"Vivian, all of us women of the Lan family are destined to be Saintesses of the Phoenix Clan," Lan Yuexi said, noticing Chu Lingwei's stunned silence.
When Lan Yuexi was with Chu Ze, she had never told him anything about the Phoenix Clan. He knew nothing about her situation and could not have told their daughter about her.
"Rise."
Chu Lingwei had already had some premonition about the identity of a Saintess. Upon hearing Lan Yuexi's words, she straightened up and faced the people of the Phoenix Clan.
"Thank you, Saintess."
The Phoenix Clan cultivators bowed respectfully to Chu Lingwei again before rising, returning to their former demeanor.
"Their injuries are severe," Chu Lingwei thought, puzzled. Even Lan Yuexi's spiritual energy was depleted by more than half, and she was injured.
"Mother, quickly take this," Chu Lingwei produced a sixth-tier restoration pill and offered it to Lan Yuexi, signaling her to take it.
This cave was very strange. The spiritual energy of the cultivators inside was suppressed. Chu Lingwei worried that high-tier pills might harm them instead.
"Vivian..." Lan Yuexi hesitated. There were a hundred cultivators of their Phoenix Clan here, and their injuries were all more severe than hers.
"Mother, you just take it. I have more pills." Chu Lingwei had no shortage of pills. From her storage bag, she took out pills suitable for the others and gave them, saying, "These pills should alleviate your injuries."
"Thank you, Saintess."
Seeing the pills Chu Lingwei handed them, the Phoenix Clan cultivators' eyes were filled with gratitude. They had been tortured to the brink of death, and pain had become a dull ache to them.
Chu Lingwei's pills were like a spring breeze after a long winter.
"Mother, quickly take the pill and see if it works," someone took Chu Lingwei's storage bag and distributed the pills she had given them. Chu Lingwei said to Lan Yuexi.
"Thank you, Vivian." Lan Yuexi's eyes were red. She had imagined countless scenarios of being rescued, but never had she thought it would be her daughter who saved her.
Lan Yuexi took the pill, and her injuries immediately healed by more than half, but her spiritual energy had not yet recovered.
"It seems to be effective," Chu Lingwei mused inwardly.
"It actually works?" Lan Yuexi was full of surprise after taking the pill. As a cultivator, she had brought many pills with her when she entered this barrier.
However, her pills had not helped her own injuries or those of her clansmen.
Some of the Phoenix Clan cultivators took the pills and felt their injuries slowly recovering, also showing surprise. They looked at Chu Lingwei with expressions of joy and anticipation.
Their Phoenix Clan Saintess had finally come to save them.
"Is it strange?" Chu Lingwei asked, confused.
"To be honest, Vivian, the pills I brought in were of no use for our injuries at all," Lan Yuexi said, taking out her own pills from her storage bag.
Chu Lingwei took Lan Yuexi's pills. They were the same as those refined by her second senior brother, and they were both high-tier pills.
What differentiated her pills from Lan Yuexi's was that hers were diluted with spiritual water from condensed spiritual pearls. Chu Lingwei had made these pills for herself to speed up wound recovery.
"Vivian..." Lan Yuexi was a cultivator and knew that every cultivator had their secrets. She suppressed the doubts in her heart. "Thank you, Vivian."
Chu Lingwei did not explain. Seeing that the Phoenix Clan cultivators had begun to heal, she recalled encountering the barrier outside and hearing screams from within.
"Mother, are your lives connected to Xiushui?" This was the only explanation. If their bodies or lives were connected to Xiushui, they would be injured whenever Xiushui was attacked.
"...Yes."
Lan Yuexi's eyes flickered with sorrow upon hearing this. "Our bodies are not only connected to Xiushui but also to the Sacred Tree."
Chu Lingwei frowned. What did that mean?
"Vivian, why did you come in?" Lan Yuexi's eyes were red. She was the Saintess of the Phoenix Clan and could clearly sense their Sacred Tree slowly withering. If the Sacred Tree were destroyed, their lives would also vanish with it.
"Mother, you are my birth mother, and they are my clansmen. I will find a way to save you all." Chu Lingwei helped Lan Yuexi sit on a nearby stone. She could clearly feel a pressure in this cave, fluctuating in intensity, like tides, constantly battering the bodies of all the cultivators inside.
This was the reason for their severe injuries. When the pressure in the cave weakened, they could recover their strength. When the pressure increased, it would directly crush their bodies, and their wounds might tear open again.
Enduring such torture repeatedly, suffering torment day after day.
Lan Yuexi shed tears and shook her head forcefully. "Vivian, you are the last Saintess of our Phoenix Clan. No matter what happens, you must live. Even for the last remaining members of our Phoenix Clan, you must live."
"Mother, can you tell me why?" Chu Lingwei felt that Lan Yuexi was avoiding the topic she wanted to know about. She didn't want to tell her.
"Our Sacred Tree can only be resurrected with the blood of a Saintess."
Lan Yuexi's body possessed sacred blood. No matter how severe her injuries, she could heal herself. This was a gift bestowed by the Phoenix Clan, and it was also the responsibility of a Saintess.
Chu Lingwei's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. So, her blood carried such a responsibility.
She suddenly recalled her spiritual energy being suddenly drawn out by half at Jibing Cliff, nearly costing her her life. The tree she vaguely saw then should have been the Sacred Tree of the Phoenix Clan.
It needed her spiritual energy to survive.
"Mother, I understand." Chu Lingwei had been saved by the sacred blood within her, so she would naturally repay this kindness.
"Vivian, don't be afraid. The Sacred Tree will not let you die," Lan Yuexi said with a gentle smile in her eyes. She reached out and touched Chu Lingwei's cheek. "Our Sacred Tree is condensed from the souls of tens of thousands of cultivators of our Phoenix Clan. They are all our relatives. They will only protect our Phoenix Clan's peace and will not take our lives."
"Mother, why are you here? How can I save you all?"
Chu Lingwei did not press Lan Yuexi further about the Sacred Tree. Her priority now was to figure out why these people were here and how she could save them.
This was the most important thing to her.
Chu Lingwei had heard from her uncle, Lan Xingyi, that her mother had entered the barrier twenty years ago. Why had she entered this place?
"The Sacred Tree is connected to our lives. If the Sacred Tree leaves the Phoenix Clan, it will die." Lan Yuexi did not want her daughter to bear so much, but she was dying soon, and the future of their Phoenix Clan depended on her daughter.
"We must keep the Sacred Tree alive for our descendants of the Phoenix Clan to live long."
Chu Lingwei looked at the Phoenix Clan cultivators in the cave and instantly understood. They had all willingly stayed here.