Chapter 268 Qi (Supplement) In a sense, that is also...

Lin Feiran nodded.

While she was fighting fiercely in the valley, she guessed that her life-or-death ordeal might be there, knowing that she would probably only survive one out of nine chances, but she could not be certain.

However, when her master returned, he told her that if she were to die in the calamity, he could save her life.

Lin Feiran believed it, but no one knew when the calamity would strike—perhaps with the previous sword, perhaps with the next slash.

Her calamity came too quickly; even her life was lost in the blink of an eye. She doesn't know where her master and the others have taken her, nor does she know if Ru Xian knows the reason behind it all. She can't help but feel a little worried.

I wonder what Ru Xian's condition is like now...

Lin Feiran had never seen Ru Xian look lost or sad, and she couldn't imagine it either; she just knew he would probably be heartbroken.

The grandmaster stepped forward and said, "The fact that you are still alive is extremely important; it's best not to reveal it to anyone..."

The master's spirit emanated an inhuman, hidden light. His presence would not actually affect others, but after he stepped forward and spoke, everyone else took a half step back, leaving him enough space.

For everyone present, his presence was something to be admired but not to be approached, except for Lin Feiran.

Before the grandmaster could finish speaking, Lin Feiran frowned slightly, pursed his lips, and demonstrated again. This time, the speed was much faster than before, but after a few breaths, he collapsed from exhaustion.

"Don't rush, don't rush, Master hasn't finished speaking yet."

Zhang Siwo immediately stood up, took two steps forward, and tucked his hands into his sleeves.

“Ru Xian is very devoted to you and will definitely not reveal it. Besides, I have a lot of interaction with him. I even made the gold ring on his body. We both know his character and have no intention of hiding it from him.”

However, we can't find any trace of him right now, and we dare not conduct a large-scale search.

Upon hearing this, Lin Feiran paused for a few breaths, raised her hand to summon the Yin-Yang Fish, but found no response.

The grandmaster, sitting cross-legged in mid-air, explained, "You previously changed to a new spiritual vein and broke through to a higher realm. Later, you used spiritual energy so violently that your body was greatly depleted. In addition, you couldn't adapt to it immediately, so now..."

Your spiritual veins are temporarily unusable; you need to recuperate for some time. Without spiritual power, the Yin-Yang symbol will remain dormant.

Lin Feiran closed her eyes to calm down, pondered for a moment, and then raised her hand to make a gesture, like rain falling.

Xie Kanhua said, "You mean, looking for Lord Yuluo City? We've thought about it, but Gu Yu is actually quite aloof, doesn't like to interact with people, and his whereabouts are a mystery. There are so many rains in the world, we can't find the entrance."

After doing these few actions, Lin Feiran broke out in a cold sweat, but she still moved her throat and spoke very weakly.

"I know how to enter the city. I would like to trouble you seniors to pass on the message."

Given the current tense situation, it's impossible to ask these seniors to go to great lengths for her children's private affairs. Being able to contact Gu Yu is already enough.

The others looked at her face and felt both pity and guilt.

Lin Feiran was still in the sword spirit's arms. After a moment, the sword spirit pressed her forehead, and his voice was no longer as relaxed as usual: "Grandmaster, is her body really just too exhausted, and there are no other problems?"

The grandmaster looked at the sword spirit and sighed slightly: "Indeed, do not underestimate the spiritual veins of heaven and earth. If such a spiritual treasure is integrated into the body, it will be like a new sprout entering the mud, with the miraculous effect of reshaping and regenerating."

Although the arrow struck her right in the heart, it was not fatal because it occurred at the moment when her spiritual veins were merging with her.

She cannot use her spiritual power now because the spiritual veins have not yet fully integrated with her; she will be fine after a while.

The sword spirit didn't speak again, but simply raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead. The grandmaster, however, spun around and landed, letting Lin Feiran demonstrate the magic seal for entering the city before looking at Xie Kanhua.

"Thank you, fellow Daoist. You are the one with the highest cultivation among us. I will entrust the task of sending a message into the city to you. It will take you at most a quarter of an hour to go. Please inform Gu Yu of this matter."

A slight ripple finally appeared on Xie Kanhua's expressionless face. He nodded and turned to look at Lin Feiran: "Take care of your injuries. I'm leaving."

The moment he finished speaking, he vanished from the spot, his movements so swift and decisive that they left everyone speechless.

Zhang Si was about to step forward and say something when he saw his master turn around and look at them: "Feiran has just woken up. With so many people around, it will take a lot of effort for her to respond to everyone. Why don't you all go out first? I'll talk to her alone. You can come back and catch up when she's feeling better, how about that?"

Since the grandmaster had already spoken, what else could the others say? They could only tell Lin Feiran to rest well before pushing open the door and leaving.

"There's no need for you to worry about someone going to look for snowflakes."

The grandmaster returned to Lin Feiran's side. Seeing how weak she was, a hint of pity appeared on her gentle face. She then formed a hand seal and pointed a wisp of golden light from her fingertips into her brow.

After a short while, Lin Feiran's complexion improved considerably, and his tense throat gradually recovered. However, the outline of his master's face faded slightly, but the bright snowlight inside the room made the slight fading of the light difficult to detect.

He paused for a moment before speaking gently, "A long time ago, when we were planning together in the Valley of Pilgrimage, we never imagined that a child your age would be the one to shoulder all of this."

Lin Feiran shifted her body, and the sword spirit immediately cooperated to make her more comfortable.

She spoke up, "Grandmaster, when you say 'seeing' before, it's not just about seeing the universe and the grass, but also about that crack in the sky, right?"

The grandmaster looked at her quietly, without any surprise in his expression: "You finally saw it."

Lin Feiran nodded, her gaze somewhat distant. She recalled the deep, dark crack she saw when she broke through to the next realm and was on the verge of death, as well as the energy that converged from all directions.

"The crack I saw, is that what you call the Heavenly Rift?"

"yes."

Lin Feiran then asked, "I remember that at the last moment, I destroyed that object of heavenly punishment. Does that count as mending the rift in the sky?"

The grandmaster smiled, but it didn't look like he was happy, nor did it look like he was regretful. He raised his hand and waved it, and the roof tiles above his head were lifted in an orderly fashion, forming a hexagonal circle that just happened to reveal the pitch-black sky and the even deeper crack.

He sat cross-legged beside Lin Feiran and looked up together: "The crack is like a deep root, and that icicle is the branch that grew from it. Although I couldn't get rid of the root, I was able to cut off the branch, which was beyond my expectations."

He looked down at Lin Feiran: "You've done very well."

Lin Feiran remained silent for a moment, gazing at the deep night sky, and suddenly said, "...I failed to stop it. Has the night still swallowed up the day?"

The grandmaster stood up, waved his hand to brush away the falling night snow, and his voice carried a reassuring calmness and composure.

"Feiran, not everything you do will guarantee success, but as long as you've done your best..."

He smiled gently, put his hand on Lin Feiran's shoulder, and amidst the sword spirit's gasp of surprise, led her to spin up onto the rooftop, where they gazed into the distance together.

"There will definitely be results."

The entire sky was almost entirely covered by darkness, with neither moonlight nor starlight, heavy and unsettling. But in the far east of the sky, there was a crack like a long sword, stretching across it like an insurmountable chasm.

The crack, equally deep yet extremely sharp, pierced through the thick darkness, revealing the molten sunlight behind it. A brilliant golden light shone through, dispelling the darkness and bringing a ray of light to this world.

The sword mark was etched in the east, while another rift in the sky stretched across the west. This opposition between east and west, and the contrast between light and shadow, precisely provided a striking and awe-inspiring glimmer of light for this world shrouded in gloom.

Lin Feiran looked at the beam of light that was shining down, and her gaze softened considerably.

Sword Spirit stepped forward with an umbrella to shield her from the falling snow, helped her up, and continued, "After you destroyed that ice pillar, Bi Sheng rushed to repair it, and Zhang Siwo and the others had no choice but to go and stop him."

After a fierce battle, the icicles couldn't be repaired, but the icicles that filled the sky didn't disappear immediately either. They continued eastward into the night, breaking apart along the way, before finally stopping there. Now, it seems, at least, that they no longer have the strength to spread further.

The world in Lin Feiran's eyes was completely different from before. She could see the energy surging towards the sky under the night sky. Now that the ice pillars were destroyed, the energy was much fainter than before.

If she hadn't seen these things before when she asked Gu Yu to divine her life and death, she probably wouldn't have recognized them at this moment.

But after realizing that these were surging, flowing energies, Lin Feiran seemed to suddenly understand something.

“Grandmaster, I’ve always had a question in my mind, but now it seems I have the answer. Is it true that the qi that was drawn away is the origin of the cold syndrome?”

However, her master did not give her a definite answer at this time: "I also guessed that way, but I cannot be completely sure, after all, the extraction of energy has never stopped since we saw this crack in the sky."

No one knows whether the cold symptoms will still exist after the symptoms stop.

That being said, the unspoken meaning was actually an affirmation of her.

No wonder neither her master nor Zhang Siwo could tell her the specifics of what happened here, only mentioning it as a rift in the sky, just as she couldn't tell anyone she had never met.

Only when you see it can you see the flower bloom. For someone who has never seen it, you cannot explain what a "flower" is, nor can you express it in words.

It was only then that Lin Feiran realized what was going on.

She had always wondered why almost all those suffering from cold-related illnesses were mortals, while only a handful of cultivators were afflicted. Ultimately, it was simply because the vital energy of mortals was weaker than that of cultivators.

The more vital energy is extracted, the more a person will gradually lose their vitality. When the last bit of vital energy is taken away, the person is no longer considered a person. At that point, they are neither dead nor alive.

She watched quietly for a long time before finally asking, "What do esoteric Buddhism do with extracting these vital energies?"

"I don't know," the grandmaster said softly.

Lin Feiran looked over with some surprise. She knew in her heart that her grandmaster and those saints from the Pilgrimage Valley must be plotting something. They should be the ones who knew the most, but even they didn't know the true purpose of the Secret Sect.

Seeing her puzzled look, the grandmaster smiled and said, "We are not all-knowing or all-powerful. It is true that such a colossal object lies across the sky, seemingly visible just by looking up, but in reality, not everyone can see it, and it has nothing to do with one's cultivation level or extraordinary realm."

"Only when you see the grass, the ants, and the spider web battered by wind and rain can you catch a glimpse of it when you look up."

"Even here, it took a very long time for it to appear."

The grandmaster stood beside her, turning to look at her with clear eyes, as if he had seen her through countless years.

"Do you know what kind of restrictions I placed on the Iron Khitan Book when I was asleep in the Sword Realm?"

Lin Feiran's gaze faltered for a moment, then she shook her head: "What kind?"

The grandmaster smiled and said, "I'm telling you, anyone who comes here and has ever saved ten ants is the one I'm looking for. Does that sound a bit like child's play?"

Lin Feiran couldn't help but smile as well: "There are some."

The grandmaster looked at the ray of light and said softly, "Many of the seniors in the Pilgrimage Valley disagreed. They said, what if a three-year-old child came? I say, then it is a three-year-old child."

Sometimes, I do believe in karma.

He then looked at Lin Feiran, his gaze becoming much more serious: "Feiran, I'm not surprised at all that you've come this far. So far, no more than three people have been able to break through to the Divine Realm at your age. I was right."

If I were still alive, I would definitely take you as my disciple, not because of your talent, but because of your pure and innocent heart.

Lin Feiran chuckled and looked down at his palm, where the not-yet-fully-fused spiritual veins flowed with a faint light beneath his skin.

She has come this far thanks in no small part to the guidance and teachings of the predecessors mentioned in the Iron Khitan Book, as well as her grandmaster.

"If my master does not reject me, may I call you 'teacher'?"

The grandmaster paused slightly, then his brows relaxed and a smile appeared in his eyes. He glanced at the sword spirit, then raised his hand and touched Lin Feiran's head: "Then I will accept this title of teacher."

Lin Feiran got tired of standing, so she squatted down and sat down. She, the sword spirit, and her grandmaster squeezed together under the golden umbrella, looking at the sunlight through the crack.

Lin Feiran then asked, "Teacher, after you rescued me, my body disappeared. Won't that arouse suspicion from the Secret Sect?"

The grandmaster shook his head and smiled: "Who said your body is gone? Do you remember what happened after you fell into the water?"

Lin Feiran paused, her eyebrows furrowed slightly, and her lips pursed. Of course, she remembered.

When she fell into the lake, she still had a sliver of consciousness. At that time, she was on the verge of death, and her vision had already begun to blur. She could only see a shimmering wave of light on the surface of the lake.

She did not struggle, nor was she able to struggle; instead, she waited, waiting for her master's rescue method to take effect.

But at that moment, the ball of light was suddenly scattered, and she saw a person disappear into the water and come toward her, his golden and white robes standing out conspicuously in the water.

Before anyone could get close enough for the rescue to take effect, she fainted and knew nothing of what happened afterward.

The master said, "The next step is that, like a hailstone, it will disappear into the water and take your body away. The jade tablet secretly engraved by the esoteric sect will shatter, and everyone will know that you are 'dead'."

Lin Feiran frowned: "But I'm right here... Could it be that your rescue method involves giving me a new body?"

She immediately lifted her sleeve to check; the wounds were still there, and the calluses on the base of her palms hadn't disappeared either. This was indeed her own body.

The grandmaster pressed down on her arm: "No, it's not a replacement, but an imprint. This is your body. The one that was taken away by the hailstones is a fake imprinted from it, but in a sense, it is also 'Lin Feiran'."

Lin Feiran paused, still confused: "Teacher, what exactly is going on?"

The Grandmaster lowered his eyes, his expression kind and gentle, seemingly lost in thought. After a long while, he finally spoke: "Do you remember when you went to Rainfall City, I wandered into the dreams of Zhang Siwo and the others?"

I originally intended to reveal my identity to them, discuss how to destroy the object of heavenly punishment, and also figure out how you would overcome your tribulation.

"But on that day, someone came to our door."

He said he had a solution.

Author's Note: Do you remember the chapter where Lin Feiran and Wei Chang first met, the one where they were saving ants...?

P.S.: Whether it's an addition or not, you can use 3,000 words to see 4,000 words of content. The added words are like a bonus dessert for everyone (X).