Chapter 33

At this moment, Ba Yicheng and Wen Yuanyuan were enthusiastically searching through the treasures. Despite their considerable cultivation and the many valuable items they had seen in their lives, it was still rare for them to collect things so openly and without restraint. Neither realized that their little junior sister was suffering from an overabundance of good fortune.

After the two reunited, just as they were about to return to find Li Mengze, they saw the little fox that always accompanied their junior sister come running over. The tiny paw pointed anxiously in one direction, and the fox squeaked in distress. The two immediately sensed trouble; their junior sister must have encountered something difficult. Otherwise, she would never let such a small creature act alone, given her usual affection for these two spirit pets—a fact well known to them.

Without delay, they dashed in the direction indicated, not forgetting to scoop up the little fox as they went. They knew that if their junior sister came looking for her spirit pet later and found it missing, they would have a hard time explaining.

When Ba Yicheng and Wen Yuanyuan found Li Mengze, a chill ran through their hearts. At this point, Li Mengze had lost all ability to move, slumped weakly by the doorway. Were it not for their sensitive cultivator senses detecting her faint breathing, they would have assumed she was dead.

Li Mengze was not entirely unconscious, but the sensation of her spiritual sea turning into a sea of fire was excruciating. The pain had spread throughout her body, and she could feel the small clusters of spiritual energy in her meridians being ignited by the foreign fire.

The agony of being roasted from the inside out was too much to bear.

Though she was still conscious, she could not speak to Ba Yicheng and Wen Yuanyuan, forced to let them anxiously examine her body. In truth, she wanted to tell them that their fussing was only making things worse, but she had no way to express herself and could only endure their well-meaning torment.

Fortunately, Ba Yicheng was rather reliable. Noticing that Li Mengze had no external injuries but was in great pain, he deduced that her spiritual sea had been attacked and gave her a Spirit Restoration Pill.

The pill melted instantly in her mouth, and its effect was immediate. A wave of coolness swept through her spiritual sea, but it lasted only a moment; the foreign fire yielded just a little before surging back stronger than ever. After a short while, its fury returned with renewed force.

Ba Yicheng attempted to send his spiritual sense into Li Mengze’s spiritual sea, instructing Wen Yuanyuan to stand guard. But as soon as a wisp of his consciousness entered, before it could even reach Li Mengze’s spiritual sea, a blaze surged forth to meet it. That sliver of consciousness, though at the Golden Core stage, was instantly incinerated without resistance.

His face turned pale, and he hurriedly severed the connection, though not quickly enough to avoid some damage.

"Senior brother, what’s wrong?" Wen Yuanyuan asked. While entering another’s spiritual sea was risky, her senior brother was a late Golden Core cultivator—a full four minor realms ahead of her own Foundation Establishment stage. There should have been no danger. Judging by his reaction, could it be that their junior sister’s spiritual sea had been taken over by someone of even greater cultivation?

Her first thought was soul possession. She pulled out a communication jade, intending to call Senior Brother Wei for help, but Ba Yicheng stopped her.

Although losing a wisp of spiritual sense affected him, it was something a late Golden Core cultivator could withstand.

"Don’t contact anyone yet. It seems our junior sister is refining a foreign fire. Let’s wait a moment." When his spiritual sense was destroyed, Ba Yicheng realized her spiritual sea was completely engulfed in flames, allowing no one else to intrude.

Such an aggressive fire could not have been hers naturally; she must have encountered a rare opportunity and discovered a foreign fire. Judging by the situation, its quality was not low. They decided to wait and see if she could refine it herself. If not, they would seek help. After all, there was a difference between taming a foreign fire by oneself and having someone else do it.

Wen Yuanyuan paused and put away the communication jade. Her junior sister was certainly bold, daring to subdue a foreign fire in such an unfamiliar environment. But thinking about it, if she herself had the chance, she’d likely take the risk too.

Li Mengze, meanwhile, suffered in silence. She had no control over her actions; if it had been her choice, she would never have recklessly absorbed the foreign fire. But now, there was no turning back. All she could do was circulate her energy and try to absorb the fire bit by bit.

Within her spatial domain, the artifact spirit was dumbfounded. How had things come to this? He only intended to unseal the foreign fire and settle it in the space, hoping that with a few more opportunities, the space could level up and unlock more areas. There was no need to toil away like this foolish host, clearing land and farming for years just to barely get by.

He hadn’t expected the foreign fire to be so vigorous, still so active after years of being sealed. It immediately seized the host’s meridians and spiritual sea.

If the fire couldn’t be tamed, the host would be controlled by it. Mama mia, he didn’t want a host who couldn’t control her own actions!

At this point, the artifact spirit was genuinely frightened, but there was nothing to be done. The deed was done, and all he could do was pray his host wouldn’t be defeated so easily.

Li Mengze gritted her teeth against the searing pain, unable even to cry out. It felt as though her meridians were about to rupture.

Since entering the cultivation world, she had, if not a smooth journey, at least never suffered like this. This was her first time enduring such torment.

She dared not relax, but was grateful her senior brother had tampered with the teleportation array, at least delaying others from finding their location and buying her some time.

Even so, her situation was dire. Only after barely sealing the foreign fire within her spiritual sea did she finally open her eyes and offer her senior brother and sister a grateful smile.

“How are you feeling?” Wen Yuanyuan asked with concern. Seeing her junior sister so pale and weak-voiced, she worried the foreign fire had gained the upper hand.

“Not great. Once we’re back, I’ll need to enter seclusion for training and won’t be out for a while,” Li Mengze managed to joke.

Ba Yicheng helped her to her feet. They had to hurry and rejoin the main group; otherwise, with their junior sister in tow, they’d be easy targets.

After leaving the earth-fire cavern, Ba Yicheng asked Wen Yuanyuan to accompany Li Mengze while he went to search for an exit or a way forward.

No one had come looking for them this whole time, which showed how well hidden the place was. It was likely not going to be easy to find the way out.

Li Mengze had no idea how long she’d spent subduing the foreign fire. She resolved that once outside, and before leaving the secret realm, she would stick close to Wei Qingtong.

If she was going to cling to someone’s protection, she’d choose the most reliable. In both her past and present lives, Li Mengze had always known how to adapt to circumstances.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to act on her own, but she couldn’t muster any spiritual energy now; her meridians, if not fully broken, were nearly so. She needed a safe place to recover, or it would certainly affect her future.

Among all her companions, she chose Wei Qingtong over her closer senior brother and sister. Though their cultivations were not low, in this secret realm, a Golden Core stage was simply not enough; she’d only be a burden. She had to choose the one with the greatest strength.

As for picking Wei Qingtong over other Nascent Soul cultivators, part of it was because his master was on good terms with her grandmaster—reportedly fellow disciples under the same elder—so she trusted he would not hesitate to protect her if he could.

While Ba Yicheng was searching for an exit, a loud bang sounded, followed by a swirl of smoke nearby.

Suddenly, Wei Qingtong and his fellow disciple Xu Xiangyuan appeared before them.

Ba Yicheng’s eyes lit up. “Uncle-Master.”

Wei Qingtong nodded, while Xu Xiangyuan was more enthusiastic. Although both he and Wei were technically Li Mengze’s uncles in the sect hierarchy, her master was one of the few in the sect expected to break through to the Divine Transformation stage soon. It wouldn’t be long before she and her peers would be equals with them.

“You’re quick! The fighting’s already started outside, and here you are, quietly slipping away,” Xu Xiangyuan teased.

Ba Yicheng grinned. As the chief disciple of the Sword Pavilion, he knew these people well and took no offense. “We were just lucky. There were plenty of things inside, but nothing of high grade. Our little junior sister, though—she had either the best or worst luck, accidentally subduing a foreign fire, but it was rather rushed, so she couldn’t fully absorb it.”

The two turned to notice Li Mengze sitting pale-faced nearby.

They couldn’t help but think how fortunate she was to discover a foreign fire in an earth-fire cave. Usually, the flames there were of poor quality, mainly for junior disciples to practice with; even decent spirit artifacts were rare. The odds of nurturing a foreign fire were extremely low.

Wei Qingtong frowned. There was still some time before the secret realm closed, but this girl was clearly in no condition to fight—a real problem.

“You’d better stick with me for now,” he said. With those words, he took responsibility for Li Mengze for the foreseeable future. Noticing she was still unwell, he thought she should be examined by the elders when they returned, but this was not the place to ask questions.

Li Mengze smiled, remembering to bow and thank him for his protection in the days ahead.

Since Ba Yicheng and the others had already searched this area, there was no reason to linger. They might as well move on.

Li Mengze took another top-grade Spirit Restoration Pill, and after refining part of it, felt a little better—just enough to keep up.

She followed behind Wei Qingtong. That was fine, but Xu Xiangyuan’s frequent glances made her uneasy.

His gaze made Li Mengze feel as if her clothes were disheveled. She shifted awkwardly, trying to move behind Wei Qingtong for cover.

Wei Qingtong noticed as well and quietly shot Xu Xiangyuan a warning look, making him rein in his curiosity.