"Legend has it that the Dragon Scale Blood Tree lives in the Sea of Desire. The so-called Sea of Desire represents all the desires in the world. It pulls people's souls under the water and absorbs the desires within them. Because people are born with desires, whether they accept them or sink into them, that is the truth behind the Sea of Desire..."
"Finally got in," Xu Qingye wiped the sweat off his forehead. "If it weren't for that girl Chen Muxi who kept making trouble, I would have gotten in earlier. Now I guess it's really as Senior Brother said, that those guys from the Taiji Sect succeeded."
Xiao Heyun curled the corners of his lips: "No, I came just in time."
"Oh?" Xu Qingye followed Xiao Heyun's gaze and saw scattered people standing at many entrances of the valley. There were one, two, but not many. They were all monks who had experienced mental attacks from outside and came in.
Everyone’s goal is clear, and that is the Dragon Scale Blood Tree.
"It's Li Ze from Taiji Sect... and Zhou Yixing and Zhu Sicheng?! It seems that all the direct disciples of Taiji Sect who are in the late Jindan stage and above are here..." Xu Qingye murmured. Although he had a premonition, he was still very wary when he saw Taiji Sect. After all, this kind of environment is more advantageous for Fu Xiu.
"More than that, look over there."
Xu Qingye subconsciously looked towards where Xiao Heyun was pointing, and was shocked: "...How could it be the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining Stage?"
"Don't forget, this is the territory of a certain type of people." Xiao Heyun said lightly.
"But she should be a disciple of Xuantian Sect, right? Isn't Xuantian Sect a sect that cultivates swordsmen? Can the spirits of swordsmen be so powerful?" Xu Qingye muttered to himself.
"Who knows? And the one next to her is in the early stage of Jindan. Humph, it seems we have to pay special attention this time." Xiao Heyun's gaze stayed on Shen Xinglan, who was standing behind Shen Sui and looked like Shen Sui's shadow.
"Are you talking about another direct disciple of Xuantian Sect? Why should we pay special attention to him?" Xu Qingye also saw it and said in confusion.
"Hmph, you only joined the five major sects this year, so perhaps you've only heard of their name until now," Xiao Heyun said indifferently, "He is Shen Xinglan."
"Is this true?" Xu Qingye asked in shock. "Just a kid who's just reached the early stage of the Golden Core stage?"
"Even if he's at the early stage of the Golden Core, it's enough to make you imagine what the consequences would be if you touched him." Xiao Heyun shifted his gaze and looked at the Dragon Scale Blood Tree in the middle of the lake. "It's a bit troublesome. I don't know if it's my illusion, but I always feel that Shen Xinglan's aura seems to be weaker than last year..."
"It's like he's slowly fading himself from everyone's sight."
"Stop talking nonsense, senior brother. Those guys in Taiji Sect are not as good at talking nonsense as you." Xu Qingye rolled his eyes.
Xiao Heyun said "oh" and turned to look at Xu Qingye: "Then let me test you. Do you know why I told you before that the Dragon Scale Blood Fruit would most likely be obtained by the Taiji Sect?"
Xu Qingye asked doubtfully, "Could it be...the spirit?"
Chen Sui looked up. The height of the dragon-scale blood tree was as high as the valley. He could even see the sky of the secret realm hidden in the crown of the dragon-scale blood tree. There were many long red strips tied to its trunk, and the bottoms of those red strips fell into the water. The lush branches and leaves were full of beautiful red flowers and plump red fruits.
However, the legend of the Dragon Scale Blood Tree ultimately states that only those with extremely strong spirits can cross the sea of desire.
"What's the difference between this and a powerful spirit?" Chen Sui asked Ji Ru'an on the way to the valley.
Ji Ru'an lowered his eyes and said, "There are two ways to strengthen the soul. One is to constantly practice with special methods to make the soul strong. The other is to be born with a strong soul. However, the spirit is different. No one's spirit is born strong. Apart from experience, cultivators have no way to improve their own spirit."
"Experience?"
Ji Ru'an whispered, "Do you know why Taiji Sect cultivators aren't afraid of mental attacks? It's because they're superior to other sects in this kind of training, and it's because they rely on their keen sense of the heavens and the earth. After all, for ordinary people, magical elixirs, flying spirit swords, strong bodies, and obedient spirit beasts, which one is more tempting than the possibility of seeing your own destiny?"
"So, in the trials and tribulations of life, Taiji Sect disciples often go further. I'm not denying other sects, but I'm saying that in the eyes of ordinary people, we cultivators may exist more simply to communicate with the Way of Heaven."
When Ji Ru'an said this, he suddenly laughed out loud: "However, many immortal cultivators spend their entire lives unaware that the sect taught us skills and cultivation. It taught us a lot, but it will never teach us how to make a decision after witnessing something with our own eyes. This is the irony."
"What about you?" Shen Sui looked at him steadily, "Have you found it, you who just joined the sect?"
"No." Ji Ru'an denied it. Instead, he raised his head calmly and looked into Shen Sui's eyes.
"But what I have more than others is simply my misfortune, which allowed me to make the only choice I have made since I was born."
Chen Sui withdrew her thoughts and was quite speechless. How should she put it? This boy was even more arrogant than she had imagined, but this boy's strength should also be affected by the decision he made when he was born.
Hmm... Could it be that the furnace cauldron physique requires dual cultivation in order to advance in cultivation? She didn't quite understand.
But if it comes to choosing...
Chen Sui lowered his head, looking at his toes which would touch the sea of desire just a little further ahead, then his gaze slowly moved forward, his own appearance in the water clearly reflected in his own face.
It was an expressionless face, exactly the same as in her previous life, neither outstanding nor remarkable.
She seems to have always been an ordinary person.
Suddenly, Shen Sui accidentally recalled a very small incident that happened in his previous life when he was a child.
That day, she was beaten black and blue by other children at school, who told her that she had no father or mother. After school, she did not return to the orphanage, but went to the Taoist temple and asked the Taoist priest a question.
But she didn't remember what was asked specifically.
She only remembered that the Taoist priest gently touched her head and asked her a strange question: "Xiao Sui'er, have you memorized the things that Grandpa and the brothers and sisters in the Taoist temple must recite every day?"
What was the Taoist priest’s expression at that time?
Oh, I forgot...
She only remembered that his eyes were always on her, yet it seemed as if he wasn't looking at her.
Little Shen Sui complained in a low voice: "Of course I remember it, Taoist Grandpa, your Taoist temple recites this passage every day, isn't it from the Tao Te Ching? I can even recite it by heart.
"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth; the named is the origin of all things..."
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