The giants’ Rebirth Pond’s origins were unknown, and whether a portion could be separated and merged into the Liuguang Mirror was also unclear.

All of this could only be determined after communicating and negotiating with them. But now, Qin Jianglan didn’t know how long they would be trapped in these bubbles.

Su Zhuyi also thought of this problem. If they were trapped for too long, what about Little Skull?

“Little Skull wasn’t brought over—he must be scared.”

She had been indifferent toward Little Skull before. Later, Su Zhuyi didn’t feel she had deep feelings for him, but she subconsciously felt Little Skull would be afraid, and she was somewhat worried. “He’s a ghost creature who has already stained his hands with human blood. If he’s separated from us in this ancient secret realm and becomes tainted with malevolent qi, then…”

But now they couldn’t get out either and had no idea what to do.

He thought for a moment, then sent his divine consciousness into the Liuguang Mirror to explain the array formation method to Qinghe.

Qinghe: “…”

Luo Ying had just fallen asleep and was still weak. Hearing Qin Jianglan’s words, she jerked awake, then nodded in agreement, saying: “We’ll handle it immediately, so Wu’er won’t be too stimulated. When he arrives, comfort him well.”

Qinghe always wore a smile before his master, even inside the Liuguang Mirror. However, his current smile came from the heart because his master had awakened—not only awakened, but her spirit was slowly recovering, and here, there weren’t too many outsiders.

Because he had lost her once, the pain from that time had awakened him.

He no longer wanted to just watch quietly and guard silently.

But he was actually inexperienced too. At this time, he could only change things bit by bit from small details. For instance, now he didn’t call Luo Ying “Master” but called her by name.

The title “Master” made him feel there was a great distance between them.

Stubbornly calling her name, even though she frowned slightly at first, she had now accepted it.

“Luo Ying, Luo Ying…” In his heart, he gently called this name thousands upon thousands of times.

As Luo Ying spoke, she stood up without needing Qinghe’s support. Her complexion was still very pale but much better than before. She no longer slept constantly—her waking hours outnumbered her sleeping ones. Occasionally, she would walk around the Spirit Realm with Qinghe.

These days were peaceful and leisurely. At least she knew her body’s condition was slowly recovering, and she also knew that the malevolent qi on Qinghe was gradually weakening. After entering the Liuguang Mirror and her awakening, Qinghe had confessed everything.

Now she knew everything.

Perhaps much later, he could separate from the Longquan Sword. The Longquan Sword would be destroyed, and her arm would grow back.

That day would surely come. She was full of anticipation for life, and this joyful mood seemed to be something she had never experienced before.

Now she would also worry nervously about Little Skull, so after hearing Qin Jianglan’s words, she stood up directly and urged Qinghe to hurry. Her tone was much more urgent than before, and her voice wasn’t as flat as it used to be.

Qinghe nodded, called over the other two disciples to gather materials, then busied himself alongside Luo Ying.

Since the Liuguang Mirror was under Qin Jianglan’s control, he could see the entire Spirit Realm through his divine consciousness. So wherever needed items were located could be seen directly. It didn’t take long for them to set up the array formation. Once complete, several people formed a circle, waiting for Wu’er’s arrival.

Wu’er ran very fast.

But the giant ran even faster. With one step, he could cover what would take Little Skull an hour to fly.

As the chase grew closer, footprints of all sizes were everywhere—some deep, some shallow. Little Skull felt dizzy looking at them, but he couldn’t give up. He had to keep pursuing.

A giant had captured little uncle and little sister—he had to rescue them!

Just as he couldn’t determine the direction, he suddenly sensed people ahead. Little Skull recognized their clothing—those were people from the Dong Fushang Sect. He originally wanted to rush over for help, but he also knew Dong Fushang Sect wasn’t on good terms with Gujian Sect. Though Little Skull’s actual age wasn’t great, he could sense that Dong Fushang Sect cultivators were unfriendly toward them, having made snide remarks before. Little Skull stood in place for a moment, didn’t approach, and turned to walk in another direction.

But he had run too exhaustedly and hadn’t concealed his aura. He still gripped the immortal sword Zhuying in his hand. Though Zhuying looked like it had no blade, because his emotions were somewhat agitated, the Zhuying in his hand traced a streak of radiance. So when he moved, he was discovered by the Dong Fushang Sect. One person saw the immortal sword in his hand and cried out in shock: “That ghost creature is holding an immortal sword?”

“The blade is short like a dagger, the hilt is rhombus-shaped, and the blade is transparent and formless. Could it be—could it be the legendary Zhuying Sword!”

Dong Fushang Sect wasn’t purely a sword cultivation sect.

But it had cultivators who used swords, and regardless of whether they were sword cultivators, seeing an immortal artifact would make their eyes light up.

A ghost creature wearing clothes and a hat, but with a skeleton head underneath, holding an immortal sword! Unexpectedly, shortly after entering the ancient secret realm, they encountered such fortune.

The Dong Fushang Sect had suffered considerable losses this time. By the time they entered the secret realm, their sect’s cultivators were already half dead and wounded. However, seeing the immortal sword now, many cultivators were reinvigorated and rushed forward, wanting to kill the ghost creature and seize the immortal sword.

Several Nascent Soul stage elders exchanged glances, then flashed to surround Little Skull, sealing him within. One person produced a golden net, throwing it over Little Skull’s head.

To save little sister and little uncle, Little Skull was conserving his spiritual energy because he knew that if he truly found that giant, there would be a fierce battle. So now, he hadn’t even surrounded himself with a spiritual energy barrier.

The large net caught him. He saw someone throw out a talisman that fell on his body, burning him and causing sparks.

“Silkworm silk!”

“There’s silkworm silk wrapped around its bones!”

“Be careful, don’t damage the silkworm silk. Attack its head directly!”

Someone standing behind also said quietly, “That ghost creature? Its aura seems quite clean.”

However, her voice was drowned out in the crowd.

Little Skull stood in place. He had been injured earlier by the giant, and from running non-stop, several bones had broken without his attention. He felt both panicked and afraid—afraid that little sister and little uncle would be harmed by the giant, and afraid of being alone.

Now this group was attacking him without reason.

He was very sad.

He was also very angry.

The flames in his eye sockets suddenly turned deep green. Those two clusters of flames were like phosphorus fire from grave mounds, making the Dong Fushang Sect cultivators feel a tremor of unease.

“This ghost creature…”

“This ghost creature is only now generating malevolent qi?”

“Quick, stop him!”

Massive attacks fell on Little Skull. He didn’t hurt much, but he was very sad and very angry.

He could use spiritual energy to block those attacks.

He could also dodge and run away.

But at this moment, he angrily raised the Zhuying Sword. With one sword, he split open that golden net, then slashed toward the net wielder.

The startling sword light seemed to tear the firmament. The Zhuying Sword was shadowless and formless, but brought a chilling wind.

The Dong Fushang Sect cultivator holding the golden net had his magical treasure destroyed, and his soul was already shaken. His body retreated several steps, and the next moment, he felt a coolness at his brow. The sword light hadn’t arrived, yet his whole body stiffened, unable to move.

Eyes wide with shock, the next moment, he would be split in half.

Death’s shadow loomed overhead. Though drawing and striking with the sword was just an instant, he felt it was incredibly long, as if he had experienced his entire life.

Was he going to die?

Those two ghostly green flames belonged to a fierce ghost creature holding a long sword, come to harvest their lives.

Time stood still. No one could save him.

He desperately activated magical treasures to block, but heard a crack. His most prized life-saving magical treasure shattered lightly. The next to break would be himself. Terror filled his entire body. He wanted to call for help, but couldn’t make a sound.

But at this critical moment, he saw the ghost creature’s body gradually disappear—not only its body but its sword as well. The sword qi paused mid-air, and when it fell on him, most of its force was gone. Even so, the sword qi broke through from his forehead, leaving a hideous wound on his face.

“Ah!” After a scream, he gasped heavily, feeling sweat all over his body as if he’d been pulled from water.

“Elder Ming!”

“I’m fine.” He gritted his teeth against the pain, using spiritual energy to stop the bleeding with difficulty, lowering his voice: “That ghost creature used the Tianxuan Nine Swords.”

“The ghost creature is related to the Gujian Sect?”

…

Little Skull appeared again in the Spirit Realm’s array formation.

However, this time, it was Qinghe who summoned him.

He sat collapsed in the array, malevolent qi still not dissipated from his body. Seeing Qinghe, his eyes still flashed with ghostly green fire, his consciousness somewhat unclear. How, how did he suddenly change locations? He wanted to kill those people—kill, kill, kill them all!

Little Skull stood up and charged toward Qinghe, but Qinghe directly grabbed him, lifting him into the air to meet his eyes.

“What happened?” Qinghe asked sternly with a straight face.

He didn’t have as much dark qi as before, but Little Skull had always been quite afraid of Qinghe. Upon seeing him now, he seemed to come to his senses, trembling as he shrank back, the anger in his heart weakening somewhat.

He was very afraid of Qinghe.

Especially when he had done something wrong. Turning around, he saw Luo Ying beside him and immediately cried: “Big sister, little sister, and little uncle were captured by a giant. I wanted to save them.”

“It’s alright, your little uncle is fine.” Seeing Little Skull cry like this, Luo Ying suddenly felt unable to bear it.

“Fine?”

“Yes, they’re both fine. It was your little uncle who told us the method to find you.” Luo Ying said gently.

She felt somewhat sad and wanted to comfort him, to make him happy.

She didn’t know how to coax people. At this moment, she flipped her wrist, and several snowflakes drifted from her palm. A plum blossom bloomed at her fingertips, followed by butterflies dancing around the petals. This was just simple illusion magic, but Luo Ying’s body hadn’t recovered yet. In Qinghe’s eyes, she should use as little spiritual energy as possible.

Seeing the flowers and butterflies in big sister’s hands, Little Skull’s emotions stabilized somewhat. Learning that little uncle and little sister were fine, he began to continue complaining: “Dong Fushang Sect cultivators wanted to kill me. They, they used nets to catch me and burned me with fire…”

Seeing the small holes burned in Little Skull’s clothes, Qinghe had originally planned to stop Luo Ying from using spiritual energy to coax him, but now he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

His right hand still held Little Skull while his left palm opened, also blooming a flower.

Unfortunately, that flower emitted black qi, making Little Skull shudder again.

Luo Ying glanced at Qinghe and reached out to hug Little Skull. She only had one hand, but hugging Little Skull wouldn’t make her tired. However, Qinghe directly moved aside: “He has malevolent qi. Don’t contact him.”

Luo Ying stared fixedly at Qinghe. “You also have malevolent qi.”

Qinghe’s smile froze on his face. “When his malevolent qi is completely removed, I’ll bring him over for you to hug.”

Qinghe used to listen to Luo Ying very much.

No matter what she said, he would never refuse.

Now, seeing Qinghe’s frozen smile as he turned and walked away, Luo Ying felt somewhat uncomfortable.

At this time, she hadn’t yet understood what that emotion was or where it came from.

Qinghe walked two steps, thinking: “When my malevolent qi is removed, will you hug me too?” He wanted to voice his thoughts, but…

Better to take it slowly. Holding back was a bit difficult.

Qinghe expressionlessly carried Little Skull to the malevolent qi removal pool.

Little Skull immediately kicked his legs frantically: “What is this for? I’m scared.”

Qinghe frowned. He stared at Little Skull for a long time, finally saying coldly: “Don’t be afraid. I’ll accompany you down.”

Little Skull was terrified inside.

“If you accompany me, I’m even more scared…”

Little Skull liked Qinghe, too.

But liking and fear appeared simultaneously on Qinghe—this wasn’t contradictory, was it?

…

Learning that Little Skull had safely entered the Liuguang Mirror, Qin Jianglan also relaxed. He told Su Zhuyi about it, putting her mind at ease too.

Su Zhuyi nodded without saying more. His and Su Zhuyi’s bubbles were very close, but after gradually sinking to the bottom, the bubbles also gradually separated. Their hands that seemed to overlap also gradually moved apart.

Over there, Su Zhuyi finally released her hand and sat cross-legged in the bubble to begin absorbing spiritual energy.

His hand remained pressed against the bubble, not letting go for a long time.

He didn’t know how long he had been standing there. He only noticed that Su Zhuyi, who had been sitting cross-legged, suddenly tilted and leaned to the side, sleeping soundly with a faint smile on her face, as if she were having a beautiful dream.

What was she dreaming about?

The pool bottom was dark without a trace of light.

Qin Jianglan’s consciousness gradually sank. The warm spiritual spring washed over his body, making him gradually relax. His body involuntarily fell down, his eyes closed, as if he too had fallen into a sweet dream.