Chapter 233

Chapter 233: Bald Dodder Flower Sprite

Yes. It had to be the Access Jade Token.

Wen Xuan felt a rush of joy that the way to restore Shen Sang Ruo’s feelings was this simple, but his face quickly turned grim.

He had always held a grudge over the Access Jade Token. Later, in order to testify for Shen Sang Ruo, he turned against Bai Mu Mu and gave up the token.

Now, how was he supposed to take the Access Jade Token back from Bai Mu Mu?

He slowly clenched his hand. [No matter what it takes, even if I have to snatch it, I will get the Access Jade Token back.]

The mist closed in and said in a low voice: “I have answered your questions. Offer up your soul…”

The black mist wrapped around Wen Xuan.

The pain of stripping off a wisp of soul was beyond what most people could endure. He thrashed and struggled.

His cries echoed through the cave, but some unknown force sealed the sound away.

An hour later, the cave fell quiet again.

The same thing happened to Feng He Yun, Lu Shi Qing, and Luo Chu. They all made the deal without delay.

Feng He Yun thought for a long time before he found, in a corner of his memory, the jar of mulberry wine he had brewed with Shen Sang Ruo. He had buried it in the place in his winery where the Spiritual Qi was richest.

They had agreed to taste it together when it was ready. But after Bai Mu Mu was found, jars of osmanthus brew took the mulberry wine’s place one after another.

That jar of mulberry wine was dug up at some point, and he had tossed it somewhere without care. In the end he forgot about it.

Lu Shi Qing quickly thought of the first seven-colored butterfly he had given Shen Sang Ruo, the one he crushed under his heel.

No matter how many seven-colored butterflies he made later, only the very first one carried their shared feelings.

Luo Chu scratched his head for nearly half an hour before he remembered he had promised to take Shen Sang Ruo to Floating Light City to see the Fireworks Festival.

Floating Light City’s Fireworks Festival was famous across the land, held once every five years, grand and splendid, with tickets that were almost impossible to get.

That year he had pulled every string to get two tickets for them. He had promised to take Shen Sang Ruo. But later, using “compensation” as an excuse, he gave the tickets to Bai Mu Mu instead.

The black mist slowly faded away.

On the main peak, Master Ling Xiao seemed to sense something. He spread his divine sense over all of Thunder-Scale Peak, but found nothing unusual.

[Did I sense wrong?]

Turning this over, he thought, who could sneak into Thunder-Scale Peak under his eyelids? Who would even dare?

He closed his eyes again to meditate.

But his heart was restless, and it was hard to calm down.

Master Ling Xiao’s eyes snapped open.

In a thousand years of cultivation, this had never happened. Lately, he could not enter deep meditation again and again.

He figured it might be because of the heavy injury he took from Immortal Lord Chang Li at the Sect Grand Tournament.

Thinking of that man, Master Ling Xiao snorted through his nose.

[He said I’m not fit to be Shen Sang Ruo’s Master? Hah.]

In his mind, Immortal Lord Chang Li was just his beaten foe. What was he, really?

With that thought, Master Ling Xiao’s anger burned hotter. He stood up and stopped cultivating altogether.

On the main peak, a line of black mist slipped past every divine sense, crawled into Bai Mu Mu’s room, and sank into her body.

She curled her lips into a smile full of mockery.

Those fools actually believed some remnant soul of the Skywatch Pavilion Master.

If the Hall of Myriad Spirits took action, not to mention the Skywatch Pavilion Master, even a random cultivator inside would be killed to the last trace, bones crushed and soul scattered.

Those four had been her first targets in her plan, so their souls were the best materials to repair the System.

If she could fix the System, there was still a way to turn things around.

Bai Mu Mu started the System’s repair mode at once.

She could not understand why even Master Ling Xiao’s fire hadn’t affected her System, but Shen Sang Ruo’s little bit of flame could damage it and shut down many functions. [Ridiculous.]

Once she fixed the System, she would kill Shen Sang Ruo.

Bai Mu Mu played with the Access Jade Token in her hand, a playful smile on her lips.

Before, she had kept this jade token just to torment Wen Xuan. Who knew this broken stone was so important.

Since that was so, she definitely would not hand it to her second senior brother so easily.

With this jade token, she could keep controlling Wen Xuan and make him do more for her.

—

After Shen Sang Ruo successfully broke through to Nascent Soul, Immortal Lord Chang Li was finally at ease. A few days later, he also went into closed-door cultivation to try for Late Divine Transformation.

This did not surprise Shen Sang Ruo and the others. He had absorbed the cultivation in his original body directly, so of course his speed was much faster.

Unlike her, Immortal Lord Chang Li left the Ninghua Sect and chose a nearby mountain for his closed-door cultivation.

The Heavenly Lightning Tribulation for Late Divine Transformation was strong enough to destroy the Ninghua Sect.

Under Yuan Jin’s guidance, Shen Sang Ruo smoothly formed a spirit pact with the Kui Ox.

She also tested her fit with spirit beasts and got an extremely high result.

You could tell from how the spirit beasts and demonic beasts reacted to her.

Yuan Jin looked at her with shining eyes, as if he had found a once-in-a-millennium genius in beast taming.

He decided on the spot to pour all of his skills into teaching her.

Shen Sang Ruo always liked learning anything that helped her grow stronger, so she agreed with a smile.

So, besides daily cultivation and helping Daoist Wu Wei handle all kinds of matters in the Ninghua Sect, she also went to the Beast Taming Branch to study under Yuan Jin.

Yuan Jin’s ferocious beasts became her practice targets.

Back in her cave, she did her usual thing and poked the Dodder Flower Sprite soaking in the spirit spring water.

The Dodder Flower Sprite turned around and then faced away from her again, still not willing to pay her any attention.

It was still upset about her cutting off its vines in the Secret Realm.

Shen Sang Ruo poked it again and asked with a teasing voice: “Still angry?”

She tried to coax it as she kept poking: “Didn’t my Senior Sister feed you a pain relief pill? Later I also gave you a bunch of spiritual plants to help you recover, and I even asked Master for the spirit spring water for you.”

The Dodder Flower Sprite twitched and shook her finger off.

That was not what it cared about. A few lost vines meant nothing to it.

It huffed and said: “I am not angry because of that.”

Shen Sang Ruo laughed and asked as her finger prodded it again: “Then what is it?”

The Dodder Flower Sprite snapped back: “See for yourself.”

Light flashed over it, and it transformed into a small child.

But what caught Shen Sang Ruo’s eye most was his smooth, shiny head with not a single hair.

It almost blinded her.

So the vines they cut had been the Dodder Flower Sprite’s hair.

She couldn’t hold it in and let out a laugh: “Pfft.”

The Dodder Flower Sprite’s face flushed red as it cried: “You dare laugh!”

Then it turned back into vines and sank into the spirit spring water again, stubbornly facing away from her.

Shen Sang Ruo tried not to laugh and said: “All right, all right. I’ll go ask my Senior Sister another day to refine a few hair growth pills for you. I’m just not sure if they work on spirits.”

The Dodder Flower Sprite demanded at once: “Go tomorrow.”

She nodded and agreed: “Okay, okay.” But after one more glance at the Dodder Flower Sprite, she still had to bite back a smile.

In the blink of an eye, two more months passed. The Ninghua Sect was running smoothly, and all the branches were getting along well.

Shen Sang Ruo and Daoist Wu Wei were very satisfied with this.

But before they could enjoy it for more than two days, conflict broke out inside the Ninghua Sect.