Chapter 126: The Shattered Node

Mu Qingli was also fighting with considerable frustration. Her formidable plant-based divine abilities typically allowed her to bind enemies into tight bundles.

She would then bury them alive, transforming them into potent flower fertilizer.

However, her most cherished ‘bonsai’ lay nearby. She feared that any accidental excess of power might shatter the ‘flowerpot’ containing it.

Consequently, what should have been a world-shattering Soul Transformation Realm battle devolved into a restrained game of cat and mouse.

One sought to capture, the other to expel.

Bai Zhileng moved with ethereal grace, like an immortal, dodging and weaving within a small space. The chilling energy and medicinal power from her fingertips continuously grazed past Mu Qingli, leaving trails of frost and corrosive marks on the walls and floor.

Mu Qingli, on the other hand, was as nimble as a demon. At times, she transformed into a verdant shadow, melting into the ground. At others, she dangled upside down from the ceiling, making a playful grimace.

The vines and flying leaves she summoned merely grazed Bai Zhileng’s robes or entangled her ankles, causing her to stumble.

Both had ignited their true fury, yet both fiercely suppressed their power, dreading that even a stray ripple might harm the unconscious human ‘eye of the storm’ lying on the floor.

The entire medicine bath chamber was left in utter disarray by the residual impact of their battle. Jade shelves toppled, precious medicinal herbs scattered across the floor, and the walls were pitted and scarred, while cracks spiderwebbed across the tiles.

“You thief, get out of my garden!” Mu Qingli shouted indignantly, dodging another attack. In her eyes, this room, which imprisoned Shen Zhaoqing, had already become her private property.

“Nonsense! What are your intentions, you demonic girl of unknown origin?!” Bai Zhileng was equally vexed and furious.

She utterly failed to comprehend why this mysterious girl was so fixated on her so-called ‘bonsai’ and ‘garden.’

Yet, she could sense no corrupt aura of demonic cultivators or evil practitioners emanating from her opponent. Instead, Mu Qingli exuded a life force that was pure to the extreme.

Bai Zhileng had no time to ponder why Mu Qingli sometimes called her ‘Sect Master Zhan’ and other times ‘the Zhan family.’ Instead, she prioritized using her own strength to control this unpredictable variable.

The battle continued in a peculiar equilibrium.

Until—

“Enough! I’m not playing with you anymore!”

Mu Qingli seemed to lose her patience. Her figure flickered, and she vanished into the ground once more, evading Bai Zhileng’s ‘Cold Heart Palm.’

Bai Zhileng’s delicate brows furrowed. Her divine sense instantly spread out, vigilantly scanning her surroundings, guarding against a sneak attack from any tricky angle.

However, Mu Qingli did not launch a sneak attack.

“Clang!”

A crisp sound of metal striking jade resonated from beneath Bai Zhileng’s feet. Mu Qingli’s large iron shovel unexpectedly emerged halfway from the ground, its blade precisely prying at the tiles beside Bai Zhileng’s foot.

Mu Qingli’s objective was simple: she wanted to emulate how she had just shoveled Shen Zhaoqing, intending to likewise send this ugly, pale-skinned thief flying.

But Bai Zhileng was, after all, a conscious Soul Transformation Realm expert; her reaction speed was astonishing. The moment the shovel blade appeared, she tapped her toes and floated backward.

Mu Qingli’s shovel struck nothing but air.

Nevertheless, her shovel had firmly struck a spirit jade floor tile in the bathroom.

This particular tile, though appearing identical to the others, was internally inscribed with hundreds of incredibly complex runes. It served as a crucial node in the energy transmission network of the entire Penglai mountain-guarding grand array, responsible for continuously channeling the earth’s spiritual energy into the Longevity Cauldron.

“Crack—!”

A faint yet utterly critical sound of shattering echoed.

The spirit jade tile, acting as a formation node, was directly pried open by the irresistible blade of the spirit-transplanting shovel, creating a deep crack.

For an instant, the flow of spiritual energy throughout the entire bathroom experienced a momentary stagnation, like a surging river whose upstream source had been abruptly cut off.

In the bathing tub, the dark green medicinal liquid, which had been bubbling vigorously, instantly calmed. The runes circulating on its walls also dimmed for a moment.

This change was so swift it was almost imperceptible.

But for certain beings, it was like a thunderclap in the dead of night!

****

Deep within the forbidden grounds of Penglai Immortal Palace, at the Heaven-Worshipping Altar, a colossal bronze cauldron, a hundred zhang tall, adorned with intricate carvings of suns, moons, stars, birds, beasts, insects, and fish, floated above a towering white jade platform.

It was the ancient divine artifact—the Longevity Cauldron.

Beneath the cauldron, a stunning woman, clad in a platinum medicinal robe with long, silver-blue hair cascading to her waist, sat cross-legged, her eyes tightly closed.

A palpable, rich vitality enveloped her, and each breath she took seemed to resonate with the flora and fauna of the heavens and earth.

She was the Holy Master Yaoguang, mistress of the Penglai Immortal Palace.

At this moment, she was immersed in an abstruse state of enlightenment, her divine sense fused with the Longevity Cauldron, deducing the final formula for the legendary Nine Revolutions Soul-Returning Pill.

The instant that formation node shattered—

Holy Master Yaoguang’s long, butterfly-wing-like eyelashes trembled violently, and her tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open.

They were eyes of profound warmth, yet equally profound coldness, like the bright moon in the nine heavens, benevolently shining upon all beings, yet truly holding no single living creature in regard.

“Hm?” A soft sound of inquiry escaped her lips.

Her divine sense traced the momentarily severed spiritual energy pathways upstream, instantly bypassing myriad restrictions and precisely pinpointing the small medicine bath chamber.

Almost simultaneously with Holy Master Yaoguang’s divine sense descending, the medicine bath chamber experienced a small turbulent surge of spiritual energy due to the shattered formation node.

This turbulence stirred up the medicinal powder on the ground and also swept up the Dragon Dung Spirit Soil that Mu Qingli had temporarily set aside.

“Splat.”

A soft sound.

The sticky, dark lump of ‘ten great nourishing food,’ radiating astonishing spiritual energy, was propelled by the spiritual turbulence and landed squarely on Shen Zhaoqing’s face.

Most of it plastered onto her smooth forehead and cheeks, but a small portion landed perfectly near her lips and beneath her nostrils.

The extremely pure life force, carrying even a trace of an ancient true dragon’s aura, silently seeped into her already withered body through her mouth and nose, like a gentle stream.

Bai Zhileng, who was confronting Mu Qingli, felt her heart leap fiercely.

An indescribable, terrifying pressure descended from the heavens, crushing down upon her divine soul.

‘It’s Master!’

‘Master’s divine sense has arrived!’

Her heart tightened, and she was about to speak and explain.

Mu Qingli, opposite her, also felt this powerful, unsettling aura. A grave expression flickered in her emerald, cat-like eyes.

On the floor, Shen Zhaoqing, whom they had regarded as a ‘medicinal primer’ or ‘bonsai,’ lifeless as a puppet, had the corner of her mouth, smeared with Dragon Dung Spirit Soil, subtly curve upward.

It was as if a butterfly, long trapped in an eternal winter, had finally felt a wisp of spring breeze and was struggling to flutter its long-stiffened wings.

Deep within her hollow, deathly silent sea of consciousness, a wisp of golden light, even fainter than starlight, flashed by.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

The Villainess’s Guide to Training the Villainous Young Lady

Creative conceptFemale ProtagonistGender Transformation

Read Now →
Not interested