【Hahaha, I can testify—this time it really wasn’t the Purple Flame Realm!】
【I’m telling you, this heavenly lightning is downright bizarre. After striking five people, how did it manage to pinpoint their last teammate to strike?】
【No idea. Feels like the lightning hit Shen the Madman even harder than the other five.】
【That’s just how divination cultivators are—always prying into heavenly secrets, so the cosmos has it out for them.】
……
On the Mystic Heaven Mirror, cultivators chatted and laughed, though Wen Shuangbai and the others couldn’t see it.
At this point, figuring out which bastard was responsible was pointless. They just had to focus on clearing this trial.
Lost in thought, Yin Xuan trailed at the back behind the anxious Lu Jiayao.
Lu Jiayao, the only one among the five still worried about Shen Hefeng’s safety, fretted, "I wonder how he’s doing. I hope he’s alright."
Knowing Shen Hefeng, he wouldn’t have shattered the Sacred Summoning Token to leave unless it was a life-or-death situation.
Li Zhuohua wasn’t concerned at all. As the sect leader’s daughter, raised on Qingling Mountain, she was all too familiar with the elders’ ways: "Old Cao’s got it covered! He’s reliable and fussy—he won’t let that madman junior die!"
Meanwhile, Cao Xing, who had rushed to the Sacred Tower with an elder physician to fetch Shen Hefeng while keeping an eye on the other five disciples via the Mystic Heaven Mirror: "……" The sect leader’s daughter’s praise sounded suspiciously like an insult.
Just as his mood soured, a charred hand suddenly clamped onto his wrist.
Cao Xing looked down at the pitch-black, crispy "corpse" on the stretcher—only its eyes still bright: "……" Still alive?
The charred corpse spoke, heartbroken, exhaling smoke straight into Cao Xing’s face: "Old Cao… remember to save my hair!"
Cao Xing: "……"
At this moment, Cao Xing thought, maybe letting Li Zhuohua’s madman junior die wouldn’t be so bad.
Inside the secret realm, atop the sea of stars, Wen Shuangbai instinctively glanced at Xie Ziyin, who had been quietly lost in thought in the corner, and reminded the others, "With Shen the Second gone, the five of us need to be extra careful."
If they weren’t careful and got wiped out, they wouldn’t even have time to mourn.
"Mm-hmm." Lu Jiayao nodded eagerly, instantly forgetting about Shen Hefeng as the spectacle before them captured his full attention.
The place was surreal—floating high in the sky, their feet seemingly stepping on nothing, yet they never fell.
Each step sent ripples of faint luminescence spreading outward, painting the surroundings in dazzling, dreamlike hues.
Above, the vast starry sky stretched endlessly, its radiant stars drifting like dancing celestial butterflies, their gentle light cascading onto the five.
Xie Ziyin suddenly halted.
The tall, charred figure raised his head, gazing at the stars, then lifted a hand to catch the starlight on his fingertips.
Under its glow, his lightning-scorched flesh and blood began visibly regenerating.
Since reaching the Tribulation Transcendence realm, Xie Ziyin had been plagued by discomfort from the Nine Infants Ghost Art he’d practiced.
The Nine Infants Ghost Art was a demonic cultivation method. His late father had stumbled upon it in a secret realm, bringing it back at the cost of fatal injuries. Before dying, he buried it in their yard, warning his son never to open it.
Despite its sinister nature, the technique oddly complemented a healer’s skills.
Its ghostly steps enhanced speed, while its ghostly eyes revealed weaknesses in the human body—perfect for medical treatment.
After deliberation, Xie Ziyin had tempered the art’s side effects with medicine and learned it.
But post-Tribulation, the backlash intensified. In the Endless House, he’d tirelessly worked on pills to suppress it, with little success.
Even now, under the heavenly lightning, the discomfort had worsened.
The demonic residue of the Nine Infants Ghost Art, forced out of his spirit bones by the lightning, rampaged through his meridians, even threatening his sanity.
The entire journey, Xie Ziyin had endured in silence, his composure flawless—until now.
Beneath the starlight, as his body reconstructed, he sensed the demonic energy quieting, even retreating toward his spirit bones.
This wasn’t necessarily good.
But it might be the key to purging the art’s taint entirely.
Had the lightning expelled the corruption, leaving the starlight to cleanse it?
Without hesitation, Xie Ziyin sat cross-legged, guiding the starlight into his meridians.
The moment spiritual and demonic energies collided, agony wracked his charred body, muscles spasming violently.
"What’s wrong with Ziyin?" Yin Xuan finally snapped out of his daze, noticing the other three crowding around Xie Ziyin.
He’d zoned out for a bit—how had another junior ended up in trouble?
Li Zhuohua shook her head, comparing her own starlight-repaired hand to Xie Ziyin’s state. "Dunno. Doesn’t hurt for me." If anything, it tickled—kinda nice.
Lu Jiayao’s worry returned full force. "What do we do? Should we crush his Sacred Summoning Token to send him out?"
"Hold on. He’s not dying yet. Let’s wait and see," Wen Shuangbai interjected, arms crossed.
She knew Xie Ziyin dabbled in demonic arts—was this the cause?
No wonder he’d been so eerily quiet.
A quiet Xie Ziyin was always up to no good.
Glancing at the stars, she plopped down to meditate, urging the others: "This starlight feels more potent than Old Cao’s spirit baths. Don’t waste it—absorb as much as you can."
Li Zhuohua: "Deal!"
She scouted for a spot thick with starlight, sat, and began voraciously drawing it in.
The routine was second nature to them now, almost a habit.
Soon, all five were competing to absorb the energy.
The once-serene starry expanse now churned with turbulence, as if five bottomless pits had opened, disrupting the celestial flow.
One hour, two hours… thirteen hours… thirty-seven hours… fifty-two hours later—the radiant starlight dimmed. Then, one by one, the stars plummeted from the sky, drained of vitality.
"Ow!" Lu Jiayao, deep in cultivation, yelped as a star bonked his head, tears welling.
Back in Shen Hefeng’s room at Qingling Mountain, without the starlight’s aid, his recovery was sluggish—his body still slathered in medicinal paste, wrapped in bandages.
A mummy with only a pair of eyes visible held the Mystic Heaven Mirror, one foot propped on the edge of the bed as it shook its leg while typing on the mirror: [Hahaha, nice! Smash him! Smash these heartless bastards!]
Posts on the Mystic Heaven Mirror could be made anonymously.
No one knew it was Shen Hefeng typing. Immediately, someone jumped in to curse at him: [Who the hell are you calling out?]
Shen Hefeng fired back: [Calling out these five dogs, obviously.]
[What mutt is barking here? Get lost! Qingling Mountain doesn’t welcome you!]
When it came to verbal battles, Shen Hefeng feared no one. He launched indiscriminate attacks: [You’re the one who should scram. Qingling Mountain welcomes this grandpa just fine. Without me, there’d be no Qingling Mountain, got it, you little brat?]
[Are you a dog from Dizhou or Tianluowu? Always hating on Qingling Mountain but still lurking here.]
Shen Hefeng: [Didn’t guess right either, kid. Brains as rotten as Lu Santu’s.]
Golden Monkey King under Elder Qian’s command: [So annoying, you damn pest! I’ll beat you to pulp!]
Shen Hefeng chuckled: [Oh-ho, the dead monkey’s here too? Then hurry up and die. Don’t worry, this grandpa won’t even burn incense for you on Qingming Festival.]
The Qingzhou cultivators were furious!
Damn it, who was this guy? They had previously driven countless cultivators from other sects off the mirror with their insults, yet they couldn’t out-curse this person!
While Shen Hefeng, recovering alone from his injuries, was amusing himself by battling the masses on the Mystic Heaven Mirror—
In the Starry Abyss, others also noticed the anomaly around Lu Jiayao.
“What was that?!” Li Zhuohua instantly went on alert, drawing her sword and appearing in front of Lu Jiayao in a flash to shield him.
Seeing that Zhuohua had already rushed over, Wen Shuangbai didn’t follow. Instead, she instinctively stopped beside Xie Ziyin, who was still deep in meditation.
Best not to let their team’s healer die.
Yin Xuan, though seemingly slow, moved with startling speed. As he halted, a star rolled right to his feet. “Hm?”
A fallen star?
Lu Jiayao, clutching his head, also spotted it and immediately bent to pick it up. “This is the one that hit me!”
“Wait—” Wen Shuangbai tried to stop him, worried the star might be dangerous.
But Lu Jiayao was too quick. The moment he picked it up, the star shimmered and vanished, leaving behind a pristine spirit stone in his palm.
At the same time, the Mystic Heaven Mirror vibrated.
[Congratulations to you and your team for obtaining [Starry Spirit Stone]. Reward: One Sacred Stone.]
Wen Shuangbai’s lips formed a perfect “O.”
Huh?
What just happened?!
This was possible?!
“The stars have treasures inside!” Wen Shuangbai exclaimed in delight. The group immediately looked up at the sky.
Above them, dimmed stars were now raining down one after another.
A few shot straight toward her. Wen Shuangbai didn’t even wait for them to land—she leaped gracefully, robes fluttering, and caught three in each hand.
She could feel the stars “opening” in her palms, releasing what felt like slips of paper and small boxes.
Hmm, hers weren’t spirit stones? What could they be?
Landing lightly, Wen Shuangbai suppressed her excitement and eagerly uncurled her fingers.
In her hands lay a tiny note, a slightly sturdier paper fragment, and four small boxes.
She examined the paper fragment first.
It was no larger than a thumbnail, with a few black lines scribbled on it—nothing else.
Wen Shuangbai turned it over repeatedly but found no clues. The Mystic Heaven Mirror also gave no notification about a Sacred Stone reward.
Strange.
Still, the paper seemed high-quality, so she tucked it into her storage ring before inspecting the other items.
She unfolded the note first. Scrawled in thin, crooked characters were the words:
[Haha, nothing here!]
Wen Shuangbai: “……”
She glanced at the others.
Lu Jiayao had just uncovered five more spirit stones (Sacred Stones +5).
Li Zhuohua held a similar note, her murderous expression confirming it was also empty.
Her senior brother, Yin Xuan, sat cross-legged, letting stars pile up around him unopened.
In the time she’d spent looking around, Lu Jiayao had already unsealed a Violet Spirit Pill (Sacred Stones +27).
Wen Shuangbai felt a pang of envy but rallied herself, eagerly opening the remaining four boxes in hopes of a reward.
Results:
First box: A note reading [Pretty star, right? Too bad there’s nothing inside!]
Second box: Another stiff paper scrap, identical to the first.
Third box: [Pretty box, right? Still nothing!]
Fourth box: Completely empty—not even a note—but reeking of mildew.
Meanwhile, Lu Jiayao kept winning: a Sword Crystal (Sacred Stones +101), a music score (Sacred Stones +126)...
Wen Shuangbai: “………………”
She clenched her fist, crushing the worthless notes to dust.
She wasn’t angry. Really, she wasn’t.
Screw this! Who the hell filled these stars?!
To hell with their ancestors! Empty boxes were bad enough, but mildew? That was just insulting!
Fuming, Wen Shuangbai copied Yin Xuan’s method, gathering a mountain of stars before plopping down to resume opening them.
She refused to believe her luck was this terrible!
