0p0 Chapter 187 Wilderness 8
Chapter 187 Wilderness 8
After the ceremony was completed, looking at the girl lying on the ice platform, Shangguan Song hesitated and asked, "Why don't we move her back to the cave? It looks really freezing to see her lying here in the snow."
"Then I'll have to trouble Senior Brother Shangguan to carry it back."
Cheng Jiu nodded. As for the talismans wrapped around the other party, they didn't tear them off. Compared to the previous violent aura, the other party's aura was noticeably calmer after the talismans were applied, clearly indicating that the talismans had brought him considerable benefits.
"it is good!"
The group arrived at the cave dwelling where the girl lived, and were shocked by what they saw. The beads used for lighting had been turned into powder by the violent spiritual power, and warm animal furs were scattered all over the cave. The messy ground made it impossible to tell what the place had been like before, and there were messy scratches all around.
Looking at the messy environment, the four of them quickly cleaned up. Cheng Jiu took out an unused large bed from his ring and placed it on the spot where they had previously placed the nest.
Shangguan Song placed the girl on the large bed, and the group withdrew. Gong Yu and Cheng Jiu joined forces to set up a trapping formation outside to prevent the girl from escaping after waking up.
The two of them set up ten trapping formations together before they could finally feel at ease.
There's no need to go fishing anymore, because during the fight, the phoenix tree was left somewhere on the ice field, and the ice cave used for fishing has been completely frozen over.
How hard is this ice layer? Cheng Jiu has tested it.
In another area where the fish was placed, which was covered by snowflakes, a small, bulging layer could still be seen; hopefully, there was enough fish left.
Seeing the snow falling heavier and heavier, the five of them didn't want to wait outside any longer, so they moved to the cave where Li Weixin and the others had lived before. The furnishings were exactly the same as those in the girl's cave.
It's just that there's more space here.
Li Weixin took out the Soul-Nourishing Wood: "Junior Sister, I don't know if it's just my imagination, but it seems like the light from this Soul-Nourishing Wood is a bit dim!"
Cheng Jiu was stunned upon hearing this: "Really? Senior Brother Gongcheng took out top-grade Soul Nourishing Wood. It shouldn't be that his soul power is being lost so quickly."
She reached out and took it, looking at the shimmering Spirit Nourishing Wood, and examined it carefully: "Her soul is too fragile. Even the finest Spirit Nourishing Wood cannot sustain her soul."
"What should we do then?" Li Weixin asked anxiously, looking at the Nourishing Spirit Tree. If the other party's soul power disappeared, wouldn't all their previous efforts have been in vain?
"I have a way!"
Cheng Jiu took out an incense burner and incense sticks. This method of maintaining soul power was actually quite simple and straightforward.
However, there is a problem: in the cultivation world, offerings cannot be made casually. Offerings to strangers can easily create karmic consequences.
"I'll do it!" Before the group could reach a decision, Shangguan Song volunteered.
"Senior Brother Shangguan!" The group looked at him. Although it was a difficult situation, they couldn't just stand by and watch someone fall into a pit of fire.
“I discovered this when I sparred with her before. She probably cultivates the Ice Purity Divine Jade Technique of the Wuji Sect. Therefore, she should be my senior sister from the same sect. She is the most suitable person for me to worship.”
Shangguan Song wasn't making baseless accusations or asking for trouble. The Ice-Clear Divine Jade Technique was an inner sect technique of the Wuji Sect, and only disciples of the Wuji Sect could learn it.
"In that case, we'll leave it to Senior Brother Shangguan!" The others nodded in understanding, and Cheng Jiu handed him a large bundle of incense sticks and an incense burner.
"Thank you, Junior Sister!" Shangguan Song arranged the Soul-Nourishing Wood, lit the incense sticks, and respectfully bowed three times. As the incense smoke curled upwards, the unstable soul gradually stabilized in the incense smoke.
Cheng Jiu sat on the soft fur, listening to the sound of the cold wind blowing outside, and felt somewhat drowsy in the warm cave.
Li Weixin and the other two quietly played the Song Immortal Card Game, while Shangguan Song stood guard in front of the incense burner, changing the incense as needed.
In the midst of the stillness, a figure flew swiftly from afar, shattering the tranquility of the room.
"Yuheng!" A hurried voice, carrying a powerful aura, crashed down in front of the cave.
The trapping formation set up by Cheng Jiu and Gong Yu couldn't stop him at all. He flashed into the cave and saw the person on the bed who was tied up. He breathed a long sigh of relief.
"Thank you so much for saving me, young friends. I am deeply grateful!" He turned around and bowed to Cheng Jiu and the others who had come out to check after noticing the commotion outside.
Cheng Jiu and the others sized up the middle-aged man, who appeared to be in his thirties or forties. He had a gentle and refined demeanor, like a piece of ancient jade that had been stored for a thousand years, calm and clear, captivating all who saw him.
"Don't mention it, it's nothing."
"It was nothing, Immortal Lord. You are too kind to us juniors."
The four quickly dodged the other party's bow; this was the bow of a powerful figure, how could they accept it with a clear conscience?
Looking at the person bound hand and foot on the bed, Qin Anxianjun's eyes were filled with sorrow and pity: "Young friends, there's no need to be so polite. I know very well how Yuheng is when he falls ill! You must have gone to great lengths to stop him."
I had suspected that Yuheng's illness would come on earlier than expected, so I went out of my way to find the elixir, neglecting my friends. I didn't expect it to be too late, but as long as he's alive, that's good enough.
"Immortal Lord, Senior Sister is... We're sorry, we were presumptuous." Cheng Jiu wanted to ask what was going on, but seeing the other's expression, he swallowed his question.
“There’s no need for that. It’s not something that can’t be discussed with others.” Immortal Lord Qin An shook his head: “You are all benefactors of Yuheng. In fact, this is a scandal in my family.”
The woman on the bed, Yuheng, is also called Qin Yuheng. She is the niece of Immortal Lord Qin An. Immortal Lord Qin An comes from the Qin family under the Wuji Sect, which is considered a powerful family within the Wuji Sect.
Qin Anxianjun's parents died early, and he and his younger sister depended on each other for survival. However, the person in charge of the household was Qin Anxianjun's uncle. Qin Anxianjun's aunt disliked the two little burdens left behind by her deceased younger brother.
The two were frequently abused; it was common for them to be deprived of food and clothing.
Even more outrageous, when the Wuji Sect came to recruit disciples, Qin An Immortal Lord's aunt threatened him with his sister, wanting to brand Qin An Immortal Lord's soul with a slave mark so that he could pave the way for her son to become a slave after he finished testing his talents and entered the Wuji Sect.
It was Qin An Immortal Lord's younger sister who resisted to the death and threatened to kill herself to make the matter bigger, which prevented Qin An Immortal Lord's aunt from succeeding.
Later, Immortal Lord Qin An was found to have a golden aptitude, and it seemed that he could soar to great heights. After the aptitude was determined, Immortal Lord Qin An took the opportunity to get his sister a chance to be tested as well. Unfortunately, although they were siblings, his sister only had a green aptitude and had not even reached the minimum entry threshold of the five major sects.
Immortal Lord Qin An wanted to bring his sister into the Wuji Sect, and the Wuji Sect was willing to make an exception for his sake and let his sister in. However, Immortal Lord Qin An's sister refused this precious opportunity so as not to burden her brother and stayed in the family.
They figured that, considering Qin Anxianjun's promising future, they would never mistreat his younger sister.
After entering the Wuji Sect, Immortal Lord Qin An was exceptionally talented and his cultivation progressed rapidly. He always thought of his younger sister and would send her some precious cultivation resources from time to time, and his sister would reply to him from time to time.
Out of respect for him, the family elders intervened to restrain his aunt, and even the family's ancestor stepped in. Her situation has greatly improved, and she has entered the core of the family's business, started her own business, and runs an auction shop that the family allocated to her. Her life is now quite prosperous.
Everything seemed to be going in a good direction. After breaking through to the Tribulation Transcending Realm, Immortal Lord Qin An suddenly wanted to go back and have a short reunion with his younger sister.
He was told that because of his outstanding performance on the battlefield of the demon realm, he was resented by some families of the demon race, who had actually contacted his uncle and aunt.
Three months ago, his sister was sold to a family in the demon realm who had a grudge against him by his uncle and aunt for a large sum of money.
Immortal Lord Qin An went mad on the spot. Before he went into seclusion, he received a letter from his sister saying that she was doing very well and did not want to find him a husband, so that her brother would not have to worry too much.
But when he finally met his sister, full of anticipation, this was the result.
Qin Anxianjun destroyed his own family, ignoring the objections of the family elders and ancestors. Despite the pleas for mercy from his once high-ranking uncle and aunt, he exterminated the Qin family, leaving no one alive, from the ancestors to the young children.
After finding out who the demon clan had bought his sister, he ventured into the demon realm alone, but he was too late. His poor sister had been tortured beyond recognition, and she didn't even get to see her brother one last time.
She left behind only the child she had been forced to give birth to. With intense hatred for the child's father and his family, her sister cursed the child who had been born against her will!
Humans and demons are inherently disliked by the heavens, and his sister, as their mother, cursed the child.
A child born with a flawed soul, and whose fate is further tarnished by the heavens due to their mother, cannot survive.
Immortal Lord Qin'an slaughtered the entire demon clan that had plotted against and tormented his sister, as an offering to appease her spirit in heaven.
Qin Anxianjun had very complicated feelings towards the child left behind by his younger sister.
He couldn't bring himself to harm the child because she was the only bloodline left by his sister and his only remaining blood relative. Yet, she was also the source of his sister's suffering before her death.
Qin Anxianjun originally intended to ignore the disabled child; he would not lay a hand on her or mistreat her, as the child would not live long due to the bloodline conflict and the curse.
But this child was so well-behaved that even when the blood conflict and the curse were excruciating, the child would only whine and cry a couple of times, being unusually obedient.
Her obedient appearance made Immortal Lord Qin An imagine his younger sister when she was a child, hugging him and acting spoiled. How similar they were! The mother and daughter were practically cut from the same mold.
He couldn't bring himself to ignore her, and as time went on, he gradually poured all the feelings he had for his sister into his little niece.
He wanted to save her, so he embarked on a journey to treat his little niece.
Unlike human-demon hybrids, human-demon hybrids do not suffer the same resentment from the Heavenly Dao; the Heavenly Dao still shows some pity for this type of person.
However, his niece was born with the curse of her closest relative, born with original sin, and was not favored by the heavens.
He then tried to repair the other person's soul, but the soul was extremely fragile.
Even when he ventured into the Ghost Realm and sought help from the Ghost Emperor, the Ghost Emperor was powerless to do anything about it.
The only way is to seek the forgiveness of the other party's mother, lift the curse, and the conflict between the human and demon bloodlines within the body will gradually subside.
But he was too late; his sister had already been reincarnated, and the reincarnated person had no relation to the previous one.
While searching for a cure, he discovered from a book that the Death Glacier had a special ritual called the Glacier Offering.
This gave him hope. Qin Yuheng's soul was incomplete and his bloodline was in serious conflict because he was rejected by the Heavenly Dao. As long as he could win the favor of the Heavenly Dao and weaken the influence of the curse, he might be able to survive.
The glacier's offering is the perfect way to win the favor of Heaven. Heaven and Earth are the children of Heaven. This desolate place, on the verge of death, is trying to find a way out of its predicament. How could such a child not be pitied by Heaven?
The reason why the glacier's gift is so magical is because it is a gift from nature.
Qin Yuheng doesn't need to fully possess the gifts bestowed upon him; just a little of their lingering influence will be enough to greatly benefit him and alleviate the curse.
However, this shortcut is not 100% effective. As time goes by, its effectiveness decreases, and he now needs to find special spiritual herbs and medicines from time to time to maintain it.
It's already the best he could do to survive this long. The next glacier offering will be in a month.
He gave a bitter smile: "Actually, after I slaughtered my family back then, I never thought of returning to the Wuji Sect. Once this kind of thing gets out, no matter what the inside story is, it will be considered an unforgivable crime in the eyes of the world. I had already accepted that I would be wanted by both the cultivation world and the demon world."
To avenge his sister, he truly went all out, turning a promising young man into a wanted criminal overnight.
No matter how you look at it, it's quite unwise in the eyes of the world. If he really wanted to avenge his sister, he would have executed the culprit. No one would have said anything to his uncle and aunt. Why did he have to go to such lengths?
But how could he accept that? He only wanted the other party to pay back the blood debt a thousandfold.
"Later, it was my master who stepped forward and announced the investigation results. He ordered the extermination of the Qin family on the grounds that they were colluding with the demon race, and I, their unfilial disciple, became the one to carry out the execution." Immortal Lord Qin An continued, his voice filled with emotion, gratitude, and guilt.
"I apologize for making this a laughing stock of you. After that, I went to the demon race to seek revenge, and then I spent my days working for Yuheng. I didn't return to the sect, and of course, the people in the sect didn't know the inside story."
"Once Yuheng is settled, this unfilial disciple of mine should return to the Wuji Sect to receive my punishment."
"Um, we actually collected Senior Sister Yuheng's soul! It's right here in your cave." Cheng Jiu took a deep breath and said earnestly.
"How could this be!"
Qin Anxianjun spoke with great emotion. He was well aware of the difficulty of summoning souls. Even he, a close relative, was at risk of failure. How could these strangers possibly accomplish it?
Moreover, based on his understanding of Yuheng, although he had been entrusted by him to help take care of him, he probably wouldn't have much interaction with these disciples.
"Have you ever heard of the blood sacrifice method?" The group spoke with a hint of pride. It was something that ordinary soul-swapping methods couldn't do, but the method they used was far from ordinary.
"We were able to use the blood sacrifice technique thanks to our junior sister!"
"Blood sacrifice! Blood sacrifice!" Immortal Lord Qin An's voice was somewhat excited. He gripped Cheng Jiu's shoulders, unable to contain his excitement. After a while, he calmed down and said, "I'm sorry, I lost my composure!"
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then opened them again, his tone becoming calm and gentle once more: "I will send you out in a moment. Just ahead is Quanyou Cliff, where your master is waiting for you!"
Then he strode over to the next room and soon returned with Shangguan Song and the wooden plaque.
He fed the spiritual herb he had found, a ninth-grade wood lotus, into Qin Yuheng's mouth. The rich vitality enveloped Qin Yuheng, and the other party's chaotic soul power gradually calmed down. Taking this opportunity, he pushed his soul into the other party's body.