Chapter 107: The Cave (Part 7)

Rainwater kept seeping into the dungeon through cracks above.
Lu You trembled, submerged in the water. She attempted a water-blocking spell, but the moment the magical aura touched the surface, it burst like a bubble. A charm on the wall flickered, nullifying any magic within the cell.

Darkness surrounded her, with the faint sounds of a thunderstorm outside and the constant dripping of water echoing through the room.
The injury on her foot had gone numb with pain.

When Lu You was thrown in here, she overheard someone say that she would be taken for interrogation in seven or eight days. This solitary confinement was meant to intimidate—it wouldn’t endanger her life, but the lack of daylight made it grueling on her mind.

Stronger disciples would have started meditating to pass the time faster.
But Lu You couldn’t clear her mind. She was used to receiving responses from the system, and every so often, she would check the system panel with a flicker of hope.

A huge crack in the form of a sword mark remained on the system panel, not healing on its own. Each time she looked at it, it felt like cold water was poured over her head.
She cautiously flipped through the mall page, with only the items in the corners still glowing, available for use.

But after looking around—one hundred Zhuyan pills, weapons forging lucky charms, a golden finger for healing animals, swordsmanship for battle, etc.—without anyone around, these items were as useless as trash.

She clicked on the grey areas repeatedly, but there was no response. Eventually, she fully accepted the fact that she was trapped.

Lu You raised her head. High above, there was a skylight, through which flashes of white lightning occasionally seeped through.

But when she tried to surge upwards through the water, she fell like a person dropping into a deep well, sliding down the wall, exhausted, unable to escape the water.
She remembered the many horror stories she had seen in her own world, like the rotten corpses in old wells, and began crying again in fear.

What if no one lets her out after seven or eight days? What if her foot wound gets infected and she dies before escaping? What if there are leeches in the water secretly draining her blood?
At the end of the first round, she thought this cultivation world was the simplest one—colorful and vast, allowing her to gallop freely.

But now, the world before her suddenly changed: the black night, like a monstrous beast, coldly stared at her, its wide mouth filled with murderous intent and cruelty.
When she should have taken up her sword to protect herself, she was holding a flower branch, so in this moment, she felt like a fragile insect in the vast sea, overwhelmed by the terror of confinement that seemed ready to consume her.

This was a cold and terrifying world, and she never truly belonged here.
Lu You’s face showed fear, and she kept calling out “Xie Yuzhen.” When she called out to him in the past, the Demon King would always appear immediately, rescuing her from danger. She still held on to a sliver of hope.

She fantasized that Xie Yuzhen might accidentally hear her voice.
If he really came, she wouldn’t pursue other people anymore. She would go to the Demon Realm with the Demon King, and with his help, she could establish a sect and avoid danger…
At that moment, a bright light suddenly shifted above her.
Lu You closed her eyes and opened them again, clearly seeing the skylight slowly moving, making a heavy sound.

Then, someone grabbed her, and when she opened her eyes again, she was outside the water prison. Lu You breathed in the fresh air, overwhelmed with joy; she knew there was still a way out!
But the person in front of her was not Xie Yuzhen, but another face she wasn’t very familiar with.
The moonlight illuminated Elder Yi’s face, making it appear pale. His expression was calm, not as harsh as when he locked her in the water prison, but his eyes were cautious, as if trying to avoid being noticed.

“Elder Yi?”
“Shh, don’t alert others.”
Lu You looked around and understood that Elder Yi had secretly let her out and must have something to ask of her. She quickly said, “Elder Yi, what should I do?”
“It’s not me looking for you,” Elder Yi replied, his face unchanged. He stretched out a thin, withered hand from his sleeve and pointed to the distance. “Over there.”

Under a tree in the distance, an elderly man in white suddenly appeared. His hair and beard were white as cranes, and he emitted a faint white glow, like a celestial being in the moonlight, standing with his back to them, waiting.
Just as it was described in countless tales, Lu You staggered toward that light, believing her new opportunity had come.
Within a few steps, she exchanged all the tools she had for “human” and Ying Ying respectfully bowed beneath the old man’s robes: “Elder Taishang.”

The old man turned around. His face was covered in wrinkles, looking so old that he seemed harmless, but his spirit was sharp, his eyes clear, and he spoke kindly: “Oh? You recognize me?”
Of course, she recognized him. In the first round, the Elder Taishang had treated Lu You even more warmly than Xu Binglai.

“Get up.”
Lu You stood up, her delicate face timid, and with just one glance, anyone would want to protect and care for her.
The Elder Taishang asked her name, her cultivation technique, and so on.

While speaking, many threads passed through the night and fell on the girl’s shoulders and back. A small ball of green light appeared at the base of her spine, showing a thunderbolt pattern from the outside, indicating a Grade A Thunder Root; next to the light, there was also a red, pomegranate-sized glow. This was an unawakened spiritual root.

Lu You was speaking when she suddenly felt something was wrong. She stretched out her hand, easily passing through the Elder Taishang’s wide sleeves, and a strange feeling seized her.
What was before her wasn’t a real person; this was just an image in the Illusory Array!
Within the Illusory Array, the Elder Taishang nodded slightly: “Your aptitude is good; I am in need of a disciple. Come, follow me, and cultivate.”

Behind her, Elder Yi also nodded slightly. The threads suddenly tightened and forcefully pulled the green light from Lu You’s body!
The golden Illusory Array sucked in Lu You’s head, body, and feet, drawing her entirely into the array.

The separation resulted in blood spilling everywhere.
Lu You hardly let out a scream before vanishing without a trace.
Elder Yi held the spiritual root light in his hands, encased in an ice shell for protection, and stored it in his storage pouch.

Hiding behind a tree, Ye Ling stared at the scene, almost collapsing. One hand grabbed her neck, waking her up.
Yun Chu, holding a duster, stood before her, his face so dark it seemed to drip water: “Junior Sister, your curiosity is too much.”
Saying this, he and Yun Lan held her up, and the three of them flew on the wind.

Yun Lan spoke through voice transmission: “Didn’t you say you hadn’t told Master about seeing the world with divine vision? It’s that Lu Junior Sister who has a world beyond the world.”
Yun Chu coldly replied, “Master must have extraordinary insight; whether you tell him or not, he will know.”

Poor Ye Ling, usually proud and fierce, was now as fragile as a porcelain vase when faced with a situation, turning her head toward Yun Lan, trembling, and asking, “Can a person still live if their spiritual root is gone?”
Yun Lan replied, “She shouldn’t be dead. She has dual spiritual roots. If one is lost, another will grow.”

Yun Lan added: “But you saw it, from the Illusory Array, a person might be split into thousands of parts and then reassembled.”
Ye Ling, shocked, vomited all over the place.
Yun Chu tightened his grip on her arm and said to Yun Lan, “Can you shut up!”

Lu You was, after all, a friend she had spoken to and interacted with. Ye Ling wiped away her tears. “Why, why, Master…”
A voice filled with amusement came from behind: “Why? Because she has gained great fortune. In the future, you’ll envy her so much you won’t be able to catch up.”

The faces of the three people changed drastically, especially Ye Ling. When she turned around and saw her usually respected master standing beside her, she screamed in horror, as if seeing a ghost, her face turning pale.

The three of them had clearly used Qi to fly, yet Elder Yi walked as if on flat ground, matching their speed within a few steps. They could even hear their whispered conversations, which was truly chilling.

Ye Ling was no longer visible. Just moments ago, Elder Yi had kindly patted her shoulder, and a deep pit was now formed on the ground where she was. She lay unconscious at the bottom.
Amidst the flying dust, Yun Chu knelt down and blocked Elder Yi’s robes. “Master, it’s hard to cultivate a Golden Dan alchemist nowadays.”
Yun Lan also kneeled beside him.

Elder Yi stopped walking, picked up a sparrow dead in the pit, and casually tossed it into the water prison, where it turned into the curled-up corpse of a young girl.
He spared Ye Ling but stared at Yun Chu for a while, smiling, “I didn’t expect it. Between you and your senior sister, you seem quite affectionate.”
After saying this, his figure vanished like wind.

Yun Chu broke into a cold sweat, realizing. Although his senior sister was foolish, they shared the bond of being fellow disciples. If their relationship had been worse, the one thrown into the water prison just now would have been Ye Ling.

The two of them lifted the unconscious Ye Ling and Yun Chu, feeling troubled, handed her over to Yun Lan.
Yun Lan carried Ye Ling in his arms and said, “Senior Brother…”
Yun Chu replied, “Don’t speak. If you don’t want to end up like her, focus on your cultivation and stop asking why.”

---

In the room of Xu Qianqian, the maidservants were busy again, exchanging water to cool things down.
On a stormy night, Xu Qianqian fell into a nightmare, struggling to wake up.
Sometimes she would return to her childhood, sitting on her mother’s lap, reaching for the delicate purple flower in front of her that her mother had just brought.

One moment, she was at a lively banquet in the immortal sect; the next, the demonic creature stretched its tentacles, spilling wine from the cups; screams pierced the air; and weapons appeared everywhere.

The creature’s tentacles pierced her mother’s spine, and its cold mouthpiece strangled her heart.
Xu Binglai struck with a sword to sever it, lifting her mother in his arms.
Her mother’s eyes were wide open, shaking her head at Xu Binglai, then spitting blood and falling beneath the table.

Everyone was fleeing.
She quietly watched the chaos from the distance, watching where her mother was buried and her carefree childhood buried along with her.
She opened her eyes, finding herself lying in a strange boudoir, the bed curtains colorful, adorned with night pearls the size of pigeon eggs. From the maids’ conversation, she gathered that they had stayed at a commoner’s home in Nanling, the family name being Shui.

It was the Mid-Autumn Festival in the mortal world; everywhere was decorated, and the pastries on the plate were as delicate as the moon. She took a small bite but stopped eating.
Others were celebrating, but she had just lost her mother.
She did not smile; everything felt foreign and harsh. She did not like the rich Shui family young lady, who wore extravagant clothes.

She noticed her father’s gaze, which was determined and possessive, and when he looked at her, there was a subtle discomfort. Every time her father said he was leaving, the Shui family young lady would find an excuse to make him stay.

The Shui family young lady closed her door, and when their gazes met, she tried to glare at her, as if to say she didn’t understand. No, she understood, but she was too weak, lying in bed, barely alive, unable to stop anything…
Her journey in the mortal world had become a nightmare buried deep in her heart.
From then on, every time it rained, she would burn with fever and her limbs would twitch.
She couldn’t stand the smell of blood and naturally couldn’t cultivate. She couldn’t even go to the training grounds, except for one disciple who made an exception for her.

He didn’t carry any blood on him, and his sword was adorned with flowers. Before the demonic creature could strike her Zhilan carriage, he leaped, cutting it down with his sword, and pushed the carriage back, ensuring the curtain didn’t get a drop of blood.
When Xu Qianqian pulled back the curtain in shock, he had already walked far away, his silhouette as handsome as the moon.

She asked the maid to inquire about his name. After that, every training session of Shen Suwei became her only expectation in the dull boudoir.

But no matter how many times she watched, he never looked away from the blade in front of him, never glancing at the sidelines.
A fence clearly divided two worlds: the strong and the weak, the extraordinary and the ordinary.
Just like every morning, her eldest brother picked up the sword hanging on the wall and left. Her second brother did the same, speaking words she didn’t understand. Xu Jiansu turned back and smiled at her, saying, “Qianqian, go back. Don’t catch a cold. I’ll come to see you tonight.”
She watched them walk into the morning sun, coughing so violently her body bent.
Why couldn’t she cultivate with them?

Her grandfather once held her hand, seeing through her thoughts: “Qianqian, do you want to become a cultivator? Then you can join your two brothers and follow your father. That would be better than lingering on a sickbed.”

She had listened as if hearing divine words, “But I…”
Her grandfather seemed to know what she was going to say: “You don’t need to worry. I’ve found a spiritual root for you. Your health will improve, and you’ll be able to cultivate.”
“But… aren’t spiritual roots something you’re born with?”
Her grandfather smiled slightly, seemingly contemptuous of her ignorance: “The immortal sect already has methods to transfer spiritual roots, though there’s some risk. If you’re not afraid to take the risk, finding you a new spiritual body is no trouble.”

“Qianqian, you’re so naive.”
Xu Qianqian understood that spiritual roots were as much a part of a person as hands and feet. The thought of attaching someone else’s hands and feet to her body frightened her so much she shook her head.

Her grandfather, seemingly displeased, coldly laughed: “Hesitating, timid, and weak. I didn’t agree when your father kept you hidden in the boudoir, and now it’s clear you’ve been spoiled.”
Her usually doting grandfather now wore a mocking, disdainful expression, making her fearful. She knew she had made a mistake, tears falling, and fell ill.
Perhaps she should not have refused that day.

---

The next time, with death only a step away, when she turned her head, she saw Shen Suwei sitting beside her as if in a dream. Shen Suwei helped adjust the charcoal fire, placed the pill down, and sat, saying it was a request from the senior brother to visit her.

His long, slender eyelashes remained still, fixed on the incense in the distance. Although the two had been silent for a long time, his presence beside her brought an overwhelming sense of peace, dispelling her fear of death.

If only every day could be like this.
It was the first time she had actively yearned for something, yet she was still rejected.
It was also expected.

She had secretly watched Shen Suwei practice swordsmanship countless times with the junior sister, the two of them fighting from the waters to the top of the tower, from daylight to dusk.
When the junior sister fell into the water, Shen Suwei grabbed her by the collar and pulled her out. The junior sister wouldn’t faint from being soaked; she would just shake the water droplets from her hair and remain lively, running a few steps to grasp her senior brother’s sleeve.

In the underground cavern, the junior sister could carry her on her back and climb up the high poles step by step. She could draw talismans that could pass through walls, fight against monsters, wipe the blood from her mouth, and say, “Cultivators don’t die so easily.”

Lu You said that Senior Brother Shen and Xu Qianyu shared a relationship beyond that of master and disciple, which sent a shiver through her heart.
Senior Brother Shen tied a red string to his sword. The junior sister also had a red string around her wrist.

The junior sister truly deserved to be liked. Unlike her, who could only be a burden to others.
However, if it weren’t for her lack of spiritual roots, if it weren’t for the misfortune of being severely injured by a monster, perhaps Xu Qianqian, the inner sect junior sister, would have been her.

…
Xu Qianqian wearily opened her eyes, a tear shining in her gaze. The maidservants were delighted: “The elixir sent by the Elder Taishang truly has remarkable effects. We should ask for more next time.”
The fever had subsided, but in her heart, a seed of demonic power had been planted.