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墨書 Inktalez
Reflection Cliff is a sheer cliff that rises straight up and down, with countless natural small holes resembling ant nests on top. At first glance, it looks very much like a beehive.
Li Hong knows that there is such a place where disciples who have made mistakes are confined, either for three years or five years. It is said that the most severe cases can even lead to a lifetime of reflection.
Ji Lingzi pointed to a collapsed opening and said, “When Children searched here, they detected the presence of a living person inside. Upon entering, they found a female disciple from Nine Purple Peak, still alive.”
Li Hong looked up and down, feeling somewhat puzzled. The stones that had collapsed were already sprouting robust little trees, indicating that this female disciple had been trapped inside for quite some time. However, during his time at Nine Li Sect, he had never heard of anyone committing such a serious crime to be sent to Reflection Cliff. Could it be the doing of Ling Jizi and his group?
Thinking this way, Li Hong became indignant. With a wave of his hand, Awareness burst forth, turning everything it touched into powder. Finally, with a flourish of his sleeve, he blew all the dust outside, revealing a cave chamber that had collapsed halfway.
This move seemed soft and lacking in power, but Ji Lingzi recognized its value. The ability to silently turn rubble into stone powder was impressive enough; what was more important was the precision of the force—only the obstructing stones were turned to dust while the original cave walls remained intact. Ji Lingzi looked at Li Hong with admiration.
Li Hong paid him no mind and fixed his gaze at the bottom of the cave.
The chamber was covered in a thick layer of dust. The female disciple was suspended against the stone wall by two thick Dark Iron Chains that pierced through her Scapula, barely standing. Her clothes were so dirty that their original color could no longer be discerned, and a mass of dry yellowed Long Hair lay over her face. Her head hung low on her chest, obscuring her features; she was so emaciated that she appeared to be nothing but bones. Yet her cultivation remained intact; she was clearly at the Initial Golden Core stage. However, there was an obscure and strange force coursing through her meridians, continuously eroding them and her body. At the same time, her dim golden core was constantly emitting spiritual power throughout her body, attempting to repair the damage caused by this strange force. Yet as the power of the golden core weakened, the strange force grew stronger.
At that moment, the female disciple finally sensed someone entering and moved slightly; her head slowly lifted. Li Hong saw a pair of dull and murky eyes devoid of spirit. But moments later, those eyes suddenly flashed with excitement and joy... Overwhelmed by her emotions, she could no longer bear it and simply tilted her head to faint.
Li Hong felt as if struck by lightning; his eyes widened in shock as he recognized her—she was Chulin, the eldest disciple of Ling Xiangzi, and the senior sister of Chu Xi!
Years ago, she had not left with Chuxuan and others but stayed in Nine Li Sect. Li Hong had known then that her fate would likely be dire; he never expected she was still alive.
“Chulin!” Li Hong shouted as he rushed over without hesitation to start tearing at the Dark Iron Chains.
With a tearing sound, the sturdy chains capable of being forged into magical artifacts were easily ripped apart by Li Hong. However, he could not carelessly move now; both chains wrapped around her Scapula. While he could break the section locked to the wall, he dared not pull on the part wrapped around Chulin. He could only lift both her and the chains together and escape to Chengxian Pavilion.
In Chengxian Pavilion, each of the Six Veins has its own dedicated resting room.
Not long after entering back then, after being framed by second senior brother Chu Qiu, both Li Hong and Chuxiong had rested their injuries in the lounges at Nine Separation Peak, Chengxian Pavilion, and Nine Vermilion Peaks. As he held onto Chulin, trying to think where would be best for recovery, his first thought was that place. He immediately flew up to the sixth floor of Chengxian Pavilion. When he pushed open the door to the resting room, he breathed a sigh of relief—the furniture was still there; it seemed like ordinary items had not been completely swept away by the Demon Sect.
Gently laying Chulin down on the wooden couch, Li Hong immediately examined her body.
It was dire; that grayish strange corrosive energy continued to erode through Chulin's meridians. Her meridians were already severely damaged, and her internal organs were rotting away. The power of her golden core grew weaker while being eroded here and there; she was already in a state where she could not afford to lose any more ground. If he had arrived even a few days later, she would surely have shattered her golden core.
The urgent task now was to stimulate her vitality to preserve her golden core while using external forces to help eliminate that strange energy together with her.
Li Hong pondered over the treatment method and immediately got to work.
With a wave of his hand, a faint Azure Light enveloped Chulin's entire body. This Azure Light contained an incredibly nourishing vitality, extracted by Li Hong from the Five Elements Spiritual Power as Water Spirit Energy, which was most effective for healing. The pain on Chulin's face indeed lessened, and Li Hong began rummaging through his Cosmic Bag. To his dismay, he realized he hadn't brought many Elixirs with him.
Li Hong quickly stepped outside, where Heavenly Torch and Chuxiong had also received the news and hurried over, coincidentally meeting him at the door.
Upon hearing about Chulin's urgent situation, Chuxiong immediately said, "I'll go back with Black Abyss to get some."
"Wait," Li Hong called out to Chuxiong, contemplating as he spoke. "Besides the new disciples, have Yun Jiuzi bring all the disciples here, especially Chongxiao. She must come along. Also, have Wuwei bring all the healing and detoxifying Elixirs. Make sure to be quick; otherwise, Chulin might not hold on much longer."
Chuxiong left with Black Abyss immediately.
Li Hong instructed Little Fei and Heavenly Torch to stay on guard outside while he returned to check on Chulin's injuries.
The more he examined Chulin's body, the more he felt that the strange energy was like a potent poison. This poison was incredibly powerful and seemed to come from nowhere, continuously swirling through Chulin's meridians. After some investigation, he finally found the source. Deep within Chulin's head was a gray Strange Creature about the size of a walnut, wriggling like a worm. This creature emitted Strange energy that was eroding Chulin's entire body.
Chulin practiced the Li Fire Scripture and had only reached the Initial Golden Core stage; her body was still flesh and blood. To extract this worm-like Strange Creature that had integrated with her brain tissue would be extremely challenging for Li Hong. He knew he had no confidence in doing so. He could only use his Awareness to wrap around this entity and trap it deep within Chulin's head.
This way, her body was temporarily preserved, but Chulin lost her Divine Consciousness and fell into a coma. Li Hong furrowed his brow tightly and had to find a way to remove the two segments of Dark Iron Chain.
These two segments of Dark Iron Chain were tightly wrapped around her scapula and had fused with her flesh. Li Hong first pulled on the Dark Iron Chain to thin it out before gradually pulling it out bit by bit. After exerting tremendous effort and sweating profusely, he finally managed to extract the Dark Iron Chain. He quickly applied medicine to the area. Seeing that Chulin was still sweating profusely in her unconscious state, Li Hong dared not move her further and stepped outside to discuss with Heavenly Torch while anxiously waiting for Yun Jiuzi and Wuwei's arrival.
During this time, Li Hong repeatedly entered to channel his Awareness into Chulin because it wasn't of the same origin as her spiritual power; he didn't dare to channel too much—just enough to protect Chulin's Golden Core. After doing this several times, even Heavenly Torch began to worry and started searching through Nine Li Cave Heaven for century-old ginseng and yellow essence to protect Chulin.
A day later, feeling as anxious as ants on a hot pan, he finally sensed someone opening the grand formation. Li Hong rushed outside and was overjoyed to see them arrive at last. Without hesitation, he grabbed Wuwei and Yun Jiuzi and took off.
Along the way, Yan Luo felt something was off with Yin Li'er. Although she knew Yin Li'er was not human but a phoenix in disguise, she couldn't understand why she felt this way—perhaps it stemmed from their initial awkward encounter. In any case, Yan Luo did not take a liking to Yin Li'er at all. Yet Yin Li'er enjoyed teasing Yan Luo; she relished watching her get flustered. The two had quarreled countless times along the way. Finally entering Nine Li Cave Heaven, Yan Luo saw Li Hong and immediately sighed in relief. Just as she wanted to approach him for some affection, Li Hong seemed not to notice her at all as he pulled Wuwei and Yun Jiuzi along before vanishing in a flash of golden light.
Yan Luo instantly became furious; just as she was about to explode with anger, Yin Li'er glanced at her with a grin and deliberately said, "Oh dear, some people are just overly sentimental; they think they've found a great support when in fact they aren't even considered by him..."
Yan Luo fumed and jumped in front of Yin Li'er, pointing at her nose: "Who are you talking about?"
"Who do you think I'm talking about?" Yin Li'er replied with a smile.
"You dare to say that again!"
"I'll say it again..."
"Enough! Sister Chulin is in bad shape, so all of you shut up!" Chuxiong had been mediating the quarrel all the way, and at this moment, he finally couldn't hold back anymore. He shot a glare at the two women and turned to leave.
Yan Luo wanted to say something, but when she saw that Yue Changzi, Chuming, and Chuxuan were all frowning tightly, their expressions clearly unfriendly, she realized she had angered everyone. She had no choice but to turn her head away fiercely, ignoring the mocking look on Yin Li'er's face, and awkwardly followed the group toward Chengxian Pavilion.
Upon reaching the sixth floor, everyone gathered in the corridor.
Yan Luo felt uncomfortable thinking about how Li Hong hadn't even glanced at her earlier. The more she thought about how Li Hong treated Yin Li'er like a sister, calling her "Sister Li'er" affectionately, the more sour her feelings became.
While her mind was racing with countless thoughts, she suddenly saw Li Hong hurriedly come out of a room, clearly looking for her. As soon as he spotted her, he waved and said, "Yan Luo, come here. I need your help."
"Me?" Yan Luo was taken aback for a moment but quickly regained her composure and felt delighted. She straightened up proudly and strutted past Yin Li'er with an air of confidence, running up to Li Hong.
However, upon seeing Li Hong, Yan Luo's expression changed immediately; all her arrogance vanished. She became shy and blushed like a young girl on her wedding day and asked hesitantly, "With so many people here looking for me to help, aren't you afraid of what others might think?"
"What do you mean by 'what others might think'? You're a girl; we need you to help Sister Chulin change clothes," Li Hong said, looking at Yan Luo with confusion.
"Hahaha..." Yin Li'er couldn't help but burst into laughter, nearly doubling over. "This is just being overly sentimental!"
Li Hong was even more baffled by this. At that moment, he had no mood for jokes. He waved his hand seriously at Yin Li'er and said, "Sister Li'er, be gentle; Sister Chulin isn't doing well. Yan Luo, come with me."
Li Hong actually "scolded" Yin Li'er for me! Yan Luo felt overjoyed instantly. When she saw Li Hong looking at her in confusion, she quickly put on a serious expression and said earnestly, "I'll go get hot water; I have some women's clothes for changing here."
"Good, I'll leave it all to you. Chuxiong, take Yan Luo to the main kitchen at Nine Separation Peak to get hot water," Li Hong said with a sigh of relief.
********
After a busy round of cleaning up, Chulin looked much cleaner as she lay quietly on the wooden couch. Although she still looked emaciated with pale skin and white lips, one could still vaguely see traces of her former beauty.
Everyone gathered around the wooden couch discussing her injuries carefully but found themselves at a loss for solutions.
According to Wuwei, this poison is very similar to the Gu poison of the Miao People, but it has been specially modified to be effective against cultivators as well. If Chulin were at the Nascent Soul Stage, it would be manageable; breaking open her skull to extract the source Gu insect would cause significant harm to her physical body, but given time, she could still recover. However, Chulin's cultivation level is insufficient; she is only at the Initial Golden Core stage, and her body is still quite fragile. At this moment, the Gu insect has already fused with her brain, and any misstep could lead to her losing all her cultivation or worse, her soul dissipating immediately. Therefore, there is simply no way to open her skull and extract the insect.
"What should we do?" Li Hong asked anxiously.
Wuwei pondered for a moment and said, "There is one more method, a simple and permanent solution."
Everyone immediately perked up and urged him to continue.
Wuwei briefly stated two words: "Seize Body."
Everyone suddenly understood, but their expressions varied, and the room fell silent.
Chulin's physical body may be ruined, but her Golden Core remains. As long as they find a suitable body for her to seize and rebuild her cultivation, combined with her previous foundation, she would surely be able to quickly reach the Golden Core Stage again. However, this method requires erasing another person's soul, which means killing someone and occupying that person's body. It is truly against the natural order. Therefore, in the Cultivation World, seizing a body is definitely not a righteous act.
After thinking for a while, Li Hong said, "How about this? Let's wake up Sister Chulin and hear her opinion."
"That's true; let's give her the choice," Yun Jiuzi sighed deeply despite saying so.
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