It had already been ten days since returning from the treasure land.

The ten days seemed to have passed quickly. When Zanxing’s group set out to find the sacred tree fruit, the disciples in the sect all thought they would be delayed for a long time, but unexpectedly, they returned much earlier than expected.

Shaoyang Zhenren, Yueqin, and several others had all gone to the Li’er Kingdom’s secret realm to investigate traces left by the Mo Sha, accompanied by Sect Leader Rongshuang and several disciples from the Xiangling Sect. Gufeng Mountain was somewhat quiet for the time being.

All the sacred tree fruits brought back were handed over to Li Danshu. Li Danshu would use these fruits to refine pills for Gu Baiying to take. The young attendant from his hall specifically came to remind everyone not to disturb his pill refinement unless necessary.

Even if he hadn’t said so, Zanxing currently didn’t have the mind to visit his hall anyway. Since returning from the treasure land, she had been paying particular attention to the flower mark in her palm.

This flower now looked quite complete and had become increasingly vivid, its shape resembling a begonia. Zanxing had tried showing it to others, but later discovered that aside from herself, others seemed unable to see the begonia flower’s existence, which surely contained deep meaning. However, if things continued like this, it definitely wouldn’t be good. Zanxing always felt somewhat restless.

“Young Miss, why are you staring at your hand in a daze again?” Hong Su walked over from the side, carrying spirit pill rice for Mimi, speaking earnestly: “Ever since returning this time, you’ve shut yourself in your room, rarely going out. How can this continue? Now, Young Master Mu is already wavering between Miss Liu and Fairy Meng, and on Young Master Gu’s side, there’s still an Xiangling Sect disciple watching like a tiger. Young Miss, let alone embracing left and right, you should at least catch one and keep him in hand first. You can’t let all the fish swim away!”

Zanxing: “…”

She sighed: “Hong Su, if you were to raise fish, you’d be an expert.”

The young girl was first puzzled, then somewhat proud: “Of course! My mother told me our ancestors were originally fishermen on the river.”

Zanxing was silent for a moment, just about to tell her this idea was dangerous, when she suddenly heard Hong Su cry “Oh my!” and nearly dropped the food bowl in her hands.

“What’s wrong?” Zanxing, lying in her chair, leaned out half her body to ask.

“Mimi has brought back random things from outside again.” Hong Su stamped her foot and crouched down to clean up the mess on the ground. The culprit, however, twisted and leaped onto the chair, where Zanxing caught her by the tail.

Zanxing pinched Mimi’s chin and pulled out what was in her mouth, saying: “What is this?” At first glance, she was stunned.

This was a tattered book, made wet and soggy by Mimi’s saliva and crumpled into wrinkles. Without careful examination, one might mistake it for waste paper. The book wasn’t thick, only about ten thin pages, with four crooked large characters prominently written on the cover: “Peerless Heart Sutra.”

Peerless Heart Sutra?

Wasn’t this name a bit too direct?

Zanxing held the book near her nose and sniffed. A damp, earthy smell mixed with some familiar flower fragrance hit her face. She paused, subconsciously looking at Mimi beside her: “You didn’t dig this out from that pile of bones under the Liuhuan grass, did you?”

Mimi primly stretched out her claws.

Zanxing: “…”

The sweet flower fragrance of Liuhuan grass still lingered on top, though it was very faint now, but could still be detected with careful sniffing. Zanxing remembered that she had used the Panhua Stick to pry under the Liuhuan grass vines, uncovering many cultivator remains and, of course, some leftover items. Afraid she might inadvertently seize some fortune she shouldn’t possess, she had deliberately avoided touching those things. She hadn’t expected Mimi to casually pilfer one back.

Mimi made two delicate calls, as if urging her to open it quickly.

Zanxing looked down at the book in her hands. The Xiaoyuan Pearl showed no reaction, so the book should be harmless. However, the four characters on the cover were neither vigorous and powerful nor possessed of immortal elegance—the writing was extremely ugly, looking like a child just learning to write had gripped a brush and scribbled crookedly.

Was this a Peerless Heart Sutra?

If this truly was some Peerless Heart Sutra, she naturally wouldn’t dare keep it with her. Setting aside everything else, just like how the Xiaoyuan Pearl had changed from a spirit treasure to an evil object, who knew if the damned “Heavenly Dao” might bury another trap for her? What if this Peerless Heart Sutra turned into some heretical evil practice?

Zanxing made up her mind—if this was some secret manual, she’d simply hand it over to Mu Cengxiao. She could both get rid of a hot potato and incidentally do Mu Cengxiao a favor. No matter what, this heart sutra shouldn’t undergo any strange transformations in the protagonist’s possession.

Thinking this way, Zanxing opened the broken book before her.

As soon as she opened it, what met her eyes was a line of crooked, small characters: This cultivation method is special and unsuitable for ordinary cultivators to practice. To cultivate this method, one must first abolish all their cultivation and start from the beginning.

Zanxing: “…”

Hong Su looked at Zanxing strangely: “Young Miss, why does your expression look so odd?”

Zanxing slammed the book shut with a “bang.” What kind of joke was this? How was this different from “to practice divine arts, one must first castrate oneself”? What normal person would abolish their entire cultivation to practice an unknown heart method? What if what was written inside was fake—wouldn’t that be a huge loss? Could it be that the people in those bones had listened to the nonsense written inside and abolished their cultivation, only to be unable to resist even the Liuhuan grass’s fragrance and become flower fertilizer?

Zanxing took a deep breath, thought for a moment, then reopened the book and turned to the second page. It still had crooked writing: This heart sutra is true, without any false words. Feel free to try it—guaranteed no loss. Cultivating this heart sutra will let you dominate the three realms, fear neither gods nor demons, and ascension is imminent.

Zanxing expressionlessly closed the book. No need to read further—this was just a fake book written for fun. Whoever believed it was a fool. Look at this exaggerated tone, like multi-level marketing rhetoric, and this crooked writing—even Mimi stepping on paper with ink-stained claws would write better than this.

She casually threw this “Peerless Heart Sutra” into her Qiankun Bag, deciding to keep the book herself rather than give it to Mu Cengxiao. If she gave it to Mu Cengxiao, who knew what he’d think. If Gu Baiying saw it, he’d put on his master uncle airs again and say her brain wasn’t working well, believing in such unorthodox practices.

Speaking of Gu Baiying, Zanxing only then remembered she hadn’t seen him for some time. Previously, in the treasure land, to enter the spiritual domain, he had unauthorized use of his Yuanli. His spiritual meridians were already blocked and unrepaired, and this had made things worse. Since returning to the sect, he had been in closed-door cultivation to recover while waiting for Li Danshu to finish refining the medicine. He rarely left Xiaoyao Hall and hadn’t encountered Zanxing.

She should show some concern for him.

Zanxing stood up and said to Hong Su, “I’m going out for a while.”