Chapter 43

Chapter 43: The Whole Sect Is Old, Weak, Sick, and Hurt

Those red particles clung to the artifacts and kept thickening into real flesh.

After about a quarter of an hour, the Phoenix Feather, the phoenix bone, and the phoenix blood turned into a person who looked exactly like the Immortal Lord Chang Li in the Ice Coffin.

It was just as Shen Sang Ruo had guessed. Immortal Lord Chang Li’s way to awaken was to use Nirvana Power to form a new body and escape the seal’s hold.

The new Immortal Lord Chang Li slowly opened his eyes. Before Su Xi Yu and the others could celebrate, Daoist Wu Wei suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

They cried out at once: “Sect Master!”

Shen Sang Ruo also gasped: “Sect Master Wu Wei!”

Daoist Wu Wei wiped the blood at his lips and waved for them not to worry.

Su Xi Yu quickly took out several pills and pressed them into Daoist Wu Wei’s hand as she said anxiously: “Sect Master, please do not use Spiritual Power again.”

The pills would do him no good, but to ease Su Xi Yu’s heart, he swallowed them all.

He gave a mock-stern look at the one he blamed and said with a hint of humor: “This was for your Master. I had no choice but to use Spiritual Power.”

Immortal Lord Chang Li’s gaze turned rare and serious as he said: “You have worked hard.”

While he slept, Daoist Wu Wei had held up the sect alone.

From their words, Shen Sang Ruo learned more about Daoist Wu Wei’s condition and sighed in her heart. As a Cultivator, to suffer backlash whenever you use Spiritual Power is no different from being crippled. He had once been the Sect Master of a great, thriving sect. How could one not feel pity now? Luckily, Daoist Wu Wei himself did not mind much, and the talk soon returned to Immortal Lord Chang Li and Shen Sang Ruo’s journey.

Someone as lofty as Immortal Lord Chang Li would not sit and tell stories, so Shen Sang Ruo did the telling while he stepped aside to stand with Daoist Wu Wei.

She meant to give only the short version, but when she saw Su Xi Yu and the others listening with shining eyes, she spoke in detail. It seemed they had been away from the outside world for so long that everything sounded fresh.

She finished with a smile and said: “I also brought many treasures back for Sect Master Wu Wei and for Senior Brother and Senior Sister.”

She laid out the spirit plants and crystals she had collected on the volcano, and the items she had swept from Immortal Lord Chang Li’s cave: “These spirit plants will suit Senior Sister Su for Alchemy, and these here…”

Shen Sang Ruo enthusiastically introduced what she had brought. If not for the many life-saving artifacts they had given her before she left, she might have died halfway.

Su Xi Yu and the others showed a brief, hard-to-read look, but soon returned to normal and accepted the gifts with smiles. Su Xi Yu said brightly: “Then thank you, Junior Sister Shen.”

Shen Sang Ruo asked what had been on her mind: “About the Ninghua Sect’s Formation, are there limits on who can pass? Can you go out from here?”

If some could pass and others could not, then there had to be a rule. If they knew the rule, maybe she could help.

At that, Su Xi Yu’s eyes clouded with sadness. Knowing Shen Sang Ruo wanted to help, she chose not to hide anything and said after a pause: “You guessed right. There is a condition to pass the Formation.”

She explained with a faint, bitter smile: “The rule is simple. As long as you can activate and circulate Spiritual Power, you can pass.”

Then she added with lowered eyes: “But none of us can go.”

Shen Sang Ruo stared, stunned. Anyone who had Guided Qi into the Body should be able to circulate Spiritual Power. If they could not, either they were not Cultivators, or their cultivation had been destroyed.

As Immortal Lord Chang Li’s Disciples, they were obviously not the first. That meant their cultivation had been ruined for some reason.

No wonder she had never been able to sense their levels. So this was the reason.

Su Xi Yu said softly: “Do you remember the great change I told you about? It hurt all of us to different degrees.”

Shen Sang Ruo nodded, already guessing it was related.

Su Xi Yu continued: “I was poisoned by a strange toxin. My cultivation kept falling until it all scattered. I am an alchemist, but I could not cure myself.”

“Song Wei Yan looks normal, but his meridians are destroyed. He can never cultivate again.”

“Ye Huai’s life-bound sword broke. A sword spirit had already been born within it, but when the sword broke, the spirit vanished. That became his heart devil, so he refuses to use Spiritual Power.”

“As for Bai Ruo An, his eyes are always lightly closed. A Cultivator can use Divine Sense to sense the world, but he is not only blind in the eyes, he is blind in the heart. He is a talisman cultivator, yet his Divine Sense cannot reach the Talisman Paper, so he cannot draw Talisman Crafting seals and naturally cannot use Spiritual Power.”

“Daoist Wu Wei can still move Spiritual Power and could pass the Formation, but to protect the Ninghua Sect during the disaster, he bound his life to the sect. If he lives, the Ninghua Sect survives. If the Ninghua Sect is destroyed, he dies.”

“He is like the sect’s heart. If he leaves, the sect will start dying.”

“In truth, the Ninghua Sect is already close to the end. Only the few of us are keeping it alive.” She sighed. “So Daoist Wu Wei seems fine in spirit, but he is the same as the Ninghua Sect, only one last breath left.”

After hearing it all, a single word flashed through Shen Sang Ruo’s mind: [Miserable.] Calling them a group of the old, weak, sick, and hurt was not wrong.

Seeing her brows knit, Su Xi Yu patted her back to comfort her and said with a small smile: “It is all right. I will take these spirit plants and grow them. That will be nice too.”

The others also accepted the items she had brought.

Shen Sang Ruo stayed another half day. When she left the Ninghua Sect, a heavy feeling sat in her chest.

She had not wanted to return to the Flying Cloud Sect, yet now she set out on the road back. The Library Pavilion there had many ancient books. She wanted to help Su Xi Yu and the others and hoped she could find some clues.

On the other side, Wen Xuan and the others had already brought Bai Mu Mu back to the Flying Cloud Sect.

When Shen Dao Chen saw his daughter hurt like that, he rushed to take her back from Master Ling Xiao’s care. Thunder-Scale Peak was safe enough, but he could not rest easy. He wanted her nearby so he could watch over her.

There was a residence for Bai Mu Mu on Shen Dao Chen’s main peak. Back when she first returned, he had ordered mortal-style houses built so she could live in comfort.

He cherished her like a treasure in his palm to make up for the years of loss. Anyone who saw it would say Shen Dao Chen was a good father.

That is, if he did not treat Shen Sang Ruo so differently.

Everything he did for Bai Mu Mu, Shen Sang Ruo had never received. She did not even have a residence on the main peak. Since she had become Master Ling Xiao’s Disciple, every time she returned to the main peak, she stayed only in a guest room.