Chapter 64
Fu Yan only felt countless flashes of white light before her eyes. In the next moment, she landed steadily, and the scenery around her finally slowly came into view.
Before her stood an enormous ancient tree, towering into the sky. Green leaves swayed gently in the wind on its branches. It would probably take three or four people holding hands to wrap around its trunk, showing just how thick and sturdy this ancient tree was.
Raising her eyes to look at the enormous ancient tree before her, Fu Yan could not help revealing a slightly surprised expression. Before she could come back to herself, however, she saw that the surroundings were entirely filled with enormous ancient trees.
Fu Yan: “…”
Clearly, Fu Yan’s landing point after entering the secret realm was a massive forest. The forest before her seemed like a primeval forest, and everything here looked twice as large as the outside world.
“As expected of an ancient secret realm. The plants and animals here should still all be ancient species.” Fu Yan gradually came back to herself. Only then did she look around the forest while murmuring to herself.
Moreover, because this was the first time the ancient battlefield secret realm had appeared, no cultivator had ever set foot here throughout these thousand years. Because of that, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth here was especially dense.
The lush trees before her seemed to have been specially coated with a layer of filter-like brilliance, making them look exceptionally full of vitality and very pleasant.
However, Fu Yan naturally did not have too much time to admire the scenery inside the secret realm. After all, the more beautiful a place was, the greater the danger often was. She absolutely could not easily relax her mind.
With this thought, Fu Yan swiftly withdrew her gaze. She did not continue staying where she was. Instead, she directly flashed forward and moved through this enormous forest.
“Another Spirit Ring Flower!”
Fu Yan had not walked far before she had already casually picked several relatively rare spiritual herbs. In the blink of an eye, another Spirit Ring Flower appeared before her.
Since she had seen it, there was naturally no reason not to take it. Although she did not know whether she would use it, there would be no problem taking it to exchange for some spirit stones from the sect.
Having read the original plot, Fu Yan understood that this secret realm exploration would last at least one or two years no matter what. And if one wanted to obtain the sect’s protection, one naturally needed to hand over some resources.
However, the sect would also take out spirit stones of equal value in exchange. In truth, it was not a losing deal. So as long as they were spiritual herbs of heaven and earth, Fu Yan collected them whenever she saw them.
Thinking of this, Fu Yan did not hesitate at all. She swiftly went forward and stored the Spirit Ring Flower before her inside her storage spirit ring.
This forest seemed very large. Fu Yan had already shuttled through it for quite some time, yet she still had no sense of direction. She could only rely on her instincts and keep sweeping forward.
Of course, her gains were not small either.
After walking for a while longer, Fu Yan finally heard the movements of cultivators ahead. She immediately paused slightly. Suddenly thinking of something, she swiftly slowed her steps.
Before she could determine whether the people ahead were enemies or friends, Fu Yan naturally did not plan to expose her whereabouts. She silently leapt onto an ancient tree.
The tangled branches and leaves successfully concealed her figure. Only then did Fu Yan raise her eyes and look toward the direction ahead. Three figures swiftly appeared before her eyes.
Not far ahead, for some reason, a small pond had appeared in the middle of the forest. At this moment, there seemed to be some treasure inside the pond, and the three people beside it were standing against one another with swords drawn because of it.
“I was clearly the one who arrived here first. What do you two intend to do?” The one speaking was a woman around twenty years old. Her cultivation was at late Illumination stage. At this moment, she was staring tightly at the two figures who had suddenly appeared before her.
Hearing this, a rather rough-looking man immediately stared at the woman and let out a cold snort. “Treasures have always belonged to those with strength. So what if you came first? Do you think you alone are a match for us two brothers?”
“And you still want to touch such a treasure?” Another man dressed in brown also sneered and coldly looked at the woman before him, seeming not to care at all about the threat in her eyes.
Both men were at late Illumination stage, so naturally, there was no need for them to fear one woman.
Hearing that they had begun arguing because of the treasure on the pond, Fu Yan, who was up in the tree, also became interested in this treasure. However, because of the distance, she could not quite see what the faintly glowing object on the pond was.
Just as Fu Yan carefully looked toward the pond, she heard the brown-robed man say with ill intent, “Heh, but since you look pretty good, as long as you’re willing to obediently serve us brothers once, maybe we can even spare your life!”
At such humiliating words, the woman’s face immediately darkened. She directly drew her treasured sword and pointed it at the two men opposite her, looking furious. “Dream on! To think you’re cultivators, yet you’re no different from beasts. Today, I will uphold justice!”
As soon as the words fell, the woman charged straight at the two men.
The two brothers opposite her looked at each other and smiled, saying without the slightest concern, “Beasts, huh? Then today, we’ll let you know what a beast is.”
In only the time it took to exchange a few words, the three of them swiftly fought fiercely together. For a time, sword light flashed in every direction, and the battle was impossible to separate.
Fu Yan quietly watched the battle from the tree, hesitating over whether to make a move. After all, inside this secret realm, everyone could be considered her opponent. She was not some especially kind-hearted person either.
While she was still pondering, the battle over there was already about to reach a result. The brown-robed man took advantage of the moment when the woman was exchanging blows with the rough man and instantly flashed behind her. After that, he struck out with a merciless palm.
“Pff.”
A mouthful of blood immediately sprayed from the woman’s mouth. Her whole body was like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily in a straight line onto the ground and stirring up dust all over the area.
“You… despicable!” The woman struggled to prop up half her body. Her almond-shaped eyes stared fixedly at the brown-robed man before her.
Although the woman’s strength was not weak, facing two people at the same level, she naturally could not gain any advantage. The fact that she had not been killed outright was already because the two men had done it deliberately.
“Despicable?” The brown-robed man did not seem to care about the woman’s curses at all. Instead, he walked step by step toward the woman on the ground, his face full of an obscene smile.
Only then did the woman seem to realize the situation was bad. She immediately began crawling backward in fear, yet her mouth was still threatening fiercely. “You… what do you want to do? Do you know who I am? I am a member of the Duanmu family. If you… if you dare do anything, you will definitely die without an intact corpse!”
The Duanmu family. Although Fu Yan had never heard of it, it should also be a powerful cultivation family.
After the woman brought out her identity, the brown-robed man still did not care in the slightest. “So what if it’s the Duanmu family? There’s no one around here. Who do you think will know?”
The rough man at the side also chuckled. “Before you die, being able to serve us brothers once can also be considered your good fortune.”
As they spoke, the two actually began slowly loosening their belts in front of the woman, seeming ready to take off their clothes.
Yet at this moment, a powerful sword force flew directly out from the forest. By the time the brown-robed man at the side reacted, it was already too late to dodge. He could only forcibly receive this sword strike.
In the next moment, the brown-robed man was instantly sent flying backward. Because his protective true essence was strong, he was able to preserve his life. However, he had no time to think too much and directly raised his eyes, shouting, “Who is it?”
The rough man was also startled by this sword strike. He immediately stared tightly into the forest. Then he saw a red figure steadily descend from an ancient tree.
The newcomer was naturally Fu Yan. She looked at the people before her, her face showing no extra expression.
“I was wondering who it was. So it’s another beauty!” After the brown-robed man saw clearly that Fu Yan was also at late Illumination stage, the shock from just now immediately vanished from his expression.
The rough man still seemed not to have reacted. He only spoke in a threatening tone. “Who are you? I advise you not to meddle in other people’s business.”
Fu Yan coldly raised her eyes and stared at him, saying lightly, “If you want to blame someone, blame yourselves for dirtying my eyes.” In truth, Fu Yan indeed had not planned to make a move at first. However, the actions of the two people before her were truly too filthy.
If they had directly killed the woman, she might not have felt anything.
Fu Yan’s appearance successfully attracted the two men’s gazes, so no one noticed the woman on the ground quietly loosen the thing in her hand. When she lowered her eyes, she concealed her expression again.
At this time, the brown-robed man slowly climbed up from the ground. He reached out and wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth. The way he looked at Fu Yan also revealed a lustful color. “Looks like the two of us brothers have pretty good luck today. We just entered the secret realm, and two beauties have been delivered to us. Heh!”
In his eyes, Fu Yan was merely a cultivator at the same level. Just now, he had only been injured because he had been careless. If the two of them took things seriously, dealing with Fu Yan would still be easy.
Only, the moment his voice fell, he saw Fu Yan opposite him directly raise her hand. Before he even had time to react, he felt emptiness in his chest. In the next moment, his whole body fell to the ground again with an expression of disbelief, and he no longer had any breath.
“Noisy.” Fu Yan calmly withdrew her broken Linglong Sword and muttered softly to herself as if nothing had happened.
With a clang, the weapon of the rough man opposite her instantly dropped to the ground in fright. No matter what, he could not believe that his companion had actually been killed by someone with a single sword strike.
After coming back to himself, how could he still have the courage to face Fu Yan? He immediately turned without looking back, seemingly wanting to flee for his life as quickly as possible.
But since things had already reached this point, how could Fu Yan let a tiger return to the mountain? With one flash of her body, she instantly appeared before the rough man. In the next moment, once Illusionless Sword came out, that person also swiftly collapsed to the ground.
After killing two people in succession, Fu Yan still did not have any other emotion. She directly collected the two men’s storage spirit rings. Only then did she turn back to look at the woman on the ground.
“Don’t… don’t kill me. This… this Soul-Nourishing Lotus, Miss, you can take it. I definitely won’t fight you for it!” Seeing Fu Yan look toward her, the woman immediately revealed an extremely terrified expression. She was so frightened that her words were almost incoherent.
“Soul-Nourishing Lotus?”
After hearing the woman’s words, Fu Yan could not help pausing slightly. Then she turned around again and set her gaze on the pond before her.
At the center of the pond, a faint light glowed. Inside it was precisely a lotus. Just by looking at it, Fu Yan could feel a kind of soul power.
It seemed this thing really was a Soul-Nourishing Lotus!
To cultivators, soul power was also an extremely powerful force, usually called spiritual power. However, generally speaking, spiritual power could only possibly be cultivated once one’s cultivation reached late Dao Integration stage. And cultivating spiritual power was also extremely difficult.
The Soul-Nourishing Lotus was the best treasure to assist in cultivating spiritual power. The older its age, the greater its effect on cultivating spiritual power. It could be said that the value of one Soul-Nourishing Lotus was no less than a middle-grade spiritual artifact. It was extremely precious.
“That’s right. This is a three-hundred-year-old Soul-Nourishing Lotus.” Seeing that Fu Yan’s gaze had fallen completely on the pond, the woman on the ground slowly climbed up while explaining aloud.
Hearing this, Fu Yan was somewhat surprised. It was actually a three-hundred-year-old Soul-Nourishing Lotus. If she had only become interested in the Soul-Nourishing Lotus just now, then the current Fu Yan was determined to obtain it.
“Yes. However, after witnessing Miss’s strength, I naturally won’t harbor any thoughts anymore. I only ask that Miss spare my life.”
Looking at the figure before her, the woman held something behind her back, then approached quietly step by step.
Fu Yan ahead seemed not to have sensed anything wrong. The Soul-Nourishing Lotus seemed to have drawn all her attention. She could be seen looking into the distance, her whole body revealing an eager longing.
Seeing this, the woman could not help lowering her eyes. A trace of coldness swiftly flashed through her almond-shaped eyes. In less than a breath, she had already silently arrived behind Fu Yan.
For a time, the distance between the two was less than the width of a palm.
“The light emitted by this Soul-Nourishing Lotus will attract many people over. Miss had better quickly go up and pluck it.” The woman came to Fu Yan’s side. While slowly persuading her in a tempting tone, she also raised her right hand without leaving a trace, quietly reaching toward Fu Yan’s shoulder.
Just as she was about to succeed, in the next moment, the woman suddenly felt a sharp sword blade cut across her throat. The instant she reacted, blood surged from her throat like a waterfall.
Very soon, the woman directly widened her eyes and fell straight backward again. With a bang, dust rose all over the ground.
Only then did Fu Yan turn around as if nothing had happened. Looking at the corpse on the ground, she did not show much surprise.
In truth, Fu Yan had long seen the woman’s small movements clearly. Although she had disguised them very well, she had forgotten that she was inside a secret realm.
Those who could enter this secret realm were presumably all outstanding people from the major sects and cultivation families. Their minds naturally would not be too simple. Facing two experts at the same level, a normal person would first weigh their own strength. Yet the woman had acted like a brainless person and had been directly provoked into losing her head by the brown-robed man’s words.
This was clearly somewhat wrong. In Fu Yan’s view, the woman definitely still had a backup plan. She had only deliberately fallen for the man’s goading.
So from the moment Fu Yan appeared, the corner of her eye had always been on the woman.
At this very moment, Fu Yan finally discovered that the thing in the woman’s hand was actually an insect only the size of a thumbnail. However, she did not recognize what exactly this insect was.
After the insect left the woman’s palm, it also swiftly began to shrivel before long. In the blink of an eye, it no longer had any vitality.
Fu Yan had no intention of casually touching it and investigating. Instead, she directly used her sword to pick up the woman’s storage spirit ring and put it away. After finishing all this, she raised her eyes again and looked toward a certain spot in the forest.
“After watching the show for so long, Fellow Daoist, shouldn’t you show yourself?”
As it turned out, aside from Fu Yan, someone else had also been quietly hiding in the forest. He had concealed his aura extremely well. If he had not been startled when he saw the woman fall just now, causing his breathing to become somewhat disordered, Fu Yan truly would not have discovered him.
After hearing Fu Yan’s voice, Si Yizhi in the shadows felt his heart jump. He seemed not to have expected that even though he had hidden so well, he would still be discovered.
Since he had already been discovered, Si Yizhi naturally had no reason to continue hiding. He paused slightly. In the next moment, he directly flipped over and steadily appeared opposite Fu Yan.
“Miss has good eyesight. I truly admire you, admire you!” Si Yizhi did not seem afraid of the killing intent on Fu Yan’s body. Instead, he revealed a leisurely and carefree expression, not feeling embarrassed in the slightest.
Fu Yan looked at the person before her, but frowned slightly. Although this person was also at late Illumination stage, he was not simple either.
However, Fu Yan was determined to obtain this Soul-Nourishing Lotus today. Although fighting him might be somewhat difficult, Fu Yan was still relatively confident. After all, she had her trump card, the Heart-Comprehending Sword Strike. The Xuyou Jade Seal was an even greater trump card. There was no reason not to fight for it.
Looking at the expression revealed on Fu Yan’s face, Si Yizhi seemed to have already guessed what she was thinking. He immediately hurriedly raised both hands with an innocent expression, revealing a posture of surrender. “Ah, Fellow Daoist, please don’t overthink. I truly have no interest in this Soul-Nourishing Lotus. Heaven and earth can bear witness. I watched with my own eyes as you killed three late Illumination-stage experts in a row. How could I possibly still be thinking of snatching food from the tiger’s mouth?”
As if afraid Fu Yan would not believe him, Si Yizhi looked as if he were about to dig out his heart to prove himself.
Fu Yan had originally thought the other party was a cold, aloof expert. Unexpectedly, he turned out to be someone with a glib tongue. The moment he opened his mouth, he chattered so much that her eardrums ached.
“As the saying goes, fortune is sought amid danger. If you don’t gamble once, how would you know you can’t snatch this Soul-Nourishing Lotus from my hands?” Fu Yan still tightly gripped the broken Linglong Sword in her hand, looking as if she might attack at any moment.
After hearing this, Si Yizhi immediately raised both hands repeatedly and explained, “Aiya, why are you unwilling to believe me? I’m the kind of person whose aptitude is ordinary. For me to cultivate to late Illumination stage, I must have accumulated virtue for eight lifetimes. I have no extra thoughts to spare for cultivating spiritual power. If the thing here today were a middle-grade spiritual artifact, then I might still fight Fellow Daoist for it.”
In truth, although this person looked extremely unreliable, Fu Yan knew he was not simple. If they could avoid fighting, naturally, that would be best. It would save her from a bitter battle. So after seeing that the other party indeed had not the slightest intention of fighting her for the Soul-Nourishing Lotus, Fu Yan slowly put away her sword.
Seeing that Fu Yan no longer had the intention to attack, Si Yizhi could not help letting out a breath of relief. Only then did he slowly lower his hands. Then he took a few steps back and stared at Fu Yan with a cheerful expression. “That woman was right. The light emitted by the Soul-Nourishing Lotus really will attract others over. So Fellow Daoist should hurry and retrieve it. Don’t worry, I’m standing so far away from you now. It’s impossible for me to pull a sneak attack from behind. Besides, you definitely aren’t afraid of me anyway…”
Fu Yan felt that this person truly spewed out a pile of words the moment he opened his mouth. He really was a talkative chatterbox worthy of the name. She was too lazy to keep dealing with him, so she directly flashed over and landed on the pond behind her.
When she landed beside the Soul-Nourishing Lotus, Fu Yan finally sensed that gentle soul power slowly coming over, making a person feel exceptionally refreshed and clear-minded. She was only at late Illumination stage now. If she ate the Soul-Nourishing Lotus immediately, it probably would not have much use. It would be better to wait until she broke through to Dao Integration stage before trying to cultivate spiritual power.
Thinking of this, Fu Yan swiftly uprooted the Soul-Nourishing Lotus directly. Then she collected quite a bit of the pond water as well, preparing to continue raising the Soul-Nourishing Lotus inside her storage spirit ring.
Fu Yan spent a full half quarter of an hour before finally successfully transplanting the Soul-Nourishing Lotus. Immediately, she could not help letting out a complete breath of relief.
After finishing all this, Fu Yan finally rose from the pond. But when she turned back and looked toward the shore, she suddenly discovered that the unreliable person from just now had unknowingly squatted beside the woman’s corpse. At this moment, he seemed to be taking off the woman’s clothes with his own hands.
Fu Yan: “…”
Perhaps because Fu Yan’s gaze was too intense, Si Yizhi had only just removed half of the woman’s outer garment when he could not help raising his eyes and turning back. In an instant, he happened to meet Fu Yan’s somewhat complicated gaze.
That gaze seemed to be asking: Are you into corpses?
After realizing what his hands were doing right now, Si Yizhi shot up with a whoosh. Then he hurriedly stared at Fu Yan and explained, “Ah, ah, ah! It’s not what you think, Fellow Daoist. You have to believe me. I know you definitely think I’m a pervert right now, but it really isn’t what Fellow Daoist is thinking. I just… I just wanted to confirm something, really!!”
Fu Yan, standing on the pond, did not speak. She merely flew back over expressionlessly and landed steadily at the side.
“What do you want to confirm?” Fu Yan raised her eyes to look at him and asked.
Seeing that Fu Yan’s eyes finally no longer held that complicated expression from just now, Si Yizhi could not help letting out another breath of relief. He felt that he definitely had not checked the almanac before leaving today. He was so embarrassed that he was about to dig out a hole in the ground with his toes.
“Fellow Daoist, do you know what the insect she was holding just now is?” Si Yizhi could only pretend to be calm. He crouched down again and pointed at the already shriveled insect as he asked.
Fu Yan naturally did not know.
Only then did Si Yizhi once again reach out and remove the clothes from the woman’s corpse. Then he pointed at a spot on the woman’s lower abdomen and said, “Fellow Daoist, look here.”
Fu Yan looked closely and discovered that there was indeed a black mark there, as if there were something inside the lower abdomen. Looking at it, it actually somewhat resembled… the shadow of an insect.
“That’s right. There is also an insect here,” Si Yizhi said, seeing that Fu Yan already had a guess in her heart. He swiftly gave the answer, then continued explaining, “More precisely, the one inside her body and the one in her hand are both a kind of gu insect.”
“Gu insect?” The moment Fu Yan heard this name, she instantly understood. So the woman just now had wanted to place a gu on her.
“That’s right.” Si Yizhi responded again, his brows also furrowing slightly. “If she had succeeded just now, Fellow Daoist would have become her puppet, only able to obey her commands.”
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