“Glug, glug!”
Water roared in Fu Yan’s ears. She thrashed out of sheer reflex. In both her lives she’d been a complete landlubber—swimming was as impossible to her as ascending to heaven.
No matter how she flailed, she couldn’t break the surface. Instead, her body only felt heavier and heavier, as if something was forcing its way into her over and over again.
“Mm…!”
She felt she couldn’t hold it anymore. The moment she opened her mouth to breathe, she realized—she wasn’t suffocating at all.
As she was still wondering why that flower thief had thrown her into this bizarre pool, agony suddenly exploded through every inch of her.
It was like countless ants gnawing on her bones and flesh. The pain was so intense she couldn’t focus on anything. She struggled in the pool in torment, but that only made it worse.
Her bones felt like they were about to be ground into powder. The despairing pain almost knocked her unconscious, yet her mind remained horribly clear. She could only passively endure the waves of agony that crashed down on her again and again.
She couldn’t even get a scream out.
Time crawled by. She had no idea how long it had been when she finally opened her eyes in the Body-Refining Pool. In one swift motion like a carp leaping from a pond, she sprang up and burst out of the water.
“Huff… huff!”
Even though she’d never actually felt like she was drowning, the instant she emerged she still couldn’t help but gulp down air, panting hard. Drenched from head to toe, she ignored her soaked clothes and slowly crawled to the side of the pool.
She had no idea how long she lay there before she finally felt like she’d come back to life. She looked around.
The cave was empty. The man who had carried her here had long since left.
No—that man shouldn’t have been the flower thief.
Fu Yan wasn’t stupid. By now, she could guess that the man from last night wasn’t the same flower thief who’d been hunting her before. If she’d really fallen into that pervert’s hands, she would’ve been dead without even a corpse left.
Then who was that man? Why had he saved her?
Of course, there was no way for her to get an answer to that pile of questions. Since she couldn’t figure it out, she simply dropped it. Being alive at all was luck enough.
It was just that… remembering how, under that pool last night, it had felt like her entire skeleton had been crushed and rebuilt from blood and bone, Fu Yan couldn’t help but frown slightly.
She distinctly remembered that last night the pool had been milky-white. Now it was a basin of crystal-clear spring water. She stepped up to the edge and examined it for a while, but didn’t sense anything special.
“Hm?”
Fu Yan was just getting to her feet in confusion when she suddenly noticed something odd. She tried a small hop on the spot.
Sensing something was off, she stared down at herself, muttering,
“Why do I feel so light all over? My movements are stronger and faster than before…”
Before long, she came to a conclusion.
“This is actually a Body-Refining Pool.”
The Body-Refining Pool was something she’d read about in books—a spiritual spring that could temper and refine a cultivator’s physique. Combined with all the changes she’d just experienced, it wasn’t hard for Fu Yan to put the pieces together.
Thinking of that, she couldn’t help recalling the man from last night, her face full of bafflement.
“Who exactly was he? He saved my life and even gifted me such a great opportunity.”
“Forget it. Maybe he’s some kind-hearted recluse.”
He hadn’t revealed anything about himself, and she couldn’t guess his identity. The original Fu Yan had been just an ordinary orphan. There was no way she’d know any big shots. Shrugging helplessly, Fu Yan let it drop.
She pulled a fresh dress out of her personal storage pouch, quickly changed, then tidied herself up a bit before walking out of the cave empty-handed.
“My only weapon, that refined iron sword, got left behind at the Lin estate. I’d better hurry back to the sect.”
After thinking it through, she made up her mind.
Her cultivation was still far too low. She needed to get back to the sect as soon as possible, open up her Qi Sea, and break through to the Aperture Opening Realm. The moment she’d left the Body-Refining Pool, she’d already felt signs of an impending breakthrough.
After last night’s desperate escape, Fu Yan had truly realized just how important strength was if she wanted to survive in this fantastical cultivation world.
Very soon, she started making her way toward the outer edges of the Scarlet-Black Mountain Range.
—
Deep within the Scarlet-Black Mountain Range.
Two figures were darting rapidly through the forest, weaving between trees. Something was chasing them, forcing them to flee at full speed, not daring to slow even a fraction.
A moment after they flashed past, a giant wolf with gray fur and a body over three meters long burst out after them, hot on their heels. This was a Bloodthirsty Ice Wolf, its fury plainly visible. Its sharp fangs looked like they could bite a person into seven or eight pieces in one snap.
Just looking at it was enough to make one’s scalp go numb.
Still fleeing for his life, Liu Chuanhan risked a glance back at the Bloodthirsty Ice Wolf in relentless pursuit and nearly exploded from anger. He quickly turned back and glared at the junior sister beside him.
“Junior Sister Yan, what exactly did you touch just now? Why did this Bloodthirsty Ice Wolf suddenly go berserk?”
Liu Chuanhan and Xu Yan were inner disciples of Zilan Sect. Xu Yan had only just broken through to the Aperture Opening Realm, so he’d brought her to the Scarlet-Black Mountain Range to temper herself. He never imagined they’d provoke a Bloodthirsty Ice Wolf.
An adult Bloodthirsty Ice Wolf was among the strongest of second-rank demonic beasts. Even Liu Chuanhan, who was at mid Aperture Opening, didn’t dare fight it head-on.
“I… I…”
Xu Yan was clearly scared witless by the situation. Seeing Liu Senior Brother, who was always gentle and soft-spoken with her, suddenly question her with a hint of anger, she completely panicked.
Liu Chuanhan felt both furious and anxious as he dragged her along. At a time like this, he couldn’t afford to care about much else. He could only press again.
“Think carefully. Did you touch something just now?”
Backed into a corner, Xu Yan hesitated, reluctant, but still took out a three-petaled flower from her storage ring and stammered,
“I… I just picked this… this one…”
Seeing the Ice Spirit Three-Leaf Flower in her hand, Liu Chuanhan instantly understood. He hurriedly snapped,
“Who knows how long that Bloodthirsty Ice Wolf’s been guarding this Ice Spirit Three-Leaf Flower. You suddenly snatched its prize—of course it’s going to fight us to the death!”
Looking at Xu Yan’s timid, cowering expression, his anger only burned hotter. He’d treated her well before purely because she looked decent. Only now did he realize she was utterly brainless.
“Then… Senior Brother Liu, what… what do we do now?”
Xu Yan was truly frightened. She could feel that if real danger came, Liu Chuanhan would absolutely abandon her without hesitation.
She had only just broken through to Aperture Opening. Her true essence was nowhere near enough. After running for just this little while, she was already at her limit.
Hearing her, Liu Chuanhan cursed to himself. The problem was that Xu Yan was from the same clan as Elder Xu of the sect. Unless there was absolutely no other choice, he couldn’t just toss her aside.
Just then, Liu Chuanhan suddenly spotted something ahead. The corner of his mouth lifted in a cold smile.
“Junior Sister, give me the Ice Spirit Three-Leaf Flower.”
He didn’t hesitate at all. Still running, he turned and spoke to Xu Yan beside him.
“Huh?”
Xu Yan hadn’t yet processed what he meant.
Liu Chuanhan couldn’t be bothered to explain. He simply snatched the Ice Spirit Three-Leaf Flower from her hand, then hurled it toward a figure not far off to their right.
The whole thing happened in a flash. By the time Xu Yan came back to her senses, the flower she’d risked so much to obtain had already left her hand.
And there was a person in the direction he’d thrown it.
“Senior Brother Liu, you… why did you throw away my Ice Spirit Three-Leaf Flower?”
Xu Yan grew anxious. That had been so hard to get. Of course she felt heartbroken.
Liu Chuanhan was out of patience. Practically gnashing his teeth, he said,
“If I didn’t throw it, were we supposed to just stand here and let that Bloodthirsty Ice Wolf tear us into pieces?”
“But…”
Seeing how angry he was, Xu Yan didn’t dare say the rest.
“Once that Bloodthirsty Ice Wolf’s been enraged, it’s not just a matter of snatching back the Ice Spirit Three-Leaf Flower. If it doesn’t vent its rage, it won’t give up.”
Liu Chuanhan kept his eyes on the situation behind them as he spoke slowly.
Xu Yan thought of the figure in the direction he’d thrown the flower and finally understood.
“I think I saw her robes. She should be a disciple of Shuiling Sect. Senior Brother, if you do that, won’t it…”
“A Shuiling Sect disciple, so what? She’s just some Foundation Establishment trash. Coming all the way into the depths of the Scarlet-Black Mountain Range, there was no way she’d leave alive anyway. If we can use her, that’s the greatest fortune she could hope for.”
Liu Chuanhan had already recognized the other person’s identity, but he couldn’t care less.
After all, who would bother caring about a dead person?
—
After Fu Yan walked out of the cave, she realized she was deep in the Scarlet-Black Mountain Range—an area where second-rank demonic beasts often appeared. With her cultivation, she could barely fight a first-rank demonic beast to a draw.
If she ran into a second-rank one, her only option would be to run.
So from the very beginning, she’d been moving cautiously, watching her surroundings. Only after making sure there was no danger would she tiptoe forward a little, inching her way toward the outer region.
She didn’t know how long she’d been walking when a sudden rush of sound came from her left. She paused, startled, and turned to look.
That one glance nearly froze her.
A fully grown Bloodthirsty Ice Wolf was barreling after two figures in front of it, its killing intent sky-high.
She didn’t know what had happened, but a battle on that level had nothing to do with her. Fu Yan didn’t hesitate—she immediately turned to leave as fast as possible.
But the man who’d been fleeing suddenly glanced in her direction.
The next second, Fu Yan saw a blue-green flower shoot straight toward her. It was so fast that by the time she reacted, the flower had already landed squarely in her arms.
“…”
“Ice Spirit Three-Leaf Flower?”
Fu Yan was a little surprised, but quickly recognized the strange flower in her hands.
The Ice Spirit Three-Leaf Flower was an ice-attribute spiritual flower, completely devoid of warmth. It looked similar to an ordinary blossom, but holding it felt like clutching a lump of ice.
For cultivators with an ice-attribute constitution or who cultivated ice-attribute techniques, this flower was a precious treasure.
Something this valuable—there was no way those two had just kindly given it to her.
Sure enough, the moment that thought formed, she saw the Bloodthirsty Ice Wolf, which had been chasing the two of them, suddenly veer and charge straight at her.
“So they’re using me as bait!”
Fu Yan considered herself fairly even-tempered, but right now she really wanted to curse them out. However, she had no time. The Bloodthirsty Ice Wolf was almost on top of her.
She didn’t bother trying to throw the Ice Spirit Three-Leaf Flower away. She knew that even if she did, the enraged wolf wouldn’t spare her. She could only spin around and sprint with everything she had.
She’d just survived one life-and-death chase last night. She never imagined she’d be thrown into another so soon. Fu Yan felt like no one could possibly be more unlucky than her.
Since Liu Chuanhan and Xu Yan could recognize her as a Shuiling Sect disciple, Fu Yan had naturally recognized them as people from Zilan Sect.
This debt for today would definitely not be forgotten.
