Ling Xiyue gripped the Green Scale Sword, pouring every last drop of her remaining spiritual energy into the blade.
‘Then I’ll rely on myself.’
‘After all, haven’t I always relied on myself?’
—
Deep in the dense forest.
Xiao Bai ran until its four legs were on the verge of cramping.
Behind it, four Scale-Horned Beasts were in hot pursuit.
Their claws struck the ground with rhythmic *thuds*, and the heat from their breath was practically singeing the tip of its tail.
“Luo Qingchen, you dog!!!”
Xiao Bai howled at the top of its lungs.
“You cowardly, death-fearing scoundrel! Master Dog really looks down on you! You’re worse than a dog, ahhhh—”
A Scale-Horned Beast lunged forward, its sharp claws whistling through the air as they swiped toward the back of Xiao Bai’s head.
Xiao Bai’s four legs went limp, allowing its entire body to slide along the ground.
The claw missed, merely grazing the hair on top of its head and taking several tufts of white fur with it.
A tactical slide.
The moment Xiao Bai slid out of range, its four legs scrambled to perform a ninety-degree turn, diving headfirst into a thicket of bushes to the left.
“It’s been 300 years! Master Dog has followed the Ancestor for 300 years! I ate top-grade spirit cabbage! I lived in a premium dog house!”
It cursed even as it burrowed through the thorns.
“If I die here today, Master Dog won’t let you go even as a ghost! If you have any conscience, you’d better burn 10 pounds of cabbage for me! No, 100 pounds! 10,000 pounds!!!”
The four Scale-Horned Beasts crashed through the bushes and continued the chase.
Xiao Bai ran so hard its eyes were beginning to roll back into its head.
—
On the other side of the river.
Luo Qingchen waded through the murky green water, soaked to the bone, and rushed toward the cave entrance.
The mouth of the cave was sealed by a faint golden membrane of light, densely etched with the intricate patterns of an array.
A restriction left behind by a powerful expert.
Any other Foundation Establishment cultivator standing here would have been left staring helplessly.
But Luo Qingchen was not like other cultivators.
She was the last descendant of the Thief Heaven Sect.
The *Guide to Picking Locks* recorded hundreds of methods for breaking restrictions.
Luo Qingchen squatted before the seal, her hands rapidly forming incantations.
The spiritual energy at her fingertips transformed into extremely fine silken threads, probing one by one into the gaps of the array patterns.
The sensation was remarkably similar to using a wire to pick a tumbler lock on television in her previous life.
Once she found the key nodes, a gentle flick made the entire array feel as welcoming as returning home.
It was just that this lock was a billion times more complex.
Fine beads of sweat formed on Luo Qingchen’s forehead, and her fingers moved so fast they left afterimages.
The first layer of the restriction—unlocked.
The second layer—unlocked.
The third layer…
She paused.
The structure of this layer was completely different from the previous two.
The array patterns were intertwined and tangled; moving a single thread would affect the entire structure.
The sweat on Luo Qingchen’s forehead began to fall in heavy droplets.
The patterns of the third restriction were as messy as a ball of tangled hemp.
Every thread of spiritual energy was connected to three or four nodes; if she touched the wrong one, the entire restriction would backlash against her.
From outside, the ringing of Ling Xiyue’s sword and the roars of the Scale-Horned Beasts echoed.
Xiao Bai’s pathetic screams drifted in from the distant forest, each one more shrill than the last.
“Master Dog can’t take it anymore—I really can’t take it—”
Luo Qingchen gritted her teeth, her ten fingers dancing across the array patterns.
The *Guide to Picking Locks* mentioned a technique called “Reverse Restoration,” specifically designed for these types of interlocking restrictions.
The core idea was not to dismantle it, but to run the spiritual energy cycle of the entire array in reverse, forcing the restriction to unlock itself.
This required extremely focused control.
‘Thankfully, back when I was working at my old job, I was incredibly focused when my mind was empty.’
Luo Qingchen held her breath, her spiritual threads probing seven key nodes of the array simultaneously.
Another loud boom echoed from outside.
Ling Xiyue let out a muffled groan.
Luo Qingchen’s hand trembled.
She closed her eyes, suppressing all distracting thoughts.
She couldn’t rush.
The more she rushed, the easier it was to make a mistake.
The spiritual threads flowed in reverse through the patterns.
*Click.*
A crack appeared in the center of the golden membrane, and then the entire restriction slowly dissolved, revealing the deep cavern within.
Luo Qingchen opened her eyes and plunged into the cave.
The cave wasn’t deep; she reached the end in about thirteen steps.
Rows of stone niches were carved into the walls on both sides, filled with neatly arranged jade bottles.
Luo Qingchen pulled a stopper from one at random, and a rich medicinal fragrance wafted out.
These were all pills, but their rank wasn’t high.
She couldn’t give these to Ling Xiyue; they were useless right now.
She didn’t have time for a detailed inspection and hurried further inside.
At the deepest part of the cave, a plant half the height of a person grew from a crack in the stone.
Its petals were dark red, each one flowing with golden patterns.
The spiritual energy radiating from the flower was so thick it had nearly condensed into liquid, staining the surrounding air a faint crimson.
Luo Qingchen didn’t recognize the flower.
But the Deception Jade Slip in her Dantian recognized it for her.
The Jade Slip vibrated violently, making her abdomen go numb.
**[Task Complete!]**
**[Mystery Grand Prize: Parry Technique (Earth Grade High-Rank Defensive Secret Art)]**
A flood of information poured directly into Luo Qingchen’s mind.
The application, force techniques, and spiritual energy circulation routes of the Parry Technique were all etched into her memory.
Immediately after, a new line of text appeared on the Jade Slip.
**[Detected Target: Ling Xiyue is heavily injured.]**
**[Would you like to convert the Blood Soul Flower through the Jade Slip into pure medicinal energy and inject it directly into the target’s body?]**
Luo Qingchen did not hesitate.
“Confirm!”
She reached out, grabbed the stem of the Blood Soul Flower, and pulled with all her might.
The moment the flower was uprooted, the cave trembled slightly.
Luo Qingchen clutched the flower and turned to run back out.
She burst from the cave and waded back across the river.
Ling Xiyue was currently cornered on the riverbank by two purple-black Scale-Horned Beasts.
The Green Scale Sword was still in her hand, but only one of her surrounding spirit swords remained.
Her purple robes were covered in blood—it was impossible to tell if it was hers or the beasts’.
Luo Qingchen reached the bank and held up the Blood Soul Flower.
“Hang on, I’m back!”
The Blood Soul Flower shattered in her palm.
The dark red petals transformed into a mass of extremely pure medicinal energy.
It left Luo Qingchen’s hand, crossed the distance of 100 feet, and slammed directly into Ling Xiyue’s body.
Ling Xiyue’s entire frame jolted.
She could feel a majestic medicinal force exploding within her, flowing through her meridians and into her limbs.
The internal injury dealt by the peak Core Formation expert in her chest was healing at a visible rate.
Her sluggish spiritual energy became fluid once more.
Furthermore, the energy in her Dantian began to surge, crashing against a bottleneck she had felt for a long time but had never been able to break.
The threshold of the late-stage Core Formation.
She had actually touched the edge of a breakthrough at a time like this.
Ling Xiyue turned her head.
Luo Qingchen stood on the riverbank, soaked through, her hands now empty.
She hadn’t run away.
She had gone to find a way to save her.
And that spirit medicine—Ling Xiyue recognized it.
A Blood Soul Flower.
A Blood Soul Flower at least 1,000 years old.
If this item were taken outside, any sect would fight to the death for it.
Even in the treasury of Hidden Sword Mountain, one might not find a second one.
And yet, she had used it just like that.
Without a single moment of hesitation.
She had used it all on her.
Ling Xiyue’s chest felt tight.
An emotion she had never experienced before surged up.
She couldn’t quite describe the feeling, but it was a heavy, swelling sensation that made the bridge of her nose sting.
“What are you dazing out for, Sister!” Luo Qingchen shouted from the other side of the river. “Fight!”
Ling Xiyue snapped back to reality.
The medicinal power was still coursing through her, and her injuries were mostly healed.
Her spiritual energy levels were even more abundant than they had been before entering the Secret Realm.
She took a deep breath as her internal power fully recovered, and the Green Scale Sword let out a long, resonant cry.
The two Scale-Horned Beasts sensed the sudden spike in Ling Xiyue’s aura.
Their beastly instincts warned them of the impending danger.
They couldn’t give her time to recover.
Both Scale-Horned Beasts attacked simultaneously, lunging from the left and right to kill her.