Chapter 3 Shaoyang Sect (Part 3) Before Zhu Ciying could react...
"Master is right. The people imprisoned in the back mountain are indeed a group of extremely vicious criminals. But don't forget, there is an unwritten rule in the Shaoyang Sect. No matter what mistakes a disciple has made, as long as he has the injustice and the courage to step into the back mountain, the Shaoyang Sect will put aside past grudges and mobilize all its forces to help him find the truth."
"The Qingxin Formation can't prove the demonic energy, but there's another way out."
"Yingying, don't be impulsive!" Elder Feng flashed to the hall door, "Your master will be returning to the sect soon. If he asks about this, how am I going to explain it to him?"
Elder Li followed suit and advised, "Yes, it won't be too late to wait for Elder Fang to come back and re-examine the case."
"Elder, I didn't go to the back mountain on my own accord or out of impulse. I had thought it over carefully," said Zhu Ciying.
She will be eighteen this year. In the old Qingwei Sect, she would have been an adult who could stand on her own.
Elder Feng had heard from True Man Yuyin about her temper.
As long as Yingying makes up her mind, that decision cannot be changed.
"You, you're still so stubborn. You're at a disadvantage!"
He strode across the threshold: "Come on, Uncle Master will give you a ride."
The back mountain is a restricted area of the Shaoyang Sect. All disciples, whether from the inner or outer sects, are strictly prohibited from entering. Only disciples of the Zhixing Division are allowed to roam freely. This is because most of the demons imprisoned in the back mountain are their defeated enemies.
"During the day, there is a formation on the mountain, so the demons are hiding in the dark and dare not come out to cause trouble. You need to take advantage of this opportunity and find a safe place to spend the night as soon as possible."
Elder Feng rummaged through his storage bag and pulled out a piece of black talisman paper. "The period between sunset and dawn is when the formation is at its weakest. The demons lose their restraints and become violent and unpredictable. Take this and place it in your shelter. It will ensure you a safe night."
On the black talisman, the golden spell is shining brightly, and the shape is simple and mysterious.
Zhu Ciying narrowed her eyes slightly, looking away from the talisman paper. "A treasure that can withstand a full-strength attack from a Nascent Soul cultivator? Uncle-Master, I'll give it to you if you ask me to."
"Thank you, uncle." If I refuse, it will hurt uncle's kindness.
Elder Feng smiled a rare smile. "Yingying has grown up and has her own ideas. You can hold on for two days. Your uncle and your master will think of a way to get you out as soon as possible."
Zhu Ciying nodded in agreement, said goodbye to him, and went into the back mountain alone.
*
The back hills were rarely visited. Weeds grew wildly on the stone steps, and wildflowers bloomed everywhere. It was a hot summer afternoon, and Zhu Ciying walked for a long time without even seeing a trace of water.
It was strange. Shaoyang Sect was a treasured land in Yuzhou, blessed with abundant spiritual energy and abundant weather for over a hundred years. Yet, there was no water in the vast mountain behind it.
Fortunately, there were several fruit trees on the mountain, and the small red fruits looked very much like hawthorns in the mortal world. Zhu Ciying picked some and put them in the storage bag.
The sun gradually shifts from south to west.
Zhu Ciying was not idle for a moment. She would be staying in the back mountain for several days and needed to stock up on some supplies.
If you see dry firewood on the road, pick it up;
If you come across a magical herb, pluck it;
Wild rabbit and wild mushrooms, cooked.
Seeing his storage bag being stuffed from flat to bulging, Zhu Ciying was very satisfied.
Before nightfall, Zhu Ciying settled down in a cave. She tied up a haystack and took out a dress from her storage bag to spread on top.
She tried sitting down and it was okay.
The light in the cave was dim, so she lit another candle and opened the drawing by candlelight. She held a pen in her hand and made various marks on it.
To avoid getting lost, she started drawing a route map as soon as she went up the mountain so that she could better understand the situation in the mountain.
After completing the information, the last ray of light outside sank in the west. Zhu Ciying sat cross-legged on the haystack, pinching the black talisman in one hand and injecting spiritual energy into it, then gently flicked it toward the cave entrance.
A golden light flickered, and thin golden threads extended from the center of the talisman paper, interweaving and outlining, covering the entrance of the cave like a spider's web.
Zhu Ciying observed quietly for a while. The evil energy was surging at night. If anyone encountered this net, he would be "swallowed" by it in just a moment.
The things my uncle gave me are so useful!
Even excluding the safety issue, she still didn't feel at ease.
Zhu Ciying formed a seal with her hands, placing her lotus fingers above her knees. Closing her eyes and calming her mind, she slowly felt the rich spiritual energy of the mountains flow through the golden net and linger around her.
She practiced her skills, and spiritual energy entered her body and flowed to the seven meridians and eight vessels. After being refined many times, the purest part was left and flowed into the dantian.
Time slipped by, and Zhu Ci's hair, soaked with sweat, stuck to her forehead. Her meridians had been injured, and the spiritual energy flowing through them was like salt on inflamed skin.
At the age of eighteen, she was already at the Golden Core stage, and her talent and strength were already astonishing, making her the sect's key training target. However, apart from her master, senior sisters, and herself, no one knew that she had already broken through from the Foundation Establishment stage to the Golden Core stage at the age of fifteen.
Zhu Ciying actually entered the Golden Elixir stage at the age of fifteen.
This was originally a good thing that should be publicized, but the master did not like to show off, so she never showed her true strength in front of her fellow disciples.
During the sect competition, she encountered Qu Wanqing, who was also at the Jindan stage, and finally let go and fought her heartily. Unexpectedly, Qu Wanqing's strength was at the middle Jindan stage, much higher than hers.
She tried her best to fight to a draw. If there was no demonic energy interfering, she might have had a chance of winning.
Zhu Ciying slowly opened her eyes.
She was quite diligent in her cultivation, but for the past three years, no matter how hard she tried, her cultivation remained stagnant, and she could hardly make any further progress.
She didn't know what went wrong, and always believed that diligence could make up for lack of talent, so she practiced even harder, and sometimes she would go into seclusion for as long as half a year.
But not all efforts are rewarded. For example, she had just tried to break through to the middle stage of the Golden Core, but failed again.
Why on earth? Clearly, every step was perfect...
Zhu Ciying thought for a long time, and finally, she was lost in thought.
Many images flashed through her mind, but they froze at a certain moment.
The kitchen of Emperor Weizong of Qing Dynasty.
She is only eleven years old and has been in Qingwei for more than a month. Her fellow disciples all spoil and pamper her without exception.
"Brother, eating too much sugar cake will cause indigestion."
"Junior sister, the eldest brother's stomach is a bottomless pit, he can eat a mountain of cakes and candies! Don't just care about him, come and take a closer look at your second brother." The second brother put his arm around the girl's shoulder like a brother, raised his eyebrows and showed off to the person in front of him.
The young man shook his head helplessly, smiling gently.
Under the girl's gaze, he obediently put down the cake.
"Thank you very much, Aying, for your care," he said.
…
Those were one of the few happy times she had in her previous life.
Zhu Ciying came back to her senses, her eyes slightly moist. She raised her hand to wipe away her tears, and suddenly an idea struck her.
Bottomless pit, bottomless pit!
If her Dantian is regarded as a bottomless pit... As we all know, a Dantian that is leaking like a sieve cannot store spiritual energy!
She should check her Dantian!
With this idea in mind, Zhu Ciying took action immediately.
Normally, examining the Dantian required the assistance of a medical practitioner, but Zhu Ciying's current condition clearly didn't allow that. She had another method. A technique created by a senior sister of the Qingwei Sect: the "Third Eye Opening."
The third eye is located between the eyebrows and has special functions.
Once opened, everything is exposed.
Zhu Ciying gathered spiritual power at his fingertips, silently recited the incantation, and then raised two fingers and touched his forehead.
In an instant, her pupils turned golden, and then every corner of her dantian appeared before her eyes.
Zhu Ciying glanced back and forth, and her gaze finally fixed on its center.
In the center of Dantian lies a golden elixir, with a string of blood-red talismans on its surface, firmly fixing it in place and binding it.
As if there was something terrible hidden inside.
She intuitively felt that this spell was most likely the reason for her stagnation in cultivation, so she tried to shake it, but could not budge it at all.
The blood curse is very strong.
The one who casts the spell is stronger.
Why?
Zhu Ciying couldn't understand when such a powerful seal appeared in her body.
In this life, she was born in a remote, dilapidated village in the mortal world. Her master had told her that seventeen years ago, the village was massacred by a great demon, and the houses were reduced to a sea of fire.
No one in the village survived except her. Just as she was about to be burned to death, her master happened to be traveling here, picked her up, brought her back to the sect, and accepted her as his disciple, teaching her carefully. After that, she lived in Shaoyang Sect ever since.
So, who is this seal on her body sealing?
Zhu Ciying sat in the cave all night, and only put away the talisman when the sun rose the next day.
She was full of questions, but perhaps only her master knew the answers.
Right now, she has something else to do.
She had once heard from a medical practitioner that there was a spiritual spring hidden in the back mountains, a natural ingredient that could suppress demonic energy. If she could find it, at least she would be more confident in dealing with the next demonic invasion.
Taking advantage of the convenience of moving during the day, Zhu Ciying searched the mountains for a whole day, running all over the hills, and even planned a complete route map, but he still found no clue about the location of the spiritual spring.
At night, Zhu Ciying made a fire and used sharpened skewers to string together the mushrooms she had picked during the day.
Crush some magical herbs as seasoning and spread them on the mushrooms, marinate for a while, then grill them over the flame.
After a while, he flipped it over. The mushrooms sizzled and the aroma filled the cave, attracting a begging bird.
After pecking at a bunch of mushrooms, the spirit bird suddenly spoke, "You are the first living person I have seen in the back mountain. What crime have you committed? Why did you come to the back mountain?"
The little fat chick had finally become intelligent. Zhu Ciying was briefly surprised.
It’s just right, let’s ask it about the spiritual spring.
"It's hard to say what the mistake was, but it's definitely serious," Zhu Ciying said. "I heard someone say there's a magical spring in the back mountain, but I've been here for two days and haven't seen a drop of water. Could the news be false?"
"It's not fake." The spirit bird swallowed the food in its mouth and continued, "You didn't know this when you first came here. There is a formation in the mountain, and the spiritual spring only appears at night. And you searched everywhere during the day and hid in the cave at night, so naturally you couldn't see it."
"Do you know where it is?" Zhu Ciying shook the last bunch of mushrooms in front of it, tempting it to tell more information.
"Of course." The spirit bird patted its chest with its wings and said confidently, "Go south from here and cross two hills. That's where I saw it."
The flames crackled, and the spirit bird enjoyed its meal contentedly. Since it hadn't seen Zhu Ciying add new firewood for a long time, it tilted its head to look at her. The girl had a beautiful face, but she sat there in a solemn manner, wondering what she was thinking.
After swallowing the last bite of mushroom, the spirit bird smacked its lips and prepared to leave. Zhu Ciying took out two items from his storage bag and stood up to stomp out the remaining fire.
"It's very dangerous outside now! Where are you going?" the spirit bird kindly reminded.
Indeed, you will encounter many demons when traveling at night.
But if you don't learn the tiger's teachings, how can you get a tiger cub?
"Need I ask? I'm looking for the spiritual spring."
Zhu Ciying put away the black talisman and disappeared into the night.
There is a full moon tonight.
The monsters in the mountains were extremely excited.
The demon wolf's howling never stopped for a moment.
"As agreed, I'm only responsible for guiding you. Once you find the spiritual spring, you must keep your word and make sure you get all thirty skewers of grilled mushrooms!"
The monster's mad roar was deafening. The spirit bird huddled on the girl's shoulder, opening and closing its mouth to bargain, and the price soared from ten strings at the beginning to thirty strings.
Zhu Ciying didn't care about its "blackmail". Before leaving the cave, she took a breath-avoiding pill and put a shadow-invisibility talisman on herself.
After climbing two hills and reaching the place indicated by the spirit bird, Zhu Ciying felt beads of sweat on her forehead. She searched the area for a few times but couldn't find the spirit spring.
"What's going on? When I came here last year, the spiritual spring was right here."
The spirit bird flapped its wings, and felt a little panicked when it thought that its grilled mushrooms would be wasted.
At the edge of the cliff, a cool breeze blew across her cheeks. Zhu Ciying lowered her head and looked down. It was too high and pitch black, and she couldn't see anything clearly.
Just as she was about to leave, her feet suddenly began to tremble violently, accompanied by heavy footsteps and terrified howls, as if something was approaching her quickly.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh, don't eat me!" The spirit bird flew over with tears on its face and bumped into Zhu Ciying's arms.
Zhu Ciying was shocked.
The next moment, a huge monster appeared in front of them, staring at them with blood-red eyes and blood oozing from its sharp fangs.
"How did you offend him?" Zhu Ciying asked in a low voice.
The spirit bird trembled like a sieve: "I didn't provoke him, it was him who wanted to eat me..."
Food, food! The food that was right in front of its mouth disappeared again! The monster, which hadn't eaten for half a month, suddenly lost control of its emotions. It raised its hands in anger and pressed its hooves hard on the ground, once, twice, three times...
Unable to bear the weight, cracks appeared on the ground, which grew larger and larger, extending all the way to the edge of the cliff.
The situation was not good. Zhu Ciying had no intention of staying here any longer. She took two steps when the ground began to crack and break.
The monster screamed and its entire body flew into the air and fell onto the cliff.
One more step.
Zhu Ciying was only one step away from safety.
However, things changed in the blink of an eye.
The ground seemed solid, but it collapsed and shattered under the weight when you stepped on it.
Before Zhu Ciying could react, she lost her balance and fell into the abyss.
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