After Bai Qiushui’s battle ended, her Heavenly Spiritual Root stopped absorbing the surrounding spiritual power.
This allowed the Floating Gold Fruit tree to normally condense the Floating Gold Fruit.
As for the other late-stage Qi Refining cultivators from the Taimiao Sect and Lingxu Sect, after witnessing Shucao’s terrifying light cannons, not a single one dared to step forward again, afraid that the next moment those light cannons would come blasting toward them.
Thus, although Bai Qiushui was already somewhat exhausted after the battle, under Shucao’s deterrence against the other cultivators, she still safely waited until the Floating Gold Fruit fully grew.
After picking the Floating Gold Fruit, Shucao brought Bai Qiushui and broke through the encirclement of other cultivators who had gathered later, leaving the area where this fruit tree was located.
Shucao brought Bai Qiushui to a stop inside a cave, then said to Bai Qiushui.
“There shouldn’t be anyone who can catch up to us here.”
“Mm. Sister Shucao’s running speed just now was truly too fast. Those cultivators who came later completely couldn’t catch up even if they wanted to.”
“Of course. Qiushui was also very amazing earlier, actually being able to defeat that person from the Lingxu Sect.”
While praising Bai Qiushui, Shucao also habitually reached out and patted her head.
Bai Qiushui, seeing Shucao who was slightly shorter than herself stretching out her hand, naturally lowered her head a little so the other party could more easily reach it.
At the same time, she also smiled and said.
“Sister Shucao, when I fought that late-stage Qi Refining cultivator just now, not only did I defeat her, I even broke through during the battle. The current me is much stronger than before, right?”
“Mm-hmm, you did extremely well.”
While Shucao was praising Bai Qiushui, An Qianhua also spoke inside the Heart Realm.
“Fighting above her level, breaking through during battle, winning from a weaker position, and even having a Heavenly Spiritual Root super talent—what kind of protagonist template is this?!”
A moment later, Shucao and Bai Qiushui began resting inside the cave.
The previous battle had caused Shucao to consume quite a large amount of magic power.
Although it was not to the extent of the fight against the Horned Demon Spider in the mine cave earlier, where she had fought until even maintaining the transformation was difficult, the continuous magic power consumption still left her body somewhat fatigued.
On Bai Qiushui’s side, she had likewise consumed a large amount of spiritual power during the battle.
At the same time, because she had rapidly absorbed a great deal of spiritual power to break through her bottleneck, the spiritual power within her body was still somewhat unstable.
Thus she also needed to sit quietly to consolidate her realm.
After a period of time, Shucao’s body recovered.
She looked toward Bai Qiushui who was still sitting and cultivating to the side, then came to the entrance of the cave to stand guard for her.
After a while longer, Bai Qiushui also opened her eyes.
At this moment, the spiritual power throughout her body was condensed and dense.
She had clearly already firmly established herself in the late stage of Qi Refining.
At the same time, the Floating Gold Fruits in both of their storage pouches seemed to be affected by something.
They directly transformed into streams of flowing light and flew out, floating in front of the two of them.
Then, a line of small characters appeared in the air above the Floating Gold Fruits.
“Disciples who have obtained a Floating Gold Fruit, now grasp the Floating Gold Fruit in your own hand to proceed to the location of the third trial. Disciples who have not obtained a Floating Gold Fruit will be teleported outside of Tianling Mountain.”
Seeing this scene, Shucao and Bai Qiushui exchanged a glance.
Then Shucao said to Bai Qiushui.
“Go. Go take a look at what that final trial is like, then break through it.”
“Mm. But Sister Shucao, what about you?”
“Me? Didn’t Fellow Daoist Zhang Huaiyu say earlier that disciples who have not cultivated the techniques of the three sects cannot participate in the third trial? So I estimate I won’t be able to go to the location of that third trial. In a moment I’ll just hold the Floating Gold Fruit so that I won’t be teleported outside of Tianling Mountain.”
As she spoke, Shucao gave Bai Qiushui a thumbs-up, then said.
“Qiushui, you have to win!”
“Mm. I will definitely succeed.”
After that, Bai Qiushui stretched out her hand, preparing to grasp the Floating Gold Fruit floating in the air.
Suddenly, Shucao seemed to think of something and hurriedly called out to stop Bai Qiushui.
“Qiushui, wait a moment!”
“What is it, Sister Shucao?”
“There’s something I almost forgot to give you. I’ll take it out now.”
Shucao took out her storage pouch and found the Canghai Pearl that Jin Xuan had previously given as remuneration.
Then she handed it in front of Bai Qiushui.
“This thing is called the Canghai Pearl. It seems to be a treasure obtained from a place called the Tiancong Sea. Inside it contains a great deal of pure water-attribute spiritual energy. Your spiritual root is water-attribute, right? Then this thing is for you to use.”
“Sister Shucao, are you sure you want to give this to me? This thing looks very precious.”
“Aiya, it’s actually equivalent to a large spirit stone. Using it to refine a treasure might be even better. Moreover, the attribute of this thing has no use for me. Handing it over to someone who needs it more might be better.”
Bai Qiushui looked at the Canghai Pearl that circulated with deep blue radiance and opened her mouth somewhat hesitantly.
“But…”
“Alright. If Qiushui feels like you owe me something, then after you become stronger in the future, go get something even better to give back to me.”
Under Shucao’s strong insistence, Bai Qiushui still accepted Shucao’s gift and then put it into her storage pouch.
“Then Sister Shucao, I’ll go on ahead first.”
“Mm. See you next time.”
As Bai Qiushui picked up the Floating Gold Fruit floating in the air, a light suddenly rose from beneath her feet.
In the next moment, she was enveloped by a pillar of light and disappeared from within the cave.
In the moment before she was teleported away, a thought suddenly appeared in her mind.
Speaking of which, how did Sister Shucao know the attribute of my spiritual root? Did Senior Sister Zhang tell her?
But very quickly, her attention on this thought was dispersed by the third trial that immediately followed.
Inside the cave, after Bai Qiushui disappeared, Shucao also picked up the Floating Gold Fruit.
However, no pillar of light rose from beneath her feet to teleport her away.
“It seems this trial array can still detect whether the disciples inside have cultivated techniques. I thought I would be able to go take a look at what that third stage is like. But it also doesn’t seem like it’s going to teleport me outside of Tianling Mountain. It looks like we can first explore this place a bit. Earlier, in order to find the fruit trees first, we completely didn’t get a proper look around.”
Just as Shucao picked up the Floating Gold Fruit and walked toward the outside of the cave, An Qianhua suddenly spoke again.
“Maybe you performed extremely well and were selected by the array, so it’s making an exception and letting you participate in the third trial. I’ve seen this kind of plot in novels before.”
“How could that be possible, hahaha…”
Just as Shucao still had some laughter, a light identical to the previous one rose from beneath Shucao’s feet and enveloped her within it.
“Wah wah wah, how did I actually get targeted?!”
“See, see? I knew it. We performed so amazingly in the previous two trials. The person behind that large array might also appreciate us because of this.”
“That’s true, but what if something dangerous happens?!”
“Eh, it seems I completely didn’t consider that point…”
“Wah wah wah!”
However, the large array paid no attention to Shucao’s thoughts.
In the next moment, she was teleported into a pure white space.
Within the pure white space, only an elderly man with a kind face stood in front of Shucao.
Apart from that, there was nothing else.
“It’s an old grandpa! In novels, there’s always a mysterious old grandpa who appears in front of the protagonist during some kind of fortuitous encounter. This kind is either a great good person or a great boss.”
An Qianhua continuously spoke inside the Heart Realm, her eyes seeming to emit light.
Clearly, she felt extremely excited about the current scene.
If it’s a bad person then I’m finished…
Shucao silently complained, then walked forward, performed a salute toward the elderly man, and said.
“This Senior, this junior is Shucao. May I ask who Senior is?”
After seeing Shucao’s salute, the elderly man also smiled.
He stroked his beard and said with a smile.
“What an adorable little girl. I am Luo Tingsheng. You may call me ‘Taiqing True Monarch.’”