The stone sculpture Su Zhuyi and the petrified little white snake were brought back to Rebirth Valley by Little Skull.

Little Skull was no longer little skull now—he had grown flesh. Su Zhuyi and Qin Jianglan had entered the Rebirth Pond with their physical bodies intact. They were alive, had bodies, so in the rebirth pond they only had their flesh refined and emerged exactly as they were.

But Little Skull was different.

He was a dead thing.

Originally, it was because the primordial spirit about to become a mountain and river spirit had nowhere to depend on, so it naturally returned to the bones that originally belonged to it. What was reborn in the Rebirth Pond was originally the primordial spirit of Pangu the Giant. After Little Skull entered, his primordial spirit emerged from that bone frame that could no longer continue growing, soaking and floating inside. When he emerged from the rebirth lotus, he already possessed a new physical body.

Probably because he was a child when he died, he was now a little giant—not only was his height much shorter than a real giant, but his appearance was completely that of a child.

He was just taller now, almost twice as tall as Su Zhuyi. But among the giants, he was still small-sized. However, even with this height, it had already made the other Pangu clansmen weep with joy. Because Su Zhuyi’s stone sculpture was bent over, supporting a sword, Wu’er was now much taller than Su Zhuyi. He sat cross-legged in front of Su Zhuyi, holding a stone snake in his hands.

This little white snake was too small, so Wu’er usually just tucked it directly in his pocket without needing to place it specially.

“Big sister, they say the flowers in that valley are poisonous with no way to detoxify them, but those flowers are already dead, so you’ll slowly recover.” Little Skull’s voice wasn’t as rough as Pan Siji and the others—it was still clear and pleasant, a sweet and soft childish voice. He was very happy to have a physical body and couldn’t wait to share with his big sister, wanting to ask if he looked good now. Who would have known big sister had become like this? Wu’er was worried to death, so he sensibly stopped asking.

He’d wait until big sister recovered before asking again.

He wondered if, in big sister’s eyes, he was still cute now?

“It’s just that you’ll temporarily maintain this stone sculpture appearance and slowly recover bit by bit.” Little Skull continued, “Don’t be afraid. You’ll get better.”

“Mm, I’m not afraid at all.”

When they said slowly recover, it wasn’t very slow. Su Zhuyi originally could only move her eyes, but now her face could also twitch. The petrified parts were shrinking bit by bit. At this rate, she’d probably be free in about three to five months.

Wu’er had fair skin and handsome features. He was greatly beloved within the Pangu clan. Because it was a reshaped physical body, he came out completely naked, so his clothes were all prepared by the Pangu clansmen.

He was now wrapped in fur on the outside—smooth white long fur covering his entire body, and he wore a hood. Su Zhuyi felt like there was a silly and adorable big white bear crouching in front of her.

She’d have to look up at him from now on?

He never grew before, but when he finally grew, he grew this big. Really didn’t know what to say about it.

During the day, Su Zhuyi was placed under the big tree where spiritual energy was most concentrated in Rebirth Valley. Perhaps because there was a piece of Breath Soil hidden in her body, Su Zhuyi felt those trees and vines particularly liked getting close to her. Previously, when Wu’er wasn’t staying by her side, vines would wrap around her body, so after that, Wu’er stayed by her side constantly, preventing her from being surrounded by plants.

At night, Wu’er would carry Su Zhuyi back to the room.

This room was built by him together with the Pangu clansmen. With their immense strength, digging a hole in the mountain wall was effortless. Then they made wooden doors and wooden beds—in just one day, they had the cave dwelling completed. The Pangu clansmen found making these things interesting, and stuffed everything into the room. For them, making such small beds and chairs was like making model toys—each one was very enthusiastic. Therefore, Su Zhuyi’s room was very large and spacious, with everything complete inside. If one were to live there, it would be quite comfortable.

However, she was a stone sculpture and couldn’t move, so placed in the room, she was almost like a decoration.

Qin Jianglan, on the bed, was still unconscious and hadn’t woken up yet.

Big white bear Wu’er wouldn’t stay in the room at night. He guarded her constantly during the day while she basked in the sun, but at night, he had to learn things from the Pangu clansmen. So he placed Su Zhuyi and Qin Jianglan together. There was also a barrier in the room that those spiritual plants couldn’t penetrate. With little uncle accompanying big sister, and big sister able to watch over little uncle, only then could he feel at ease going out to cultivate.

Wu’er was also quite carefree—he directly placed her at Qin Jianglan’s bedside. If Qin Jianglan woke up and opened his eyes to see a sculpture standing in front of him, who knew if he’d be startled.

This night, Su Zhuyi was again standing with her “crutch” at Qin Jianglan’s bedside.

The cave dwelling she lived in was on the mountain, dug as a circular, arched door. There was a small window on the upper right of the wooden door. Both window panels were open but hung with a layer of curtain, covering the windows tightly and giving no chance for outside spiritual plants to drill in. But even so, the outside mountain wall was covered with green vines, just like ivy covering the entire wall.

Those curtains weren’t made of fabric, but lotus petals from the Rebirth Pond—white with a hint of pink, crystal clear under the moonlight. It was precisely because of this small window that the unlit room had moonlight, making the interior seem covered with a layer of snow-white gauze.

Su Zhuyi had no way to cultivate now—she could only refine her spirit, which meant nourishing her primordial spirit. She closed her eyes, gradually circulating the heaven and earth spiritual energy absorbed through breathing during the day, rotating it once through her body before gathering it in her dantian and sea of consciousness, then using that spiritual energy to seep into her sea of consciousness, gradually improving it. After a while, Su Zhuyi suddenly felt a hand gently placed on her cheek, lightly pressed against her face, and gently caressing.

She opened her eyes and saw that Qin Jianglan had awakened.

He sat on the bedside with his outer robe casually draped over his shoulders, his hand pressed against her face.

“You’re awake?” Su Zhuyi saw Qin Jianglan, her starry eyes suddenly brightening. In her tone, there was also a trace of faint joy.

“Mm.” Qin Jianglan nodded, “This poison of yours can only slowly recover.” The giant flower was dead, its primordial spirit and body collected into the Liuguang Mirror, now under his control, so he naturally knew what Su Zhuyi’s poisoning was about.

“I know. Pan Siji and the others examined me and said I just need to wait another three to five months to recover.” The part below her mouth was still petrified. Her chin was normal skin, but below the chin was like rock. Su Zhuyi felt that if her hands could move, she’d want to scratch at it a few times.

“Mm.” Qin Jianglan nodded, “I’m much better, too.” The injuries were severe, but recovery wasn’t slow either. These past few days, he’d obtained many good things from the Pangu clan. There was even a plate of Calming Spirit incense burning at the bedside—probably because of this that he could wake up so quickly.

His hand gently scraped her chin twice, actually scraping off a bit of powder. Qin Jianglan frowned and said, “Would this make it heal faster?”

He continued gently rubbing twice and asked, “Does it hurt?”

Su Zhuyi didn’t feel any pain. She didn’t know if this would help it heal faster either, but since it was stiff and petrified, if it was massaged, perhaps it really could recover faster. Therefore she said, “Don’t scrape it. What if you scrape the skin raw?” Right now it was a stone sculpture so you couldn’t tell, but if after recovery the skin was scraped raw or even scraped off a layer, that would be disgusting.

“You massage me.” Her face was thick-skinned as she said this matter-of-factly, not knowing shame at all.

Qin Jianglan chuckled softly. He sat on the bedside, kissed Su Zhuyi’s forehead, then stood beside the bed and completely closed that small window. The moment the window was closed, there was no more light in the room. Su Zhuyi’s divine consciousness had recovered quite a bit, and she could still see. She saw Qin Jianglan take out a luminous pearl and place it in a small bowl on the table.

That bowl contained fruits Wu’er had picked, with flowers he’d plucked beside it.

At Luoxue Peak, Wu’er had developed the habit of arranging flowers in the room daily. Now that he’d arrived at Rebirth Valley, he persisted in placing flowers in Su Zhuyi’s room, and wasn’t limited to plum blossoms anymore—there were all kinds of flowers. They had one characteristic: these flowers were all particularly large, with flower heads like washbasins.

What seemed large to ordinary people was probably very small and cute to giants. His aesthetic had already deviated toward the giants’ side.

The fruits in the bowl were red and green of various colors. Placing a luminous pearl inside didn’t seem out of place either. Looking at that hazy halo, Su Zhuyi inexplicably felt a bit greedy, though she didn’t know if it was the fruits that looked delicious or the jade-like person in front of her.

He had just awakened from injury, his hair still loose and slightly disheveled, his complexion still pale.

His clothing was casually draped, exposing his collarbones. Under that faint radiance, his whole person had less of that cold aloofness, as if covered with a layer of soft light that made his skin appear even more fair, and he seemed somewhat frail, as if he could be blown away by wind.

As if he could be pressed down and ravaged at will by someone.

This injured Qin Jianglan was more alluring. Made her want to take a bite or two, but she couldn’t move.

Ah, no, her mouth could still move.

What was she thinking? Su Zhuyi felt her face was thick enough, but even now her cheeks felt somewhat hot.

Qin Jianglan saw her gaze fall on the bowl, so he brought the bowl over, holding a red fruit in his hand. “If you want to eat, I’ll feed you.”

“Yes.”

Su Zhuyi nodded, thinking to herself, “Want to eat you.”

Too bad her body couldn’t do it.

Qin Jianglan used spiritual energy to wash the fruit again. He brought the fruit to Su Zhuyi’s mouth, and Su Zhuyi opened her mouth to take a bite.

The fruit was very sweet, reminding her of candy she had eaten as a child.

Not only sweet, but spiritual energy also flowed into her body, making her feel extremely comfortable. The fruit wasn’t large—after a few bites, she’d eaten half. Su Zhuyi’s mind stirred, and as she was biting, she bit Qin Jianglan’s finger, holding it in her mouth and gently licking and nibbling with her tongue tip. She was quite happy playing by herself, her eyes even narrowing, her long eyelashes trembling like a little feather teasing a cat, while Qin Jianglan was that cat with an itchy heart.

He calmly withdrew his finger from her mouth and wiped the saliva on her cheek.

Anyway, Su Zhuyi couldn’t move and could only stare at him helplessly.

Then he gathered spiritual energy in his palm and began massaging her body. It was cold, hard stone—massaging it gently was still stone, even though his movements were gentle and his expression focused, he was only rubbing a lump of stone.

Su Zhuyi’s petrified body had no sensation at all.

She watched Qin Jianglan massaging there, watching until she felt bored. Perhaps sensing Su Zhuyi’s impatience, Qin Jianglan took another fruit and used spiritual energy to suspend it in front of Su Zhuyi, dangling it by her mouth. If she wanted to eat it, she could just open her mouth.

Su Zhuyi: “…”

Damn, treating her like a donkey?

Just then, Qin Jianglan also took out the Liuguang Mirror. “If you’re still bored, chat with your master and the others.”

“The Breath Soil is in your body—we need to find a way to draw it out and put it in the Liuguang Mirror.” As he said this, Qin Jianglan also smoothly massaged Su Zhuyi’s little belly. With the Breath Soil, half the problem could be solved. If they could persuade the Pangu clan to also collect the Rebirth Pond into the Liuguang Mirror, the Reincarnation Dao would be ninety percent complete.

“Can’t you just collect me directly into the Liuguang Mirror?” If she went in, wouldn’t that mean the Breath Soil went in too? The Liuguang Mirror could automatically absorb life force—once inside, the Breath Soil couldn’t hide.

“No. Since it’s the Reincarnation Dao, naturally, one must perish before entering. Unless it’s a voluntary sacrifice.”

In the Liuguang Mirror, except for him and Qinghe, all the others were dead spirits. Even Luo Ying originally only had a bit of primordial spirit left.

“Then I’ll also…” Su Zhuyi blurted out, but stopped halfway through her words.

She would also voluntarily sacrifice? Impossible—how could she be that noble?

No, how could she have such thoughts? Thinking of this, Su Zhuyi’s eyes darkened somewhat. She was rather displeased with her current self.

Qin Jianglan wouldn’t let Su Zhuyi voluntarily sacrifice to the Liuguang Mirror.

If the Reincarnation Dao in the Liuguang Mirror succeeded, that would be fine, but if it failed, they would all dissipate. He wouldn’t let Su Zhuyi get involved; otherwise, what would be the meaning of living this life again?

He reached out to her cheek and gently pinched it. Her whole body was cold and hard—only by touching her smooth, soft cheek could he feel at ease.

“Your master and senior brother seem to have made some progress in their relationship recently.”

“Eh?” Su Zhuyi’s attention was immediately diverted. She infused her divine consciousness into the Liuguang Mirror. Perhaps with Qin Jianglan’s help, as soon as her divine consciousness entered, she happened to see Qinghe and Luo Ying standing under a red maple tree. Luo Ying stood with her back against the tree, her brows slightly furrowed, while Qinghe stood facing her, one hand pressed against the tree trunk, as if encircling Luo Ying within his domain.

Qinghe was much taller than Luo Ying.

Standing in front of Luo Ying, he blocked the light before her.

Luo Ying was completely enveloped by him. Her brows were furrowed, her expression displeased, but her heart held emotions she couldn’t clearly understand.

She was increasingly dependent on him, willing to be close to him.

But Luo Ying always felt this was because he was the Longquan Sword, and she had sacrificed to the Longquan Sword before, so she instinctively rejected these feelings.

So she began avoiding Qinghe. As a result, the anxious Qinghe cornered her here.

He used to respect and revere her, always smiling in front of her. Now his expression was serious, his eyes seeming to brew a storm. This version of him made her very unfamiliar, yet her heart didn’t reject it—there was even a trace of panic.

“Qinghe, what are you trying to do? Move aside.” Luo Ying coldly scolded, feigning composure.

Qinghe said nothing. He suddenly bent down and planted a kiss on Luo Ying’s forehead.

Su Zhuyi, secretly watching the excitement: “…”

What’s with kissing the forehead? Kiss the lips! Senior brother, you’re still too inexperienced. Sigh, when will you learn a few moves from me?

She was expecting the main event when she saw Qinghe lift his head and glance coldly at the air. “Su Zhuyi.”

Eh, discovered?

“Still watching?” Qinghe gave a dissatisfied cold snort, but the corner of his eye caught sight of Luo Ying, and a smile flashed briefly at the corner of his mouth.

Luo Ying’s cheeks flushed. Under her fair, translucent skin showed rosy red, like plum blossoms just blooming on branches. Learning that Su Zhuyi was watching, she lowered her head in panic, her face blushing from embarrassment.

Luo Ying, who once had an expressionless face, was shy.

If she were angry, she wouldn’t have this reaction.

She was shy, which meant her heart had him, too—not just master-disciple affection, but feelings between a man and woman.

Realizing this, Qinghe seemed very happy. He was no longer annoyed at Su Zhuyi’s peeping and instead asked, “Are you feeling better?”

“We dealt with that flower.”

The giant flower was shredded by the sword energy of Gujian Sect cultivators, scattered along the banks of the largest river in the True Spirit Realm.

Only now did Su Zhuyi notice that this mirror world had many more flowers—vast expanses of flowers.

She remembered stories she’d read before.

On the road to the underworld, Paramita flowers bloom.

It was becoming more and more similar.

Could they perfect the Reincarnation Dao, gain Heaven’s recognition, and thus escape their originally fated death?

She thought, regardless of the outcome, at least they now had hope, and everyone was working hard for it.

“There are too few dead spirits in the Liuguang Mirror. Should I go kill a few more?”

Qin Jianglan: “…”

He said nothing, but used some force to flick Su Zhuyi’s forehead.

“Hey, I was just saying.” She pouted, snorted coldly, her eyes rolling around sparkling with starlight. That face under the luminous pearl’s illumination was beautiful and alluring, radiant with every glance.

It was just a casual remark. At least she wouldn’t easily massacre cities and treat human lives like grass as she had before.

“Mm, I was just casually flicking too.” His finger tapped her forehead again as Qin Jianglan chuckled softly.

He could only bully Su Zhuyi when she couldn’t move.

Su Zhuyi: “…”