057

In the pitch-black dungeon.

This is where the Lingxiao Sect imprisons its disobedient disciples. The dungeon is extremely cold and damp. Several disciples from the Discipline Hall walked in, stopped in front of a cell, unlocked the lock, and said to the person sitting against the wall inside:

"come out."

The man had disheveled hair and was wearing the uniform of imprisoned disciples, covered in blood. He looked up when he heard this.

Seeing that she was still motionless, the disciple in the ordination hall said impatiently, "Hurry up! The elders are all waiting in the ordination hall."

The leading disciple spoke with a mocking tone, full of hatred: "Do you think you can escape punishment by stalling for a little longer? If you hadn't colluded with the demons, how could our senior sister have died!"

Jiang Huali felt the pain in her body, stood up, and glanced at her prison uniform.

She walked over to her disciples and said, "Let's go."

Seeing her indifferent expression, the disciple's disgust deepened.

Without saying another word, Jiang Huali was led away by her disciple.

Upon arriving at the ordination hall, she was forced to kneel in the center of the hall, her body bound in shackles.

Dao Chen, the sect leader of Lingxiao Sect, sat at the head of the table, looked at his youngest disciple, and sighed.

The elder of the Discipline Hall asked Jiang Huali in a solemn voice, "Do you know your crime?"

Jiang Huali slowly raised her head, straightening her back: "This disciple does not know."

Most of the people present wore expressions of anger, and some even wanted to draw their swords and step forward, but were stopped by those around them.

A white-robed disciple standing beside the sect leader spoke up, his face filled with sorrow: "Junior sister, the evidence is now irrefutable, are you still unwilling to admit it?"

Jiang Huali knelt on the ground, the shackles binding her emanating a chilling aura, her meridians feeling extremely sluggish, and waves of pain emanating from her dantian.

Just yesterday, her inner core was destroyed by the elder of the Discipline Hall.

Although her spiritual veins were not destroyed, she was now no different from a cripple.

Once a cultivator's inner core is damaged, they will have no hope of continuing their cultivation journey.

No matter how much you cultivate, without the inner core, spiritual energy cannot be stored and will only slowly dissipate, and your cultivation will not advance even a fraction.

Unless it is possible to repair the inner core or to create a new one, but the former requires a large amount of rare and precious materials, and the latter is nothing short of a pipe dream.

“I didn’t cause this to happen to Senior Sister,” Jiang Huali said.

"You didn't cause this? What was the deal with those demons around you that night? And why did Senior Sister Yu die by your sword!" someone shouted angrily from the side.

Jiang Huali frowned; she had no memory of this.

This world is derived from a fantasy novel. The female protagonist in the original work is Yu Tian, ​​the senior sister of Lingxiao Sect. It tells the story of Yu Tian's rise from an unknown disciple to become the number one person in the cultivation world.

But when Jiang Huali entered this mission world, the entire plot went awry.

At this time, Yu Tian had not yet become the number one person in the cultivation world, but he was still one of the best among the younger generation.

She hated evil and cared deeply for all living beings. Within the sect, she was a respected senior sister, and outside, she was a beloved immortal lord.

But just a month ago, Yu Tian died.

At the foot of the mountain, several villagers were brutally murdered and many children went missing, suspected to be the work of demons.

Yu Tian and the original owner led their disciples down the mountain to exterminate demons. It was supposed to be a simple mission, but no one expected that after finding the evil cultivator who slaughtered the people and used children for cultivation, he would escape.

Yu Tian and the original owner chased after the evil cultivator all the way. By the time the other disciples caught up, the evil cultivator had already been killed on the spot, and Yu Tian was also pierced through the heart by the original owner's sword.

Then many demons appeared, who injured all the disciples present and took away Yu Tian, ​​whose fate was unknown.

But everyone believed that Yu Tian was dead.

Because Yu Tian's soul lamp went out.

Disciples of prestigious sects all have a soul lamp stored within the sect; the lamp is lit when they live and goes out when they die.

After this incident, the original owner was imprisoned, then executed, and her inner core was destroyed. Today is the sect's deliberation meeting to decide whether she stays or leaves.

Many disciples in the sect protested, believing that the original owner had murdered fellow disciples and colluded with the demon race, and should be executed.

The original owner is still alive because of her identity.

The original owner's father was a rogue cultivator who once risked his life to save Dao Chen, the head of the Lingxiao Sect. Before his death, he entrusted his young daughter to Dao Chen and asked him to swear to do his best to protect the original owner's life.

Later, the original owner was brought back to Lingxiao Sect and became Dao Chen's closed-door disciple.

Dao Chen has three disciples: his eldest disciple Yu Tian, ​​his second disciple Liu Mulin, and his third disciple Jiang Huali.

The original owner was young and lively. Although she was a bit spoiled, it was not a big deal. The disciples in the sect all took good care of this junior sister.

Because of the original owner's father, Dao Chen was not as strict with the original owner as he was with others.

After Yu Tian's death, Dao Chen saved the original owner's life, but the original owner could no longer stay in the sect.

And the mission of this world is—

[Rescue Senior Sister Yu Tian, ​​find the person who framed the original owner, and clear their name.]

The mission in this world is quite special. The chosen one of this world is Yu Tian, ​​but the system has detected that the luck on Yu Tian has become extremely weak. The first half of this mission is to correct errors, and the second half is to fulfill the original owner's wish.

[It's highly likely that someone in this world has stolen Yu Tian's fortune and wants to kill her, but I can't detect Yu Tian's location; I only know she's still alive. And I haven't found the person who stole Yu Tian's fortune either...]

There's only one possibility: there were external invaders in this world who covered up these traces.

The system spoke to Jiang Huali in her mind.

"...After discussion, Jiang Huali was removed from her status as a disciple of Lingxiao Sect, her inner core was destroyed, her spiritual veins were sealed, and she was expelled from the sect."

While the system was talking to Jiang Huali, her destination had already been decided on stage.

Jiang Huali looked around.

Many disciples around her had resentment on their faces, while the elders remained expressionless. The white-robed man next to Dao Chen had a sorrowful expression on his face, and when he saw her looking over, he turned his head away as if he couldn't bear it.

That was her senior brother—

Liu Mulin.

When Jiang Huali was expelled from her sect, she lost all her cultivation and her spiritual veins were sealed. Apart from a few things in her storage bag, she had nothing else on her.

There wasn't much of value in the storage bag—rare herbs, elixirs, and magical artifacts had already been taken, leaving only some worthless items.

The spiritual veins on his body were sealed by Dao Chen himself, and only those with a cultivation level above Dao Chen can unlock them.

As the sect leader of Lingxiao Sect, Dao Chen's cultivation level was naturally not low.

Several disciples escorted her to the mountain gate, shoved her, glanced at her with disgust, and then left without doing anything else.

Jiang Huali stumbled from the push, and slowly walked down the path leading down the mountain.

She is now just like an ordinary person who cannot enter the path of immortality. In addition, her inner core was destroyed and her vital energy was greatly damaged, so she could not walk fast for a while.

Jiang Huali covered her face with something, pondering where she should go.

There was still a long way to go from the sect to the village at the foot of the mountain. Jiang Huali took out a sword from her storage bag and carried it on her back. This sword was not the one she used to stab Yu Tian, ​​but the one left to her by the original owner's father.

This was just an ordinary sword. After the original owner was taken in as a disciple by Dao Chen, he received a new sword, and this sword had been kept in his storage bag ever since.

Her sword had been taken away, and this was the only weapon she carried.

This was a gift from her father on her sixth birthday. She even gave the sword a name and carefully engraved it on the hilt.

Welcoming the snow.

Jiang Huali touched the rough engravings on the sword hilt.

She glanced at the road ahead, then suddenly turned and wandered into a side path.

Jiang Huali heard the commotion behind her and started running.

"Whoosh—"

The sound of an arrow piercing the air came from mid-air, heading straight for Jiang Huali's back. She had no time to dodge and could only roll to the side.

Hidden among the overgrown weeds, Jiang Huali saw the people chasing after her.

A group of people dressed in black and masked.

These people didn't seem to have high cultivation levels, and they were about to be discovered. Jiang Huali rolled to the side of the hillside, rolling downhill at an extremely fast speed until she reached the bottom. Only then did she stand up despite the pain.

The group of men in black flew over on their swords, and Jiang Huali gritted her teeth.

...Being able to fly is truly amazing.

No matter how fast Jiang Huali ran, she couldn't outrun the group of men in black. Seeing that she was about to be caught, Jiang Huali looked at the road ahead and finally had no choice but to stop.

There was no road ahead; it was a cliff.

One of the men in black flew over with a sword and stabbed at Jiang Huali.

Jiang Huali tried her best to dodge, but was still stabbed in the shoulder by a sword.

Seeing that the next sword was about to pierce her heart, Jiang Huali gritted her teeth and jumped off the cliff.

All that could be heard was the whistling wind. The leader of the men in black looked at the cliff, seemingly surprised that Jiang Huali had jumped off. He said in a deep voice, "Go down and find her. We need to find her alive or dead."

Jiang Huali used a defensive magic artifact in mid-air. The defensive magic artifact did not require spiritual power to operate and could be used by ordinary people.

With the protection of the magical artifact, Jiang Huali managed to save her life, but she broke her left leg.

With most of her mobility lost, she couldn't stay here for too long; the group of men in black would catch up soon.

Cultivators have many ways to track down a mortal. In this desolate wilderness, Jiang Huali didn't know where to go for a moment.

The system flew into the air, took a look, and pointed her in the right direction.

Jiang Huali walked with a limp and found a cave under a waterfall.

Driven by a strange intuition, Jiang Huali entered the cave.

When Jiang Huali came in, the waterfall had soaked her. She had just stood still and was trying to wring out the water from her clothes when a small knife suddenly grazed her cheek, leaving a bloody mark on her face.

Is anyone here?

Jiang Huali had lost all her cultivation and her five senses were dulled. When she looked closely, she was stunned.

A man dressed in black sat on a rock not far away. His black hair cascaded down like a waterfall. Beside him was a black sword, and his golden vertical pupils stared at Jiang Huali.

Jiang Huali blinked. The man in black lowered his head, and when he looked up again, his eyes had returned to their normal color.

Silence filled the cave for a moment.

Jiang Huali did not approach him, but sat down on the spot and said, "I have no intention of offending you. I just want to hide here for a while. Please forgive me, fellow Daoist."

The man in black had very white lips and no visible bloodstains on his body, but Jiang Huali could smell a strong stench of blood.

She hesitated for a moment, then took out a bottle of wound medicine from her storage bag and threw it next to him.

"I see you seem to be injured too. How about I give you a bottle of medicine in exchange for hiding here for a while?"

Xuan Qing glanced at the medicine that had been thrown to his side, reached out and took it, saying nothing, which was tacitly agreeing that Jiang Huali would stay there for the time being.

Seeing that he remained silent, Jiang Huali stopped talking and began tending to her wounds.

After temporarily immobilizing the broken leg and treating her wounds, Jiang Huali had just put down the medicine when she heard a faint noise coming from outside the waterfall.

The waterfall was extremely loud, and the sounds outside were not very clear, but Jiang Huali guessed that they were the men in black.

Jiang Huali noticed that the man in black glanced in her direction, seemingly also noticing the commotion outside.

He raised his hand, and a concealment spell appeared at the entrance of the cave.

Jiang Huali breathed a sigh of relief. She guessed that the person behind the scenes had sent men in black with relatively low cultivation levels because they knew she had lost all her cultivation. Otherwise, she would have died on the cliff and wouldn't have had a chance to escape.

With the concealment spell in place, the outside quickly became quiet.

Jiang Huali had been watching the cave entrance, and now she breathed a sigh of relief and looked in the direction of the man in black.

She was taken aback.

The man, who had been sitting on the rock, collapsed at some point. His eyes were now tightly closed, his face was pale, and even in his unconscious state, he was still clutching his sword.

Jiang Huali hesitated for a moment, but still moved closer to him.

This person has a rather youthful face, similar to He Yuqing in high school in the last world.

Jiang Huali knew as soon as she saw his face: this was probably another fragment of a soul.