Chapter 22

“Your cultivation has just broken through, so don’t go out, in case she becomes suspicious again. I’ll go by myself.” Xi Zhou reached out and untied the Dream-Entering Grass from Zhai Wangyou’s wrist, then pushed open the door and walked out.

Zhai Wangyou lifted her eyes, her gaze falling on the empty flowerpot.

Outside the door, Qingchuang was playing with a purple-gold glazed cover in her hands. It looked like an oversized glass bottle.

Seeing Xi Zhou come out, she flipped the cover over. A smile of certain victory hung on her face. “Go in. Where is Fairy Wangyou?”

Xi Zhou looked at that strange cover and could not help thinking of a certain TV drama scene: If I call your name, would you dare answer?

Dear heavens. Was she about to be sucked into a bottle?

“You can say it here. Eldest Senior Sister can hear you. But can people breathe inside that bottle?” Don’t let it be like a storage ring. What if she suffocated to death?

Xi Zhou’s face was full of suspicion.

Qingchuang raised her brows and smiled. “Don’t worry. This is a spiritual artifact passed down through the Deacon Hall for generations. Even if a person is put inside, they can live, let alone a blade of grass like you.”

Xi Zhou clenched her fist and took a deep breath before returning to the grass. She stopped wasting effort on pointless struggle and hopped into the glass bottle in a few steps.

After the cover was placed over her, she could actually breathe. She did not know if it was her imagination, but she felt that the bottle would change according to her movements.

Qingchuang held the bottle in her hands and raised her voice toward the half-open inner room door. [unauthorized copy]“Elder Beishan was indeed dug out of her inner core, but she did not die. She was saved by a thousand-year tree demon. As for where exactly she went, Fairy Wangyou can go to Fan Boundary Mountain and search. Farewell.”

After saying this, she went out, circulated her spiritual energy, raised her speed to the limit, and drove her flying boat away from Tianjian Sect at great speed.

Long after Qingchuang left, Beishan Peak remained as quiet as ever. The half-open door stayed open the whole time.

Zhai Wangyou still looked the same as when Xi Zhou left, quietly standing there, staring at the now-empty flowerpot on the table.

Twilight gradually deepened, yet the door remained half open.

The last trace of the setting sun swayed and lingered, unwilling to leave the human world. It struggled silently at the edge of the sky, but in the end, it could not resist the boundless night and was devoured little by little until only thick darkness remained.

Lonely and empty.

She would escape back very soon, right…

At the Deacon Hall, the moment Qingchuang landed, she told Elder Qingliu that she was going into seclusion and that no one was to disturb her for any reason.

She held the large bottle in her left hand and formed seals with her right. Before long, the bottle disappeared, and the entire room was enveloped in a layer of barrier.

Xi Zhou turned her leaves and looked at the face right in front of her, silently retreating a little.

Was she still inside the bottle?

If she was not inside, when had she come out?

If she was inside, how had this woman gotten in?

As if knowing what she was thinking, Qingchuang, in a good mood, explained, “This cover is called the Purple-Gold Cover. It is a secret treasure of my Deacon Hall, and only each successive Hall Master knows how to use it. Its function is to transform into a barrier of varying size and trap any cultivator below the Spirit Division stage. So don’t think about escaping, because you cannot escape.”

This way, aside from her, no one could enter, and this grass could not leave. It was foolproof.

Xi Zhou sighed inwardly. Now there was no need to think about escaping. It seemed she could only wait for Eldest Senior Sister to break in. But… would Eldest Senior Sister come?

Seeing that the Dream-Entering Grass gave no response, Qingchuang reached out to touch its leaves. Unsurprisingly, Xi Zhou dodged her. Qingchuang was not angry. With abundant patience, she said, “Now, let us talk about how you helped Zhai Wangyou rapidly raise her cultivation.”

Xi Zhou hesitated for a moment, then slowly transformed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have never helped Eldest Senior Sister raise her cultivation.”

How exactly had this woman seen through the fact that she could transform? And how was she so certain Xi Zhou could help Zhai Wangyou break through?

Clearly, no one knew about them…

No. Someone did know. More precisely, someone had seen them appear together.

First was that middle-aged Daoist who had chased them at Fan Boundary Mountain. But he probably would not openly chase all the way into the cultivation world.

Second was that tree demon senior. But judging from the situation then, that senior was devoted to cultivation and had no intention of setting foot in the cultivation world.

So there was only one possibility.

Someone who knew that Zhai Wangyou had been on the brink of death, and who had personally seen Zhai Wangyou recover her cultivation after the two of them spent time alone.

That old woman who claimed to be an elder of the Deacon Hall!

“It was you. The old woman at the foot of Fan Boundary Mountain.” Xi Zhou’s tone was certain. She looked the person before her up and down. What a brilliant disguise technique. At the time, she had only felt something was off, but had not realized that the so-called elder was fake, and the Hall Master was real.

Qingchuang raised her brows. What a clever little demon.

“Since you’ve guessed it, then confess honestly. Do not say you don’t know, unless you want your leaves to turn into countless shreds.”

As she spoke, she took out a pair of scissors from her storage ring and threw them with a wave of her hand.

“Ah—” Xi Zhou screamed. Her right hand changed from solid into a transparent shadow.

Enduring the stabbing pain, she looked in disbelief at her nearly transparent right hand, then looked at the Dream-Entering Grass, which was missing two leaves.

It actually… could actually be like this…

Although it hurt a lot, there was no blood, and the pain gradually weakened. Had she truly become one with this blade of grass?

In the blink of an eye, the scissors returned to Qingchuang’s hand. Along with them were two leaves from the Dream-Entering Grass.

The pale purple leaves lost their luster, quickly withered, and turned into nothingness.

Qingchuang clicked her tongue twice. “Oh my, I was only testing it. I didn’t expect that would cut off your hand. So behave yourself. Otherwise, if I accidentally cut this grass in half at the waist, don’t blame me.”

Xi Zhou said nothing. She sucked in several breaths of cold air, the corner of her mouth twitching from the pain.

She suddenly felt that Eldest Senior Sister was so gentle. Every time, she had only threatened her with words, and at most pinched her leaves. Unlike this old witch, who attacked the moment they disagreed. Too brutal.

“Speak. How exactly did you do it? How did you help Zhai Wangyou repair her inner core? How did you help her break through in cultivation?”

Qingchuang played with the scissors in her hand. She had investigated the news. The only variable was this Dream-Entering Grass. Others did not know, but she had personally seen it.

This little grass demon had only spent a short while alone with Zhai Wangyou, yet she had brought someone on the brink of death back and completely restored her cultivation. Therefore, she could be certain that there was something strange about this grass.

Xi Zhou used her left hand to touch her nearly transparent right hand. Sure enough, her fingers passed through nothing.

She took a deep breath and said quietly, “I’ll tell you. I can enter dreams. In dreams, I unconsciously attack people. As long as the person whose dream I enter endures it and does not resist, when they wake up, their cultivation can increase.”

Her eyes were filled with fear, as though she truly had been frightened.

Qingchuang stared at her suspiciously. Dream-Entering Grass could be refined into Dream-Entering Pills, and those who took them could easily have their dreams entered by others. But she had never heard of Dream-Entering Grass being able to enter dreams directly. And it had to attack inside the dream, while the other person must not resist?

However, this grass had already cultivated into a spirit. It could not be judged by common sense.

For the sake of increasing her cultivation, trying it would not hurt…

She shook the scissors in her hand. “Enter my dream now. Don’t think about playing any tricks, or don’t blame me for cutting off both your hands and feet.”