33 The Pride of Heaven (Part 5)

"Is it really gone?" "It's really gone."

Perhaps it was to personally verify the truth of Lou Shuang's words that he had no choice but to enter the Tower Prison.

Ran Qinghe was stunned for a moment. She thought that the thing he said to Lou Yi that day, about going to prison in her place, was probably done on purpose.

What he didn't expect was that even though Lou Yi was furious, he didn't send him to the Tower of Heaven. So, he could only sneak in and investigate.

The Discipline Hall throws disobedient cultivators into the Tower Prison, intending to deplete their vital energy through the evil spirits and vengeful spirits imprisoned within. Once inside, the cultivators have no choice but to constantly fight against the vengeful spirits within in order to survive.

Each offending cultivator is separated by a separate spiritual energy barrier, and an appropriate number of vengeful spirits are released based on the cultivator's strength.

Logically speaking, under such conditions, it would be impossible for anyone to escape. But she was different; although she had been here for three months, she had used cheating methods.

At that time, she used her innate spiritual body to temporarily absorb the resentment of the vengeful spirits into her body, and then released all the resentment back into her body when she escaped. In this way, she could avoid fighting the vengeful spirits and focus on breaking through the tower gate's restrictions, thus escaping with ease.

Others, however, could only fight the vengeful spirits until they were exhausted. Therefore, the Tower of Heaven Prison, which is for cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage, is far beyond what a cultivator who has just broken through to the Nascent Soul stage can handle.

She took out a small wooden box from her storage bag, inside which was the pill she had just finished refining. She tempted, "Xiao Shui, take me to the Nascent Soul Realm's restricted area, and I'll give you my latest Tranquilizing Pill."

Xiao Shui was a pill refiner in her previous life. Her lifelong wish was to refine the most unique pill in the world. However, while she was engrossed in pill refining, she died and was reborn with resentment due to a backlash or some other reason.

Her resentment was difficult to resolve, and even after her death, she continued to haunt the alchemists of the Xuan Shui Sect, constantly advising them, "Oh dear, you put the spiritual herbs in the wrong order," "Oh dear, you haven't reached the right level yet," and so on. That's why she was thrown into the Tower Prison.

Xiao Shui took the elixir and happily circled around her. Just as she was about to lead the way, Xiao Hua stopped her.

Xiao Hua had been in the Tower Prison the longest and was the oldest. She said earnestly, "Hehe, you are only at the Great Perfection of the Golden Core stage now. How can you go down to the Nascent Soul stage of the Tower Prison?"

Ran Qinghe put on a nonchalant attitude and said, "Don't worry, if I can't beat the vengeful spirits there, I'll just absorb their resentment. Isn't that what I did back then?"

The vengeful spirits couldn't dissuade her; if they didn't guide her, she would stumble and fall on her own.

However, to her surprise, when she successfully descended to the Nascent Soul stage of the Tower Prison, there wasn't a single vengeful spirit in sight, unlike the Golden Core stage where vengeful spirits would occasionally wander around.

Even so, she carefully observed her surroundings, wary of any sneak attacks from vengeful spirits.

She released her spiritual sense to expand the range of spiritual energy fluctuations and carefully moved forward.

However, the expected vengeful spirit did not appear. Instead, the Tranquil Sword suddenly emerged from the shadows, along with a pair of dark, swirling eyes behind it.

Lou Tinglan appeared from nowhere, his body wreathed in black energy like coiled black snakes, his entire being saturated with resentment. He didn't even give her time to recognize him before his sword had already pierced through the air.

She took a quick half-step back, lashing out with her whip to block the attack. The whip clashed with the sword blade, and her voice was filled with shock and anger: "Lou Tinglan, what's wrong with you?"

Her voice pierced through the black mist, causing his originally lowered eyebrows to tremble for a moment, and his eyes to clear slightly. But this clarity was only fleeting; his sword aura remained unchanged, and he refused to give up.

Her heart sank; she feared that his consciousness had been corrupted by vengeful spirits.

But as the two clashed, a strange feeling inexplicably crept into her heart. Lou Tinglan had only just broken through to the next realm, so why did he possess such immense pressure and sharp sword energy? He didn't seem like a Nascent Soul cultivator at the early stage at all; on the contrary…

But she had no energy to think it through; every sword strike was aimed at killing her. A sharp sword aura slashed a bloody gash across her cheek, and as she barely managed to dodge it, the next sword aura arrived. She was exhausted from dealing with it and was already feeling the strain.

In a moment of desperation, she flicked the end of her whip, trying to coil around the Jingxin Sword, but it was deflected by the spiritual energy released by Lou Tinglan. Her mind wavered, and she was caught off guard, only to have the Jingxin Sword pierce her arm.

She quickly stopped the bleeding and dodged his sword strike. She couldn't help but shout, "Lou Tinglan!"

Taking advantage of the moment his sword strike paused, the whip's tail swept over the Tranquil Sword and flung it aside, then quickly flipped her hands to form a hand seal.

She sighed heavily and said fiercely, "I really owe you something." Her hands continued to move, and wisps of golden spiritual energy flowed from her fingertips, quickly drawing the resentment from him into her dantian.

In Tianhai Valley, she had already discovered that the innate spiritual body could not only absorb the resentment of vengeful spirits, but could even forcibly transfer the resentment that had entangled cultivators.

She really couldn't understand where Lou Tinglan got all this resentment from.

When the last wisp of black energy left his body and entered her dantian, the surging resentment almost instantly overwhelmed her own spiritual power, causing a sharp pain in her dantian and making her face turn pale.

Her spiritual energy was blocked, and she couldn't muster any strength at all. Lou Tinglan, who had just been controlled by resentment, had not yet fully recovered his consciousness. He closed his eyes tightly, his mind unclear, and lost all strength, so he heavily pressed her down on his body.

His head buried weakly in the crook of her neck, his heavy breaths hot against her skin. The dim light of the tower amplified this sensation, and she turned her face away uncomfortably, pressing it against his chest.

But this resistance made him subconsciously pull his arms closer, holding her tightly in his embrace.

She was both annoyed and suspicious, wondering if Lou Tinglan had regained his senses. She turned her head, trying to create some distance from his shoulder, wanting to lean back and see his expression clearly, but he grabbed her waist and held her firmly.

She threatened, her voice trembling with fear, "Hey, Lou Tinglan, are you awake? Are you pretending with me? Are you?"

“I’m warning you, you better let go right now, or I’ll… I’ll break both of your arms.”

"Hello, hello..."

However, he did not respond, but buried his face even deeper, like a trapped beast seeking a source of warmth.

*

When Lou Tinglan slowly woke up, he vaguely saw a girl in red standing in front of him with a sword in her arms. He thought it was his imagination, shook his head helplessly, and struggled to stand up.

Unexpectedly, the girl in red suddenly threw him a sword and said angrily, "If you're awake, hurry up and leave. You're wasting my time for nothing."

As soon as he received the Tranquility, he immediately drew his sword.

As Ran Qinghe dodged, she muttered to herself, "This shouldn't be. The resentment has been removed, so why hasn't he woken up yet?"

He stopped swordplay and called out incredulously, "Ran Qinghe?"

Ran Qinghe realized he was awake and shouted fiercely, "You're awake, why did you draw your sword and hurt me? What grudge do you have against me?"

Lou Tinglan immediately sheathed his sword. "I'm sorry." He had thought she was another vengeful spirit in disguise.

She thought to herself, annoyed, "Sorry, sorry, all he ever does is apologize. Oh, right, that's not all. He not only apologizes, he also hugs her."

Thinking of this, her face darkened again, and she turned and left without paying any attention.

Lou Tinglan noticed that a piece of her clothes was torn off and a strip of cloth was hastily wrapped around her arm. She immediately understood and pulled her closer, asking, "Did I hurt you?"

As the two drew closer, he seemed to notice a small sword-like wound on her cheek.

Ran Qinghe took a step back without changing her expression and said, "What? Are you going to apologize again?"

Lou Tinglan said apologetically, "No, I just wanted to ask you how your injuries are."

She gave him a strange look: "Never mind, consider it repaying the favor of recommending the book to you."

Lou Tinglan's eyes darkened slightly: "You always seem to be trying to repay my kindness, unwilling to owe me anything, but we are... friends. Between friends, it is appropriate to owe each other something."

His expression suddenly turned serious, and he stared intently into her eyes.

Ran Qinghe felt uncomfortable under his gaze, her eyes darting around. Her gaze drifted over his forehead, and she frowned, touching his forehead with her fingertips. She changed the subject, saying, "Your tribulation mark is really strange. Does it disappear as soon as you get injured?"

Lou Tinglan reacted violently, instantly drawing his Tranquil Mind again, but the tower was dark and he couldn't see anything clearly.

He suddenly brought his face close to hers and asked again, "Is it really gone? Take a good look."

Lou Tinglan seemed to be getting very close so that she could see him more clearly; she could even feel the cool, grassy scent on his lips.

She reached out and poked his chest with her finger, widening the distance between them.

"It's really gone."

His face was even more unpleasant than when he was filled with resentment. She really couldn't understand why he was so nervous about something as simple as a tribulation seal. It wasn't like he wouldn't come back.

He thought for a long time before he could process this fact, and then regained his serious demeanor: "How did you break through the tower gate's restrictions just now?"

She replied matter-of-factly, "Of course it was forced open. Could it possibly be opened with a key?"

"Yes." He has the key.

Ran Qinghe: ...

He forcibly broke through the restrictions inside the tower; his uncle was probably already waiting outside.

He slashed his wrist hard with his sword, and blood gushed out instantly. Without even flinching, he ripped a strip of cloth from his sleeve with a "rip" sound, soaked it in the fresh blood, and then wrapped it tightly around his forehead.

Ran Qinghe's heart skipped a beat: "What are you doing? If you go out like this, people will think I did something to you?"

His lips turned pale, and a blood-stained bandage was wrapped around his forehead, making him look like a small white flower swaying in the wind. She, on the other hand, looked like a tyrant who had failed to abduct a man.

He said, "Stay inside the tower for a while and don't go out."

Ran Qinghe asked, "What do you mean?"

Lou Tinglan explained, "You forcibly broke the restrictions in the tower, which has probably already alerted the hall master or other elders. With the election approaching, you should not make any more mistakes."

His actions inexplicably stirred a sense of guilt in Ran Qinghe. If she hadn't come, Lou Tinglan might...

However, before she could even finish feeling guilty, she realized that if she hadn't come, he might have died in the Tower Prison, and that was still uncertain.

Sure enough, Lou Yi stood with his hands behind his back at the entrance to the tower.

"Tinglan, what exactly did you come to the Tower Prison for? And why did you injure yourself like this?"