Free Web NovelChapter 192: Chapter 185: Harvest (Part 1)
「In a private school’s study, within the Calligraphy Realm.」
The scholar Zhou Ziang slowly woke up, still slumped over his desk. He raised his head in a daze, a dull ache throbbing in his neck.
He glanced at the puddle of drool he’d left on the desk, and a strong sense of unreality washed over him.
’Could it be...’
’Was everything that just happened only a fleeting dream I had after dozing off from my studies?’
He laughed self-deprecatingly. ’Perhaps it was. After all, how could a poor scholar like me ever encounter an Immortal?’
But...
The image of that Immortal was still so clear in his mind: robes fluttering, a dashing figure who treated gods and ghosts as nothing.
Of course, even clearer—so clear it made his very soul tremble—was the scene of Mr. Lin using another living person like a sword, swinging him about with whistling force and smashing the female ghost with a resounding PANG! PANG!
Terrifying!
He felt he would never be able to forget that scene for the rest of his life!
He subconsciously patted himself down, searching for some proof that it wasn’t a dream.
Finally, from within his robes, he pulled out several talisman cards made of an extraordinary material.
They were none other than "Myriad Arrows," "Barbarian Invasion," and the like!
Staring at these things he had never owned before, Zhou Ziang’s breath caught in his throat, and a fiery light erupted in his eyes.
He was finally certain... everything he had experienced was definitely not a dream!
He, Zhou Ziang, had received a supreme immortal opportunity!
"Guixi Sect... Mr. Lin..."
He clutched the ’talismans’ tightly in his palm, his eyes blazing with fanaticism.
He must find that place!
He must meet Mr. Lin again!
He must set foot on his own path to immortality!
...
With a flash of light, the gloomy, oppressive haunted mansion faded away.
When Su Ling’er opened her eyes again, she was back in the familiar entrance plaza of the Yin Spirit Institute.
All around was the clamor of surviving players. Many disciples were gathered in small groups, animatedly showing off their loot from the instance.
The bustling crowd was a stark contrast to the deathly silence of the haunted mansion, making Su Ling’er feel as though a lifetime had passed.
She instinctively scanned her surroundings, her gaze urgently searching the crowd.
Soon, in a corner of the plaza, she saw several familiar figures.
It was her undercover junior brothers—the ones who had gotten separated in the haunted mansion, whom she had feared for the worst!
She even saw... Junior Brother Jia, whom she had personally witnessed suffer a "tragic death"!
They... were all alive!
Su Ling’er heaved a long sigh of relief.
’Thank goodness... Everyone’s all right.’
However, she soon noticed something was amiss.
Although her junior brothers were alive, their auras were all listless, and their Cultivation fluctuations were even weaker than before they entered the instance. It seemed they had dropped back to the third or fourth layer of Qi Refining.
’What’s going on?’
A thought flashed through Su Ling’er’s mind.
’Don’t tell me... in the Guixi Sect’s Evil Illusion Realm, "death" doesn’t mean you actually die, but... you lose Cultivation?!’
Just as she was reeling in shock, a surge of purified yet malevolent Spiritual Qi erupted from her Dantian and instantly flooded her entire body!
This was the reward for clearing the instance.
Her Cultivation’s aura began to climb steadily, soaring higher and higher until it finally stabilized at the peak of the Early-stage of Foundation Establishment, just one step away from the mid-stage.
However, no matter how much more Spiritual Qi was poured in, that barrier remained as solid as a rock, refusing to budge even an inch.
As Su Ling’er felt her Cultivation stall, a deeply ominous premonition washed over her.
’It can’t be, can it?!’
’Don’t tell me... don’t tell me that to advance even one minor realm, I have to be hammered like a chunk of iron with the *Sword Refining Skill* all over again?!’
’What kind of hellish advancement path is this?!’
Despite her frantic internal complaints, she recalled facing the Grudge in the haunted mansion. The memory of watching helplessly as it devoured everyone, unable to protect them, brought that feeling of humiliation and powerlessness surging back.
She clenched her fists.
’The weak can’t protect anyone.’
The Foundation Establishment promised by the Sect Leader of Qingxu Temple was no longer her goal.
But exposing the truth of this demonic sect and bringing clarity back to the world—this was still the path she had silently sworn to in her heart when she first began to cultivate.
She once dreamed of being like the Immortals in storybooks, soaring in on her sword to sweep away all the world’s injustices with a flick of her sleeve.
But never before had she so clearly understood that protecting and saving people could not be accomplished through passion and book smarts alone.
’Without absolute power, all grand ambitions are just empty talk.’
’Perhaps... my final fate is to be reduced to an unthinking, unfeeling Immortal Sword in my Senior Brother’s hand, a weapon that knows only slaughter.’
’But that is, in the end, the ’final’ fate.’
’Before that happens, I still have time.’
’Before I’m completely refined into a ’sword,’ I still have my own will. I can still use these hands to protect the people I want to protect.’
’I must find a way to break this deadlock.’
’Besides the painful *Sword Refining Skill*, there seems to be no other path for someone with a Pseudo Spirit Root like me to gain power...’
"Three thousand Great Daos, all leading to the same destination."
Su Ling’er slowly unclenched her fists, the confusion in her eyes replaced by a tranquil resolve.
’If I want to fulfill my wish of saving the world with this mortal body, then even if the path ahead is a mountain of daggers and a sea of flames, even if it means having my heart devoured by ten thousand demons... today, I will accept it.’
Not far away, Wang Xiedi also felt his Cultivation leap.
The reward from the instance had propelled him all the way to the peak of the fifth layer of Qi Refining; he could even faintly touch the threshold of the sixth layer.
Yet his heart felt no joy, only that same, crushing powerlessness.
Inside the instance, he had been swung around like a weapon by his Senior Brother, completely unable to resist.
Compared to a true expert, this small boost in Cultivation was utterly insignificant.
’I can’t even surpass Senior Sister... How can I talk about protecting her, let alone being a man she can count on...’
He thought, utterly dejected, and secretly vowed that no matter the method, he had to get stronger!
Elsewhere, Dong Changsheng, the leader of the undercover operation’s "survivors," was assessing his own gains.
Boosted by the instance’s reward, his Cultivation shattered its bottleneck in one fell swoop, soaring directly to the ninth layer of Qi Refining!
Not only that, but a jade slip had appeared in his hand.
He sent his Divine Sense into it for a brief probe and was left completely stunned.
Recorded in the jade slip was a superior Cultivation Technique called the *Nine Revolutions Profound Origin Skill*!
At first, he was just happy to find the technique was orthodox and balanced, pointing directly towards the Great Dao.
But when his Divine Sense delved deeper, into the Chapter about realm breakthroughs, his breath caught in his throat!
Nothing!
There was nothing!
In this Cultivation Technique, from Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment, to Golden Core and Nascent Soul, and even to the legendary Divinity Transformation realm, there was absolutely no mention of "Origin Dust"!
