"Fellow Daoist Chu, are you inside?"
Chu Lingwei had already sensed Su Qing's presence the moment she appeared at the door.
She actually remembered me.
"I am." Chu Lingwei opened the door, and Su Qing's face appeared before her. "Fellow Daoist Chu, I've made some spiritual food and would like to invite you to share it."
"Alright, thank you, Fellow Daoist Su." Chu Lingwei, carrying two small beasts, walked out of the bamboo house. The rooms damaged by the lightning tribulation yesterday had already been repaired and restored to how they were when she first arrived.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, do you dislike our bamboo house?" Su Qing glanced at their bamboo house, her eyes filled with apology, because when she went to find Chu Lingwei earlier, she wasn't staying in the bamboo house.
"It's just that I prefer to cultivate in my own dwelling." The bamboo house from yesterday had been destroyed by the lightning tribulation, so Chu Lingwei had stayed in her spiritual dwelling last night.
Su Qing thought this made sense. Cultivators were always cautious wherever they went, so it was understandable that she didn't want to stay in her bamboo house.
"In another two days, my husband will be back." Su Qing invited Chu Lingwei to sit at the table, looking at the table full of spiritual food with anticipation.
Chu Lingwei swept her gaze over the spiritual food. They were all made from spiritual herbs and elixirs, and they were indeed real.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, quickly try some. I specifically picked these from the valley." Su Qing picked up a piece of cooked spiritual herb with her chopsticks and ate it heartily.
"Fellow Daoist Su, what did your husband go to do?" Chu Lingwei picked up her chopsticks, picked up a piece of spiritual medicine, put it into her mouth, and quickly put it into her spatial storage.
Everything here felt too strange, as if it were real and yet not.
"He went to find a type of medicine, a spiritual medicine to help me break through." Su Qing put down her chopsticks and raised her hands, which were filled with spiritual energy. "My breakthrough is imminent, but I have no confidence at all."
She didn't know if her husband had returned. It seemed that escaping from here was tied to the husband she spoke of.
"Is there really spiritual medicine that can help one break through?" Chu Lingwei's eyes showed curiosity. All spiritual herbs in the world only helped cultivators increase their cultivation, while spiritual artifacts could help cultivators withstand lightning tribulations.
"Yes, there is. My husband said there is, so there must be." Su Qing smiled, like a woman deeply in love, believing everything her beloved said.
That night, the sudden lightning tribulation appeared once more.
Chu Lingwei once again agreed to Su Qing's request, watching her turn to dust by the heavenly lightning.
Two days later.
It was the day Su Qing's husband was to return.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, my husband will definitely return today." This morning, Su Qing happily ran to knock on the door and, holding Chu Lingwei's hand, ran into the valley. "Look, there are so many spiritual herbs here. I'll quickly pick some."
"What are you doing?" Chu Lingwei didn't understand Su Qing's intention.
"My husband dislikes outsiders. When he returns shortly, he will surely ask you to leave." Su Qing said, squatting down to pick spiritual herbs. "You should pick more spiritual herbs to take back now; they can help your cultivation in the future."
Hearing this, Chu Lingwei's heart warmed. She was truly a kind girl.
"Fellow Daoist Su, will your husband really return today?"
"Of course. I just received a sound transmission talisman from him, saying he could return soon." Su Qing said, deliberately glancing towards the entrance of the valley, and then helping Chu Lingwei pick spiritual herbs.
Chu Lingwei did not disappoint Su Qing. Together with Huan Mao and the others, she picked many spiritual herbs until her storage bag could hold no more.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, I am a disciple of the Hehuan Sect. If you leave here, can you help me return to my sect and ask after my master?" Su Qing's voice suddenly became sad. "Since I left the sect, I haven't been back once. Master must be very disappointed in me."
"You are a disciple of the Hehuan Sect?"
Chu Lingwei had thought Su Qing was a rogue cultivator, but she never expected her to be a disciple of the Hehuan Sect.
Disciples of the Hehuan Sect must all cultivate charm techniques. Chu Lingwei saw no trace of charm in Su Qing.
"Yes, I am a disciple of the Hehuan Sect, but I am too unlike a disciple of the Hehuan Sect." Su Qing stood up. "Do you think I have disgraced our Hehuan Sect?"
"I don't think so."
"Why?"
"No matter which sect it is, they all have only one purpose: to enter the Great Dao of spiritual cultivation. Our direction is correct. There is no right or wrong in cultivation."
Chu Lingwei stood behind Su Qing. She didn't seem like a person conjured out of thin air. Therefore, she must be a remnant soul left here.
"No right or wrong." Su Qing murmured the words repeatedly, and a clear tear flowed down her cheek. "It's a pity I no longer have the chance to step onto the Great Dao of spiritual cultivation."
"Wife, I'm back."
Just then, a male voice appeared at the entrance of the valley. This voice, amplified by spiritual power, echoed throughout the entire valley.
"My husband is back. Hurry, I'll ask him to send you away." Su Qing's eyes lit up upon hearing the voice, and she quickly pulled Chu Lingwei's hand and ran towards the valley.
Feng Ming and Huan Mao exchanged glances. That voice just now had made them feel fearful.
"Husband, you're finally back."
Su Qing led Chu Lingwei to the valley entrance. Standing there was a boy of seventeen or eighteen, his face devoid of joy or sorrow, looking silently at Chu Lingwei.
"Who are you, and why are you here?"
"Husband, she is a cultivator who stumbled into the valley. Can you send her away?" Su Qing stepped forward upon hearing her husband's words.
A barrier appeared, separating the two into different worlds.
"No, everyone who enters here cannot leave." The boy looked at Chu Lingwei with killing intent in his eyes. "No matter why you are here, you can only die."
As the boy spoke, he summoned spiritual power in his hand, and a ball of immense Netherfire appeared.
Chu Lingwei was startled and took a step back, summoning her purple bell, preparing to fight.
"Husband, you can't! Don't kill her." Seeing her husband's actions, Su Qing directly blocked Chu Lingwei. "Husband, she hasn't harmed me. Why must you kill her?"
Su Qing said, tears falling in large drops. "Husband, stop killing people, stop killing people."
"Mao Mao, did you find anything?" Chu Lingwei frowned. Until now, she hadn't found anything suspicious here.
Looking at the boy standing outside the barrier, Chu Lingwei's thoughts stirred.
"Are you unwilling for me to leave, or unwilling for your wife to leave?"
At these words, Su Qing and the boy were both stunned.
"You must die." The boy grew even more furious. The Netherfire in his hand instantly intensified tenfold and struck towards Chu Lingwei.