Was it the Zhuxin Curse?

Su Zhuyi curled up in pain, wishing in that instant that she could dig out her own heart.

As her consciousness gradually blurred, she hazily saw something indistinct appear for a moment in her dantian’s sea of consciousness, seemingly a mirror. The mirror’s surface was shattered and fragmented, and through it she saw many faces of herself.

The small hoe that had originally resided in her sea of consciousness gradually dimmed in radiance, and that weak spiritual connection finally disappeared completely.

A thunderous boom exploded, and Su Zhuyi jolted awake. The windows of her room had been blown open by the wind, and the left and right window panels were beating against the frames with loud pattering sounds. Fierce winds swept fallen leaves into the room, knocking over the lamp on the table. Moments later, torrential rain poured down from the sky. Su Zhuyi sat on a stool beside the table as the slanting rainwater splashed onto her face.

Her complexion was deathly pale, her lips dark purple, and her entire body was ice-cold.

A bolt of lightning tore through the sky as if striking directly at her head, reminding Su Zhuyi of the lightning tribulation that had appeared above the Wangtian Tree in her previous life. She felt the threat of death, as if a sharp sword hung above her head, only a hair’s breadth from her scalp. A golden lightning-formed sword, grasped by Heaven itself, cut through the night sky and, accompanied by violent winds and sudden rain, struck down at her neck.

Was it a lightning tribulation? Her Golden Core tribulation?

At that moment, the blurred mirror in her sea of consciousness disappeared again. The already shattered mirror fragments transformed into countless streams of light that sank into her sea of consciousness. In the next moment, the sense of crisis hanging over her head vanished.

Su Zhuyi clutched her chest and groaned in discomfort, suddenly catching sight of a dark shadow at the window.

Qinghe stood there, asking, “I asked you to break through to the Golden Core realm at Luoxue Peak, and you refused. Now you’re undergoing tribulation here?”

As his words fell, the tribulation clouds in the sky dispersed, the wind stopped, and the rain ceased. He frowned and asked, “How do you feel?”

“Alright.” Su Zhuyi managed to respond with difficulty.

“The tribulation clouds have scattered. Don’t let trivial matters disturb your mind and create inner demons.” He paused, “I cannot kill people right now.”

Though he only spoke half the sentence, Su Zhuyi understood Qinghe’s meaning.

Qinghe thought she had disturbed her mind because she wanted to kill Qin Chuan. He couldn’t kill people right now, but if he could, he might have acted to kill Qin Chuan…

But who could say for certain?

After Qinghe left, Su Zhuyi stood up and closed the windows. Then she checked the room’s array formations and restrictions, discovering that the guest room’s prohibitions had all been destroyed by the wind, rain, and lightning. The power required for this was so great that no one would believe it if told.

She reset the array formations and laid down her barrier before sitting back on the bed and removing her clothes, leaving only her undergarments.

The Zhuxin Curse was still on her chest. The recent pain had nothing to do with the Zhuxin Curse.

She probed around her chest area with spiritual energy, but didn’t see the Liuguang Mirror. Yet when her consciousness had been confused just now, she had truly seen the Liuguang Mirror. That Liuguang Mirror was on her body, having returned with her to eleven hundred years ago. The lightning tribulation just now wasn’t her Golden Core tribulation either, but rather the tribulation revealed by the Liuguang Mirror’s manifestation.

Her eyes darkened, and then she noticed the hoe had fallen to the ground in front of the bed. Su Zhuyi focused her mind and beckoned with her hand, but the hoe didn’t fly to her as it usually did. The spiritual connection between them had disappeared.

If the hoe were still her natal magical treasure, even without using spiritual energy, a single thought could make the hoe move or obey commands to attack enemies. However, now she had to use spiritual energy to perform grasping techniques to bring the hoe over for her use. This was the difference between natal and non-natal magical treasures.

The hoe was no longer her natal magical treasure.

Was her natal magical treasure the Liuguang Mirror? But she couldn’t sense the Liuguang Mirror’s existence at all, which meant this mirror currently couldn’t provide her any help.

The hoe could still till soil, dig holes, and even kill people, but the Liuguang Mirror was as good as nonexistent, and worse still, it would attract lightning strikes whenever it appeared.

But thinking about these things was meaningless. She had originally chosen the hoe out of necessity—it was the only thing available to her. Now she didn’t regret it. Placing the hoe in her storage magical treasure, Su Zhuyi rested on the bed. She didn’t sleep, keeping her eyes open until dawn.

The next day, the elder drew lots early in the morning. Su Zhuyi’s first match was against a disciple from something called the Vast Sea Sword Sect.

Their sword competitions were divided by age groups. In the cultivation world, under one hundred years old was considered very young, and for sword cultivators, who were weak in their early stages, sword cultivators under one hundred were still tender saplings that needed protection. To Su Zhuyi, these tender sprouts had pitifully little combat experience.

The sword cultivator competing with Su Zhuyi was a female cultivator, twenty-seven years old by bone age, with first-level Foundation Establishment cultivation. Having such high cultivation in a third-rate sect like the Vast Sea Sword Sect was enough to prove her excellent qualifications, making her the sect’s hope. Unfortunately, she encountered Su Zhuyi in the first round.

The Yunxiao Sect’s martial arts platform floated in mid-air.

The platform was shaped like an emerald green lotus leaf. When Su Zhuyi arrived, she saw the Vast Sea Sword Sect’s female disciple wearing a pink long dress with white boots, bright eyes, and white teeth, appearing pure and lovely. At first glance, she looked like a delicate pink lotus blooming gracefully on the lotus leaf.

Unfortunately, Su Zhuyi was not one to cherish flowers.

She hadn’t slept all night. Normally, cultivators with spiritual energy wouldn’t look haggard even without sleep, but she was somewhat dispirited due to the Liuguang Mirror incident and nearly being struck by lightning. She looked somewhat lackluster, yet that pale complexion, nearly transparent, looked like a jade figure under the sunlight, truly pitiable. As a result, numerous gazes focused on Su Zhuyi, who appeared weak as if she could be blown away by a gust of wind, and the pink lotus was instantly ignored.

Someone below even shouted, “Senior sister, stop at a reasonable point and show mercy with your sword!”

Everyone thought the Vast Sea Sword Sect’s female cultivator would win. After all, Su Zhuyi’s reputation had spread overnight—a Gujian Sect sword cultivator who had just developed her sword heart. If she weren’t Luo Ying’s disciple and Qinghe’s junior sister, it wouldn’t be her turn to take the stage at all.

The jade bell rang, and the sword dao competition began.

The pink-dressed woman opposite performed a sword flourish in proper form, bowed slightly, and said, “Please.” Who would have expected that when she raised her head again, the person before her was gone? She only saw a gust of wind blow toward her, and simultaneously, a palm strike wreathed in flames landed on her body, instantly shattering her protective spiritual energy barrier and striking directly on her left shoulder.

The speed was too fast—completely unavoidable.

She was directly sent flying off the lotus leaf by that palm strike. When she climbed up, her face was still full of shock, completely unable to process what had happened.

Wasn’t this supposed to be a sword competition?

“This, this, this…”

“That was the high-level movement technique, Without Shadow or Trace, fast as shadowless and formless. She’s probably cultivated it to the final level. She’s only at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, yet she’s completely mastered Without Shadow or Trace?”

“With her Foundation Establishment level strength, the Blazing Palm could instantly shatter the Vast Sea Sword Sect female disciple’s spiritual energy defense and knock her flying off the lotus leaf. Her Blazing Palm has probably also been cultivated to the extreme.”

A young sword cultivator had cultivated those miscellaneous techniques to perfection. For sword cultivators, the young years should be spent arduously practicing sword techniques! At the age of teens, practicing both sword arts and other high-level techniques—wouldn’t that delay improvement in the sword dao?

The cultivators below discussed among themselves, and at this time, someone came out to announce that Su Zhuyi of the Gujian Sect had won. Someone asked indignantly, “Isn’t this supposed to be a sword competition?”

Su Zhuyi looked toward the voice. Perhaps because she had moved slightly, her pale complexion gained a touch of flush, like morning sun dyeing white clouds with rouge, suddenly taking on a different charm. Unfortunately, her words were quite infuriating.

She said coldly, “They’re not worthy of me drawing my sword.”

Qinghe: “…”

He was too lazy to expose her. A sword cultivator who forgot to bring her sword before going on stage—this was truly unprecedented and would never be repeated. She probably even forgot the name of the sword she had casually chosen last time.

This person fundamentally didn’t love swords and had no aspirations in the sword dao. Therefore, she would find it difficult to achieve anything in the sword dao.

…

True Spirit Realm.

The rain was falling heavily.

Qin Jianglan had a layer of spiritual energy barrier around him, so the rain couldn’t reach him. He walked through the rain at an unhurried pace. The misty rain formed a hazy halo around him, making his cold-colored azure robe appear much softer.

Little Skull loved rain. Right now, he was running around without shelter, getting soaked. His clothes were ordinary cultivation world fabric that he had sewn himself, looking like a burlap sack worn on his body. Now the sack was soaked with water and clung to his skeleton frame.

Qin Jianglan quickened his pace slightly and held an umbrella over his head.

He was very simple-minded, experiencing life. Holding an umbrella in the rain was also a kind of life experience.

“Little uncle, why haven’t I returned this time?”

“Because you’ve become stronger, so you can stay longer.” Qin Jianglan looked up at the sky. He felt this rain was somewhat strange—it came without warning. Just moments ago, it had been a bright sunny day, then suddenly dark clouds gathered, as if the sky had been directly shattered.

He had lived here for a long time now.

He increasingly felt something was odd, though he couldn’t say exactly what was strange. Qin Jianglan cultivated daily, or else he would earn spirit stones, read books, and experience the history of the True Spirit Realm. He was a rogue cultivator who didn’t interact much with other cultivators. Thanks to his previous cultivation experience, his strength advanced quickly. Plus, everywhere here had abundant spiritual energy. In ten years, he had already recovered to Nascent Soul stage strength, and his sword intent was stronger than before.

He only relaxed slightly when Wu’er came over.

Qin Jianglan would accompany him to walk around and see things, because Wu’er said the little miss had promised him that he wanted to see the scenery under heaven. Since this place and that side weren’t in the same world, he should naturally take Wu’er to see different scenery.

What exactly was wrong? Looking at the sky overhead that seemed to have shattered, Qin Jianglan’s ink-dark brows furrowed slightly, and a trace of melancholy appeared in his cold, clear eyes.

Wu’er said they lived at Luoxue Peak.

Su Zhuyi had not entered the Xueluo Sect. He had wanted to return to the past to give her a different life, but now, while her childhood no longer held so much misfortune, it no longer included his participation.

The Nascent Soul stage wasn’t enough.

He wanted to cultivate even faster.