“Will he come out alive?” Pan Siji stared at the lotus in the center of the lake, asking very nervously.

“He will, of course, he will.” Su Zhuyi’s tone was certain.

Su Zhuyi never imagined that Qin Jianglan would fail.

She sat on Pan Siji’s shoulder, watching the white lotus in the center of the lake, watching those crystal-clear petals gradually extend outward a bit, the flower bud blooming little by little, filling people with anticipation.

Su Zhuyi didn’t wait long either. About half an hour later, the lotus completely bloomed, and Qin Jianglan stood quietly within the lotus, as if he hadn’t encountered any trials inside or exerted any effort at all. He just stood quietly, the gentle breeze coming, the flower blooming by itself.

After Qin Jianglan emerged, he immediately spotted Su Zhuyi. He touched down with his toes, stepping lightly on the lotus petals, borrowing force to fly across the lake surface and land directly at the lakeside. He paused on the ground for just an instant, then flew into the air, stopping beside Su Zhuyi, who was on Pan Siji’s shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Qin Jianglan looked at Su Zhuyi, seeing that her spiritual energy was insufficient, his brow slightly furrowed.

“I’m fine.” Su Zhuyi said, “Oh my, congratulations on your rebirth. Quickly take out your Liuguang Mirror.” She pointed with her hand, having Pan Siji raise his palm in front of them, then said, “Another person from the Gujian Sect died. Pan Siji temporarily protected her primordial spirit. Put her into the Liuguang Mirror.”

Qin Jianglan took out the Liuguang Mirror. The mirror surface flipped, and Mei Ruhua’s primordial spirit was collected into the mirror. The moment Su Zhuyi saw the Liuguang Mirror, she had already projected a strand of divine consciousness into the mirror, and she immediately saw Little Skull and Qinghe and the others inside the mirror.

Little Skull was practicing swordwork, with Luo Ying standing beside him, giving guidance.

Qinghe sat leaning against the parasol tree without moving, his gaze still glued to Luo Ying. He didn’t look as cold as before. As he sat there, he had a blade of green grass in his mouth and a faint smile at the corners of his mouth. The former Qinghe also presented a sunny, warm appearance in front of Luo Ying, but the current him looked much more genuine, as if that smile came from his heart rather than being a disguise to please his master in front of her.

Oh my, could it be that in the time they’d been apart, Qinghe and Luo Ying had made great progress?

Could it be that the two of them teaching Little Skull swordwork together had taught them understanding and developed feelings?

Just as Su Zhuyi was curious, Qinghe raised his head to glance at the sky, then said with displeasure in his tone, “Why is another familiar one coming in?”

Mei Ruhua had been severely injured before death, and her primordial spirit was extremely weak. Having been collected into the Liuguang Mirror, her primordial spirit hadn’t even awakened yet. Upon entering the mirror, Luo Ying flew into the air to protect Mei Ruhua’s primordial spirit, then asked, “What happened to the Gujian Sect?”

Why had another young disciple perished?

Luo Ying still had some impression of this female disciple—she was Elder Mei’s direct disciple, with good aptitude and high cultivation. She hadn’t expected her to perish so young.

Now the Gujian Sect had suffered considerable losses, and their strength would likely be greatly damaged, which might invite others’ covetousness.

Luo Ying had deep feelings for the Gujian Sect, and seeing Mei Ruhua this time made her even more worried.

“We’re exploring the ancient secret realm, and the Dong Fushang Sect cultivators want to exterminate us.” Su Zhuyi mentioned it briefly. At this time, Little Skull finished executing his sword techniques. He sheathed his sword, tilted up his small face, and said seriously, “None of the Dong Fushang Sect people are good.”

“They wanted to kill me and steal my sword.” Little Skull flourished the Zhuying Sword in his hand, saying, “When I get out, I’ll find them for revenge.”

Su Zhuyi nodded, “Mm, we won’t spare a single one of those Dong Fushang Sect people.”

Luo Ying said, “You should also be careful yourself.”

Su Zhuyi chatted with Luo Ying and the others for a while. At this time, Qin Jianglan also released Little Skull. Originally, Little Skull needed to wait until a certain time before returning to the outside world from the Liuguang Mirror, but after Qin Jianglan gained control of the Liuguang Mirror, he could directly summon Little Skull out. It was just that previously, he was soaking in the air bubble in the Rebirth Pond, and with Little Skull having baleful qi on him, the situation was unclear at the time. Keeping Little Skull in the mirror under Luo Ying and Qinghe’s care was safer.

Now, Little Skull emerged from the mirror and also sat on Pan Siji’s shoulder.

The giants gathered around, chattering, celebrating their companion’s rebirth. Su Zhuyi provided some explanations from the side, and Qin Jianglan also gained a general understanding of the current situation. So he asked, “If Wu’er is also placed in this Rebirth Pond, will he grow a physical body?”

After Qin Jianglan asked this question, Little Skull, who had originally been gripping his sword, planning to go out and find Dong Fushang Sect cultivators for revenge, now sat dazedly in place, his heart going up and down, the flames in his eye sockets flickering, so nervous that his bones were trembling.

“It should be possible, right?” Pan Siji said somewhat uncertainly. They had never tried placing a primordial spirit that wasn’t of the same origin into the Rebirth Pond, or rather, even if they had tried before, he had forgotten.

In any case, Pan Siji didn’t know whether it would work or not.

He was very concerned about his new companion’s question, so he went to ask the other giants. Everyone was also unclear, so they all said, “Then let’s put him in and try!” One of them even reached over, wanting to grab Little Skull and throw him into the Rebirth Pond.

The giants were very bored all day.

They were quite curious about this, too.

“We could all come out, and Little Skull’s primordial spirit is stronger than ours, so he should be able to come out too, right?” Su Zhuyi stroked Wu’er’s head, just afraid that Wu’er didn’t understand attack methods and would stay foolishly in the lotus without knowing how to come out.

She crouched down, facing Little Skull, and said, “Wu’er wants to grow tall and big, right?”

“Mm.” Little Skull clenched his fists tight—he wanted to grow flesh.

“Then you enter that Rebirth Pond.” Su Zhuyi patted his head and smiled.

Seeing that Little Skull was still completely confused, Qin Jianglan also crouched down and said gently, “When you enter that lake later, don’t be afraid. Stay inside peacefully for some time. Practicing swordwork and such are all fine. When you finally surface again, you must think of every way to come out from whatever is wrapping you, like a small bird breaking out of its shell. Can you do it?”

“I can!” Wu’er understood and nodded repeatedly.

Seeing Qin Jianglan speak so gently to Little Skull, Su Zhuyi suddenly remembered the past, when the Liuguang Mirror was still embedded in her body. She projected her divine consciousness into the Liuguang Mirror and saw Qin Jianglan telling stories to Little Skull, playing with Little Skull, and taking him to fly kites.

He was a very patient person.

If he weren’t patient, he wouldn’t have let her torment him on the Wangtian Tree for a full six hundred years.

The world all said Qin Jianglan was not easily approached, noble and cold, indifferent and distant to people, living alone on the Wangtian Tree, isolated from the world. But in reality, he wasn’t that kind of person.

At least, in her eyes, he was no longer that kind of person.

Qin Jianglan told Little Skull about some things to pay attention to. After Little Skull understood everything, he asked Pan Siji to also place Little Skull into the lake water.

Another transparent bubble appeared on the water’s surface. Watching Little Skull gradually sink, Su Zhuyi also felt somewhat comforted. When he grew flesh, the stone lotus platform in the jade gourd left by his father could belong to her. Originally, Su Zhuyi had always wanted the things in that jade gourd, but now, she suddenly felt that what gave her comfort wasn’t the jade gourd, but Little Skull himself.

The Qing Gu devoured emotions, and now, the influence of that Qing Gu on her was already very weak, wasn’t it?

After Little Skull completely sank into the center of the lake, Su Zhuyi said with a smile, “Qin Jianglan, come on, I’ll take you to collect souls.”

The meaning of this sentence was: Qin Jianglan, let’s go kill people!

Qin Jianglan glanced at her, “First, let’s go find the Xirang.”

The time they could stay in the secret realm was only about three to five years. They couldn’t waste a single bit, and most importantly, when he saw the Xirang in his previous life, it was just a few days after entering the secret realm. That is to say, the Xirang would appear in that place in the next few days, and if they missed it, who knew where the Xirang would run off to.

“Xirang!” Pan Siji was quite surprised to hear about Xirang. “You’re looking for Xirang?”

“You know about it?” Su Zhuyi’s eyes lit up. Could it be that the Pangu descendants knew where the Xirang was?

Xirang was also an existence from ancient times that appeared together with the Quicksand River. They might know about it.

“I don’t know.” Pangu shook his head. “It burrows through the soil and runs everywhere. We can’t catch it either, but the Xirang should be in the north. You can go look there.”

“But what are you looking for Xirang for? It’s just a lump of small mud.” Pan Siji asked curiously. He really couldn’t think what a lump of mud could be used for. Were they planning to use it to grow medicinal herbs?

Although using Xirang to nurture spirit plants could make those spirit medicines grow fast and well, for the Pangu giants, it still wasn’t very useful.

“You’ll know later.” Su Zhuyi patted Pan Siji’s shoulder, then called to Qin Jianglan, “Then let’s go look for the Xirang first.”

The two left the Rebirth Valley, heading north all the way. This time, Su Zhuyi didn’t ride the spirit boat but sat on Qin Jianglan’s Songfeng Sword. She meditated and regulated her breathing on the Songfeng Sword. After another half day, Su Zhuyi’s spiritual energy completely recovered. Once her body recovered, she became a bit restless, moving closer to Qin Jianglan’s side, leaning against him boneless, and said, “Qin Jianglan, I remember now. I indeed was hit by the Qing Gu.”

Qin Jianglan’s body stiffened, then he responded almost inaudibly, “Mm.”

Su Zhuyi’s hand was almost reaching into Qin Jianglan’s collar. She laughed softly twice, then said, “Eh, after coming out of the Rebirth Pond, your body seems to have become warmer.”

Originally, it was ice-cold, as if there wasn’t even a heartbeat. Now, it had become lively again. She scraped his neck with her fingernail. “I think that if my cultivation breaks through to the Nascent Soul stage, I won’t be affected by that Qing Gu anymore.”

Speaking of this, Su Zhuyi sat up straight, saying with a serious expression, “My cultivation has hit a bottleneck. I’m stuck at the Great Perfection Gold Core stage and don’t know how much longer it will take. I know a method that can let me advance quickly.”

She had originally been sitting behind Qin Jianglan, but now she was half-kneeling on the sword, extending both hands over his back, also extending her head over, her chest pressing right against his shoulder. She seemed to be hanging on his back, her hair falling like a waterfall in front of him. “Qin Jianglan, how about we dual cultivate?”