Revisiting the Small Building
Seeing that the three were on the verge of death, the elder knew he couldn't get any information out of them. Looking around, he immediately spotted Ruan Qingyu's courtyard.
Just as he was about to instruct the person beside him to ask, he saw the gate diagonally opposite Ruan Qingyu's courtyard open. The person who came out was none other than Lü Liangke.
Lü Liangke strode forward, first glancing at the three blackened figures on the ground. Then he looked at Elder Ruan and said, "Elder, these three were here the day before yesterday. At the time, I only thought they were servants of the family and didn't pay much attention to them."
As he spoke, Lü Liangke showed a hint of apology on his face: "Who would have thought that from yesterday morning until evening, I could hear these three people arguing outside this courtyard. Sometimes they would even throw some talismans into the courtyards nearby."
As he spoke, Lü Liangke pointed to his courtyard and said, "Although I am not a genius, my aptitude is still considered above average after being witnessed and tested by the elders of the clan. If they deliberately make these noises to affect my Qi cultivation, then my Ruan family will lose a disciple who can enter the sect."
After speaking, the elder's expression darkened. He could tell at a glance that these three were mortals, and still alive. This strongly suggested that, as Lü Liangke had said, other families in Immortal City might indeed be plotting this.
He would never tolerate it, lest outsiders laugh at him.
"You can focus on your cultivation these next few days. I will instruct the disciples on duty to patrol the courtyard where I am staying more frequently." After saying this, the elder waved his hand.
Two servants immediately stepped forward and carried away the three still-breathing bodies from the ground. Lü Liangke bowed slightly, respectfully seeing the elder off with his men.
After a long while, they turned their attention back to Ruan Qingyu's courtyard, where Ruan Qingyu, who was standing on the outermost treetop, nervously moved further in.
She almost thought Lü Liangke had seen her, but all she heard was Lü Liangke muttering, "Such a commotion didn't wake you up, could it be a genius's cultivation method?"
As the wooden door closed, Ruan Qingyu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The bird rubbed its claws together on the treetop, continuing to absorb the sun's essence. For now, her priority was to return to normalcy as soon as possible.
*
Inside the basement, the black leopard paced anxiously in its cage. The Soul Core had completely lost contact with it after a violent tremor.
If it weren't for the intermittent transmission of spiritual energy, it would have thought that the woman had been killed after she went out.
Time passed slowly, and as night fell, it suddenly felt that the connection with the Soul Pill had deepened considerably, even more so than when it first met Ruan Qingyu.
However, this time the spiritual energy transmitted carried a trace of emotion, and it could be sensed that the other party seemed to be in a pleasant state.
But the feeling was different, unlike a human's. How could someone transform into a monster in just one day and night? It continued to run back and forth in the cage, trying several times to reach out its claws to touch the cage, but was bounced back by the formation.
As the flow of spiritual energy became more stable, it noticed that this energy was gradually repairing its body. But tonight, it slowed down, until it stopped.
In the courtyard, Ruan Qingyu flapped her wings. She stopped cultivating, simply because she once again felt the throbbing in her chest and heard that familiar call from afar.
The sensation of the Soul Core trembling made her quickly recall it, and she immediately stopped her cultivation. While Ruan Qingyu was relieved that she had acted quickly, she suddenly realized that the feeling of being called had changed, transforming into a sense of intimacy.
Would that ferocious beast take the initiative to approach her? Ruan Qingyu didn't believe it, forcibly ignoring the feeling, and prepared to go back to the house and sleep until dawn.
Perhaps sensing Ruan Qingyu's emotions, the other party tried again to convey a friendly message. However, Ruan Qingyu ignored it completely, and the moment she lay down, she fell into a deep sleep.
In her dream, Ruan Qingyu seemed to see a strong black panther traversing the forest. It crossed many mountains and saw many rivers.
She even traversed many cultivator cities and sect secret realms she had never seen before. There were dangers, but the black panther luckily escaped them all.
There were times when luck wasn't on his side. The black panther was injured by lightning during one of its tribulations. While healing in a mountain cave, it encountered a cultivator.
The cultivator sensed the black panther's cultivation level and condition, and was overjoyed: "It's actually a Thunder Panther! By drinking the Thunder Panther's blood and using my cultivation technique, my body tempering will be perfected!"
The black panther retreated little by little, trying to avoid the cultivator, but the other party was of equal strength. Severely injured, the black panther was quickly defeated.
She was locked in a specially made cage, a cage she had seen before. It was the cage beneath the Ruan family's forbidden grounds, where that ferocious beast was imprisoned.
He spent his long prison sentence with Black Panther and witnessed firsthand how the so-called patriarch of the Ruan family tore through Black Panther's flesh and forcibly extracted his bones and blood.
Ruan Qingyu suddenly felt a connection with the black panther: "Perhaps you and I were both bound and treated this way, which is why we were able to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation and have this opportunity."
The leopard, which was clearly glaring fiercely at the Ruan family patriarch outside the cage who was drawing blood, suddenly turned its head to look at Ruan Qingyu, who had been watching from the sidelines not far away.
Suddenly, Ruan Qingyu woke up with a start. It was already broad daylight outside. Recalling the events of her dream, Ruan Qingyu felt that the monster was feigning helplessness to gain her sympathy.
I shouldn't pay attention to it, but when I absorb the sun's essence during the day, I always recall those scenes from my dreams.
All things have a spirit, and the black panther shouldn't have been locked up inside for so many years. But now, he himself is like a mud-covered man struggling to survive, barely able to take care of himself.
The night of the third day.
Ruan Qingyu collected the last wisp of moonlight essence, and along with a sense of satisfaction, she inexplicably had a feeling.
The surrounding fire elemental energy also became active, and she immediately flew back into the house. Her dantian was like a boiling ocean, constantly washing over her meridians and dantian.
As if her eight extraordinary meridians had been torn apart and then reassembled, Ruan Qingyu was in excruciating pain and could only manage two 'chirping' sounds before immediately falling into a coma.
Where Ruan Qingyu couldn't see, she was engulfed in magnificent flames, which completely enveloped the golden bird, as if to burn it to ashes.
Compared to the previous pain, all of this took place while Ruan Qingyu was unconscious. After the flames disappeared, the room seemed as if nothing had ever changed.
Ruan Qingyu lay peacefully on the ground, as if she had simply fallen into a deep sleep. But upon closer inspection, one could discern that her cultivation had already reached the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage.
He achieved a breakthrough in cultivation simply by absorbing fire spiritual energy, which is a significant leap compared to others.
Meanwhile, in the basement, Black Panther seemed to have eaten something incredibly nourishing. A glint of light flashed in his previously dim pupils, as if a seriously ill person had suddenly recovered.
Unexpectedly, that person has broken through again, only this time her aura has returned to human. Could she be a human-demon hybrid?
Ruan Qingyu was completely unaware of the commotion on Black Panther's side.
When she woke up, it was already midnight. She was still thinking about flapping her wings, but when she moved her hands, she realized she had turned back to normal, and she touched her arms and cheeks with immense joy.
"Finally back to normal. It was so hard to get used to being a bird these past few days," Ruan Qingyu muttered to herself, quickly standing up.
This breakthrough revealed even more information from the bloodline inheritance. What pleased Ruan Qingyu most was finding a contract within the bloodline, the contract totem of which was engraved into her divine soul.
It is said that one of the phoenix ancestors was also born with the innate phoenix body. Because he was still weak at the time, he used this contract to sign a powerful demon beast as his pet.
From then on, she traveled far and wide with her pet beast, who saved her from many critical moments. Later, the phoenix even ascended to the celestial realm with her pet beast.
With this contract, all I need to do is find a way to tell the demon beast about it. As long as it agrees, I can use this contract to ensure that the soul core within my body will no longer act arbitrarily.
After all, the first clause of the contract is that neither party shall harm the other. If they breach the contract, they will be punished by the Heavenly Tribulation and will be unable to escape the lightning strike no matter where they are.
The problem that had troubled Ruan Qingyu for many days had finally been solved. She didn't even have the patience to wait until the next day; she immediately activated her technique to conceal her aura and rushed towards the forbidden area.
As her cultivation level increased, she became even more adept at concealing her aura. She skillfully made her way towards the forbidden area, following the hidden door back to the location of the cage.
Compared to before when Ruan Qingyu needed to ignite the flame in her palm, today she could see the cage in front of her with just her eyes.
"You can understand me, right? These past few days, during my cultivation, I've been dreaming about your past. I know you're very unwilling to be imprisoned here; I've had similar experiences to you before."
Ruan Qingyu spoke quickly, but her voice was just loud enough for the demonic beast to hear. This time, however, the beast did not roar. It simply watched Ruan Qingyu quietly in the darkness.
Seeing how attentively it listened, Ruan Qingyu felt that it must have taken her words to heart, and was immediately encouraged: "If you can sign a contract with me that we will not harm each other, I will try to take you out. I still have the blood of the Ruan family on me. As long as I smear this blood on this cage, you will be able to get out."
After saying that, Ruan Qingyu quieted down. She looked at the black leopard in the cage with the same sincere gaze, trying to convince it through her eyes.
The black panther remained motionless for a long time, standing in the cage as if confirming the credibility of those words.
A long time passed, and Ruan Qingyu almost thought that the communication had failed again. Then she heard the black panther suddenly roar, accompanied by a low growl and some snoring.
Compared to its roars and terrifying eyes of the previous days, the black panther was remarkably gentle today, Ruan Qingyu thought, swallowing hard.
He slowly approached the cage: "Don't worry, I possess the bloodline of the phoenix. If it weren't for the twists of fate during our reincarnation and nirvana, I wouldn't have casually introduced your soul core into my body."
Seeing that the black panther was still looking at her calmly, Ruan Qingyu felt more at ease.
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