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Join the ServerThe air seemed to freeze.
The surviving disciples of Penglai stood ashen-faced, their bodies trembling like leaves in the wind. They stared at the young woman holding a miniature tripod in her hand, grinning like an unscrupulous landlord about to harvest leeks. Their minds were a blank void.
Interest?
What interest?
Beating our Palace Master half to death and stealing our sect’s supreme artifact isn’t enough? What more do you want? To take our entire Penglai Immortal Island with you?!
“Compensation for mental distress. That slap just now barely covered the principal.”
Shen Zhaoqing completely ignored the tense, explosive atmosphere around her, casually counting on her fingers.
“As for the energy consumption fee…” She weighed the warm, jade-like little tripod in her hand, the grin on her lips widening.
“You used me as a power bank. Now, shouldn’t the victim get some recovery service?”
Before her words faded, she couldn’t even be bothered to make an extra move. With a single thought:
“Spit it out!”
“Buzz—!!!” A shrill, unprecedented wail of agony erupted from the palm-sized tripod.
The Cauldron of Longevity, an ancient divine artifact, possessed its own spirit and pride. Born at the dawn of heaven and earth, it embodied the most primordial path of life and creation. For tens of thousands of years, it had always been the lofty giver, absorbing the essence of all things. Never had it been drained in reverse!
This was utter humiliation!
A disgrace a thousand times more profound than having its former master’s imprint erased!
The tripod’s spirit roared and struggled, madly resisting the unquestionable command from the depths of its soul.
Yet all was futile. Because the one issuing the command was of the same origin as itself.
If the Cauldron of Longevity was a creation of the Dao, then Shen Zhaoqing’s Dao Source Body was the Dao itself!
Before the “Suppression of the Dao Source,” all resistance was pale and powerless.
In the next moment, under the horrified gazes of everyone, countless ancient and mysterious runes on the exquisite little tripod’s surface flickered wildly. The body trembled violently, as if about to explode.
Then, a dazzling azure-golden pillar of light burst forth from the tripod’s mouth.
It wasn’t mere light.
It was a torrent of the purest, most majestic life energy and medicinal essence.
Within that torrent, phantom images of ancient spirit herbs seemed to float, the breath of millennia-old divine trees pulsed, and a thick medicinal fragrance—enough to extend one’s life by a century with a single sniff—filled the air.
This energy was so vast, so pure, that even a wisp of it caused the cracked earth to sprout tender green shoots and the severely injured women nearby to feel their wounds healing at a visible rate.
“Heavens! That… that is…”
A surviving Penglai elder pointed at the azure-golden torrent, her voice trembling uncontrollably.
“That’s the essence of the Ten-Thousand-Year Wood Spirit Heart and the medicinal power of the Nine-Leaf Soul-Returning Herb! The Palace Master… she refined all three thousand years of our Penglai herb garden’s accumulation into the Cauldron of Longevity!”
“Is she insane?! This is… this is a winner-takes-all gamble!”
Han Shuang’s face was also drained of color. She stared fixedly at the energy torrent.
The disciple continued, “And more… look at the golden light at the core of the torrent… That’s the life essence extracted from the immortal bodies of our past ancestors, the ultimate energy source maintaining our island’s protective formation.”
“The Palace Master… she invested our final foundation.”
As those words left her mouth, a bone-chilling cold swept through every Penglai disciple.
So, to refine the legendary “Nine-Turn Soul-Returning Pill,” the Yaoguang Saint Master had staked everything.
Success: she alone would ascend, and all would benefit.
Failure… the entire Penglai Immortal Palace would be doomed!
And now, they witnessed the outcome of that gamble.
The golden torrent of energy—enough to drive any Dao Integration cultivator mad—arced gracefully through the air and poured perfectly into Shen Zhaoqing’s body!
The entire process was terrifyingly silent.
Shen Zhaoqing stood lazily in place, head slightly tilted, letting the horrifying energy—enough to burst any cultivator’s dantian—wash through her limbs and bones.
“Burp~” A soft, medicine-scented belch escaped her lips.
She smacked her mouth. “Not bad.”
She commented matter-of-factly, “But the years are too mixed, and the heat’s off. Like cheap counterfeit liquor—weak aftertaste.”
“Pfft—!!!”
Just as her words fell, the Yaoguang Saint Master, who had just been helped up by her disciples, sprayed another shocking mouthful of blood.
This blood carried a strange, ashen gray—her original Dao blood.
“My… my cultivation…”
The Yaoguang Saint Master’s eyes bulged, bloodshot webs spreading across them. She felt in disbelief as her power ebbed away like a receding tide.
The final, faint connection between her and the Cauldron of Longevity was mercilessly shattered. The thousand-year accumulation of life essence within the tripod—her ultimate trump card to defy fate—was gone.
Now, that trump card, along with her cultivation, lifespan, Dao foundation… everything, was packaged and delivered by the irresistible force of the “Dao Source” to the girl she had considered merely a medicine primer.
She could clearly sense her realm plummeting.
Mid Dao Integration, early Dao Integration, Void Return Grand Perfection…
Her skin lost its luster, her black hair rapidly turned white, and her gentle, compassionate face was etched with shocking wrinkles.
The Five Declines of Heaven and Man!
The apocalypse of an era, which should have been reversed by pills, descended with tenfold the force of normal circumstances.
“No… no! It shouldn’t be like this!” The Yaoguang Saint Master went mad, her hair disheveled, pointing at the innocent-looking Shen Zhaoqing, shrieking like a vengeful ghost.
“You’re medicine! Just medicine for my Dao! How dare you, how dare you take everything from me!!”
“Take?”
Shen Zhaoqing picked her ear.
“Old hag, don’t talk nonsense.”
She shook the Cauldron of Longevity, now a lifeless, ordinary little copper furnace, and grinned, flashing white teeth.
“This thing was born from heaven and earth. The energy inside was also given by heaven and earth. As heaven and earth’s own daughter, it’s only reasonable for me to take back what’s mine and collect a storage fee, right?”
“Returning to the rightful owner, understand?”
“As for you…” Shen Zhaoqing’s gaze swept over the rapidly aging face, devoid of any pity.
“You’re just a thief who stole someone else’s things and tried to keep them.”
“Now that the owner has come knocking, why are you crying?”
“You… you…” The Yaoguang Saint Master trembled with rage at this “bandit logic.” She pointed at Shen Zhaoqing, trying to say more, but only managed hoarse, bellows-like sounds from her throat.
Finally, all light in her eyes faded with her last breath.
Her eyes rolled back, her body went limp, and she fell stiffly backward.
This time… she was truly dead.
The adventure continues! If you loved this chapter, Even if I’m Just a Little Sparrow, I Really Want To Improve is a must-read. Click here to start!
Read : Even if I’m Just a Little Sparrow, I Really Want To Improve
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