Su Zhuyi stood beside the filled-in pit, her mood somewhat complex.

The sky was gradually clearing now, the rain had stopped, the clouds had scattered, and the sun poked its head out. The sky had been washed so azure by the rain that Su Zhuyi found the sunlight somewhat glaring. She raised her hand to shield her forehead, looking at the sun’s position, estimating that from when she fell into the pit until now, only about two hours had passed.

So tired, she should go back and rest…

Although she had only dug up a small portion of the spirit stones, it was enough for now. Using spirit stones to cultivate could make her cultivation advance by leaps and bounds. Breaking through that dense forest filled with hidden fierce beasts and leaving this mountain backwater of Changning Village would be completely manageable, and she would have the strength and capital to venture out into the world.

This trip, though extremely dangerous, hadn’t been in vain. Su Zhuyi leaned on her hoe and caught her breath, then used the hoe as a walking stick, slowly moving forward. She had barely taken two steps when Su Zhuyi felt something tugging at her waist. She turned her head and saw the little skull staring at her.

He was just a skeleton frame without even eyeballs, just two black holes, yet she could somehow feel his pitiful gaze. Unfortunately, Su Zhuyi was someone with a heart of stone.

Su Zhuyi reached out to swat away the claw hanging from her waist, but before she could use much force, the claw broke off directly, leaving only a hand bone hanging from her waist with fingers hooked onto her robes, looking quite eerie.

Little Skull seemed stunned for a moment, then picked up his hand bone himself, fiddled with it for a while before reattaching it. He wasn’t upset at all, and suddenly looked up and shouted, “Heavens! Look, look, big sister, look…”

He looked simple and cute, but he was a spiritual being that had been nurtured for five thousand years, with an extremely powerful soul force. Even if Su Zhuyi’s primordial spirit wasn’t sealed, she had only cultivated for just over a thousand years, let alone now, when her primordial spirit was sealed and she was very weak, completely unable to resist Little Skull’s primordial spirit power. So much so that at this moment, Su Zhuyi had no choice but to look up following his voice. It was a kind of pressure, yet not quite pressure, as if there was a force guiding her, making her raise her head to look in the direction Little Skull was pointing.

This skull had not only been nurtured in the formation for five thousand years, but had also received considerable incense offerings from the villagers of Changning Village, so his words already carried a strange power that was impossible to resist.

“Rainbow, rainbow, big sister, that’s a rainbow after the rain…”

Su Zhuyi: “…”

Su Zhuyi craned her neck back so far that it nearly broke. She wanted nothing more than to snap that little skull’s head off! She frowned and said coldly, “Are you done looking? I’m tired.”

“Oh, oh.” Little Skull nodded excitedly, and with the force, his jaw fell off again. He muttered, “Big sister, why am I so fragile?”

Because your father never intended for you to return to the corpse. Those bones have been around for five thousand years, naturally they’ve become quite brittle. Su Zhuyi didn’t say this – even if she did, he wouldn’t understand. She just said, “I’m not called big sister, I have a name.”

“Oh, then what’s your name?” After reattaching his jaw, Little Skull reached out to grab Su Zhuyi’s clothes again. He was full of curiosity about the outside world, yet also a little afraid. Now he gently tugged at Su Zhuyi’s clothes, afraid she would swat his claws again, and even more afraid she would abandon him.

“Little Master.” Su Zhuyi said. Everyone in Changning Village called her Little Master, and they couldn’t tell she was a woman, but Ji Wuxin’s remnant soul and this little skull could both see it. She didn’t want him to call her wrongly and cause any trouble. But then, thinking that if this little skull appeared in the village, he might scare the living to death, she thought for a moment and pointed at the Wuding Gourd, saying, “Little Skull.”

“Little Master, big sister, I have a name too, I’m called Ji Wuxin.”

Your father was casual and carefree when naming you…

“Wuxin, come into the gourd. You’re weak now, being able to come out and see the sky is already good enough. Stay for a while, then go back in to rest properly, understand?” This little skull had acknowledged her as master, and Su Zhuyi couldn’t get rid of it for now. She also couldn’t let him wander around outside. Little Skull’s bone frame was as brittle as tofu – if someone scattered his bones, that would be trouble.

He had no resentment now, but if he truly developed some resentment, that would be the end. There really might be no one in this world who could control him. Su Zhuyi wasn’t one to worry about the world’s people, but mainly she was afraid that if Little Skull became a fierce creature, the first one he’d deal with would be her. Old Lady Lu was a bloody example of that.

“Oh.” Ji Wuxin had been obedient since childhood, and didn’t object now either. Thinking about entering the gourd, his body did enter the gourd.

Su Zhuyi had just breathed a sigh of relief when she discovered a bone hand stretching out from the Wuding Gourd, still grabbing her sleeve. “Little Master, I’m scared.” Su Zhuyi had no choice but to put the Wuding Gourd on her wrist, stuff it into her sleeve, and let that skeleton claw grab her sleeve.

“Don’t make a sound when there are outsiders around.” Su Zhuyi instructed.

“You’re too thin, you’ll scare others.”

“Oh, okay.” Little Skull was very sensible, which saved Su Zhuyi quite a bit of worry. When she returned, she found that the storm hadn’t caused much damage to the small temple under the old tree, probably because it was protected by the old tree.

Su Zhuyi entered the room, changed into clean clothes, and then took out the Wuding Gourd, planning to take out a piece of spirit stone to cultivate and heal her injuries.

When her divine sense swept into the Wuding Gourd, Su Zhuyi was completely stunned.

Where were the spirit stones she had just dug up?

She saw Little Skull holding a piece of spirit stone and putting it in his mouth. After the spirit stone went in, it made a gulp sound as it fell, but didn’t fall out of his body. It was as if there was a barrier around his body that caught the spirit stone within him. Then she saw the spirit stone melt like it was being dissolved, turning into an azure liquid that seeped bit by bit into his bones, nourishing the originally somewhat yellowish bone frame little by little, like brushing a layer of white porcelain over old bones that had turned yellow and brittle.

“You ate all the spirit stones I worked so hard to dig up?” Su Zhuyi was so angry her teeth itched. She directly raised the hoe, wanting to immediately smash that little skull to pieces.

Little Skull was startled. He stood there in a daze, his jaw falling off and forgetting to reattach it. Water bubbles emerged from his black hole eyes, and he said timidly, “Little Master, I just, just don’t know why I suddenly felt so hungry.”

He was very hungry, and his thoughts were simple – when you’re hungry, you eat food. Those shiny stones smelled so comforting and tasted delicious, like roasted beans.

He had never seen real people other than his father when alive, only seeing fake people and objects in the illusions his father created. He had no experience interacting with others. Now he stood there with his two eye holes spouting water like springs, his hand reaching into his belly to fumble around and pull out two spirit stones, carefully offering them to Su Zhuyi: “I didn’t finish eating them, there are still two left.”

He could freely enter and exit the Wuding Gourd. Having this thought, he was already out of the gourd, his hand stretched out in front of Su Zhuyi, trembling slightly, looking quite pitiful in his nervous state. But Su Zhuyi was someone without sympathy. She snatched the remaining two spirit stones, then, in her rage and frustration, raised her palm to strike. But just as her palm was about to touch Little Skull, Su Zhuyi closed her hand into a fist, then slowly opened it, gently patting his head twice. “Food should be shared, understand? You can’t eat all by yourself. Since you ate the spirit stones I dug up, you should share some of your things with me too.”

Damn, this skull wasn’t brittle at all after eating the spirit stones. Looking at the luster of those bones, they were probably harder than refined iron now. If she struck with that palm, she would be the one getting hurt!

Su Zhuyi pointed at the Wuding Gourd. “Those stone lotus platforms in the gourd, how about sharing some with me?”

“Good!” Little Skull immediately agreed, and Su Zhuyi’s heart leaped with wild joy. But the next moment, she heard Little Skull say dejectedly, “But I can’t move those things.”

Su Zhuyi: “…”

She held a belly full of anger with nowhere to vent, could only stare at Little Skull with wide eyes, hatefully grinding her teeth, then clutched the remaining two spirit stones and sat back on the bed.

She still had injuries on her body, and treating the wounds was urgent. Su Zhuyi pulled open her clothes to look at the wound Ji Wuxin had clawed on her. Su Zhuyi frowned, then began absorbing the spiritual energy from the spirit stones, using the spiritual energy to nourish and heal the wound.

She closed her eyes with a gloomy expression to rest and recover, not planning to pay any attention to that little skull who had eaten all her spirit stones. She would rather that little skull eat corpse-dissolving water – why eat spirit stones? Did that mean she’d have to find spirit stones to feed him in the future? Looking at his huge appetite, eating over a hundred spirit stones in one go, Su Zhuyi didn’t dare imagine how miserable her future days would be if she took this little skull with her.

The skull was stronger than her, and acknowledging her as master was one-sided – he could leave at any time. Therefore, Su Zhuyi decided to give him the cold shoulder and make him roll away quickly on his own.

Take the Wuding Gourd and roll away, the farther the better. This old lady doesn’t care for you.

She had completely absorbed the spirit stones three days later.

In these three days, Su Zhuyi’s injuries had completely healed, and her strength had also advanced by leaps and bounds, directly jumping to the third layer of Qi Refining. Now she had spiritual energy in her body that she could mobilize, and her physical strength had also increased considerably. Breaking through that forest alone should not be difficult.

If those spirit stones were still there, she could have secluded herself for a month and broken through the Qi Refining stage to directly enter the next stage, the Ningshen Stage. After entering the Ningshen Stage, she could reforge her natal magic treasure, making it capable of carrying people for short-distance flight. In that case, leaving Changning Village would be extremely simple, and she could go directly to Yongan Town to exterminate the entire Su family!

Her scumbag father was only at the ninth layer of Qi Refining. In her previous life, when she exterminated the entire Su family, she had just barely turned eleven years old.

What a pity, what a pity, all of this had been eaten up by that damned little skull.

Su Zhuyi had sat on the bed for three days.

Little Skull had sat under the bed for three days. He sat leaning against the bed without moving, holding Su Zhuyi’s shoe in his hands, his two hollow eyes staring at his arm, constantly thinking about growing flesh. As soon as Su Zhuyi opened her eyes, he sensed it, turned his head with an expectant look at Su Zhuyi, and handed over the shoe in his hand. “Little Master, you’re awake.”

He used to be weak and often sleep for three to five days at a time. Every time he woke up, his father would be guarding beside him, so he didn’t think there was anything wrong with Su Zhuyi sitting for so long, nor did he think there was anything wrong with him waiting.

He was very happy, showing a big smile on his face. Though he was a skull head, Su Zhuyi could see joy on his face. Don’t mention it; that grinning mouth was a bit cute. But no matter how cute, it couldn’t change the fact that he was annoying and a burden. Looking at this little skull, Su Zhuyi began pondering in her heart how she could get rid of this guy.

Just as she was thinking of a solution, Su Zhuyi suddenly felt her heart getting a bit hot. What was wrong with the Zhuxin Curse again? It felt like her heart was pierced by a sword. Su Zhuyi was in so much pain that her face turned pale, and her body fell directly from the head of the bed. Little Skull became anxious immediately. His bones were very hard now, so he supported Su Zhuyi and carried her back to the bed, still grabbing her hand with his claw, saying, “Blow, blow, it won’t hurt if you blow on it.”

This was how his father used to comfort him when he was in unbearable pain.

Little Skull blew twice, and seeing Su Zhuyi clutching her heart tightly, he thought that’s where it hurt and needed rubbing. So he reached out to touch that spot. Unexpectedly, just as he touched that location, he felt his bones as if they were soaked in cold water, then his whole body began glowing, all his bones shaking and making clicking sounds…

“Little, little big sister…” He was terrified.

But he didn’t let go.

Was little big sister enduring this kind of pain? Could he share some of it with her by holding her like this? Seeing that Su Zhuyi’s pain seemed to lessen somewhat, Little Skull pressed tightly against her heart without letting go. At this moment, the light on his body grew brighter and brighter, as if stunning sword lights were circling him. The next moment, he let out a sharp scream, circles of light patterns appeared under his feet, and then his entire person disappeared on the spot.

After Little Skull disappeared, the light in Su Zhuyi’s heart also vanished. She caught her breath and pulled open her clothes to look, discovering that the color of the Zhuxin Curse on her heart had become much dimmer. The originally bright red had turned to light pink, like a peach blossom painted on her heart.

What kind of ghostly thing had Qin Jianglan left in this Zhuxin Curse?

Where had Little Skull gone?

It couldn’t possibly be that this Zhuxin Curse was so powerful that when she wanted to kick Little Skull away, the Zhuxin Curse made Little Skull disappear, could it?

Where exactly had he gone? Su Zhuyi couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard she thought. In the end, she was too lazy to think about it anymore and decided to pack up and leave Changning Village.

…

That night, seven stars aligned.

Qin Jianglan sat cross-legged within the formation.

Beside him lay an ancient scroll describing methods of summoning from other realms. Previously, he hadn’t known that after cultivators ascended, they would enter a new heaven and earth. What he never expected was that the Liuguang Mirror’s temporal regression would bring him to a completely different True Spirit Realm from before.

There were no mortals here; all living beings could cultivate.

There was no Yunxiao Sect here.

There was no Su Zhuyi from Changning Village here. Fortunately, he had once cast the Zhuxin Curse.

He had originally planned to quickly cultivate to great achievement and ascend, crossing the Boundary Lake to return to the original world. But unexpectedly, the Zhuxin Curse kept acting up, indicating that Su Zhuyi was constantly in danger.

“If I weren’t ruthless, the one who would die would be me, dead at age seven, or even earlier, dead in a wild dog’s mouth…”

Remembering her casual words, Qin Jianglan’s heart suddenly ached.

Cultivators without sufficient strength couldn’t leave the True Spirit Realm, but they had a secret method that could summon beings from other realms to the True Spirit Realm. Because of the Zhuxin Curse, the possibility of successfully bringing Su Zhuyi over was very high.

Qin Jianglan had considered that he might fail. But he never thought he would be so ridiculously wrong…

Looking at the little skull in the formation who was wailing and crying so hard his jawbone fell off, Qin Jianglan, who had maintained an expressionless face all along, frowned with an almost imperceptible slight arc. He said coldly, “A ghostly creature?”