Chapter 65, "Cloudwing City".
Wei Jiyu's gaze fell on the house that had been burned beyond recognition, and then a thought struck her, and she said, "The Myriad Manifestations Disc should contain the aura of someone you know. She should be the only clue."
They were talking about Yun Xianqing, who was dressed in a light green dress. But Meng Chiwan really didn't want to go looking for Yun Xianqing.
Meng Chiwan struggled to say, "Perhaps we don't need to look for him; there is a disciple of Lingjiang Palace right here."
"A disciple of Lingjiang Palace?" Wei Jiyu repeated, somewhat surprised.
Then, following the direction Meng Chiwan pointed, he saw Wen Liansong staring intently at a woman.
The next instant, his pupils dilated slightly, and with lightning speed, he cast a spell to firmly restrain the woman.
Meng Chiwan also rushed to the woman's side in a few steps, dissipating the force exerted on her.
Wei Jiyu released a talisman from his sleeve, mumbled an apology, and then used his spiritual power to place it above the woman's chest.
Only then did Meng Chiwan notice the woman's flushed cheeks. No, not just her cheeks; she looked down at her wrists. Almost every part of her body was flushed, as if boiling magma was churning beneath her skin.
It's definitely not a fever.
Meng Chiwan had read in a book that in this situation, it usually meant self-destruction.
Why did she reveal herself? Was it because she heard her say that she was going to use her to find Liu Yuan?
Or is she afraid they'll find her and follow her to Lingjiang Palace?
This woman doesn't have any spiritual energy, so why did she self-destruct?
"Do you have a way to conceal the spiritual energy on your body?" Meng Chiwan gently tapped the woman's forehead with the hilt of her sword and asked.
The movement was very gentle, and the woman slightly raised her head to look at her.
Then, for some reason, she actually responded to Meng Chiwan.
She didn't answer Meng Chiwan's question directly, but instead asked her, "Do you know Lin Shuchun?"
Meng Chiwan remained silent.
The woman continued, “You know him. You used him to test me. And it’s been a long time since anyone has mentioned that name to me. I remember that year, I also called him a jinx, a jinx.”
Meng Chiwan said, "Lin Shuchun is an old friend of mine."
The woman slowly smiled, then asked her, "An old friend? How long ago was it?"
Meng Chiwan pondered for a moment, then replied, "He is an old friend who witnessed his impetuous youth."
The woman laughed even harder, her emotions rising and falling, causing her to cough a few times involuntarily: "If you want to find Lingjiang Palace, then you need to learn how to conceal your spiritual energy. I don't want you to save Liuyuan, but I also don't want the only person who remembers Lin Shuchun all these years to be disappointed."
"So, are you willing to teach me?" Meng Chiwan asked her, her eyes filled with sincerity.
"Even if there's no return, would you still be willing to learn?" the woman asked instead of answering.
"I'm willing." Meng Chiwan didn't hesitate at all, her eager-to-learn attitude like a fish biting a hook during a famine.
The woman looked at Meng Chiwan's determined expression as if she were looking through her at someone else, and then she nodded and said, "Then I will teach you."
The woman was helped to a chair and sat down. Meng Chiwan channeled some spiritual energy into her, and she slowly recovered.
The fire inside the house was extinguished, and the house was completely destroyed. Only then did the head of the Liu family arrive late.
He came in and first asked what had happened. Then, seeing that Meng Chiwan and the others were still unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Fellow Daoists, are you alright?"
"It's nothing, just a sudden fire," Meng Chiwan said, shaking her head.
The woman's expression shifted slightly upon hearing her words.
"What's going on? I clearly sent people to guard this place, how could this happen?" the Liu family head asked in confusion, then looked at the servant who had just finished rescuing the water.
“Yes…” one of the servants was about to say something, but Meng Chiwan interrupted him.
Meng Chiwan said, "There was a problem with the Myriad Images Disc. I lost control of my strength and that's why it caught fire."
After hearing the explanation, the head of the Liu family didn't think much of it and nodded.
"Have any of those fellow Daoists found any trace of my son?" He finally couldn't suppress his anxiety for his child and asked.
"We have a general direction now, so please don't be anxious, Patriarch," Wei Jiyu said gently.
None of them mentioned the woman standing to the side, and they all tacitly avoided doing so.
But the head of the Liu family still noticed her. Seeing that she still looked unwell, he asked, "How did you end up here?"
The woman said, "I am also worried about my husband..."
The head of the Liu family waved his hand, indicating that he understood, and clearly didn't take her seriously.
"Then we await your good news, fellow Daoists. If you encounter any difficulties, please feel free to bring them up with me, and I will do my best to resolve them for you," the Liu family head concluded. "I have already arranged new accommodations for you, and someone will take you there shortly."
After that, the head of the Liu family seemed to have something to attend to and did not stay any longer.
After the Liu family patriarch left, Meng Chiwan asked the woman, "How should I address you, fellow Daoist?"
"His surname is Mu."
Afterwards, the group found a doctor for Fellow Daoist Mu, and his body was roughly restored before they began to prepare to learn the Hidden Spirit Technique.
This spirit-concealing technique is strange; some people need to prepare many spirit-transforming talismans, while others don't need to prepare anything at all.
Meng Chiwan was the kind of person who didn't need to prepare anything; Fellow Daoist Mu only told her to bring the person along.
After covering Wei Jiyu and Wen Liansong with spirit-transforming talismans, Fellow Daoist Mu explained the basic points and then pulled Meng Chiwan, who was watching the ceremony, aside, saying, "Do you know why you shouldn't do this?"
Meng Chiwan replied, "I don't know."
Fellow Daoist Mu's gaze seemed to casually sweep over her chest: "You have demonic grass on you."
Meng Chiwan was taken aback and looked at Fellow Daoist Mu warily: "How did you know?"
“I saw it when you entered the illusion of the Myriad Manifestations Instrument. When the soul leaves the body, the demonic grass will briefly appear.” Fellow Daoist Mu smiled reassuringly.
Meng Chiwan, however, did not let her guard down.
Fellow Daoist Mu then continued, "I won't tell anyone. I'm only saying this to let you know that you can use the demonic grass on your body to do many things, such as hiding your spiritual energy."
Meng Chiwan looked at her with a puzzled expression. After learning that she possessed a demonic herb, she tried to read many related books, but unfortunately, she found very little information about demonic herbs.
Most of the time, those ancient texts assume that only immortal herbs exist in the Immortal Demon Realm.
"Don't you know what the demonic grass on your body is for?" Fellow Daoist Mu asked, puzzled.
“I have consulted ancient texts, but I have found nothing to show for them,” Meng Chiwan shook her head.
Fellow Daoist Mu: "That's strange... If you ever get the chance to visit the library of Lingjiang Palace, you can go and browse through it. I remember there are books about the Demon Grass."
"In fact, the Demon Grass can not only convert demonic energy into immortal energy, but also hide both demonic and immortal energy within itself, making it impossible for people to discern its cultivation level."
Meng Chiwan's heart skipped a beat, and she asked, "What should we do?"
Fellow Daoist Mu said, "I vaguely remember that the ancient books said that as long as you leave the purest spiritual energy and demonic energy in the demonic herb, you can do it."
"The purest?" Meng Chiwan frowned slightly.
Fellow Daoist Mu glanced at the progress of Wei Jiyu and Wen Liansong and said, "Heaven and earth give birth to all things, and all things nurture essence. Every spiritual energy and demonic energy comes from all things, so naturally there is the purest one without impurities. It is the foundation for gathering spiritual energy in the spiritual veins."
Upon hearing this, Meng Chiwan immediately tried to mobilize her own spiritual energy in an attempt to find that spiritual energy.
Fellow Daoist Mu remained silent for a long while, and seeing that she seemed to have gained nothing, he said, "If you can't find it, it's probably because you don't understand yourself well enough."
Meng Chiwan pondered these words carefully and asked, "Is it related to me?"
Fellow Daoist Mu nodded: "But just in case, I still have to teach you the method of using the Spirit Transformation Talisman. However, that method is far less stable than this one, and it will cause some damage to your foundation."
Upon hearing this, Meng Chiwan looked in the direction of Wei Jiyu and Wen Liansong, and asked with some concern, "How much damage will there be?"
Fellow Daoist Mu said, "It depends on the individual, but I noticed that the young lady has immortal herbs protecting her body, and the young master has a high level of cultivation, so there shouldn't be any major problems."
Meng Chiwan: "So actually, I'm the one who will be hurt, right?"
Fellow Daoist Mu remained silent, only nodding repeatedly.
Meng Chiwan stopped talking and focused solely on finding that legendary, purest spiritual energy.
The spiritual energy within the veins intertwined, like a thread being spun, slowly coalescing into a colossal rope.
Meng Chiwan tried to break the thread apart, but found that it would quickly reassemble, like smoke and mist.
She pondered for a moment, then stopped the movement of the grass in her heart for a instant, and discovered that the spiritual energy was still gathering together in scattered points, like the Milky Way in the sky.
As the rope grew thicker and thicker, Meng Chiwan changed her strategy, controlling her spiritual energy and gradually dispersing it to reveal the luminous thread at the very center. She then slowly pulled it out and stored it within the demonic herb.
Meng Chiwan let out a soft breath, a faint smile appearing on her face, and asked Fellow Daoist Mu, "Do I still have any spiritual energy in my body?"
Fellow Daoist Mu shifted his gaze from Wen Liansong to Meng Chiwan, his expression showing disbelief, but his tone remained indifferent as he spoke: "Very impressive, you succeeded. It seems you don't need to learn my method."
A suitable smile curved Meng Chiwan's lips, and her eyes were filled with genuine joy.
For her, every step of the way is a process of peeling back layers, so it is perfectly understandable that the purest essence of her spirit would be hidden and wrapped up at the very center.
Only after leaving that small town did I realize how vast the outside world truly is, and only then did I see that I might also have some opportunities within myself.
However, after spending half a day, the group successfully embarked on their journey to Lingjiang Palace.
However, when they passed through a city that Meng Chiwan had never heard of before, the unexpected still happened.
"The All-Encompassing Instrument indicates... there's the scent of Willow Garden here again," Wei Jiyu suddenly said.
At the very front, a large, powerful "cloud" character stands prominently on the flag, resembling an insurmountable high wall.
"Cloudwing City," Meng Chiwan slowly uttered the city's name.
Author's Note: Following the plot
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