Chapter 74 Uncovering the Pattern: An Unexpected Way to Clear the Level...
Guan Wangzhen's injuries were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Without saying a word, Ji Mingran swallowed the Spirit Storage Pill.
Abundant spiritual energy surged from his dantian, and Ji Mingran skillfully refined it, guiding it into his sea of consciousness.
They made the right bet; Qin Danniang gave them exactly the elixir they desperately needed.
The spiritual energy restored by a Spirit Storage Pill is but a drop in the ocean compared to the vastness of her sea of consciousness. However, it was like a long-awaited rain for her parched sea of consciousness, and the supply of spiritual energy greatly eased the stinging pain in her head.
Indeed, as Guan Wangzhen said, it is impossible to know why Qin Danniang, who suddenly appeared, did this, but Ji Mingran still has to give it a try.
Whether it's a duel, slaying demons, exploring secret realms, or undergoing tribulations to advance in rank, the key to victory or defeat for cultivators lies in a single moment. Compared to refining and using the spiritual energy in the air one by one, directly calling upon the spiritual power stored in the sea of consciousness is much more direct. Unless in dire straits, cultivators will never exhaust all the spiritual power in their sea of consciousness.
However, if something were to happen, replenishing the sea of consciousness with spiritual energy would not be difficult for ordinary cultivators. They could also replenish it with pills, talismans, spiritual artifacts, etc., or, if all else fails, simply refine the spiritual energy in the air.
Ji Mingran is different. Her sea of consciousness is too empty, making it difficult to store spiritual power. Once she has finally accumulated enough spiritual power, she has to empty it all at once, which means she has to start all over again from scratch. This is an enormous undertaking.
However, Ji Mingran was able to accept this fact calmly. After all, she had been doing this for the past nine years. Guiding and refining the spiritual energy in the air was a habit ingrained in her bones. Basically, as long as there was no output of spiritual energy, she was consciously injecting strands of spiritual energy into her sea of consciousness every moment, accumulating it bit by bit.
However, during the competition, the speed at which spiritual energy was refined could not keep up with the speed at which it was consumed. The meager spiritual power that she had painstakingly accumulated was always exhausted due to various unexpected events, just like now. Normally, she could make up for the lack of spiritual power in her sea of consciousness through the formation, but now that the formation was restricted, if she did not rely on external means to replenish it as soon as possible, she was afraid that she would not be able to cope with the next unexpected event.
We have no choice but to take a gamble.
Ji Mingran was not a gambler. In fact, she was 80-90% confident. After all, this was just a competition. Even if Liu Huan Valley had malicious intentions, they wouldn't actually poison them.
Moreover, if Qin Danniang only had malicious intent, she could have simply thrown out the poison pill or explosive pill in her hand; why bother getting involved with them for so long?
His injuries were improving, and Guan Wangzhen had to admit that the pill Qin Danniang had given him was indeed a healing pill. He could only accept this kindness, and he asked reluctantly, "What do you want in exchange?"
"Huh?" Qin Danniang clearly hadn't thought about this question before, and looked confused.
A voice broke their conversation: "Dan Niang, what are you doing?"
Qin Danniang was startled by the sound, shrank her neck and looked back, and found that it was Ya Dongbai leading the other three Liuhuan Valley disciples walking from a distance.
Her eyes lit up, she waved to them, and smiled, saying, "So... did it succeed?"
One of the Liuhuan Valley disciples walking ahead said smugly, "Of course! They don't even consider who made the pill. Those bats are all unconscious now."
Qin Danniang's eyes shone brightly. Ya Dongbai walked out from behind the Liuhuan Valley disciples, frowning and shaking his head: "The pills took longer to take effect than expected, almost delaying the plan."
Qin Danniang's bright eyes dimmed, her clasped hands loosened, and she said dejectedly, "Is that so?"
"It's just that Senior Brother's expectations are too high. Without Senior Brother's pill, how could we possibly deal with this swarm of bats in such a short time?" The disciples of the Liuhuan Sect held Ya Dongbai in the highest esteem, and thought he was only being modest.
Ya Dongbai said solemnly, "It is a fact that there are flaws. As a pill refiner, the pills you refine should be flawless. How can you tolerate such a mistake?"
Qin Danniang became dejected and made way for her fellow disciple in the middle of the road: "Senior brother is right."
The disciples of Liuhuan Valley who were walking in front then noticed the two people sitting on the ground.
He looked at Qin Danniang, Ji Mingran, and Guan Wangzhen suspiciously, "You guys..."
Qin Danniang was initially somewhat dejected, but when she turned around and saw the two who had mostly recovered, her spirits lifted, and she explained in a light and soft voice like a little bird, "When I came here, I found that they were both injured, so I gave them healing pills and spirit-storing pills."
The approaching Liuhuan Valley disciple suddenly raised his voice: "Huh? You saved them? Are you out of your mind?"
Suddenly confronted with a loud rebuke from her fellow disciples, Qin Danniang's smile froze on her lips. Like a frightened little bird, she looked helplessly at her other fellow disciples.
"Junior Sister Qin, why are you recklessly saving people again?"
"How many times have I told you, we're having a competition, not going down the mountain to do a good deed every day. Can you please put away your overflowing kindness?"
"It's fine if you can't help, but you're taking the pills that Senior Brother Ya worked so hard to refine and distributing them everywhere. How can you be so shameless?"
“But this pill…” Qin Danniang stammered, trying to explain.
Ya Dongbai glanced at Ji Mingran and Guan Wangzhen with a deep look in his eyes, and interrupted, "Does Dan Niang know who they are?"
"I...I don't know." Seeing Ya Dongbai's face darken, Qin Danniang panicked completely. "What's wrong?"
“They are from the Dingsheng Sect.” Ya Dongbai’s lips tightened. “Don’t do these things again.”
“Dingsheng Sect…” The remaining disciples of Liuhuan Valley exchanged glances, their eyes filled with increasing disgust as they looked at Qin Danniang.
Qin Danniang's face turned pale: "But...but this isn't a combat challenge. He's seriously injured. If he doesn't realize it in time, I'm afraid..."
The remaining disciples of Liuhuan Valley rolled their eyes impatiently, glaring at Qin Danniang with displeasure.
"Don't you know about them?"
"How can you face your master?"
Qin Danniang was completely flustered, standing alone and helpless to one side, not daring to speak. Her face flushed with shame from the constant accusations from her fellow disciples, and her breath grew increasingly weak.
Even Guan Wangzhen, who was hostile to Liuhuan Valley, couldn't stand it anymore and stood up abruptly: "She just helped us out, why are you all being so harsh on her?"
Ji Mingran agreed: "She helped us, and we will repay her."
"You? What can you offer in return?" The contempt in the eyes of the Liuhuan Valley disciple was undisguised: "Your Dingsheng Sect is just a dilapidated sect, we wouldn't even look at what you give us."
Liuhuan Valley has many medical cultivators, including those specializing in medicine and alchemy. Since Nanmen Hong led a group of disciples from Dingsheng Peak to join, it has risen to become the only major medical sect among the ten Daoist sects, surpassing all other medical sects in the spiritual cultivation world. The sect is already incredibly wealthy just by buying and selling pills.
"Oh, do you want to give it a try?" Facing the blatant contempt of the Liuhuan Valley disciples, Guan Wangzhen's eyes blazed with anger. He snorted coldly, and the black ring on his left arm suddenly enlarged, lying horizontally in front of him, crackling with lightning currents.
They look formidable. The disciples of Liuhuan Valley were on high alert.
Ji Mingran, however, remained calm and casually corrected, "It's about repaying her, not you."
She smiled and looked at the remaining disciples of the Illusion Valley: "I wasn't talking about you. Don't flatter yourselves."
"What did you say?!" The Liuhuan Sect disciple was furious.
Ji Mingran shrugged: "It's the truth." She looked puzzled: "Don't you understand?"
As Ji Mingran spoke, he subtly tugged at Guan Wangzhen's sleeve, and Guan Wangzhen, feigning anger, nodded almost imperceptibly in confirmation.
The disciples from Liuhuan Valley had a large and powerful force, while the two of them, one injured and the other without spiritual power, were at a complete disadvantage.
Guan Wangzhen's injuries will take a little longer to fully recover, and she is still a little short of accumulating enough spiritual power to fly a hundred miles on her sword.
They needed to hold out a little longer before the disciples of Liuhuan Valley discovered anything amiss, so they could escape.
This armband is purely for show; it can't withstand even the slightest test. The reason it emits electricity is simply a small function that Zhu Shibai added to the storage artifact of barbecue master Guan Wangzhen to make it easier for everyone to hunt and barbecue at Linfeng.
It can only give the firewood a few sparks.
Fortunately, one of them was furious while the other was calm and composed. Although their methods of feigning composure were different, neither showed any fear. Their aura was in no way inferior to the other. In addition, the sparks from the arm rings kept crackling out. The disciples of Liuhuan Valley hesitated and did not rush forward out of caution.
Not daring to move forward, the Liuhuan Valley disciple merely snorted coldly, "I can't be bothered with you," as a response to Ji Mingran's sarcastic tone.
They turned around and blamed everything on Qin Danniang.
"If it weren't for you, would they be so arrogant? We could have taken them down as soon as we got back!"
"Being useless is one thing, but why show off!"
"Even Senior Brother Lianya didn't speak well of you this time. Look at yourself, what kind of person have you become!"
Qin Danniang simply lowered her head and remained silent.
Ji Mingran calmly assessed the situation before him, his gaze fixed on the cypress tree on the east side of the cliff. His face was somber, and he had remained silent with a frown ever since he spoke to Qin Danniang.
Ji Mingran tugged at Guan Wangzhen's sleeve again.
"Oh?" Guan Wangzhen said softly, intrigued. He glanced at Ji Mingran out of the corner of his eye, raised an eyebrow, and indicated that he had thought of it too.
Surely such anger wasn't entirely due to Qin Danniang "doing something wrong"?
Ya Dongbai and the others clearly went to kill the swarm of bats, so why are they still here after successfully killing them?
There is only one reason: their assumptions were wrong, and the killing of the bat swarm was not achieved through certain conditions.
So what are the conditions for passing this level?
Ji Mingran pondered slowly. Calculating the time, Guan Wangzhen should have fully recovered, and her spiritual power should be sufficient. They could retreat first and discuss the matter further.
The accusations from the Liuhuan Valley members continued to rise and fall. Among them, the Liuhuan Valley disciple who had previously shown particular disdain for Qin Danniang was spitting as he cursed, "You're just a drag on! You're utterly useless!"
It's so noisy. Ji Mingran stroked the cane at his waist, thinking about giving him a little surprise before leaving.
A voice devoid of any emotion suddenly rang in my mind: "Mutual Assistance Level: Rescue and Being Rescued. In this level, you, as the victim, will successfully receive rescue and pass the level. The reward is the option to move forward or stay."
She looked up and met Guan Wangzhen's gaze. From the fleeting look of surprise in his eyes, she confirmed that they had both heard the same voice.
The two immediately looked at Qin Danniang.
Qin Danniang, who had been keeping her head down, had somehow raised her head, her eyes filled with shock.
Because another voice echoed in her mind: "Mutual Assistance Level: Rescuing and Being Rescued. In this level, you, as the rescuer, successfully heal others, pass the level smoothly, and are rewarded with the option to move forward or stay."
At this moment, the disciples of Liuhuan Valley were still shouting hoarsely, "You, a piece of trash! What use are you to clearing the level?!"
Qin Danniang couldn't hear her because she had already disappeared from the spot.
Ji Mingran heard this, and as she looked at her hand, which had faded in color, her smile widened: How could the disciples of Liuhuan Valley know that Qin Danniang played a very important role?
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