Wanhua City.
Everything was calm and peaceful, as if there was no danger at all.
Sandong watched Wanhua Ridge with a tense expression, fearing that the entire ridge might fly into the sky at any moment.
She had gone from a flower spirit with a home to a wandering one.
Would she be able to live with Li Yingling?
But she was afraid of humans...
Countless thoughts flashed through her mind.
But the next moment, a streak of light flew over from Wanhua Ridge.
Li Yingling let out a slight sigh of relief. In the end, everything was safe. But looking at the calm surface, there probably wouldn't be any pleasant surprises—most likely just a blank, ruined wasteland.
As for why it took so long, it wasn't hard to deduce.
Wasn't it allowed for her master and Uncle Xie to stroll around the ridge a bit more?
After all, the scenery was quite beautiful.
Oh well, if there's nothing, there's nothing. This wasn't Li Yingling's first place; she had struck out three or four times before.
Striking out this time was also expected.
It was enough to bring her master to see this pleasant place.
The light arrived in a blink, and Chu Xingchen, carrying Xie Lingyu, landed slowly.
But Li Yingling quickly locked her gaze on a spirit.
This spirit wore a white battle skirt, her face slightly pale, but she was even smaller than Sandong.
Sandong's gaze also fell on Luoyue, her expression full of curiosity. She had been in Wanhua Ridge for so long and had never seen another spirit, otherwise she wouldn't have been this lonely.
Actually, that so-called dangerous ritual was actually a summoning device?!
Chen Baiqing walked over quickly, taking hold of Chu Xingchen's sleeve, and asked with concern:
"Master, are you alright?"
Chu Xingchen didn't hesitate to pinch Chen Baiqing's cheek, her tone slightly reproachful:
"You're underestimating your master again?"
Chen Baiqing didn't mind as she used both hands to play with her own cheeks, just shaking her head with a smile—her master was fine, that was all.
Li Yingling asked curiously: "Where did you pick up this spirit?"
Hearing this, Chu Xingchen glanced sideways at Luoyue. At this moment, this long-sealed spirit had made eye contact with Sandong.
Although she felt pity for Luoyue's story, since they had fought, she was an enemy. After all, everyone had their own reasons, and when you fight, there's a price to pay.
Especially if it cost money to save her...
But Xie Lingyu had rescued her.
Chu Xingchen had originally thought it was because Xie Lingyu was soft-hearted. After all, agreeing to ask about Xuanqing Tianzong for Luoyue was already a decent thing to do.
But when Luoyue was gathering her remaining spiritual energy and couldn't split her focus, Xie Lingyu explained.
When Chu Xingchen was fighting, Xie Lingyu hadn't been idly watching the fight; she had been observing the situation.
Because... she felt like she had seen something similar in that book before, and it was very famous.
Based on the situation in the illusion, she determined what method Xuanqing Tianzong was using—it was most likely the Grand Formation of the Nine Coiled Locks of the Supreme Clear Heaven.
This formation was placed on the first page of the Tianyan Sect's Formation Compendium.
It wasn't that Tianyan Sect respected Xuanqing Tianzong that much, but purely to mock this formation.
This was a formation uniquely created by Xuanqing Tianzong, very famous.
Its fame wasn't from its lethality or practicality, but from its conditions and costs—the price was laughably high.
It was the kind of thing that even a wealthy clan would feel pained to use.
Moreover, the formation's eye needed a spirit to guard it and control the formation. Sounding nice, it was practically no different from a living sacrifice.
What era of cultivation was this? Living sacrifice was no different from what evil cultivators did.
So besides being on the first page, this formation was also marked in large characters with its origin—Xuanqing Tianzong.
The introduction to the formation was only a few lines, but the criticism was a solid thousand words or so.
It directly denounced the formation as an evil cultivator's formation, indirectly mocking Xuanqing Tianzong.
It was said that Xuanqing Tianzong nowadays had deleted this formation from their own records, not including it in their scriptures.
Who would have thought... that the Xuanqing Tianzong of thousands of years ago was for real.
And it seemed as if it was specifically made for this kind of situation.
Xie Lingyu speculated, maybe Xuanqing Tianzong died too quickly back then, and there was a period where they lost a lot of information.
Naturally, since this formation was created by Xuanqing Tianzong, Tianyan Sect could only understand its function, not fully replicate it.
But Xie Lingyu clearly remembered, this thing could self-destruct.
[This formation consumes vast resources, its benefits are unclear, mostly used to block spiritual energy for concealment effects, but it can self-destruct with great power, likely meant for ambushes, with sinister intentions, its nature can be glimpsed.]
Xie Lingyu still remembered when she first saw this formation, she also felt strong disdain for so-called Xuanqing Tianzong.
Using disciples' lives to set up a self-destructing ambush—what difference was that from evil cultivators?
Naturally, Xie Lingyu was only speculating; she couldn't be completely certain this was the Grand Formation of the Nine Coiled Locks of the Supreme Clear Heaven.
But it was always better to be cautious.
Xie Lingyu hadn't rescued her for nothing.
She would help Luoyue ask about Xuanqing Tianzong. She couldn't be responsible for how things would turn out, but she would try to fight for Luoyue's sake.
But everything here belonged to Chu Xingchen.
This was a transaction, not an unpaid rescue.
Luoyue hesitated, but agreed.
But based on Chu Xingchen's understanding of Xie Lingyu, she probably wanted to help this Luoyue as well.
After all, Xie Lingyu could sometimes be overly soft-hearted.
Sometimes, if someone's situation was too tragic, Xie Lingyu would lend a helping hand within her abilities.
So when facing Li Yingling's question—where she picked up Luoyue.
Chu Xingchen smiled and said: "Your Uncle Xie saw the little spirit pitiful and couldn't bear to leave her, so she brought her back to care for."
Hearing this, Sandong nodded in realization, reaching out to carefully pat the little spirit who looked even weaker than herself:
"They're actually quite nice people... they probably won't eat us, don't be afraid."
This little spirit was definitely more timid than herself. Sandong dared to stroll around Wanhua Ridge at night, while this little spirit was small and weak, clearly hiding in one place without daring to move.
That was why Sandong had never met her!
Luoyue looked at the somewhat silly Sandong, her emotions churning.
The good news was that this was the first time in a thousand years she had come out and immediately saw a member of her own kind, which had a healing effect.
The bad news, her clansman looked incredibly stupid...
Could it be that she was raised in captivity?
"Mm..." Luoyue gave a slight nod, accepting the situation.
Sandong looked at Luoyue and felt a sense of closeness. This was a true clansman. She happily took Luoyue's hand and said:
"Hehe, I'm familiar with Wanhua Ridge, from now on Sandong will look after you."
Luoyue looked at her own tiny hands and felt the weak spiritual energy within her body.
Her combat power was basically gone now; she might not even be able to defeat the cute and stupid clansman before her.
If she talked about being looked after... she couldn't really argue.
Xie Lingyu's gaze fell on Chu Xingchen: "Leave Luoyue's matter to me. Prepare this place first. I'll take Luoyue back to Tianyan Sect."
Hearing this, Sandong looked at Xie Lingyu and the others—was this it? Just meeting a clansman and they had to part already?
"So urgent? Leaving so soon?" Li Yingling asked with some confusion, then looked at her master—did you make Uncle Xie angry?
It's just a flower spirit, what big deal could there be that requires rushing back to Tianyan Sect so urgently.
But... what could her master have done to make Uncle Xie angry?
"I've waited that long, there's no rush to leave now."
Luoyue spoke calmly.
These two had been holding hands in front of her all this way, claiming to be partners, so why were they suddenly getting shy again?
Luoyue's gaze turned to Sandong.
She wanted to chat with her clansman first.
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