Chapter 22: Two Dreams—Part 9

Ti Ying’s understanding and experience of cultivation were limited, having previously relied solely on her former master.

Her former master had provided her with everything, allowing her free access to his sea of consciousness.

But she hadn’t expected that the sword energy of Hua Shi was about to break through the spell, while her senior brother behind her hadn’t spoken for a long time.

Ti Ying became anxious. “You’re not treating me well!”

She immediately wanted to shake off his hand and push him away. She didn’t care for his assistance; she would rather face the anger of this unfamiliar senior sister alone, showing more dignity and backbone.

Her refined senior brother finally reacted.

He grabbed her hand back.

Ti Ying felt dizzy, suddenly feeling a suction force coming from the palm of her hand. And when she came to her senses, she found herself in a vast space.

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Jiang Xuehe said he was slowly breaking the curse, but Ti Ying was puzzled: could it be undone? Would the Curse of Tenfold Annihilation really not drive him insane, trapping his soul?

The young senior brother in the sea of consciousness fluttered his eyelashes lightly and opened his eyes.

Ti Ying turned her face away stubbornly, for reasons unknown.

Jiang Xuehe spoke, “Why do you want to enter my sea of consciousness?”

His voice…

Ti Ying was surprised as she turned back; his voice was different from reality too. In reality, his voice was slightly hoarse and very gentle, like jade stones washing up on the beach, with a hint of clarity within the hoarseness, like petals floating on a silent cliff…

Jiang Xuehe said, “Junior sister?”

Ti Ying regained her senses. “I want to borrow your spiritual energy.”

Jiang Xuehe was puzzled.

The spiritual roots of cultivators are divided into five elements. The interaction between these elemental roots can determine whether one’s spiritual energy can be borrowed by another; in other words, even if Jiang Xuehe is willing, Ti Ying might not be able to use his spiritual energy.

Ti Ying spoke patiently to the handsome man, her voice sweet. “Just give it a try. I want to defeat Senior Sister Hua—if by chance I could borrow your spiritual energy?”

She gave him a small glare. She never wanted to let others take the limelight, even if it was her senior brother… especially not him.

Ti Ying felt guilty because of her vanity.

Jiang Xuehe asked, “You were seriously injured in the Five Poisons Forest, are you okay?”

Ti Ying boasted, “I have extraordinary talent.”

Of course, Jiang Xuehe didn’t believe his mediocre junior sister. He was afraid she might resort to some forbidden technique, so he hesitated.

Ti Ying, seeing his silence, became angry.

She tried to console herself: “Humph, I can only use your spiritual energy if it matches mine, and moreover, I need a lot of it… If you’re weak and don’t have enough spiritual energy, there’s no need to pretend. I’m not interested.”

Ti Ying kept talking incessantly, “Don’t worry about how I’ll use it. Although I don’t like studying spells, I can still use them if I’ve learned them. I…”

Jiang Xuehe interrupted, “Come.”

Her guilty conscience abruptly stopped her words.

Ti Ying came back to her senses and said, “Our spiritual root attributes might not necessarily be compatible, and I might not be able to use it anyway. Don’t be so arrogant…”

Jiang Xuehe lowered his eyes and smiled faintly. “I promise you’ll definitely be able to use it.”

He exuded an elegant demeanor completely unrelated to this wild girl.

Ti Ying paused for a moment before considering his words: How could he know she could use it without trying?

But in this critical moment, her senior brother sat quietly, letting her do as she pleased. Unable to resist, she reached out towards her seemingly easy-to-bully senior brother in the sea of consciousness—

She formed seals, drew talismans, gently bent her index finger, and tapped his brow, unlocking the door to his spiritual sea.

In an instant, the pool enveloping the young man surged, and countless spiritual energy rushed into Ti Ying’s spiritual sea through her fingertips.

Ti Ying, borrowing someone else’s spiritual energy for the first time, couldn’t help but tremble her index finger, shaken by the force when she stepped back… Jiang Xuehe leaned forward, extending his hand and his wrist like jade.

Ti Ying stole a glance in disbelief: his hand was different from the skinny one in reality…

He held her wrist, steadying her index finger against his brow—giving without expecting anything in return.

Without the obstructing hood, the young man lowered his eyes, his gaze clear, and his slightly damp hair grazed her other hand, resting on her knee.

Ti Ying tilted her face upward, recalling the kneeling and bowing immortal from her dream.

At that moment, it felt as if water was flowing gently from the sky towards her. In the deep, still waters, she understood nothing.

She felt fear, trembling as she leaned back an inch.

Jiang Xuehe noticed and softly asked, “Uncomfortable? Would you like me to step back?”

Ti Ying paused for a moment, then greedily, both wanting and not wanting, replied, “No!”

In reality, Hua Shi’s sword was about to break through the spell.

The spell began to crack, and the sword surged forward. Ti Ying suddenly opened her eyes and took out a stack of yellow talisman papers from her bosom.

Hua Shi sneered, “Last-minute desperate attempt?”

Ti Ying smiled back at her and said, “Exactly.”

No one could clearly see the appearance of the young man next to Ti Ying, wearing a hood.

They only saw Ti Ying holding onto the young man’s hand tightly with one hand, while the other hand quickly drew out various talismans on the yellow paper.

Her drawing was jerky.

Her spiritual energy didn’t flow smoothly.

Her depleted spiritual energy never allowed her to complete a spell smoothly; there was always a pause halfway through. Learning a spell required her tens of thousands of times more effort than others.

But Ti Ying didn’t know that.

Her former master never told her.

It was only after leaving Qianshan that she discovered she was different from others. But she had been hunted down all along, and she didn’t have time to be angry about her weakness. And now she didn’t need to lament her weakness—

She held Jiang Xuehe’s hand tightly, obtaining abundant spiritual energy from her convenient senior brother.

She didn’t know that others’ spiritual seas could also dry up. She just borrowed as much spiritual energy as she needed.

Jiang Xuehe remained calm and peaceful, which, from this moment on, gave Ti Ying a mistaken understanding.

She drew one talisman after another, each emitting a watery glow as it was completed.

The Five Elements, Eight Trigrams, and Nine Heavenly Constellations—all could be used as spells. The talisman papers thrown by Ti Ying radiated light, shaking, repairing the originally broken spells, forming new ones, and temporarily setting up a formation in mid-air.

Hua Shi’s spell shattered, and she staggered backward.

In mid-air, Shen Yushu exclaimed, “The Eight Yang Formation?”

The Eight Yang Formation, also known as the “Golden Bell,” was a famous protective formation in Daoism that required eight people’s yang energy to guard together and could withstand all evil.

But at the moment, there were only two people…

Shen Yushu remarked, “She simplified the formation and set up a ‘Two Yang Formation’? She…”

She didn’t know how a girl with mediocre talent could do this.

Could the little girl have secretly practiced for a long time?

Shen Yushu was somewhat moved, staring blankly.

—

As the spiritual energy surged, Hua Shi looked at the formation and saw two golden lights rising into the sky, forming a majestic golden figure, solemn like a hood, protecting Ti Ying and Jiang Xuehe within the formation.

The formation was still evolving and starting to attack.

Hua Shi became furious.

She’s the proud daughter of heaven, who even solved challenges like Suan Yu’s during her first trial. With pride comes a certain level of confidence, and she can’t accept losing to a junior disciple who hasn’t even officially entered the sect.

Hua Shi struggled to pull out an iron ring from the sea of consciousness. When the ring touched her sword, the sword energy immediately split into three, five, and seven streams…

The sword continued to divide, but Hua Shi’s spiritual energy was running low, and she began to struggle.

Shen Yushu’s expression changed. “Absurd! How could high-level artifacts be used so recklessly!”

Below, sword energy clashed with spells, and spiritual energy surged.

The ground began to crack, and spiritual energy fluctuated uncontrollably, causing the houses in the entire town to shake and seem on the verge of collapsing.

However, both Ti Ying and Hua Shi, using these spells far beyond their true abilities, found it extremely difficult. Their minds were affected, and they couldn’t stop.

“ahahhh—”

Cries echoed around them.

Sweat beaded on Hua Shi’s forehead: “Quick, beg for mercy!”

Ti Ying retorted stubbornly, “You go first.”

Hua Shi staggered, “Hurry up and stop.”

Ti Ying’s lips turned pale.

Her spiritual energy was depleting rapidly, and the stars spun before her eyes. She could barely see her surroundings, relying solely on sheer determination. Of course, she wanted to stop, but she couldn’t do it now.

Ti Ying’s trembling, sweaty fingers touched her senior brother’s warm fingertips. When she was terrified, he suddenly gave her hand a squeeze.

Ti Ying found courage: “You stop, then I’ll stop.”

—

The childish antics of the two ghosts affected everyone around them.

The surrounding cultivators, shaken by the impact, stumbled back, attempting to counter with their own spells but still retreating, with the weaker ones immediately spitting blood.

No one had expected that two disciples who hadn’t even entered the sect could display this level of skill.

The stewards struggled to save themselves, grabbing people nearby to flee while shouting to the onlookers from afar, “Get away, don’t come closer!”

The ground seemed to slither like a snake.

Darkness shrouded the sky and the earth.

A young man named Li Bu, who wanted to sign up as a disciple of the Yujing sect, shifted to the side to avoid the collapsing tent.

The steward shouted, “Run away!”

Li Bu remained still, his smiling eyes fixated on the hooded-wearing youth at the center of the altercation—

The wind swept his robe sleeves.

The hood draped over him and the girl.

From his sleeves flew out a hairband, entwining him and the girl, demonstrating their interconnectedness.

Li Bu narrowed his eyes:

Found you.

He didn’t move. When flying stones seemed about to hit him, they veered off course, diverted by a surge of spiritual energy nearby.

Li Bu turned his head and saw a white-robed girl with her eyes covered by a white blindfold, using spells to resist the impact. Everyone within a radius of three meters around her was protected.

Grateful, they exclaimed, “Thank you, immortal!”

Nan Yuan remained cold and composed. The hairband and the blindfold flew together; her finger movements trembled slightly, but she remained unwavering.

—

A flurry of light feathers descended, obscuring the sky.

The steward looked up, delighted, and said, “Elder Shen is here!”

—

The young disciples aspiring to join the sect looked up and said, “Immortal…”

—

Finally unable to hold on any longer, Ti Ying and her senior brother fell backward together.

Amidst flying sand and stones, Jiang Xuehe wrapped his arm around her waist, catching her as she flew up, then pressed her face against his chest to shield her from harm.

The distressed Ti Ying whimpered, “Did I cause trouble? I wanted to become famous…”

Jiang Xuehe gently comforted her, “You’re famous now.”

Ti Ying, feeling bewildered by his words, retorted, “You’re so annoying—”

She heard a light, somewhat sandy laugh.

Feeling a tickle in her ears, she fidgeted, trying to lift his hood to see if he was mocking her. He dodged, and to her surprise, the expected disaster didn’t happen. Ti Ying felt the wind as she peeked out from Jiang Xuehe’s embrace—

Everyone, including the registered disciples and the stewards, stood on the flying feathers.

Among them, Hua Shi was still staring blankly, holding the broken iron ring.

Two misty figures stood at the forefront of the feathers, which carried them upward into the sky.

The sunlight was dazzling, the breeze swirled, and the white feathers continued to rise higher. The clouds soared into the vast sky, while magnificent palaces and pavilions drew closer, surrounded by towering mountains.

The man stood with his back to them.

His robes fluttered like startled swans. His jade-like demeanor resembled that of an exiled immortal.

The woman turned to them with a smile:

“In the white jade capital city in the sky, amidst the twelve towers and five cities, the immortal caresses my head, and we pledge our love for eternal life.

“Welcome, everyone, turning misfortune into fortune, straight into the gates of Yujing.”