Suddenly, her gaze fell upon a vast expanse of barren land ahead, and her round eyes instantly lit up.
Without hesitation, Shen Ci rolled up her sleeves, grabbed a hoe, and began clearing the weeds. As she worked, she planned the layout, her small face smudged with dirt she didn’t bother to wipe.
“This largest patch can grow spiritual plants…”
“Here, I’ll plant some fruits and vegetables… and some flowers over there…”
When she saw the last empty plot, Shen Ci’s eyes suddenly sparkled: “This spot can raise chickens, ducks, and rabbits!”
But the next moment, her face fell. The ideal was plump, but reality was bony—she didn’t even have the Spirit Stones to buy seeds!
Yet she couldn’t bear to use the Spirit Crystal her senior brother had given her.
Shen Ci sat miserably by the dried-up stream, idly kicking pebbles with her bare feet.
Suddenly, she slapped her forehead: “How could I forget this!”
She had taken that rose from the attic earlier—it must be a spiritual plant too!
She fished out the red ball she’d unlocked in the attic from her storage bag. The sphere emitted a sweet fragrance, its surface covered in intricate patterns.
Shen Ci tentatively channeled a wisp of Spirit Energy into it. With a soft pop, the small ball suddenly unfurled, layer upon layer of petals blooming under the sunlight, revealing a strange flower she had never seen before!
“So beautiful!”
Shen Ci’s eyes shone like stars. The petals were fiery red, and the flower’s center glittered with fine golden specks. She couldn’t resist reaching out with her small hand—
“Ouch!” A sharp pain pricked her fingertip, and a drop of blood fell onto the dried stream bed.
Shen Ci licked her fingertip, muttering softly, “This flower actually has thorns, it stings…”
Before she could finish, Shen Ci froze. She blinked her large eyes, staring dumbfounded at the stream before her:
Where the blood drop had fallen, the cracked soil was now glowing with a faint, shimmering light!
Immediately after, a tiny spring bubbled up, like a sleeping spirit awakened. The clear water spread at a visible pace, quickly converging into a babbling stream that flowed gently…
“It’s… it’s alive?!” Shen Ci stammered, taking two steps back.
She swallowed hard, then threw down the rose and dashed toward the empty land, screaming, “Ghost ahhhhhhhhh!”
After running a few steps, Shen Ci halted. Wait, she was a cultivator—why should she be afraid of ghosts??
Steeling herself, she turned back and peeked with one eye squinted. The stream flowed peacefully, with no sign of any monsters or demons.
Tiptoeing closer to the stream, she quickly poked the water surface with her index finger. Seeing no reaction, she mustered the courage to dip her whole hand in and swirl it around.
Shen Ci murmured, “It’s really alive…”
She then cautiously cupped some water and brought it to her mouth, exclaiming in delight, “It’s cool and sweet!”
As soon as she spoke, the mottled chicken appeared before her as if from nowhere, lowering its head to drink from the stream. Then it toppled over, fast asleep with a blissful expression.
Shen Ci: ??
Sitting by the stream, she was utterly perplexed. What had just happened? She carefully recalled the earlier scene and suddenly stood up—blood, it was her blood!
Earlier, she had pricked her finger on that rose, and a drop of blood had fallen into the stream. Shen Ci lifted her hands in bewilderment, finding it hard to believe.
She quickly scanned her surroundings, her gaze landing on a withered plant beside the clearing. Rushing over, she hesitated for a moment before Shen Ci bit her fingertip. With a drip, a bead of blood fell onto the dried roots.
The yellowed stem visibly turned green, sprouting new branches and leaves in the blink of an eye.
Shen Ci stood frozen, her mouth agape enough to fit an egg. “This… this…”
Withered wood reviving in spring? She looked at her still-bleeding fingertip. Forgive her limited knowledge, but such a miraculous thing—she hadn’t even heard of it, let alone witnessed it. What exactly was happening?
If others encountered such a marvel, they’d be overjoyed, but Shen Ci only felt bewildered and wary.
She instinctively touched her Dantian. Could it be related to that strange fruit she’d eaten earlier?
Before she could figure it out, a wave of dizziness suddenly washed over her. Shen Ci steadied herself. Though filled with questions, her most pressing concern was how to explain this to her senior brothers and sisters.
This blood that could revive all things was both an opportunity and a death sentence.
With her current meager cultivation at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, if others found out…
Fortunately, the Sect was in decline, and her senior brothers and sisters were always out training and sustaining themselves. They likely wouldn’t return so soon.
Shen Ci’s eyes lit up as an idea struck her!
“It’s just depleted Spiritual Qi!”
She muttered to herself, quickly thinking, “As long as I create enough Spiritual Qi fluctuations before the senior brothers return…”
With this thought, Shen Ci slowly extended her divine sense. Huh? What is this place? Such dense Spiritual Qi—it seems like… the Sect’s Back Mountain?
After feeding the speckled hen, she slung her shabby little sword over her back and headed toward the Back Mountain.
As she walked, she wondered why her senior brothers and sisters weren’t utilizing the abundant Spiritual Qi here.
But her little brain couldn’t puzzle it out. Struggling upward, she quietly cheered herself on: Shen Ci, you must work hard to reach Foundation Establishment next! Then you can use sword control and won’t have to climb anymore!
If she had no other virtues, her greatest was knowing how to coax herself into action. Otherwise, in her previous life—despised by everyone, unloved by her parents, and loathed by her elder brother—she wouldn’t have known how to carry on without self-encouragement.
Huffing and puffing, Shen Ci finally reached the mountaintop, her face flushed red. Taking a deep breath, her eyes sparkled: “Wow! The Spiritual Qi here is incredibly dense! There must be plenty of precious Spirit Herbs!”
She would pick them and plant them in the Sect! Then expand and strengthen the ethereal aura! Shen Ci was now brimming with motivation.
Rubbing her hands together, she was about to move forward when whoosh—a sword energy grazed past her ear, startling her.
“Oh my heavens!”
Before Shen Ci could react, a fist wind whistled past her ear, followed by a succession of various attacks aimed at her.
Terrified, Shen Ci burst into loud sobs, but her legs seemed equipped with wind-fire wheels as she darted and dodged frantically around the Back Mountain.
They were all high-level cultivators—and they wanted her dead!
Just as she was cornered at the cliff’s edge, a snow-white zither string wrapped around her waist, yanking her backward. Covering her eyes in panic, she screamed:
“Ahhhh! Senior brothers and sisters, save this child!”
A soft chuckle sounded before her, light as the snow falling on the Tianshan Mountains, yet incredibly pleasing to the ear. “Little girl, your cultivation may be lacking, but your ability to flee is quite remarkable.”
Shen Ci, still trembling with fear, peeked through her fingers at the man before her. He was dressed in pristine white robes, his silver hair cascading like a waterfall down to his waist, swaying gently in the breeze. He was as beautiful as a celestial being who had descended to the mortal realm.
Most striking were the few strands of snow-white silk threads wrapped around his wrist, shimmering with a faint, luminous glow.