Chapter 34

Chapter 34: The Guardian Treasure

At noon, Second Lady Hu returned—and nearly laughed from anger.

“Eating and drinking like this?” she said coldly. “You two are having a great time.”

Ling Bu Fei had drunk enough that his eyes looked slightly unfocused. He tipped his head back with a lazy, insolent air. “What else should I do? If I make myself look more miserable, will you let me go?”

The answer was obvious.

Second Lady Hu didn’t waste words. She flicked a finger.

The barrier shifted.

The sunlight and scenery outside vanished, as if a black dome dropped over the hollow and sealed it into a separate world. Even the birdsong disappeared, cut off as cleanly as a severed thread.

Bai Meng Jin watched, understanding.

A formation. Second Lady Hu was sealing the space so she could use a secret technique without leaving traces for others to track.

The hollow filled with an empty, unnatural glow. The warmth and noise from earlier vanished so completely it felt like an illusion.

Ling Bu Fei raised his head.

Under that hazy light, the youthful flippancy seemed to drain from his face. Something deeper and steadier emerged—the faint shadow of the Sect Master Ling Bai Meng Jin had known in her last life.

Second Lady Hu stared at him, eyes cold. “This face looks just like your father’s. Maybe you’ll be a traitor too someday.”

A traitor?

Bai Meng Jin’s eyes narrowed. She hadn’t expected that word.

Did Ling Yun Zhou’s disappearance hide something more than rumor?

Ling Bu Fei’s lips curved into a faint, controlled smile. Even the drunken flush had faded.

“Madam Hu,” he said evenly, toying with his wine cup as if it were merely conversation, “allow me to remind you. The claim that my father betrayed the sect has no proof.”

His gaze didn’t waver. “Besides, I grew up in the Limitless Sect and never met him. Guessing like this is slander.”

“Such a smooth tongue,” Second Lady Hu sneered. “If it weren’t for your mother’s sake, do you think you’d be sitting here peacefully?”

She clearly had no interest in arguing with a junior. Her voice turned sharp. “You look energetic enough. You should be able to endure the secret technique. Let’s begin.”

Dense Red Threads appeared in the air, coiling toward Ling Bu Fei.

In the blink of an eye, he was wrapped from head to toe.

His cup rolled across the floor. His arms and legs were forced wide, and he was hoisted up like a lamb waiting for slaughter, pinned by suffocating pressure.

Ling Bu Fei’s brows drew tight.

Then Second Lady Hu formed hand seals. The Red Threads lit one by one, and Ling Bu Fei’s expression began to twist with pain.

Bai Meng Jin’s face darkened as she watched.

Second Lady Hu was forcing whatever lay inside him to reveal itself.

Ling Bu Fei carried his mother’s Divine Transformation Stage cultivation. Whatever was sealed within him carried power too. Two forces tearing at each other inside a living body would produce pain beyond imagination.

Yet he didn’t make a sound.

Cold sweat poured down his temples. Veins stood out against his skin. His jaw clenched so hard it looked like it might crack.

“Good,” Second Lady Hu said, eyes narrowing with satisfaction. “If you’re this tough, I can relax.”

Her power surged.

Only then did the hollow’s hidden structure reveal itself.

The tree walls were carved with countless thin grooves—vein-like channels that ran through the wood in intricate networks.

Green light began to flow through them, streams like living water, all converging toward Ling Bu Fei.

Bound by Red Threads, he couldn’t even twitch as the green light washed over him, drilled into his meridians, and coated him like a second skin.

Bai Meng Jin surged to her feet. “You’re using the Parasol Tree to fight what’s inside him? Are you insane? He’s alive—not a corpse!”

The Parasol Tree sat on Phoenix Mountain’s spiritual vein, nourishing countless living beings. The power contained in that vein was enormous.

Using it to force out the treasure inside Ling Bu Fei was a brilliant method.

Using it like this—on a living person—was torture.

Second Lady Hu flicked a glance at Bai Meng Jin. “Good eyes. Even you can see that.”

But she didn’t stop. The seals were loosening. She could feel it.

“Ah—!”

Ling Bu Fei finally cried out. The sound was raw, dragged out of him as if pain had scraped his throat. His heartbeat raced, blood rushing like a flood, every inch of his body writhing under invisible pressure.

Bai Meng Jin stood still for a heartbeat—then stepped forward and took his hand.

Second Lady Hu’s eyes sharpened. Killing intent flickered.

She wasn’t someone who killed casually. But if this girl ruined her work—

“What are you doing?” her voice cut.

“Don’t move,” Bai Meng Jin said quietly to Ling Bu Fei. “I’ll help you circulate. Don’t resist.”

Then she drew out her own power and pressed it into his pulse point.

Her power was small—almost harmless. Yet it moved with uncanny precision.

It slipped past Second Lady Hu’s force and the Parasol Tree’s overwhelming spiritual pressure, threading into Ling Bu Fei’s meridians as if it belonged there. It found stagnant pools of power, wrapped around them, and guided them into motion.

The enormous force inside Ling Bu Fei trembled—then began to move.

It nourished his blood vessels, soothed his heart meridian, steadied his breathing.

The agony eased just enough for Ling Bu Fei’s eyes to clear. His body still trembled, but he no longer looked like he might shatter.

This method didn’t counter Second Lady Hu’s technique. It didn’t stop the Parasol Tree’s power.

It did one thing: protected his heart.

Second Lady Hu snorted. The killing intent faded. “You really do have skill, girl. No wonder the Limitless Sect chose you.”

Bai Meng Jin let the misunderstanding stand.

While maintaining her grip, she sent her awareness inward, inspecting Ling Bu Fei’s body.

What she found made her stomach tighten.

An ordinary person’s meridians formed a continuous net.

Ling Bu Fei’s were broken into segments—as if someone had snapped the net and left only pieces. The meridians themselves were intact, but the connecting acupoints were clogged with devil qi, severing all circulation.

The only reason he could live normally was the artifact in his dantian.

Supported by his mother’s remaining power, the artifact suppressed the devil qi with brutal firmness, keeping it from running wild.

Bai Meng Jin could almost picture the scene from eighteen years ago.

A newborn drowned in devil qi.

Madam Jiang feeding her own cultivation into an artifact, forcing it into her infant’s body, using it as a wedge to hold back corruption.

As Bai Meng Jin finished her inspection, Second Lady Hu pushed Ling Bu Fei to his limit.

The treasure finally revealed itself.

Within his dantian, a simple, ancient-looking little cauldron rose—plain in shape, profound in presence. Patterns on its surface shimmered with deep spiritual light.

Bai Meng Jin stared.

Shock hit so hard she nearly lost her breath.

The Devil-Suppressing Cauldron.

Madam Jiang had sealed the Devil-Suppressing Cauldron inside Ling Bu Fei.

The Upper Three Sects each possessed guardian treasures of terrifying power. The Devil-Suppressing Cauldron was one of them—an artifact passed down from the Founding Patriarch of the Limitless Sect, famed for its great deeds during the Devil-Sealing War.

No wonder the Limitless Sect held Ling Bu Fei so high.

He was the Devil-Suppressing Cauldron.

And the Devil-Suppressing Cauldron was him.