Where the Zhao family resides, no one knows. Even the Shanhai Sect has no information, yet the Zhao family members themselves certainly know how to return home. Lin Shuang never expected that the answer to this question was right beside her. Her junior apprentice sister turned out to be the daughter of a wealthy family.
“Actually, I don’t have much say in my family,” Zhao Keran said shyly.
[……Like the kind of ‘not having a say’ where you summon a tribulation to tear open the void for someone?]
[Exactly, she really doesn’t have a say. After all, her uncles, aunts, and elders all undergo tribulations.]
[Think of her as the daughter of a reclusive elder from the Shanhai Sect. Hope you understand.]
[……]
“My father is the seventeenth son.”
As they were about to arrive, Zhao Keran quickly explained in the void.
“Zhao Ming is my cousin; his father is the sixteenth son. We’re quite close, and we’ve been in contact over the past few years.”
As they were carried by a giant hand, they almost instantly appeared in another realm.
Within less than six breaths, a towering ancient tree came into view. Its lush canopy blotted out the sky and sun, and its trunk was so thick that all three of them together couldn’t encircle it. A faint, refreshing scent of grass and trees naturally drifted into Lin Shuang’s nose.
Zhao Keran was quickly placed on the ground by the giant hand. Lin Shuang and the others, however, lost their support and suddenly plummeted from the sky!
Meng Zi abruptly braked midair, Lin Shuang’s sleeve shot out a shock-absorbing talisman, and Huangfu Yuan threw out three defensive treasure tripods.
Crackling sounds erupted as the treasure artifacts and talismans were crushed one after another by the towering spiritual energy.
Finally, just before they were about to crash into the ground—and at the moment when the spiritual energy almost made them spit blood—they managed to stabilize their flying swords.
“Uncle Eighteen!”
Zhao Keran anxiously turned around and glared at the giant hand that had vanished into the air.
“They’re not people who want to harm me! If you hurt my senior sister, I’ll never forgive you!”
The giant hand had already disappeared.
Lin Shuang looked around. Besides the towering ancient tree, there were another seventeen or eighteen similar trees nearby, though slightly smaller.
Was this the Zhao family’s home?
She tilted her head upward, gazing at the towering canopy that nearly touched the sky, its dense foliage seemingly impenetrable to sunlight. Yet there was light here.
“It’s an illusion formation,” Huangfu Yuan said, the second to step off his flying sword.
Zhao Keran nodded and shouted upward, “Elder brother, elder sister, I’m back. Open the gate.”
“I’ve brought my senior sister, who took care of me for three years, to meet Father and Mother. Don’t be disrespectful~”
[……]
[……Does anyone remember this is still a competition?]
[Thanks for reminding me. I almost thought it was just a junior sister inviting her senior sister over for tea.]
[In the cultivation world, there are wonders everywhere. Those with great fortune can step on medicinal herbs without even trying—it’s not just absurd fiction from storybooks.]
[The results of today are the consequences of past causes. The Baihua Sect has no reason to complain—it’s their own fault for not caring for the Zhao family’s bloodline for three years. Haha.]
[Today I finally understand why Lin Shuang, despite being in the outer sect for ten years and not breaking through, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.]
[……]
In the projection, the image of Lin Shuang hesitated, blushing slightly as she shyly reached out from behind Zhao Keran.
Back then, she had simply used the Fire Eyes and Golden Sight technique to spot Zhao Keran among a group of new apprentices.
At the time, she had sensed their personalities matched and thought they would get along without much difficulty.
Later, they often took turns buying meals in the cafeteria and doing chores in their wooden hut.
Zhao Keran couldn’t skip exams, but Lin Shuang could skip hers for ten years.
Lin Shuang had even smiled in their wooden hut for about seven days straight.
Lin Shuang lightly coughed, “Where did I take care of you? I just took care of you a little.”
Huangfu Yuan’s phoenix eyes flickered, and Meng Zi held his forehead.
If she didn’t act for a day, she wouldn’t be herself.
A thunderous rumble sounded. As Zhao Keran was about to speak, the trunks of the three towering ancient trees in front of her suddenly split open from the middle.
In an instant, three young men and women, dressed in gray cloth robes and resembling ordinary villagers, rode out from the three ancient trees atop beast mounts!
The man in the center wore a bamboo hat, as if he had just returned from working in the fields.
His face was youthful, around twenty years old, and his spiritual energy was the most refined.
On his left and right were two young girls, both under twenty, and even shorter than Lin Shuang.
Yet the spiritual fluctuations on their bodies were even more abundant than Meng Zi’s genuine Nascent Foundation Stage, sixth layer.
Lin Shuang slightly furrowed her brow.
[Little AI No.2 (Huangfu): Be careful. They are at the Spirit Refinement Stage, Nascent Foundation ninth layer.]
Meng Zi opened his mouth.
No wonder Nascent Foundation experts are as common as dogs in the Zhao family…
A hundred years ago, the Yucailou, which could mass-produce Foundation Cultivation disciples, trained their own descendants much faster than today’s Qingshui or Shanhai Sects.
No wonder when Zhao Ming was captured at Nascent Foundation fourth layer, someone scolded him for being too slow in cultivation and was furious.
After a brief thought, Lin Shuang found that the young man in the lead had already met Zhao Keran.
“Xiaoran.”
“Ninety-eight elder brother, Bai San and Bai Si elder sisters.”
Huangfu Yuan: “……”
Meng Zi: “……”
They couldn’t help but look at Lin Shuang’s dantian.
Lin Shuang: “……”
Her dantian was almost awakened by her junior apprentice sister.
Damn.
This trial might be very disadvantageous for her at the Zhao family.
Why do these elder brothers and sisters’ names coincide with the names of her dantian?
When she calls them, she might easily cause her dantian to think she is calling it, and it might wake up on its own…
“You three,” the young Zhao family member in the lead looked at Lin Shuang and the others, slightly nodding, “come with us.”
Immediately, he flicked his sleeve and four plump, snow-white spirit silkworms flew out.
In a flash, the silkworms flew right in front of them, bowed their heads, and appeared to be signaling for them to climb aboard.
“Senior sister, the first time I met you, I brought you a specialty from my hometown—spirit silk. Do you remember?” Zhao Keran smiled and recalled, immediately choosing the fattest silkworm king for Lin Shuang.
“It’s their silk you’re sitting on. They’re very gentle.”
“Better than immortal cranes.”
With that, she herself selected the silkworm next to Lin Shuang and swiftly mounted it like riding a horse.
Spirit silk.
Lin Shuang remembered that was the gift her junior apprentice sister had given her on their first meeting.
She never expected that after the Zhao family withdrew from training disciples, they would enter the silkworm-rearing industry.
Did they transfer the techniques of raising disciples to the art of nurturing silkworms?
What talent.
The Zhao family’s ancestors seemed to have retreated, but they had actually been secretly cultivating their descendants, finding new ways to earn spirit stones.
Lin Shuang mounted this gentle spirit silkworm, at least at the Foundation Cultivation peak.
In a flash, she thought of those muscular immortal cranes from the Shanhai Sect.
Spirit silkworms as mounts, each at least Foundation Cultivation…
Lin Shuang shook her head, not wanting to think more.
Because she already heard Zhao Keran’s murmuring in her ear.
“Ah, those immortal cranes from the Shanhai Sect were probably bred by my elder brother.”
Zhao Ming…
Lin Shuang’s lips twitched.
“Oh right, senior sister, senior brother, when you come to my home, don’t ask about things from the past.”
Zhao Keran spoke as a reminder.
Her usually round face lost its innocence, showing a trace of caution.
“Ah… Grandfather and some of my uncles really dislike others asking. When I was little and curious, I was scolded by my father for asking.”
As Zhao Keran spoke, the three youths ahead couldn’t help but turn back.
“Xiaoran, you’re not coming back because of that Zhao Ming guy being captured, are you?”
The young man in the lead frowned as he spoke.
Zhao Keran showed a trace of embarrassment, “No.”
Her senior sister and the others were.
Lin Shuang perked up her ears.
In an unfamiliar environment with insufficient information, it was better to observe and listen first.
These elder brothers and sisters’ stances on Zhao Ming’s return were still unclear.
Behind, the Zhao family’s Bai Si elder sister shook her head.
“Sixteen Uncle made him kneel in the ancestral hall for a whole day, and he hasn’t come out yet. Sixteen Uncle threatened that if he runs away again, he’ll beat him to death, and if the Shanhai Sect dares to come after him, he’ll beat the Shanhai Sect too.”
[……]
[The Shanhai Sect’s problem must be that the elders themselves are afraid to come here, right?]
[……]
Lin Shuang silently looked at the chubby, white, cute silkworms they were riding, flying forward in a cute manner.
It seemed that on the surface, no one from the Zhao family would help them take Zhao Ming away.
Otherwise, these juniors wouldn’t be able to explain to Sixteen Uncle and would have to stay at home, bearing the elders’ anger in Zhao Ming’s place.
If there were anyone who could advise or persuade Sixteen Uncle, Zhao Ming wouldn’t still be in the ancestral hall now.
It seemed the Zhao family had strict family rules, and Zhao Ming must have violated something.
As Lin Shuang was thinking, her plump silkworm slowly rose to the treetops where the branches and leaves were thick, touching the sky.
Hmm?
Wasn’t there a passage inside the tree?
Up in the sky?
She had just thought for a breath when the silkworm suddenly dove from the sky, its head plunging down, almost throwing her off!
“Ahh—!”
Meng Zi was listening to Zhao Keran and the others talk with interest.
He was startled into a scream by the sudden drop.
“The entrance is on the ground. Why didn’t you say earlier!?”
Before he could finish, the soft, cute, chubby silkworms’ heads drilled into the ground with iron-like force!
Inch by inch, the spring-scented soil was shattered and broken by the iron heads!
Lin Shuang’s expression was complicated.
Damn, these are excavators.
Huangfu Yuan and Meng Zi quickly pulled the reins on the silkworms and instantly cast a dust-removing technique.
Lin Shuang, riding the fattest silkworm, couldn’t keep up and could only fall behind.
She immediately got anxious, “Hey, wait for me. Wait until I’m in the middle of you two before casting the dust-removing technique.”
So she could share it.
“……”
Meng Zi silently wrote a new price list—trip cleaning service, 50 spirit stones per time.
Huangfu Yuan couldn’t even look at the two of them.
Without opening his eyes, he threw a dust-removing technique behind him, landing it on Lin Shuang.
Lin Shuang was immediately satisfied and smiled, looking at Zhao Keran beside her, “Junior sister, come closer. I’ll share a bit with you~”
Zhao Keran was deeply moved and quickly rode her silkworm to snuggle up to her.
[……]
[Is this how she gains favor with the Zhao family’s descendants?]
“My junior sister, I’m so good to you. Don’t worry, I’ll go get someone else’s technique first and give it to you.”
[……Hahahaha.]
Inside the tunnel dug by the silkworms, the surroundings were all soil.
Amidst the flying dust, the scent of moist seeds and flowers mixed together.
They drilled quickly, but the deeper they went, the darker it became, and they were getting farther and farther from the daylight outside.
Now, only the top-grade spirit stones hanging on the silkworms’ bodies faintly illuminated the soil ahead.
In front, Meng Zi secretly touched the spirit stones many times.
The Zhao family’s wealth indeed far surpassed that of the Qingshui and Shanhai Sects.
Lin Shuang nodded silently.
As they drilled, the silkworms automatically avoided roots and stones in the soil.
After watching for a while, Lin Shuang, finding the scenery monotonous and no danger, turned her attention to Zhao Keran, who was almost pressed against her, riding side by side.
“Junior sister.”
“In Zhenchuan, there are sound and sight barriers to protect cultivation techniques’ secrets.”
Zhao Keran blinked, “Senior sister, are you worried my family will be exposed? It should be okay. The eighteen big trees you saw at our gate, like the background in the one-way mirror talisman you inserted, change periodically.”
[No wonder the Zhao family, with nineteen tribulations, is like this.]
[It’s understandable why the Zhao family is hard to find.]
[?]
[One-way mirror talisman?]
In the projection, Li Hua, the senior sister from the Baihua Sect who was explaining this competition, quickly appeared at the corner of the screen.
She took out a list book written by the Baihua Sect.
“Just a moment, let me check for everyone.”
“Complete Encyclopedia of Cultivation Talismans,” she input “one-way mirror talisman” with spiritual energy.
—No such talisman found. Checked in Ming Chongmen, Fu Shan, and cultivation markets.
—The closest talisman has been found: “Mirror Wiping Talisman, a first-tier cleaning talisman, page 13.” Would you like to jump?
[……]
[Useless Baihua Sect.]
Li Hua wiped sweat and took out several more books.
“The Funniest Cultivation Techniques,” “The Most Practical Cultivation Techniques,” “The Newest Self-created Techniques”—all input with spiritual energy—still no results.
Li Hua from the Baihua Sect looked embarrassed, gave a dry laugh, and put them away.
“Let’s continue to follow Lin Shuang and the others’ situation.”
[……]
[As long as you don’t try to sell things, you won’t have problems.]
[Who paid spirit stones to buy explanations for the Qingshui Sect’s competition projections? You’re the fool! Yes, I’m the big fool. Baihua Sect, give me my money back!]
[This explanation has absolutely no useful information. Baihua Sect, do you have no heart demons when collecting spirit stones?]
In the projection, Lin Shuang didn’t know she had once again driven the Baihua Sect to the brink of madness.
Listening to Zhao Keran’s words, she nodded with satisfaction.
Then she covered the projection stone, leaving only sound without visuals.
She took off her Qingshui Sect outer robe and handed it to Zhao Keran, then pulled out a third-tier pink floral-patterned robe from her spatial bag, covered in butterflies flitting among flowers, and put it on.
Zhao Keran was puzzled but instinctively accepted Lin Shuang’s green outer robe.
Looking at Lin Shuang in the third-tier robe, its pink silk shimmering with pearl-like luster under the light of the spirit stones, her face was as white as snow, with a hint of peach blossom.
Zhao Keran was instantly captivated.
“Senior sister, you look so beautiful in this.”
[?]
Many in the projection didn’t understand what was happening.
Until the silkworms’ heads broke through the earth ahead, and Huangfu Yuan and Meng Zi, riding at the front, turned back, allowing everyone to see Lin Shuang’s current appearance from their projection angles.
Truly, her face was like peach blossoms, her eyes like shining stars—a delicate and charming beauty.
Her past looks had been completely ruined by the greenish Qingshui Sect apprentice robes!
Huangfu Yuan and Meng Zi’s expressions changed as they looked at her.
But they quickly recovered.
“Lin Shuang, what are you doing?”
Meng Zi immediately looked at the night robe in his spatial bag and understood instantly.
“Oh, you’re pretending to be a Baihua Sect disciple.”
“To take Zhao Ming and run, framing the Baihua Sect!”
[??]
[???]
[When the Baihua Sect arrives here, the Zhao family will say, ‘Oh, you’re here again!'”]
[……]
But in the projection, Lin Shuang looked both amused and helpless at Meng Zi, “Cultivation techniques can’t be faked.”
She had no intention of pretending to be from the Baihua Sect.
“But if I’m not mistaken, the Baihua Sect sells many robes and needs a stable supply of high-quality silk. Some of that silk may come from my junior sister’s family.”
Meng Zi was taken aback.
Zhao Keran herself was also surprised.
Huangpu Yuan, upon hearing this, nodded instead, saying, “What junior apprentice sister said is highly possible.”
“Just relying on the silk farming of the outer disciples of the Hundred Flowers Sect cannot support the entire amount of cloth woven within Donghua. And the quality of spirit silkworms bred by wandering cultivators varies greatly. Usually, several villages that can consistently supply silk of stable quality are required to provide regular supplies.”
As he spoke, he glanced at the high-grade spirit stone hanging around the neck of the white silkworm beneath him.
Avoiding exposure and idling away time, consuming resources without earning them—
It would be difficult to afford such luxury.
Lin Shuang hummed in agreement, “So changing into this treasure garment made by the Hundred Flowers Sect is also a way of adapting to local customs.”
The fastest way to make friends—when two people share common ground, it often quickly shortens social distance, creating a feeling of having met too late.
If there’s none, then create it artificially!
Huangpu Yuan’s phoenix eyes flickered as he looked at Lin Shuang, “Thank you, junior apprentice sister, for the guidance.”
Human cultivators have so many etiquettes.
It’s extremely difficult for a demon to climb to the upper echelons of the Nine Thousand Trials.
The higher one goes, the more one needs to understand the thoughts of human cultivators.
For most demons who haven’t even left home, for those dog-like demons who just roll together, fight, and lick each other’s fur, it’s just too hard.
Huangpu Yuan lowered his eyes and took out an outer robe made by the Hundred Flowers Sect from his spatial pouch.
He put on a dark-colored one himself, and after a moment’s thought, gave Meng Zi a five-colored thread robe that shimmered like spirit stones.
Meng Zi was nearly overjoyed, “Senior Brother Huangpu, you’re now my Level 3 sworn brother! One level higher than Lin Shuang!”
Huangpu Yuan: “…”
Lin Shuang coughed lightly, “Also, when I changed out of my outer robe, I took the opportunity to hand over the projection talisman patterns on it to junior apprentice sister.”
[?]
Understanding immediately flickered in Huangpu Yuan’s eyes.
Lin Shuang nodded and turned to Zhao Keran, “Before we departed, elders of the Shanhai Sect warned us to be cautious about activating the projection talismans after entering the Zhao family.”
“So junior apprentice sister, please have your seniors inspect them. If that’s not possible, the three of us will place all these robes into our spatial pouches for the Zhao family to keep watch over.”
She was very courteous.
The three Zhao siblings leading the way couldn’t help but turn back to look at her, their expressions showing a hint of gratitude.
At any time, being considerate is a virtue.
Lin Shuang responded with the same gentle smile.
[Today’s Diary]
[Handing over the Dao robe with projection talisman patterns from the Qing Shui Sect to junior apprentice sister:
—Live-streamed with Zhao family’s permission √
—Gained favor from the three Zhao siblings √
—Projected exposure of her strength, handed to junior √
—Used Zhao family’s elders to inspect the projection and teleportation talismans √]
One arrow, four birds.
The elders of the Shanhai Sect might have placed something on the teleportation talismans, which would be hard for the three of them to detect alone.
But it definitely wouldn’t escape the inspection of the Zhao family’s elders who had undergone Heavenly Tribulation.
Rather than worrying and doubting all the way and wasting energy, it was better to let the Zhao family thoroughly investigate.
Lin Shuang gently patted the moved Zhao Keran, “Silly, senior apprentice sister did it for herself.”
Zhao Keran immediately covered her mouth. Ugh, senior apprentice sister always did this—saying the opposite of what she meant.
The closer she got to home, the more she thought about the days when she first joined the outer sect of Qing Shui Sect.
At that time, she was only at the third layer of Qi Condensation, her first time going out, her first time leaving her parents and siblings, nervous and scared.
Cabin number ninety-nine felt like a bit of novelty and fun in the unfamiliarity, dispelling her fear.
Senior apprentice sister had a cold exterior but a warm heart, always saying the opposite of what she meant, guiding her through the daily struggles of the outer sect, cultivation bottlenecks, and homesickness.
Watching novels together, cultivating together, sleeping beauty sleep together, chatting at fixed times… All these past scenes surged up in her heart now.
Zhao Keran looked at Lin Shuang with red eyes and sighed deeply.
Without senior apprentice sister, there wouldn’t be the her of today.
But when she reached her doorstep, instead of her taking care of senior apprentice sister, it was senior apprentice sister taking care of her and thinking for her family.
Sigh.
“Silly, I really mean it—”
Lin Shuang’s face turned red.
“Mm, I know.”
The fastest way—accomplishing multiple goals with one action.
Zhao Keran understood.
“Senior apprentice sister, the matter of persuading my cousin to return to the Shanhai Sect, leave it to me,” Zhao Keran thought for a moment and then firmly spoke, “I’ll talk to Uncle Sixteen. If he doesn’t agree, I’ll cry until he does!”
“I can’t let senior apprentice sister do such inefficient things. What does my cousin returning to the Shanhai Sect have to do with senior apprentice sister’s cultivation anyway?”
“Uncle Sixteen is so muddle-headed, how could he possibly hinder senior sister’s cultivation?”
[…]
[…………]
Lin Shuang held her forehead and could only pat her junior apprentice sister’s shoulder.
But soon she raised her eyebrows, “Junior apprentice sister, Zhao Ming was taken back, but why are you allowed to cultivate outside while Zhao Ming isn’t?”
Zhao Keran’s expression immediately became uneasy. She wanted to speak, but suddenly her vision brightened.
Seven baby silkworms burrowed their heads into the ground.
Finally, they reached the end.
Before them was a blinding light.
Two entire mountains, built entirely from spirit stones, radiated brilliant beams.
The Zhao family, secluded from the world, had dug out an entire deep valley of spirit stones underground!
The spot where the baby silkworms now stopped was the peak of one such spirit stone mountain.
Lin Shuang urgently pulled the reins, barely stopping the silkworm from flying off the cliff’s edge.
On the opposite mountain’s flat peak, across a hundred-meter-wide chasm,
stood two towering purple-golden doors, closed tightly.
Made of rare purple-gold wood, they must be the entrance to the Zhao family residence.
“Senior apprentice sister, we need to fly down.”
They were currently at the mountain peak.
The Zhao family lived inside the mountain below.
Having said that, Zhao Keran led the way, guiding her silkworm forward first.
Meng Zi and Huangpu Yuan followed closely.
Especially Meng Zi, who had already begun chatting with Zhao family’s ninety-eighth elder brother.
The Zhao family had spirit stones.
He had always loved making friends with spirit stones.
“May I ask for your name, senior brother?”
The young Zhao man leading them, handsome and bright-eyed, smiled lightly, “Since you’re like my little Ran, just call me Ninety-Eight, or you can call me Xiao Jiuge.”
Xiao Jiuge?
Then wouldn’t numbers ninety-one to ninety-nine all be called Xiao Jiuge?
Unless the others are girls.
“No, actually, except for me, all the others of the Jiuyi generation are in the silkworm pavilion. They won’t come out until they finish collecting this season’s spring silk.”
“You won’t get to see them today anyway, hehe.”
Zhao Jiuyi had a very approachable personality.
Lin Shuang couldn’t help but look at him more carefully.
Meng Zi became even more enthusiastic, “Xiao Jiuge, have you been needing any assistants these days?”
“Huh?” Zhao Jiuyi didn’t expect that.
Meng Zi looked at the spirit stone mountain halfway down the abyss, and the entire purple-golden door drawing closer, revealing its luxurious ten-meter height, drool almost dripping.
“Do you need someone to polish your doors?”
Zhao Jiuyi burst into laughter.
The two Zhao elder sisters also laughed similarly.
Even the silkworms beneath them seemed to sense their masters’ joy, trembling happily.
In an instant, their speed increased dramatically.
Like three blinding white lightning bolts, they shot toward the opposite side of the mountain.
No, actually four.
Zhao Keran, leading the way for Lin Shuang, her plump silkworm suddenly accelerated, leaving Lin Shuang behind in the blink of an eye, appearing on the other side of the mountain!
Zhao Jiuyi instantly stopped at the purple-golden gate, laughing as he looked at Meng Zi.
“What a fine Qing Shui Sect cultivator.”
“Wanna polish my family’s door? Not a problem!”
Suddenly, as he spoke, the silkworms beneath Lin Shuang and the others suddenly spewed out silk threads from their mouths.
In an instant, the threads stuck to the cliff walls.
The silkworms’ bodies instantly slammed against the cliff face!
Meng Zi shouted in alarm and quickly flew upward.
But the moment he left the silkworm, he was immediately bound into a cocoon by the dense, spiraling silk threads it spat out.
He dropped instantly, the silk stretching thirty feet long, dangling him upside down in the mountain crevice!
“Senior Brother!”
Zhao Keran cried out in alarm. Just as she turned to look at Lin Shuang, her silkworm instantly spat silk, wrapping her thickly.
The purple-golden doors instantly opened.
The three Zhao siblings on their silkworms dragged her into the opened gate in a flash!
“No, Senior Sister…”
With a bang, the door slammed shut.
Zhao Keran’s scream was cut off inside.
Zhao Jiuyi’s voice rang out, “An order from the Ancestor.”
“If, within three incense sticks’ time, you can exit the cocoons without harming the silk threads, you may enter the Zhao family.”
“Otherwise, you can spend the rest of your time polishing the mountain outside!”
[!]
[…This Zhao family!]
Lin Shuang looked down, holding her forehead.
Helplessly, she turned to Huangpu Yuan on the opposite side. She saw him standing on Meng Zi’s cocoon, his long fingers pinching the plump silkworm’s mouth to stop it from spitting more silk.
She sighed.
She looked at her own silkworm beneath her, which was aimlessly spitting silk around.
Her 108 spiritual senses were floating everywhere.
It wanted to cocoon her, but couldn’t locate her.
Because in every direction, there was the scent of her spiritual presence.
“What do we do now?”
Lin Shuang looked up, exasperated, at Huangpu Yuan standing on Meng Zi’s cocoon.
He was also raising his eyebrows, looking at her.
“He said we have to get out of the cocoons before we can enter the Zhao family.”
“So Senior Brother, should we first find a cocoon… and get inside first?”
There was no actual cage—how were they supposed to get out?
Lin Shuang was stumped.
“This Zhao family’s test is really tough.”
In the projection, Huangpu Yuan was soon seen nodding at her, then releasing the silkworm he had been holding. Together, they were both sprayed with silk and enclosed in a new cocoon.
The Zhao family, no good.
Too weak.
Trying to lock them up and failing, they even made them go in themselves.
Then completing an escape test.
Heaven.
They were too considerate.
Solving problems to this extent—who else could do that?!
Inside the cocoon, Lin Shuang sat cross-legged with Huangpu Yuan, feeling that she was truly excellent.
“The Zhao family should pay me extra.”
[…]
[…………]
“What are they doing!”
Meng Zi was violently shaking inside the cocoon, struggling continuously.
“I even wanted to befriend them kindly.”
You were trying to befriend the spirit stones.
It’s normal to be betrayed.
Lin Shuang touched her nose, “Xiao Jiu didn’t lie either.”
A double meaning.
All the others of the Jiushi generation had to finish collecting this spring’s silk before coming out, which was already a hint. It was the season for silkworms to spit silk.
Real silkworms, so fat and plump, they were all about to spit silk.
“So what do we do now? I feel this silk is poisonous. I can’t even move my dantian.”
Meng Zi struggled a bit inside the silk threads and frowned.
“Third-grade silk threads, when woven into cloth, have third-grade defense.”
His dantian was frozen now, unable to move.
He couldn’t even break free.
And according to what Jiuyi said, they had to escape the cocoon without damaging the silk threads.
How could that be done?
“You weren’t locked in, yet you locked yourselves in. I’m impressed!”
“Now what? Are we going to hang here all night? We three are going to freeze to death.”
“How about your dantian? Can you move it?”
Impatient, Meng Zi ranted nonstop.
“No.” Lin Shuang shook her head.
Huangpu Yuan also felt around and shook his head.
Meng Zi: “…”
“Stay calm. If silk threads from silkworms could freeze a cultivator’s energy, how could they be made into robes for cultivators?”
Inside the cocoon, Huangpu Yuan took out several high-grade spirit stones from his pouch to provide light.
Then he took out a spirit tea set from his sleeve and started brewing tea.
Lin Shuang pressed against the tight cocoon behind her, took out a pillow, placed it behind her, and lay down comfortably.
Wasn’t this just an oval-shaped hanging chair?
Unfazed, she pulled out a novel to read.
“I guess, after some time of exposure, the toxin in the spirit silkworm silk will fade, becoming material suitable for weaving, and the restriction on our dantian will disappear.”
“Then we can go out. Just in time for my entertainment schedule. I’ll play for a while first.”
Meng Zi: “…”
[…]
[But even if their dantian recovered, they couldn’t cut the silk threads without damaging them. It was still unsolvable.]
“No problem.”
Lin Shuang checked that her communication stone still worked.
“The Zhao family with nineteen who have undergone Heavenly Tribulation surely isn’t a rude host who disrespects guests.”
[If flattery worked… you wonder why five disciples from the Shanhai Sect disappeared.]
[How could a powerful cultivator undergoing Tribulation be easily provoked by flattery?]
But Lin Shuang flipped another page of her novel, calm and composed, “It’s our fault for not submitting a visiting card beforehand and suddenly disturbing the Zhao family.”
“They need some time to prepare tea and snacks, to welcome us properly.”
“After all, we left the Shanhai Sect only moments ago and arrived at their doorstep.”
[…]
Upon hearing this, Huangpu Yuan once again grasped the thinking of human cultivators.
His phoenix eyes flickered.
He learned.
“Amazing.”
“Haha, more eloquent than a storyteller.”
“One dares to speak, the other dares to believe.”
“Watching the Qing Shui Sect’s competition was interesting, but this nonsense…”
Meng Zi, sitting in the cocoon below, couldn’t bear to listen anymore.
“Oh, so you’re saying we shouldn’t move, and they’ll come to take us in for tea on time?”
Lin Shuang activated her sound cultivation stone.
The Zhao family had nineteen who had undergone Heavenly Tribulation, hundreds of Nascent Soul cultivators, and many with the potential to ascend in the future.
Earlier, before locking them up, Zhao Jiu Ba had given a subtle warning through his words.
This showed they despised underhanded methods.
Therefore, the method to solve the cocoon problem was most likely straightforward and hidden in his words.
If someone couldn’t understand, that was their own fault, unrelated to the Zhao family.
“Ah?” Meng Zi was puzzled as he recalled, “How to solve it? Did he say?”
“Yes, didn’t he just say, if within three incense sticks, without damaging the silk threads, we can enter the Zhao family.”
[!]
[???]
Meng Zi exclaimed in surprise.
Three incense sticks—merely a fleeting moment for powerful cultivators.
It was just the time when someone was called to wake up and open their eyes after meditation.
Lin Shuang finished reading a volume of the storybook, then started to daydream again, snacking halfway through and listening to some music.
Huangpu Yuan, on the other hand, was polishing his soft fur cloak. After finishing one, he moved on to the next one.
Red fur, white fur, silver fur…
[Unbelievable, did I really watch this for three incense sticks?]
[To wait for a result, spending 300 spirit stones for watching these three just spacing out.]
[…you could also watch the Hundred Flowers Sect’s projection; they’re still figuring out how to get to the Zhao family.]
[Pu—]
Meng Zi squatted inside the silkworm cocoon, having counted his spirit stones three times.
After finally putting all of them into his spatial pouch, he couldn’t help feeling restless.
“Sure enough, the restriction on my dantian from the silk threads has weakened.”
“I can now demonstrate cultivation up to the third layer of Yuan Condensation.”
If he reached out and broke the cocoon, he could leave immediately.
But he had never tried it before; even with the utmost care, a single thread might snap.
Meng Zi wasn’t confident he could do it without causing any damage.
Hesitant and anxious, he said, “Three incense sticks are almost up. Are you asleep? Say something. Should we keep waiting?”
Lin Shuang opened her eyes and deactivated the music charm on her earpiece.
Huangpu Yuan put away the three differently colored fur cloaks hanging inside the cocoon.
Lin Shuang’s gaze stuck to them.
Could it be that his nine tails are all different colors?
What an odd setting.
Could having a nine-tailed fox mean the joy of having nine foxes?
As she was thinking how to avoid the battle projection and ask secretly,
a creaking and heavy door-opening sound came—echoing from deep within the mountain.
This sound was far heavier and louder than when Zhao Keran and the others entered earlier, when the purple-gold gate had only opened a small slit.
Clearly, this time, the purple-gold gate had fully opened from the inside.
[???]
[??]
“Three guests from Clearwater Sect.”
Zhao Family’s Number 98’s heroic voice appeared again in the projection.
Before them, two silkworm cocoons swaying in the wind on the cliffside suddenly vanished, transforming into threads gathered into his hand.
Three snow silkworms immediately appeared beneath Lin Shuang’s group as they flew into the air.
Zhao Family’s Number 98, now dressed entirely in white, smiled at them from the entrance.
He held the broom with both hands, bowed, and said,
“Please.”
You show me an inch of respect, and I will return you a foot.
You welcome me with courtesy, and I shall sweep the mat to receive you!
[!!]
[!]
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