Chapter 083

Chapter 83: Shen Nan Zhou: I Have a Friend

The sudden shake in Ye Wan Wan’s spirit was noticed at once by Pei Xuan and Xun Yin. Xun Yin flashed to her side and tapped a fingertip to her brow. A strand of spiritual light covered her forehead and calmed her mind as he said: “Child, don’t be afraid.”

Ye Wan Wan bit her lower lip hard.

What she saw was not the same as what the others saw.

Lu Qing Xuan used his life as the price to lift Fang He An and send him out of the volcano’s domain. He gave his disciple a path to live by trading his own death.

But in the end, Fang He An didn’t live either.

Ye Wan Wan remembered. He died in a rainstorm at night. The rain poured down. He stood in the curtain of rain, covered in knife wounds. The water washed his cuts and a pool of blood spread on the ground. In the end, he still smiled and said: “…As long as you’re okay…”

Xun Yin frowned in surprise and said: “Why is the child’s spirit this agitated? Old Five, did you scare her?”

Lu Qing Xuan said helplessly: “…I don’t look scary, do I?”

Ye Wan Wan clenched her hands so tight that her nails dug into her palms. She steadied her mind. She knew this moment mattered. If she failed, not only would the three spirit treasures be wasted, she would also trouble Fifth Senior Uncle.

She closed her eyes.

A voice she’d once heard in the Sword Tomb rose up: “If your heart is full of stray thoughts, what should you do?”

Ye Wan Wan answered in her heart: [Sever.]

High on Snow Mountain, inside the Purple Spirit Cave Abode, the Heart Questioning Sword shivered, turned into a streak of light, flew out of the cave, sped straight for Green Thicket Mountain, and landed at the girl’s side.

Xun Yin and Lu Qing Xuan both startled.

Pei Xuan’s eyes sank with thought.

The Heart Questioning Sword released a gentle glow. Its sharp sword aura merged with the girl’s restless Primordial Spirit and slowly pressed it down.

Ye Wan Wan grew calm. The five Golden Cores traveled smoothly along their routes.

All three let out a breath.

Two days later, the three damaged Golden Cores were fully repaired. The five Golden Cores spun fast, and the leftover medicine power poured into her dantian. Five little clouds of energy swelled at once, spreading outward.

Under her cultivation method, they rushed into the meridians, widening and strengthening them again and again, as if she was redoing the whole Foundation Establishment process.

When the five clouds returned to her dantian, they turned into five whirlpools and became new vortex eyes.

They knew then that the girl had reached Foundation Establishment.

Lu Qing Xuan pondered and said: “If Little Six must temper her meridians every time she reaches Foundation Establishment, then later on, how strong and how wide will her meridians become? The strength of this body of hers…”

He looked at his senior brother, and Xun Yin looked back. The meaning in both pairs of eyes was the same. The path Ye Wan Wan chose was not simple.

Three more days passed. Ye Wan Wan finished digesting the medicinal power and steadied her realm. When she woke, she was already at mid Foundation Establishment.

Bai Jian, Fang He An, and Li Wan Zhi had kept watch for a long time.

Bai Jian said with relief: “You’re awake.”

Ye Wan Wan glanced at the three and suddenly asked in a hoarse voice: “Where is Fifth senior brother?”

Fang He An froze, then answered at once: “He’s on Disciples’ Peak.”

Ye Wan Wan’s eyes turned a little red and she said: “Good.”

She stepped onto the Heart Questioning Sword and flew straight to Disciples’ Peak, calling back over her shoulder: “Second senior sister, Third senior brother, Fourth senior brother, I want to talk to him. Don’t follow me.”

The three looked at one another.

Li Wan Zhi asked nervously: “Will they fight?”

Fang He An said, uneasy: “I don’t think so.”

Bai Jian said with certainty: “Junior brother must have done something wrong.”

All three nodded together: “Right.”

On Disciples’ Peak, Shen Nan Zhou had been barred from leaving the mountain and could only move within the Heavenly One Sect. Since returning, he had stayed on Disciples’ Peak and gone nowhere else. Sometimes he just sat in his room, lost in thought. Bai Jian had sent that in a voice message.

When Ye Wan Wan arrived, she saw a boy leaning by the door, thinking of something. The breeze blew past, and he looked a little down. His eyes had no focus; he stared blankly at the Mystic Spirit Grass in the yard. Fang He An had planted it recently and, following Ye Wan Wan’s method, had tried to raise it to Grade One Mystic Spirit Grass, but it hadn’t worked.

Hearing movement, Shen Nan Zhou looked up, lifted a brow, and said with a light tone: “Yo, little senior sister.”

Ye Wan Wan rushed up like a gust of wind, grabbed his collar, dragged him into the room, and slammed the door shut.

The three who had secretly followed along stared at the closed door in silence: [This looks bad.]

Inside, with his back to the table, Shen Nan Zhou was a little surprised, but he did not resist. He only raised his brows with mild interest and said: “Senior sister, what is this about…?”

Ye Wan Wan kept her voice low and asked: “Why was Heavenly One Sect wiped out?”

Shen Nan Zhou’s pupils shrank.

Ye Wan Wan held his collar tight and flicked two Sound Sealing Talismans into place. All sound inside and outside the room was locked down tight; the three at the door couldn’t hear a thing.

Ye Wan Wan’s voice dropped even lower and shook a little as she asked: “Why was it wiped out?”

Shen Nan Zhou frowned and said: “You…”

Ye Wan Wan suddenly used a mocking tone and said: “You have nowhere to go. Join us, little beggar.”

Shen Nan Zhou went silent.

Ye Wan Wan said coldly: “That was the first thing you said to me in our last life, Heavenly Abyss… no, your true name then was Devil Lord Heavenly One.”

“Heavenly One, Heavenly One Sect.” Her gaze burned.

Shen Nan Zhou said quietly: “Senior sister, what are you saying? I don’t understand.”

Ye Wan Wan snapped: “Stop acting!”

She lifted him and stared into his eyes as she said: “You remember me, don’t you?”

Shen Nan Zhou thought hard for a moment, then said: “Do you mean that dream?”

He smiled and said: “In my dream, you were my senior sister.”

Ye Wan Wan really wanted to strike him. She even thought about searching his soul, but she knew she might not find anything in his Primordial Spirit. This brat’s Primordial Spirit was not weaker than hers. If they really fought, they might be evenly matched. And using a higher realm to force a soul search on Shen Nan Zhou was something she still couldn’t do, because [he must be hiding his cultivation.]

Shen Nan Zhou gently took her hand off his collar. The moment he touched her, he noticed how cold her fingers were. He guided her to sit by the chair and lit the charcoal brazier in the room.

He pulled the brazier closer to her and then moved a stool to sit across from her as he said: “I really don’t know what you mean, but since I was little, I’ve had a dream.”

Ye Wan Wan asked bluntly: “What dream?”

Shen Nan Zhou lowered his head, thought, then looked up and said: “Let’s put it this way. I have a friend. His Dream Realm is like this.”

“You have a friend?” she asked, suspicious.

Shen Nan Zhou said dryly: “…Do you want to hear it or not?”

Ye Wan Wan straightened and said: “I’ll listen.”

Shen Nan Zhou spoke softly: “When he was very young, people said his birth was unlucky. The clan suggested throwing him away. His parents and his aunt wouldn’t allow it, so they left and made a home on their own. On his third birthday, his entire family and his whole clan were killed. Everyone died except him. He survived because his aunt hid him in a well and used her own body to cover the mouth of the well.”

Ye Wan Wan’s palm tightened. She whispered: “Shen Nan Zhou…”