Chapter 5-Joining the Sect
Su Tang's wailing lasted for a full cup of tea in the pouring rain.
What’s hateful is that group of people did nothing but just watched her cry. It’s so shameful. If they want to kill her or cut her up, just give them a definite answer!
Tears mixed with mud created several comical grooves on her face, and her voice was hoarse from howling. The initial sense of fear, grievance, and absurdity gradually subsided after her psychic eyes repeatedly scanned these "movie star monsters", replaced by a stronger desire stemming from the instinct of survival.
Run? Where could she run to in the God Burial Abyss, a desolate place? The rain outside was piercing her bones, and spatial turbulence could occur at any time. For a mere Qi-refining cultivator like her, leaving would mean death.
Stay? These monsters, while terrifying, didn't seem to have actually harmed her so far. That cold-faced evil star had simply discarded her like trash, that talisman sea monster had merely forced a contract of sale upon her, the source of the poisonous fog had threatened to make soup but hadn't done anything, the bomb carrier had even helped her, and the black hole spirit had merely stared at her curiously.
More importantly! In the vision of the psychic eye, the rosy chain connecting Chu Linyuan and Xie Zhao was tough and warm, emitting a strange, almost law-level binding power! This was absolutely true! There seemed to be some kind of strong connection between these monsters, a connection she could not understand!
A bold, desperate thought, like a weed, grew wildly in Su Tang's despairing heart—cling to someone! Cling to the thickest thigh of this group of monsters! As long as I could survive, what did it matter if I worked like a slave and collected ashes?! What did a ten-year contract of selling my body matter?! It was better than being melted by the evil rain or torn apart by the turbulent flow of space!
"Woo...hiccup!" Su Tang's crying suddenly stopped, and she burped loudly. She raised her dirty sleeves and wiped her face carelessly, mixing the tears, snot and mud into a ball, and then she suddenly climbed out of the mud!
She moved so quickly that even the little white deer, who was still holding the rabbit in a daze, was startled.
Su Tang didn't look at Luo Hongyi's poisonous spoon, the "wild vegetables" in Tieniu's basket, or even the curious expression on Xie Zhao's face. Her eyes, still shimmering with spiritual light, were fixed on the direction of the ruined hall—that was where Chu Linyuan disappeared!
The next second, Su Tang moved! She burst out with unprecedented speed, like a launched cannonball, covered in mud and water, and rushed towards the dark door of the hall without hesitation!
“Senior Brother——!!!”
The shrill cry filled with desperate determination resounded throughout Guixu Sect!
Su Tang tumbled and scrambled into the hall. The hall was dimly lit, filled with a damp, musty smell and a faint, cold, ominous aura. She immediately spotted the simple stove in the corner, built from a few black stones. Chu Linyuan stood with his back to her, his tall figure like a silent mountain in the gloom. In his hand, he held the frosty white longsword—the Frost Silence Sword! The tip of the sword pointed directly at the ash-filled hole beneath the stove, as if ready to poke it in and start a fire!
"Big Brother! Please show mercy--!!!" Su Tang almost pounced on him, her voice so sharp that it could pierce the eardrum.
Chu Linyuan paused and slowly turned around. A cold, murderous aura permeated his movements, and his deep, cold eyes fell on Su Tang, a trace of displeasure and scrutiny at being interrupted. The invisible pressure made Su Tang's knees weaken, and she almost fell to her knees.
But she held on! The belief of holding on to her thighs supported her!
Su Tang fell to the ground with a thud. Instead of kneeling, she prostrated herself on the cold and wet ground with her forehead pressed tightly against the ground. Her voice trembled with excitement and fear, but it was extremely clear:
"Big Brother, I am Su Tang! I wish to become a disciple of Guixu Sect! From now on, I will be a Guixu person in this life and a Guixu ghost in death! I will contribute to the development of the sect! I will go through fire and water for my brothers and sisters! I will clear out ashes from the stove! I will bring wild vegetables! I will test... test the poisonous soup! I have no choice but to accept you! Big Brother, please take me in!!!"
She roared at the top of her lungs, her small body trembling slightly with nervousness. She pressed her forehead against the ground, not daring to look up at Chu Linyuan's expression. The hall was completely silent. Only deep within the hearth, the "stone" covered in ash, hummed ever so slightly at the vibrations of Su Tang's roar. A ray of dark golden light flashed through the ashes.
Chu Linyuan silently looked at the mud monkey burying itself like an ostrich, his brows furrowed slightly. He didn't need a little Qi Refining Stage girl. Trouble.
At the entrance of the palace, Xie Zhao, Luo Hongyi, Tie Niu, and Bai Xiaolu poked their heads in one after another, each with different expressions.
Xie Zhao was excited to watch a good show, Luo Hongyi was lazy as if it had nothing to do with him, Tie Niu was honest and confused, and Bai Xiaolu was purely curious.
"Big Brother," Xie Zhao said with a smile, breaking the silence, "Look at how sincere Junior Sister is! She's completely impressed! Isn't this apprenticeship ceremony grand enough? Our sect is on the rise and we need manpower! Look at that door," he pointed to the broken door of the temple that had been gnawed by the Moon-Eating Rabbit until only the door frame remained, "it needs to be repaired, right? Look at that stove ash," he pointed to the stove pit in front of Chu Linyuan, "it needs to be dug out, right? Look at the 'wild vegetables' that Tie Niu dug up," he pointed outside the temple, "it needs to be dealt with, right? We can't let Hong Yi do it all alone, right? More people to share the burden means more strength!"
Luo Hongyi leaned against the door frame, tapped the palm of her hand lightly with a soup spoon, and said lightly: "We are indeed short of someone to test the poison soup."
Su Tang's body, lying on the ground, suddenly stiffened.
Chu Linyuan's gaze lingered on Su Tang for a few seconds, then swept over the "fellow disciples" at the door. Ultimately, he said nothing, merely nodding ever so slightly, almost negligibly. Then, he turned around and, without hesitation, plunged the Frost Silence Sword into the ash-filled hole under the stove.
There was no fire, only a bone-chilling cold energy surging out from the tip of the sword! It instantly filled the entire stove pit!
The expected warm flames didn't appear. The thick, cold black ash in the hearth, accumulated for who knows how many years, instantly froze and hardened under the Frost Sword's frigid aura! It transformed into a massive, incomparably hard, black "ice lump" emitting a chilling aura! Wisps of black, cold mist, visible to the naked eye, were even rising from it!
Chu Linyuan shook his wrist and casually raised the Frost Sword.
The hard, cold, black-gray lump of ice, half a man's height, was lightly picked out of the stove pit like a huge black steamed bun. With a clang, it fell to the ground less than three feet in front of Su Tang! The cold air hit her face, and she shivered.
A cold voice followed, like the friction of cold iron:
"Take it all out."
Su Tang: “……???”
She stiffly raised her head, looking at the cold, iron-hard black "ice bun" in front of her, then looked up at Chu Linyuan's expressionless face, and finally turned her head stiffly to look at Xie Zhao at the door with a look of "as expected" on his face, and Luo Hongyi, who was holding a soup spoon with a hint of gloating on the corner of her mouth...
The first step to currying favor is to dig out a pile of stove ash that has been frozen into black ice for ten thousand years?!
"Puchi!" Xie Zhao was the first one who couldn't help laughing out loud, then he immediately covered his mouth and shrugged his shoulders.
Su Tang sniffed in anger and, under Chu Linyuan's cold gaze, she resigned herself to her fate and climbed to her feet. She looked at her fair, tender hands, then at the black ice mass emitting an ominous chill. She gritted her teeth, stretched out two fingers, and cautiously poked it.
It was freezing cold! It was hard as iron! My fingers were almost frozen off!
How do I take this out?! Do I have to chew it with my teeth?!
Just as Su Tang was at her wit's end, about to burst into tears, Xie Zhao strolled in. He pulled out a palm-sized, milky white stone that shone with a faint glow and had several crooked runes engraved on it.
"Here, little junior sister," Xie Zhao stuffed the stone into Su Tang's hand, grinning like a fox stealing prey. "A gift for becoming a disciple! This entry-level bonus from Senior Brother is a photo stone! It's specially designed to record every moment of the sect's beautiful life! Powerful functions and easy to use! Just point it at whatever you want to capture and inject a bit of spiritual power into it!" He lowered his voice and winked. "Especially when Senior Brother practices swordplay, when Senior Brother starts a fire, when Senior Brother beats someone up... ahem, when Senior Brother displays his supreme grace! Be sure to take more photos! High-definition and uncensored! Panoramic and surround! This is our Guixu Sect's precious spiritual treasure!"
Su Tang held the warm photo stone, feeling the faint yet real fluctuations of spiritual energy within it. She then looked up at the pile of icy stove ash before her, then at Xie Zhao's face, which was full of "troublemaking". Finally, her eyes swept over the "movie emperor's fellow disciples" at the entrance of the hall...
A thought, like a flame in the darkness, suddenly ignited in her heart!
Record! Use this photo stone to record the daily lives of these monsters! Record their "Actor" moments! Record every moment they use the most difficult and harshest methods to slap someone in the face!
This might be... her only source of joy and survival in this den of monsters! Maybe... she could even sell it for money?!
Su Tang gripped the photo stone tightly, a glint of determination flashing in her eyes (along with a hint of excitement at becoming a paparazzi). She took a deep breath and carefully injected the meager amount of Qi Refining Stage spiritual energy in her body into the photo stone.
A faint light flashed on the surface of the photo stone!
The camera first focused on the pile of black icy stove ash on the ground that was emitting a cold air.
Then, it slowly moved upwards and fixed on Chu Linyuan's expressionless and cold profile as he held the Frost Silence Sword.
Then he moved sideways and scanned Xie Zhao's beautiful smiling face that seemed to be enjoying watching the fun.
The figure of Luo Hongyi lazily holding a spoon passed by the door.
He glanced at Tie Niu's honest and confused face.
Finally, the focus is on Bai Xiaolu's eyes that are staring at Bingtuo - those eyes seem to reveal a pure curiosity about "Can this thing be eaten?"
A slight sound of thought that only Su Tang could "hear".
At this moment, the paparazzi career of Guixu Sect's movie emperor team and the new junior sister Su Tang officially started, accompanied by a piece of stove ash frozen into ice and a faint spiritual light!
The little white rabbit in Bai Xiaolu's arms, also known as the Moon-Eating Rabbit, tilted its head, and its ruby-like eyes stared curiously at the glowing photo stone in Su Tang's hand. Its three-petal mouth moved, as if it was evaluating the taste of this thing and the energy value it contained.
Deep within the stove, the hidden "stone" resonated ever so slightly at the moment the shadow stone's glimmering light passed through it. A more concentrated stream of dark golden light, as if drawn in, quietly emerged from the stove ash and silently merged with the faint spiritual light emanating from the shadow stone, vanishing.
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