Chapter 61
Chapter 61: The Ji Siblings
Hearing that, Shao Heng cupped her fists. “Greetings, Senior Sister. My name is—”
Before she could finish, the girl lifted a hand and pointed at her.
In an instant, the Face-Changing Art collapsed. The disguise of a handsome young man peeled away like mist. In the lake’s faint reflection, Shao Heng saw her true face return.
She cleared her throat and changed course without missing a beat. “Senior Sister, my name is Shao Heng.”
The girl tilted her head, studying her for a moment, then smiled. “You don’t know me? Fine. My name is Ji Xuan Yin. You can call me Senior Sister Ji.”
Her gaze swept Shao Heng from head to toe, lingering briefly on her aura. “Why did you enter the secret realm to hunt for opportunities when you’re only mid-stage? Which elder do you follow?”
Ji Xuan Yin’s tone wasn’t hostile. And if they survived and left this place, they might run into each other in the inner sect. Shao Heng answered honestly, “Senior Sister Ji, I haven’t taken a master yet.”
A flicker of confusion crossed Ji Xuan Yin’s face, but she didn’t press. Instead, she explained as if humoring a junior who didn’t know better.
“This lake hides Spirit Lotus Root. It’s been nourished by moonlight essence. Eating it is quite beneficial for spirit sense.”
“As for Shattered Moon…” Ji Xuan Yin glanced toward the lotus leaves. “These lotuses aren’t rare spirit plants, but they can mask the aura of Shattered Moon. If you dive to search, it comes down to luck.”
Shao Heng dipped her head. “Thank you, Senior Sister Ji.”
She formed a water-warding seal and jumped into the lake.
From the shore, Ji Xuan Yin watched her dive, brows lifting slightly. Amusement flickered in her eyes.
A moment later, someone burst from the water nearby.
The man wore flowing white robes, dripping lakewater like threads of glass. His features were fine as jade, his nose straight and proud. Under thick, dark brows, his ink-black eyes swirled like a vortex, pulling at anyone who met his gaze.
In his hand were three pieces of Shattered Moon.
One glance was enough to tell he’d done well.
He landed lightly, steadied himself, and used a Dust-Cleansing Technique. Then he walked to Ji Xuan Yin’s side and followed her gaze.
“What are you looking at?” he asked.
Ji Xuan Yin eyed the Shattered Moon in his hand, pouted, then snorted. “So it’s you, Ji Fei Guang. Why is your luck always so good? I’ve been groping around the lakebed for ages and never even saw a hint of Shattered Moon, and you come up with three in one trip.”
Treasure stirred greed in the heart. Ji Fei Guang held the three pieces openly. Around them, eyes burned with envy. But once people recognized him—or sensed his cultivation—they swallowed their desire and didn’t dare step forward.
Ji Fei Guang didn’t care. He tossed the three pieces to Ji Xuan Yin and flicked her forehead.
“No manners. You won’t even call me Brother anymore.”
Ji Xuan Yin caught them without the slightest shame, grinning. Ji Fei Guang continued, voice calm, “It’s just Shattered Moon. I’ve already reached 987 furnaces. It’s hard to improve any further. This stuff doesn’t do much for me now. Take it.”
Ji Xuan Yin chuckled and, for once, grew careful. She cast a soundproofing spell.
Then, smiling sweetly, she leaned closer and said, “It’s fine. Once you find the inheritance Senior Ling Jiang left behind and seize that fortune, your foundation will definitely break past 990 furnaces in one leap. You’ll advance to the Mystic Passage Realm in the most perfect state.”
After 900 furnaces, the foundation could still be built up. The more furnaces a cultivator had, the broader they could expand the middle dantian—the Crimson Palace—when they broke through, and the benefits would echo through every stage ahead.
People liked to say a thousand furnaces was the limit, but across the cultivation history of all races, those who entered the next realm with more than 990 furnaces were rarer than phoenix feathers.
Ji Fei Guang looked at her, helpless amusement in his eyes. “So,” he said again, “what were you looking at earlier?”
Ji Xuan Yin pointed toward the lake. “Brother, you know my High-Grade aptitude is Immortal-Bone Spirit Eyes.”
“I just saw a female disciple of our sect. She’s only mid-stage First Realm, but there’s something about her I can’t see through.”
“Oh?” Ji Fei Guang’s interest sharpened.
“Your constitution is extraordinary,” he said. “With Spirit Eyes, you see things others can’t. Could she have mastered some special concealment art?”
“Probably not.” Ji Xuan Yin spread her hands. “I saw through her disguise with one glance.”
She frowned slightly, remembering. “I couldn’t tell anything else, but she still felt unusual. So I did her a favor and explained what’s strange about the lakebed. She’d just jumped in when you swam out.”
Ji Fei Guang raised a hand and knocked her head again.
“Ow!” Ji Xuan Yin hissed, rubbing her scalp.
“You,” he said, voice mild but firm. “Stop worrying about other people and focus on your cultivation.”
“Our aptitudes are similar, and we entered the sect the same year. If you hadn’t been slacking in secret, how would you still be stuck at just over 940 furnaces?”
Meanwhile, the person they’d been discussing was deep beneath the surface, swimming toward the lakebed.
Shao Heng extended her spirit sense.
Even after tempering it with the Great Expansion Spirit-Refining Art, she still couldn’t detect where Shattered Moon might be. The lakebed felt like a curtain of mud and silence.
Ao Chuan used Dragon Pupil Art as well. He didn’t spot anything either.
Shao Heng moved through the water under a water-warding art, nimble as a fish. But then she sensed something wrong to her right—an odd twist in the current.
She drove spiritual power through her feet and shot sideways.
Turning back, she flooded spiritual power into her eyes. Only then did she barely make out a long snake almost perfectly blended into the lake water.
She flicked a finger.
A Jade Bee Needle shot out and pierced it cleanly. The snake went limp without even stirring the water.
“No blood,” Shao Heng murmured. “No smell.”
It didn’t feel alive. It felt… cold. Yin-formed, like a ghost wearing the shape of a snake.
She scanned the surroundings again, careful now. When she confirmed there were no more, she shifted position.
From above, the lake looked clear. At the bottom, silt drifted everywhere, mixing into the water. Shao Heng wrapped spiritual power around herself and wriggled through the muck, left and right, like a loach searching blind.
Her right hand plunged into a clump of sludge and struck something hard.
Protected by spiritual power, she didn’t hesitate. She reached in and yanked it free.
In her palm lay a section of lotus root with three segments, white as jade. Even in the murky water it gave off a faint glow, and a delicate fragrance finally broke through once it was free of the silt.
“So this is Spirit Lotus Root,” she thought.
There were other cultivators down on the lakebed—a mixed crowd—and she had no idea who had sharp methods or sharper greed. Ao Chuan stayed coiled on her right arm in dragon-tattoo form.
His voice slipped into her mind. “This Spirit Lotus Root is packed with qi. It smells good.”
“Of course,” Shao Heng replied silently. “It should count as a Second-Grade spirit plant.”
Then, because you couldn’t ask a horse to run without feeding it, she added, “I still have spirit rice. Later I’ll cook you a pot of lotus-root porridge.”
“Really?” Ao Chuan sounded instantly brighter.
“Really.”
He squirmed slightly against her skin, trying and failing to sound indifferent. “At least you’ve got a bit of a conscience.”
Shao Heng almost laughed. For all his bloodline pride, he was still a hatchling dragon, dazzled by a pot of plain porridge she hadn’t even cooked yet.
She moved to put the Spirit Lotus Root into her storage ring—
And sensed an almost imperceptible ripple in the water.
A hand shot out from ahead, reaching straight for the root.
Shao Heng snapped her wrist and slipped away, retreating with an escape art that pulled open distance in the blink of an eye.
“So it’s yours, is it?” she said coldly through the water. “Then why are you taking it?”
Her right sleeve snapped.
In an instant, 36 Jade Bee Needles burst outward like a swarm.