Chapter 148: A Touch from the Past

Mu Qingli felt that the slightest stray thought would result in her being absorbed by this clump of ‘earth,’ transformed into a proper pile of fertilizer.

Shen Zhaoqing looked at her pathetic display. For the first time, a trace of almost imperceptible helplessness flickered in her icy eyes.

It was that familiar headache that came with seeing a troublesome pest.

She reached out.

Mu Qingli shut her eyes in terror, letting out a mournful wail. “Aaaah! I’m going to be eaten! My spiritual herbs! My spiritual spring! My dragon dung fertilizer! I haven’t even used it all yet!”

But the expected pain never came.

Instead, a hand—cold, yet carrying a faintly familiar scent—landed gently on her head and ruffled it.

Just like many years ago, in that rundown tavern in Qingzhou, where the little girl would pour ‘wine’ on her and stroke her withered pine needles every day.

Mu Qingli froze.

She slowly opened her emerald cat-like eyes and saw Shen Zhaoqing looking at her. Though those golden-glowing eyes remained distant, they no longer held the absolute coldness of looking at a dead thing.

“Get up.” Shen Zhaoqing spoke. She took Mu Qingli’s hand and pulled her up from the ground, then casually brushed the dust off her.

Then she turned back to face the Penglai army, led by True Monarch Xuanming, who were all completely stunned.

“What the hell…” Luan Ge watched this scene, her mouth twitching uncontrollably.

She suddenly felt that her loss wasn’t unjust.

This woman’s way of thinking had never been normal. While others fought over men and territory, she was worrying about how to slack off. While others fought to the death for her, she was concerned about a dying potted plant.

Ling Shuangjue’s crimson eyes also flickered with a complex, unreadable light. She watched Shen Zhaoqing protecting Mu Qingli’s back, and the humiliation of being ignored actually faded a little.

In its place was an absurd jealousy.

That damn tree!

Gu Chang’an took a deep breath and gripped the Frostbright Sword firmly again.

“Seal… Seal the Sea-Suppressing Lock Immortal Formation!” Finally snapping out of extreme shock, True Monarch Xuanming roared with a bluster born of fear.

Today could not end peacefully.

The Saintess had betrayed them, the Palace Master was dead, and the face of Penglai had been ground into the dirt.

If he didn’t react now, he might as well quit as Enforcement Elder and jump into the sea to feed the fish.

With his command, hundreds of Medicine Guards suppressed their terror and let out a unified shout. The light from their ritual blades blazed. Beams of spiritual power shot into the sky, interweaving into a blue net that covered the entire altar.

Runes flowed on the net, bearing the law-force of suppressing primordial spirit and binding spiritual power.

The moment the formation took shape, a pressure heavy as a mountain and sea bore down on Shen Zhaoqing and the others. The air turned into a viscous swamp.

Hmph.

Ling Shuangjue sneered and was about to activate the Abi Yuan Tu Sword to pierce a hole through the net.

But a hand gently pressed on her shoulder.

It was Shen Zhaoqing.

Ling Shuangjue froze.

Shen Zhaoqing shook her head. Then she released Mu Qingli and stepped forward alone. Facing that descending net of laws—strong enough to lock down a Harmony-stage cultivator—she slowly raised her right hand.

Pop. A light sound.

Like a bubble bursting.

That Sea-Suppressing Lock Immortal Formation, activated by hundreds of Core Formation and Nascent Soul cultivators under the command of the great-circle Return-to-Void True Monarch Xuanming…

Just… shattered.

It dissolved into countless blue specks of light, fluttering down like fireflies.

True Monarch Xuanming’s expression froze in that instant. His mouth hung open, his eyes bulging like brass bells, as if witnessing the most unbelievable scene in the world.

His… his proud protective sect formation…

“Thud… thud…”

Several dozen of the nearest Medicine Guards, without even a chance to scream, fell straight from the air with eyes wide open.

The formation being broken caused spiritual power backlash, shattering their mind and spirit.

Shen Zhaoqing withdrew her finger. She lifted her gaze, her clear cold eyes passing over the dumbfounded Medicine Guards, finally landing on True Monarch Xuanming’s face.

“Next, it’s your turn.”

Every muscle in True Monarch Xuanming’s body went rigid in that instant. He had lived over a thousand years and prided himself on an iron will, but at this moment, his heart felt like it was being squeezed and crushed by an invisible giant hand, nearly bursting on the spot.

“Gulp.”

His Adam’s apple moved with difficulty.

Fear was a silent plague.

Centered on True Monarch Xuanming, the hundreds of Medicine Guards behind him had faces as pale as gold paper. They could no longer hold their ritual blades, which clattered to the ground.

What the hell, how could they fight this!

“What a coward.” Shen Zhaoqing frowned at this. Her gaze shifted to Mu Qingli, who had curled into a ball hugging her shovel, still trembling.

Mu Qingli felt that look.

“Owuu!”

She let out a mournful cry and buried her head deeper, mumbling indistinctly, “Can’t see me, can’t see me… I’m just an ordinary welcome pine… not tasty, not tasty at all…”

Mom, I want to go home. The Jianmu Relics are too dangerous.

“Get up.”

Mu Qingli peeked up and saw Shen Zhaoqing standing before her, who knows when.

Shen Zhaoqing didn’t say anything more. She just reached out and casually erased the last forbidden light left by the Yaoguang Saint Lord, like tearing off a sticky note.

Mu Qingli felt a lightness—the power that had suppressed her main body’s vitality vanished instantly. Endless wood-essence poured into her from every corner of this immortal island, repairing her damaged spiritual roots.

She stared blankly at Shen Zhaoqing, momentarily at a loss.

This person before her now had such an unfamiliar and powerful aura that it instinctually made her want to submit, to take root at her feet.

Yet deep in her soul, that ‘wine smell’ mixed with cheap liquor and a girl’s fragrance was so familiar it made her want to cry.

That was the only nectar that had revived her from a dying, withered seedling.

“You…” Mu Qingli opened her mouth, her voice hoarse.

“Didn’t you want to fertilize me? You can do it now.” Shen Zhaoqing said.

Mu Qingli was completely dumbfounded. Her emerald cat-like eyes shot wide open, filled with disbelief.

She… she remembered?

“Waa—” An uncontrollable sourness surged from her heart to her nose. Mu Qingli couldn’t hold back and burst into tears.

She dropped the spiritual shovel she had been clutching, and like a little beast finding its owner, she threw herself at Shen Zhaoqing, hugging her thigh tightly, wiping tears and snot all over the moon-white alchemist robe.

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