Chapter 18 Nirvana Fire: Did Senior Sister's tribulation of lightning heal my spiritual veins? ...
It's so hot.
Shen Lixia regained her senses in the darkness, but she couldn't see or touch anything, and she couldn't even move her hands and feet.
There was nothing there. Only something invisible was burning, radiating intense heat that enveloped her. She vaguely heard the crackling of lightning and became alert. However, with each roar, she felt the heat intensify, as if the burning thing was growing stronger.
What's burning?
Her consciousness was hazy; everything she thought about was like looking at flowers through a fog. She instinctively wondered but couldn't think any further, as if her thoughts were blocked. It was at this moment that those fleeting fragments hidden in her subconscious surfaced.
Like a little girl picking up treasures in a pond in summer, Shen Lixia picked up these fragments one by one. Soon these fragments echoed clearly all around her, not intensely, but just repeating over and over, making her feel uneasy.
"Someone has fallen into the water, we need to save her."
"What a huge fire!"
The fragments led her back to distant memories. It was a place where she had lived since she could remember, a small welfare home that took in children and lonely elderly people. It was located in the suburbs, next to a river—a river that was cool all year round. In the summer, the river was filled with steam and mist, as if there were figures floating inside.
No photos remain. The people who took care of Shen Lixia said she was found in a burned-down house, unconscious in a charred room, and it was a miracle she survived.
From then on, she developed a strange fear of fire, as if without that fire, her life would have been different, and she wouldn't have experienced such hardship.
That river—that river. It carries the endless worries of my childhood. I listened to her whispering on the bank, embraced her into the water, and felt the ripples spread with every movement she made.
The boy loved that river; its name had been passed down since ancient times, existing long ago. The world's scenery has changed countless times, and many rivers have disappeared in the changes, but this river remains forever cold and still, flowing on and on, becoming the only solace in the boy's heart, gently nurturing his long-lost emotions, responding to his call with the gurgling sound of its flowing water.
The river is called Luochuan.
Even in such a motherly river, has anyone ever drowned?
However, childhood memories have long been buried at the bottom of the storage room like a box full of old documents, and are hard to recall except for a certain moment when they are triggered. Why would she think of the past and that winding stream?
Shen Lixia felt the thunder gradually subside, but another sound began to grow louder—the sound of burning, clamoring and pounding against her.
The shackles binding her senses loosened at that moment, and a sharp pain surged through her, but she had no time to pay attention to it, still thinking about the question from earlier.
The scalding pain almost swallowed her consciousness. Suddenly, a graceful white light appeared in her pitch-black vision, like a handful of fine snowflakes, like moonlight filtering through a long night. Like a traveler who had trekked through a desert for a long time finally finding a lush flowering grove, Shen Lixia instinctively rushed towards it in a disheveled state. The pain flowed through her body, but gradually she felt her limbs, torso... every part of her body was no longer numb.
At the same time, the sound of burning spread to her, and only then did she realize that she was engulfed in flames. The flickering, bright flames brought a sharp, painful sensation, completely burning away and rebuilding everything that was shattered within her.
Even with her extremely high pain tolerance, she could barely move. Everything was burning hot, and she lay in the darkness, unwilling to move even a finger.
But she had to catch up with that shadow. If she didn't, she would be left in this endless void, never to remember who she was again.
Shen Lixia sobbed softly. The sharp pain surging within her body, like thousands of blades cutting and spreading through her internal organs, began to weaken. Her awareness of pain seemed to have been partially melted away, so that she finally had the strength to support herself to at least move forward a little further.
Finally approaching the stunning figure, she reached out to touch the light blue ribbon tied behind her hair. Unconsciously, tears streamed down her face, and she cried out.
"Senior Sister—!"
Qiao Yanshen slowly opened his eyes, moved his arms, and after confirming that there was no damage to his body, he looked down at his chest.
The boy hugged himself tightly, his eyes still slightly red, as if he were about to cry. She raised her hand and placed it on his back, gently stroking it as she habitually did.
They survived.
At her wit's end, an unfamiliar force, seemingly from nowhere, gently supported her sinking consciousness. It was the first time she had felt this force, yet within it she sensed a familiar yet almost tear-inducing presence.
It was a flame, burning silently and enveloping her, gently repairing her damaged meridians as if afraid of hurting her.
Her gaze swept around, and she saw Simmons using spirit stones to restore the spiritual power of Tang Huairou, who was leaning on her shoulder. A small pile of spirit stones that had lost their luster had accumulated beside her. The woman's face was full of pain, but she didn't slow down in taking out spirit stones. As soon as the blue color on one pile disappeared, she immediately took out the next pile.
Spirit stones contain very little spiritual energy, and most of those circulating in the market are low-grade, not as pure as those obtained through Qi cultivation. Therefore, cultivators only use them as currency for transactions.
She withdrew her gaze, her attention returning to Shen Lixia in her arms. Her palm, resting on the other's back, touched an extremely intense heat, as if it weren't human skin, but rather her hand being placed in a raging fire. This sensation lasted only a moment, and was quite strange.
Qiao Yanshen thought of a possibility, and immediately disregarding his own cultivation, he hurriedly used his spiritual power to carefully check Shen Lixia's condition. His eyes, which had been squinting due to weakness, suddenly widened.
The meridians, which were originally shattered and not a single part intact, were completely repaired. Flames flickered and golden light flowed within them. The two types of spiritual energy fiercely clashed and intertwined as they passed through the meridians.
The spiritual energy she probed further was shattered by the previously sensed malevolent aura; she couldn't see much, but the other party's cultivation level was clear—
Late stage of Qi Refining.
Having crossed the threshold, he was now just a hair's breadth away from breaking through to the next level.
She called softly, "Li Xia... Li Xia. Wake up."
When Xi Mengsi heard her voice, she trembled. She first grabbed a handful of spirit stones and stuffed them into Tang Huairou's hand. Then she turned to look at the two of them, looking like she had a lot of complaints to say, but suddenly stopped herself from speaking.
She looked at Shen Lixia uncertainly for a while, then hesitated and said, "Wait a minute... First, congratulations on successfully establishing your foundation. And this junior sister of yours, who is she...?"
That was a fluctuation of spiritual energy. Moreover, it was extremely strong, unlike anything a cultivator who had just entered the Qi Refining stage would exhibit.
Even though Simmons was an unconventional cultivator, he could sense the changes in Shen Lixia.
"Late stage of Qi Refining," Qiao Yanshen replied. "What happened earlier? How come Li Xia is by my side?"
Simmons shouted that something was wrong and slapped Tang Huairou's shoulder twice, almost making the other person choke on their breath.
Tang Huairou was happy that Junior Sister Li Xia could start cultivating, and was also surprised that the other had jumped to the late stage of Qi Refining in one step. However, she had consumed too much spiritual energy and was too lazy to even open her mouth. She just wanted to absorb all the spiritual energy from the batch of spirit stones in her hand as soon as possible.
Just like a person who is about to starve to death, seeing dry rations will seem more appealing than any delicacy they could have imagined.
After slowly explaining what had just happened, Qiao Yanshen seemed quite surprised. She hadn't expected Shen Lixia to directly shield her from the tribulation lightning—a near-death experience even for cultivators, let alone for an ordinary person without cultivation. She knew that Shen Lixia had acted because the situation was critical, so she couldn't blame him for his choice.
But there absolutely cannot be a next time. Qiao Yanshen felt a pang of guilt, and tightly embraced Shen Lixia, resting his chin on the top of her fluffy hair.
This time it was a fluke, but what about next time? She only has one junior sister here, Shen Lixia. She had experienced the feeling of her sister disappearing before in the formation, and now she almost lost her sister unconsciously again.
As she continued, Simmons stroked her chin, looked at Shen Lixia, and asked curiously, "Although the lightning was so intense that it was almost impossible to see anything around us, it seemed as if you were on fire. I heard her moaning indistinctly, as if she were suffering great pain... The fire initially only flashed by, but then it actually burst forth and ignited on her skin."
Qiao Yanshen recalled the warmth he felt when his meridians were repaired.
"However, she was completely unharmed in the fire. Her body, which had been charred beyond recognition by lightning, was washed away by the fire and quickly returned to its original state." Simmons clicked her tongue twice. "Isn't it like the legendary phoenix rising from the ashes? It's truly amazing that she ascended to heaven in one step. Your journey has been quite arduous, first the Purple Heaven Divine Lightning, then the fiery rebirth, and even the appearance of the Eastern Constellation. I almost thought that a celestial being was protecting you."
However, the perilous situation at the time did not seem to be due to divine protection.
When Qiao Yanshen heard her mention the stars, he was moved and looked out at the sky.
The bright stars had vanished, and her figure disappeared into the darkness. Seeing no stars, she lowered her head and softly called Shen Lixia's name a few more times until the boy slowly awoke.
The moment she opened her eyes, Qiao Yanshen's breath caught in his throat.
The boy's originally clear and pure black eyes were now filled with a shimmering, bright gold, and his pupils had shrunk slightly into a sharper shape, giving off a cold, inhuman sharpness the moment they met eyes.
Before Qiao Yanshen could say anything, Shen Lixia nuzzled against her, her previously unsettling eyes softening instantly, her voice tinged with grievance: "Senior Sister..."
I almost thought I'd never see you again.
Her prepared words crumbled instantly. Qiao Yanshen sighed and comforted her, saying, "I'm here. Thank you for shielding me from the lightning tribulation, Li Xia."
She paused, then asked the boy if he felt unwell anywhere. Shen Lixia recalled the intense burning pain, the feeling of being scalded to the bone marrow, still vivid in her mind, but she didn't say anything, only shook her head.
Just then, a violent crashing sound came from outside the door. Simmons quickly called out, "We'll talk about this later! Let's get out of here before the formation collapses—fellow Daoist, how are you recovering? Can you fly on your sword?"
Tang Huairou nodded, on the verge of tears, and channeled the spiritual energy within her body that had just begun to nourish her, stepping onto the longsword. Xi Mengsi followed her onto the sword, feeling somewhat intrigued, and examined the slender blade.
Qiao Yanshen also drew his sword, joining Shen Lixia as before. The room had been largely destroyed by the lightning, with one side of the wall completely collapsed. However, the outside was obscured by an array, preventing anyone from seeing inside. The group quickly left the inn, speeding towards the higher reaches of the sky.
The inn room door was forced open, and the man leading the group was none other than the innkeeper from before. Seeing that the room was empty, he coldly snorted and ordered a group of hunchbacked, pale creatures behind him to enter and sniff around. One of them stopped beside him and mumbled, "They...they got away. What...what do we do, Priest?"
The priest looked in the direction the group had left and said, "They can't leave now; they'll perish here sooner or later."
At the same time, Shen Lixia, standing on the sword, trembled as she tightly wrapped one arm around Qiao Yanshen's waist, and pointed in a certain direction in the forest below, shouting:
"We've found someone to guide us!"
A note from the author:
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Congratulations on the completion of Xia Xiufu's work!
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