Chapter 175

Chapter 175: The Method to Restore Past Memories

At the outset, she had approached Zong Wen Shi and the others under a false identity. After entering the secret realm, she was no different from other cultivators, all seeking more and rarer resources.

Before the truth was clear, she had “struck first,” secretly dosing Zong Wen Shi’s group with a little drug, though it never came into play.

Because she overheard Su Hua and the other two plotting to kill her and Little Hamster, she once again moved first and trapped and killed all three, which meant Han Yulu would forever lose her elder brother.

Faced with Han Yulu, who by rights should have been silenced to eliminate the roots, she did not strike.

Facing Zong Wen Shi, who bullied a defenseless, gentle woman, and who had shown killing intent toward her, she slew him without hesitation…

Unconsciously, Rong Shu had left the small town near the Scorchfire Secret Realm’s exit.

Out where no one was around, she immediately cast off her disguise and returned to “Heaven’s Evolution Sect disciple Rong Shu,” then took out her Flying Boat and sped away.

Behind her, the town grew smaller and smaller, until it was just a tiny black speck, until it vanished from sight…

Rong Shu rode the Flying Boat ever forward.

Her thoughts still drifted.

She lifted her head to the blue sky and drifting white clouds above.

That boundless sky seemed to embrace all things; to gaze upon it long was to feel one’s worries and confusion quietly washed away.

Gradually, clarity and resolve returned to Rong Shu’s eyes.

When she stepped onto the path of cultivation, she had already foreseen what kind of road it would be.

It was a blood-soaked road of no return; once begun, there would be no stopping.

She could be strict with herself, and she could watch others with a thousand wary eyes, because she did not want to die, did not want to die nameless in some corner.

Rong Shu knew she was no saint.

But she absolutely refused to become a demon without limits who killed for killing’s sake.

This was her bottom line and her principle.

It was also her Dao.

Boom.

Rong Shu’s aura surged. The shackles of early Foundation Establishment loosened, as if she were about to break through.

She suppressed it in time.

However…

“My ice element advanced to the fourth layer of Qi Refining?”

Rong Shu was startled for a moment, then quickly calmed.

For a while now, she had felt her ice element on the verge of a breakthrough, as if blocked by an invisible film.

Now she had punctured that film, and the ice element rose to the fourth layer of Qi Refining.

“The timing is perfect. I was just about to take on missions…”

With her “cultivation” about to appear higher, Rong Shu fed a little more spiritual energy into the Flying Boat. Instantly, its speed ticked up.

“Gu gu?”

Sitting in the Flying Boat, Little Hamster lifted his head to look at Rong Shu.

When they set out, Rong Shu had already placed him on the Flying Boat. While she had been lost in thought, he had not disturbed her.

Sensing she had come back to herself, he chirped twice to draw her attention.

Rong Shu settled cross-legged on the Flying Boat and reached out a hand.

Little Hamster scampered over and leaped into her palm.

Looking at the small, warm bundle in her hand, Rong Shu suddenly thought of something: “Yan Yan, you can steadily change back into human form now, right?”

“I can, I can… I just cannot stay that way too long. If I do, my belly gets hungry, and I feel tired and want to sleep.” Little Hamster rubbed his tummy, then patted his head.

“About how long?”

“Mm… five to six hours.” Little Hamster estimated and answered.

He tilted his head up, his eyes bright like gems: “Shu Shu, do you want me to change back into my human appearance?”

Rong Shu pinched his little paw: “It mainly depends on whether Yan Yan agrees.”

Little Hamster turned his face slightly, a bit shy: “Anything is fine by me, as long as Shu Shu does not dislike me…”

As he spoke, the excited and happy Little Hamster seemed ready to perform a “grand transformation” on the spot.

Rong Shu quickly pressed down on Yan Yan’s restless head: “You have forgotten what I told you?”

“When there are people around, do not change back casually. Otherwise you will be bare and if someone sees you, you will be at a disadvantage.”

Little Hamster abandoned the notion at once and nodded obediently: “Mm mm, I know.”

“It is just… I do not mind being seen by Shu Shu…”

“We are already contracted. I belong to Shu Shu.”

He rubbed his furry head lightly against Rong Shu’s palm, utterly reliant.

Rong Shu kept petting him without the least politeness and said in all seriousness: “Ahem, even so, you still need to be careful, understand?”

“Mm mm.”

“…”

To save time, Rong Shu first went to a major city, then spent Spirit Stones to use a Teleportation Array to reach the main city closest to her mission sites.

She had chosen her missions with particular care.

Every mission involved harvesting spiritual herbs.

Though the herbs were precious, they were not so rare as to be unobtainable; waiting a year or two to harvest them would still be in time.

Some missions had been posted by the sect, some by powers outside the sect.

Rong Shu began with the nearest mission site.

The first task took two days to harvest and she turned it in to the external power that had posted it.

After they verified the herbs’ quality, they paid Rong Shu her reward.

First mission, complete.

Next, Rong Shu hurried to the second mission site, again posted by an external power.

This time the herb was of higher quality, and the beast guarding it more troublesome, so Rong Shu spent five days to complete the second task.

She then rushed on to the third mission site—Enduring Heart City.

…

Four days later.

Rong Shu strolled down a broad avenue in Enduring Heart City.

The third and fourth missions had been posted by the sect, so she would need to return to the sect to complete submission.

The herb for the third mission was a fifth-grade Soul Recall Grass.

It was said that Soul Recall Grass could draw the soul. If placed by someone on the verge of death or with a weakened soul, it could stabilize the spirit.

However, that was merely the stuff of stories. Soul Recall Grass did have some effect on stabilizing the soul, but nothing as exaggerated as legend claimed.

Because it was already dark when Rong Shu arrived in Enduring Heart City, she first found an inn to stay the night and planned to harvest the Soul Recall Grass the next day.

“Right, I forgot to look through the Storage Pouches we took off Han Cheng Yun and the others.”

In her room, Rong Shu examined the Storage Pouches one after another. Aside from Spirit Stones, herbs, and assorted odds and ends, the items she valued most were the alchemy books and pill formulas they had divided among themselves when entering the Scripture Tower with Han Cheng Yun’s group.

“These books… should all have come from the Scripture Tower.”

Looking at these alchemy texts and pill recipes that had gone full circle back into her hands, Rong Shu could not help feeling a little wistful.

She flipped through the books and recipes, not reading in depth, only skimming to sort and classify them.

“Hm? This book… mentions Soul Recall Grass?”

Her gaze had caught a familiar term and her hands stilled.

“Soul Recall Grass has the effect of nourishing the soul and calming the spirit… one of the ingredients in refining the ‘Return to Bygone Memories Pill’…”

Rong Shu stared at the five words Return to Bygone Memories Pill for two seconds.

Was that a pill’s name? Why so strange?

“A pill with a name like that… did the secret realm’s master invent it himself? Like that pill the Fire Spirit Fruit loves to eat?”

“Is this a pill to restore memory? Or to strengthen it?”

At the thought of “memory,” Rong Shu remembered the segment she had lost after falling from the cliff when she first transmigrated.

[Could this pill help her retrieve that missing memory?]