4
For the past sixteen years, those gu insects have tormented me every single day.
So when I opened my eyes and saw Lăng Vân Phượng's breathtakingly beautiful face, I was so happy I nearly cried.
She handed me a black box. “This is yours. Take it.”
It broke my heart, but I still had to take it.
As Giang Vô Tiếc treated my wounds, she mocked me. “You're so good at raising gu insects—why don't you cure your trembling hands while you're at it?”
I shot back, “The person who raises the insects doesn't raise herself!”
Lăng Vân Phượng laughed, patted my head, then pressed a bundle into my hands.
Inside was a candied hawthorn skewer unlike any I'd ever seen.
I immediately perked up and gobbled it down.
Looking around, I saw that Dương Thiên Vũ was the most seriously injured.
I sipped my tea and asked sincerely, “Whose ancestral grave did you rob? Did the owners really hunt you down this badly?”
The group exchanged glances.
Giang Vô Tiếc murmured, “Robbed… a grave…”
“And took something.”
Even Lăng Vân Phượng looked awkward.
Must've been something precious.
“No wonder.”
I kept eating. “It was probably a real grave, then.”
Giang Vô Tiếc was treating Dương Thiên Vũ's wounds. At my words, she suddenly pressed much harder.
Dương Thiên Vũ nearly jumped out of his skin.
“How did you know?”
Tống Tư Trạch sidled over to mooch some candy, too.
“How do you know about this?”
I simply gave him a silent glare.
He immediately turned obsequious. “I'll buy you more later! Just tell me!”
Looking at his face, I finally said, “Because I'm from Nam Cương.”
It was like a bolt from the blue.
Giang Vô Tiếc pressed so hard, I thought Dương Thiên Vũ was about to be treated to death.
Tống Tư Trạch immediately went on guard, his hand resting on his sword hilt.
I dropped to my knees. “I'm an undercover agent! I'm just a good kid trying to survive!”
I hurriedly grabbed Lăng Vân Phượng's hand to stop her from drawing her sword.
She was a true sword cultivator. If she even suspected something, I'd be cut into eight pieces in an instant.
This was my survival guide.
The whole team was headed for Nam Cương.
If you swore a false oath while cultivating, heavenly lightning would strike you down.
I bit my tongue and swore an oath.
A red mark appeared on my forehead, then vanished.
Lăng Vân Phượng let go.
I let out a breath of relief, still alive.
Tống Tư Trạch leaned in, curiosity written all over his face. “Why were you undercover in Nam Cương? Which genius disciple sent you?”
Giang Vô Tiếc chimed in, too.
Không Độ pretended to chant sutras, but was actually casting a divination.
The four of them formed a circle around me.
My social anxiety flared up.
I confessed honestly, “I don't know anything. Wherever my mother told me to go, I went… And the food there was really good.”
The group exchanged glances.
Lăng Vân Phượng asked, “You haven't secluded yourself for cultivation? But your cultivation level is at least Nascent Soul, right?”
I looked up, then immediately lowered my eyes.
I shoved what was left into my mouth and wolfed it down, choking.
She slid her teacup toward me. “Eat slowly. No one's going to take it from you.”
I swallowed with difficulty and whispered:
“I have secluded myself… but if I eat too much, my mother sends me down the mountain, so… I'm used to eating whenever I can. Sob.”
She laughed softly. “Who sent you away? You just always eat three full meals a day.”
I thought to myself: Future teammates, go ahead and eat my food. Just don't send me away.
I went back to eating happily.
They were probably still curious about what I'd gone to Nam Cương for.
But I'd never tell them.
I'm just a good kid… who listens to her mother.
5
They couldn't stay long in the small town. Everyone gathered here had once been hunted by enemies who refined their heart's blood into “life-gu people,” specializing in killing others to steal their lifespans.
Sooner or later, someone would come after them again.
West of the small town was a vast forest. An ancient secret realm had just opened in the woods, drawing all the major sects and powers there.
They said it was filled with rare treasures, but the dangers were twice—or even three times—as great.
Giang Vô Tiếc, who valued natural treasures as much as her own life, immediately lit up. “Since we're here, we have to go in! If we don't, won't we regret it terribly?”
It was such a reasonable argument—who could refuse?
Giang Vô Tiếc handed everyone a poison-protection pill, then called out to me, hiding the farthest away: “Nguyên Hi! Let's go.”
I shook my head furiously. “I'm not going!”
“Come with us!”
“No!”
But even low-grade ingredients from the ancient forest were products of the secret realm, and would fetch a ridiculous price on the market.
Giang Vô Tiếc and I became a pair… with little flashes of light between us.
As he swept up ingredients like a whirlwind, he also had to keep an eye on the four people behind him.
Then my foot slipped, and I fell into a pitch-black pit. I was so upset I could've cried.
Sure enough, you can't be too greedy.
Below the pit was a space as dark as an abyss.
The whole team… was standing on my back.
I curled into a ball, wanting to cry but unable to.
Heavens really had it in for me. A procession of ghostly flames suddenly appeared ahead and hurtled straight toward us.
I shut my eyes and opened the little box. A glowing golden gu insect flew out.
“Go light the way… You can stay out here forever, too…”
I dodged frantically from side to side. The gu insect understood and really did fly ahead like a living lantern.
At the end of the tunnel, its light fell on a stone statue.
I set the box on the statue and said softly, “Go back.”
The gu insect obediently crawled inside and carefully shut the lid.
I tucked the box into my bundle, then looked up carefully at the statue…
A woman who looked exactly like me was standing there.
I stepped forward in shock, unable to believe my eyes.
She had no breath at all. She was only a statue.
I took out a communication talisman from my storage ring… but it was as useless as a scrap of paper.
I was trapped in here.
Tears fell one by one onto the statue.
A sharp stone cut my hand, and a drop of blood splashed onto the statue's forehead.
Light flashed.
I fell to the ground.
“Why did I fall…”
When I opened my eyes, a blood-red world lay before me.
Amid that boundless crimson, I saw… myself.
“My” body was broken, my soul shattered, and my consciousness left suspended in midair.
Before me stood a colossal tower, its every level piled with souls, staining the entire world red.
The scene shifted, and I saw my father and mother.
My mother held a baby—it was me. My father stood beside her, full of affection. But when my mother gave birth, a streak of white light shot out of the birthing room, followed by a baby's cry.
People from Nam Cương stood guard all around, while the High Priest's face was grave.
“I” became me… but my soul had been switched.
So I wasn’t useless after all. It was the seal on my soul that had been affecting me.
So I was born to seal this evil deity—and that was the only reason I’d survived until now.
Everything had been arranged by fate.
The scene changed again. I saw my parents, utterly exhausted, with the High Priest and the heads of the major sects all present.
Everyone was deathly pale, as if they’d just suffered serious injuries.
I tried to reach out…but I couldn’t touch them.
They were sealing the evil deity again.
Without someone bearing Heaven’s mandate, they could only use up their own lifespans to reinforce the seal. The price was too high.
My mother cried out in anguish, “I’m her birth mother! Why should my daughter’s life be used to seal an evil deity? Why does my child have to be sacrificed?!”
My father held my mother tightly, his voice choked with emotion. “Nguyên Tâm… don’t get worked up… I gave the girl a Heart-Calming Pill… she’ll survive… don’t die… she’ll cry when she comes back…”
The experiences in the secret realm had been like one long dream. I sat dazed on the icy ground, tears still clinging to my face.
The soul that had been restored to me had given me more than memories—it had also tempered my state of mind.
A sea of blood.
My parents’ pain.
The mission weighing on my shoulders.
But strangely…my cowardice seemed to have been shoved into a tiny corner.
In its place was an uncanny calm.
The darkness receded, and the secret realm completed its task.
Space trembled.
I gently passed out.
Light pierced my eyes.
I instinctively raised a hand to shield them.
A chorus of shouts rang out: “Nguyên Hi!”
“Are you all right?”
“Amitabha. How merciful, how merciful!”
“Senior Sister Lăng, that idiot’s awake!”
I was standing on a rocky outcrop in an ancient forest.
Tống Tư Trạch, Lăng Vân Phượng, and the others rushed over, bloodied from head to toe, their worry mingled with relief.
They looked at me, battered and disheveled, yet carrying a stronger presence than when we’d entered the secret realm. It was clear that each of them had gained a great boon.
“I…I’m fine.” I coughed softly and forced a smile.
“Just…a little worse for wear.”
Giang Vô Tiếc excitedly held up a nine-leaf spirit herb. “What do you mean, worse for wear? I found a material that strengthens the divine soul! I won’t have to worry about getting killed by lightning when I face tribulation anymore! I even made it to the mid-Nascent Soul stage!”
Tống Tư Trạch jingled a jade pendant, grinning like a fox. “I inherited a predecessor’s legacy. My mastery of music has deepened even further.”
His demeanor had always been gentle, but now he seemed even more carefree and refined.
Dương Thiên Vũ thumped his chest with a resounding bang. “A huge bell fell on me. I thought I was dead! But somehow my body’s a thousand times stronger!”
Không Độ pressed his palms together, his Buddhist light purer than ever. “This humble monk overcame one layer of mental hindrance. My state of mind has improved somewhat.”
Lục Bác Lam said nothing, but his sword intent was chillingly sharp. He had clearly advanced a level.
Lăng Vân Phượng was as she always was, gently stroking my head. “I’m glad you’re all right. We’d only just been thrown out of the secret realm.”
Seeing everyone so happy, the heaviness in my heart lifted a little.