Chapter 22

Chapter 22: She Left Behind What She Once Treasured and Walked Away Without Hesitation

Lu Shi Qing sneered: “She does not need our trust. She can even feed her own Senior Brother a Truth Pill. Her methods are impressive.”

He added with a cold look: “With a mind like that, why would she need our trust?”

When Lu Shi Qing said this, Wen Xuan frowned too.

A Truth Pill was rare and hard to get, yet Shen Sang Ruo had used it on Luo Chu.

Feng He Yun hugged himself and pretended to be scared as he joked: “If she gets angry one day, even I, her Senior Brother, might not escape.” He clicked his tongue and said: “Shen Sang Ruo has really grown some skills.”

Wen Xuan was shaken inside but still chose to defend her: “Little Ruo only did it to protect herself.”

He lowered his eyes and spoke softly: “We are her own senior brothers and junior sisters, and we have always been close. Little Ruo would not do that to us.”

Even his tone lacked its usual confidence.

Shen Sang Ruo’s recent behavior was not like what she told him before about being close to them.

He even had a faint feeling that she was pulling away on purpose. [Maybe Little Ruo is still mad at us.]

He sighed in his heart: [Forget it. I will explain when Little Ruo leaves seclusion.]

One year later.

A figure in red walked out of Clearheart Pavilion.

After a year of Closed-Door Cultivation, Shen Sang Ruo’s aura had grown sharper.

With the help of the Blazing Heart, and because she was born with a Single Fire Spiritual Root, she needed only a year to fully comprehend all nine layers of the Fanning Wind and Stirring Fire Art.

She reached Foundation Establishment. Her cultivation was higher than she expected, and she was only one step away from Foundation Establishment (Mid-stage).

This brought both joy and worry.

The worry was that the Fanning Wind and Stirring Fire Art was now useless to her. She urgently needed a new method that fit her, or her progress would stall.

Also, the higher one’s cultivation, the harder it was to switch to a new method.

The best path was to find a top-grade method and stick with it from now on.

Shen Sang Ruo returned to her cave dwelling, packed her important things into a storage pouch, and took them with her.

She had no attachment to this place anymore. It was better to prepare early for leaving.

After a quick sweep like a storm, more than half of the cave was empty.

Yet a pile of items in the corner stood out.

Looking closely, it was hairpins, a Nightglow Stone, wine jars, a medicine sachet, a Seven-colored Butterfly, pastries, and other odds and ends.

These were things she once treasured as if they were her life, yet she dumped them out of her pouch without mercy.

She felt they were a waste of space. They were just clutter. Tossing them in a corner was enough. They did not deserve to be kept safe inside her pouch.

After she finished, she left the sect at once.

She did not say goodbye to her four Senior Brothers, and she did not visit Shen Dao Chen or Master Ling Xiao either.

She touched the Blazing Heart at her chest.

As for the artifact she had promised to find for Immortal Lord Chang Li, she still had no idea where to start.

Since Daoist Wu Wei said the Blazing Heart would guide her, she did not need to search on purpose.

Shen Sang Ruo planned to follow the map and look for chances in Secret Realms.

With her current strength, many of the marked Secret Realms would only treat her like a beginner to be taught a lesson. So her main goal was to check which Secret Realms had already been explored over the past few hundred years.

If she got lucky and picked up a great chance, that would be best.

With the four storage pouches given by Su Xi Yu and the others, she did not have to worry about spending Spirit Stones on the road.

Any random treasure put up at an auction house could sell for a few hundred High-grade Spirit Stones.

This time, she left without any hesitation.

From now on, she would keep no feelings for the people or things in this place.

A few more months passed.

All of Master Ling Xiao’s disciples gathered, except Shen Sang Ruo.

Feng He Yun said he had brewed a special new wine and invited the others to taste it.

He looked the group over and raised his chin with pride: “Is everyone here? Then let us start. This is a brand-new recipe created by me, your Senior Brother. One of a kind. Come and try it.”

He was about to pour when Wen Xuan spoke up: “One Junior Sister is not here yet. Senior Brother, do not forget to save a cup for Little Ruo.”

Feng He Yun’s good mood got interrupted, but he only curled his lip and said: “I know, I know. She is still in Closed-Door Cultivation, right? I will save her some.”

Lately Wen Xuan was very sensitive about anything related to Shen Sang Ruo. He kept reminding everyone that she was one of them.

Any time someone left Shen Sang Ruo out, Wen Xuan’s face would harden.

He had even snapped at their Junior Sister once, though the others stopped him fast, and he later apologized to her.

Even so, he kept muttering things like “Little Ruo has changed” and “Little Ruo is not the same as before.”

Feng He Yun thought Wen Xuan was worrying too much.

How had Shen Sang Ruo changed? Her nose was still her nose and her eyes were still her eyes. She looked the same to him.

Bai Mu Mu’s eyes sparkled as she lifted her cup and drank it all: “So this is Senior Brother’s new brew? It smells amazing.”

She praised him again: “As expected, your wine is as good as ever.”

Feng He Yun beamed and puffed himself up: “Of course. Do you know who I am?”

When he saw Bai Mu Mu reaching for another drink, Wen Xuan rushed to stop her: “Junior Sister, do not forget what Master warned. This wine is strong. Your body has not fully recovered. You must not drink too much.”

Even with ten drops of Shen Sang Ruo’s heart blood to ease her Extreme Cold Constitution, Bai Mu Mu still could not fully recover.

They needed to find a celestial herb called Fire-Scale Vine to complete the treatment so she could live like a normal person.

But the Fire-Scale Vine existed only in legends. Even though Shen Dao Chen and Master Ling Xiao had poured many resources into the search, hope was slim.

Bai Mu Mu covered her cup and stuck out her tongue playfully: “I know. Just one more, please, Second Senior Brother.”

Wen Xuan had no way to deal with her soft act. He sighed and said: “As you wish.”

His attention moved to Bai Mu Mu, worried she might sneak extra sips. He stopped mentioning Shen Sang Ruo.

Bai Mu Mu’s lips curled in a hidden smile.

To her, Shen Sang Ruo was no threat at all. She did not take her seriously.

With Bai Mu Mu warming up the mood, the room felt friendly and bright.

She thought this was a great time to win more favor, but in the end, they still brought up Shen Sang Ruo.

Feng He Yun’s cheeks were red as he hiccuped: “Speaking of Shen Sang Ruo, she has been in Closed-Door Cultivation for a long time, hic. Did she not say it would be only one year, hic?”

He waved his cup and mumbled: “So long and still not out, hic. That is not fair, hic. When she comes out, I will pour her a lot, hic.”

Only Feng He Yun drank the most. The others were sober.

At his drunken words, Wen Xuan seemed to remember something. His gaze froze, and even his slight buzz faded.

He asked in a daze: “How long has Little Ruo been in Closed-Door Cultivation?”

Lu Shi Qing, who almost never took the lead in thinking about Shen Sang Ruo, thought for a moment and said with surprise: “It seems it has been far more than a year.”

He added calmly: “She cultivated in Clearheart Pavilion. There is a strict time limit there. You cannot stay even a moment longer. By rights, she should have come out already.”