He was struck head-on by the powerful residual shockwave, his entire body thrown uncontrollably backward, crashing heavily into the courtyard wall and leaving a large crater.
Dust flew up all around as he slid down the wall and landed on the ground with a muffled groan.
Lying on the ground, he forced down the blood surging in his throat. Su Chen clutched his chest as excruciating pain spread through every limb and bone.
The residual force from that Explosion Talisman was immense. Although he, a cultivator at the ninth layer of Qi Refining, had miraculously survived, he was severely injured.
Su Chen struggled to prop himself up against the wall, a sweet, metallic taste rising in his throat, which he forcibly swallowed.
"I can't fall."
He had to chase after her—for the egg Rou'er wanted, and for the inviolable dignity of the Su family.
Su Chen took out a Healing Pill from his storage pouch and shoved it into his mouth. The elixir dissolved rapidly, but the internal injuries were far more severe than they appeared on the surface.
He could feel that at least two of his ribs were broken, and his meridians had suffered varying degrees of rupture.
"Damn it…" he cursed under his breath, his gaze fixed intently on the destroyed Formation where Su Jin had disappeared.
Only a few scattered ashes of burnt talisman paper remained there. The night wind blew through the abandoned estate, scattering the ashes.
There, the Spiritual Power fluctuations from the spatial disturbance had not yet completely dissipated.
Su Chen forcefully used his Spiritual Power, trying to locate the coordinates of the other end of the teleportation Formation.
But all traces had been completely obliterated by the jumble of miscellaneous talismans Su Jin had thrown down at the last moment.
"She was actually prepared…" A complex emotion surged in Su Chen's heart.
When had that Su Jin, always timid and afraid to even speak loudly, become so decisive and ruthless?
There was no time to ponder further. Enduring the pain in his body, he slowly walked toward the destroyed teleportation Formation,
attempting to find clues from the remaining fragments of the Formation. But just as he was about to take his third step…
"Pfft—!"
A mouthful of blood finally couldn't be held back and sprayed out.
He could no longer hold on. His vision began to blur, and Su Chen felt the world spinning before his eyes.
Staggering backward two steps, he reached out to grab onto something but only touched the cold wall.
"No… can't faint…"
Xinrou is still waiting for that egg…
Consciousness receded like the tide. Su Chen's body went limp and collapsed heavily to the ground, unconscious, stirring up a cloud of dust around him.
The night wind blew, lifting the hem of his robe to reveal a message jade slip flashing incessantly at his waist.
From the other end of the jade slip, a transmission came from within the Su family's Liuli Pavilion.
At the same time.
"Hum—!"
After a spatial fluctuation.
Su Jin tightly clutched the storage pouch in her arms, which contained all the "junk" she had scavenged from the abandoned estate, as well as that important Phoenix Egg.
Tumbling out from the end of the teleportation Formation, she nearly fell but steadied herself and immediately surveyed her surroundings with caution.
A naturally formed cave came into view. The interior was dry,
and there was a large crack in the cave ceiling, allowing sunlight to filter through and illuminate the entire cavern.
Rich spiritual energy rushed toward her! Su Jin's eyes instantly lit up.
She looked toward a certain spot in the cave and indeed saw an area emitting a faint, shimmering glow.
She hurried over, and the sight before her made her gasp.
Spirit stones!
A mountain of spirit stones!
Although most were low-grade spirit stones, their sheer quantity was staggering—enough to drive any Qi Refining Stage cultivator wild.
Su Jin used her Spiritual Sense to roughly scan the area. There were at least two thousand!
Among them were also dozens of Mid-grade Spirit Stones, along with seven or eight high-grade spirit stones.
One Mid-grade Spirit Stone was equivalent to 100 low-grade spirit stones, and one high-grade spirit stone was worth 1,000 low-grade ones.
"I'm rich! I'm rich…" Su Jin murmured to herself, her heart pounding wildly.
She didn't rush to act, instead first releasing her Spiritual Sense to probe the surroundings for any dangers.
There were no signs of life, no fluctuations from Formations or restrictions, and she couldn't detect even a hint of danger.
This was highly unusual!
With such immense wealth, there should logically be a guardian demon beast, or at the very least, some Formation for protection.
But now, there was nothing—as if… as if it had been deliberately placed here, waiting for someone to take it.
Su Jin recalled the descriptions from the original book and guessed that this teleportation array and cave were likely an Opportunity specially prepared by the Heavenly Dao for the female lead.
Since it was meant for the female lead, naturally, no dangers would be set up.
"Now it's all mine for the taking!"
Even though there was no danger, Su Jin remained cautious, keeping her Spiritual Sense extended. If any danger arose, she could quickly dodge and avoid being caught off guard.
She carefully approached the pile of spirit stones and began swiftly collecting them into her storage pouch.
In just half a quarter of an hour, the pile of spirit stones in the cave had been completely cleared. The storage pouch had limited space, and the abandoned courtyard and this pile of spirit stones already occupied two-thirds of it.
"Once I obtain the jade pendant space, I won't have to worry about running out of space," Su Jin calculated in her mind.
Su Jin didn't leave immediately but carefully inspected the cave walls and ground once more.
After confirming there were no hidden compartments or mechanisms, she turned and began climbing toward the opening above.
Emerging from the cave, her vision suddenly widened.
The sky was already bright, and Su Jin stood at the cave entrance, squinting as she looked ahead.
A field of Spirit Herbs!
It wasn't large, roughly half an acre. But the field was filled with various Spirit Herbs, their medicinal fragrance wafting through the air, rich with Spiritual Power.
Su Jin quickly descended and carefully identified them.
"Purple Cloud Grass, first-rank high-grade, the main ingredient for refining Qi Gathering Pills…"
"Coagulation Blood Flower, second-rank low-grade, commonly used in healing pills…"
"Jade Vine, first-rank mid-grade…"
"And this… Fire Spirit Fruit?! Although it's unripe, it's still a second-rank Spirit Herb!"
…
Su Jin looked up at this herb field, a smile stretching almost from ear to ear.
The value of this herb field far exceeded the pile of spirit stones from earlier!
Spirit Herbs were the foundation of Alchemy, and elixirs were indispensable on the path of Cultivation.
With these Spirit Herbs, she could not only refine pills herself but also sell them to exchange for cultivation resources.
These were originally meant to be Su Xinrou's Opportunities, but now they were naturally hers for the taking.
"The female lead's halo is truly formidable—wherever she goes, she stumbles upon treasures," Su Jin marveled as she immediately got to work.
She rummaged through her storage pouch and pulled out a small medicinal hoe, also taken from the abandoned courtyard. Though rusty and worn, it was barely usable.
Harvesting Spirit Herbs was a skilled task—damaging the roots would cause the medicinal efficacy to dissipate.
Fortunately, although the Original Host's cultivation was low, she had learned some basic knowledge of Spirit Plants while in the Su family.
Coupled with Su Jin's own understanding from modern society, she quickly grasped the essentials.
Like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar, she busied herself in the herb field.
She dug up Purple Cloud Grass by the roots, carefully placing it into her storage pouch; for Coagulation Blood Flowers, she only plucked the petals, leaving the plants to continue growing;
She cut off the freshest segment of the Jade Vine; though unripe, she carefully picked the Fire Spirit Fruit,
Unripe fire spirit fruit can be refined into fire spirit pills to aid cultivation, which is highly beneficial for cultivators with fire-attribute Spiritual Roots.
……