Three days later, the sect master led Su Zhuyi to Quicksand River.

Quicksand River’s location was secret. The Yunxiao Sect master and the four major sect masters each held a key. Each master only brought one disciple for the bathing, and it must be said their secrecy was excellent, tightly controlling information about Quicksand River’s specific location among a few people, which was why Su Zhuyi in her previous life did not know such a place.

That Yunxiao Sect and the four major sects could far surpass other cultivation sects surely had some secret resources, and these were things a demonic path demoness could never access.

Quicksand River wasn’t far – flying from Gujian Sect took only a day.

When Su Zhuyi and the others arrived, cultivators from Yunxiao Sect, Dong Fushang Sect, and Danhe Sect were already there, with only Xundao Sect yet to arrive.

“Old Duan, you’re here,” said the speaker, Dan Qingshan, master of Danhe Sect. He wore a jade crown and white Daoist robes, appearing very scholarly.

Danhe Sect cultivators liked wearing white Daoist robes with wide pipa sleeves, cross-collar right lapel, side slits with hidden pleats, tied with sashes. The collar and hem were embroidered with black-lined red-crowned cranes. On the surface, they looked immortal and Daoist, but they were a group of pill refiners and medicine sellers, each extremely shrewd. Su Zhuyi had dealt with Danhe Sect cultivators before – she wasn’t deceived often in her previous life, but fell for their tricks twice at Danhe Sect. However, there was no choice – some pills had to be bought.

Standing beside Dan Qingshan was a young female cultivator who looked somewhat familiar. After Su Zhuyi thought carefully, she remembered who this person was.

Dan Ruyun.

In her previous life, she had an excellent relationship with Su Qingxun. The two had even explored secret realms together, seemingly going through life and death together in those realms, forming a deep friendship. Su Zhuyi remembered her because she happened to be in a good mood that year and spared Su Qingxun and those around her, including Dan Ruyun.

“Mm, you all arrived so early,” the sect masters exchanged pleasantries. Su Zhuyi stood in place without moving, but she sensed several prying gazes.

Yunxiao Sect brought Qin Chuan, which was within her expectations – Triple Yang Convergence Constitution wasn’t something ordinary people could match.

She had no impression of the disciple from Dong Fushang Sect, and Dong Fushang Sect had no intention of introductions. Their sect master had a grim face, clearly overwhelmed by the current scandals plaguing Dong Fushang Sect, putting him in a bad mood.

Qin Chuan wanted to greet Su Zhuyi, but seeing her continuously meditating with closed eyes, showing no intention of talking to him, his gaze darkened, and he ultimately didn’t speak.

After everyone waited for a quarter hour, people from the Xundao Sect also arrived. The five sect masters took out their keys and combined them, opening a barrier. Only after the barrier opened did Su Zhuyi discover that this seemingly barren mountaintop hid such a fairyland.

It was a mountain valley surrounded by clouds and mist that made the red maple forest appear and disappear. A breeze blew past, and red leaves danced through the sky like fluttering butterflies, appearing and vanishing behind the light gauze, as if playing hide-and-seek or like twinkling stars.

“Wow, so beautiful!” Dan Ruyun couldn’t help exclaiming in admiration. Not only her, the other three young men looked delighted. Only Su Zhuyi showed no expression, appearing very calm.

She thought to herself that the sea of clouds and stars on the Wangtian Tree was more beautiful than here.

“Quicksand River is in the valley,” Yunxiao Sect’s master entered the barrier first. After he went in, the other sect masters crossed the barrier one by one, followed by the disciples. Su Zhuyi wasn’t in a hurry to go forward, waiting until others had entered before slowly stepping into the barrier.

Stepping on fallen leaves, the group slowly walked into the red maple forest and soon came before a pond.

The pond was surrounded by red maple trees, and the water surface was already floating with a layer of red leaves. After those red leaves fell into the water, they seemed to become like red jade, looking very crystal clear.

“These leaves soaked in spiritual spring are also a rare pill-refining material. This year, there are so many leaves – they should be carefully divided later.”

“You should all know the rules, so I won’t say much. After entering, fighting is strictly forbidden. The longer you persist, the greater the benefits. You five, go in.”

The pond wasn’t large, and the pool water wasn’t deep.

The five people sat adjacent to each other, with just enough distance for half an arm’s length between each person.

After they entered, they stripped off their clothes one by one and threw them out. Only then did Su Zhuyi realize that soaking in the spiritual spring required removing clothes. The five of them – three men and two women – were actually mixed together soaking in the spiritual spring like this?

Seeing the other four all looked like they knew what to expect, Su Zhuyi realized their sect masters must have explained this, yet Duan Linshu hadn’t mentioned anything about this aspect. Su Zhuyi didn’t know what to say. Was he worried that if he told her, she wouldn’t want to come? She wasn’t such a prudish person.

Su Zhuyi also entered the water, then discovered that this layer of crystal-clear red leaves on the water surface had the effect of blocking divine consciousness. That meant even if she stripped completely naked, her body hidden below the water surface couldn’t be seen by anyone, so she wasn’t embarrassed. She took off her clothes and threw them out. However, Su Zhuyi did observe Dan Ruyun and discovered that Dan Ruyun’s pile of clothes didn’t include a chest wrap or undergarments, so she also didn’t remove those, sitting cross-legged in the pool wearing her chest wrap and undergarments.

The spring water was warm. After going in, Su Zhuyi circulated her cultivation method to regulate breathing. She discovered the spiritual energy here was indeed rich – richer than Luoxue Peak, even richer than the spiritual energy on Wangtian Tree. It truly was a good place, so she also gathered her mind and devoted herself completely to cultivation.

Cultivating and circulating the cultivation method would absorb the pool’s spiritual energy, and how good one’s aptitude was, whose aptitude was better, would be very intuitively displayed at this time.

Those with better aptitude would absorb more spiritual energy, and more red leaves would gather around them.

Su Zhuyi had a habit – she could focus on two things at once. Not completely focusing on two things, but when cultivating, even while concentrating fully on cultivation, she would separate a strand of divine consciousness to pay attention to surrounding movements. This was practiced in her previous life. No matter when, where, or how she cultivated, she could never completely ignore the external environment, otherwise, she wouldn’t know how she died.

If someone ambushed her while she entered a completely absorbed cultivation state, in an environment like Xueluo Sect, there would only be a dead end. Although in this life she wasn’t so cautious on Luoxue Peak, at this moment, there were still outsiders around. No matter what, Su Zhuyi would be on guard. So she saw that the layer of red leaves originally floating on the water surface began gradually approaching the cultivators in the pool. The number of red leaves around Qin Chuan and her was about the same, occupying three-fourths of the red leaves in the pool, while the remaining red leaves surrounded the other three people respectively. Among those three, the boy from Dong Fushang Sect had slightly more, followed by the male cultivator from Xundao Sect, and Dan Ruyun had the least.

This was fucking embarrassing.

The number of red leaves around Xundao Sect and Dan Ruyun wasn’t much, not enough to cover their bodies. Dan Ruyun was fine, wearing a chest wrap and undergarments, but that male cultivator from Xundao Sect was sitting naked in the pool. Those few scattered leaves surrounding him basically couldn’t block much…

Out of sight, out of mind. Having her completely withdraw divine consciousness and not guard against others was impossible. Su Zhuyi continued cultivating and discovered that after soaking in the pool water, as her cultivation method circulated, a layer of misty vapor appeared in her dantian and consciousness sea. Her consciousness sea was sealed, as if half of her consciousness sea couldn’t be controlled. But now that vapor floated above the consciousness sea, causing even her sealed consciousness sea to ripple slightly, as if the seal had loosened.

This Quicksand River spiritual spring indeed had the effect of nourishing divine consciousness!

With the seal loosening and consciousness sea rippling, although the seal wasn’t broken, it allowed her divine consciousness to briefly recover. As spiritual energy flowed through her body, Su Zhuyi seemed to sense the existence of the Liuguang Mirror.

In her previous life, she could sense the Liuguang Mirror. So being unable to sense it after rebirth was because her primordial spirit was sealed. As long as her primordial spirit seal was released, the connection between the Liuguang Mirror and her soul would surely exist.

Thinking of this, Su Zhuyi felt her heartbeat seemed to quicken. She captured traces of the Liuguang Mirror and immediately injected a strand of divine consciousness into the Liuguang Mirror, asking: “Qin Jianglan, are you inside?”

…

Inside the Liuguang Mirror, a voice suddenly appeared like muffled thunder exploding.

Both Qin Jianglan and Little Skull were stunned on the spot.

A pair of eyes and a pair of eye sockets looked at each other, both saying simultaneously: “Did you hear that?”

“Big Sister!”

“Su Zhuyi!”