous life, she still needed to fill her stomach. She wasn’t very concerned about culinary pleasures; cultivators’ constitutions were robust, and generally, they wouldn’t get sick from eating.
Ming Jia’s hopeful expression finally shattered when she saw Jun Mo Yao not cleaning the cavity of the wild rabbit.
Although she couldn’t cook either, she at least knew animals needed to be cleaned!
“Alright, Master can endure hunger for a while.”
Jun Mo Yao looked at the pitifully dead wild rabbit, then at Ming Jia’s despondent expression, pursed her lips, and finally softly said, “Master, maybe I can refine some grain avoidance pills for you.”
“No need, dear disciple.” Ming Jia shook her head repeatedly.
She just enjoyed the sensation of delicious food bursting in her mouth. Years of dietary habits made her feel uncomfortable without eating something, but she wasn’t truly starving. Besides, grain avoidance pills always had a bitter medicinal taste she disliked.
She had been careless—when leaving, she only focused on engraving the Magic Array for Lang Yue and forgot to prepare meals.
Then, she remembered Jun Mo Yao hadn’t reached the grain avoidance stage yet. “Dear disciple, Master was negligent. Maybe you could roast that wild rabbit to eat?”
In her previous life, Jun Mo Yao naturally wouldn’t have been picky. But now, after seeing Ming Jia’s disdainful gaze, she suddenly felt that thing was also hard to swallow.
Jun Mo Yao lowered her gaze and thought for a moment. She took out a pill furnace from her Storage Pouch, selected a few Lingzhi after careful picking, and began refining pills with practiced skill.
The spiritual energy she could currently use in her body was maintained by the spiritual meal from the food cultivator Zhu Hong. Fortunately, low-level grain avoidance pills didn’t require much spiritual energy.
Ming Jia hadn’t expected Jun Mo Yao to refine pills either.
Leaning against a large tree, she watched Jun Mo Yao’s pill-refining technique, deep in thought.
After about an hour, Jun Mo Yao closed her eyes and slapped the elixir furnace with one hand. Several gleaming rays of light leaped out from the furnace, landing precisely into the porcelain bottles she had prepared beforehand.
It was at the moment the elixir was completed that its fragrance would disperse. Ming Jia’s gaze froze.
This scent was actually…