She didn’t have many teleportation scrolls. A hundred years later, even as the direct disciple of the Xuantian Sect’s sect master, she was an orphan with no family support and was quite poor.
Most of her treasures had been coaxed or tricked out of the “elders” of the Xuantian Sect, while a small portion came from her few training trips to Grotto-Heaven Blessed Lands.
She had always been reluctant to use the belongings she had painstakingly accumulated.
But after having her spiritual root forcibly dug out, she now saw things differently.
Wasn’t the purpose of accumulating possessions to use them? What was the point of hoarding them? If she needed them, she should use them. If something unexpected happened, they would only benefit others.
Though she would use them, she would still be frugal, as her possessions were indeed limited.
At the moment, she was short on time. Without using a teleportation scroll, it would take her at least five days to reach the Death Forest, and by then, it would be too late.
Murong Chao left everything in the Fengyun Kingdom behind.
Jiang Anya was beyond redemption—how long she could survive would depend on her luck and perseverance.
From today onward, Chen Qingyang would plummet from grace. As for the title of War God, she considered it repayment for saving her back then. How long he could hold onto that title would truly depend on his own abilities now.
She would simply watch from afar as the couple fell into destitution.
With a flash of light from the scroll, Murong Chao vanished—or rather, she didn’t truly vanish, as she was already using an invisibility talisman, which had three hours of effectiveness remaining.
She teleported directly to the shores of Gorgeous Lake in the Death Forest.
In her previous life, Wei Xiangyuan had saved Zhou Ziliang, who was on the brink of death, by the shores of Gorgeous Lake.
But Gorgeous Lake was so vast—where would Zhou Ziliang appear, and at what time?
Murong Chao knew that Wei Xiangyuan, who was leading Xuantian Sect disciples on a training expedition, was somewhere in the Death Forest at that moment.
Every year, the Xuantian Sect organized a training expedition led by the peak masters, and the Death Forest was the top choice.
Given her current strength, she couldn’t confront Wei Xiangyuan, who had Nascent Soul cultivation, directly. To save Zhou Ziliang, she had to rescue him before Wei Xiangyuan did.
Thinking this, she had no better plan—she could only wait and watch.
Murong Chao couldn’t bear to waste time. Since she could only move around Gorgeous Lake before saving Zhou Ziliang, she decided to explore the area during the day and retreat into the Purple-Gold Space at night to practice the basics of the Purple-Gold Mystic Art.
Gorgeous Lake was the largest lake in the Death Forest and one of its ten most dangerous locations.
It would be a mistake to assume a lake’s surroundings held no danger. The Death Forest’s ten perilous sites were ranked, and Gorgeous Lake held the third position.
Its ranking alone spoke volumes about its dangers.
Precisely because of these dangers, it offered better training opportunities. Thus, some sects would spend a few days training their disciples here, depending on the circumstances.
This was because it was a place where monster beasts and spirit beasts came to drink and bathe, making it the area with the highest concentration of such creatures.
Of course, sect disciples on training expeditions were always protected by elders with Nascent Soul cultivation.
Fortunately, the spot where she landed had no monster beasts or spirit beasts. Although her invisibility talisman was still effective, she dared not confront a large group of monster beasts and spirit beasts head-on.
Zhou Ziliang had once felt fortunate that no monster beasts or spirit beasts had approached him while he was unconscious. Otherwise, he would have been torn to pieces, leaving no chance to be rescued.
Murong Chao extended her spiritual sense to probe the surroundings of Gorgeous Lake. The lake was so vast that without using her spiritual sense, she would never have noticed someone lying there with a faint, dying breath.
After scanning the area, she detected no human presence, but sensed quite a few Monster Beasts and Spirit Beasts. However, their levels weren’t particularly high.
Of course, this assessment was based on her past life’s Nascent Soul Cultivation. Given her current Cultivation Level, which hadn’t even reached Core Formation, encountering one of these beasts might allow for a fight, but facing more than one would only result in becoming their meal.
Murong Chao knew the chances of running into Zhou Ziliang today were slim. Not wanting to waste time, and though she sought experience, the lakeside was teeming with Monster Beasts and Spirit Beasts. Once a fight broke out, it would inevitably attract more.
So she headed into the forest bordering Gorgeous Lake.
The Death Forest was an excellent place for training and also abundant in spiritual herbs.
However, since the forest by Gorgeous Lake was frequently visited for training and saw frequent activity from Monster Beasts and Spirit Beasts, any spiritual herbs would certainly not be left behind. Murong Chao didn’t expect to gather any herbs here.
A century ago, she had read all the books in the Xuantian Sect’s Library Pavilion except those on the top floor. A century later, she focused solely on the top-floor books.
With her soul’s return, she now had a thorough grasp of all the books in the entire Xuantian Sect Library Pavilion.
The Library Pavilion of the Xuantian Sect had nine floors. A century ago, using the opportunity to clean, she read all the books from the first to the eighth floor. On the sixth floor, she discovered a book on the Golden Needle Technique.
It had only nine pages, and the pages were so old they seemed about to fall apart.
At that time, without a master to guide her and with her cultivation stagnated at the mid Foundation Establishment stage, unable to advance, she couldn’t learn other skills, so she began studying this Golden Needle Technique.
Surprisingly, she managed to grasp about eighty to ninety percent of it, practicing on her own body.
It was also because of this Golden Needle Technique that she developed a strong interest in medicine. She read all the medical books from the first to the eighth floors of the Library Pavilion.
However, physicians were usually also Alchemists, since diagnosing an illness required the ability to treat it.
But the original host was merely a menial servant provided only with food and drink, so naturally, no master taught her alchemy. She couldn’t even afford an Alchemy Furnace.
Learning medicine was like having only one leg—unable to walk properly.
But she had a sharp mind. Unable to refine pills to save people, she began exploring how to use the Golden Needle Technique for treatment.
With no one to experiment on, she used low-level Monster Beasts and Spirit Beasts from the forests near the Xuantian Sect for trials. Surprisingly, it showed some effectiveness.
Once, she even saved an old man in the forest near the Xuantian Sect.
In her box, she had a set of silver needles—the most ordinary and cheapest kind.
For someone as poor as her, as long as they worked, it was enough.
But she had always longed to own a set of the legendary golden needles.
As described in that Golden Needle Technique book, these golden needles weren’t made of gold but from the wood of a specific tree. The wood of this tree was golden in color, visible only after peeling off the bark.
The tree was called Gold-Hiding, fittingly named as its bark concealed wood that resembled gold.
Every time she entered the forests near the Xuantian Sect, she searched for it but never found it. She had read in a book that the Death Forest contained Gold-Hiding Trees.
In truth, the Gold-Hiding Tree is valued by people mainly for its beautiful wood grain, which is used to craft various furniture and decorative items. Some even use it to make fruit bowls and tea sets, among other things. Its golden sheen combined with the unique patterns of the wood makes it exceptionally attractive.
However, Gold-Hiding Trees are genuinely rare—so rare, in fact, that they are extremely difficult to find.
What Murong Chao was searching for at that moment was precisely the Gold-Hiding Tree. The golden needles used in the Golden Needle Technique are refined from the golden wood found within these trees.
If only she could find one, the golden needles she had long dreamed of would finally be within her reach.