The outer shell looked fragile, yet its spiritual energy was surprisingly potent!
Just then, a crisp sound echoed from within the shell. The tightly closed edges gradually parted…
A powerful surge of spiritual energy, mingled with an indescribable aura, slowly seeped out! As the shell opened further, a soft, amorphous mass seemed to shift within the white light…
Seeing this, Jin Bao’er instinctively recoiled, her brows furrowed. Something was wrong. That wasn’t just spiritual energy! It felt like a power she had never encountered before!
Long Lixing was briefly stunned. An image of a blue dragon cradling a large pink shell flashed through his mind…
He remembered! This thing seemed to be the treasure of the old blue dragon! He’d apparently found it near the boundary between the Upper Realm and the Dragon Continent. What was it called again… a Spirit Gathering Clam? Or a God Gathering Clam?
In any case, he recalled it was indeed a good item. The old blue dragon’s power had suddenly surged after nurturing it for a thousand years, apparently due to this very object!
As he pondered, the shell had completely opened! Inside its vast interior, there was nothing but a mass of milky white, flowing liquid in the center!
That inexplicable spiritual energy now filled the entire cave…
“What is this?”
Jin Bao’er asked, her gaze fixed on the liquid. It was only about fifty milliliters, yet it pulsed with that strange power! She could even feel her dantian yearning for the energy in the air, her cultivation… subtly loosening!
But she had only just advanced to the Nascent Soul stage a month ago!
Long Lixing, having formed a guess, was about to speak when the shell suddenly sprang upwards, swallowing Jin Bao’er whole!
It all happened in an instant, a sudden movement that even Long Lixing hadn’t anticipated! He tried to reach out, but it was too late. Just as he was about to shatter the shell…
He sensed an abnormality in Jin Bao’er’s cultivation.
Inside the shell, Jin Bao’er, upon realizing what had happened, was about to struggle free when she heard Long Lixing’s voice…
“Don’t struggle. That milky white liquid is likely Thousand-Year Spirit Dew! It takes a century to condense a single drop! It will be immensely beneficial to you!”
By the time she heard the last sentence, the milky white liquid had already merged with her body, instantly engulfing her consciousness!
In her final conscious moment, Jin Bao’er felt no joy, only a profound sense of indignation!
She was still too weak! A mere clam shell could swallow her. Even if it was a good thing, it only proved her weakness, didn’t it? Otherwise, why wouldn’t it swallow Long Lixing!
Outside, Long Lixing gazed at the shell, his thoughts unfathomable, his aura exceptionally calm…
No one knew the method he used to bring Jin Bao’er’s soul back from the Ghost Realm and resurrect her. No one knew that from that moment on, he had already set his heart on this woman!
He then waved his hand, pushing the treasure aside, and transformed into his true form, guarding the pink clam shell…
This time, if all went smoothly, Jin Bao’er should have no problem breaking through to the mid-Nascent Soul stage! It shouldn’t… take too long, right!
With that thought, drowsiness washed over him, and he slowly fell asleep. After all, forcefully tearing through space to reach the Dragon Continent and then entering the Dragon Abyss to hold open the spatial rift single-handedly, he, not having fully recovered his strength, would inevitably feel fatigue!
However, he never imagined that this sleep would last for nearly a decade…
Meanwhile, in the Upper Realm…
A man of aloof pride stood on a high cliff, his aura surging wildly. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and unleashed a beam of spiritual energy, striking a figure hidden in a corner…
“I told you, you don’t need to follow!”
His cold voice cut through the air. A shadowy figure emerged. The man merely glanced at him disdainfully before saying,
“Miss has ordered it. I must be by her side at all times!”
Hearing this, the man’s gaze turned piercingly cold, fixed on the black-clothed individual who was three realms stronger than him. He then turned to leave!
The black-clothed figure watched his retreating back, his lips curling into an increasingly sarcastic smile!
“Just a kept boy, truly believes he’s still an Immortal Venerable? Heh!”
The man ahead paused as he heard this, then vanished from his spot.
Upon returning to his residence, the pink-clad woman lunged at him, her laughter bright and joyous!
“A’yun, you’re back?”
The man sidestepped, avoiding her embrace. Without looking at the woman’s stiff expression, he spoke with marked coldness!
“Why did you send someone to follow me?”
Su Xianzhi looked up, her smile gradually fading. She pleaded with feigned innocence, her voice trembling with vulnerability.
“I’m so sorry. I was just so afraid of losing you. You’ve finally recovered, and I worried… If you don’t like it, I promise I won’t let him follow you anymore. Please don’t hate me, alright!”
As she finished, tears rapidly welled up in her pure, large eyes, making her look incredibly pitiable!
The cold man merely glanced at her, his annoyance intensifying!
For some reason, seeing Su Xianzhi like this made him incredibly impatient. He felt it wasn’t right! The woman he loved should be strong and determined, proud and capable! Not fragile and pitiful like Su Xianzhi…
“You are already in the Soul Transformation stage, aren’t you? The Upper Realm is filled with powerful individuals, and your parents cannot protect you at all times. Strengthening yourself is the most important thing! Moreover, as a cultivator, what kind of conduct is crying and whimpering?!”
These words, akin to a scolding, instantly froze the look of grievance on the woman’s face! She then looked at him incredulously, stammering,
“But… but we used to be like this, didn’t we? You even said you’d be good to me even if I lost my cultivation!”
She was referring to the period when Lou Yun had lost his memory. When she had lost her cultivation in the Misty Sect, Lou Yun had still protected her!
However, the cold man before her, devoid of those memories, frowned in repulsion upon hearing these words!
“I don’t know what happened in the past! But I am very clear about the present. The person I like is definitely not a little girl who only cries. That person must be strong and proud, diligent and persistent, someone who can stand shoulder to shoulder with me…”
His words trailed off. He paused slightly, and a vision of a woman’s back, her voice extremely cold, suddenly flashed through his mind…
“From today onwards, there will be no more Immortal Venerable Lou Yun in this world!”
That resolute and powerful figure sent a tremor through his heart! A suffocating feeling clung to his soul like a nightmare, unforgettable for eternity!
Who… was that woman?
Why was he recalling such a person? And… what were these feelings of unwillingness and heartache?
Su Xianzhi looked at the strange expression on his face and instantly turned green with rage! Intense jealousy flashed in her eyes!
It was that expression again, that look!
Since she was a child, her Master had looked at that woman with the same gaze! But now, even though he had no memory, why did he still have that look?