After retrieving the second array disk, Shucao and her two companions buried all the dried corpses in that village.
Without lingering any longer, they left the village behind.
“Are we heading back to Ningzhou City now?”
Once they were out of the village, Hong Wenqing asked Shucao and Yu Qing.
“Mm. This matter feels rather suspicious. Once we return, I plan to inform Senior Bai about it.”
“Once we’re back, I will also hurry with refining the Spirit Dispelling Jade. However, the remaining materials will be left to you, Fellow Daoist Shucao.”
Seeing Yu Qing look her way, Shucao nodded.
She took out the Spirit Purity Token and said to Yu Qing,
“Rest assured. To figure out exactly what the Blood Fiend Sect is planning, I will give my all during this secret realm trip. But how do I use this token? I don’t see any map or anything on it at all. I have no idea how it’s supposed to let me enter the secret realm.”
Hearing Shucao’s question, An Qianhua watched the token from within the Heart Realm, her eyes sparkling as she spoke.
“Maybe it will just teleport you inside directly when the time comes? After all, it is a secret realm. Items like this usually have some special effects. Perhaps it has some unique power, or maybe you’ll receive some great expert’s inheritance!”
Looking at the puzzled Shucao, Yu Qing smiled and said,
“This token will automatically activate when the secret realm opens and guide you to one of the other entrances. When you enter through the entrance while holding it, the secret realm’s power won’t send you off to some strange place.”
“I see. Thank you.”
“It’s no problem. But Fellow Daoist Shucao, you really don’t know anything, huh? How did you manage to cultivate to your current level?”
Shucao scratched her head and laughed.
“Ahaha, after all, I’m just a loose cultivator with no master or anything. I’ve had to figure out a lot of things by myself.”
An Qianhua suddenly spoke up from within Shucao’s Heart Realm as well.
“If it’s about magical girl matters, I can definitely teach you properly! It’s just that for cultivation-related stuff, I’ve only seen it in those illustrated novels I read before. No matter what, I really can’t teach you. And because some memories are missing, I don’t even know how those books began!”
“That’s still amazing! In that case, if I run into anything I’m not sure about in the future, I’ll just ask you.”
With that, the two glanced at the sky.
The crimson sunset was shrouded by clouds and slowly sinking into the distance.
The red-tinged sky was gradually darkening.
“Looks like it’s getting dark. Why don’t we rest for the night here and head back to Ningzhou City tomorrow?”
“Mm. A lot happened today anyway. Plus, Fellow Daoist Shucao, you’ve been flying for so long today. You should recover your energy a bit.”
Although Shucao did not use spiritual energy, she had consumed quite a lot of magic power today, which left her feeling truly fatigued.
“Mm. What about you, Wenqing? Will you rest with us?”
“Mm. Going back by myself wouldn’t be that fast anyway, and it’s safer to stay together. As for Grandfather, I asked someone to take care of him before I left, so there’s no need to hurry.”
“Good. Then we’ll set off tomorrow.”
The three found a fairly spacious cave in the mountains.
Hong Wenqing used an artifact to enlarge the interior a little more.
Yu Qing then set up a defensive array.
After tidying up the cave a bit, they took turns resting and cultivating inside.
At night, Shucao, who was keeping watch, stood at the cave entrance, staring blankly at the star-filled night sky.
“Senior Shucao.”
Hong Wenqing emerged from inside the cave and called out softly to Shucao.
“What is it? Isn’t it still some time before we switch watch duty?”
“Mm. I want to have a chat with Senior Shucao.”
Hearing the well-behaved young girl call her “Senior,” Shucao felt it was too formal.
She said,
“No need to be so reserved. Just like how you call Daoist Friend Yu ‘Sister Yu Qing,’ you can just call me Sister.”
Seeing Hong Wenqing nod slightly, Shucao smiled and continued,
“So, what did you want to know?”
Shucao was somewhat puzzled.
After all, she and Hong Wenqing had only known each other for less than a day.
Why was she seeking her out specifically for a chat now?
“Mm. It’s just… Sister Shucao, how long have you been cultivating?”
“Uh, well…”
She suddenly didn’t know how to answer this question.
After all, it had only been a few days since Shucao obtained her magical girl powers.
She hadn’t thought about how she should reply if someone asked about this.
An Qianhua suddenly spoke from within the Heart Realm.
“Why don’t you just tell her you’re a super genius who reached this realm after only a few days of cultivation? I bet she’ll admire you a ton.”
Although the suggestion had some logic—after all, Shucao had heard stories of mortals becoming immortals in a single thought—it sounded far too bizarre to outsiders.
She replied to An Qianhua,
“Sister Qianhua, that sounds way too ridiculous. What kind of genius wanders around like this?”
“Then just make up some cultivation time. As long as they believe it, it’s fine.”
Shucao thought for a moment.
She decided to first ask why Hong Wenqing was suddenly inquiring about her cultivation before deciding how to answer.
“Why are you suddenly asking this?”
“Because Sister Shucao looks really young, yet your cultivation is so profound. The artifacts you carry are also quite unique. At first I thought you were a disciple who had come from a major sect. But seeing how you reacted to certain things earlier, you seem like a loose cultivator with little worldly experience. So I got curious. Oh, but don’t misunderstand! That wasn’t meant as an insult. I just didn’t know how else to describe it.”
“Young… haha.”
Shucao chuckled.
Thinking back on how she knew nothing when she first encountered cultivation matters, she indeed lacked experience.
“I’m just a loose cultivator. I’ve been cultivating for quite some time now—almost a year, I suppose. As for this outfit and the magic wand, their origin is a secret.”
As she spoke, she held a finger to her lips in a shushing gesture and smiled, signaling Hong Wenqing not to pry further.
After all, she was too lazy to invent a proper backstory for the magical outfit.
Brushing it off like this was more practical.
“I see. So why are you so determined to investigate the Blood Fiend Sect? When you asked that person about the array disk’s origin earlier, and every time something related to the Blood Fiend Sect came up afterward, your reactions were quite intense.”
“That’s because…”
Shucao told Hong Wenqing about how her village had been devastated by the Blood Fiend Sect, though she adjusted the details slightly to better match the story of someone who had been cultivating for some time.
After hearing Shucao’s story, Hong Wenqing remained silent for a while before speaking.
“Sister Shucao, you’ve already personally dealt with the one who destroyed the village. Why do you still want to fight the entire demonic sect?”
Hearing Hong Wenqing’s question, Shucao fell into thought.
She was right.
Shucao had already defeated Lin Han and avenged the village and its villagers.
Now that she had taken revenge, was there still a reason to battle them?
“That demonic sect probably has many Foundation Establishment cultivators, or even Golden Core experts, right? We’re just minor Qi Refining cultivators. Fighting such enemies, we would die very quickly. Even the Qi Refining disciples of the demonic sect might be able to kill us.”
Hong Wenqing paused, then continued in a low voice,
“So, wouldn’t it be better to leave fighting the demonic sect to Senior Bai Yumo or that Foundation Establishment late-stage elder in the city? They’re stronger and have better methods. If it were them, they might be able to see the secrets hidden in that array disk with a single glance.”
At this point, her voice grew somewhat choked.
Looking at Hong Wenqing before her, Shucao spoke gently.
“Why do you say that? I’d like to hear your reasons first, Wenqing.”
Hong Wenqing opened her mouth.
“I… I mentioned it before, didn’t I? My grandfather was once captured by demonic cultivators and had his blood essence extracted, just like those villagers. I suspect the demonic sect that took my grandfather was the Blood Fiend Sect you spoke of, Sister. When Senior Bai brought Grandfather back and I saw what he had become, I felt incredibly angry.”
“Grandfather is my only relative. At the time, I wished I could immediately find the people who did this to him and make them pay the price. But when I heard it was the work of a demonic cultivator organization, I suddenly hesitated. No matter what, I’m still just one person—a regular Qi Refining cultivator—while the other side is a demonic sect that might possess immense power.”
“I felt very conflicted because I’m so weak. If I tried to confront an entire demonic cultivator sect alone, I would surely fail. So when I learned that Senior Bai had cleared out that demonic sect outpost, I felt relieved. The people who hurt Grandfather were gone, so I no longer needed to deal with the sect.”
“After learning about your plans, Sister Shucao, I couldn’t stop wondering why you can go this far. Where do you find the courage to face such a colossal enemy?”
Hearing these words, Shucao fell deep into thought.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t considered why she chose to continue confronting the Blood Fiend Sect after defeating Lin Han.
At first, she believed Lin Han was merely a pawn, and the true mastermind was the sect behind him.
But after learning about the Blood Fiend Sect’s actions against other mortals and even cultivators, her understanding of her own purpose had shifted.
She wanted to defeat the Blood Fiend Sect so that others would not have to lose their homes the way she had.
This power of the magical girl had been born as a miracle in response to Mo Yao’s wish to protect others.
Although the outcome had not been perfect, he had at least protected the most important people around him.
The magical girl symbolized the existence of miracles—An Qianhua had told him so.
Therefore, he wanted to bring this miracle to others, just as the miracle had answered him.
Shenzhou was vast.
He knew that in this wide world, many events like what happened to Qinglu Village were likely occurring.
He knew that although he possessed power, there was still a massive gap between him and those truly powerful cultivators.
He also knew he could not yet bring this miracle to everyone in the world.
But at the very least, he wanted to protect some people within the limits of what he could achieve.
Thus, she said to Hong Wenqing,
“I haven’t thought too specially about this question myself. I simply want to do it this way.”
“Do it… this way?”
“Mm. I don’t want others to go through these things again. As long as the Blood Fiend Sect still exists, incidents like this will keep happening, right? That’s why I want to use my own power to find a way to deal with them.”
“Of course, those stronger than me are definitely better suited for this task. But at least within what I can do, I want to prevent such things from occurring. That would be the best way to honor those who were harmed.”
Shucao gazed at the night sky and reached out her hand toward it.
“Compared to those high-level cultivators, we’re all very weak. But even if we’re weak, there are still things we can do, aren’t there? Just like now—we can notice that this array disk seems suspicious and report it to Senior Bai so that she can think of a countermeasure.”
With that, she turned back around, looked at Hong Wenqing, and said,
“So there’s no need to dwell on it too much. We only need to do what we want to do and what we are capable of doing. Don’t try to do things beyond your abilities. For example, you can take good care of your grandfather, right? After all, if you died trying to fight the Blood Fiend Sect, wouldn’t your grandfather also pass away because no one is left to gather medicine for him?”
“As for the Blood Fiend Sect, just leave it to the rest of us.”
Shucao smiled, patted Hong Wenqing on the shoulder, and said once more,
“I will bring miracles to you all.”
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