Chapter 33 Part 2

Xiang Yingshou watched coldly until Rong Yin had no retort. Then she offered a mild smile and drawled, “The truth remains unclear. We can discuss it after Sect Master True Person returns.”

“What if Fellow Daoist Lian intends to befriend the East Sea folk?” Fu Luo asked eagerly.

Xiang Yingshou glanced askance at Fu Luo. “Some questions are best left unasked.”

Fu Luo arched a brow with a smile.

In truth, aside from the fiercely infighting Empire, the other sects were tightly knit and fiercely protective.

If Lian Rusu wished to aid Ying Wu Gui, Taiyi Sect’s True Persons would spare no effort to help her establish a foothold in the East Sea.

Rong Yin’s expression soured. With a salute to those present, her figure gradually faded.

—

At that moment, within the Return to Ruins Gap.

Li Ruoshui sat on a large boulder, expressionless as she eyed the two corpses sprawled nearby.

After being sucked into the Return to Ruins Gap, she had not ended up with the Empire’s cultivators. Only wandering, soul-like Ruin Spirits lurked nearby. These Ruin Spirits were low-realm, at Shedding Mortality or Heart Fixing levels—Li Ruoshui naturally accepted the experience gift without hesitation.

If only these Ruin Spirits threatened her, her situation would not have been dire. But Empire cultivators appeared. Normally, in such perilous environs, people set aside grudges to unite against otherworldly foes. Yet these Empire cultivators remained arrogant, intent on killing her.

“Ungrateful fools!” She had been willing to let bygones be bygones, but these dogs wanted her dead—had Ruin Spirits eaten their brains? Better to send them off herself than let them assimilate, preserving some human dignity.

After regulating her breathing, Li Ruoshui hopped down from the rock. With a sleeve flick, a cluster of fierce flames fell upon the two cultivators, instantly devouring their corpses.

Li Ruoshui took out the Tianyan Mirror. In this place, the signal was blocked, forcing her into an offline state once more. Fortunately, the Tianyan Mirror still had its record-keeping function. With a single thought, Li Ruoshui left a note on the ledger: Collected bones for two Futu Gao Clan cultivators in the Return to Ruins Gap on behalf of the Empire, totaling 200,000 Spirit Jade Pills.

She put away the Tianyan Mirror and looked around. The intersection between the Return to Ruins Gap and the Nine Provinces had grown increasingly intense. At first, it had been just a mass of chaos, but now the terrain looked very familiar. Three li to the east was Tianhe Village in White Sun Town. Before the Return to Ruins Gap stabilized, she wouldn’t find an exit. Instead, she needed to fulfill her vow here to avoid another trip to Baiyang Town.

The trouble was that the situation in this Return to Ruins Gap was unknown, unlike the clearly divided zones of the Path of No Return, which had Cave Heavens guarding them. However, Shi Yu was outside and could pass on messages, so people would soon arrive at this Return to Ruins Gap.

What if she encountered a Golden Core Realm Ruin Spirit? Li Ruoshui considered the possibility and decided her only option was to run.

Fortunately, her close friend had taught her the Carefree Wander, an escape art that commanded the six qi of heaven and earth without relying on anything external. Its speed could even rival Sword Escape.

What was her clever close friend doing right now? Did she think Li Ruoshui was in seclusion, or had she guessed her predicament?

But her close friend was from the Three Saints Academy, so there wasn’t much she could do anyway.

Li Ruoshui wandered aimlessly along a mountain path. The road was flat but winding, with no flowers, grass, or trees along the way. After walking for about half a shichen, the scenery ahead suddenly narrowed. Two cliffs leaned inward, leaving only a gap wide enough for one person to pass, from which faint light spilled out.

Li Ruoshui’s eyelids twitched, and she cautiously stopped. If she walked forward and fell into a Ruin Spirit nest, that would be disastrous. This wasn’t a game; there were no save points. After pondering for a moment, she took out a Spiritual Nature Treasure Pearl refined from spiritual essence, grabbed a handful of mud, and kneaded it into a ball before stuffing the pearl inside. She fiddled with it for a bit, gritted her teeth against the pain of the loss, and tossed the ugly spiritual mud ball into the gap.

This debt goes on the Empire’s tab.

Ruin Spirits craved pure spiritual power too. Li Ruoshui held her breath and listened at the stone crevice. Detecting no movement inside, she relaxed and passed through the narrow gap.

Clouds drifted past the cliff, and bright daylight poured down. Li Ruoshui’s view suddenly opened up. She lifted her gaze and saw ancient pines with vigorous trunks amid exotic flowers and grasses swaying in red and purple blooms. Ahead was a vast gentle slope where clusters of white flowers fluttered like snow in the wind. Below the cliff, a waterfall cascaded with thunderous roar, feeding into a babbling brook whose tinkling spring sounds harmonized with the pine winds, pleasing to the ear and calming to the mind.

Amid the swaying grasses and trees, Li Ruoshui spotted several herbs brimming with vitality at a glance. Perhaps the original mountain had been planted with medicinal herbs, and now, spurred by the primal qi from the intersection of realms, these plants that normally required careful nurturing had grown rapidly.

Without hesitation, Li Ruoshui picked the herbs, rinsed them clean, and chewed them raw. The Perfect Golden Body refined the body itself as a furnace. She didn’t know how to refine pills, but she could circulate their properties through the Perfect Golden Body’s method. After consuming over a dozen herbs in a row, the magic power she had depleted from her earlier battle with the severely injured Golden Core Cultivator gradually recovered.

If no more Empire cultivators were devoured later, there was still one Golden Core cultivator left in the Return to Ruins Gap: Gao Yin.

He might be dead, or perhaps smarter than those stupid pigs and hiding somewhere to recover his magic power.

Li Ruoshui had already formed a death feud with him. If they met, she had to ensure Gao Yin died in the Return to Ruins Gap.

This valley was a picturesque haven. If she had no duties, she could build a hut and stay for a while. Unfortunately, she had a mission. After sweeping the valley clean of herbs, Li Ruoshui crawled back out through the crevice. Searching for Ruin Spirits one by one was troublesome and time-consuming. Using herself as bait risked attracting a Golden Core Realm Ruin Spirit, which wouldn’t end well. After serious thought, she concealed her aura and used the Spiritual Nature Treasure Pearl as bait.

If the Ruin Spirits she attracted could be dealt with, she would kill them.

If they were too strong to fight, she could hide and let them take the pearl. It was just one Spiritual Nature Treasure Pearl lost—she would make the Empire compensate her anyway.

Her method worked quickly. Soon, she lured in a string of Shedding Mortality and Heart Fixing Realm experience packs.

Were there no Golden Core Realm Ruin Spirits nearby? Li Ruoshui wondered to herself.

But no sooner had the thought arisen than two beast-like Ruin Spirits charged in roaring, their auras brutish and unmistakably Golden Core Realm.

In addition to the Ruin Spirits, a disheveled, blood-soaked figure appeared as well.

The cultivator’s pupils filled with terror at the sight of the Ruin Spirits. But when he saw the Spiritual Nature Treasure Pearl they were fighting over, fury erupted. His face twisted savagely as he unleashed all his magic power.

Li Ruoshui observed from hiding and recognized him as the true form of the statue maker from the village—Gao Yin.

Already heated up so quickly? Li Ruoshui muttered inwardly, patiently waiting for Gao Yin to clash with the two Ruin Spirits.

Stealing kills or directly fighting Golden Core Realm Ruin Spirits would both fulfill her vow. Though direct combat built experience, until the Return to Ruins Gap was under control, Li Ruoshui wouldn’t risk herself for that bit of gain.

Ideally, the man and two beasts would suffer mutual destruction.

The battle dragged on for half a day.

Gao Yin knew that if he were invaded by a Ruin Spirit, he himself would cease to exist, so he used every means to slay them. The Heavenly Venerable Statue he summoned manifested three heads and six arms, its weapons emitting beams of light.

In his earlier fight with Shi Yu, he hadn’t been completely overpowered, so he hadn’t revealed his life-saving trump card.

But now, with no retreat, a cold glint flashed in his eyes. One hand of the Heavenly Venerable Statue raised a Sword Disc, unleashing dozens of white beams with a whooshing sound.

Most struck the dying Ruin Spirits, but a few shot toward Li Ruoshui.

Li Ruoshui had remained vigilant. Seeing the white beams fly her way, she knew her aura was exposed. With a tsk, she channeled her magic power and slapped a Universe One Qi Palm toward Gao Yin.

Gao Yin’s eyes burned red with even greater killing intent. His figure flashed, escaping from under the Universe One Qi Palm, and he urged the Sword Disc onward, transforming it into endless sword beams wreathed in murderous aura that surged forward.

Li Ruoshui’s eyelids twitched. After slapping the two Ruin Spirits to death, her surging magic power roiled like waves, forming Taiyi Blazing Fire Profound Light that swept across the incoming white beams. The metallic clash of gold and fire produced a grating friction that set teeth on edge.

Gao Yin’s expression shifted slightly. He hadn’t expected a Heart Fixing Realm cultivator to have such thick magic power. He gave Li Ruoshui a deep look, wariness flickering across his face. “Who exactly are you?!”

Li Ruoshui raised an eyebrow with a smile. “The creditor of your Futu Gao Clan. But don’t worry, Fellow Daoist—you won’t have to pay it back.”

Gao Yin stared at Li Ruoshui with shock and suspicion. He hadn’t heard of anyone in his clan owing such a massive debt that it implicated the family. But Li Ruoshui gave him no chance to ask. She slapped her Taiyi Blazing Fire Profound Light forward, followed by a Universe One Qi Palm. Gao Yin activated his artifact, but the flying beams burned away like snow under the blazing sun.

Li Ruoshui’s expression unchanged, she pressed forward. Gao Yin was Golden Core Realm; she couldn’t give him time to recover. With one step, winds and clouds churned, sand and stones whipped up, and sharp tearing sounds exploded.

As Li Ruoshui closed in on the Heavenly Venerable Statue, killing intent rose in Gao Yin’s eyes. Two of his artifacts specialized in close-range slaughter—drawing near was walking into a trap!

The distance shrank in an instant. Gao Yin seized the moment and brought his artifact crashing down on Li Ruoshui. But after breaking through her protective light, two crisp clangs rang out. Under that tyrannical magic power, Li Ruoshui emerged unscathed, merely swaying slightly.

Gao Yin’s expression changed drastically as he cried out in shock, “A body refiner?”

Li Ruoshui didn’t answer. With a mocking laugh, she raised her hand and pressed down toward the top of Gao Yin’s head.

Everything that can’t kill me—die!

…

Including the loss of the Spiritual Nature Treasure Pearl, the Futu Gao Clan now owed her 500,000 Spirit Jade Pills.

Oh, right—mental anguish compensation too. She wouldn’t be able to contact her close friend for a while, and that was the Gao family’s fault.