Chapter 32 Dragon Pearl

Chu Lingwei's flying artifact beneath her feet carried her rapidly away from the crimson-eyed heavenly qilin. Feeling no trace of their presence, Chu Lingwei breathed a sigh of relief.

She silently congratulated herself that without her spatial artifact, she likely wouldn't have escaped this place.

Her own strength was still too weak.

As she sat on the artifact, she realized she had sustained many wounds. When she used the spirit explosion talismans against the crimson-eyed heavenly qilin, she had inadvertently injured herself.

She consumed a spirit-nourishing pill, circulated her spiritual energy, and began to meditate.

The sky and earth shook once more. The artifact suddenly lost control, causing Chu Lingwei to plummet downwards.

...

On the other side of the Hengtian Secret Realm.

Disciples from various sects had surrounded Chu Xiyin, Su Qian, and Chu Heng.

"Chu Xiyin, hand over what you obtained immediately, or none of you will leave today." Ye Tianling pointed his artifact directly at Chu Xiyin, his eyes filled with hatred. "Hurry."

Chu Xiyin bit her lip tightly, hiding behind Su Qian. She was cursing inwardly, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Chu Xiyin, you used a divine beast to steal our spirit herbs and now you dare to quibble?" Qin Wuhuai's face was a mask of fury. The disciples of Zhaoyang Mountain had entered the secret realm not to compete for opportunities or techniques, but solely to find spirit herbs to enrich Zhaoyang Mountain.

However, just as they were about to leave the secret realm, their spirit herbs and elixirs were stolen.

Not only them, but anyone who appeared near Chu Xiyin found their spirit herbs and elixirs missing.

"I never thought the esteemed Xuanxin Sect couldn't even afford to feed a divine beast." Mei Ji's face was devoid of any charm, replaced by fierce cruelty. To steal her spirit herbs was to try and take her life.

"I did not."

Chu Xiyin took a deep breath, filled with regret. If she had known, she would rather have been severely injured than keep such a crawling creature.

Now, without even leaving the space, she knew that on the Xuantian Continent, she was known as a thief of spirit herbs.

This was worse than death.

"You did, I saw with my own eyes my spirit herbs fly into your spirit beast pouch." A young disciple of Wanfo Sect, dressed as a novice monk, stepped forward indignantly. "I swear by my Dao heart, I saw with my own eyes your divine beast steal my spirit herbs."

The Wanfo Sect, cultivating through enlightenment, never spoke falsehoods.

Compared to Chu Xiyin, everyone believed the disciple of Wanfo Sect more.

"Chu Xiyin, do you have anything else to say?"

Ye Tianling's divine beast glared menacingly. The treasures stolen within the secret realm meant either surrender or fighting to get them back.

Chu Xiyin fearfully hid behind Su Qian, her heart in a frenzy. She had no way to deny that she couldn't control the crawling creature within her spirit beast pouch.

It kept crying of hunger and would only eat spirit herbs that were a century old or more.

She was unwilling to give it the spirit herbs she collected herself, so it ran out to find its own food, and would occasionally bring back a few stalks for her.

Just as she was marveling at its usefulness, she never expected it to be stealing spirit herbs that others had collected.

Chu Xiyin dared not admit it. If she did, her reputation would be ruined.

"I don't know anything."

"Hmph, stealing my spirit herbs and elixirs must be repaid." A disciple of Renyan Sect's gaze was sharp. No one dared to snatch things from their hands.

"Then we'll see if you have the ability!" Su Qian summoned his spirit beast, the Human-Faced Spider, which landed before the crowd.

Seeing this, the crowd's anger intensified. Their spirit herbs had been stolen, and before they could act, these people were already initiating a fight.

No one was to be trifled with.

Instantly, the disciples of the various sects collectively attacked Su Qian and Chu Xiyin.

Seeing the unfavorable turn of events, Chu Heng grabbed Chu Xiyin's arm and retreated quickly. "Junior Sister, let's go first."

These words struck a chord with Chu Xiyin. She didn't want to stay there. Chu Heng pulled her onto his flying sword.

Chu Xiyin wanted to leave, but someone else did not.

A wisp of black smoke flew out of her spirit beast pouch and exploded above the disciples.

"No."

Seeing the crawling creature escape, Chu Xiyin cried out, but it was too late to stop it. As the explosion echoed, the entire ground began to shake violently.

For a moment, the spiritual energy within them vanished, making them even more wary of Chu Xiyin's divine beast.

"Go."

Su Qian stepped onto his flying sword and immediately fled.

Chu Xiyin used the last of her strength to recall the crawling creature, her mind echoing with a single thought: she was finished.

...

Outside the Hengtian Secret Realm.

The leaders of the various sects stood at the entrance of the secret realm, watching the sky above change color. They couldn't help but speculate inwardly.

The celestial anomaly indicated that a great treasure must have appeared in the Hengtian Secret Realm.

These leaders had long since sent messages to their respective sects, requesting reinforcements.

If a disciple from their sect obtained this treasure, they could escort the disciple and the treasure safely back to the sect.

If a disciple from their sect did not obtain this treasure, perhaps they could get a share of it.

Leng Xingzhi stood on his artifact, frowning as he looked at the celestial anomaly, his mind filled with questions.

He hoped his junior sister could return safely.

...

"Ah!"

Chu Lingwei fell to the ground. Without spiritual energy to support her, her body crashed heavily onto the hard stone.

If her body had not been tempered by spiritual energy, her bones would likely have been shattered.

She quickly consumed a recovery pill and got up. In front of her, a massive head stared at her.

The ground beneath her continued to shake violently, yet the giant head remained motionless. It was an astonishingly realistic fake dragon head.

Chu Lingwei tried to mobilize her spiritual energy, but there was no response.

Apart from being able to retrieve items from her spatial artifact, all spiritual energy here was completely nullified.

Chu Lingwei walked into the dragon's head and discovered that the dragon's body was embedded within the spirit mountain. She had run for so long yet hadn't managed to escape the mountain's perimeter.

In the dragon's mouth was a bead that emanated spiritual energy.

Within the dragon's maw, the bead's spiritual energy had condensed into droplets, falling into the dragon's mouth.

These were no ordinary droplets. Condensed spiritual energy in bead form was even rarer than a ten-thousand-year-old spirit herb.

Chu Lingwei would not let go of such a valuable item.

She directly took out a jade bottle for storing spiritual liquid from her spatial artifact and began to collect the condensed spiritual energy beads from the dragon's mouth.

Strangely, when Chu Lingwei stood in front of the dragon's head, she felt no trace of the ground shaking.

After collecting the condensed spiritual energy beads, Chu Lingwei stood up. Feng Ming and the phantom cat, the two little ones, were frantic, constantly bombarding her, urging her to leave quickly.

Chu Lingwei glanced at the dragon bead, a bold guess forming in her mind. If she could put it into her spatial artifact, could it possibly make her space's spiritual energy more abundant?

No sooner had she thought it than she acted. Chu Lingwei's right hand touched the bead, and with a thought, she drew it into her space.

The bead in the dragon's mouth vanished. Chu Lingwei's entire body jolted violently, and she spat out a mouthful of blood. The spiritual energy of her space surged out a hundredfold, forcibly expelling her mental power.