Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Feng He Yun’s Apology Gift

Wen Xuan said as he moved to help: “Wait a moment, Second Senior Brother will fetch the Access Jade Token for you so it will be easier for you to pass through the Warding Seal.”

He walked quickly to the box where the Access Jade Token was stored and searched for a long time, but he could not find it.

Only after thinking carefully did he realize the truth.

That Access Jade Token had already been given to the Junior Sister.

Seeing Wen Xuan standing there at a loss, Shen Sang Ruo guessed what had happened and said: “Second Senior Brother, no need to look, I have seen that Access Jade Token on Junior Sister.”

Wen Xuan’s face turned awkward, and he hurried to explain: “Junior Sister is frail and often comes to find me, so I gave her the Access Jade Token.”

He added with a soft voice: “I do not have a spare token right now. In a few days I will ask someone to make another. Little Ruo, please don’t take it to heart.”

Shen Sang Ruo refused at once: “Please don’t trouble yourself, Second Senior Brother. Junior Sister remembers that you do not like to be disturbed. I will not bother Senior Brother again. Giving me the Access Jade Token would not be of much use.”

She used his own past words to block him.

Wen Xuan asked with a twinge of emotion: “Little Ruo, are you still angry with Senior Brother? You know that was not what I meant before. At that time I was about to break through. Given our bond, how could you be counted as an outsider?”

Shen Sang Ruo did not answer.

He tried again: “Are you still blaming Senior Brother over the matter of the heart’s blood?”

She shook her head.

Those ten drops of heart’s blood had been given willingly. If not, how could she have repaid their care and teaching in one go, so it would be easier to draw a line between them afterward?

He pressed on in confusion: “Then why…”

He looked at her calm face. In the past, when Shen Sang Ruo was with them, she almost always wore a smile.

She ended it with a simple statement: “Second Senior Brother, I just woke up and need to rest. Among the Flying Cloud Sect disciples, you are the most gifted healer. You should know this better than I do.”

Her tone held no impatience or complaint, only a quiet fact, yet it left Wen Xuan even more embarrassed.

He bowed his head and said: “I did not think it through. Rest well. Senior Brother will not disturb you.”

The room fell quiet.

Only then did Shen Sang Ruo have the energy to plan what to do next.

After this, her resolve to leave the Flying Cloud Sect became even firmer. [If I keep staying here, who knows when those people will act up again. My thin body cannot take another blow.]

[Stay far from the Flying Cloud Sect and stay safe.]

She planned to enter Closed-Door Cultivation at Clearheart Pavilion for one year and then leave the mountain under the pretext of training.

Before Closed-Door Cultivation, she would search again for clues about Nine Azure Peak.

If after three months she still found nothing, she would go into Closed-Door Cultivation. [Once my Senior knows the reason, there should be no blame.]

When she came out and went traveling, she would search again.

Luckily, Master Ling Xiao and Shen Dao Chen had left her many fine potions and pills.

Her foundation was not harmed, but she needed careful nursing for a while.

The one who injured her, Feng He Yun, had also been released from the Disciplinary Hall.

But whether out of guilt or pride, he never showed himself to apologize.

He only had someone deliver a jar of Osmanthus Brew, which he had brewed himself.

Because Bai Mu Mu loved Osmanthus Brew most, Feng He Yun guarded those few jars very tightly.

Back when Shen Sang Ruo was jealous, she had tried all sorts of pouting and coaxing, yet she could not get even half a cup from him.

Instead, she only made him annoyed, and he banned her from overseeing the brewery. Only after she swore never to covet the Osmanthus Brew again did he allow her to visit the place.

Now he was willing to send her a whole jar to apologize.

He must know how far he had gone this time, so he paid this “blood price” and parted with it.

Yet he could not bring himself to say sorry to her face, and he thought a jar of Osmanthus Brew could make up for the heavy injuries that left her in a coma for two months.

It was a pity he only thought she valued Osmanthus Brew.

In truth, she did not like Osmanthus Brew at all.

Naturally, she would not forgive him.

She lifted her hand, and flames rolled in her palm. The Osmanthus Brew in the jar turned to nothing in an instant.

When her injuries improved and she could move again, she went to the valley where she had picked up the Darkwood.

During these days she had asked many people to search for clues, but they found nothing.

With no other choice, she came to try her luck in the valley and check the area around the place where she found the Darkwood.

Nine Azure Peak was too mysterious. Even across two lifetimes, she had never heard of it.

She no longer expected to find it before Closed-Door Cultivation.

The three month deadline was almost here. After this trip back, she would start Closed-Door Cultivation.

The valley was called Moonshadow Valley and was not far from the Flying Cloud Sect.

But it stretched on for more than a hundred miles. The deeper it went, the valley floor was bottomless, and few people set foot there.

Rumor said a vicious Great Demon was sealed deep inside Moonshadow Valley. Even a Cultivator at Divine Transformation Stage would struggle to escape if they fell in.

Thankfully, that day she and Bai Mu Mu had only gone to the edge of the valley, where there was no threat.

Shen Sang Ruo soon reached the spot where she had found the Darkwood.

It was a clearing surrounded by ancient trees. Back then the piece of Darkwood lay in the center of the clearing, very eye catching.

She had picked it up on impulse.

Thinking back now, that was too reckless. If it had been a trap set by someone, she might not be alive now.

She circled the clearing several times with care. Aside from six ancient trees standing in an even ring, there were only ankle high weeds.

It looked like any ordinary mountain forest, with nothing strange at all.

She tightened her grip on the Darkwood and prepared to search the weeds in the clearing more carefully.

Working from the edges inward, she searched in circles. At the end, only a small center patch remained.

She sighed: “So there really are no clues…”

She planned to search that last bit and then return to the sect.

But as soon as she took a step into it, the Darkwood in her hand turned scorching hot.

If not for her Fire Spiritual Root, her palm would have been cooked.

Before she could understand what was happening to the Darkwood, white light flared underfoot. The light shot out from beneath her feet and connected with the six ancient trees around her.

Seen from above, it would have formed a six pointed star.

The white lines kept spreading, drawing an even more complex and intricate totem on top of the star.

[This is a Formation?] Shen Sang Ruo’s heart lurched.

[Did my step trigger a Formation someone set here?] She tried at once to rouse her Spiritual Power and flee.

But the Formation finished drawing. A powerful force pinned her tight within the pattern.

[This is bad.] She could only watch as her body sank downward into the earth.

Once she sank fully into the ground, she sensed the Formation had Teleported her to another space.

Darkness swallowed her, and she kept falling.

Above, the glow of the Formation vanished. The clearing returned to how it had been, as if no one had ever come.