Chapter 233. Nüwa Mends the Heavens (6) The Main Peak’s Summit: Spirit Beast and Spirit Lake

     Shi Nan hesitated for a long time, wanting to refuse. But after all, Nüwa was the new leader of the Yanzi tribe, and she had even eaten that unknown herbal pill right in front of them.  

     She closed her eyes and placed it in her mouth. The pill dissolved instantly upon contact, its taste bitter with just a hint of lingering sweetness.  

     In less than two seconds, Shi Nan felt a distinct surge of warmth inside her body, circulating rhythmically with her heartbeat, 30 times in half a minute.  

     Then, the burns and dark stings on her face, body, and internal organs completely healed.  

     Shi Nan exclaimed in shock, “Immortal herb?”  

     In the mythological era, humans could be incredibly strong, and spiritual herbs were no exception. The same went for poisonous plants, some even gained sentience and transformed into demons/spirits by absorbing the essence of heaven and earth.  

     The tribe’s knowledge of plants mostly came from wood-attribute ability users. However, these users often focused more on combat than healing.  

     After all, the self-healing abilities of the strong often rendered external treatment unnecessary, time alone was enough for recovery.  

     As for ordinary people, if they were weak, they had to strive to grow stronger and advance to survive longer.  

     Thus, despite the abundant resources of the Nine Provinces(Jiuzhou Continent), the tribespeople had not yet developed any healing methods beyond the light-based “Zhu You” techniques. At most, they had only heard of a few rare healing immortal herbs in stories.  

     Immortal herbs were hard for ordinary people to encounter or identify, though they grew abundantly in certain areas of their tribe.  

     Shi Nan was both astonished and intrigued by this unusual immortal herb. The others also turned their gazes toward her at the mention of “immortal herb,” their eyes brimming with unconcealed curiosity.  

     “It’s not an immortal herb. It’s a medicinal pill made by a friend. It has healing effects similar to, yet different from, the Zhu You technique,” Ye Mo explained briefly before issuing her second challenge to Shi Nan. “Shi Nan, let’s go again.”  

     The two clashed once more.  

     They both possessed four abilities: space, wind, darkness, and fire.  

     Shi Nan excelled in the first two: wind abilities enhanced her speed, while space abilities allowed her to appear and disappear unpredictably, making her attacks nearly impossible to defend against.  

     Ye Mo had lost in the previous round because of this. But this time, she learned from her mistakes. Refusing to be led by the nose again, she adjusted her tactics—this time, incorporating a sea of flames into her strategy.  

     The blazing fire became her perfect visual disruption, dismantling Shi Nan’s assassin-style chain attacks.  

     Now, it was Ye Mo who put on an assassin-like performance, and anyone with a discerning eye could tell that Ye Mo had learned a lot from Shi Nan, blending various spells and tactics into her own style.  

     Not only had she mastered her opponent’s techniques in a single match, she even improvised her own innovations—her learning ability was terrifying.  

     And so, the victor of the second round was without a doubt—Ye Mo ✓.  

     Unwilling to concede, Shi Nan challenged Ye Man to a third round. Ye Man glanced at her and agreed.  

     They fought again.  

     The victor of the third round was, without a doubt, still Ye Mo √. This time, the match ended even faster because Shi Nan’s attempt to mimic the sea of flames backfired, throwing her into disarray.  

     Convinced of her defeat, Shi Nan clasped her hands in a respectful salute and said sincerely, “Queen Wa.”  

     Ye Mo gave a slight nod. The injuries from these two fights weren’t severe, so she saw no need to waste precious pills. Instead, she cast a wood-attribute spell and a light-attribute spell to heal herself and Shi Nan, then sat cross-legged—breaking through, reflecting, comprehending, and improving.

     Then, she moved on to the next challenge.  

     In the following matches, as her opponents grew increasingly stronger, Ye Mo suffered many defeats.

     On one occasion, she lost to the same person 2, 3, 4, even 5 times before finally securing a victory on the sixth try. Another battle lasted over 18 hours, pushing both fighters to the brink until they had no choice but to take life-preserving elixirs. And once, after a crushing defeat, she spent three days and nights in deep cultivation and enlightenment.  

     However, even when Ye Mo lost, Dai Qing and the others could no longer muster their usual taunts

     Perhaps it was because of the sheer determination and resilience she displayed in every brutal fight, her brilliance was impossible to ignore. Or perhaps it was because of her insane rate of improvement, her spiritual root talent proving utterly unparalleled.  

     No wonder there had been rumors in the tribe that Nüwa had been praised by the Zhīnǚ  for her extraordinary talent at birth. In the past, the elders had listed her among the laziest and most unruly children. But now, as the tribe’s leader, she had matured.  

     ……  

     By the time Ye Mo finally defeated the last member of Dai Qing’s group, four and a half months had passed since entering the dungeon. No wonder the Survivor app hadn’t set a time limit for the mission—mythological dungeons clearly operated on a different timescale.  

     In these four and a half months, Ye Mo had seized every second to strengthen herself. She could confidently say that she had progressed much faster and further than Nüwa’s original self.  

     Dai Qing and the others had witnessed Ye Mo’s growth step by step, from reluctant obedience to genuine admiration.  

     What surprised them, however, was when Ye Mo called out five names—challenging them all at once.

     “This—?” 

     Ye Mo vs. Dai Qing’s group of five. This time, of course, she wouldn’t limit herself to just one type of spell. Instead, she fused over a dozen spells together—potentially multiplying their destructive power a hundredfold.

     She could infuse lightning spells with tons of water, neutralize electricity with wood-based insulation, heal herself using light and wood attributes, while darkness and spatial magic combined perfectly for ambushes. Water countered fire, earth subdued water—everything in existence had its natural checks and balances.  

     Even her close-combat punches and kicks—something most ability users overlooked—became lethal weapons. And this was without her even tapping into her mental powers. The victory came swiftly and decisively: Ye Mo wins ✓.  

     It happened so fast that Dai Qing’s group was left questioning reality—this fight had taken even less time than Ye Mo’s previous solo battles against any one of them.  

    After the battle, Ye Mo pointed out the weaknesses of Dai Qing’s group and how to counter them. Though they looked conflicted, they took her advice to heart.  

     Setting aside their biases, Ye Mo’s guidance had undeniably helped them improve.  

     She also emphasized the importance of martial skills. Their physical prowess was already formidable—not honing their combat techniques was a waste of potential.  

     Ye Mo, with her serpentine lower body, couldn’t demonstrate footwork.  

     So, she conjured the first book of this world. As she opened it, a small black-haired, black-eyed, yellow-skinned figure appeared above the pages, performing an entire set of martial arts moves.  

     The others stared wide-eyed. “What is this?”  

     “Basic martial arts manual. You can study the Chinese characters, but it also comes with audio instructions. These characters are simpler than the knot script created by the Weaver Girl(Zhīnǚ).”  

     Ye Mo tossed the book to the strongest member of Dai Qing’s group. Then, she called out ten more names for another round of challenges. The subsequent fights increasingly resembled a training session.  

     One person, after hesitating for a long time, shared a few spell applications he had seen before. Though they lacked the talent to use them, his input gave Ye Man new inspiration.  

     In this round, it took only four or five days for Ye Mo to defeat Dai Qing’s entire group three times over.  

     Throughout the battles, her mastery of spell fusion and tactical application became effortless. In contrast, her opponents’ teamwork was chaotic and disjointed, revealing their complete lack of coordination.  

     Finally, Ye Mo experimented with her mental power abilities.  

     Her mental suggestions worked flawlessly on all of them. Against opponents of similar strength, she could easily cast illusions or disrupt their emotions.  

     However, full mental control could only be exerted on the five weakest members, with a maximum of three at once—such as making them fight each other, then erasing their memories for a period.  

     At this point, a mental restorative potion or a long period of rest was needed to recover.  

     In ancient myths, there was no concept of “mental power”—instead, they referred to it as “soul force” (Hun Li), one of the most effective ways to identify humans or even living beings.  

     No one was surprised that Ye Mo possessed soul force. After all, she had the innate gifts of an ancient dragon. What did shock them was that her soul force was not at all weaker than her spellcasting ability—it might even be stronger.

     Dai Qing and the others could barely believe their eyes—just how many more surprises did Nüwa have in store?  

     As the saying goes:”No discord, no concord.” 

     Even Dai Qing’s group had begun to realize that their attitude toward Nüwa had long shifted from mockery and disdain to respect and admiration—though some still stubbornly refused to admit it outright.  

     The way they looked at her now was more like how one would regard a new chieftain of the Yanzi Tribe, even if a few muttered through gritted teeth:  

     “Now that you’ve beaten us, try not to get yourself killed by other tribes out there.”

     Ye Mo: …That ‘blessing’ was a bit backhanded.

     ……  

     After temporarily bidding farewell to Dai Qing and the others, Ye Mo continued her ascent up Kunlun Mountain.

     At this stage, the similarities and differences between the Kunlun Mountain in this realm and Earth’s Kunlun range became even more apparent.  

     Similarities: Extreme altitude.  

     Differences: The Earth’s Kunlun peaks are generally perennial glaciers and snow-capped mountains. While the Kunlun Mountains in this mythical dungeon aren’t entirely made of ice, the distribution of spiritual energy causes some peculiar natural phenomena to occur.

     For example, a volcano at an 8,000-meter altitude.

     Ye Mo began her climb from the more conventional snow-capped slopes before targeting other peaks. Her final objective was Vega Peak, the dwelling place of the Weaver Girl and currently Kunlun’s highest summit.  

     Scaling this mountain proved grueling.  

     The overwhelming density of spiritual energy forced Ye Mo to pause frequently—progress slowed to a near standstill.

     Since the Weaver Girl was the sole resident of this summit, visitors were exceedingly rare

     So, the Weaver Girl had left many mutant beasts and plants to roam freely here. Having dwelled in this place for so long, they had grown extraordinarily powerful and they showed no mercy toward Ye Mo, attacking with lethal intent. Her battles against these creatures felt like they were only just beginning.

     After countless days and nights, Ye Mo finally reached the summit of Kunlun’s main peak, arriving at the dwelling of the Yanzi clan Chief.  

     As expected, even the mightiest of the mythic era lived in surprisingly simple conditions—just an ordinary spirit-jade cave, albeit possibly vast in size?  

     The spiritual energy here was so dense that it condensed into perpetual rain, pooling into five interconnected spirit lakes.

     No one knew just how much spirit jade (not mere spirit stones!) was hidden within this cave. A single piece of spirit jade could, over time, gradually form an entire spirit stone mine in later eras. 

     Ye Mo’s innate talent allowed her to absorb spiritual energy at an astonishing rate. Yet, the first time she entered the spirit jade cave, she could only last half an hour before having to exit and meditate, seeking a breakthrough.  

     Then, she re-entered.  

     After repeating this process multiple times, her endurance inside the spirit-jade cave gradually increased—though she still didn’t dare venture into the lakes 

     Then, news finally arrived from below—  

     About the Spring Sacrifice?