Returning to her small abode, Tang Muxi sat on a square chair made of spiritual bamboo, gazing at the lush green pond in front of her house, her heart filled with indecision. She shouldn’t have reacted so intensely earlier.
Duan Yurong, being sensitive and suppressed by Wang Qu for too long, had no outlet for her frustrations and strayed onto the wrong path.
However, she had to stop her little schemes, otherwise, if Jiang Yin found out, she feared she wouldn’t survive the summer.
Although her memories were somewhat fuzzy, Tang Muxi clearly remembered that in her previous lives, she was bound by that power, forced to conspire with Duan Yurong to humiliate Jiang Yin.
Despite seizing the secret realm token, Duan Yurong suddenly disappeared without a trace and never went to the Tianji Secret Realm.
At that time, she was bound and couldn’t pay attention to or investigate Duan Yurong’s whereabouts. Now, thinking about it, Duan Yurong was probably killed by Jiang Yin before entering the secret realm.
The more Tang Muxi thought about it, the more uneasy she became. Finally, she stood up abruptly and headed straight for Jiang Yin’s residence.
Jiang Yin and she were disciples of the same elder and lived together on Juling Peak. This place had a spirit gathering formation set up by the elder himself, where the spiritual energy was rich, making cultivation much more efficient.
On the surface, Tang Muxi was a top-grade wood spirit root, and although her cultivation level was shallow, her talent was extremely high. She lived in a quiet and small residence near the center of the spirit gathering formation, leading a leisurely life every day. However, Jiang Yin, due to her poor talent, was not valued by the elder and had to live at the foot of Juling Peak.
In fact, Tang Muxi was not a wood spirit root. She had secretly tested herself several times and never detected any spirit root, theoretically closer to an ordinary person without a spirit root. But not only could she cultivate, her cultivation speed was extremely fast.
Whether it was the five types of spiritual energy of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, or the violent and gloomy ghost and demon qi, she could absorb them at will and transform them freely.
She had never told anyone about this strange phenomenon, not even her master, the elder. After all, such weirdness, if known, would likely get her branded as a demon and bring people to hunt her down.
Now, pretending to be a top-grade wood spirit root was simply because the wood spiritual energy was more compatible with her.
Leaving her small abode, she ran all the way to the foot of the mountain. The lush and vibrant spiritual plants and trees rapidly receded, like tender shoots being continuously grown through catalysis.
Juling Peak had rich spiritual energy, and the spiritual plants and medicines grew well, with a wide variety. The best medicinal garden within the Tianji Sect was on this Juling Peak.
Thinking of Duan Yurong, Tang Muxi felt pity and kept an eye out for the Marrow Cleansing Immortal Grass, but as expected, she found none.
Spiritual plants and magical instruments were divided into four grades: heaven, earth, mysterious, and yellow, each grade further divided into three levels: high, middle, and low.
The Marrow Cleansing Immortal Grass was a middle-grade mysterious item. Although not high-grade, it was very rare because it only grew in places with pure water spiritual energy or pure wood spiritual energy.
In the world of spiritual cultivation, the Marrow Cleansing Immortal Grass was extremely precious, generally only used by cultivators with dual spirit roots to cultivate a heavenly spirit root.
For someone like Duan Yurong with four spirit roots, unless their status was extremely special, no one would be willing to waste such a treasure.
Arriving at Jiang Yin’s residence at the foot of the mountain, Tang Muxi still hadn’t found the Marrow Cleansing Immortal Grass.
Knowing she couldn’t rush things, she had to temporarily set aside this matter and pushed open the dilapidated wooden fence in front of the house with unease.
“Senior Sister Jiang, are you there?” This was Jiang Yin’s small courtyard, where the ground was bare, except for a few ordinary yellow-grade spiritual plants, there was nothing else.
The house seemed to have not been repaired for many years, with a hole in the roof on the east side, now barely covered with a few layers of thatch.
Clearly a disciple of an elder, yet living in conditions worse than those of a menial disciple.
Tang Muxi glanced at the thatched hole in the roof and couldn’t help but shrink her neck guiltily. If she remembered correctly, that was something she had smashed through in anger, although it was against her will, but Jiang Yin didn’t know that!
Living in such a place every day, looking at the hole in the roof, who knows how she would curse her. Tang Muxi decided to hurry back and repair the small courtyard, lest her senior sister curse her every day and hold a grudge against her.
“Senior Sister Jiang?” Tang Muxi approached the house, pushed open the door, but saw no one, her heart skipping a beat. Where is she? She should be here at this time.
In her previous lives, after she agreed to Duan Yurong’s request, she came here and successfully forced Jiang Yin to hand over the token, but now she couldn’t see anyone. Looking at the messy papers and pens on the table, it seemed like someone was forcibly taken away.
Tang Muxi panicked and quickly formed a Thousand Cranes with her spiritual power, following her memory. This was a spell for finding people.
As long as a trace of the person’s spiritual power or aura was given to the Thousand Cranes, it could find them within ten miles.
Unfortunately, she was only at the Qi cultivation stage now, and forming a Thousand Cranes already somewhat drained her spiritual power.
“Go.”
She drew out a trace of Jiang Yin’s aura from the house and injected it into the Thousand Cranes.
With a light tap of her fingertip, the Thousand Cranes, shimmering with faint light, shot out like an arrow leaving the bow. Tang Muxi was surprised to see it tracking so confidently, knowing Jiang Yin might be nearby, which somewhat reassured her, and she quickly followed.
On the other side, in the woods at the edge of the Tianji Sect, Jiang Yin, covered in blood, leaned against a thick and strong tree trunk, gasping for breath, her shoulder bearing a ferocious wound.
It had only been a quarter of an hour since her inexplicable rebirth. She clearly remembered that a quarter of an hour ago, she had stabbed Tang Muxi in the heart with a sword, but suddenly, with a thunderous noise, a strange demonic qi pulled her away.
When she opened her eyes in confusion, she was already in the woods, surrounded by unfriendly disciples of the Tianji Sect.
She had returned to the past.
This time period was fresh in Jiang Yin’s memory, exactly when she lived on Juling Peak, subjected to everyone’s bullying. Dealing with these weak ants of Qi cultivation level, even if she lost her cultivation and reverted to the useless person with five spirit roots she once was, she could easily defeat them.
Unfortunately, the timing of her rebirth was not good. Her original body was seriously injured, and she was attacked by several people in succession. No matter how she struggled, she couldn’t use any of the spells etched in her mind.
“Damn it, I underestimated her. I didn’t expect a useless person without cultivation to be so capable of fighting.”
The leading disciple pressed his thumb against his nostrils, forcefully exhaled, and a clump of blood spurted out of his nose, landing on the grass beside him.
“Big brother, this woman is strange. I think we should all rush her and kill her quickly, or we might have more trouble later.”
Beside him, a skinny, sneaky-looking tall man with a hunched back cautiously suggested, appearing inconspicuous and spineless, but the fierce light hidden in his eyes was hard to conceal.
As his words fell, several disciples around him started to make noise, slowly approaching with their magical instruments, seemingly determined to kill. However, the leading man was not so easily persuaded.
He stared at Jiang Yin, then suddenly sneered sinisterly, taking out a black, palm-sized sphere from his storage bag. The sphere had dark purple light patterns flowing on it, with a dark red light flickering in the center, pulsating slightly like a heart.
As soon as this object appeared, it seemed as if even the noon sunlight dimmed significantly. Dark currents surged, demonic fog billowed, giving off an ominous feeling, and even the few people who were clamoring to attack were shocked into a cold sweat, daring not to move an inch.
The leading man sneered mockingly, his eyes filled with greed: “Jiang Yin, you brought this deadly disaster upon yourself, don’t blame me for being ruthless and using this Soul Devouring Gu to take your life. I have no choice, I’m just doing it for the money, blame your own weakness!”
As he said the last few words, the man suddenly became fierce, throwing the black sphere to the ground. With a crisp sound, like glass shattering, the dark purple witch insects broke free from their shackles, emitting an ominous aura and pressure.
“Run!” At the man’s command, several people quickly fled, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Jiang Yin watched coldly as the evil insect in front of her, its aura rising steadily, not knowing whether to be happy or worried. The Soul Devouring Gu, a vicious insect from the demon world, feeds on essence and blood. It is said that its toxin can kill a person on the spot and corrode the soul.
Of course, these are just rumors. After Jiang Yin became the Demon Lord in her previous life, she often used this thing to torment her enemies. Corroding the soul might be an exaggeration, but the intense toxicity is enough to make life worse than death.
The one in front of her seemed not to be a mature insect, with only Foundation Establishment cultivation, but even so, its toxicity was definitely not something she could resist at the moment.
In her previous life, after her spirit root was destroyed, she sought countless sinister objects to rebuild her spirit root, but ended up almost dying due to the damaged foundation.
Now, with her spirit root intact and the Soul Devouring Gu at hand, if she could capture and raise it, the “Ghost Spirit Root” she rebuilt might be even more perfect than in her previous life.
Unfortunately… now, let alone raising it, even surviving is a question. Jiang Yin clenched her lips, her fingertips pinching a forbidden technique that could temporarily increase her cultivation, struggling greatly.
Although the forbidden technique was useful, the backlash was even heavier, possibly leaving irreversible damage.
If possible, she really wanted to capture this demonic insect and use it as a catalyst to rebuild her Ghost Spirit Root. But she had no other choice. Just as her forbidden technique was about to be completed and the Soul Devouring Gu was about to pounce on her, a familiar yet strange shout suddenly came from her ear:
“Senior Sister, be careful!”
Her fingertips instinctively misplaced, and the forbidden technique was suddenly interrupted. A bone-piercing pain came from her neck, but Jiang Yin seemed to hear nothing, gritting her teeth and looking up at the fool who ruined all her plans, wishing she could flay and dismember her on the spot.
Tang Muxi followed the Thousand Cranes all the way to the woods and saw a demonic creature covered in killing intent pouncing on the bloodied Jiang Yin. At that moment, her heart leaped to her throat.
She ran desperately, but her speed was still far from the demonic creature’s. Out of desperation, she cast a spell while shouting loudly, hoping to make Jiang Yin dodge.
Her shout undoubtedly helped Jiang Yin, but it seemed to be more of a hindrance. Not only did Jiang Yin not dodge, but because of a moment of distraction, she was firmly bitten by the demonic insect.
When she looked up at her, the boundless hatred in those eyes seemed to want to skin her alive and pierce her heart with a thousand arrows.
This truly scared the newly saved Tang Muxi, almost making her kneel and beg for mercy on the spot. The ferocious demonic creature bit Jiang Yin’s neck, and almost at the same moment, swirling black qi quickly covered half of her neck.
Fine and dense, like black veins, it spread wildly. Tang Muxi was startled and, without thinking, launched a full-strength attack, hitting the unguarded demonic insect’s head hard.
She wasn’t sure if it was her illusion, but the moment her spell shattered the demonic insect’s brain, she heard Jiang Yin’s incredulous and furious roar: “No!” My Soul Devouring Gu!!! But everything was in vain, and the situation was already decided. Jiang Yin was invaded by the toxin, and although the demonic insect was killed by her, the toxin in her body was still strong, almost taking her life in an instant.
Her body swayed, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted. Tang Muxi quickly stepped forward to catch her, using her memory to quickly seal Jiang Yin’s breath and meridians, temporarily slowing the spread of the toxin.
