Chapter 4: Tong Shishi

Looking at the devastation littering the Qixi Festival Sect, Tong Shishi still felt somewhat dazed.

Su Wuchen’s sudden attack, along with the inexplicable giant palm descending from the sky, all made her feel as if she were lost in a dream. Yet the pain wracking her body constantly reminded her that everything had truly happened.

She wanted to investigate the origin of that heavenly palm. But compared to such a hopelessly untraceable matter, dealing with the sect’s current situation took priority.

Although that palm from the sky had eliminated Su Wuchen’s threat, he had already inflicted tremendous damage upon the Qixi Festival Sect before that. Pavilions had collapsed, the ground was shattered, and disciples lay scattered in pools of blood. Many had died gruesome deaths. All of this required immediate attention.

‘Our sect dwells deep within the remote reaches of Magpie Mountain. Why did such a calamity befall us?’

Tong Shishi’s heart was steeped in sorrow.

Everyone possessed Spiritual Roots, governed by the Five Elements. The higher a person’s affinity with a specific element within their Spiritual Root, the better their cultivation talent, and the smoother their journey on the path of immortality would be.

Those with low affinity naturally stumbled along, finding advancement difficult and slow.

Among Tong Shishi’s own Five Element Spiritual Roots, only her Water Element affinity was the highest, reaching a level of eighteen percent. But such an affinity wasn’t even enough to qualify her for entry into an ordinary Immortal Cultivation Sect.

In the eyes of those Immortal Cultivation Sects, a Spiritual Root affinity of at least twenty percent was the minimum requirement to even consider admitting someone. And typically, those with such an affinity, even if they joined a sect, were only the lowest rung of disciples.

After all, low Spiritual Root Affinity truly made cultivation incredibly slow.

If Tong Shishi hadn’t encountered a stroke of fortune in the past, she would never have broken through to Foundation Establishment.

After unexpectedly achieving Foundation Establishment, she felt sympathy for the hardships faced by low-level cultivators. That was why she established the Qixi Festival Sect, specifically to take in those cultivators who no other sect wanted. She aimed to help everyone and foster mutual support.

Because of this, she was the only Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Qixi Festival Sect.

Everyone else remained a Qi Refining cultivator, unable to even glimpse the hope of breaking through to Foundation Establishment.

Due to their weakness, Tong Shishi had never dared to establish the Qixi Festival Sect in any prosperous region. Instead, she chose this secluded, remote area deep within Magpie Mountain. But who could have imagined that even after coming to such an isolated place, the Qixi Festival Sect would still suffer such a devastating tribulation?

“Sect Master, are you alright?”

A tense voice sounded from beside her.

Tong Shishi lifted her head, revealing a face devoid of color.

While fighting Su Wuchen, though she had been fortunate enough to cling to life, she had sustained serious injuries. Even after consuming a Healing Spirit Pill, a full recovery would still take some time.

Tong Shishi asked, “What is it?”

The person who had come before her was one of the rare Qi Refining Tenth Layer cultivators in the Qixi Festival Sect, named Li Yidan.

The Tenth Layer of Qi Refining was the absolute peak of the Qi Refining stage. The next step was to prepare for Foundation Establishment. Yet countless individuals throughout the Cultivation World remained forever stuck at this bottleneck, growing old and dying without ever advancing.

Li Yidan was tall and slender, with gentle, fine brows and large eyes. Her skin was fair, and her figure graceful. A white dress wrapped her form, cinched at the waist, which was so slender one could almost span it with their hands.

A subtle fragrance of plants and woods always lingered around her, a hallmark of many Alchemy Masters, signifying long-term interaction with elixir pills.

Within the Qixi Festival Sect, Li Yidan was already the most outstanding Alchemy Master.

Li Yidan’s face was downcast. “Many died, and many were wounded. I can heal most of their injuries, but there are some whose wounds I am powerless to treat.”

Tong Shishi’s heart sank. “Take me to see them.”

Li Yidan nodded.

The two women walked across the scarred and pitted ground, arriving at a pavilion.

The moment they entered, they heard the sound of pained wails echoing through the halls. Tong Shishi quickened her pace.

Several people lay on the ground floor of the pavilion, with even more gathered around them, each face filled with sorrow and despair.

The skin of the people lying on the ground had all turned green. Swollen veins bulged across their bodies as if insects were crawling beneath the surface. Every so often, they would vomit a mouthful of blood, a horrifically miserable sight, as if they could succumb at any moment.

Three men and three women, their faces twisted in agony, occasionally let out wails of pain they could no longer suppress.

Seeing this scene, Tong Shishi couldn’t bear it. She asked Li Yidan beside her, “Yidan, is there truly no way to save them?”

Li Yidan’s expression was despondent. “There is no way. I have exhausted everything I have ever learned, yet still have no solution. In the end… I am simply too weak.”

Even though she was an Alchemy Master, excelling in such a secondary profession also required corresponding cultivation. With insufficient strength, many elixir pills were simply impossible to refine.

What could she, a mere Qi Refining Tenth Layer cultivator, possibly use to neutralize poison left behind by a Late Foundation Establishment cultivator?

Deep within Li Yidan’s heart, there was even a touch of despair.

…

Su Xiaoyu watched everything transpire inside the diorama box, and her heart couldn’t help but fall silent.

Poisoned?

On the verge of death?

If she could, she would also want to save these people. But what could she possibly use to neutralize poison originating from the Cultivation World?

Unwilling to witness the tragic outcome unfold, she chose to look away.

“Cough, cough, cough!”

Bathed in the rays of the setting sun, which had turned a dusky yellow at some unknown point, Su Xiaoyu coughed.

This body of hers had never been in good health. After all, she navigated daily life bound to a wheelchair. Taking complete care of herself was difficult, so it wasn’t strange for her to suffer from various minor ailments.

Su Xiaoyu searched through the original owner’s memories and remembered there was still some Isatis Root Granules left at home. She decided to brew a bowl. The saying that Isatis Root could cure a hundred diseases wasn’t completely baseless. Most of the time when she felt under the weather, brewing and drinking a bowl of Isatis Root Granules always brought at least some improvement.

“It should be right here…”

Su Xiaoyu went to the table beside the diorama box, opened the cabinet, and took out a packet of Isatis Root Granules.

Due to her limited mobility, she kept everything she might need in the bedroom, including the electric kettle and thermos.

Placing a bowl on the table, Su Xiaoyu tore open the Isatis Root Granules packet. She failed to tear it open on the first try, deeply feeling the weakness of her own body. She had to exert more force a few more times before it finally ripped open.

But as a result, a few granules spilled onto the table.

Su Xiaoyu didn’t think much of it. A few granules less wouldn’t affect the medicine’s potency. She picked up the thermos and poured hot water into the bowl to brew the granules. A pleasant fragrance immediately wafted from the bowl.

“It’s a bit hot…”

After putting the thermos down, Su Xiaoyu blew gently over the bowl in front of her.

As she blew, she noticed that the Isatis Root granules that had fallen on the table next to the bowl were being nudged along by her breath. One of them was rolling precisely toward the diorama box.

However, Su Xiaoyu had quick eyes and quick hands. She swiftly reached out and pressed her finger down on this particular granule, stopping it from actually falling into the diorama box.

Then, she retracted her hand, intending to pull a tissue and collect all the spilled granules.

But at that moment, a gust of wind blew in through the window, sending Su Xiaoyu’s black hair flying. She had to first brush the stray strands from her face.

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, Su Xiaoyu’s gaze sharpened.

She saw the very granule she had just pressed down being pushed by the wind and rolling once more toward the diorama box. Right before her eyes, it tumbled toward the box.

Su Xiaoyu instinctively reached out to grab the granule. She managed to pinch it between two fingers, but her grip wasn’t secure. Just as she caught it, her hand trembled slightly, and the granule slipped free, plummeting straight into the diorama box.